A high of 66, partly cloudy and a 20% chance of showers.
Hmm, maybe I won't have to wear a garbage bag after all...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Forecast update:
The weather forecast for Sunday October 4th now says a high of 56 and a 40% chance of rain.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
U-G-L-Y
My feet. Are. Ugly. I've been having recurring blisters on the same 4 poor toes, and several other random places on my feet, for the past almost 2 months, and my feet are nasty looking. Fortunately they have been relatively pain-free blisters, because I've treated them so heavily...hemorrhoid ointment and near-casts made out of bandaids while running. (My book recommended this and it worked phenomenally.) Even though I did my best to prevent them with the perfect socks, etc...it really can't be helped if you're running that much. (I'm treating myself to a pedicure when this is over.) I'm hoping that during this next week the new skin will have a chance to toughen up for the big day.
Which is, by the way, only 7 days away. Holy cow. This week calls for a 3 mile run, a 3 mile walk and a lot of resting. A lot of carbs, a lot of water, and a lot of stretching. Should be able to handle that.
I had a really good 8 mile run yesterday. I really enjoy that distance so I had a great time and that was really encouraging. However, the whole time I just kept thinking about how 8 miles isn't even a THIRD of a marathon. And that wasn't so encouraging.
I was able to have a good conversation today with a seasoned marathon runner and he gave me some great tips for running my first marathon; bringing extra socks for if its raining, what to wear, and so on. One thing he mentioned was to be sure and not do anything super goofy the night before and morning of: no pre-marathon celebrations involving alcohol and a late night, don't eat anything funky for breakfast the morning of...just eat what you normally did during training. It was nice to hear those things coming from someone besides my trusted author...now I think I trust my book even more. He also said to be real careful at the beginning not to get caught up in the hype and the adrenaline and go fast; just start out comfortably slow. Even if you are going 30 seconds faster per mile than you normally do and you feel great, you won't be feeling great when mile 20 comes around and that's when it really matters.
If any of my readers are praying folks, I urge you to pray for the following:
The weather. Mid-fifties and overcast would be ideal. As it stands the forecast says a high of 64 and a 30% chance of showers. The highs here don't hit until usually after 2 pm, so all morning it would likely be in the fifties. I would prefer no rain.
My health. Two of the people I live with now have colds. I really don't need one right now. I would take one (almost) any other time of the year except for right now. I'm absolutely mortified scared to death afraid of what would happen if I caught a cold. It would just be bad news.
My knees. Typically somewhere around mile 6 my knees stop hurting and I can start enjoying myself...until about mile 17 or so, and then they start bothering me again. I can't really imagine how much I'll be hurting come mile 26.
My nerves. It's a proven fact that you run your best when you are neither super excited or super depressed. Over-excitement causes you to burn through more energy than you should. The middle of the road is the best place for your nerves to be. I need to stay calm and focused.
I'm sure as the week goes on I'll think of more prayer requests, if I do, I'll post them here. Thanks in advance.
I'd also like to thank a number of extremely important people:
My Mom and Dad for ceaselessly encouraging me and telling me how amazing I am and how proud they are of me. (Thanks for coming down to cheer me on!)
Coby for forcing me to take ice baths and gentley giving me helpful running tips. I love you.
Mrs. Erickson for buying me ice and all those bananas and leaving me the occassional "you're awesome" note out on the curb by my gatorade bottle during my long runs. Also for arranging for the massage therapist to come over after the race. (this will save me.)
Dave Matthews for training with me and helping distract me through all those miles and hours of running. You are a soothing comfort to my ears.
No thanks to Rocky Raccoon.
7 days and counting...
Which is, by the way, only 7 days away. Holy cow. This week calls for a 3 mile run, a 3 mile walk and a lot of resting. A lot of carbs, a lot of water, and a lot of stretching. Should be able to handle that.
I had a really good 8 mile run yesterday. I really enjoy that distance so I had a great time and that was really encouraging. However, the whole time I just kept thinking about how 8 miles isn't even a THIRD of a marathon. And that wasn't so encouraging.
I was able to have a good conversation today with a seasoned marathon runner and he gave me some great tips for running my first marathon; bringing extra socks for if its raining, what to wear, and so on. One thing he mentioned was to be sure and not do anything super goofy the night before and morning of: no pre-marathon celebrations involving alcohol and a late night, don't eat anything funky for breakfast the morning of...just eat what you normally did during training. It was nice to hear those things coming from someone besides my trusted author...now I think I trust my book even more. He also said to be real careful at the beginning not to get caught up in the hype and the adrenaline and go fast; just start out comfortably slow. Even if you are going 30 seconds faster per mile than you normally do and you feel great, you won't be feeling great when mile 20 comes around and that's when it really matters.
