Pre-race nerves…

There are only 4 days between me and the Gettysburg Marathon.  At the moment I am feeling more nervous than excited.  If it wasn't a hilly race, I could probably reverse that statement.  Training has gone really well, but I just am not as confident about my hill running as I would like to be. 

I think some of the nerves are because I do not know exactly what to expect.  The elevation map on the website is not detailed enough to get a sense of how the hills are, and the comments from last year’s course say it is difficult and that the map is deceptive.  The second half of the course has been changed from last year to make it faster and less hilly, but that still leaves a lot of room for scary levels of hilliness.

The other scary thing is how few spectators there will probably be.  There are only 3 places they mark for spectators, at miles 5, 13, and 25.  Personally, I don’t need spectators as much in the first half of the race; it’s the second half where they make so much more of a difference. 

The other thing is that this is my first race I’ve traveled for.  I’ve usually run whatever seems fun in the DC area from 5K to marathon.  This is my first time starting a race not from home.  Luckily I’ll be seeing and staying with a friend…so maybe I should just focus on the excitement of seeing her and ignore the prerace nerves…

The weather has been all over the place lately.  I haven’t started really checking the weather for Sunday yet, but I’m just going to hope that it isn’t too cold or too warm. 

So my goal for this race, given the hills, is the same goal I had for MCM, to finish under 4:30.  If this were a more flat race, I might be bold enough to shoot for a 4:15 marathon.  I think Megan and I are going to keep a good conservative pace over the first, and hillier, half, and then start picking it up some depending on how I feel…and by conservative I mean closer to a 4:30 pace than a 4:15 pace.    This would not normally be my marathon strategy, but I think it might be the best approach for this race. 

Some thoughts on tapering

I am officially one full week into the tapering part of training.  Tapering is both a struggle and a relief for me this time around.  Seeing my mileage decrease feels strange after steadily increasing it over the past months.  I feel like I should be doing more…wish I had done this or that more (hills in this case).  I don’t think this is an unusual feeling for a runner.  I anticipate increasing restlessness and excess energy over the next 2 weeks leading up to the race.

On the other hand, this has been a very stressful year so far.  Although running was not part of the stress, training for a marathon takes time and energy.  It’s kind of nice to have an easing up of that energy and time requirement to rest before the actual race.  Of course, since running makes me feel better about life, I will probably be cursing the decrease in activity before race day J

This weekend I was particularly lazy.  It was a very long and tiring week, and with no one to run with but Bennett to hold us accountable, our intention to run turned into complete laziness.  This morning we meant to be good and run, however, yet again a lazy morning seemed so much more appealing.  By the time I was ready to contemplate a run, it was very hot out.  So I ended up doing 10.5 miles on the treadmill instead of the 12 miles on the schedule.   

Last big training week

Life has been very busy the past few weeks. Several times I mentally started writing a blog entry, but by the time I got anywhere near a computer, there were more important things to do. I had intended to write about my complete failure to get up in the mornings to run recently; thankfully I have the second chance of a post work run. And, I wanted to write about my adventure on a for real like trail the other weekend where I survived 12 miles without falling. Granted it wasn’t actually that traily of a trail, but pretty trail like for me. Clearly, however, these were not important enough to make me actually find the time to write them.

So anyway, here I sit at the end of another very busy weekend and at the end of my last bit training week before Gettysburg. This past week was another 43 mile week, and yesterday was my second 20 mile run. I feel that I survived this second 20 miler pretty well, although it could be the massage yesterday afternoon that has my legs feeling so good…

We ran our 20 miles on the W&OD trail again, but did some of the beginning miles on a hillier trail that connects and parallels the W&OD trail to try and simulate the Gettysburg course. Even with the extra hills we finished in basically the same time as the first 20 miler (10 seconds slower). I was pretty shocked at our time because I had mentally felt like we were going slower…maybe it was the early hills or the fact that by the end of the run I was wishing I had less clothes on... It definitely warmed up a lot.

I can tell that I have made a lot of progress in my hill running, but I still have no idea if I am prepared for Gettysburg. The elevation course map is not detailed enough to give me a sense of the kind of hills, and they changed the second half of the course from last year so the comments can only tell me so much. At this point though there’s not much I can do besides hope I’m ready for it. I plan to do one more hill run this week, but I’m moving into taper territory so basically the hard running is all done.

20 miles and a busy weekend!

Well, it’s taken me several days into this week to find the time and energy to right about last week, with last weekend being the reason I haven’t found the energy to write till now.  We had friends in from out of town; hosted a wedding shower; I ran 20 miles; and managed a massage!  It was a crazy busy weekend!

Last week I had a nice 43 mile week!  Two easy 5 mile runs, an 8 mile run mostly up hill, and a moderately paced 5 mile run all led up to my first of 2 20 mile runs. 

The 20 mile run went great!  It was threatening to rain all morning, but managed to hold off till we were done running.  I went into this run determined to slow down from the pace I’d been running the past few runs.  We started at just under 10:00 minute miles and then eventually started speeding up.  It was really nice to have both Megan and Max to run with though for at least the first half of the run.  It was one of those good long runs where I felt pretty good the whole run and happy to be out and running and of course happy to not be rained on.  As we finished up the last mile or so Megan told me “you can’t fire me as your guide when I tell you are time.”  Well, we had run the 20 miles faster than any of my previous runs at 3:11:00!  We finished the last mile in 8:47.  Afterword’s I felt great!  I mean obviously my legs were tired, but I felt much better than I remember feeling after 20 miles training for MCM.

