Big Sur Marathon Training Week 4

We were on a weather roller coaster this week with warm temps bookending a windy snowstorm midweek. Actually, the one thing that was consistent this week was the wind. In spite of the crazy weather, I was able to do all my runs outside. Welcome to spring in Chicago!

Monday: I started work later this day, so I was able to go to a yoga class at the studio. Megan had us do lots of shoulder openers--who doesn't need some of that? On the way home, I stopped to grab some sunshine and a humble warrior.

Humble warrior with hands in reverse namaste

Tuesday: I had an 8 mile run on the plan. It's always tough to get these longer distances done during the week, but the speed I found last week stayed with me. I ran on the bike path and caught some sunshine again! 8.09m/8:33m/m

I am the fire

Wednesday: Since the winds were whipping, I was going to do my hill repeats on the treadmill. But I just couldn't. I dropped my son off at school and headed over to the hill where Walter Payton did his training. As it turns out, the wind was at my back for the uphills! I did 10 repeats on the hill path, and for the last repeat, I did a "plus" set--I ran to the top of the hill. Becky has me do plus sets with weight training, and I channelled my inner Becky to push myself on that last rep like I do at CrossFit with her.

Channeling my inner #34

After that, I went to yoga. We had a sub, but it was a lovely class and hit all the high points. But how sad is it that I don't remember much specific about the class? Note to self: remember to be more mindful. Or take notes.

Thursday: In spite of the post-run yoga I did the day before, I woke up sore from those hill repeats. I felt fine when I was doing them, so this was a bit of a surprise to me. Because I was so sore and knowing that today was my max lifting day, for my ride I chose to take it easy. I picked a cycling video from YouTube that was basically an endurance ride through Mallorca, Spain. There were no intervals, and most of the ride seemed to be downhill. Odd, I know, but for today, it worked. My guide was a little crazy--the roads were narrow and he rode into oncoming traffic just blowing past all the cars and a bus! This video had rock music, and I liked that so much better than the EDM that most of them use. But there were 2 ads in the video--one at 20 minutes and one at 40 minutes. Seriously. What is up with that? 1:02:02/13.24mi

Riding through Mallorca in my family room

After I rode, I went to meet with Becky. I was a little nervous about my max lifting day. I was thrilled to PR both my cleans to front squats and my deadlifts (177#)! Becky was thrilled too. She told me that I surpassed her goals for me this cycle.

After weight lifting, I asked Becky if she'd be up for a partner yoga picture. Sweatpink was hosting another Instagram challenge--this one was a partner workout. While they didn't specify yoga, and since Becky can get up in a handstand, I thought we could have some fun with it. And we did. Becky recruited the owner of the CrossFit box to take these pictures.

She assures me she'll never be a yogi. I say never say never.

My strong coach holding up my tree

Friday was a rest day. I woke up even more sore than the previous day. My wrists hurt from those cleans and front squats. My butt hurt from those deadlifts. As I headed into work, I remembered I had CPR renewal in the afternoon. That meant doing chest compressions on a mannequin to exhaustion. And also on those creepy plastic babies. Thankfully this class was a breeze. Although I did break a sweat pounding on the mannequin's chest, at least it wasn't prolonged.

Saturday: 5 miles, no goal pace. Still a little sore, I headed out into the sunshine and wind with no expectations. I actually felt pretty good and buzzed around the neighborhood at a brisk pace. 5.25m/8:34 m/m

Windy but sunny. #nofilter

Sunday morning I set out to run the 12 miles on the plan. My tummy was acting up and after multiple bathroom visits, I finally headed out. Sorry about the TMI. But this was a huge issue for me this morning. The wind was whipping, and I decided to head out into it, so that the wind would blow me home. I started out on the bike path, but took a detour to a different park after I passed a super creepy guy riding very slowly on a bike. My tummy was still unsettled. About mile 4, I knew that disaster was imminent. Then I saw this sign:

