Monday Mileage Report

My first 40+ mile week of the training cycle and I lived to tell the tale (despite taking a tennis ball to the face on Sunday's long run).  Other than my near death experience, Sunday's long run was actually really encouraging -- it wasn't easy, but it didn't feel impossible, either.  Maybe this marathon thing is going to work out after all ...

Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5.07 mi @ 10:10 pace (GA)
Wed - 8 6.77 mi @ 10:53 pace incl. 8 x 800m (Yasso 800s)
Thu - 5.28 mi @ 11:46 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8.01 mi @ 11:16 pace (GA)
Sun - 18.01 mi @ 11:53 pace (LSD)

Post-run happiness: buffalo chicken strips, fries, and beer

The mileage is definitely catching up with me (I'm looking at you, pinchy feeling in my hip!), so I'm looking forward to a step back week.  I'm also going drop the intervals this week to really give my body a chance to recover before I plunge back in with another 40+ mile week, including the dreaded 20 miler, the following week.

Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 5 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8 mi MP
Sun - 13 mi LSD

(Several Weeks Worth Of) Monday Mileage Report

It's been a crazy few weeks!  As a result, my training has been kind of all over the place -- shifting workouts around and skipping them entirely -- which I hate.  Here's a quick recap of the past few weeks:

July 23 - 29:  I knew things were going to be crazy once I left for San Francisco, so I crammed in as much running as a I could before I left, including that weekend's long run.  It wasn't pleasant, and I was pretty sore on Saturday, but I got the miles done!  And it was great to be able to relax once I got to SF, just needing to get in a few easy miles that happened to coincide perfectly with running between points on the marathon course.
Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 4.11 mi @ 10:26 pace (GA) 
Wed - 7.02 mi @ 12:00 pace (Yasso crazy hot 800s)
Thu - 4.12 mi @ 11:27 pace (EZ)
Fri - 15.00 mi @ 12:49 pace (3/1 LSD)
Sat - Rest (fly to SF)
Sun - 4.04 mi @ 12:08 pace (SF Spectating Part 1) and 2.52 mi @12:40 pace (SF Spectating Part 2)

July 30 - August 5:  Started the week still in SF and decided not to worry about training for a few days.  I knew I would get plenty of exercise in walking, hiking, swimming, etc., and I did!  Of course, I was a little stressed when I got back to Wilmette, but I resisted the temptation to go crazy trying to make up miles (although I did run four days in a row, again).
Mon - Cross (walking tour of SF)
Tue - 4 mi GA Cross (hiking/beach walking/swimming at Point Reyes)
Wed - 5 mi Yasso 800s Rest (fly back to Chicago)
Thu - 4 mi EZ 5.06 mi @ 10:11 pace including 6 x 800m intervals (Yasso 800s)
Fri - Rest 4.04 mi @ 11:20 pace (EZ)
Sat - 7 mi 5.41 mi @ 11:04 pace (MP discontinued due to thunderstorm)
Sun - 12.00 mi @ 11:41 pace (LSD)

My favorite things to see after a long run

August 6 - 12:  I planned my drive back from Chicago to Boston for Monday mostly so that I wouldn't miss another day of training.  But then on Monday morning I got about an hour into the drive before I had to turn around because the steering wheel kept having shaking fits.  FAIL.  I knew running five days in a row would be tempting fate (plus I was exhausted from waking up early after a stressed out night of not very much sleep) so I decided to just take a nap on the couch and take Klaus for an extra walk.  Then on Tuesday I was up early again (with a fixed car -- thanks, Dad!) and off to Boston.  We made the drive in 16.5 hours, getting back to my apartment around midnight.  Which mean that I once again found myself one run behind and totally exhausted.  Early in the week I didn't quite get in the quality workouts I wanted, but I did end up coming in only 3 miles short of the planned total.
Mon - Cross Rest (Failed attempt to drive from Chicago to Boston)
Tue - 4 mi GA Rest (Actual drive from Chicago to Boston) 
Wed - 8.04 mi @ 11:17 pace (Yasso 800s Zombie Run)
Thu - 4 mi 5.06 mi @ 11:46 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8.01 mi @ 10:42 pace (MP)
Sun - 17.01 mi @ 12:36 pace (LSD)

Look, Mom!  I eat healthy sometimes!

