Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 16

Well, that was ugly….

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

I had mentioned in Week 15’s Sunday long run how I was sick and that continued on to this week. That, coupled with life, it was an extremely rough week.

Monday, October 17th–5 Easy Miles, 10:23 avg. pace

It was not difficult at all making sure this was done at an easy pace. I was still feeling sick–sweaty chills, stuffy/runny nose, achy body. Ugh…

Tuesday, October 18th–6.25 Miles, 9:05 pace

This was supposed to be a strength run of 1 mile WU, 4×1.5 miles (w800R), 1 Mile CD for 9 miles total. But going in I had the absolute worst migraine ever. I rarely get them and when I do, it’s brutal. Nonetheless, I met up with my run club to get the workout done. As soon as I started running though, I could feel the pounding worsen with each step I took. It was awful. After the warm up mile, I started the first the interval and felt like I was running with a hammer hitting my head with each stride.

I just felt so sick that I just threw the workout out the window and worked on just finishing the route.

Wednesday, October 19th–REST DAY

After yesterday’s awfulness and me still feeling sick, I decided I’d give myself two rest days, today and Thursday. My husband would be out of town on these days anyway which would’ve made running that much more difficult.

Thursday, October 20th–REST DAY

Early in the morning, my mom called to tell me that my aunt, her sister, had unexpectedly passed away. With my husband out of town, I wouldn’t be able to drive home til Friday.

Friday, October 21st–12 miles: 1 mile WU, 10 Tempo Miles, 1 mile CD

I knew I’d be driving home early to be with my mom so I woke up at 4 a.m. to get this run done. It was bad right from the start. My tempo pace of 8:45 that had always felt comfortably easy was just H-A-R-D. I knew I was sick, I knew that I was grieving, but I still wanted to do well so I tried, I tried. And I wasn’t completely far off pace–5 to 10 seconds on some miles-but it honestly made me feel worse, like I shouldn’t be struggling so hard with 3 weeks left of training.

😦

Anyway, I finished and then drove 4 hours south to help my mom with funeral arrangements. My aunt had died in Mexico and it was difficult trying to organize a transport to the U.S. plus funeral arrangements in one day; we only had Friday to work with. It was very stressful as we were on a major time crunch and by the time the day ended, I had never felt so sick and exhausted in my life.

Saturday, October 22nd–REST DAY

I knew logistically it was going to be hard to squeeze a run in. The international transport was taking place early morning and the funeral immediately after. I thought maybe I could run once everything was done, but because I had been insanely busy the day before and still organizing arrangements Saturday morning, that by the time the funeral was over and my aunt was finally resting in peace, I could barely move.

And because I was crazy, I decided to drive the four hours back home instead.

Sunday, October 23rd–11 miles: 3.1 @8:15 pace and 8 miles @9:38 pace

It was my anniversary day and my run club had a 5k Halloween Run so naturally, we dressed up accordingly.

This “Runaway Bride” is never running away 😀 #6years

I have no idea how I was able to run. I had gotten into Phoenix late the night before and the run was early in the morning. But I knew I needed to get in miles so off I went…

My daughter yelling at me to “Run faster mommy!!” ❤

Then, after a LONG nap, I got in some more miles in the evening. I wasn’t going to worry about pace–this was just about getting in miles. But, after a few miles I felt warmed up and things started feeling a lot better. The last three miles felt amazing and I was on cloud 9 and so ridiculously happy that I was ending a run on a good note.

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Week 16 ended with 34.7 miles. Not gonna lie, for a while I felt like all my weeks of training, all the hard worked I’ve put in, was going to be lost because of this awful week. Right now, I’m just focusing on getting better and thinking positive. I know one bad/sick week isn’t going to derail everything and I just need to make sure that I don’t let negative thoughts take over.

–Have you ever gotten sick towards the end of your training cycle? Remedies?

 

 

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 15

Taper taper bo baper, fee fie fo faper….taaaappeeer!!!!

