marathon training week 9

Almost two months until the big day! Here's what this last week looked like.

Monday

Easy cross training - treadmill for 44 mins, 4.3 avg pace @ 4.5 incline.

Starting to use My Fitness Pal again to keep myself more accountable about eating healthy for the next few months. Probably need to tweak these percentages.

Tuesday

Intervals

4.8 mi / 8:41 pace

How I feel lifting with speedwork sweat.

Felt really good with these intervals - 10 min warm-up, 4x800m with 1:30 recovery intervals, 10 min cool down. Around 7:00-7:15 pace for the 800m which is on target.

Wednesday

Cross training - treadmill for 50 mins, 4.2 avg pace @ 3.0 incline + Hot Yoga!

What my snack drawer looks like at work. The Bengal Spice is my new favorite!

Decided to check out a new Hot Yoga place in town, and try their class with weights.  It was great to do something different and I felt really good during and after the class.

I plan on going to another class this week, and then signing up for their first month which is a deal at $30 for unlimited classes.

Thursday

Tempo

6 mi / 8:36 pace

Decided to get some new shoes...right foot is rocking a hole..

No, they are not the same. My other color option was hideous.

This was a pretty decent run and hit my target pace for most of the run, barring stopping for ice and avoiding neighborhood cars.

Friday

Rest Day

Finally finished Under A Tuscan Sun and started this book! Read it while I walked on the treadmill for an hour after work.

Saturday

Long Run

14 mi / 9:07 pace

This run was entertaining.

The first 10k was awesome. I was rocking sub 9 minute miles. At the back of my mind, I found it odd that it was supposed to be really windy but wasn't feeling anything.  The trail ended at the 6 mile mark, I turned around, and Oh, hey, there's the wind. So the last 8 miles I ran into 20 mph+ wind. That. Was. Awesome.

However, the views were incredible along this trail.  I ran in Prescott which is around 5000 ft elevation.  These are the Granite Dells.

Seriously, the views were like this most of the time.

Afterwards, I checked out the town of Prescott.

Panera?! What?!

Got an incredible Acai Bowl at a fro-yo place in downtown Prescott.

Wreaths make great necklaces.

Also checked out Trader Joe's which I'm saving my finds for another post. 

Sunday

Today, I am running a 5k. And ideally lifting later.

Hopefully the weather holds off until after the race.

I am not going for a PR on this one since my entire body is sore. And there appears to be a blister forming on the bottom of my right foot. Which is ideal when you are training for a marathon. Just saying.  May have to return the new shoes...

marathon training week 8

How does one celebrate a PR? One cheat day of eating and easy recovery on the treadmill - then back at it.

Look, it looks like I know what I'm doing!

Also, obsessively checking for new race photos is an integral part of celebration. 

Monday

65 minutes walking on the treadmill at an easy pace. 

My entertainment on the treadmill this week.

The soreness from the race definitely hit on Monday. Hot spots were the calves (wore compression socks at work, and on treadmill), and the hips. I took a Lavender Epsom Salt bath Sunday and Monday night, and stretched/foam rolled frequently.

Tuesday

Intervals + Lifting

4.6 mi / 8:42 pace

Don't mess with Christmas socks in mid-January.

Luckily, my intervals this week were easier than those of late. 10 minute warm up, 5x 2 min fast (hit my paces finally, at 7:03 pace, last one sub 7 pace), 2 min easy, and then 10 min cool down. Lifted after. I'm starting to think my music choices are the key to successful intervals...

Wednesday

Elliptical + Treadmill 

Safe to say, I think my 4 plates of salad from Wildflower catering was sufficient for working out later on in the day. My upper body was definitely feeling it from lifting heavy on Tuesday.

Thursday

Tempo (AM) + Lifting (PM)

8 mi / 8:56 pace

Did not hit the paces I needed.  This was a 1 mi easy, and then 7 mi tempo. Probably should have done this outside. Also, I was running at 4:30a, which I thought would help, but sadly, it did not.

