Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Goals

Going in to this marathon, I have the least clear understanding of what my current abilities are. Yes, this has been a particularly crazy-making taper, thank you for asking. On one hand my legs might be incredibly fresh and loose for the first time in ages (thanks mega taper, massages and yoga) on the other  hand, the bulk of my mileage was in July and August. And it's now... October.

With that being said, these may be more loose expectations instead of goals. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself. Every time I've been confident in a finishing time for a marathon I've been wrong anyway, so what does it matter. :)

A Goal: Low 4:20s. A ten minute pace would have me in the low 4:20s. If I don't have any injury niggles, no walk breaks, and feel strong forever this'll be my unicorn goal for the day. My second and third best marathon times are 4:25 and 4:26, so I could surely use those times to prevent me from taking walk breaks toward the end when even the ends of my hair hurt.

B Goal: Sub 4:30. 10:20 pace is pretty close to what I ran my long runs at. I'm hoping the cooler temps will make that pace doable. The pace teams are 4:00, 4:15 and 4:30 so I might start with this group in hopes I can pick it up.

C Goal: 4:35. 10:30 pace. Anything 4:35+ means that I either had to walk due to injury or my conditioning didn't hold up with my spotty training the last month or two. If that happens I'll implement the "just keep swimming" chant in my head, and be thankful that I get to see my mom, Kyle, and his parents super frequently on the course to help propel me forward, and just be happy that I'm able to go out and run 26.2 miles at a time. Even if it's not pretty.

As far as I know, there isn't any tracking for the race. The site is here. It looks like previous results were posted here, so maybe you can get some splits along the way! And if I have your number and you'd like, maybe I can convince Kyle to text you along the way. Although I'm sure the texts would be something along the lines of "just saw her, she's wearing green" or "she gave a wave, I think that means she's going to PR" or something equally as unhelpful (I'm thinking of Danielle's husband texting me during a marathon way back when with information that didn't help me know how she was doing AT ALL, lolz.)

Weekly Reads: The Perfectionists

The Perfectionists is the newest book series by Sara Shepard, author of the Pretty Little Liars series. I got this as an e-ARC to review as a librarian. I really liked the PLL book series, and also enjoy the show, but once the series was "done" and then more books kept being published, it lost my interest a bit.

This book follows the same formula as the PLL books: 5 high school girls, and unexplained death, except this time the girls have the motive for the murder and have to prove who the real killer was.

It was a good quick read, and people that are in to PLL will like it.

My rating: 3.5 stars.



Summary from goodreads:

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series Pretty Little Liars comes a thrilling new novel about five perfect girls who are framed for a murder they di dn’t commit. 

In Beacon Heights, Washington, five girls—Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker—know that you don’t have to be good to be perfect. At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they realize that they all hate Nolan Hotchkiss, who’s done terrible things to each of them. They come up with the perfect way to kill him—a hypothetical murder, of course. It’s just a joke...until Nolan turns up dead, in exactly the way they planned. Only, they didn’t do it. And unless they find the real killer, their perfect lives will come crashing down around them. 

From Sara Shepard, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series, comes another story of dark secrets, shocking twists, and what happens when five beautiful girls will do anything to hide the ugly truth.

October Goals

October Goals

• Enjoy as much of 26.2 miles as I can in Bemidji.
• When the miles get tough, believe in myself and my abilities.
• Recover.
• Attend a group run/week after recovering.
• 1 buddy run or ride a week.
• Fitness class challenge! 

October is always my favorite running month because it's always so cool and running through crunchy leaves is my jam. I'm giving myself much of October off from a formal training plan and will just run whenever and however far I feel like before getting in to Houston training. Eeps! I also have a fitness class challenge laid out for myself for the recovery period and to get strong before the next cycle kicks off!

Marathon Training Comparisons

Back when I started training, I thought it would be cool to do a training comparison because this cycle was planned to be different from previous cycles, and I wanted to chronicle that. Instead, it ended up being different but not necessarily in a good way. But still, I love to do comparisons, so here we are.

