Is anyone else feeling a little beat up from last weekend’s Hood to coast adventure?

Note to self for Napa’s Ragnar Relay in September: Try to temper that adrenaline rush!

Here’s what was on deck for the week:

Aside from feeling tired overall, I’m also nursing a tweaked calf because — despite my best attempts at stretching between legs and using some massage tools in the van — it was nearly impossible to stay limber when alternating racing with being cramped in close quarters for 30-odd hours.

So my body was definitely telling me to back off this week, and I tried my best to listen while maintaining my training schedule. Case in point: Check out these stats from my tempo run last week.

And this week’s run, exactly seven days later — same route, same time of day, same feeling of exertion, only it’s 20+ seconds slower per mile. Ouch. And this is after a massage and an appointment with a trainer to work on some stretching and strengthening exercises for my lower legs.

But I can’t feel too discouraged; Tuesday’s track workout went well, and I nailed my paces.

Speed work is officially over, and now we’re moving into the strength portion of the training program. This means I’ll be doing longer repeats, but they’ll be closer to goal marathon pace — just 10 seconds faster, in fact.

I thought this shot was particularly appropriate for how it felt to be running another workout of almost eight miles around the track, though: infinitely endless!

The plan, going forward? Rest more, focus on recovery, be consistent with my daily stretching and strengthening exercises…and try to get that calf feeling happy again.

Onward to week 12! Thanks for following along 🙂

Happy Hood to Coast weekend, everyone!

While I’m off accruing my Friday/Saturday/Sunday miles over the next 24+ hours (and taking Sunday as a much-needed REST DAY!), I wanted to share what the week looked like.

You know how I mentioned last week that my “easy” runs were getting done a little quicker than the program called for? Well, not so much on Monday, when I struggled to get out of bed and had to drag myself through a slow and sore seven-miler (9:25 pace). Factor in a 15-miler the previous day plus a lingering sleep deficit from IDEA World, and you can see why I wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

But — yes, there is a but! — the point is that I pushed myself out the door and got it done. There’s a difference between over-training and being tired. Allow me to illustrate: This is “before,” as I was trying to psych myself up for the Tuesday track workout.

And this is “after” where, clearly, I’m happy I fought the urge to throw in the towel and treat myself to brunch with mimosas instead (seriously, I could smell bacon as I circled the track = delicious torture!). This week I simply hit the wall because I’ve been burning the candle at both ends between work and our recent move.

Why the big smile, though? Even though the workout felt tough, I managed to hit my pacing after getting a feel during the first 1200 meters (three laps around the track). Again, the purpose of this is to gauge whether or not I picked the proper race goal time (3:50), plus it’s also an exercise in allowing my body to get used to running hard for longer distances and adapting accordingly.

So “catching up” was the name of the game for the rest of the week leading up to Hood to Coast: from recovery to work to home life.

I knew I’d have a pretty quick turnaround before I’d be off and running again (!) this weekend, so I tried to set my self up for success — especially because we’re short one runner and I’ll be doing an extra leg during the race. That meant giving myself an early bedtime curfew, as well as focusing on pre-race fuel and hydration.

The lesson here? It goes back to what Jillian Michaels so wisely said at last week’s BlogFest keynote: “Work with passion is purpose, but work without passion is punishment.” She encouraged us to establish perspective and set a goal — the critical “why” will carry you through any amount of “how” (i.e. work) needed to get there.

And in between? Just try to enjoy the journey because, as my friend Mike reminded me, that’s where the most interesting stuff happens.

Coming soon: my recap from Hood to Coast…stay tuned! 

This week marked a major milestone: Halfway done with Detroit Marathon training! Although the excitement continues as I try to balance workouts with post-move disorganization (that’s putting it mildly; I can’t find anything in our new apartment at the moment) and business travels to IDEA World and BlogFest in Anaheim (recap with pics to come!).

Note that I said try because it’s been a struggle knowing I can’t do it all. right. now. But I am finding some solace in having the predictability of the training schedule staring me down each week. Otherwise, there’s a decent chance I wouldn’t be able to tell you what day it is.

When I am “home,” however, Hubby and I are having a blast exploring new running routes = #allthebridges. And I’m pumped to have a brand-spanking-new, ass-kicking running buddy, Katie (above). She just rocked her latest half marathon a few weeks ago and is doing Hood to Coast next week, so we’re motivating each other to get out on our weekly long runs.

Speaking of motivation…Track Tuesday was a doozy this week. Five repeats of 1000 meters at a 4:36 pace with 400-meter (one lap) recovery jog in between. Not only is it getting more challenging to hold the pace as the distance grows each week, but adding that half lap for each kept throwing me off. Although I suppose having to concentrate helped me plow through.

And the good news is there’s a track that’s running distance from our apartment. I’m counting the jog to and from as warm-up and cool-down from now on, which will save my sanity by cutting down each track workout by eight laps! It’s the little things…

Other than that, I’m hitting my paces on tempo and long runs, although the easy ones are probably still a bit speedy for what the program calls for (I’m in the 9:00-9:30 range, as opposed to 9:50-10:30, which just sounds painful). And I’m continuing to care for my bum heel with ice, Advil and rolling with a lacrosse ball, which all seem to be working well (fingers crossed).

So on that note, I’ll leave you with one final marathon-training public service announcement: It’s summer. It’s hot out. Stay hydrated, people. Here’s how Hubby and I prefer to do it after our long runs 🙂

Coming next week — finally checking a running-related item off my bucket list — Hood to Coast. Stay tuned! 

