Once again, my week started off with lots of mama drama. It would be so much easier to train for a marathon without all the pressures of family and work. But that's why we do it, I think! Life never fails to amaze me. Just when you think things are going your way, the rug gets pulled out from under you. Last Monday, I found out my oldest son was failing 3 classes, my youngest had a torn MCL and maybe ACL, and my husband got laid off from his job. Any one of these things would be tough, but to have this all happen in one day was almost more than I could handle. I dealt with each situation--my oldest is slowly bringing those grades up and turning in his homework--which he wasn't doing. My youngest has his MRI tomorrow, so we'll have a better idea what is happening inside that knee and what the next step is. My husband picked up some side work for this upcoming week. I actually have an opportunity to do some moonlighting at work too--which I'll think about--say it with me--after the marathon!
Monday: rest day/stress day (see above)
Tuesday: I had a bike ride on the plan but after the day I had on Monday, I strayed from the plan for the first time. I needed to run. Do you ever feel that you NEED to run? After all, most of us didn't start running because we wanted to do marathons--we run for health reasons or like me, for stress relief. I decided to do 5, because had I biked, it would have been a 45 minute ride. I didn't run by pace, I just ran. I listened to my music, lost myself in my thoughts, and ran like I wasn't training for anything. It felt great! I came home and felt much more at peace than I had earlier.
Wednesday: I decided not to go to the yoga studio, and risk injury. You just never know. Sometimes she makes us do partner yoga, which I'm not a fan of, and during which I've had overzealous partners push me too deep into a pose and OUCH! So I did yoga at home. I found a yin video on YouTube for hips and hamstrings. I love yin yoga--holding the poses for 3 minutes (or longer) is a lot harder than you might think. But by holding a pose for an extended period of time, you are able to get into that connective tissue and really loosen things up. I would have liked a little more hamstring opening with this video, but overall, it was really good.
Thursday: Last set of mile repeats x4 on the plan. I was tired, most likely from all the stress of the week. I thought there would be no way I could match my speed of last week, but I decided to give it a try. Once again, I surprised myself! Mile 4 was a little tougher, but when I compare this workout to last week, I ran the first 3 mile splits faster this week. I can't complain about mile 4, but isn't it funny what a difference 10 seconds makes? Sheesh. Still, these were fun and I'm going to miss them!
After this, I headed over to see Becky for my last CrossFit before the marathon. I thought she'd go easy on me, since it was the taper, but when I got there, she already had a "station" set up for me. the prowler with 30#, slamball 15# x 15 reps (for every slam to the ground I said "fear" and "doubt" in my head), and 35# kettlebell deadlifts x 10 reps. I repeated this series 6 times. I was sweating profusely, but smiling when I was done. These tough workouts have made the difference in my training. Not only did they make me stronger, they made me tougher. I pushed through all of them, but there were many times I wanted to quit. I couldn't, though. What would be the point of quitting? When I was done, I thanked Becky for all she's done for me. She told me she never had any doubt I could do this, and that she was proud of me. Big words from a trainer who pushes me hard and doesn't give a ton of feedback. I was beaming when I left.
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 4 miles. It was cold, windy, and....snowing? Ummm, I was wearing shorts just 2 days before? There was rain, there was snow. It was yucky. I had no plan for this run, I just decided to run by feel. Mile 1 was fast, and then I got in a groove. It was a good run, but I was glad it was only 4 miles. Brrrr....
After my run, I went to work. It was an unusually pleasant Saturday morning in the clinic--they are usually really busy, but for some reason, I had a lot of cancellations. One of my favorite families came in. This is one of my Hispanic, Spanish speaking families, with 3 children. The youngest, who is now 6 months old, was born with a significant heart defect, requiring surgery shortly after birth. When they initially came to me, I was really worried about their ability to care for him. Together with my medical assistant, we have made a great team, and he is doing well--albeit facing another surgery within the month. Dad cried when he told me. They really are wonderful people to work with. For my birthday last month, they surprised me with flowers and balloons--and made me cry! Yesterday they told me they want to come see me run the marathon. I was speechless. We talked to them about how big the race is and how hard it would be for them to see me. But just that they even considered coming to see me run just floored me. Wow. My heart was full after that encounter.
Sunday: Today was my last long run of my training. I had 8 miles on the plan. My plan was to run them at marathon pace, 9:30 min/mil. The weather was better, but still very cool this morning. I would actually be fine with this weather next Sunday. As you can see by my splits, I did a nice job maintaining that steady pacing I'm looking for. It wasn't easy, as my legs wanted to fly. It's a lot easier for me to run fast than it is to hold back, but I've been working on this and it shows. I'm really happy with this run, and I don't think at this point I could be any more ready.
Garmin connect changed this and for the life of me, I don't know the difference between av pace and av moving pace. Anyone? Anyone? |
So, where do we go from here? I've got a couple short runs on the plan this week and then the big show. Last night I re-read all of my weekly recaps, and my mouth dropped as I read them. I was amazed at the difference in my posts from the early weeks up until now. My recent posts show a stronger runner, both physically and mentally. I'm so glad I wrote them. It was a great way to document my progress and it shows me that I'm where I need to be. This training was perfect for me. My legs feel good. I feel ready to go.