Green Bay--4:12
Cycle length: 14 weeks
Max weekly mileage: 47
16 milers: 4
18 milers: 2
20 milers: 2
Races ran/PR'd during: 1/1 (5 mile, still my PR)

Vegas--4:31

Cycle length: 10 weeks

Max weekly mileage: 45 miles

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 1

20 milers: 1

22 milers: 1

Races ran/PR'd during: 1 (paced 2:10 HM group)/0

Fargo--4:25

Cycle length: 14 weeks 7+

Max weekly mileage: 50 miles

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 3

20 milers: 2

Races ran/PR'd during: 5/3 half, 10k, 1 mile (still my PRs)

Philly--4:26

Cycle length: 6 weeks

Max weekly mileage:  50 miles 

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 1

20 milers: 1

Races ran/PR'd during: 0/0

Nike Women's--5:35

Cycle length: 12 weeks

Max weekly mileage: 37 miles

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 1

20 milers: 0

Races ran/PR'd during: 1/0

Madison--4:55

Cycle length: 18 weeks

Max weekly mileage: 47 miles

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 2

20 milers: 2

Races ran/PR'd during: 2/0

Bemidji--x:xx

Cycle length: 17

Max weekly mileage: 41 miles

16 milers: 1

18 milers: 2

20 milers: 1

Races ran/PR'd during: 4/2 PGSPR (10k), and auto PR (3k XC)

There's so much other data I'd like to include in here, but this took forever, so I'm going to stop for now. If you only knew how many spreadsheets I have with other variations of race/training data...... 

September in Review + Goals

September in Review

Total Miles: 57.4 down from 67.8 miles last month.  Down from 101.8 last September. 

Total Time:  10:38:32 down from 11:48:27 last month. 

Total Runs:  5 runs, averaging 11.48 miles per run. At one point my average distance per run was 14 miles. Ha.

Highest weekly mileage: 9/1-9/7 24.4 miles. Uff.

Favorite run: My 11 mile mid-week mid-long run that started my back pain.

Most hardcore run: 18 miles that almost killed me. I should just ban 18 milers from my training. 16, 17, 19, 20. Who needs 18?? Not me.

Favorite race: Sioux Falls Half Marathon.

Bike Miles: 40. Longest solo ride. Whoop!

Favorite Jam: Still obsessed with Sia's Chandelier. I may listen to it on repeat for the duration of the Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon.

September Goals

• Run my highest or 2nd highest mileage month ever.
• Run three long runs as scheduled. Shockingly I completed 2/3 despite my body trying to decide if it wanted to be broken or not.
• Run all three speed sessions as scheduled. 
• Run a strong half at the Sioux Falls Half Marathon.
• Every other day core work, hip stretches, and drills.
• 1 buddy run or ride a week.
• Attend a group run!
• 2 20+ mile bike rides. 1 40, by my calculations, that works.
• Make 2 new meals using my veggie box ingredients.
• Get 3-5 pounds closer to my racing weight. Maintained. Food is just too delicious. Oops.
• Food as fuel!

Project 365 Complete

On September 26th, I took photo 365 of Ollie for the completion of my Project 365. This was by far my easiest photo challenge, because I love taking pictures of Ollie. She's just so stinking cute that I can't even handle it. The hard part was keeping up on posting pictures. There was one point in the depths of winter that I realized I hadn't posted any photos for a full month. That was a fun afternoon of catch up.

There's a good chance I will turn this photo project into a booklet or a daily calendar thing. And I know I'll cherish these pictures if Ollie is ever not around. But just between you and me, she has promised to live forever and ever (or at least as long as I do), so I think we should be good to go.

Weekly Reads: Infinite Sea

One of my favorite young adult books is The 5th Wave . I have been waiting with bated breath for the sequel to come out, and so has every teen in my library that I have recommended read The 5th Wave. I finished The Infinite Sea in just a few lunch breaks and it was great. Yes, these books are about aliens, but it's a very believable alien invasion, which makes it just OMG GOTTA READ.

The 5th Wave summary from goodreads:
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

My rating: 5 stars.

The Infinite Sea summary from goodreads:

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

My rating: 4.5 stars.