Ever since I completed my triathlon in September, I've been pretty bad about cross-training (cycling, swimming or yoga), and I've now abandoned weight-lifting for more than two weeks. With just four weeks of training to go, I really want to get back on track to run the best race I can!
I've also given up drinking for the rest of my training cycle (you'll find out why below...), and I've started thinking about a time goal for the race. More on that next week, since Week 16 will be my all-important peak of training and when I'll do my longest run yet — 20 miles!
WEEK 15
Monday: 5-mile run
Ahh, Halloween — my favorite holiday! The cold weather kept trick-or-treaters away from my house (sad!) and drove me to the gym for my run. From the comfort of a treadmill, I caught up on all the Kim Kardashian divorce drama on TV as I ran my 5 miles at a 9:13 average pace.
At one point I had to honor of catching Anderson Cooper saying (paraphrased): “Kim Kardashian is laughing all the way to the bank. Even if she locked herself in the bank vault, you could hear her laughter floating up to the street, where Kris Jenner is busy double-parking her Bentley on your soul.”
I nearly fell off the treadmill laughing. I love Anderson Cooper.
Tuesday: Rest (skipped strength training)
I spent the evening in a dark room with Brad Pitt. (OK, I saw Moneyball.)
Wednesday: 9-mile run
A mild day turned into a horribly cold, dark, rainy and windy night. Those kinds of shenanigans make the treadmill look pretty darn good for a 9-mile run!
I'm not ashamed to admit that Miley Cyrus helped me get through it. It's a Party in the U.S.A.!
Thursday: 5-mile run (skipped strength training)
The nasty weather let up in time for me to do this run outside, and it was surprisingly tough for the first few miles. Either my body was getting too used to running on the treadmill or it was just tired from doing 9 miles the previous night.
I realized I've been very lucky to have fresh-feeling legs for almost every run during marathon training; the initial fatigue I felt on this run was unusual. After two miles I fell into a nice groove and finished feeling great, but I definitely looked forward to resting on Friday!
Friday: Rest
I try to keep Friday nights low-key since I almost always do my long runs on Saturday mornings, but I totally disregarded good sense and drank alllllll the beer in Seattle. Or at least most of it. Hey, I had fun!
Saturday: 14-mile run
I wouldn't recommend boozing face the night before a 14-mile run, but this run actually went really well!
I ran the first 10 miles with my super-speedy friend Kory, so I couldn't help going a bit faster than usual, and I felt great the whole time. I even ran a few sub-9:00 miles at the end because I felt so good! Craziness.
The beautiful weather certainly didn't hurt the situation. Seattle might be in its peak of fall glory right now. I couldn't help stopping to admire some stunning scenes along the Burke-Gilman trail.
Unfortunately, the aftermath of this run wasn't so pretty. I didn't take in any fuel besides Nuun during the run, which is unusual for me, and I needed some calories when I got home. Even though I wasn't hungry, I had a few bites of a banana and an apple slice... and had, um, mixed results with keeping it down.
Remember all that beer I drank? This was my punishment.
My stomach finally accepted a piece of dry toast, and I napped away the hangover. Can you believe I was able to have such a great long run and then feel so horrible afterward? I think I'll call this phenomenon a Delayed-Onset Hangover, or D'OH!.
It was during this D'OH! that I decided to give up alcohol until after the marathon. I felt great when I stopped drinking for several weeks prior to running my sub-two-hour half-marathon, and it's definitely a worthy sacrifice for my first marathon. Plus, it's a very easy decision to reach when you feel like death.
Sunday: Rest
I spent much of Sunday at a training session for DetermiNation Seattle volunteers. We're gearing up to represent DetermiNation at the Seattle Marathon expo in November, and actual training for the 2012 Rock 'n' Seattle Marathon and Half-Marathon starts in January, so there was lots of information to cover and planning to be done! Many of my teammates from the 2011 season are now on the volunteer committee as well, so it was great to be able to catch up with them now that we're not all freaking out about our races.
There's only a few more weeks to go until I start freaking out about this one.
WEEK 15 TOTALS
Miles run: 33
Strength-training sessions: 0 (gotta get back on track!)
Rest days: 3
Hangovers: 1 — hit with Category 5 strength
Pieces of Halloween candy eaten: Numbers don't go that high
MARATHON TRAINING TO DATE
Miles run: 327
Miles biked: 68
Swims: 7
Yoga sessions: 1
Strength-training sessions: 16 + 1 shower scrubbing
PREVIOUS TRAINING RECAPS
Weeks 1-4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
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