My immediate post-run oatmeal. (Half cup quick oats + half cup of almond milk soaked over night, add a scoop of vanilla whey protein and one banana in the morning)

My second breakfast. Give me all the carbs.

Lifted after work, heavy on the legs for 55 minutes. I can't seem to learn that I probably should never lift heavy on the legs when training for a marathon...

Friday

Rest Day

Ate well until dinner time - happy hour is evil. Ate all the carbs I saw. Only one beer though.

Also had a doctor appointment - I am up in weight since August (however, I feel just as strong, if not better), but still down 9 pounds from this time last year (no working out + pasta was my life). And my resting heart rate is at 60! I like when the doctor calls me an "athlete". Makes me feel legit. Sort of.

Saturday

Long Run

12 mi / 9:16 pace

I think this was the first time that I was perfectly comfortable in my outfit selection/weather. 

Anyway, this was hard, probably because I ran a half marathon last weekend at sea level, and the 150 squats I did on Thursday weren't letting me forget about them.

There was a nice 228 feet of elevation change over this route which I did not realize until..well, I'm running down hills upon hills and realize I have to run back up them. Whoops..

Sunday

Lift + Cross Train

I have no pictures from today so throwback to last weekend's sunset in Chandler.

Lifted for an hour this morning at 7a and cycled for a bit after. Overall, not too bad of a week considering I was racing a week ago. This coming week, I have my first run over 13.1...!!

jan photo series: snowy grand canyon sunrise

This past Friday, we took in the cold, snowy sights of the Grand Canyon at Sunrise.  Unfortunately, the sun itself never made an appearance, but it was still incredible to see the Canyon slowly start to glow in the morning light.

rock and roll half arizona

Race post!

You know the race went well when the post starts out with a Rocky pose.

It was a brisk morning in Tempe - around 42 degrees. I was originally slated to start in Corral 6 (there were at least 16 corrals, I think), but I knew I'd be a little faster than anticipated.

I kept warm by walking around ASU's campus. And by taking selfies.

The start! I've never actually been in this big of a race so it was kind of neat to always be running with people the whole time.

And then the race kicked off! I wasn't quite sure if 1:45 was realistic but I was feeling good for the first 10k.  However, I knew hills were approaching near the 8 mile mark, and they did not disappoint. Mile 9 was basically a hill where you are running between two mountains - I've actually driven on this road but forgot about that until I reached the top - and you looked down on the entire city of Phoenix.  Also, playing at the top of the hill was an African drum band and I narrowly avoided being hit by one of their drum sticks.  There were actually local bands around every mile marker - that was pretty neat.

Then, down the hill we went. I knew I had to pick up the pace here since I was a little slower on the uphill.  At mile 10, I calculated what I needed to reach 1:45 and it was within reach - as long as I had sub 8 minute miles the last 5k.

Which, I was able to do! Thankfully there was a bit of elevation loss to help me out with this though it was not all straight downhill..it was hilly. 

Then we crossed over our final bridge, and saw and heard my friends shouting for me, and then booked it to the finish line, finishing in 1:45:45!

Stars!

Overall, this was a pretty fun race - extremely well organized, entertaining, scenic, and tons of goodies that were given away. 

The Rock and Roll Series actually assesses your results and gives you badges. This one is my favorite :P

No, I did not have any seafood though..

Afterwards, we got some coffee at Smooth Coffee near downtown Phoenix (extremely shady part of Phoenix for the record, but a really neat coffee place), and then headed over to a Seafood Buffet.  I was having breathing hard for a bit after the race, and coughing often - which is normally how I feel when I run hard at Elevation.  But I felt much better after eating even though I wasn't hungry.

I'll take it.

It was definitely a great race day, time to recover for a day or so, and then back at it for Marathon training!

marathon training week 7.7

Not a complete training week recap since I have a race on Sunday.. but might as well update now since that race will have its own post!

Monday

Intervals

6.5 mi/9:05 pace

Getting used to intervals at 5a - get them out of the way early, and a..fun way to wake up to say the least.

