BayState 2012

I’m taking the plunge, and declaring that I’m training for the BayState marathon! Now I just need to register...

Of the five marathons I’ve run in my long lifetime, I’ve run BayState three times, so I guess it’s not all that surprising that I would declare that I’m running it for a fourth time. It’s just so darn convenient. And fast. I do like fast. With about 14 weeks to go, training has become more notable. Yesterday I jumped on the treadmill for my last run of the week, and Nick was all “You’re going to run again? Don’t you want to take a day off?” My miles have picked up a bit over the last few weeks. This past week I ran 60 miles, and wouldn’t mind peaking somewhere around 70, but that will depend on how my body is dealing with the extra miles. I also ran a 6 x 1 mile workout last week with the repeats slightly slower than 5K pace, but faster than 10K pace.

For this training cycle, I’m concentrating on running more miles. In my last marathon cycle, I ran a lot of hard workouts, but only peaked at 49 miles. The first 16 miles of that race were awesome, but the last 10 were ugly. The marathon prior to that, I tried to run more miles, without much hard running (and peaked at 57 miles). That entire race felt like a struggle (probably just a bad day), but the second half didn’t feel worse than the first half, which was nice. This time around, I’m going to increase the miles again and see where that takes me.

My parents will be running the half at BayState this year too, which is super cool. I love sharing the race day excitement with others (though Nick might argue that I’m really just sharing the pain). He loves to give me a hard time about running and how I’m complete lunatic for running as much as I do. Secretly though, I know he thinks it’s cool. ;)

MIA for a whole month!

Things have been crazy! Not really planning to, we wound up moving! We were sort of thinking about the possibility, but not sure how serious we were. Then we found a place we liked...and moved! Overall, everything went smoothly, but packing up your entire home (at least for me) was extremely stressful. Now we're mostly settled though, and that's nice.

Running hasn't been high on my priority list, so for most of June I was only running 30-35 miles a week. Last week I ran 44 miles, and hopefully this week I'll get to 50. I'm starting to get into training mode for the BayState marathon in the fall. With the move over, I'd love to get back into my normal running routine.

Anyone else running a fall marathon? Have you already started training? I feel a bit behind in my training, but I'm probably okay...

A 5K 17 days post marathon...that's silly

I ran a 5K 17 days after running a marathon. I really didn't want to. I knew there was no way I'd be breaking 19 minutes, but it's a "fun run" that my workplace plans every year, and I can't just skip it. About 50 people participate, and it is fun to get out there and run with fellow co-workers. I was the first female finisher, and 4th overall. One interesting side note: the top three ladies all ran the Providence Marathon, so we three were all hurting equally. The course is reasonably accurate. It's just over a 5K, and measured out with a wheel, so I can't really complain about it being long. It is sort of a ridiculous course though. It's a loop done three times, and the loop has 4 really sharp turns in it, which end up being 12 really sharp turns. There's a lot of energy spent slowing down for the turn and speeding up after the turn.

My time was 20:35. I would love to complain about how hot it was and how the course is long, but to be fair it was only high 70's and the course is within 0.1 accuracy, so I can't really complain. (Though the turns really do make it a slow course.) Truth is, I just wasn't fully recovered from the marathon. It hurts a bit to see a 20, when a few short months ago I was seeing 18, but I'll get back there. (I hope!)

On the plus side, they took some pictures, and I look like the happiest runner on the planet. I also look much more like a sprinter than a long distance runner...

I have no idea what I'm smiling about

Really? Still smiling?

Oh, yes, I forgot. We also had to run around a tiny circle for each loop.

Random Recovery

New Sneaks...

 I'm looking for some new sneaks. I'll be buying another pair of Kinvaras for sure, but I'd like to buy a second pair of something else too. I'm thinking something with slightly more support for recovery runs, but nothing with a huge heel. (I'd like to try to keep my mid to front foot strike. Any ideas? I've run in Mizuno Waveriders in the past, but the last few times I've tried them on in the store they felt like bricks. Of course, after running in Frees and Kinvaras, maybe most sneakers will feel like bricks..

My Coach

Here's my coach. She's young, but tough. She's trained me through sleep deprivation and forcing me to push her up really big hills in a running stroller. Her training is unconventional, but always interesting. She brought me down to Earth last week when she told me that it didn't matter how good I felt on marathon day. I should not have started at 7:20 pace. Also, clearly, my interval workout the week prior to the marathon should not have wound up being 8 miles at 6:42 pace. It should have been a marathon pace run (7:30 pace). Obviously 7:20 pace is going to feel good after a run at 6:42 pace. Okay, she's not that verbal yet, but I could see it in her eyes. Hindsight being 20/20, I probably went out too fast on race day, but that's okay, I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't done it. And there's always BayState...

Recovery so far has been typical. I was sore most of last week, and only ran 10 miles. Yesterday, I did my first interval workout. It was only 2.5 miles total of hard running, but my legs felt like jelly afterward and the sweat, there was so much of it! Ahhh, It was nice. I would love to run some 5Ks soon! Actually, I would love to run a track meet, but there don't seem to be adult track meets. I would love to run an all out mile and two mile on the track, but with other people around (not just by myself), but alas I have found nothing of the sort! Don't other people out there want to rip up some rubber on the track? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Happy Anniversary!

Nick and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary last week! We've been together for over a decade! Crazy, crazy, crazy! Honestly, I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like time speeds up the older I get. I wish I could slow it down a bit. I mean not only have we been married for 9 years, but we have 2 kids! When did all that happen! Seriously though, life is good. I'm married to my best friend and have two happy kids. Couldn't ask for much more. (Other than to run faster, maybe...just joking)  ;)