If any of my readers are praying folks, I urge you to pray for the following:
The weather. Mid-fifties and overcast would be ideal. As it stands the forecast says a high of 64 and a 30% chance of showers. The highs here don't hit until usually after 2 pm, so all morning it would likely be in the fifties. I would prefer no rain.
My health. Two of the people I live with now have colds. I really don't need one right now. I would take one (almost) any other time of the year except for right now. I'm absolutely mortified scared to death afraid of what would happen if I caught a cold. It would just be bad news.
My knees. Typically somewhere around mile 6 my knees stop hurting and I can start enjoying myself...until about mile 17 or so, and then they start bothering me again. I can't really imagine how much I'll be hurting come mile 26.
My nerves. It's a proven fact that you run your best when you are neither super excited or super depressed. Over-excitement causes you to burn through more energy than you should. The middle of the road is the best place for your nerves to be. I need to stay calm and focused.
I'm sure as the week goes on I'll think of more prayer requests, if I do, I'll post them here. Thanks in advance.
I'd also like to thank a number of extremely important people:
My Mom and Dad for ceaselessly encouraging me and telling me how amazing I am and how proud they are of me. (Thanks for coming down to cheer me on!)
Coby for forcing me to take ice baths and gentley giving me helpful running tips. I love you.
Mrs. Erickson for buying me ice and all those bananas and leaving me the occassional "you're awesome" note out on the curb by my gatorade bottle during my long runs. Also for arranging for the massage therapist to come over after the race. (this will save me.)
Dave Matthews for training with me and helping distract me through all those miles and hours of running. You are a soothing comfort to my ears.
No thanks to Rocky Raccoon.
7 days and counting...
Monday, September 21, 2009
13 days and counting...
I have finally begun the taper, and I was truly thankful for the 9 mile "long" run this past Saturday. It seemed so short, it was rather refreshing. I'm realizing more and more how mental this whole thing is. I knew I only had to run 9 miles and when it was over, I felt exhausted and didn't want to run anymore. But that's the same with every run, regardless of the distance. Unfortunately this wasn't the best run I've ever had...the first 5 miles it poured rain. I was soaked and dripping. However, I do think I enjoy running in the rain rather than the heat (I've started praying for the weather on Oct 4). Also my knee was bothering me almost the entire time which was kind of discouraging, but just like all the other runs, I made it!
This week's training runs will consist only of 3 and 5 miles, with a long run on Saturday of 8 miles. It seems so strange to run 3 miles for a training run...it's been months since I've done that! I also couldn't seem to justify an ice bath after only 9 miles of running, so I didn't do it...but now I'm wishing I had. I keep hearing the more I do it, the better I will feel.
Only 13 days until the marathon, and I know they are gonna go quick! Also after this last week of training I ran past the 300 mile mark! With all the miles strung together I've run the same distance from my current house in Vancouver to my parent's house in Wenatchee. Whoa.
I'm becoming increasingly nervous for marathon day...my book keeps telling me I'm ready...but when I think about standing there at the starting line all by myself in a huge crowd of people getting ready to run the longest distance of my entire life...and the enormous amounts of pain about to ensue...I am frightened.
I'm also becoming increasingly thankful that this is nearing the end. I fear I've lost my gusto. I know that it's probably because my life has changed so much the last few weeks with the new job, and it can't be helped, I just kind of wish I was finishing this a little bit stronger. Until next time.
This week's training runs will consist only of 3 and 5 miles, with a long run on Saturday of 8 miles. It seems so strange to run 3 miles for a training run...it's been months since I've done that! I also couldn't seem to justify an ice bath after only 9 miles of running, so I didn't do it...but now I'm wishing I had. I keep hearing the more I do it, the better I will feel.
Only 13 days until the marathon, and I know they are gonna go quick! Also after this last week of training I ran past the 300 mile mark! With all the miles strung together I've run the same distance from my current house in Vancouver to my parent's house in Wenatchee. Whoa.
I'm becoming increasingly nervous for marathon day...my book keeps telling me I'm ready...but when I think about standing there at the starting line all by myself in a huge crowd of people getting ready to run the longest distance of my entire life...and the enormous amounts of pain about to ensue...I am frightened.
I'm also becoming increasingly thankful that this is nearing the end. I fear I've lost my gusto. I know that it's probably because my life has changed so much the last few weeks with the new job, and it can't be helped, I just kind of wish I was finishing this a little bit stronger. Until next time.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Taper time!
I suppose it's been a little while since my last post; I fear that work and general exhaustion have taken a bite out of my gusto for blogging. And running too, apparently. I better recap a bit: this last week of training wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that great either. The first training run of the week took place in the rain...yipee. I have almost no experience running in the rain...I'm not from 'round these parts. Even by the local's standards, it was quite a downpour. Luckily it was only a 5 mile run; unluckily it still took me a long time to finish it because it was the first run following the long run, and those have never been very easy for me; I'm still stiff and kinda sore from the long run and I don't tend to push myself very hard.
