Marathon Training - Week 12

The laziest blog post ever.

Yep, that's all I did last week to mark the halfway point of this adventure. I was recovering from being on vacation for a week (where I got minimal rest) and work was hell all week. I continue to follow the Run Less, Run Faster plan and some of these paces are tough. But this should make the marathon easier, right? Someone please say yes!

The highlights were a little painting and wine time with the mommas from Moms Run This Town.

It started out a little scary.

But turned out not so bad. And this is my view every morning going in to work.

Then, the week ended with a Rogue Run. We were supposed to run a local half that is co-sponsored by the marathon team, but I just wasn't feeling a run through farmland. After the Zooma debacle, I need a fantastic half and I didn't think this was going to be it. So one of my wonderful teammates created the Going Rogue run. About 40 of us ran our own little half around Richmond. We covered part of the marathon route and I got to run over a new bridge. And we even got a medal and certificate at the end. Greg is awesome.

And here's my running twin, except she's a lot faster. We even have the same shoes, and excellent taste in skirts.

I didn't race this run, but rather just let the miles roll by. We still have a long way until November 16th, so let's go drink a milkshake.

That's my crazy kid sucking down my peanut butter chocolate milkshake. It's a good thing he's cute.

 

Jilly Bean

Making it through the week

It's been a good training week so far. It started out a little iffy with a weird upper calf tightness/strain. I don't even know what I did other than sit on a bar stool Saturday night for too long. I promise I wasn't doing anything wrong. Just hydrating, yes, that's what they call it.

Icing, rolling and stretching helped very little Sunday. I waited until Monday evening to bike. Look at those amazing quads over my knees. Squint really hard, I promise they are there. No calf pain, but still tight after the ride. And yes, my feet are really long.

I got the bright idea to wear my Pro Compression socks to work on Tuesday, and bingo, calf pain almost entirely gone. I had a great tempo run on the treadmill. More treadmill runs than I like, but thanks to monsoon like conditions on the East Coast, I'm grateful to have the option.

I'm really trying to follow the Run Less, Run Faster plan. I did pause a couple of times to check my calf, but it felt great during and after the run.

A little more time on the bike Wednesday morning before hitting the road to visit my little guy at my in-laws and celebrate the 4th. I'm working on riding for time at specific cadences on the bike. Hopefully this will give me some better turnover for running.

I got up early on the 4th to try to beat the heat. Guess I should have gotten up at 4:00 am instead of 6. Days like this make me wish for the snow. I had 5 miles mapped out on a double out and back course (determined to find as much shade as I could). My plans were waylaid by two roaming dogs that scared that #%?$ out of me, and I later found out that they wouldn't hurt a flea. I stopped to let them sniff me a little because I knew I couldn't outrun them and I was right in front of their house. I figured I could scream if I needed to. They followed me when I started walking away, so a little yelling at them to go home finally worked. I ended up being a little short, but I figured my elevated heart rate made up for the distance.

Little guy wanted a picture of me wearing my necklace he picked out.

A sweaty smile at the finish before a quick shower. We headed into historic Edenton for a reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was a gorgeous day with no rain.

We continued our celebration with this when we got home. A great refreshing, reward.

Ever been stopped short in your tracks by a dog?

How did you handle it?

Did you have a happy Fourth of July?

 

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