Back on Track

Wow - last week was an incredibly busy week! I was up late working on stuff for Primary nearly every night and my youngest was sick with a mysterious fever. So my running really suffered, and I didn't get a long run in. I did about 43 minutes on the treadmill at home on Saturday morning. I don't know what the deal is with our treadmill, but it seems like about 5.5 miles per hour is about all I can handle on it. So strange, since I can easily do 7.0, at least for a few minutes, at the gym. Is it possible that it can be calibrated incorrectly?

Anyway, I'm back on track this week. The training schedule is supposed to look like this:

Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: 5 mile pace
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: rest
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: cross
Sunday: rest

Yesterday I felt good, so I went for 4 miles. I can't remember the time. Today I did 6 miles in 46:45, doing mostly Yasso 800s. Tomorrow I plan to do 3 miles, then on Friday I'll probably do 9, since I was planning on doing 9 last week but missed it.

In other news, I decided to start another blog! Since I can't keep up with this one or my personal family blog, I thought having another one that I can fall behind on would be a great idea. Ha ha! If you live in Cache Valley and want to save some money, check it out at www.cashincache.blogspot.com.

Training this week

I've been pretty good about training this week. I missed my 5 mile run, but I made it up today, and decided to skip the second 3 mile run. I'm also suffering from another injury. I have a weird pain behind my left knee. It hurts more when walking then running. I think I may have pulled a muscle on my 8 mile run on Saturday. It seems to be getting a little better. Since I'm staying up late blogging tonight, I'll take the day off tomorrow and hopefully it will be feeling better for my 8 mile run on Friday. Can't wait!

Anyway, on Monday, I did 3 miles in 25:45. I think this was my fastest yet.

Today I did 5 miles using Yasso 800s, and ended up in 46, and that included walking the last .1 mile because I set the timer for 45 minutes by accident. I've been doing the run part of the Yassos between 6.7 and 7.0, and the jog part between 6.0 and 6.2 miles/hour.

My mom recently got an elliptical, and she gave me her treadmill! I'm excited to be able to workout in my house instead of always going to the gym. It will be great for easy runs, or to do some cross training (walking) on non-running days.

Although I love the snow we've been getting, I'm also looking forward to warmer weather so I can run outside. Treadmills are BORING!

Next Week's Training Schedule

Since next week is Christmas, I'm sure the gym won't be open on Friday for my long run. I'm also sure it will be too cold to run outside that long. Not to mention my girls will probably take all day to open Christmas presents. So this is my plan this week:

Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: cross train
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: 8 miles

Keep your fingers crossed that I'll stick to my plan this week!

Two More Workouts

Yesterday I hit the gym later in the evening after Stephen got home from work for a 5 mile run. I can't remember my time - maybe 47 minutes? This was supposed to be done on Tuesday, but I've been slacking off again. I'll blame it on the holidays. But I did get it done.

So I skipped the 3 mile run that's supposed to follow it, and did the 8 miles today. It was tough! I haven't ran that far for a couple of months. It could have been tough also because of running 5 miles the day before after being such a slacker lately. Running on a treadmill also didn't make it any easier; I think it's easier to run outside and enjoy the scenery. I did the 8 miles in 74 1/2 minutes, then cooled off for another quarter-mile in about 3 1/2 minutes.

So tomorrow I'm going to take my dog for an easy jog instead of going to the gym and cross training. She was so sad to see me put on my running shoes and head out the door without her today. She also really needs the exercise, so I'll take her for a little run tomorrow.

I'm Back!

I made it back to the gym this morning! Obviously, I'm a member of Planet Fitness. It was great to get back, actually. The ankle seems to be close to back to normal. I feel fantastic today after getting an easy workout in before the rest of the day started.

I'm using the same training schedule as last week.

Since this was kind of a test run for the ankle, today I jogged an easy 3 miles. Usually I try to do about 3.1 miles in 27 minutes. Today I completed the task in 29:30. It actually felt really good just to pace myself and not push for that higher speed. While I won't always let myself off that easy, I will try to maintain a similar pace on my middle-of-the-week and long runs. I have a problem with pushing myself too hard too early, and not having enough gas in the end. Hopefully I can solve that issue!

I also didn't do an incline at all, since I didn't want to add anymore stress on the ankle. I usually try to do a .5 to 1.0 incline, or higher if I'm not running for long. My brother recommends running on a treadmill with at least a 2.0 incline. Since the Ogden Marathon is mostly downhill, I'm not too concerned about the incline. Does anyone have any recommendations on this?

I mentioned in my last post that I'd be posting some tips to training and racing. Sorry - it ended up being a busy week! This week isn't much better. But eventually I'll get those tips in! If any reader has some great tips, let me know and either I'll post them or you can be a guest blogger and share your knowledge!

This Week's Training Schedule

This is how I'd be training this week if I wasn't injured.

Sunday: Rest
Monday: 3 m run
Tuesday: 5 m pace
Wednesday: 3 m run (full of Yasso 800s)
Thursday: rest
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: Cross train (I'd probably use the elliptical machine)

Hope you can all train without me!

How's It Going?

Training has been slow so far. I confess, I've been staying up to late and not getting up early enough to go to the gym. Maybe once the TV finale's are over in the next week or so, I'll get better. Scratch that, I'll start going to bed earlier right away! I promise.

The last time I ran was Saturday in a hotel gym while in Las Vegas. I did an easy 4 miles. I should have done 8, but I felt guilty leaving my husband with our 2 daughters in the hotel room alone. So I just did what I felt I could.

Which brings me to an important point. You do have to have ample time to prepare for a marathon. Especially a 2 to 3 hour block of time one day a week to do a long run. And if you have young children as I do, you need an incredible support system to watch your children while you run. My husband is my biggest support. I've tried to get him to run, but he just isn't into it. He's a golfer, not a runner. But he'll still let me get out when I need to to accomplish your goal. If you don't have that support, find it. It doesn't have to be a spouse; it could be a trustworthy friend or relative who is willing to watch your kids for a while. You can run with your kids in a jogging stroller, too. I've never done it for more than 3 miles, but I've seen people (mostly men!) doing it! I remember in the 15k Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run last July 4 a guy ran with a stroller the entire way. He'd have to stop to give them snacks or make adjustments, then he'd pass us again.

Back to how my training is going. So I stayed up too late on Sunday and Monday nights and skipped the gym for more bed time. Then on Tuesday I stepped wrong off of a neighbor's porch and felt incredible pain shoot up my right leg.

Uh-oh.

Seriously? I just decide to run a marathon write this blog about my training, and this happens? I walked it off, and it felt okay, but I knew it would need a day or two of rest. Last night before bed (I stayed up late again, knowing I wouldn't be going to bed anyway and having lots of Christmas presents to wrap), it was starting to hurt and swell. The pain was great enough by 3 am to wake me up. But today it feels better, although still slightly swollen. To be on the safe side, I'll take the rest of the week off, and I'll get back to training on Monday.

But keep checking my blog this week! I have plans to post about what to wear during training and running (I've learned this the hard way!) and ideas on what to eat and drink before, after and during (yes, I said DURING!) running to help you improve your performance.

Please comment about how your training is going! Also let me know if you have any questions about trainng. I probably won't know the answer, but I'll enjoy researching it for you!