Grandma's Marathon

Grandma's Marathon was great. I enjoyed it much more than my first marathon, probably because I had someone to run with. The weekend as a whole was fun at the cabin on the lake, and the marathon itself wasn't that bad. It was way too hot to try and run for time, so Justus and I ran/walked at a comfortable pace. I didn't even try and "race" until the last 6 miles and was amazed that I could still run at pace after 20 miles, but I'm convinced it's because we had regular walk breaks throughout. Afterwards I was a little stiff, but mostly just sunburned. I think run/walking is the way to go. I actually look forward to trying it at another marathon in the future. Until then, I will take a little break from running, and hence, from this blog.

Saturday Loooooong Run

Saturday I went for my long run. I was excited because it was the very last long run before I start tapering for the marathon. I planned on running about 16 miles, but didn't know exactly where to turn around on my Potomac River trail. The trail goes straight into D.C., so I ran until I got to a major bridge just past the Kennedy Center. That way I could check out the distance later on Google's Pedometer. Turns out it's 8.7 to the bridge. It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the bridge and the same to run back to my starting point, but I only counted time if I was running. For the last half an hour of the run, I was completely miserable. My body just ran out of steam. I had to stop and take a quick break almost every ten minutes. I don't have any idea how I will be able to run the marathon, but hopefully I won't completely run out of energy like I did here. Plus, it was really hot outside and I was running around noon, which didn't help much. Anyway, at least I finished (with lots of walk/water breaks) and now I can start cutting back. I think I was still feeling some of the after effects of last week's 15 miles, which seemed much easier than this long run.

I didn't run on Monday because Chelsea and I decided to go to Philly for the day, which was fun. Last night I ran for about half an hour through some trails near my back yard. I have no idea how far I ran, but I don't really care because I actually enjoyed the run, which is rare these days.

Saturday: 17.4 Miles, 2 1/2 Hours (Only counting running time)

Tuesday: 30 Minutes easy trail running

5 Miles, Sustained Pace

I just got back from doing a quick 5 mile run. For some reason, I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that a shorter run at a moderately quick pace would do my lungs some good since they really haven't gotten much of a workout lately. I was quite tired from the first mile until the end, but wanted to finish quickly for the heart and lung workout, but also because I don't have a lot of time today. I'm also planning on playing basketball tonight so I thought that workout combined with only 5 miles would complete my day's exercise.

Since I haven't blogged for a few runs, I'll also mention that I ran 15 miles with Justus on Saturday, and I just have to say that it is SO SO much nicer to run with someone than alone. Even though I was just as tired as normal, it did give me hope that perhaps I will be able to run the marathon as long as I have someone to go through the pain with, so thanks Justus for the encouragement. I also ran 6 miles at a nice and easy 9:00 pace on Monday and was definitely feeling the after effects of the long run. I didn't run last night because I ended up staying at the lab until almost 10:00, which sucked, but oh well. Tonight I'm excited for the season finale of Lost. It better be freakin' good.

Saturday: 15 Miles, 9:00 pace

Monday: 6 Miles, 9:00 pace

Wednesday: 5 Miles, 7:30 pace

5 Miler in the Rain

Last night I went for a run after the rain stopped. It was pouring really hard earlier in the afternoon, but it stopped and I had a window to run in. Originally, the plan was to run for 8 miles, but I decided to cut it short at 5 since it was getting dark and the looming possibility of rain returning did not entice me to run for too long. Turns it it was a good thing I just ran 5 because it started to rain on my lightly about 2.5 miles in and really started to pound just as I was finishing up. I don't mind running in the rain, but when it's pouring it is just not worth the hassle.

5 Miles
43 minutes

Track Ladder

Last night was my track workout and finally I found a night when there was no girl's lacrosse so I could run on the track. The prospect of running 10 x 800 was a bit much and I didn't know if I could do that many before giving up, so I modified the workout to still get the same mileage at the same pace but without so many of the same distances. I ran a ladder of 400, 800, 1200, 1600, and then back down 1600, 1200, 800, 400. For every lap I ran I took a minute of recovery before the next distance. I tried to keep a 7:00 pace, and ran that pretty closely, except for my 400's which I ran about 90 seconds.

Overall, it was pretty good except I started to feel the famous leg fatigue towards the end of the workout (will this ever go away, or am I going to have to run the last 20 miles of the marathon with very tired legs?) On a lighter note, I was watching the Product Recall episode of the Office, and paused it to carefully read all of Michael's cue cards when he's making his apology tape. Some of them are pretty funny and there are some good lines that the episode doesn't show Michael saying. I laughed anyway.

1 mile warm up
5 mile ladder workout, 7 minutes per mile pace
1/2 mile cool down

6 Mile Goal Pace

Today was supposed to be the run where I finally felt good again because I took the last week so easy. But due to the jet lag and the fact that I didn't get much sleep, I won't let my run today be the only predictor of what's to come. However, my legs are still getting quite tired and I'm breathing harder than I would expect from just a goal pace run. I mean, I'm technically supposed to be able to keep this pace for the entire marathon, and it's a struggle for me to keep it much at all.

I went out the first mile in 7:45 and was breathing pretty hard. I tried to keep the same pace, but was at 15:30 at the end of mile two. Well, I didn't know where my other mile markers were so I just tried to keep the same pace until the end. By the end I was feeling a little better in the lungs department, but my legs were pretty tired. It's hard to imagine them holding up for a marathon, but I've still got time to get them ready.

6 Miles
46 Minutes