Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 15

Monday I went to a new massage therapist and it was like night and day from last week's experience, thank god. He said that he didn't ever want me to be in pain that I couldn't tolerate for 10 seconds. There were a few times that I was uncomfortable for a 10 count but nothing like the week before when I wished we had established a safe word. 

He actually thinks my issues are stemming from my feet and worked my arch as well as a muscle that runs from the bottom of your foot to the inside of your calf and attaches at the inside of your knee, then starts up again and wraps around to the hip. My right leg was also considerably shorter than the left leg, so when he was done working things, that was back to normal. Apparently my right leg is my strong leg.

I left the massage feeling loose and optimistic about Bemidji.

Tuesday I had a book club with some friends and mexican and margaritas is not good pre-run fuel so I had another rest day.

Wednesday I set out for an easy 3 miles. I had some tightness in my left calf, but no pain. I'll likely just be doing easy 3-6 mile runs during the week and my taper-length long runs on the weekend up until race day.

I had planned to do my long run on Friday (I worked Saturday at the library this week), but I was really nervous that it was going to hurt. So I just enjoyed a lazy day with the pug. I wrote a ton of blog posts, read a book, and did some core work. So it was equal parts lazy and productive I guess.

Saturday I worked and then went out to one of Kyle's fishing buddy's housewarming party. While at the party I started having some stabbing lower back pain on my right side. My heart rate was crazy high and I started to feel nauseous. Neat. We ended up leaving around 10pm.

When I woke up on Sunday I was still feeling short of breath, and I thought it had to do with my allergies. They've been a pain the behind for the last few weeks. I did my usual hip/glute exercises and while I was waiting for my garmin to find a signal, I realized I was panting like a pug. That's when I realized I probably had a rib out that was effecting my breathing.

Luckily for me I had 12 pain free miles. They weren't anything speedy, but it was nice to run instead of hobbling like last weekend. My breathing was really off, and my heart rate was really high, but I'm hoping things will sort themselves during my massage tomorrow.

Most importantly: Bemidji is a go!!!

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 14

I already briefly mentioned in a previous post how week 14 of training went, but for the purposes of looking back on this for future planning/training ponderings, I'd like to do my regular weekly post. Apologies if I'm a bore.

Monday I received the massage from hell.

And I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday recovering from it. I was honestly more sore after the massage than I am after marathons. Brutal.

I would've liked to extend my long run to the weekend, but I worked Saturday and I had a friend's bachelorette party Saturday night, so I knew I'd be in no condition to run long on Sunday. Had I known that the evening wasn't going to be quite so crazy, and that the temps were 30 degrees cooler on Sunday, I surely would've waited.

As it was, I set out for my long run Friday morning around 8. I felt great until around mile 9 when my hip started to tighten. And then things quickly went downhill after mile 12. I finally threw in the towel at 16.25 and walked the last 1.75 home. Womp.

I then preceded to lay on this foam roller for the next hour or so until my stomach NEEDED Qdoba.

I spent the rest of Friday and Saturday freaking out about the race and if I'd be able to do it or not.

Sunday I searched all the yoga studios in town for a restorative or gentle flow class, and I found one at a new studio about a mile from my place. And your first class is free. See you there! It was magical. The room was still really warm from the previous class and I was there super early to fill out paperwork, so I spent a good 15 minutes stretching on my own before class started. We held various poses for 5-7 minutes at a time, and there were moments I felt like I was actually melting in to my yoga mat. Ahhhhhh so amazing.

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 13

I spent the beginning of the week foam rolling my face off.

By Thursday I finally had all the ouchies out of my IT band. And by Saturday I decided to push my long run to Sunday.

Sunday I made it .1 of my 18 miles before calling it quits and walking back home. But not before stopping to stretch three times to see if that'd help. Nope. It's a different knee pain than what I've experienced in the past, and I attributed it to residual IT band soreness that I wasn't getting completely.

So instead of a 3 hour long run, I went for a 3 hour long ride. Not nearly as beneficial as the run, but it was still a great day to be out enjoying the outdoors.

Longest solo ride. Second longest ride ever. While maintaining my fastest long-long ride pace. Wahoo!