This Week: I am definitely feeling the miles at this point.  I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck, and couldn't make it through the afternoon without an hour long nap (and even after that I was still tired!)  I registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Providence half marathon this coming Sunday, but I've decided to skip it.  I'm not feeling great about my first ever DNS, but it seems like the right thing to do.  I only signed up for this race to give myself a chance to go for a PR, but I am definitely not in half marathon PR shape at the moment.  And I'm not sure I can take another disappointing half marathon.  I also don't feel like traveling to Providence alone or leaving Klaus for another weekend.  So I'm going to remember the big picture and focus on marathon training.  Here's the plan for this week:
Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5 mi GA
Wed - 8 mi Yasso 800s
Thu - 5 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8 mi GA
Sun - 18 mi LSD

How can I leave that face?  Even if he is gnawing on a cow femur ...

Have you ever skipped a race you registered for?  How do you get your rhythm back after a few off weeks?

Monday Mileage Report

A quick recap of this week's workouts:
Mon - 4.04 mi @ 11:27 pace (EZ)
Tue -   7 mi Yasso 800s Rest (aka pack for Chicago and avoid crazy heat wave)
Wed - Rest (aka drive for a reaaaaally long time)
Thu -  4 mi GA 7.03 mi @ 11:15 pace including 6 x 800m intervals(Yasso 800s)  
Fri - Rest (aka double packet pickups)
Sat - Muddy Buddy Run
Sun - Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon in 2:36:10

Not quite the week I was hoping for, but I survived and had quite a bit of fun rolling around in the mud pit.

Muddy Buddies!

The plan for next week:

Mon - Cross Rest 
Tue -   4mi GA
Wed - 7 mi Yasso 800s
Thu -  4 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest 
Sat - 7 mi GA
Sun - 15 mi 3/1 LSD (close to MP for the last quarter)

I may have to switch some days around to accommodate my weekend trip to San Fran to watch S run his first marathon there -- I'm guessing I won't be fitting in 15 miles after a full morning of spectating!


Official Muddy Buddy photos are up, so I'll be back soon with my full Rock 'n' Mud weekend recap.

Monday Mileage Report

Definitely changed things up a bit this week!

Mon - Cross training
Tue - 3.26 mi @ 9:55 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.05 mi @ 10:34 pace including 4 x 800m intervals (Yasso 800s)
Thu - 3.16 mi @ 11:33 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.00 mi @ 11:14 (not-quite-MP) + 39.5 mi cycling
Sun - 9 mi LSD 5.6 mi hike


Wednesday's Yasso 800s were a planned addition to the schedule.  I was really happy with the workout so I'm planning to stick with it!


There were also some unplanned deviations from my training schedule when S and I decided to take Klaus up to NH for the weekend and tried to fit in a lot of outdoorsy type things on top of our regularly scheduled marathon training runs (S is running San Francisco in less than two weeks).  I don't know about you, but on a 90 degree day the thing I really want to do after a run is jump on my bike for a hilly 40 mile ride on my road bike!  The ride was 15 miles and almost 90 minutes longer than I'd done before, so I was completely exhausted (and in quite a bit of pain) by the end.  Ironman here I come!  I believe I collapsed on a bench when we got back and only moved when I was promised that if I cleaned myself up I could have a cheeseburger at the cookout S's family was planning for dinner.


On Sunday morning, we packed up the car to head back to Boston but weren't quite ready for the weekend to be over, so we stopped at Lincoln Woods Trail to take Klaus for a little hike.  He's is a great trail dog -- scampers around exploring and sniffing things but never gets too far away.  We even got him to play in the river a little bit!

