How to train for a marathon like a boss!!!

You want to know how to train for a marathon like a BOSS do you??

Well, you have come to the right place then.

According to MDI (who clearly know ALL) since this is not my FIRST marathon then I AM AN EXPERT!!! (???)

Thank you guys, for recognizing my obvious prowess *ahem, ahem*

 

My training has been creative this time around.

Just getting back into a regular running schedule 5 or so weeks ago left little time for epic long runs of doom. I have squeezed in two successful 19 milers (good enough!!) but have concentrated on hills.

The only thing one hears about MDI is: "OMG the EFFING HILLS!!"

So, deciding that fast would not be a viable option this time around I'm just going for prepared.

 

Here are a couple of examples of my amazing hill running skills.

Or perhaps just fine examples of the hills in my town? Yes. that's more likely..

 

My 8 mile loop. FML.
 

15.5 Miles. OF PURE HELL! PURE HELL!!!!!!!

Sweet Baby Geezus!!!! Want to come run hills with me? It's fun, I promise (LIE! LIE!)
The good news for today is that with FIVE days left there will be very few mountains in my training plan for this week.
I'm getting a little excited. This is proof that my cheese has slid right off my cracker because no one in their right mind should be excited for an uphill marathon, right?
More suggestions for epic marathon training to come tomorrow!
(yes, I'm promising more than one post this week. which means that all posts will be terrible since my recent claim has been "quality over quantity") (or maybe I'm just a suck-o blogger?)

Maine Half Marathon: The official rainy race report.

 It has been a while since I've run a Half. If my old, faulty memory is correct my last Half was my simply amazing record-smashing PR setting run at Great Bay which was in April. Quite some time ago...

Back before I hurt my leg in May I signed up for the Maine Half knowing that:
a: I love this silly race
b: it would be a great final long run before I started to taper for MDI
c: if nothing else it would surely be nicer out than last year
(anybody remember last year? monsoon much?)

The plan changed somewhat over the months. Since my running skills had greatly diminished since my July Marathon (but yes, I am finally running on a well behaved leg) I knew that running slow-ish would be smart. I also chose to add some extra miles in to make it a more legit long run, since I have done very few for the past couple of months. Gotta tell my legs what's up if they're going to slog thru 26.2 in a couple weeks after all....

The best news was that Eric decided to jump on board for his first half since GBH too, and for his longest race since his Ironman insanity. Have I mentioned that he's crazy? Super crazy. He indicated that he might want to PR at the ME 1/2 and I eagerly leaped all over that news with obnoxious gusto and grand plans for world domination.

 

 

My shirt and very lucky looking number. I do love the shirts from this race!

We had a very excellent plan involving how to run this race and allow Eric to PR like the boss of the Half Marathon.

Well. It was something like this: "start slowly finish fast"

And it was all my doing. This was all my plan. I'm a jerk face who drags people to races and forces them to run faster/longer/harder then they want to.

 

Yes, I am available for coaching. Excellent coaching. Accepting new clients for SURE.  HAH.

 

Strike one of the day: Coffee was impossible to find. Apparently coffee shops don't open until very late on Sundays. Finally, at 6:40 we obtained coffee and bagels. This would have been excellent if I had not wished to start running at 7:00.

 

Strike two of the day: I forgot to pack my sports bra. OH SNAP. Thank you sweet baby Geezus for making me a barely A cup. They were still awfully bouncy and totally got chafed.

 

Strike three of the day: It rained. Son of a beech tree.

 

See? Rain.

I headed out at 7:00, 30 seconds post coffee and bagel consumption. It was no big deal. I felt great, and oddly, I'm not lying! I honestly was VERY excited to run, VERY excited to race and VERY excited to be awesome. (duh!) I ran 3 miles to the start and located Eric quickly enough to waylay my concerns that he was going to hide in the shrubs until the gun went off. This seemed like a very real possibility as he wasn't quite as over the top excited as I was (imagine that! maybe he has logic and reason?)

 

I ate a honey stinger waffle and drank a small cup of Gatorade. Nutrition excellence at its finest (again, no lie! this shit works for me. total middleaged endorsement of said products.)

 

Strike four of the day: The Garmin died a tragic death. DOOM!!!!

 

Despite yet another strike, the steadily worsening rain, a belly full of breakfast and my flapping boobs I was still annoyingly excited to be racing. Seriously, I'm such a tool sometimes!

 

The gun went off and we took off at a blistering and totally unreasonable pace. I mentioned this to my running buddy and he just continued on. I completely forgot that my job was to be a pacer and, instead, was delighted with this turn of events! DELIGHTED!!! I scampered merrily along literally beaming, singing and prancing along like running was the best thing EVER!!!

 

This all went very well until mile 10 when I heard these horrible words in my left ear "I'm really fading...."

I'm about to offer up a fine example of why I deserve to be nominated for the girlfriend of the year award. *sigh* (on a side note: even after this debacle Eric claims that he is not looking for a more supportive replacement... like I said, he is a lucky man...)

Here is what I said: "NO YOU ARE NOT!!!!" "WE ONLY HAVE A FEW MORE MILES!" "YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT THINKING" "AND YOU ARE AN EFFING IRONMAN!!!!" (so quit your whining.) See? I am a very kind, loving, caring woman. HAHA!!!

To my right there was a lady with a working Garmin who mentioned that we were cutting it close but could make it if we maintained our currant pace. "SO KEEP UP WITH HER!" she yelled menacingly to my ever more cross looking exclusive running partner.

We ran on. There was no stopping! And no walking! No quitting to be had!!! It poured harder and harder and I started to shiver which made me very crabby. The last mile was not so easy and according to my watch (the kind that tells time) we were going to miss the potential PR by a heartbreaking amount of time. Bottom line though, sometimes it's just not the day to PR. I know that better than anyone as I had to fight with my 5K PR for a YEAR before I finally kicked it in the teeth.