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 12

Monday I took a rest and recovery day from a weekend of awesomeness. Sleeping in. Napping. Hydrating like a champ. Pug snuggles. You know, typical.

Tuesday I worked late, so I dug out a new pair of running shoes to hit the road for 11 miles. I wanted to run SO BAD when I was in KC, we passed so many cool running paths, so I was excited to get in a monster mileage week. Only 3 left until taper!

The run felt awesome, but my lower back was really tight toward the end. I was focusing on good running form, so I'm not sure if that was adding additional stress to my back or what. The last two miles  is on sidewalks instead of the trail, so I get stopped at traffic and I had to stretch my back each time.

Tuesday at work, I was in so much pain, I was actually crying out when I'd have to sit down or stand back up. I swear I've had every running injury in the history of the world except for back. WTF.

My back continued to hurt the rest of the week. I ibuprofened, and developed a new love affair with Icy Hot patches. OMG, life savers. The pain went away after Wednesday but I still had a lot of tightness and soreness all the way through Saturday when I went to pick up my race packet.

Since Sunday's half was my 10th consecutive at this race, I did NOT want to have to DNF it, but I was seriously concerned that was my fate. I talked to my co-worker and she said if I had to walk it, she'd walk the rest of the way with me. That's a friend. Hah.

I laid around all Saturday with an Icy Hot patch (FYI the knock off brand is not as effective, nor is it as sticky, spend the extra $ for the better quality, lesson learned) on my back, hydrated, and freaked out via text to any friend that'd listen. Thanks friends.

Sunday I woke up with a teeny bit of soreness, but nothing like I'd had all week. YAY! I still didn't know if running caused it, or if running just made it worse, but I was hopeful about the half!

My garmin died at 3.3 miles, and I still managed to stick close to my race plan of 6ish miles of long run pace, followed by 7 miles of picking it up. I didn't pick it up as much as I thought I did, but I was still really happy with my effort level.

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 11

After running the GoFar half, my legs felt terrible. As in, the worst they've ever felt after a non-marathon race. In looking at the photos my mom took of me, my form went to hell the second half of the race. I hydrated like crazy Sunday and foam rolled 2-3 times a day. Finally by Wednesday my legs were ready to go. Luckily this was a recovery week, but I hadn't planned to take four days of complete race on a month where my mileage just hasn't been where I wanted it to be.

Since I had rested so much, I jumped right into my planned run for Wednesday and ran 9 miles after work. My legs felt pretty awesome until the halfway point, and then it was just a struggle. I realized that my form was suffering majorly, so I tried to engage my glutes and the pain in my knee disappeared and my average pace dropped ~40 seconds per mile. Well ok, then.

Of course then my legs felt terrible on Thursday and Friday morning was spent packing to go out of town. One run for the week! Uff. 

I have a huge week on deck for Week 12, so my legs should be recovered and ready to rumble!

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 10

Monday I rested yet again and Tuesday I headed to the track for some race week mile repeats. Except that school is back in session and *my* track is now being used for marching band practice. I rerouted to the bike trails but the reroute, and running 10 minutes late to start anyway had me cutting off two miles from the workout. I was supposed to do 3x1600m. at 8:05 pace.

I hit the first one in 8:01. It was really humid but coolish temps. The second one I was feeling pretty fatigued and logged 8:09. Considering the first one had a slight downhill at one part, and the second had the uphill version, I imagine I was probably pretty close to the 8:05 effort.

This is my "yay my car didn't get stolen since I was ill prepared to carry my keys on this run" selfie.



Wednesday I took a rest day because pounding the pavement instead of the track for mile repeats made my legs take a beating. They were incredibly sore.

Thursday I did a 5 mile recovery run before work. My legs were still dead. And it was insanely humid out. (Are you seeing a trend for the week? The humidity is back juuuuuust in time for race week. Perf.)

Friday I had grand plans to get in a 2-4 mile shake out run before work, but I also had to run Ollie out to Kyle's parents before work, AND pack since we were leaving as soon as I could get away from work. The run was scrapped.

Saturday I had a .5 mile warm up before my race and then ran a half marathon in two hours and 9 sopping wet minutes.