Since work started I have slacked pretty significantly in taking care of my knees, which at this point are probably what can keep from succeeding, and I REALLY felt it during the 8 mile run in the middle of the week. It was then I decided I need to try harder and make time for tlc, or I won't make it through the marathon. I don't have as much time to ice as before, but I did try and remedy that during the latter part of the week: icing in the car during the commute to work in the morning and icing while sitting at my desk during the afternoon. (My boss thought it odd that I had a bag of frozen peas on the floor of my office...I had hopped up for a minute to do something and she came in.) Oh well, whatever works.
I'm sure it helped some, but I think I waited too long to make the effort in order for it to really make a difference for this morning's 18 miler. I survived, but it was fairly painful...and long. I thought I'd done a good job hydrating, but I don't think it was enough consdering the heat wave we've had the last couple of days; it was much warmer today than it has been the last few weeks. (You'd think that 160 ounces of gatorade in the last 16 hours would be enough...and thats JUST gatorade...doesn't include the 200 ounces of water from yesterday.) Overall exhaustion from work, lack of sleep and sore knees kept me moving pretty slow. But at least I finished! (I think I listened to the All-American Rejects song "Move Along" 3 times in a row for motivation during the last 2 miles.) I also seemed to lose a lot of time today, nothing seemed to be going smoothly. I had to stop for two potty breaks, instead of the usual one, and at one point I got a rock in my shoe and had to take the whole thing off to get it out. All those little minutes add up. Also there was some sort of bike race going on on part of my route, so I had to go a different way. Those bikers are scary fast! I think I was the one needing the helmet while trying to share the trail with them. Ok enough complaining.
Now I get to start tapering, yay! My long run for the upcoming week is only 9 miles, halleluja! My life-saving book says that all the muscular, skeletal, cardio and mental training work is complete, and the next 3 weeks are for bodily and emotional recovery. I'm to keep up the carbs and fluids to build up the glycogen levels to their max, without gaining any fat...which means I'll need to ease up a bit on the calories. The book says that even an extra pound of fat during the marathon would make a negative difference.
I am growing rather nervous about the actual distance of the marathon: 26.2 miles. I know how I feel after 18...I can barely walk until after my ice bath. My books swears that if I can run 18, then I can run the marathon...but it's so strange to run 18 miles and think about having 8 whole more miles to go! The good news is that when I hit the 18 mile mark today, I felt as if I could keep going; I didn't necessarily want to, but I could have, so that's encouraging. I keep hearing the saying, "the last 6 miles are the last half of the marathon". I know I'm gonna be hurting pretty bad and hating myself, but hopefully all the mental training will kick in and carry me through. Hopefully.
Since work started I have slacked pretty significantly in taking care of my knees, which at this point are probably what can keep from succeeding, and I REALLY felt it during the 8 mile run in the middle of the week. It was then I decided I need to try harder and make time for tlc, or I won't make it through the marathon. I don't have as much time to ice as before, but I did try and remedy that during the latter part of the week: icing in the car during the commute to work in the morning and icing while sitting at my desk during the afternoon. (My boss thought it odd that I had a bag of frozen peas on the floor of my office...I had hopped up for a minute to do something and she came in.) Oh well, whatever works.
I'm sure it helped some, but I think I waited too long to make the effort in order for it to really make a difference for this morning's 18 miler. I survived, but it was fairly painful...and long. I thought I'd done a good job hydrating, but I don't think it was enough consdering the heat wave we've had the last couple of days; it was much warmer today than it has been the last few weeks. (You'd think that 160 ounces of gatorade in the last 16 hours would be enough...and thats JUST gatorade...doesn't include the 200 ounces of water from yesterday.) Overall exhaustion from work, lack of sleep and sore knees kept me moving pretty slow. But at least I finished! (I think I listened to the All-American Rejects song "Move Along" 3 times in a row for motivation during the last 2 miles.) I also seemed to lose a lot of time today, nothing seemed to be going smoothly. I had to stop for two potty breaks, instead of the usual one, and at one point I got a rock in my shoe and had to take the whole thing off to get it out. All those little minutes add up. Also there was some sort of bike race going on on part of my route, so I had to go a different way. Those bikers are scary fast! I think I was the one needing the helmet while trying to share the trail with them. Ok enough complaining.
Now I get to start tapering, yay! My long run for the upcoming week is only 9 miles, halleluja! My life-saving book says that all the muscular, skeletal, cardio and mental training work is complete, and the next 3 weeks are for bodily and emotional recovery. I'm to keep up the carbs and fluids to build up the glycogen levels to their max, without gaining any fat...which means I'll need to ease up a bit on the calories. The book says that even an extra pound of fat during the marathon would make a negative difference.