Do you believe in signs? You know I do, and I decided not to ignore this one. The church was locked but there was an elderly gentleman and his wife at the door. I knocked and they let me in. His wife gestured towards the sanctuary. "Come in!" she smiled at me. I asked to use the restroom, apologizing profusely. She looked confused, but her husband pointed me in the right direction. When I came out, I thanked them and again apologized. He asked me how far I was running, and when I told them 12 miles, they looked shocked. I explained why, and they nodded, still looking at me like I was crazy. Hopefully, they prayed for me. I continued on my way towards the park, and began to make my way around the lake. I stopped to take a gel at mile 7, and struggled to catch my breath after that point. It was getting fairly warm (60F). At mile 10, yep, another side stitch, just like my last 12 miler. I slowed down and breathed it off. By mile 11 it was gone, but I was toast. I finished up just before my driveway. When I saw my time, I knew why it was so hard. I need to do a better job pacing myself on these long runs. I've got to slow down. 12.02m/8:55m/m

Crow on the run

So I've got 2 weeks to go until my Sarasota half marathon. Today's run showed me that I'll probably run into problems with the warm temps if I don't slow down. Note to self: that race is a training run.

Right.

How was your week? Any crazy weather conditions to contend with? We're supposed to get snow tomorrow. Any signs on the run?

I'm linking this post up with Holly and Tricia, who are most likely basking in the glow of their RnR NOLA race this morning! Be sure to check out their posts and congratulate them!

Big Sur Marathon Training--Week 3

Last week's recap ended after that long run in the polar vortex. That brutal 12 miler on Sunday really wrecked me, and I was as sore the next day as I have ever been after a marathon! Anyways, I did a lot of foam rolling, and by Tuesday, was ready to hit the road again. Here's the recap of my week.

Monday: Scheduled rest day

Tuesday: I had a 6 miler on the plan. It was still pretty cold but the sun was shining and I wanted to catch the sunrise. These winter sunrises have been spectacular! This was not a bad run at all, and I even stopped to do a side plank. Because there's always time to strike a pose. 6.25m/8:50m/m

snowy side plank

Wednesday: It was sunny and 32 and I made the decision to take my speedwork to the road. My treadmill is not calibrated correctly, and my treadmill mile splits have been messing with my head. I know, mind over matter, right? But I really wanted to go outside. So I drove over to the retention pond with the 2 mile loop where I did all my speedwork training for my last 2 marathons. Unfortunately, the park district didn't plow the path from Tuesday's snow, and I didn't think it would be safe for me to run fast there. Disappointed, I headed back to my neighborhood, and made the decision to run on the streets around the big park where I take all those running selfies. I had mile splits x5 to do, and away I went. When I took off my hamstrings both gave me a little twinge, as if to say, hey, WTF do you think you are doing? But they cooperated, and even though the people who live on those streets probably thought I was a freaking lunatic, I got it done and then some. 6 loops around took me back to my car and what I saw on the Garmin astonished me: 8:04, 7:55, 8:02, 7:59, 7:53. You betcha. And now I have a new place to do my speedwork.

Boom! Don't mess with me! 

After that I went to yoga. The theme was twisting, and naturally, we did a lot of twisting poses. I was really stiff at first, but it was good medicine after running like I did. My instructor introduced a pose which was new to me. It's called Brigid's Cross. I could not find a picture of this one anywhere! I can only describe this pose like a reclined revolved triangle on the mat, a pose which is a challenge for me standing up! It was tough. I felt really good after class though. 

Thursday I rode an hour on the bike. I found an cycling interval video on YouTube made by CTXC. Their videos are pretty good, except that for the majority of this video I "rode" behind a guy in white shorts again. Ugh! He did have a black panel that was strategically placed, so I should be grateful for that, right? After I finished, I sat in hero's pose to stretch out my quads. Still feeling twisty from yesterday, I threw in a twist. I hoped to twist that image of the guy's white bike shorts out of my brain. Oh, and I also needed to loosen up for my workout with Becky. 

Twisted hero's pose

After that, I went to see Becky. This was a drop down week for me, meaning lower weights. But higher reps, naturally. I did cleans into front squats and deadlifts again. Then she put a resistance band around my waist and my knees and had me squat onto a bench while she pulled on the resistance band. Hello hamstrings!

