The Climb: Wisconsin Marathon Training Week 7

It's the middle of week seven and holy hell am I tiiiired. I'm not super sore or hurting or anything like that- just SLEEPY. I remember after the first month of training last summer when I got to this point. I had ton of energy at first (most likely due to adrenaline and the excitement from starting something new.) But about 6 weeks in or so my body realized what I was trying to sustain and I just shut down for about a week or so. Eventually I got accustomed to the mileage and I was able to press on but whoa, the sleeps were sleepy. And they are again now. Just typing this now, it's about 7pm and I'm already in bed and looking forward to lights out. Mmmmmm.

Am I stronger yet? Am I faster? I'm not really sure. It's so hard to gauge progress when you're in the thick of things. I've been bringing back hill workouts in to the mix because it helped me so much before Madison Marathon this year. I try to incorporate hills into almost every route I run now and earlier this week Sara and I tried out a completely bananas hill repeat workout that left me gutted. Even so, I feel mentally energized like every step I take is another in the right direction.

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Funny story: I actually drifted off and fell asleep in the middle of this blog post. Not LOL funny but... mildly amusing I guess? It's now Sunday afternoon and I'm encased in my Rest Day Blanket on the couch. I'm feeling less tired than I did in the middle of the week so that's nice. I also had a really strong long run yesterday at the Pettit with a nice stretch at goal marathon pace. I love Sundays because in addition to reflecting on all the hard work of the previous six days I get hyped looking at my schedule for the upcoming week. 60 miles on deck! Monster speed workout! Let's go! I swear if I don't see big improvements after this cycle I'm out of ideas.

Eff Yeah 200 Mile January!

No wonder I'm tired!

Ramping Up: Wisconsin Marathon Training Week 5

I love my new stripey tights.

Zoom! I passed my first checkpoint over the weekend! I ran a pretty solid 1:44:10 at the Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon on Saturday and although I would have loved to have been magically a couple minutes faster already, I realize it's early in the process so that fact that I can still eek out a sub-1:45 time means I'm in a pretty good place right now. I really really REALLY hope that in 2 months I can improve on this time and dip below a 1:42. (In my Dream World I would be a 1:3X half marathon runner already but I guess I need to work a little bit harder first.) I'm excited that this is my starting point instead of my peak time this year.

So week 5 begins! I eased up a bit on the mileage ahead of Saturday's race but before that I was starting to rack up some serious (for me) miles: 42, 46 and 49 miles for the 3 prior weeks. (I even managed the 49 during the week I was at Ladies Rock Camp.  I'm super proud of that!) This week I'll top out hopefully at 52 miles and keep climbing from there. Build that aerobic base. I'm hoping to get back to some hill running again this week as well since the frigid temperatures seem to be letting up for now and most of the ice has melted from my neighborhood sidewalks. Too much time on the treadmill and track is making me a bit punchy.

Look! There's Sara behind me!

In other news I've been playing around with logging my workouts on Strava lately. I broke up with Dailymile at the end of the year because I decided I didn't need another social networking site in my life anymore but I obviously still need to keep track of my training. I have my written training journal which I'm enjoying, but I also like being able to see everything on nifty charts and grafts and stuff. (Also, doing math is boring. I want Internet for that.) So far Strava seems to be prettier and more functional than the Garmin Connect site so I'll probably hang around there for a while. I had hoped to keep everything private but some folks have added me on there which I'm cool with for now. (I swear EVERYTHING has to have a social component to it these days.) Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Sometimes I like the idea of keeping my training log just for me. You know, except for when I choose to write goofy, rambling blog posts about it.

Last one. Zooom.

WI Marathon Training Week #3

This kind of stuff if probably only interesting to me but I like to get these thoughts out of my system and I ditched Dailymile this year so this is where the brain dump is going.

Week 3 already! The start of this cycle is decidedly less bumpy than the last time around. (Granted, last summer I was coming off a zero-mileage week during our trip to Barcelona.) This time, my decision to keep relatively high, easy-paced miles throughout December has me starting out with a pretty decent base to build upon. I remember last July those first two weeks of training really kicked my butt- especially the speed workouts- so feeling energized in week three is definitely nice.

Once again, I'm doing with a modified version of one of the training plans from Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning book. (I've constructed something that falls between the 18/55 and the 18/70 plan.) I feel like his training methods definitely made me a faster runner last year. My problem was that I didn't execute my race plan (i.e. going out to fast) or in the case of Lakefront Marathon I don't feel like I tapered enough and wasn't fully recovered on race day.