Even though Hanson’s doesn’t have a real taper, I still have to celebrate finishing my last long run of the cycle!! 😀

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Last week, I said I wanted to focus on making my easy runs easy since I knew Week 15 was a peak week. Happy to report that I did pretty good!

Monday, October 10th–5 Easy Miles, 10:30 average pace

See that? ^^ 10:30 average pace! It wasn’t too hard running slower as I was beat. I ran in the evening and it was 95 degrees out.

Tuesday, October 11–9 miles: 1 mile WU,  3x2miles @8:35 target pace (w/800R), 1 mile CD

My goal was to not run the 2 miles sets any faster than I needed to. I’ve been doing these strength runs a lot faster than needed and I really want to..I guess not work harder than I need, lol! I programmed the workout on my watch and it would yell at me when I was going too fast. Even though I’ve gotten better about consistency with my paces, I wanted them to not be consistently fast jaja!

1st set–8:34 average
2nd set–8:27 average
3rd set–8:34 average

Yay!

Wednesday, October 12th–GLORIOUS REST DAY

This was also “Skip Starbucks” day and I’m happy to report that my overall total for The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research fundraiser is $3,200!!! 😀 To those who donated to this important cause (and I had many blogger buddies contribute)–THANK YOU!!! ❤

Thursday, October 13th–1 mile WU, 10 miles Tempo @8:45 target pace, 1 mile CD

I was very nervous about this run. It was the first (of three) of my long tempo runs and also the longest mid-week run I’ve ever done. You can tell something was up because it was a tale of two halves. The first half was too fast (like usual) and the second half was just right (where I told myself to get it together). I wish they were reverse so I could have had negative split halves but all is well. I was very happy with getting through it and still feeling good at the end.

First 5… (at mile 6 I said, “Whoa Helly!!”

…last 5

Friday, October 14th–5.5 Easy Miles @9:33 avg. pace

I know, I know…9:33 isn’t an easy pace. I headed over to the hills to meet up with some friends and honestly, I just kinda got caught up with chatting. It made me feel pretty good though, that I was talking while running up and down hills.

It was a super early run (4:00 a.m. wake up, 30 minute drive, 5:oo a.m. start) and it being the second of back-to-back early runs, I was beat when I got home. I started to feel a little tickle in my throat and just not well. I tried not to think about it too much and took some Nyquil before bed that night.

Saturday, October 15th–6.5 Easy Miles @10:32 avg pace

It was easier to run slower as I was still not feeling good. Luckily, I didn’t have to do this at crazy o’clock so I was able to get some rest. My kids had a race that morning, thankfully not too early, and I got to just wake up at our normal time.

My daughter smiled and laughed her way to 2nd place

❤

and my son finished in style jumping to the finish line

Sunday, October 16th–16 Miles at Long Run Pace, 9:30 (actual, 9:14 avg pace)

Having felt sick all weekend, I was not looking forward to this run. I slept horribly, waking up with chills (but sweating), and coughing throughout the night. I planned on starting at 5 a.m. to get 6 miles in and then meeting up to finish off 10 with a friend and my MRTT group. But, I couldn’t wake up. I just felt so tired that when my alarm went off at 4:30, I just couldn’t. I ended up starting at 5:40, getting 2 miles in, and then doing 12 with my buddy at 6 a.m.

Despite feeling horrible (I was sweating but cold), when I started running it seemed like my body/legs just knew what to do. I was hitting my paces and some (a lot) even faster but still consistent. My friend and I talked the entire way so the entire run was conversation pace; I didn’t feel like I worked for any of these miles.

I was SO happy with this run. It was the confidence booster I needed finishing of my highest mileage week ever and beginning the end of this training cycle. 🙂

Splits:

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And that’s a wrap on peak week! Total Mileage: 54 miles It was a tough back end but all the training leading up to allowed me to finish strong even though I wasn’t feeling 100%. I’m very happy with how this week went and even though I’m starting to really get nervous about the big day, I’m also really excited 😀

Oh, and super congrats to Katrina on smashing her marathon this weekend with a massive PR!!! You go girl!!! So freaking inspiring!!! ❤

–How do you mentally prepare yourself for race day? (As they say, the hay is in the barn and now I just have to run smart these last few weeks and believe in my training–tips on how to do that?)