Squats with resistance bands

Friday was another scheduled rest day.

Saturday was predicted to be sunny and warm! The winds, which were hurricane-like on Friday, were down to a gentle breeze. I was out early to get my run in before I had to go to work. It was 48 degrees and I caught a beautiful sunrise. I also caught some speed. Hello, old friend! I'm glad to have you back again. 5.52m/8:27m/m

This run made me so happy!

Sunday I had 8 miles on the plan. The weather conditions were so much better than last Sunday's--it was 37F, no wind, but overcast. I decided to run to the retention pond. I started out fairly quickly and tried to reign it in, but my legs wouldn't have it. My foot felt good, so I went with it. I finished up at my house with a huge smile on my face! This was a quick one! 8.42m/8:34m/m.

Mid-run triangle pose

Mantra for the week: "Trust the process".

No kidding.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the week and my progress. Although I'm not running Big Sur for time, I'm happy to know that I can still knock out some fast mile splits. I had a slow start to 2016, and I was worried that the inevitable slowing down with age was starting to happen. Not yet. Whew. 

I really have to credit my coach--I have to believe that all this hard work she makes me do is paying off once again on the road. I do trust the process because this has happened every damn time we do a strength cycle. Hard work pays off.

Now, if I could just get that PF to go away, things would be darned near perfect. Is that too much to ask? While it's not any better, it sure isn't any worse, and for that, I am grateful.

How was your week? Any successes or achievements? Is the weather getting more tolerable by you?

I want to welcome everyone from Kristen's Blog Hop! Today's my showcase day, and I'm excited to share my training log with you. This is what it's all about for me. Running is my metaphor for life. Work hard, dream big. And never ever give up.

I'm also linking up this post with Holly and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap! As always, they are the hostessses with the mostest! Check out what everyone else has been doing. 

Big Sur Marathon Training--Week 2

Ok--it's February and it's supposed to be warming up, not the other way around! This week's Big Sur Marathon training was remarkable for the frigid temps that hit as the week wound down. It's really Murphy's Law--I had my longest training run to date planned for Sunday--and the polar vortex returned. But you know I don't let the weather stop me...

Monday I went to yoga. I have no pictures but trust me when I tell you that it was another amazing class. Monday's instructor has such a calm, quiet way about her, and I felt really good when I left.

Tuesday was a very early wake up call. I had a class at work, and had to be there by 7:45. There were 6 miles on the plan and I was out the door by 5. I haven't run in the dark for a very long time. To top it off, it was snowing. This was a slippery, slow run, but I felt great. 6.24m/9:14m/m

It was 5 am. It was snowing. What else was there to do?

Wednesday I had hill repeats on the plan. I planned to go to Payton's Hill to do these but Mother Nature had other ideas--even though it was sunny, there was a -10F windchill. Since this was really a focused workout, I didn't think I'd get much out of battling the wind, so I took my repeats to the treadmill. I did 1/4 mile hill sprints x 10 at some unknown incline (my old 'mill doesn't tell me that information) and for recovery, I walked backwards for about 1 1/2-2 minutes. Becky talked with me about this last week, and she wanted me to do these backwards intervals slow as I drive forward, engaging my quads. As it turns out, there are all kinds of benefits to walking backwards on the treadmill that have nothing to do with fitness. Like improving your balance. I almost fell off when I first started. But after a couple of intervals, I was snapping along with the music. In a couple of weeks, I'll be ready to dance on the 'mill like this guy:

After I finished, I went to yoga. We had a sub, and her class was a little different from what we were used to. But it was a good class, and she had a theme for us, which was connection. She referred back to that theme throughout the class. On the way home, I couldn't help myself. I had to stop and make a connection to the brilliant sunshine. Too bad it was so brutally cold!

A cold king dancer

Thursday started with a ride on the bike trainer. I had some issues with my Apple TV, YouTube, and the Wahoo Fitness app. I started to get frustrated because I couldn't get anything to work and I just wanted to ride. So that's what I did while I troubleshot everything. I finally got things working, and did an interval workout. I'm not sure where I rode, but the video I used was a good one. I'm pretty consistent, apparently because once again I rode for 1 hour total, 13.03 miles. 

