Run The Long Road Coaching

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NJ Marathon

Taper Insanity

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I’m only a few days into the taper and I’m already going a wee bit insane.  It doesn’t help that this is my second rest day in-a-row.  With a race on Sunday, my running schedule was thrown off a little this week.  I want to run the marathon, like, now! 

Aside from decreasing my overall mileage, this week looks like any other training week – speed, tempo, easy, and the race.  I can’t even refocus my taper insanity onto Sunday’s race, since I’m using it as a marathon paced run!  This extra time has allowed my mind to obsess.  Obsess over the persistent post-nasal drip (gross, I know) I’ve been having.  Am I getting a cold?  Is it allergies?  Since I’m allergic to everything and the pollen count is sky high, I believe it’s allergies.  Another huge obsession is with my race day goal.  I spend lots of time crunching the numbers and visualizing.  More on that next week…that’s a post in and of itself! 

Since you know what they say about an idle mind, I have been trying to obsess less and spend more time…

– Relaxing and catching up on TV (specifically Friday Night Lights)

– Taking Hawk on walks.  Hawk loves the taper because of all the extra walks!

– Tackling my to-do list.  I could do this…or watch another episode of Friday Night Lights. 

– Read.  Since I have to cut back on running, I may as well read about running!  I do have about 5 running books to read.  

What do you do to keep yourself (and your mind) from going insane during the taper? 

Random Wednesday

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Rest day!

  • I found out my bib number for the NJ Marathon is 700.  Winning!  Not only is it lucky, it’s an even number!
  • I went back to yoga last night for a 75-minute Vinyasa class with my favorite teacher, Candace.  It was a nice n’ easy class which is exactly what I wanted.  Candace does a ton of swan-dive-forward-folds (sometimes I get dizzy) and always throws in the pigeon pose at the end which makes my glutes/hamstrings happy.
  • Since my plan to cut out all sweets until after the marathon failed miserably, I am going to try portion control (imagine that).  Matt and I don’t have sweets in the house because we have no self-control around them.  So I bought ice cream yesterday (well, 2 actually) and I told Matt that we need to practice portion control and make these 2 cartons last as long as possible.  Surprisingly, Matt agreed!  It’s a good thing we’re both on the same page or we’d be out of ice cream.
  • I never posted these pictures from our DC trip.  Hawk is pretty darn cute…

Taper Time + Week 14 Recap

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4/11/11

7 miles easy

1:06

9:26 avg pace

I’m officially tapering…the hard work is done; now it’s time to rest and prepare for the big race.  I’m aiming to keep my overall mileage in the low 30s this week and the mid-20s next week, since my training cycle stressed low mileage.  Unfortunately, I still have 2 speed workouts to do 🙁

This Sunday I’ll be running the Penn Relays Distance Classic 20K (about 12.4 miles).  I won’t be racing it though.  I’m using it as a goal marathon pace run, which is exactly what my training plan calls for anyway.  I love when it all comes together!

Week 14 Recap of NJ Marathon training:
MON:  rest
TUE:  8 tempo
WED:  7 easy
THU:  rest
FRI:  6 easy
SAT:  22 looong
SUN:  rest

43 miles for the week with no speed work.  My legs were more sore than I thought they would be after the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler.  I’m glad I took another easy day so I could get in a good 22-miler!  Missing too?  Yoga.  I was leery of taking a class this week since I tweaked something in last Friday’s class.  Usually I leave yoga feeling better but not that time.  I was worried it would affect my race last week, but I was OK.

I’m going to show all of you just how weird I am…every time I say “taper time” I think of MC Hammer’s song “U Can’t Touch This”.  You know…”stop, hammer time” kinda sounds like “stop, taper time?”  Riiiight?  Well if you never thought of it before, I bet you will now!

We saw this sign in Australia (if you look closely it says hammer time). I thought it was hysterical...and how appropriate?!

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The Last 22

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4/9/11

22 miles

3:10:44

8:40 avg pace <– that’s 5 sec/mile BELOW my goal marathon pace!

Heeeellllloooo, taper!  I welcome you with open arms!  If you’re thinking why the hell would I run below GMP, see here.  I hadn’t planned on it actually, just wanted to run close to GMP and end on a good note.