Sunday was spent driving back home and trying to rehydrate. My legs are ridiculously sore for the race I executed on Saturday. I'm blaming extreme dehydration during the race for that. I did foam roll, push ups and core work. 

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 9

Week 9 was not my best week of training. It's Sunday night and I'm trying to not beat myself up about it as I write out this recap.

Monday I started off with a bang and knocked out 10 miles before work. On a roll!

Tuesday through Sunday I ran zero miles. Ugh. I was struggling with exhaustion and just could not sleep enough hours. It finally dawned on me during the weekend that it seemed similar to the Vitamin D deficiency I'd struggled with before. For some reason I just assumed I was getting enough Vitamin D from the SUN in the SUMMER to not need a vitamin supplement, but I guess I'd be wrong. I took my normal dosage Friday and Saturday and already felt dramatically better on Sunday.

But not good enough for a run, I guess. I had a REALLY RANDOM ache in my right ankle Friday night that reared its head again Sunday morning. Like I said, i haven't ran all week, and it didn't hurt at all on Monday, so it's probably nothing, but super cautious, always injured Jerbear was super cautious so as to not be injured and scrapped the run. UGH.

Sunday I was able to meet my running buddy Jenn for a long leisurely ride to get my heart pumpin' a bit.



Next up is B Goal Race Week, so I hope this week is a bit stronger, mentally and physically!

I had the following set as a separate post, but I think it makes the most sense to include it for this week's recap, as it's what I'm feeling this week and last. I often use this blog as a diary to go back and reflect on training, so it may be helpful to have this included. We'll see.
______________

After my 3k XC race, I was on runner's cloud 9. I performed better than I was expecting and the race and racing atmosphere left me wanting to go out and run all the miles. As races typically do. It also started to give me some of my racing confidence back. That I can fight in a race a bit. That not all my speed is dead. That my training is showing improvement.

And then a few missed runs crop up and I completely lost my mental game.

Whoa.

Ok then.

Jenn was giving me a text message pep talk about my upcoming marathon (I screenshot the whole convo to look back on during moments of need and pre-race when I'm freaking the eff out, as I do) and how she just knew that I was going to run sub 4. And I was like, cool, I don't know that. But I'm glad you do.

But it was just awesome to have that sort of assurance from someone who used to be the same exact g.d. speed as me and then went bonkers and shattered our PRs by like 30 minutes or something ridiculous like that. So yeah, I'll listen to her.

Because the marathon is such a weird beast. You can run, and analyze race predictors, and race and further analyze race predictors, but it's just SO HARD to know what your body is ready to tackle when you toe the line of 26.2. There have been times I was sure I'd finish the race with a 3 at the start of my time, but I never have. 

So right now I'm in the boat where I feel confident that I will run a PR this October. 4:12 will no longer be my best marathon time. Will that time start with a 3? I honestly don't know, and I still have some hard work to put in before I'll join forces with Jenn in believing her. But my god, is it nice to have someone believe in you and your dreams!

Feel free to give me some advice on how you silence your brain when the negative racing doubts creep in.

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 8

I started off the week, Monday with a hilly run. It was supposed to be 8 miles, but I was really having troubles breathing. I finally realized that I had a rib out of place that was causing my breathing to be so laborious. Ugh.

I had Kyle crack my back Monday night and took my first full breath of air in days. It was magical.

Tuesday I was all set to race a 5k. Except we all know that turned out to be a 3k. I did some warm up and cool down mileage to get my mileage to 6+ miles for the day.

And then Wednesday I woke up with some insane hamstring tightness in my left leg. Because you shouldn't race a 2 mile cross country race in the middle of marathon training. Lesson learned. I rested, foam rolled, ibuprofened, stretched.

And repeat Thursday.

Friday I was all set to do 8 miles because my leg finally felt ok. Yes, I am probably overly cautious at the mere possibility of injury, but being on again/off again injured for 4+ years will do that to a runner! I was all ready to go, water bottle in hand, glute and hip stretches and strengthening done, and out the door when my stomach decided it was NOT happy. I figured it would pass, but I was pretty miserable the rest of the night.