Intervals complete

After my ride, I worked out with Becky. She continues to up my weights, and I did front squats and deadlifts. I'm not sure how heavy the deadlifts were this week, but they were heavy. I'm not yet maxed out but I have to be close. After I lifted, I did a circuit of evil wheel aka ab rollouts (my abs still hurt) and split squats with my back foot on a box and a barbell. That required a lot of hip stability, and it is something I need some work on. Sometimes these "easy" exercises she has me do are way tougher than the weight lifting. 

Strength.

Friday was a rest day. 

Saturday was another bitterly cold day. The night before when I looked at the forecast, I made plans to run inside. When I got up the sun was bright and I couldn't pass it up. How bad could it be? I put on my layers and my ninja face mask, and headed out into the cold. You know what? It wasn't as bad as it seemed. I'm so attuned to what I need to wear for different conditions and I was completely prepared. I started off a little stiff--I was still sore from Thursday, but this was my fastest run in weeks! Who knew? 5 miles/8:34m/m

Like a winter ninja. No snow.

Sunday I had 12 on the plan. The weather forecast was not at all favorable for a long run (16F and snow) but the alternative, the treadmill, was even less attractive. Since there was no snow when I started, I headed to the bike path. This run was mentally tough--the cold and the wind really tested my resolve. I also had shin splints and foot pain when I started out. But once I loosened up, I felt much better. I couldn't feel my face when I got home (and now that song is going through my head) but after a hot shower and lunch, I felt much better. This was a solid run, and really gave me the confidence I needed to move forward! 12 miles/9:02m/m

I can't feel my face....

Overall, another great week of training. For the most part, my foot is feeling better. It still hurts, but between the night splint and those heel raises, I've got it down to a dull roar. Some days it doesn't even bother me. I'm relaxing into my training and feeling very confident. One month to go until I leave for Florida and run the Sarasota Half Marathon. It's happening!

Happy Valentine's Day
Thanks to HoHoRuns for this fun image!

Have a great week!

How was your week? Any fun training stories to share?

I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap! 

Big Sur Marathon Training-- Week 1

Week one of Big Sur Marathon Training is in the books! How did it go?

Monday: running rest day. On my way to work, I did manage to catch the sunrise at the retention pond where I train. It was spectacular. The pose of the day for the #flexandflow yoga challenge was Wild Thing. Perfect timing, I think! I won Monday's challenge and got to pick out something from prAna's spring collection!

Wild Thing. you make my heart sing. So does this sunrise. Right place, right time.

Tuesday: I ran 4 miles around the 'hood. My legs felt surprisingly great! It was a cold, gloomy morning, and I scoped out my route for a place to take my daily yoga picture. The prompt was to do a pose that challenges you. I always struggle with balance poses and straight leg poses, so I did standing big toe pose, using my SpiBelt as a prop. Hey, whatever works, right?

This pose is so ugly, I had to find an ugly background. 

Wednesday: Speedwork aka mile repeats x4 on the treadmill. I took my Apple Watch out on my long run Sunday to recalibrate it in anticipation of using it on the treadmill. What I didn't realize is that the Apple fitness tracker does not give you mile splits. Since I wasn't paying attention to the numbers on the treadmill, I have no idea how fast my splits were. Crap! I know they were consistent, but that's about it. I'm done with the treadmill and I'm done with my Apple Watch as a running watch. Done. Garmin, you are stuck with me. And I'm doing my speedwork outside. The hell with it.

After my speedwork, I went to yoga. We did a lot of poses against the wall, which really allows you to properly position yourself in the poses. It was another amazing class, and I took my final studio photo for the yoga challenge. The theme was balance, and I chose warrior 3, which is a pose I really struggle with. It took me about 10 takes to get this picture and I still couldn't get the bottom leg straight. Ugh. Though the outtakes were hilarious...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
The camera doesn't lie. I'm balance challenged.

