marine corps marathon training, week 3: ruff!

It was a rough week! Why?

My car got a friendly love tap from Shane's car after my long run Sunday!

First off, I took Monday as a rest day due to Velosano Saturday and my long run Sunday, plus I worked from home thinking I could drop off my car somewhere that day. Nope. My car didn't get to the body shop until Wednesday.

Run 1: Speedwork, 5.11 mi, 9:04 overall pace

This run was not good. It was very humid and I did not give my body enough time to wake up to do its thing. It was something like 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 with 200 RI intervals. 

Shane happily (seriously, he enjoyed it!) took me to work Tuesday and Wednesday so it was nice to actually enjoy the pretty ride!

Run 2: Trail Race, 3.39 mi (advertised as 4), 9:25 overall pace.

I was not quite in the mood for this race. I, for some reason, told myself that the actual race would be my tempo run for the week...and then the trail thought otherwise. Truly I was mentally out of it prior to the race- there were storms looming and I was being extremely negative about it. I also was very hungry. 

I really feel like I held a faster pace than 9:25...looking at Strava, other folks had between 3.5-3.9 mi for the course..which doesn't mean I ran that much faster but still, it makes me feel a tiny bit better.

New mural in Ohio City!

Happy 6 months to Us! I swear I usually look better than this on dates.

Run 3: Long Run, 17 miles, 9:07 pace overall.

The goal for this was 8:55. I thought it would be a little less humid... it really wasn't that bad. I got my hill back into this long run and I think it didn't leave me enough energy. Also it was sunny. And I need to improve in sunny conditions. My last excuse was that my hat was on too tight. When I turned around to head back around mile 10, my vision got a little blurred..and it was like this for two miles. I took my gel one mile earlier than planned (at mile 11 rather than 12) and walked a bit. Also loosened my hat. 

How I feel after long runs. Please note the red on my shoulder..the chafing is real.

I got a massage after which was pretty nice, definitely worked out my hip and glute pains and I think it eventually helped me recover fast enough for the Indians race.

Who needs medicine balls when you have jackfruit?

Bonus! Run 4: Indians Inside the Park HR, 3.61 miles (advertised as 4), 8:35 overall pace.

We hit HRs!

I was very happy with how this race went. My goal was to beat my time from last year (32:30ish), which I thought I could probably do since I ran 14 miles right before that race. The only thing I was questioning was if my body was recovered from the 17 miler / massage.. but it ended up fine.

I was very intentional to start off slow and not get caught up with the sprinting starters, all to conserve energy.  My first mile was 7:23. Second mile was 7:28. 3rd mile was 7:52 - which the end was right inside the gates of the stadium. Then up the ramps we went to the upper deck, ran around the upper deck, then down the other side's ramps to under the stadium, through some parking, and then out onto the warning track, around to finish in front of the Indians dugout! 30:55 finish time.

Need to work on the top knot.

I ended up first in my age group which duh, of course I'm happy about. The second woman overall finished with a stroller so that was much cooler though.

Other than my runs... I got one session of upper body / lower body / core in. One session of the elliptical which isn't supposed to be a cross-training activity... no yoga :(  I will be getting back into the swing of things this week starting with getting my car back!!!