Sunday was supposed to be my long run day, but magically Kyle had the day off from work, so I decided that sleeping in and spending the day with him was more important than a long run. I hope I don't kick myself for that decision on October 11th, but man, sometimes life trumps running

The good news is that my legs should be amazingly fresh this week, so I should be ready to knock some mileage out of the park! And next week is my half marathon, or B goal race of this cycle, so there's no opportunity to shuffle around training runs. 

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 7

Week 7 was a recovery week, and thank goodness for that. After running my first 20 miler of the training cycle, as well as my highest weekly mileage thus far of training, I was ready for a break. And apparently so was my body. I started off the week being exhausted and fighting off a cold/allergies. Sinus headaches, congestion, nasal drainage while I slept. Blech.

I skipped two of my runs for the week, totaling 15 miles.

Friday I worked a split shift at work, and hit the bike trails during the lunch hour for 8 miles. I was way under-fueled, and it was hot, and I tried to quit 2 miles in to the run. I even started for home, and then felt better, so I turned back around and kept running. The run got better

Saturday I was tempted to squeeze in one of the missed runs, but ultimately decided not to. I did do core work. And I did Thursday too! Getting back to a routine!

Sunday I went out for another 8 miles. Before I started, I did my glute exercises in my apartment and was having troubles catching my breath. Ugh. Outside was much much worse. Not being able to breathe out of your nose, and running in 80% humidity is not awesome. I AGAIN, tried to quit my run at 2.5 miles. Instead I slowed waaaaaay down, and told myself I could stop at the water fountains to cool myself down. I also had some magical farmer blows that cleared out my sinuses a bit to help my breathing. 

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 6

I took a rest day Tuesday and started off my runs on Wednesday with a bang. I drove to the bike trail to run my tempo run and was all excited to snap a gorgeous picture of the moon as the sun was starting to rise. But as I got out of my car, there was a girl sleeping in the car next to me, and I was afraid she'd think i was snapping a pic of her. So here's my face instead, again.

I had seven miles on the schedule with five at tempo pace of 8:48. I didn't eat breakfast before this run and didn't bring any fuel along with me, and I really started to feel it the last two tempo miles. I was totally pooped. Hard early morning workouts require snacks, memo received. I still squeaked out an average tempo pace of 8:49.

Thursday was a rest day and Friday was supposed to be my 20 miler, but in looking at the weather for Friday vs. Sunday, it was a no-brainer to move my long run to Sunday. So I headed out for a hilly 8 miles Friday late morning to get in some heat and humidity acclimation with my hilly run.

Saturday was supposed to be an easy 5 mile recovery run to get me to 40 miles, but my knee was feeling slightly wonky after the hills on Saturday, so I opted to rest it up for Sunday's long run. Thankfully all was well for almost 3.5 hours of running on Sunday. Phew. Still wish I would've snagged a 40 mile week though!

I babbled all about Sunday's long run here, so I won't bore you again.

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 5

My legs felt pretty crappy after my long run last Sunday, so I didn't get in another run until Wednesday morning. I think a combination of way too hot had a major effect on my muscles recovery as well as, my form still starts to suck majorly when I'm dying. So week 5's schedule ran Tuesday-Monday. 

Tuesday was another rest day, and Wednesday it was some miles before the sun. I met Jenn at the track for mile repeats. Unfortunately my stomach was really wonky, so I had to jet to the nearest gas station bathroom after our mile warm up and missed out on repeat number one. No biggie, Jenn had to leave for work earlier than I did, so surely I could get it done after she left! Except that the high school football players showed up for conditioning as I was doing repeat number three. 

My plan was to keep the first two slightly above 8 and the last two slightly below. I haven't run more than 3 repeats in forever, so I wanted to make sure I had enough gas for all four of them. Halfway through the third repeat, I realized my time on the track was coming to an end, so I pushed it harder to make up for knocking off one of the repeats. Hence the much faster, un-consistent final repeat. 8:09, 8:09, 7:49. 

I actually felt GREAT after the final one and felt like I could've knocked out another at that same pace if time had allowed. I guess we'll find out next time this workout shows up on my schedule!

The sunrise over the track was so pretty but my iPhone just couldn't do it justice.