Omelette salads..are those a thing?

Tuesday

Elliptical @ hard effort.

Taking pictures in my car like a tourist.

Flagstaff hit the mid to upper 40s a few times this week!

Wednesday

Tempo 

6 mi/8:42 pace 

I tried to outrun the train and then everything went downhill from there. Gah!

The plan here was 1 mile easy, 4 miles tempo, 1 mile easy. Unfortunately my excessive snacking during lunch came back to haunt me about 3 miles in.  So many unpleasant feelings.  Never again, I'm looking at you Cashew Power Clusters.

Thursday

Elliptical

I have friends visiting this weekend so I had to get the workout in early.

Dinner that night was at Criollo and I had some great veggie tacos!

Now it's time to rest, eat well while showing my friends Northern Arizona! More pictures to come from this visit..and oh yeah, race time on Sunday morning! I am shooting for a PR (under 1:49), and a 1:45 as my stretch goal.  Here goes nothing!

marathon training week 6

The week of the treadmill - more exciting than it sounds...

Monday

I have learned that I need to keep it easy on days before interval, so cross-training is just walking briskly with an increasing incline on the treadmill for 45-60 minutes.

The boss's pup. She has grown up so quickly!

Tuesday

Intervals
6mi/9:10 pace 

Intervals at 5a! Happy birthday to me! (I honestly did this so I could watch Making a Murderer all evening. Priorities.)

Another year - but now I enter a new age group... #old

Didn't hit target paces (per usual sadly) but I thought it being my birthday was a good excuse.

I ate at least half of this fruit tray. No shame.

I also got a pretty bad headache once I got to work... 

Wednesday

Cross train on elliptical.

The little snow storm before the big one.

The headache returned right after I worked out. Since I am my own doctor (not highly recommended by any patients), I diagnosed myself with over hydrating (I believe it was Monday where I drank 125 oz+ of water), so I lowered my water intake down to 60 oz on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday

Tempo
7 mi/8:59 pace

I finally got my new running shoes! Let me give a shout out to USPS who delivers no matter the weather, Fedex couldn't manage to deliver my shoes on Wednesday thanks to the snow. Literally - the package got into Flag a little late on Wednesday, they put in on truck for delivery, and then just didn't deliver it.

The snow storm hit.

We got over two feet of snow this week - Midwest, you're next!

I had my tempo run and actually hit my paces (for 3 mi between 4 easy miles) - say, what!?! I almost puked after. So that kind of ruined it. Not quite sure why I felt this way, but once again, I am my own doctor. The blame is being assigned to my weird lunch of a baked sweet potato, avocado (whole), ketchup with turmeric. That's probably not a normal meal.

Friday

A hair cut! It has been too long...length-wise and time-wise...

Friday was a rest day so naturally I still walk on the treadmill for "active" recovery. I'm not sure how legit active recovery is but I'm going with it.

I also went to Run Flagstaff (the local running store), where I bombarded the employees (who are folks running in the Olympic Trials next month) with questions about the best nutrition for long runs. This is a weekly occurrence and I am not ashamed.

Saturday

Long run
10 mi/9:26 pace

I don't know why I was so excited about this long run. Probably because it hit me that I have a race next weekend and I wanted to make this run good. 

This didn't feel like 10 miles at all. I watched Meet the Fockers on my iPad and that made time fly by.  Lifted afterwards. Oh hey, look at those snazzy new shoes. 

Then I went on a little drive since it was a very pretty day and I have a very nice camera.

Spring can come now.

Sunday

I cycled this morning watching Good Morning America because why not? I'll probably walk on the treadmill later to get up to 12k steps. The Fitbit is still so addicting for me after almost a year and a half of having it.

Next Sunday will be madness.

In a week, at this time, I'll be nearing the finish of the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix! Before then, two of my close friends are visiting this week, and then they will be down there with me! Which means there is a very slim chance of locking my keys in my car this time. Score.