Some of this is going to arrive out of order, but what the heck, it’s my blog. I’m moving these over from Salty Running because I would like to have copies of the training logs here as well. So, here goes:
This is a monster training update, but it’s been a monster month! This edition includes the last week of taper before my fall goal race, the Erie marathon, plus the two weeks of recovery post-marathon. The most exciting thing is the race and just to cut to the chase – I ran a 15 minute PR and got a BQ with over 5 minutes to spare! Whew, that means I made the cutoff and I will be running Boston in 2019! I couldn’t possibly be happier!
Week before the race:
Monday, 9/3, Early Morning Crew – Swim 1700
The YMCA was closed so Snarky Girl and I headed to the university to swim. That pool is so much nicer but I love the coziness at the YMCA and the warmer water temps. Later in the day I had a total weather panic attack. The forecast in Erie started to look kind of rough, with warmer temps, very high wind, possibly a lot of rain. I got so worked up that I started investigating alternative races. Finally Coach Mick stepped in and said I had better let him handle the worry duty so I did. By the next day, the weather was looking better. Whew. Welcome to taper insanity.
Tuesday, 9/4, Early Morning Crew – 5.5 miles as 2 mile WU, 10x200m w/200 jog recovery, 1 mile CD
This run was a real confidence booster. I felt good. My foot felt good. The university cross country team was on the track but I got them to cheer for me instead of feeling like I didn’t belong there. Let them see their professor up early and running some uptempo 200s!
Wednesday, 9/5, Morning Crew – 6 miles on the bike, then “weights”
I was happy to get out for a short ride. Tough Guy Trainer and I have been through quite a few marathons together so he’s used to a pre-race workout that is mostly body weight and mental prep. The weather forecast was continuing to improve. Yeah for that.
Thursday, 9/6, Morning Crew – 4 miles at goal pace (ave 8:42)
I was definitely starting to get excited. Almost race day! It was hot and humid and this still felt easy peasy. I was SO ready to get on the road!
Friday, 9/7 – Travel day
We made the 8 hour drive to Erie! The kids were great in the car. Our AirBnB turned out to be adorable. We had dinner at an amazing Syrian restaurant I had scoped out online. Great start to the weekend.
Saturday, 9/8, Morning Crew – 3 miles including strides
I ran around the neighborhood of the AirBnB, getting the long drive out of my legs. My parents were also coming to the race so we met them for brunch and went to packet pick-up. After a couple of errands we went back to the house to watch Spirit of the Marathon and enjoy the traditional pre-race pasta dinner. Early to bed for everyone!
Sunday, 9/9, Very Early Morning Crew – RACE DAY!
The long-awaited race! Race report will be posted eventually. In the meantime – YES, I ran a sub-4 hour marathon, in fact 3:54:05, YES, I got a huge PR, and YES I GOT MY BQ!
Total: 38 miles
The first week after a marathon, I generally do not run much, if at all. This week was no exception to that rule. Some easy swimming and biking, back to the gym for mobility stuff, and truly vast amounts of eating! I fully endorse post-marathon celebrating!
Monday, 9/10 – Travel Day
We drove back to Connecticut. I sat in the back of our mini van with compression socks on and my feet up. I think spent the entire 8 hours texting people about how happy I am about the race! That helped distract me from how sore my legs and hips were.
Tuesday, 9/11 – Swim unknown distance
I went to the pool with Snarky Girl. We did an enormous amount of kicking so we could talk and then some swimming when our legs got tired. We were much too excited to keep track of anything!
Wednesday, 9/12 – Weights with Tough Guy Trainer
This was mostly just moving around a bit and chatting and a couple of upper body lifts. Tough Guy Trainer knows how to manage a post-marathon workout. It was great to move around, but even though I did almost nothing, the hill up to my office felt like a mountain later in the day. Oof.
Thursday, 9/13 – Swim 1800 – modified “Be A Shark” workout
It felt great to be back in the pool. Water seems to be my recovery happy space. I also felt ready to go ahead and swim a little bit more seriously. This is a shockingly fast recovery so far.
Friday, 9/14 – 11 miles biking
It had been been raining all week but finally cleared up so I took the chance for an early morning ride with Snarky Girl and Mr. Snarky Girl. We dodged the biggest hills and rode past some pretty farms instead.
Saturday, 9/15, Morning Crew – 4 easy RUNNING miles plus weights
I ran from the gym and it felt TERRIBLE. Basically everything hurt, especially my hips. This felt so awful that I just had to laugh at myself. Luckily it got better as I went along, but not that much better. Ouch. This is why I wait on the running post-race.
Sunday, 9/16 – 20 miles on the bike plus post-race party
I went on a lovely solo ride before church. Then after church we decorated The Cake. My family has become addicted to the Great British Bake Off and it’s inspiring some excellent baking. When training got tough, I started searching for cakes until I found this chocolate peanut butter triumph on smittenkitchen.com. It looked and tasted every bit as delicious as I had fantasized about. YUM!
Total: 4 miles running, 31 miles biking, unknown distance swimming, 500 miles driving, a whole lot of pizza and cake
The second week after a marathon I usually do start to run more but this time around, I was still pretty sore. I seem to have come out of this marathon largely uninjured, though, something for which I am exceedingly grateful. The plantar fasciitis is not entirely gone, but it’s certainly not raging out of control. This week was about trying to be patient as everything slowly returns to normal.
Monday, 9/17, Morning Crew – Swim 2250 “Be A Shark”
Snarky Girl came along so we could be sharks together. I also paid a visit to the Maestro for some dry needling and massage. The plantar fasciitis is largely gone, but I want to totally kick it to the curb.
Tuesday, 9/18, Early Morning Crew – 4 miles easy
Some easy miles with my girlfriends. If Saturday was 100% awful, this was only about 50% awful. So at least things are headed in the right direction.
Wednesday, 9/19, Morning Crew – 9 miles biking then weights
Started to feel like I’m getting back in the groove. My legs were still tired but Tough Guy Trainer took the gloves off today (mostly). Back to work!
Thursday, 9/20, Early Morning Crew – 4 easy miles
I would say I am down to feeling only about 15% awful, so much improved again!
Friday, 9/21, Early Morning Crew – 5 miles
Back to Friday morning trail running! Finally had a little pep in my step today. I had told Coach Mick that since I already got my BQ, I could spend the fall running around looking at leaves. I forgot that it gets dark early now so we have to wear headlamps! But it’s great to be back running with my friends.
Saturday, 9/22, Early Morning Crew – 10 miles biking then weights
I rode my usual loop with all three ginormous hills and then some weights. I had to get done fast enough to go catch Aidan’s cross country meet. I’m so excited he’s running this year! The rest of the day was spent at a work event, but you can’t win ‘em all.
Sunday, 9/23, Early Morning Crew – 8 easy miles (9:17 pace)
It’s so good to be back to Sunday morning runs with my gang – that seems to be the primary theme of the week. Plus, fall has arrived at last so we are not sweating our butts off every day. I started a Couch to 5K group at my church today so I got in a second round of run/walking. I am so hoping this is a success! We spent the afternoon at the renaissance faire, something our whole family really loves. A great weekend!
Total: 21 miles