Warrior 3.
A work in progress.

Thursday: EPIC workout day. I woke up to a beautiful blue sky, and after dropping my youngest off at school, I stopped at Payton's hill where I plan to do my hill repeats. I ran to the top and did the pose of the day, crescent lunge. It is one of my favorites. The wind was brutal at the top and I scurried back to my car. Then I rode my bike for an hour. This time I rode in Germany, which strangely looked like Wisconsin. 14 miles/1:00:43

The top of the hill.

After my bike ride, I headed over to work with Becky. She had me do cleans into front squats with 55# on the bar. This was the most I have done so far. She didn't expect me to get to this weight, and was thrilled with this. I was too! After the front squats were deadlifts 155#. She says this isn't my max yet. Ooof. It was heavy. But no complaining, right? Otherwise burpees... To finish, she had me push the prowler 3 laps across the floor. But on the trip back, I pushed the lower bar and OMG was that hard!

After my workout, we talked about hill training. This seasoned runner has never formally trained for hills before. Becky reassured me that I would have no trouble tackling the hills of Big Sur, both the uphills and downhills, with the work she has me doing. But she understood the psychological advantage of actually doing hill work, and we reviewed what I should be doing on my hill repeats. Short sprints up, and easy downhills. Stay tuned.

Clean into a front squat. A new skill this strength cycle!

Friday: rest day. The last day of the yoga challenge, we did child's pose. And all was right with the world.

Saturday: I had 6 miles on the plan. Except that I didn't look at the plan, and thought I only had to do 4. Oh well. It was a gorgeous morning, and I stopped to take in the sunrise. 4.55 miles/8:39m/m

Sunday: Since there is no snow on the ground--so odd for this time of year--I decided to take my 10 mile run to the very pretty preserve with the limestone path. I rarely get to run there in the winter, and I thought this would be a treat! The path was kind of mushy in places and there were frozen footsteps in other spots. There were also some patches of snow and ice. But the sun was peeking through the clouds and it was so pretty to be in this peaceful oasis.

Look at that sky!

The one thing I didn't count on was the wind. The temps were in the 40s when I headed out but the wind started to pick up. I had the wind at my back on the way out and didn't realize how strong it was until I turned around to head home. The best word I can use to describe it was brutal. While 40 degrees in February sounds almost balmy for Chicago, the wind is a deal breaker. This route is fairly hilly (for here) and at mile 7, I hit Payton's Hill into the wind. I stopped at the top to catch my breath. The downhill didn't feel much better since I was running into that cold wind. Not quitting on this run was a win. I kept thinking to myself: "what if it is windy like this at Big Sur?" And "what doesn't kill me will make me stronger". Running outside in February is always an exercise in mental toughness. Anyways, I got it done, 10.38 miles/9:03m/m

Coming up this week--more miles! And no more yoga challenge. I'll still be doing yoga but I won't be posting daily poses. Thanks to all of you for indulging me. I've really enjoyed having fun with the poses and the pictures.

How was your week of training? Any fun adventures to share?

I'm linking this post up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap! Head on over to their blogs to see what they and everyone else did this week!

Big Sur Marathon Training--Week 0

This week, I wrapped up my base building workouts and today I officially kicked off my marathon training for the Big Sur International Marathon. I didn't know what else to call the week before marathon training starts, so week 0 it is.

Like I did for Chicago, for Big Sur, I'm following a 12 week training plan. While Becky didn't develop this exact plan for me, I followed the plan she made for Chicago and tweaked it a bit. I reviewed my training plan with her, and made some adjustments based on her feedback. Right now, I'm feeling fairly confident that I've got a solid plan that will get me to the finish line intact.

That is if my plantar fasciitis behaves itself. I've gotten a ton of advice from everyone including my dad, who eventually became so frustrated when he had PF, he finally took a mallet to his heel. While that somewhat extreme solution worked well for him, I'm not so sure I want to try it on myself. Not that he hasn't offered to do it for me. What has seemed to work for me is the night splint aka my faux Strassberg sock, my Feetures compression sleeve (affiliate link), heel lifting, calf stretching, heat in the morning, and wearing shoes to work with a low (not flat) heel. I tried orthotics, but all they did was make me feel like I was 80 years old. Experiment=fail. I didn't like feeling old. I took the orthotics out of my running shoes and that's that. I'll use them in my work shoes for now.