So, what does this mean?  I keep trying to run slower and end up running faster.  I don’t want to over train by running too fast, but I also feel good during and after my long runs.  I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve underestimated my fitness gain from MCM.  Gettysburg is pretty hilly; so I don’t expect to have an amazing time or anything, but I definitely feel much stronger and faster this time around.

After running 20 miles Saturday morning, it was time to co-host a wedding shower.  So I got to stand lots in the afternoon.  Even so my legs felt ok on Sunday…sore but not too horrible.  I was lucky enough to get a really good massage Sunday afternoon which definitely helped get rid of a lot of the soreness. 

Rock N Roll Half Marathon

It is a very nice change of pace to run a race that starts only a few blocks from our house. Bennett and I had the luxury of puttering around while getting ready, and then strolling leisurely over to the start line of the race. We didn’t have to wait long, or worry about crowds and port-o-potties. This alone would make me want to run this race again.

Yesterday was a beautiful running day. The temperature was perfect for a race. Running in shorts and a t-shirt felt amazing! It really felt like spring…or probably actually more like late April or early May.

This was Bennett’s first half marathon. We had no set time goal, and no real way of monitoring how fast we were going anyway. I wanted to run fast enough that he was working hard, and I at least was running faster than an easy pace. Stupidly, I forgot to use my inhaler that morning so I was a bit concerned about wheezing a lot with all the spring allergens around. I did spend parts of the race wheezing, but not as bad as I thought I might.

The course was nice and took us through parts of DC we haven’t run in before. There were a good amount of people out cheering along the whole course. The one thing that did not live quite up to my expectations was the amount of music. I thought there would be more, given that it is the Rock N Roll half and full. Oh well though…Although it was a big race, it wasn’t over crowded. Bennett did really well for his first race! I was really proud of him for pushing through! I tried to let him set the pace, but I know I sped up too much a few times…I’m sure no one is surprised at that!

Our official finish time was 2:08:12. I think that’s awesome for Bennett’s first half! I’d love to see what my half time would be though when I could set the pace :)

44 mile week...

I meant to write a post at the beginning of the week, but with one thing and another that never happened.

Last week I had an all time weekly mileage high of 44 miles! I was very happy how well I got through all of the miles considering that I lost my Sunday rest day the previous weekend. I managed to get in a nice slow but long hill climb of 6 miles during a 9 mile treadmill run and a faster than was wise 18 mile long run as my not easy runs of the week.

An 18 mile run in 2:55:30 was definitely not intentional. So much for the idea that an 8 mile run the day before would keep me from running too fast. Megan and I kept trying to slow down, but then clearly kept speeding back up. I probably should have run that at least 30 seconds per mile slower if not more. It felt good though almost the whole way, but this week I could feel that fast run and the 44 mile week in my legs!

If I’m remembering correctly from MCM training, it was the week after my 18 mile long run that I really started to feel the miles more than just the next day. So, I guess it makes sense that the same thing would happen around that point. Last time, it was an 18 mile run at probably a 10:30 pace and a 36 mile week though. That’s a big difference from this time around.

This week I’ve been feeling tired and bleh when running. Part of that earlier in the week were tired legs, part is day light savings time messing up my body’s schedule, and part was work stress related. Tomorrow is the DC Rock & Roll Half Marathon though. There’s nothing like a race to get me moving. I’m jealous of everyone getting to run the full though. I wish I had the ability to run the races I want without having to put in so much coordinating effort.

41 mile week

I’ve officially completed my first 40+ mile week of marathon training! Last training schedule I had one 40 mile week as my peak week of training. This training schedule has 4 weeks between 41 and 44 miles. That alone marks progress from the last round of training.

I finished up the week with a 17 mile run. In a desire to avoid being soaking wet running for several hours, we moved the run from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. We also switched from C&O to W&OD to avoid puddle jumping the whole run.

I was a little nervous about this run because of our failed attempt at a 15 mile run in Florida. Additionally, my leg was really tight during my 14 mile run before that. I wasn’t sure how my right leg would hold up and how hard the 3 mile jump would feel.

Well it felt great!

First off, it was great to run with Megan again. Our run became catch up and chat time, which always makes a run more enjoyable. I felt good pretty much the whole time. At around the turn around point, there’s a decently long hill. Last time I encountered the hill was on my 18 mile run training for MCM. This time, the hill was noticeably easier for me to handle. So, although I’m not where I’d like to be with my hill running, it was nice to notice that improvement.

Also in typical me style, I sped up on the second half of the run. Megan slowed us down a few times, but I think I kept speeding back up. Neither of us are the best at pacing, and it definitely felt like a comfortable pace the whole time. We finished much faster than I thought we would though, 2:46 and some seconds when I expected something more like 2:55-2:59. I felt pretty awesome at the end of the run, and today my legs are a bit tired and soar but not too bad. The only downside to shifting our run to Sunday is that I lose my rest day. This is going to be another high mileage week so I’ll keep my runs easy until my legs feel like they’ve rested enough.