Instead of boring you with 22 split times, I’ll include some random thoughts about today’s run.  Please note I’m on a crazy endorphin high right now so I hope this makes sense.

  • I definitely think a 3:50 is within my reach.
  • I treated this run like race day.  I started out running 9:00 pace and gradually decreased the pace from there.
  • I felt really good at Mile 13 so I picked up the pace and wondered how long I could hold it for.  I made it to Mile 22 🙂
  • I was tired at the end but still had gas in the tank.
  • I definitely improved my mental game this training cycle….mind over matter means more to me than you can even imagine!
  • I thought about Boston a lot during this run.  For Boston 2012, I will be 35 years old…meaning (for 2012 ONLY) I could qualify with a 3:45.  Could it be a possibility?  What if…?  I didn’t train to BQ in May but it’s very tempting to have it so close within my reach.  At least temporarily.  Once 2013 comes, it’s back to 3:40.
  • I loved every second of this run.  I hope after 3 weeks of taper I can repeat this come May 1.

I came home and immediately devoured chocolate milk and foam rolled.

Woo hoo! Sorry for the gross close-up of my arm.
Hawk helps me foam roll. I'm only 5'5", not the giant this picture makes me out to be.
Super attractive

I want to give a huge shout out to my sister-in-law, Desiree, who ran her first 5K today!!!  She totally rocked it, like I knew she would, and I think she’s been bitten by the running bug!

 

 

 

 

Random Wednesday

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4/6/11

7 miles easy

1:06

9:33 avg pace

I’m skipping speed work this week.  My legs are definitely not feeling it.  Rather than force it, I’m going to do another easy run tomorrow but include some striders.  Having fresh legs for my last 20 22-miler is more important than speed work this week.

My favorite parts of the day are my morning run and eating dinner with Matt.  The whole job thing in the middle I could do without.

I’m already starting to bathe in hand sanitizer.  Germs, stay away!  Usually this neurotic behavior doesn’t begin until the taper but there are some nasty bugs going around.  Last May, I got a head cold 2 weeks before my marathon.  It started to go south towards my chest, which is never good news.  Since I have asthma, this usually gets real ugly and drags on and on.  I went to the doctor and begged and begged for an antibiotic (“I have a marathon in 2 weeks, I cannot be sick!”).  He prescribed one and I was on it up until 2 days before the marathon.  If felt superhuman, like no germs could catch me!

What is your favorite part of the day?

What crazy things do you do to avoid getting sick before a big race?

The Final Stretch of the Monster Month

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4/5/11

8 miles tempo

1:11

8:52 avg pace

1 mile warm-up
6 miles at GMP (8:45 pace):  8:44, 8:43, 8:34, 8:32, 8:46, 8:45
1 mile cool-down

I still have some residual soreness from Sunday’s race 🙁

Proof that the hourly forecast on weather.com is worthless:  it was warm and a little humid when I started running.  It started to drizzle, which I didn’t mind.  I love running in the rain and it was actually refreshing.  Then it started pouring, the temperature dropped about 15 degrees, and the wind was smacking me relentlessly in the face.  Waaaah!

This week is my last big training week before the taper.  I’m trying to rally hard since in my mind I just ran a race and race = an easy week of training afterwards.  This will be my highest mileage week of this cycle – 43 miles – which still isn’t much compared to my previous training plans.  I also have a 22-miler on schedule for Saturday.  I really want to do well in that run since (for me at least) it sets the tone for my marathon.

Week 13 recap of NJ Marathon training:
MON:  6 easy
TUE:  15 long
WED:  rest
THU:  7 easy
FRI:  yoga
SAT:  rest
SUN:  10 mile race

A total of 38 miles for the week.  I’m glad I was able to get in most of my key workouts and still manage a PR in a tune-up race.

Here are some pictures from Sunday’s race (sorry they are so small, I tried to make them as big as possible).  I want to preface these pictures by saying that 99.9% of the time, I HATE my race pics.  I always look like I’m speed walking and I have a miserable look on my face.  With that being said…

The best one of the bunch
This was taken pre-race. I don't normally stand like that, I was freezing!
How is it possible for both of my feet to be on the ground? I also appear to be in agony, while the guy next to me is having a blast.

Does anyone like race day photos?  I always think they are so unflattering!