So how did week 0 aka base building go down? Besides lots of yoga? The SweatPink #FlexandFlow yoga challenge continues, and I haven't missed a day! The challenge wraps up on February 5, and while I'll miss posting daily yoga poses, it's time to focus on the task at hand: the Big Sur Marathon. But you know there will still be yoga happening for me. I just won't bombard you with all my poses.

Monday: yoga class at the studio. This was an amazing class with one of my favorite instructors. She devoted the class to the full moon and we did moon salutations. She also introduced me to my new mantra, "Chill out or Burn out". Repeat as needed. Which I did all week.

Pose of the day was one legged chaturanga

Tuesday: 4.55 miles easy in the hood. I was glad to be done. It was blustery and cold. 8:45m/m.

Pose of the day: Upward facing dog

Wednesday: Mile repeats x4 on the treadmill. Last week I struggled with pacing, but this week was much better. I'm pretty sure my treadmill needs to be calibrated, because my splits were slower than I expected. I chose to focus on consistency and not pacing. Splits were 8:24, 8:16, 8:16, 8:34 (oops!). After I finished, I went to yoga for another studio class. The theme was hips and hamstrings. Perfect.

Yogi's choice inversion--I chose handstand at the wall. I used superphoto to edit this. My face kind of freaks me out. I look like a cyborg.

Thursday: Cycling x 1 hour. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I rode in Thailand. I promised Becky these rides would be all about endurance and this one pretty much was. There were a few "harder" efforts but nothing too taxing. The video itself was kind of a turd. The cyclist would randomly stop to wait for his friend to catch up. Meanwhile, I'm pedaling away, just staring at his tire. This happened several times. Dude, ever heard of hitting the pause button? Guess I got what I paid for. This really was the first video that disappointed me. Looks like it's back to Italy this week. Anyways, I rode 13.75 miles/1h.

Pose of the day was lizard lunge. Felt great after riding. My ITB thanked me.

After that, I went to see Becky. She had me do some work on the GHD machine, reverse back extensions and traditional back extensions. Holy hamstrings! I did barbell cleans into a front squat followed by deadlifts, both with increasing weights. We finished up with some more hamstring exercises. And my foam roller got some attention that night.

Friday: rest. Pose of the day was tripod headstand. I have never done this version of headstand, and I had a nice surprise! You just never know what you are capable of, do you? What a great way to head into a long day at work. Pun completely unintended!

I was going to stay in half tripod, but my legs went up!

Saturday: 4 miles easy in the 'hood. The January thaw felt great! 8:45 m/m.

Pose of the day was humble warrior. I just love this pose.

Sunday: 8 mile "long run". This was my first long run since I ran that half marathon in November. It was 50 degrees, which felt great for January. Unfortunately, it was pretty gloomy out there. My foot felt pretty good most of the time but started to hurt towards the end. When I looked at my Garmin, it read 6.66 miles. Coincidence? I think not. Anyways, I finished up and stretched it out. 8:45m/mile

Pose of the day was reclined hero pose. This is a great hip opener and quad stretch. Take it slow. And yes, my eyes are closed. A moment of quiet for me in the middle of a run. Reflecting on how great this pose feels and gratitude for my body that lets me do hard things.

It's been a pretty good week off the road too. Uneventful for the most part. How about you? Any of you yogis ever done moon salutation? Anyone else doing the SweatPink #flexandflow yoga challenge? It's the final week!

I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap! Check out what everyone else has been up to!

Less is more: Quality race training

Streaking, setting mileage goals...those posts are filling my Facebook feed these days. Kara Goucher challenged followers to run 2016 miles in 2016. Her husband Adam is sponsoring the challenge on his Run This Year website. You can sign up for $25 and complete the challenge solo or as part of a team with 1 or 2 other runners. 2016 miles? That's a heck of a lot of miles for the average runner.