After five and half miles on the trail I was completely wiped out.  Fortunately I'd already talked myself out of attempting my scheduled 9 mile long run.  I have a really hard time skipping scheduled runs, but I was so exhausted I felt like I was more likely to hurt myself than do anything positive for racing prospects.  I'd thought about cutting back on the weekend activities, but then reminded myself that I am not, in fact, a professional athlete and am doing this whole marathon training thing because it's supposed to be fun, not because it's supposed to take over every weekend of my summer.


So sticking with that theme, I'm going to rearrange this week's schedule a bit to accommodate a 17 hour drive back to Chicago and the Rock 'n' Mud Challenge.


The new plan:
Mon - 4 mi EZ
Tue - 7 mi Yasso 800s
Wed - Rest (aka drive for a reaaaaally long time)
Thu - 4 mi GA 
Fri - Rest
Sat - Muddy Buddy Run
Sun - Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon

(Late) Monday Mileage Report

Totally forgot to write this up yesterday (oops) but my scores of screaming fans quickly reminded me that I owed them a post.  So here we go!

Last week's runs (if you're really interested you can click the links for my workout comments on dailymile):
Mon - Cross training extra walk with Klaus
Tue - 3.21 mi @ 9:55 pace (GA)
Wed - 6.01 mi @ 11:52 pace (fartlek)
Thu - 3.24 mi @ 11:38 pace (EZ) 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.01 mi @ 10:40 pace (MP)
Sun - 12.02 mi @ 12:34 pace (LSD)

I also successfully fed myself for over a week, and only resorted to chipotle once!  A few highlights (clearly I need to work on the photography if I'm going to be a food blogger):

Peanut butter banana breakfast (it's possible there were originally two of them)

Big ole salad.  I didn't want to wash a bowl so I used the spinach container ...

One of my favorite meals -- broccoli and cheese baked potato!

4th of July apple pies (I didn't eat all of it, I swear)

Kraft mac n cheese is still delicious.  I also had peas so I could feel all healthy like .

Mom and Dad sent frozen Malnati's pizza for my birthday!

And I got a birthday cupcake.  Plus a "pupcake" for Klaus, of course

Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein -- apparently non-Italian pasta works for carb loading, too!

Klaus's favorite treat is an ice cube (he's got one between his paws).  Weirdo ...

This week is a stepback week, which I'm hoping to use as a chance to step up my game on the cross training, strength work, foam rolling, and stretching I've been skimping on up to this point.
Mon - Cross training
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi Yasso 800s
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6 mi MP
Sun - 9 mi LSD


That's right, this week things are getting really crazy and I'm contemplating trying out these Yasso 800s I keep hearing so much about.  My goal marathon pace of 10:45 translates to about a 4:40 total time, so this week I'm going to use Wednesday's run to try for five 800s at 9:20 pace (so in 4 min 40 seconds).  The idea is that by the end of the training cycle I'll have built up to ten 800s at that pace.  Sounds a little crazy right now, but hopefully I'll get there!

Monday Mileage Report

Monday Mileage Report is now back on Monday!  Shocking, I know.  But here goes:

Last week's workouts -- follow the links to get the full recaps:
Mon - Cross training moving moving moving
Tue - 3.21 mi @ 10:35 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.59 mi @ 10:44 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.21 mi @ 11:43 pace (EZ) 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.04 mi @ 11:10 pace (not-quite-MP)
Sun - 11.02 mi @ 12:26 pace (LSD)


I definitely struggled with the heat this week, but it felt good to get a solid week of workouts in!  And I finally got to reintroduce my favorite marathon training tradition -- a lazy post-run afternoon of Domino's pizza (cheesy bread and a pepperoni and pineapple pizza) and lots of tv (started watching Parenthood, and I love it!)  I skipped the compression socks this time, but those will definitely have to make a comeback too.  Amazingly, I even got my long run in early enough to go to church and run an errand before I collapsed on the couch with my not-so-healthy lunch and did some cleanup work on my post-move disaster while I was watching tv.  Despite the fact that when I tried to jump in the shower with 15 minutes to get cleaned up there was ZERO water pressure and the water just dribbled straight down ...

