Week 18 - Holy moly, we are getting close

I'm a little freaked out that when I look at my training plan on the screen, I don't have to scroll to see 26.2. This means this marathon will be here before I know it.

Source

Training was overall good for the week, with a few modifications. Hubby's work schedule has gone haywire, so I fit in what I can. Overall, I gave up a cross-training day for sleep. 7 miles on the bike on Monday did feel great after 20 on Saturday. The plan called for 10 for the mid-week run. I stopped at 8 because the hip and knee started talking to me. (I am starting to listen to my body, finally). I also missed the speedwork due to hubby's schedule but squeezed in a quick 3 around my son's school before pickup AND I did runner's core workout when I got home. It's all about compromise sometimes.

The long run being 12 was a welcome relief. I had about 1.5 miles where I was by myself and purposefully did not catch up with the group in front of me. I was trying to stick to the slower pace on the plan (give myself a B- on that), so I spent some time thinking about what mental tricks I needed in my toolkit. I have to say that I relaxed, went MY pace and enjoyed the quiet. When I got to the SAG, I got a great compliment from one of the coaches on how relaxed and refreshed I looked. Exactly what I needed to here on a rollback week.

So all in all, a good relaxed week before another 20 miler. Oh boy and a foam roller! Hurts so good.

And we wrapped up the rest of my recovery week with a trip to Busch Gardens. Easy peasy walking and seeing the scary sites. Made this little guy happy.

I finally created a Facebook fan page but haven't had the time (or brain power) to figure out how to get it linked to my blog. I'm thinking it might be time to switch blog layouts to something more user friendly. So in the meantime, here's the link to Run Jilly Bean. Hint, hint, go there now and like my page. Pretty please!

 

Any advice on blog layouts/design? I'm still on blogger, and hate to convert since I don't have a lot of time to devote to it? What's easy and works for you?

Do you have a Facebook fan page? If so, leave me a comment so I can check it out.

Do you love or hate your foam roller?

 

Jilly Bean

It was a cold and snowy day

And I was slated to run 13 miles ... but the recovery run on Sunday didn't go well. How do you screw up a recovery run? You run 4 miles on a hilly, trail on tired legs which makes your ITB hurt AGAIN! Ughh!

I ran 6 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday with my ITB strap, and everything felt okay.

I took Valentine's Day off because I had a late work meeting, my knee was ehhh, and I wanted to spend time with my best guys.

I foam rolled, stretched, iced, but still didn't think 13 miles was the best idea today. The other group was doing 10, and both groups were doing loops so I had lots of options. My BRF is a fair-weather runner, so the forecast of rain and snow wasn't going to work for her. My new RF, L, also had a tough week & wasn't ready for 13 either.

It hadn't started snowing yet, but by the time we started it was 37 and snowy big, fat flakes. It was going okay, until about mile 8 when the knee started barking. And L was having issues as well. We cut the 10 mile run short to 9.3 miles because we had to get back to our cars.

So more foam rolling, stretching, icing, and careful analysis of my cadence count. Which stunk. I've gotten sloppy or lazy or something, and it has to stop. Here's to a cadence that comes back into line. Quickly!

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How did your week go? Foggy with a chance of ...

I definitely need to figure out a way to take more pictures. My blog posts are way too boring. Sorry, I will hopefully figure out something to break up the monotony.

After last week's 9 miler, I was worried about the knee. So when I'm worried, I don't post because I don't want to admit anything can be wrong.

Rather than run my scheduled 3 miler on Sunday, I took a pseudo rest day. I did end up walk/jogging a mile while chasing Little Dude around the block on his bike. The knee felt okay, but I kept up with foam rolling and icing. I spent almost the entire evening on my feet cooking 3 different meals: chili, lasagna, and taco meat. A few meals for the week and some for the freezer while the hubby was at the Redskins playoff game.

Since Sunday was a rest day, I could run on Monday and try to make it to yoga on Tuesday. Instead of 7, I backed off and did a conservative 6 miles. Knee felt okay, bonus.

