Yoga Pants Life

Oh my word y’all! Time is flying! I’m now 10 weeks and 6 days out from the marathon (um…didn’t I just start training a few weeks ago?!) This was an interesting week running-wise, but it ended in the best way possible. This week I noticed how tired my body felt. My legs felt like they were sandbags by the time Wednesday rolled around. Thursday’s run was fine, but I was out of energy by the end. I think a lot of it has to do with swimming (even though I’m not going that far, I’m still pretty new at it and it still takes a lot out of me.) I started to get worried about how tired I felt and wondered if my body was going to make it through training. However, taking 2 days off in a row really helped my body bounce back and I know the extra rest really helped me kick ass on Sunday’s long run.

While swimming tuckers me out, I’m not willing to give it up. Partly because I like it and I’ve improved so much – it would be a shame to stop now. And partly because I think it’s making me a stronger (albeit, more tired) runner. If I wasn’t swimming, I’m not sure what I’d be doing for cross training? Walking? Elliptical? Not that either of those things are bad at all, but I probably wouldn’t be benefiting from them nearly as much as I do from swimming.

Monday: Rest (but got over 10k steps in walking)

Tuesday: Swam 750 yards at lunch, ran 4.5 miles after work

Wednesday: Ran 3 miles after work. I was disappointed, but my legs felt like lead. I decided it was best to back off and save myself for Thursday

Thursday: Swam 750 yards at lunch, ran 4.5 miles after work

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest (I had a lot of fun wine tasting…does that count? But, not too much fun, because, you know, marathon training)

Sunday: 13.1 miles on the treadmill in 2 hours and 22 minutes (and some seconds that I haven’t converted.) This includes ‘transition’ time (the treadmill stops after 1 hour, so I just stopped myself at 5 miles and restarted right away) I’ll write about it in more detail below, but I’m stoked and this was my most confidence building run to date.

Total: 25 (I’m not counting the .1)

So, lets talk about my long run. My stomach was off on Sunday (and no, not from wine tasting…I didn’t have that much and was 100% fine/sober by about 7 pm) and I wasn’t sure I would be able to go at all. I knew I didn’t have it in me to drive an hour to my favorite spot. I also knew I didn’t feel like running in the relentless sun, complete with no shade, lots of wildlife, etc. I almost skipped all together, but I knew that wouldn’t benefit me mentally or physically, so I decided to go to the gym so that I would have a bathroom nearby and also unlimited water (if I should need it.)

The idea of doing more than a few miles on the treadmill was daunting to me, so I told myself that I just needed to get through 3, then I could reassess. Obviously, 3 would not have been nearly enough, but it was better than nothing. If I felt better, I could keep going. If not, I’d head back home and focus on what I could do better for next week.

I fired up the treadmill, and to my surprise, 6.0 mph felt slow. Like, really, really slow. 6.0, while not a sprint (though, it used to be…I’ve come a long way from feeling like 5.0 was a sprint) isn’t exactly a slow jog for me. I even contemplated moving treadmills because surely this one was broken.  However, I was already in motion and I decided that even if it was broken, I should just go with it. I used intervals and went with a run 0.5 miles/walk 0.1 miles at 3.0 mph. I could have kept running after the first few 0.5 run intervals were up, but decided not go too hard too soon. I also started playing around with speed after the first few intervals and varied my speeds between 6.0-7.5. Before I knew it, my first 5 miles were done and I decided to keep going.

My second 5 mile set was about 3 minutes faster than the first and while I started to feel some knee pain and I was hungry, I knew I needed to keep going because I was so close to hitting the half (and 13 miles was on the schedule anyway.) I ended up going all out for the last 3.1 miles and had to stop myself from squealing with joy for what I accomplished. While some of my intervals were fast, the walking brought my overall speed down.  However, It’s still, by far, the fastest half I’ve run (my previous PR was 2:38:xx) Yes, it was on a treadmill in a climate controlled room, but I don’t care. I DID IT!!!!

I’m still on an endorphin high and I don’t feel so scared about what’s to come. I probably could have even done 15 on the treadmill yesterday if I needed to, so I’m not super worried about the 14 miler on the schedule next weekend. I don’t plan on doing every long run on the treadmill, but I’m so happy it’s there and I’m really out of excuses for not doing my runs. I’m really excited for what’s to come.

Now I just need to increase my weekday mileage a bit. I’m still figuring out the sweet spot between getting enough rest and enough mileage in. It’s never going to be perfect, but I know I can pull this off. Where was this optimism last year??!!

Also? I’m 99% sure the treadmill wasn’t broken. I think I’m just getting stronger. It’s such an awesome feeling to see all the work pay off! On to week 8!!!