Training Time (as May 2014)

Here Training Times that I have been using to train for my first marathon as well as goal times for 2014:

I haven't done a lot of speed pace work, I'm hoping to do more of it after the marathon.  These are goal time that I hope to reach by the end of this year (not so much the marathon one due to it is my first marathon and I just want to finish).

The marathon training journey is coming to a close

I finished my last long run this morning with some of MRTT mamas and they knew was my last long run so, they followed my run/walk ratio, which I absolutely appreciate.  We maintained 9:30 pace for 10 miles, which felt amazing because I felt relax and confident about doing the marathon now.  Knowing that I have a week and wake up before it, makes a little nervous but more so, I'm excited to do this.  Since January, I have ran almost 480 miles in training for this marathon.  I have changed my diet (limited my processed sugars); how much I hydrate before, during, after a run; I found tested out what kind of gels, chews, waffles, etc.; started cross training twice a day in order to strength my core; kept a running log; and have experience some minor set backs but, was able to adjust and move forward.  This coming week, I'm suppose to run 3 miles on Monday, 4 miles on Wednesday, 2 miles on Thursday, rest on Friday and Saturday, then finally the marathon starts at 7 am.

I'm so grateful for Bill and MRTT mamas in being so supportive, encouraging, and just simply awesome to help me mentally and physically prepare for this marathon because without all of them (especially Bill), I think I might have given up a couple months.

I think the biggest thing I have learned on this journey thus far, it is ok to be discouraged and have the moments of weakness when the voice in your head is screaming at you to stop and this isn't worth all of this but, also ok to tell THAT voice to sit, shut f$%k up, and believe that you got this.

So, I know that I will probably have a point in the marathon that I want to get up but, I will trust my training to this point and know that failure IS NOT an option, duct tape that negative voice in my head, keep telling myself that I'm strong, trust your training, and you've got this.  I don't know what my time will be when I cross that finish line but, I WILL cross that finish line knowing that I did everything that I possibly could to prepare for this.

Processed Sugar Challenged

At the beginning of April I decided that I wanted to see if changing my (processed) sugar intake really change my running, my overall measurements, and how I felt.  I started where I was attempting to keep my over sugar intake to 70g a day (first week), then starting the second week I went down 50g a day, which is where I have kept. After 21 days this is what the change was:

I haven't had much change in my arms or legs but, core/hips has decreased quite a bit.  Granted it hasn't been easy and last night I almost blew because I wanted to buy clearance Easter candy but, Bill reminder how hard I have worked to here and was it really worth undoing all of that work.

My 23 miler

I did my longest run to date this morning, it was amazingly surreal and peacefully.  The first 2 miles was a lot of hill work and thinking that maybe I planned my route poorly but, around 3 miles or so, I finally found my groove/my comfort pace.  Around 6.5 miles I was on county road 18 and hit some head wind and really hoping that it wasn't going to last, which is lasted until I hit 7 miles.  I started tweeting when I had 12.5 miles to go to let Bill and my other running friends know.  I was feeling amazing 13.1 and looked at my Garmin and was 2:02:16, which was only 16 seconds my PR record for half marathon that I did last fall.  About 16 miles I was heading into downtown Canandaigua and realize that I was still feeling pretty awesome.  I was on South Pearl Street in Canandaigua 18 miles and starting to feel tired but too bad.  I hit 19 miles on Outhouse Road in Canandaigua and started to feel emotional because it I was the first in my life that I ever run that in my life and I was proud of myself and thankful that I was able to do it.  At 20 miles that little voice in my head kept saying, "you know you are tired and you can quit now, there is no shame it."  I was able to kind of quite the voice by tweeting that I only had a 5K left.  Then at 22 miles, I hit that "the wall" and my head was roaring at me saying, "well you know it if you go this you would be done at your Nana's house, just that because this it isn't worth it."  At that I pretty much told my head, "shut hell up, it is only a mile and I got this! You are brave, you are worth it, just finish."  I finally got in front of my Nana/Papa's house and I realize that I miscalculated my .10 miles so, I run down to almost Mohawk Street and back to get the full 23 miles.  I got inside and my calves and feet hurt but the rest of me was just happy to finished.  My Nana insisted that I needed to eat but, I didn't want to eat, insisted that I needed to drink something that had sugar in it but, I really didn't want it.  I did end up drinking 8 oz of cranberry juice and it really did hit the spot, we chilled at my Nana and Papa's house for couple of hours.

Halfway point

I'm currently halfway through my marathon training and it amazes me that my body has changed as much as it has in such a short time.  Even my way of thinking of nutrition, strength training, cross training, resting, and just how I deal with the day to day.  Now I'm getting to the point where I'm looking at specific foods as my fuel for training versus giving into cravings.  Meal planning has become a much bigger part of training because I know that Thursdays and Fridays, I need to have more complex carbs and tend to have red meat in order to feel more fuel for my longer runs on Saturdays.  I drink about a gallon of water a day, which is something that I haven't done since I was breastfeeding.  In some aspects, running and breastfeeding are similar to each other in dealing with having the proper fuel.  I know that when I breastfed lil miss that red sauce was a no-no because she would break out and I would have a heartburn from it whereas, with lil man I couldn't have too dairy products because he would be fussy/gassy and so would I.  I have learned now that drinking regular milk does NOT sit well with my stomach or system overall so, having anything with too much milk in it isn't good for my training.  Green smoothies are awesome!  Strength/cross training is absolutely necessary, which I know that I did that in high school and college when I swam but, really cared or took the time to understand the importance of it until now.

Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies

1 1/2 cup of Almond milk or Soy milk or Rice milk (regular milk doesn't mix well)
1/2 cup of fresh fruit or frozen (ie mixed berry, mango, strawberries, pineapples, etc)
1 sliced banana
1/2 cup to 1 cup of fresh spinach

Place into a blender and mix until smooth.

If you choose to place into a freezer bag omit the milk until you are ready to mix in the blender.

Half/Full Marathons Plans

The two training plans.  The first one is for half marathon training:

The second one is for marathon training:

I have combined several different training plans/programs as well as my own experience to make up the half marathon plan.  With the marathon training plan I combined several different training plans, never increasing more than 15% a week for the mileage.  I have found after running 2 half marathons that having a long taper period doesn't well for me because I feel like I'm resting too much and then I feel winded during the race.  I'm at start of week 8 of the marathon training and so far, I really like this plan because I build up the mileage for 3 weeks and back off for a week, then start building up again.