–Did you race (or track anyone) this weekend?

–Do other people’s successes motivate you? It sure does for me!! I had so much fun following Katrina and seeing her Instagram celebration post!

 

 

 

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 14

We are less than a month away, folks!!! And the nerves are settling in…

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Monday, October 3–5 Easy Miles, 10:01 avg. pace

Easy miles around my neighborhood. I feel like I’ve been trying to make these be slower but they’re not coming out as slow as I’d like. This struggle was pretty much the theme of the week. And I know I have to work harder as I want my easy runs to really be easy, especially as I get closer to Hanson’s “taper”.

Tuesday, October 4–8 miles: 1 mile WU, 6 @Strength Pace, 1 CD

I was a little late meeting up with my run club and rushed going into this run, unnecessarily, as I’d spent the afternoon Halloween decorating (priorities, right?). So my warm up was faster than I would’ve liked, there should’ve been an 800 recovery between the 6 strength miles, and my cool down should’ve slower. I was pressed for time going in and then pressed for time finishing as I had a dinner date with friends. My six miles were faster than strength pace–this whole run was just not exactly what it should’ve been, lol.

Wednesday, October 5–4 Easy Miles, 9:22 avg. pace (<–ugh, another too fast easy run)

What??!!! Isn’t Wednesday rest day??!!!

It is…BUT, my best running friend Jennifer had a run today and I wanted to squeeze in a good luck run with her before she left to tackle the Chicago Marathon (more on that a little later!).

Thursday, October 6–11 miles: 1 mile WU, 9 Tempo miles, 1 mile CD

It’s getting harder to wake up now that it’s getting cooler. I actually like summer running (I know, crazy!) because when it’s cold outside, all I want to do is snuggle under the covers. Much easier to wake up at 4 when it’s hot than when it’s cold.

Again, a little faster than tempo pace. I finally got it together a little after the first half…

I absolutely love this ^ quote. I feel like that’s something I’ve been working on a lot this year as far as goals and challenging myself–not compromising or settling and just going for it.

Friday, October 7th–0 miles, REST DAY

I moved my rest day to Friday since I didn’t get it mid-week. It worked nicely as we were driving out of town early morning.

Saturday, October 8th–8.15 Easy Miles, 9:53 avg. pace (<—yep, too fast)

We were visiting my hometown on the border and I got in some easy (too fast) miles along the fences.

I did my run on this side…

…and then had post-run tacos on this side.

Sunday, October 9th—10 Long Run miles, 9:30 avg. pace

This was the only run this week that was right on target pace, lol! My splits were kinda all over the place but it averaged out to be exactly what it needed to be 🙂

What I liked about our route, and this was done intentionally, is that we made sure to have long inclines throughout (to help prep for those darn NYC bridges).

It doesn’t look like much of an incline, but I could certainly feel it.

My motivator for this run was getting back so that I could track my BRF Jennifer at the Chicago Marathon. The rest of the morning was spent seeing her little runner figure move across the course (the Chicago Marathon tracking app was amazing!) and screaming out loud to myself. She was doing so well and then finished strong snagging a MASSIVE PR!!

I saw her hard work first hand leading up to her big day and saw what hard work brings. Yes, I cried. I was/am so freaking proud of her. This is a picture she shared–she’s done 3 marathons, all of them Chicago and all of them for #TeamFox. ❤

My badass amiga Jennifer

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Total weekly mileage: 46.37 An overall great week. I need to get my easy runs back to being easy. I had been doing well in previous weeks, just need to get back there. I can’t believe the big day is less than a month away….

–Did you know anyone doing the Chicago Marathon??

–Do you find yourself compromising with goals you’ve set?

–Am I the only one that decorates for Halloween?