I am growing rather nervous about the actual distance of the marathon: 26.2 miles. I know how I feel after 18...I can barely walk until after my ice bath. My books swears that if I can run 18, then I can run the marathon...but it's so strange to run 18 miles and think about having 8 whole more miles to go! The good news is that when I hit the 18 mile mark today, I felt as if I could keep going; I didn't necessarily want to, but I could have, so that's encouraging. I keep hearing the saying, "the last 6 miles are the last half of the marathon". I know I'm gonna be hurting pretty bad and hating myself, but hopefully all the mental training will kick in and carry me through. Hopefully.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Three weeks to go
I can hardly believe there are only 3 weeks to go until the marathon...time flies! Although I wouldn't have said that during my 18 mile run this morning...it felt like forever! I am super proud of myself for making it and not dying; at the end I actually felt like I could keep going...weird. Either that means my training has been successful, or I just haven't hit the wall yet. I was tired, but I don't think I actually hit the wall. I was doing everything I could think of to sustain myself: extra gatorade, started drinking earlier in the run and had two gels, the first at mile 8 and the second at mile 14. Those energy gel things are pretty gross but I think they really help. Even if they only make me feel better and the energy is all in my head...then they helped. I think next week I may even try stashing more than one gatorade...(I drive down to the far away parts of my route the night befor a long run and hide a gatorade in the bushes). I always feel like a shady character doing it, but oh well. Probably worse is when there are people around when I go to dig it out..."that girl just got a gatorade out of the bushes...".
I decided today that I needed to revisit my original goal of running a marathon: finishing the marathon. That's it. Nothing else. I think I've been getting too caught up in beating the clock and focusing on miles per minute, etc and it actually drags me down. If I don't reach the pace goal that I've set for myself then I feel like I've failed. There should be no room for that...I just ran 18 miles! It doesn't matter that it took a long time, I still did it. No failure in that.
This past week of training has been kind of a challenge for me: I started a new job on Monday morning, so I don't have nearly the same amount of free time I had before. And I'm exhausted. I can't bring myself to wake up early enough to do the runs in the morning before work, so I'm trying to do them in the evening, before it gets dark. Last week that didn't go so well...I come home so starving hungry that when it's dinnertime I EAT. Then I have to wait at least an hour to go running...and by then it's starting to get dark...then two hours later...it's too dark. So I'll have to work on perfecting that this week.
Speaking of eating...this is getting ridiculous. I'm ready for this to be over so I can go back to eating like a normal person. I burned around 7200 calories this morning. I know that only happens one day a week...but during the other runs I burn about 2000 and 3200 calories...depending on the day. No wonder I eat like a HORSE. It didn't sound like much to me until I compared it to what I would normally eat...whoa. So on top of trying to make up for what I've burned, I have to eat like a normal person, and that equals a lot of food. During these high-mileage weeks I've really been packing it in. My book says that from here on out I need to focus more on nutrition and hydration to keep everything stalked up for race day. No gaining or losing weight...just keep it steady. I can hardly wait to start tapering, only 1 more week!
Cumulative mileage total: 260.5
I decided today that I needed to revisit my original goal of running a marathon: finishing the marathon. That's it. Nothing else. I think I've been getting too caught up in beating the clock and focusing on miles per minute, etc and it actually drags me down. If I don't reach the pace goal that I've set for myself then I feel like I've failed. There should be no room for that...I just ran 18 miles! It doesn't matter that it took a long time, I still did it. No failure in that.
This past week of training has been kind of a challenge for me: I started a new job on Monday morning, so I don't have nearly the same amount of free time I had before. And I'm exhausted. I can't bring myself to wake up early enough to do the runs in the morning before work, so I'm trying to do them in the evening, before it gets dark. Last week that didn't go so well...I come home so starving hungry that when it's dinnertime I EAT. Then I have to wait at least an hour to go running...and by then it's starting to get dark...then two hours later...it's too dark. So I'll have to work on perfecting that this week.
Speaking of eating...this is getting ridiculous. I'm ready for this to be over so I can go back to eating like a normal person. I burned around 7200 calories this morning. I know that only happens one day a week...but during the other runs I burn about 2000 and 3200 calories...depending on the day. No wonder I eat like a HORSE. It didn't sound like much to me until I compared it to what I would normally eat...whoa. So on top of trying to make up for what I've burned, I have to eat like a normal person, and that equals a lot of food. During these high-mileage weeks I've really been packing it in. My book says that from here on out I need to focus more on nutrition and hydration to keep everything stalked up for race day. No gaining or losing weight...just keep it steady. I can hardly wait to start tapering, only 1 more week!
Cumulative mileage total: 260.5
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