Crazy,stressful day at work, check. Gentle yoga on Tuesday, check. Preschooler gets sent to the principal's office for saying threatening words to another student, check. Mommy needs a drink, check.

The rest of the week went as planned, 5 miles on Thursday. Rest days on Wednesday and Friday.

I'm trying to remember to do my plank a day with about a 50% success rate. I really need to set an alarm of something so I can remember to do this.

So, on to Saturday's long run. I was not feeling this run at all. My dear hubby (insert sarcasm) stayed up until 1:45, which means I slept fitfully because of the TV on downstairs, then woke up when he came to bed. Then he had the nerve to snore. Not a good's night sleep, and woke up before the alarm at 6:30. I really thought about bagging it but I had the route sheets for 3 other people. And it was foggy, and I couldn't decide what to wear because it was 50 degrees.

Thanks Run Pretty Far for summing it up for me.

So, with an extra shirt option in my bag, off I went. We rolled back this week to 7 miles. Now only if we hadn't gotten lost, and made it closer to 8 miles. I ended up with 7.63 miles in 1:16. Not bad, and there were Oreos at the SAG. Glad I went, and the knee felt fine.

Fingers crossed that I am back on track. I really need to not race during a training cycle to make sure I stay healthy.

And one more thing that made me laugh out loud.

And what tricks do you use to remember to plank? I need help.

 

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Oh week, where have you gone?

This week has flown by because I was in a training class all week for work. I spent most of last weekend prepping for a crazy week. Luckily hubby was in town more this week, and could help juggle the pick-up and drop-off of Little Dude. Instead of my usual 3 mile commute (I know, whine, whine, whine), I had to travel to the other side of town in morning traffic. I can't imagine traveling in traffic every day. My hubby has to drive 90 miles each way every day, often in heavy traffic. I have no idea how he manages that. I would go ape crazy.

So, now back to the week recap.

Last Saturday's group run was a mentally tough run. I was looking forward to 5 miles with the ladies. I wasn't worried about the mileage, and was looking forward to the company since I normally run alone during the week. When I got there, it was only a group of 5 runners with 1 coach. One speedy runner that is normally 30 seconds to a minute faster pace per mile than me, me, then the rest of the pack who are normally 1-2 minutes/mile slower than me. I refer to the first girl as jack rabbit. She is so sweet, but I knew it would not be smart to stick with her. I have a healthy ITB and want to keep it that way. But, I couldn't go as slow as the rest of the pack and keep my cadence where I wanted it to be. So, solo it was.

The course had some strategically placed inclines (hills when you are tired or struggling). I think running it on my own when I thought I was going to have others to chat with just made it tougher.

5 miles/50:15/Pretty consistent pacing ranging from 9:53-10:17 minute miles.

I wish I hadn't volunteered to push mow our lawn because my legs were toast after the run and the mowing.

The rest of the week went like this.

Great run with BF AK on Monday while I vented about hubby.
3 miles/30:57

Horrible, terrible, awful, solo run on Thursday. It was 86 degrees (so hotter than the last several runs). I picked a hillier route than normal to get the mileage, forgot to start my watch at in intersection (so probably added on 1/2 mile), & was racing to finish in time to pick up Little Dude. I ended up taking several walk breaks to drink. My heart rate was soaring and I couldn't get my pace slower. I was tempted to stop at 2.5 and switch runs with the next day. I decided to push through because I wasn't sure if I would have time for 4 on Thursday. Glad I pushed through because the 2nd half was better than the 1st.

4 miles/40:44/Just glad it was done.

Had time for one more run on Thursday. Quick run with AK, definitely better than Wednesday's run, but not awesome. I spent more time stretching and foam rolling that running, but made me feel good afterwards.

2.5 miles/26:01

At least I'm consistent with my pace, but I need to slow down on long runs? Any advice on how to accomplish this?

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