Our finishing time was still very, very respectable in 1:53:08. And Eric was not mad that I spent 20 minutes shouting at him (or that I encouraged the 6:37 minute pace at the start... whoops!!)

I was cold, cranky and shivering so I ran back home (total of 19 for the day) and leaped into a hot shower which was very painful on my freshly chaffed boobs. UGH! Ladies, NEVER forget your sports bra. I think forgetting your shorts and being forced to run in your knickers might be a better choice. Lesson learned, time to act my age and start making lists!

Recovery was done up right with friends, pizza and beers drank from glasses roughly the height of my entire leg. Yes please!!!

So a decent race, a few extra miles (which only hurt a little...) as I work towards MDI, challenges overcome, almost a PR, and most importantly beers consumed! (and no one was injured during or after the events which inspired this blog so perhaps that is the best news?)

Random Bullet Points

Just a few things on this lovely dreary Friday..

-I would consider myself to be in the least wounded state that I have been in since oh.... May? My shin/calf FINALLY (after months of futtering around and hundreds of dollars spent at the (amazing) chiropractor) 100%. IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME.

-I do have an inflamed tendon in my left foot but that's no big deal. Running downhill sucks but I can run up hill like a boss.

-I did only run 5 miles in August. Or 30 but who's counting. Terrible either way and very bad for the fitness. Very good for the ice cream consumption though, I imagine that I single handedly kept all the Maine dairy farmers in business. Sometimes I had ice cream twice a day which I most certainly can not do when running!

-September brought me back to reality and I've been working my mileage back up in the right (or wrong, according to the dairy farmers) direction.

-Even thought I have sworn off speed work in order to save my foot from further abuse I have still done a brutal tempo run over hills, a 21:4-something 5K, some 800's at the track and a shorter (but still brisk) tempo run this past week. Good enough.

-Furthermore, apparently I had sworn off long runs as well. For September I did a  wine-soaked 11, and a sweat-drenched 84 degree 15 until last Friday when I sprinted thru 19 with mad skills. UM. I survived- and that's a big deal at this point.

-I've basically been tapering since July so don't plan to in prep for MDI.

-Yes, I'm running MDI. At least I'm not running a full this weekend as well! (like some crazy people.)

-I'm VERY VERY excited to run the Maine Half this weekend. I hope it doesn't pour buckets. I'm not out for speed as I'm using the race as part of a long (ish) run since I'm not tapering!

-And I'm running Boston. STILL EXCITED!!

Boston Bound!!

 

I'M IN!!!!!!

 

Just got the official email. Thank you just-barely-made-it qualifying time.

 

That is all for today. More on this topic very soon.....

 

 

I'm (sort of...) BACK!!!

 

After a notable absence from the blogosphere I am making a triumphant return.

 

Sort of....

 

I have been MIA for the past month as I have attempted to recover from what can best be described as the shin splint of DOOM and the subsequent problems that running on it for 8 weeks caused.

Words of wisdom: When something starts hurting like crazy perhaps stop running for a few days?? Get off the feet for a bit?? Don't run a 200 mile month!!???? (What a revolutionary idea!!) *said with the highest possible level of sarcasm and disdain* Seriously, sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm a smart lady with a high IQ (and no common sense what so ever. what a waste..)

 

Moving on. I officially got the go ahead to get back to a normal running routine last week. I believe I'll classify this as a "modified" normal routine because it appears that my weekly mileage leading up to MDI will be closer to 40 than to 50+. On a normal day, looking at that low mileage would send me into an apocalyptic state of fear for my 26.2 mile success. But, knowing what happened to my poor, battered bod under the strain of those 55 mile weeks I'm going to suck it up and give it a try. I have nothing to loose because I feel that I'm still teetering on the edge of potential injury (and hence, am being very, very- some might say overly, cautious.) I am profoundly aware that this is extremely out of character for me but being on the DL for weeks was ragingly sucktastic and I plan to avoid a repeat of that debacle.

 

I plan to give a legit recap of what I've been up to for the past month (highlights: eating tons of ice cream, drinking more than one beer a week, staying up past 7PM, having tons of free time on the weekends... WOW! Being a normal person is so strange....)

 

But for now, please enjoy some of the worlds worst race pictures.

 

For my first real speedwork in 7 (Yes, SEVEN) weeks a 5K seemed to be in order. It was rainy and disgusting and 5K's still suck my butt even after such a nice break from them. I almost sat down at mile 0.2 because at that point it seemed like much too much work. But I didn't want Eric to beat me because when that happens (and it won't) he'll never let me hear the end of it (and I'll get mad.)



So I manned up and ran the damn race.

 

 

Yeah that's me in the green socks and the rain-soaked orange tank.
Subtle. Classy. Understated.
Those are the normal words people use to describe me, duh...

This is the worst picture I have ever seen, so of course I had to put it in my blog!!!
What is wrong with my face? (that's my "I HATE LIFE" face)
I also appear to run with closed eyes. (probably because it was pouring? or because I can't stand looking at how far there is to run? Or maybe I'm blinded by my own outfit?)

I ran as well as I could despite the very rainy weather, my lack of any running at ALL over the last month, the feeling of impending doom (meaning possible vomming) and a general lack of motivation (which is normal for my lazy ass...)

I still pulled off a decent finish in 21:45 for 3rd overall and 1st AG.

And I beat Eric... But not by much which does not please me....

 

I feel that this is where I should shout from the rooftops about my amazing return to running, my general domination at all things in general and how everyone should watch their backs. However, I'm going to be humble and avoid my normal bragging because quite honestly (after so much time off) running is pretty damn hard.