I've already posted about why I won't be streaking. And this year, I won't be setting any mileage goals. In 2015, I set a goal to run 2015 kms, which is 1252 miles. On December 31, I completed that goal, which is the most miles that I have ever run in a year. After that, I took 2 weeks off to let my body recover.

That mileage goal of 1252 miles in a year was harder than you might think. I'm a recreational runner, a nurse practitioner who works full time, and a married mom of 2 teenage boys who runs a few half marathons and maybe one marathon per year. I have a full life outside of running. I run for stress relief and health. My average weekly mileage is between 20-25 miles. My highest weekly mileage during marathon training was 38 miles. I simply can't do more than that without risking injury.

In the past, I've gotten some flack for my low mileage marathon training. Common wisdom for runners is that to run fast, you have to run far. According to an article by Matt Fitzgerald in Competitor magazine, "the more we run, the better we race". Makes sense. But he also says that there is a point where too much training leads to injury. The key, it seems, is to know where your limit is.

For me, that limit is pretty low. I'm ok with that. I've been running for 25 years, and there are a lot of miles on these legs. I'm grateful to still be running and at paces that make me competitive in my age group. But when I train for a race, I try to make every run a quality run. So for those 4 runs I do in a week, each one has a purpose. There's a long slow distance run, speedwork, and 2 short-mid distance runs at race pace.

My marathon training plans capped the long run at 18 miles. What, no 20 mile run? Yep, I heard plenty about that from other runners. Bring it on! There's nothing magical about that 20 mile run. Legendary running coach Jack Daniels sums it up nicely:

"Don't worry that you won't be able to complete a 4:30 marathon if you have never run beyond two and a half hours in training. In fact, it is not necessary to train at such a high percentage of your race distance no matter what the course."--Jack Daniels

Remember too, I'm not only running during marathon training. There's cross training in the form of cycling and those HIIT workouts that Becky has me do. Some weight training as well, and yoga to stretch me out. The naysayers are going to naysay.

This is marathon training.

I read a funny quote in an article about CrossFit Endurance attributed to Jay Johnson, a former track coach from the University of Colorado regarding CFE: "No Kenyan has ever seen a kettlebell."

This non-Kenyan sees a lot of kettlebell.

Most likely not. But I'm not a Kenyan. That's a whole different genetic makeup. Have you ever really looked at the runners around you at a race? Unless you line up in the front of the pack, most of the runners are made up of all shapes and sizes. Not a Kenyan amongst us in the middle or the back of the pack. Since the majority of us are not genetically gifted like an elite runner, we need to ask ourselves, why are we training like elites? Why not cross train? Why not run for time instead of distance? What about running quality miles instead of massive quantities of miles? Why risk injury?

What about "junk miles"? Laura at This Runners Recipes sums this up nicely. A lot of runners run "junk" miles. I do too, especially when I'm not training for something. Sometimes it's nice to "just run" without a goal in mind. There's still that love of running, and those "junk" runs are all about that. We all need those runs. But in a low mileage training plan, there isn't room for junk miles. Adding in a run just to run is increasing your chance for injury. That includes streaking.

I'm not saying you should do CrossFit Endurance to train for a marathon. In fact, my coach Becky, who is a CrossFit coach instructed me NOT to read the book. But what she has me do is a happy medium of some of the components of CrossFit incorporated with smart running. For me, this has kept me mostly injury free (I'm currently battling PF) and running at paces I haven't seen since my 30s. Her approach is all about quality workouts. The proof is in my finish times.

Besides, this training is fun!

Fun for my coach too!

You know my motto, everything in moderation. So that's why you won't see me streaking or chasing a high mileage goal. I love to run. I love to race. I like to have fun. And I don't like to DNS.

I'll see you at the starting line of Big Sur.

Do you run a high mileage plan to train for a big race? Do you incorporate cross training into you race training? What do you consider a quality training plan?

I'm linking this post up with DebRuns for Wednesday Word, which is quality!