Yes I love butter garlic sauce, no that was not the only piece I ate

And the plan for next week:
Mon - Cross training moving moving moving
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 6 mi Fartlek
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6 mi MP
Sun - 12 mi LSD


Yes, that's right, I'm changing things up and throwing in a middle of the week "speed" session.  I definitely feel like training for two marathons last year has made me slower at short distances, and this time I don't want to totally forget what it feels like to run fast, even if it's not for very far.  I'll let you know how it goes ...

Wednesday Mileage Report

I finally finished moving everything from my old apartment to my new apartment yesterday, which means it's time to catch up on my backlog of blog posts!

Blogging is way more fun than dealing with this mess

Last week's workouts:
Mon - Cross training 12 hours in the car (now that I have Klaus I drive home instead of flying)
Tue - 3.09 mi @ 10:58 pace (GA)
Wed - 5 mi GA  Took the day off hoping to fend off some developing injuries
Thu - 3.06 mi @11:20 pace (EZ) 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 5.26 mi @ 11:13 pace (MSD)
Sun - B.A.A. 10K in 1:00:59

Klaus enjoying the car ride from Chicago to Boston

This will be my first week of the training cycle with no race planned!  I'm kind of looking forward to settling into the weekend routine.


Here's the plan:
Mon - Cross training moving moving moving
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 6 mi GA
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6 mi MP
Sun - 11 mi LSD


And now for the injury update ...


My patellar tendonitis seems to be getting better, or at least not worse (knock on wood), but as usual, that means two new injuries have popped up.  During the North Shore Half a few weeks ago, my right hip started to hurt, especially on the uphills.  The pain hasn't gone away since then, and usually kicks in 2-3 miles into my runs.   It also wakes me up in the middle of the night, resulting in lots of rolling around and kicking to try to find a comfortable sleeping position.  Not fun.  I've also been having some serious heel pain for the first time ever.  For a few days last week, I could barely walk because the pain in my right heel was so sharp.  I scrapped Wednesday's run to try to rest it a bit, but I don't think being on my feet moving all week helped much.  Halfway through Sunday's 10K the pain was so bad I thought I was going to have to walk the rest of the race, but I ran through it.  Which was fine until after the race, when I could barely walk home from the T thanks to the combined heel and hip pain.  Now my heel is mostly numb, which scares me even more.


Any armchair diagnoses from my fellow injury-prone runners?


Only 15 minutes until they turn my building's water back on for the day!  I love construction.

Wednesday Mileage Report

A little late, since I spent all of Monday driving back to Boston (and all of Tuesday freaking out about how I'm going to move all my stuff into my tiny new apartment), but here it is!


Mon - Cross training = Pilates On Demand
Tue - 3.1 mi @ 10:20 pace (GA) + quick strength
Wed - 5.0 mi @ 10:09 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.0 mi @ 11:02 pace (EZ)  + quick strength 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 9 mi @ 11:48 pace (LSD)
Sun - Race Against Hate 10K in 1:02:34


Wednesday's 5 miler felt GREAT.  First run in a long time that didn't feel hard, despite keeping the pace fairly quick (for me, anyway).  My knee has been holding up ok, but of course that means something else has started to hurt -- this time it's my right hip.  Maybe jumping back into a full training load and adding on my hip-heavy PT exercises at the same time was too much ...


This week: 
Mon - Cross training 12 hours in the car
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 5 mi MSD
Sun - B.A.A. 10K


I didn't have to alter any of the distances this week, but since Sunday's 6 mile long run is actually going to be the B.A.A. 10K, where I know I won't want to hold back  the pace, I'm going to turn Saturday's 5 mile pace run into a medium distance slow run.  My hip is still hurting bad enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, and spending the day hauling things from one apartment to the other isn't helping, so I'm thinking about scrapping/shortening today's 5 miler.  But I'll probably feel guilty and end up running it this evening (high of 99 in Boston today?!) anyway.


