After posting my last blog entry earlier today, I worked almost all afternoon and evening making my "official" training schedule. When I finished I sat back and was hugely relieved because even though it's a daunting task, taking on a marathon, once I could look at it one week at a time it didn't seem so daunting.
So I sat back, examined the three pages a little more, added in my work schedule so I would know what days I would have split some longer mid-week runs into two to fit around my work schedule, and then sat it aside. I'll pick it back up tomorrow after our long, slow, distance run of 8 miles and see if I feel I need to make any further changes. Then, I'll pick it up again on Tuesday after another run to go over it with and compare it to my main running partners plan that she's put together for herself and her schedule (we're running the marathon together; it's a first for both of us). And as training goes on, I'm sure there will be adjustments, but I am starting to feel better, more relaxed, about this journey now that I have a plan.
The other part of the plan is coming into focus too. In my earlier post, I said I would post my marathon journey on the blog. After thinking about it all afternoon while working on the schedule I thought it would be best for me to update the blog weekly. This weekly update will include a daily note on my progress, both mental and physical!
Monday 9/12/11
So yesterday marked our first official day of training. We did 8 miles on trails in Annadel. It was a great run despite me falling and all three of us being covered in a paste of mud. The dirt was dry (and it's super fine) and then the fog was so thick it was drizzling so it created this paste that coated our shoes and lower legs.
After our run, we stretched and did some body weight strength training - 1 set of 15 Lunges, 1 set of 15 Pushups and 1 set of 15 Side Plank Dips. Once that was done it was time to grab coffee and get home for food and a shower. That afternoon we gathered to celebrate the birthdays of two of our friend that we run with regularly. It was a great afternoon of food, drinks, conversation and laughter!
Today, is a rest day on my training schedule; though I have also left it open to Strength Training as well since I sometimes have to do some for work with clients.
Tuesday 9/13/11
Today is a slow recovery run. I ran with my best running pal, Cathy, and our faithful "training dog" Teddy. Our pace is suppose to be SLOW.... really slow compared to what we're use to doing. We ran 4.25 miles at an average pace of 10:45. We were suppose to be slower - closer to a pace of 11:00 but both of our heart rates were at the bottom of the range we should have been in so we both figure it's okay. That said, it's still going to be important to learn how to run a little slower than we're use to. Training for a full marathon is proving to be very different from training for a half marathon... and it's only day 3!!
This afternoon, I added a run. My friend, Amy, just recently trained for and ran her first 5K and is now training for a 10K. Her training schedule (she's doing a Podcast) had her doing a 5 minute walking warm up, then 4 x 10 minute run/1 minute walk, followed by a 5 minute walking cool down. We covered 3.5 miles which gave us a 15:31 pace. I'm hoping that by keeping Amy company, and encouraging her in her training, that it will help me learn to slow my pace down. Plus, it's just great to spend more time with one of my best friends! We've been best friends since we were 16 years old.
Wednesday 9/14/11
I had a hard time waking up this morning. Yesterday was a super long day (I was at the grocery store at 8:30pm) and I really wish I could have slept longer, but it's was my day to drive car pool. After I got the kids to school I headed out for my run. The training schedule had me running 7 miles at race pace (10:19). Since I did an extra 3.5 miles yesterday, I figured I could and should decrease today's mileage, so I only ran 6 miles. I was pretty close to my target race pace too. My average pace was 10:06, so I was still a little fast. Miles 1 and 2 were too fast; miles 3 and 4 were right on target; and miles 5 and 6 were a little fast. For the first week of training, I figure I'm doing great!
This afternoon I got a little yoga in at work which felt great! Nothing like some plank and downward dog to make your spine, hamstrings and core feel stronger and more relaxed.
Thursday 9/15/11
Today I had to get up earlier than usual because the mom I car pool with is out of town to visit her older son and daughter-in-law who just had a baby last week. So her husband was dropping their kids off at 7:15am so he can get to work on time. This means that I had to have my kids ready to go before they got her, otherwise, they would play and not get ready for school. It was an interesting morning, but we made it!
Cathy came over and rode with me to take the kids to school because we're running a hard, hill run today. Our training schedules have us running our hardest run of the week on Thursdays. So sometimes we'll do hills, other times we'll do sprints or tempo runs. The route we ran this morning is one I did a few weeks ago at a leisurely pace. It's on the back roads of Sebastopol so you feel like you're all alone; it's peaceful. Cathy wanted to check it out so we decided to run it fast and push our limits.
It was a really good run! It felt great to push after the days of trying to slow down. It was a 5.13 mile run and my average heart rate was at the low end of the range I should have been in - hooray!!
I had a full day after we were done though and by 4pm I was done. As I sit here now, at 9:05pm, I am very ready to head to bed, but there's laundry to be done and a shower to be had. I will be in bed by 10:00 pm though. One of the most important things in any training is rest and recovery. Our body's heal and repair while we sleep so I am making it a point to be in bed by 10:00 pm because most mornings I need to be up at 6:00 am thus giving me a good eight hours of sleep.
On a fun note, one of the things I did today was make some adjustments to a recipe that I love and so do all my running pals - Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. The regular recipe calls for all-purpose flour, sugar and butter. Today I substituted those for organic whole wheat flour, agave and grated zucchini. They came out great!!!
Friday 9/16/11
Today was suppose to be a cross training / strength training day. So I did some strength training - all core work - which felt really good. A low-key day overall which was nice after the busy week I've had.
Saturday 9/17/11
Today was a long, crappy day! It's an "OFF" day in my schedule so I'm suppose to rest. I taught my class which requires some demonstration of the exercises. It was a really good class! After that the day just went downhill. I was tired, the kids were not listening that well, they needed new shoes, I had to get to the grocery store.... I felt like the day was never going to end. Just as the end was in sight (kids were tucked into bed) I cut my leg open on a piece of non-rusted, new metal. One spot along the "slice" was kind of deep and wide so I had to quickly clean it up, get to Rite Aid so I could get the supplies I needed to bandage it up in hopes of not needing to go in the Emergency Room for stitches because it's 8:00 pm! I also can't remember the last time I had a tetanus shot so I started to think about needed to take care of that as well. I decided since it was new, non-rusted metal, that it could wait until Monday morning. When U got home from Rite Aid I was able to get the butterfly bandages to close the gap - thank goodness! The bleeding wasn't bad and stopped pretty quickly, so I hope it'll hold up for tomorrow morning's long wrong. Oh what a great way to end Week 1 of Marathon Training!!
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