And hot air balloons launched midway through my second repeat. I honestly considered stopping to take a picture because the balloons were RIGHT.THERE. but alas,  I was a good runner and kept going. So they were waaaaay up in the air four minutes later. Womp. Still a cool pic.

Thursday was a rest day, and Friday was six recovery miles under a hazy foggy sunrise. I took it really easy because I had 18 on the schedule the next day and since I started my workouts so late in the week, I had to run a bit farther the day before a long run than I like to do. I usually do 3-5 max.

Saturday I was up long before the sun. No more death by heat for this girl! I was up at 5, but (TMI alert) I was having major stomach issues, so I didn't get out the door until after seven. The stomach issues plagued me for the first half of the run. It was really humid, but much cooler, so I didn't drink much from my handheld until I took my first GU at 4.5 miles. I'm wondering if I was dehydrated already from my early morning stomach problems, and that made it worse? It wasn't fun.

I did 3 minute pickups every 20 minutes, and that really helped pass the time. Much nicer to focus on the next set of pickups vs. the next GU. I also knew I'd get to run into Jenn somewhere near my turn around, so I kept plodding along, shocked at how good my legs and energy levels felt.

I saw Jenn at 8.6 so we chatted for a minute before we took off in our own directions. I took a break from the pickups around this point because I GU'd and my stomach wasn't happy. I took in more straight water from a fountain and gave my Osmo nutrition a break, and my stomach started to cheer up. And my pace started to pick up. It was magical. 

I passed a dude around mile 13.5 and we ended up chatting for a couple of miles again. Unfortunately talking and speeding up while talking lead to more stomach wonkiness, so my finish wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, because I was trying to get my HR to come down.

But looking at my splits after in 6 mile increments, I'm pretty darned pleased. Consistency has NOT been my middle name so far with long runs, as I tend to be D-E-A-D from the heat/humidity and I tend to have major fueling issues, so the end of my runs suffer immensely for it. Not Saturday!

1:03:08 first six miles 1:02:39 second six miles 1:02:20 third six miles Sunday Kyle and I had a super lazy day. By the time I thought about doing my recovery run, it was so steamy out, I immediately threw that idea out.  Monday I got out before the heat advisory was in effect to get in 6 hilly recovery miles. Woof, so humid.

35.5 miles for the week!

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 4

I finally had a really stellar week of training for week 4 of marathon training. 

Monday I started off the week with six general aerobic miles. 

Tuesday I had a rest day.

Wednesday it was early morning tempo run.

I had intended on doing my long run Friday, so Thursday I did a really short 2.5 mile recovery run. It was HOT.

Friday I woke up to thunderstorms, and the rest of the day's forecast was HOT HOT and humid. I decided to move my long run to Sunday and go out for a long ride. 30 miles later, I was d-e-a-d on two wheels. Uff.

This sign is never good to see, when running or riding.

Spillway action.

Sunday I had 16 on the schedule. And if you read my blog post yesterday, it wasn't my best. While getting ready for it, I realized it was time to order some more GU. Chocolate Outrage=yuck.

My friend Jenn did her long run on Saturday so she volunteered to bike along with me for my run. Thank goodness for her. If I hadn't had her waiting for me on the bike path, I would've probably turned around at mile 1. My legs felt terrible, it was hot, and my head just wasn't in the game.

I still cranked out 16 miles.

Leaning tower of Jeri.

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 3

Monday I slept in too late to run, so Tuesday I had to wake up super early to do my speed work session. I planned to race on Friday so I needed to get it done earlier in the week than normal to ensure my legs were recovered.

I had 3x1600 repeats on the schedule with 800 m jog in between each one, as well as a one mile warm up and cool down. It was a gorgeously cool morning and my paces reflect that. A bunch of high school boys showed up during my final lap for conditioning, so I cut my cool down to a quarter of a mile and called it a day. 

Fastest repeats so far! Whoop!

Thursday I did a short shake out run with some striders.

Friday I raced the Lennox Firecracker 10k (race report here), after a half mile warm up jog.

Saturday morning Kyle's mom accompanied me on my recovery run around the lake on her bike. It was awesome to have some company because it took my mind off the fact that my legs felt like junk for the first mile.