I finally have the photos from the North Shore Half, so I'll post recaps of that race and the Race Against Hate 10K asap.

Monday Mileage Report

Here it is -- the first weekly mileage report for a brand new marathon training cycle!  I'm using Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plan again.  Hopefully this time I'll make it through without missing whole weeks due to injury.
The general plan is short runs on Tuesday and Thursday, a moderate distance run on Wednesday, a marathon pace run on Saturday, and a long run on Sunday.  I'll be making small modifications throughout to accommodate a bunch of other fun races I want to run this summer.  For this first week, I combined what should have been a 5 mile pace run and an 8 mile long run so I could run the North Shore Half Marathon without changing the weekly mileage.  Oddly enough, that's about how the pacing of Sunday's race went down (unintentionally) but more on that later ...

So, with the modification, here's how last week broke down:

Mon - "Cross training" aka walked the dog and called it a day
Tue - 3.0 mi @ 10:26 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.0 mi @ 10:59 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.2 mi @ 11:06 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - "Rest" but ended up taking the dogs for an extra long walk and going shopping, which meant even more walking
Sun - North Shore Half Marathon in 2:30:43 (Ouch)

And coming up this week:

Mon - Cross training = Pilates On Demand
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 3 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 9 mi
Sun - Race Against Hate 10K

Once again, I'm modifying the plan slightly so I can run the Race Against Hate with my mom, sister, and boyfriend.  And by "with" I mean they're all running the 5K and will be waiting around forever for me to finish.  So I'm swapping Saturday and Sunday and adding a mile and change to the pace run, which should have been 5 miles.

I'll post a full recap of Sunday's North Shore Half as soon as I have photos.

And now, since this has been a boring, photo-less post, here's another picture of my adorable puppy!

Klaus demonstrating "rest day"

Monday Mileage Report

Sorry for going AWOL last week!  My sister tells me that "the people" are demanding new blog entries, and more specifically that an angry mob was approaching the house with pitchforks and old running shoes.  I have to make this one short, but here goes.

Last week's training:
Tue: 5 mi @ 11:01
Wed: 7.9 mi @ 11:19
Thu: 3.2 mi @ 11:31
Sat: 5 mi @ 9:56
Sun: 20.1 mi @ 12:21

The most exciting run of the week was Thursday's three miler.  I wanted to do a short run since my knee was acting up, so I brought along my new canine friend who I've been watching/borrowing during the day.  She was amazingly well behaved for a dog without much running experience.  Moose and Rowdy, you know I love you, but you really need to learn how to run without pulling my shoulder out of the socket!

A much too long video of Moose and Rowdy "playing nicely"

Sunday's 20 miler was extremely painful.  Diane and I had a girls night in on Saturday, and after a few glasses of red wine with not enough water, I was plenty dehydrated on Sunday.  Then my Camelbak ran out around mile 16, so I ended up with puffy hands, an all over the place heart rate, and a debilitating side stitch.

See where I completely died after mile 18?

Next up is Disney's Princess Half Marathon on Sunday, so I promise I'll be back next week with a full race report, complete with lots of photos.

Monday Mileage Report

I survived my second 40+ mile week in a row!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	PT 5.1 mi @10:49	1 8.4 mi @11:35	2 4 m @10:30	3 Rest	4 5.2 mi @9:48	5 20 mi @12:09	42.7 mi

The week started with a trip back to physical therapy.  The PT actually put me on the treadmill to check out my stride for the first time (although I think it's a little different on the treadmill).  Now I'm supposed to focus on turning out my hips and shortening my stride.  The hip thing sounds really weird, but when I focus on it I can definitely feel a difference.  Mostly that difference is my hip and butt muscles getting super sore.  She also made me do a bunch of strength work on my left hip and quad.  I followed up the PT visit with an easy-ish five mile run.  The next day I was way more sore than I was the day after my 18 miler!