Thought for the week: Running in the Northwest is pretty awesome. You get the best of both worlds: hot summer days, but cool evenings and mornings — i.e. perfect running weather. Ask me again how much I love it here when we’re in the thick of the rainy season, but for now we’re soaking up all the sunny goodness.

This week was the close of what I call the “ramping up” phase of training where, after building mileage in the first few weeks, the addition of speed and tempo workouts are delivering a nice dose of reality. But next week starts the “oh, crap” phase where things like 10 mile tempo runs and mile repeats on the track start to creep into the picture.

I think my legs are finally starting to adjust to the increased frequency and mileage, though. Although some days are more of a struggle than others when it comes to early-morning workouts, I don’t have as much of that dead-legged feeling that I was dealing with a few weeks ago.

And if we’re being really honest here, the incentive of being able to pluck fresh, ripe blackberries off all the bushes along our run routes may also factor into my motivation for getting out there.

My love/hate relationship with Tuesday track workouts also continues… It takes a lot of focus to commit to running in a circle for anywhere from six to eight miles total (this week it was six 800’s at a 3:45 pace with 400 recovery in between), but it’s an incredible boost of confidence when you’re able to NAIL the paces.

I’m always a little faster than I’d like out of the gate because it takes some time to settle into a rhythm with the first one, but my next five were in a tight cluster ranging from 3:39-3:42. Of course, the last one or two feel super tough, but by that time you can count on some adrenaline because you know you’re near the end.

Another one of my goals for the week was to get my plantar fasciitis under control with some self-care techniques until I can get some professional help up in Portland. I’ll go into more detail in an upcoming post, but right now I’m icing with a water bottle, taking Advil for inflammation and using a rubber lacrosse ball to try to loosen up my feet.

I also went in for an impromptu massage this week, and the therapist spent 60 minutes entirely on my legs — from my glutes down to my toes. Some spots are slightly out of whack and I’m compensating for weaknesses in other areas, so I’m planning on doing some kind of combo of gait analysis, massage and preventative physical therapy to keep everything in check.

But in the meantime, it’s one foot in front of the other. Many thanks for hanging with me through the first two months of training; it’s been awesome connecting through comments, tweets and posts. Eight weeks down, 10 more to go!

Ok, it’s time to get real: I wanted to title this week’s post, “The one that almost did me in.”

Sure, the scenery is beautiful here in Oregon (see photo above). And the summer weather is ideal because it cools down at night to the perfect temp for morning runs.

But after topping out at 24 miles last week, this week’s jump up to 39 was a bit of a shock.

Duh, you say. You’re marathon training. What do you expect?

Yes, I do realize that running a marathon will require a good about of (gasp) running in preparation for it.

But as a runner who does more than her fair share of cross-training, I can tell that it’s going to take my body a while to adjust to the mileage and frequency of the Hansons Marathon Method.

But that’s the point — running on tired legs to train them to tackle the tough final miles of the race — so I’m keeping the faith and taking it one day at a time.

That said, the “easy” runs are going well; depending on the distance, I’m averaging 8:40-9:00, although I expect that to slow a bit as mileage continues to build.

The run I look forward to most, though, is the tempo run (run at marathon pace, which is ~8:46) because it comes after a day off and feels like a pretty natural pace right now.

My least favorite (or at least the one that requires the greatest motivation) is that Tuesday speed workout.

It may not look like much, but factor in the warm-up, cool-down and all those recovery laps, and I put in eight — yep, count ’em, eight — miles around the track that day.

As you can see from the times, I was a little amped up the first two laps, but then quickly settled into a consistent pace.

Sure, those last two felt a hell of a lot harder than the first few, but it’s encouraging that this pace was do-able for the duration of the workout.

That means that I (hopefully) picked the correct pace for the marathon. But time will tell just how accurate I am as I complete more of the speed and strength workouts.

So, as you can see, they’re a bit of a double-edged sword — tough to get psyched up for, but so helpful for gauging fitness, getting a feel for pacing and building confidence.

Next week will be an interesting one because I’m thinking about switching workouts around (a bit of a no-no, according to the program) due to a business trip.

Hubby and I are also running a 10K on Sunday, and although it’s technically part of this week’s workouts, I’ll be adjusting the schedule accordingly for that, too.

So stay tuned for week seven…where the working title of that recap will probably be “All the moving pieces!”

Well, fresh off our travels — literally, we landed late Sunday night — Hubby and I packed up and hit the road again.

The only difference? This time it wasn’t a trip, it was a move.

When Hubby decided to go back to school three years ago, we felt like this day might never come. But now that he’s graduated and it’s here, it’s bittersweet.

And as excited as we are for this next adventure, it’s always hard saying goodbye — especially when you’ve made great friends in a state that you’ve called “home” for the last decade.

It’ll be a few more weeks until we get settled up in Portland, so amid the chaos, thank goodness for the constant of marathon training!

Here’s what was on deck for the week.

Since this week marks the end of the mileage-building cycle, I’ve started to buckle down and shift my focus from merely completing runs (consistency) to keeping a closer eye on pacing (quality).

Depending on the distance, a comfortable pace has been averaging around 8:30-8:40 for these, but I know that’ll change as the runs increase in duration and frequency.

Another change this week? I’m slowly adding cross training back into the mix, in the form of yoga and weight lifting. And I’m itching to do some swimming and biking once my schedule calms down, too.

But starting next week, I’ll be doing more speed-based workouts, so you can expect more detailed descriptions of each run and how I’m feeling as the program progresses.

But for now, I’m just trying to get into some semblance of a routine during this transition period…and fortunately this scenery helps!

Thanks, as always, for following along…and stay tuned for week six!