Wednesday I got to run in shorts!  In February!  I was looking for a new 8 mile route and sort of randomly ended up running down to the Museum of Science bridge and back on the other side of the river.  Turned out to be just over 8 miles.  I'll definitely be keeping that route in the rotation.  The heart rate monitor has really revolutionized my slow distance runs.  I once again turned off the pace display and focused on keeping my heart rate down, and once again 8 miles flew by.  I only took one quick walk break around mile 6 when my stomach started acting up a bit.

Thursday's run was uneventful.  I cut 5 miles to 4 after more stomach trouble (which I was fully expecting, after eating dhall cheesesteak for lunch), but kept the pace up pretty well.

Saturday's pace run once again ended up closer to half marathon pace instead of marathon pace.  But this time I felt it quite a bit more than last week.  Especially when I had to battle of pretty strong head wind most of the way back.  It even blew my hat off in the middle of an intersection!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  Sunday's 20 miler!  I have to admit, I wasn't really excited about this run after running 18 the weekend before.  Although for the first time this training cycle I actually thought about my long run far enough in advance to start carbing up a few days before and to rest and hydrate the night before the run.  I even remembered to go to City Sports for more Body Glide and Shot Bloks.

I started the run around 11:30 am on Sunday after my new pre-run breakfast of Pop Tarts and Extreme Sport Beans (sounds gross, I know) with my route still up in the air.  Around mile 4 or 5, I decided I would run two 10 mile loops, making a quick pit stop at home in between.  The first lap was along the river between the Arsenal and Mass Ave bridges.  Second lap was Museum of Science bridge to JFK bridge, with an extra mile loop added on at the end.  I never really felt like I got in the zone on this one.  I tried only watching my heart rate again, but by the second half I was having a very hard time keeping it down, even when I felt like I was running really slowly.  Maybe too much caffeine in the Gu/Shot Bloks?  But in the end, I came in right around my 4-hr target and I'm walking today, so I'll count it as a win.

This week is a much needed step-back week: three five milers, an 8, and a 12 mile 3/1 long run.

Monday Mileage Report

My first 40+ mile week!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
23 Rest	24 5 mi @11:21	25 7 mi @11:31	26 5.4 mi @10:00	27 Rest	28 6 mi @9:51	29 18 mi @11:52	41.7 mi

Training this week was amazing.  Maybe Stressed Jess is just a better runner than Happy Jess?  Or maybe strawberry frosted Pop Tarts really are my perfect pre-run breakfast?  Tuesday  and Wednesday weren't anything special, but the weather was great and the runs just felt good.  Thursday and Saturday I ran much faster than I had planned.  My legs wanted to go fast (fast for me, not for actual fast people) and I went with it.  Sunday's long run went much better than I expected, too.  I ignored my pace and focused on keeping my heart rate down, and the pace ended up being just fine, actually on the fast side of my long run pace range.  I thought I was feeling pretty good at the end, all things considered, but apparently I looked like a zombie.  I ended the run at chipotle, since I'd run through dining hall brunch, and the cashier told me to take care of myself and pretty much insisted that I take a cup for water in addition to my veggie burrito bowl.

Not exactly negative splits, but I didn't blow up, either

Today, I'm feeling much, much better than I was after my 18 miler in the last training cycle.  I'm a little sore, including my shoulders and my back, but nothing hurts too much.  The only downside is that my appetite is finally catching up to my training.

Leftover Domino's makes an excellent second dinner

I know this is a little risky, but I've got another ambitious training week lined up next.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
30 Cross	31 GA: 5 mi	1 MSD: 8 mi	2 GA: 5 mi	3 Rest	4 Pace: 5 mi	5 LSD: 20 mi	43 mi

That's all for now.  It's getting late, and I have to teach my first classes of the semester tomorrow!