SO. Here we are again. I've had 2 especially good speed workouts so far and a confidence building marathon pace long run this past weekend. I know it's early in the game but I can't complain. Next weekend is the Icebreaker Half Marathon and while I don't feel ready to go for that sub-1:40 yet, I'm still going to run hard and see what I can do. Then we build from there.

My Dailymile replacement.

Tagged!

Sun from Eat. Host. Run. Style. tagged me last week for this little meme. Here we go!

Four names that people call me:
1. Trace
2. Mom
3. Robot Lady (obviously)
4. @tmgessner

Four jobs I've had:
1. Dairy Queen cashier
2. Gas station attendant
3. Mom
4. Personal Trainer

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. What About Bob?
2. Serenity
3. Mary Poppins
4. Billy Madison



Never gets old. Never never ever.

Four books I'd recommend:
1. The Time Traveler's Wife
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Devil in the White City
4. Unbroken

Four places I've lived:
1. Rockford, IL (1978-1996)
2. Chicago, IL (1996-2001)
3. Bartlett, IL (2001-2005)
4. Milwaukee, WI (2005-present)

Four places I've been:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Paris, France
3. London, England
4. Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Traveling is my favorite.

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Kauai
2. Costa Rica
3. New Zealand
4. Florida Keys

Basically I would like to feel like this.

Four things I don't eat:
1. Sushi
2. Mussels
3. Shrimp
4. Foie Gras

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Chili
3. Grilled Chicken Salad
4. Rissotto

Four tv shows I watch(ed):
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Game of Thrones
3. Doctor Who
4. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
1. Qualifying for Boston (fingers crossed)
2. Trail running (Dances With Dirt, North Face Endurance Challenge)
3. Traveling with my family
4. Remodeling our 110 year old home

Looking forward to this view.

Four things I'm saying right now:
1. It's too $%^&*(# cold to do __________.

(Really that's all I'm saying right now!)


Thanks Sun! I'm going to tag Jen/The Harmonized Run and Amy/running4fromlife!

The 2015 Goals Post

Yes, I realize I still have a few weeks left in 2014 before any of this gets put into motion but this no-mans land of repairing/regrouping/recovering is a land that makes me downright twitchy. I need order! Schedules! PLANS.

So here they are:

Qualify for Boston. (Duh.) This is a no-brainer and it's been hashed out a bajillion times here. I'm going to finish what I started and go for my BQ again at Wisconsin Marathon on May 3rd. No hyped-up super-fast start where I take off like a crazed banshee. No building myself up too big and psyching myself out the day of the race. None of that bullshit. It's time to take everything I've learned this year and put it to action.

Run a sub-1:40 half marathon. I feel like I'm a little farther off this goal than I am to a BQ but I'm banking on my next marathon training cycle getting me there. I'll take a stab at it at the Icebreaker Indoor Half next month to see how the chips fall but I'm also planning on running the Chi-Town Half Marathon in April. That will be close to the peak of marathon training so I should be in top shape by then. Also it's on my favorite stretch of the lakefront path in Chicago!

Return to trail running/ultrarunning. I had originally hoped to return to the trails this year if I had run a BQ time already. As we all know things don't always work out the way you plan so I'm banking on next summer being the time I can move back into ultra mode. I miss the trails. I also miss the super long miles run at whatever pace I feel like. I miss pushing myself in a way that's totally different than pushing for a fast time. Right now I'm about 95% sure I'll be doing the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler. I've run it twice and loved it both times. (I've run the 50K and the half out there as well. It's just a great event all around.) I'm sure I'll find myself at a 50K while I build up the miles- most likely Dances with Dirt.

And here's the part where I'm a bit loopy. For the past year I've had my eye running a 100K- specifically the Kettle Moraine 100K in June. Obviously I can't do it in 2015 if I'm still chasing a Boston qualifying time but I'm looking HARD at it for 2016. I know it's too far out right now to seriously think about but I can't deny the thought is there. If I have a good summer on the trails and a strong 50 next fall... well, you know where this is going.

Last, I'm registered for the Milwaukee Running Festival Marathon in November! If you think I'm missing the inaugural year of a hometown marathon that runs all through the city streets then you don't know me one bit. It's going to be one big damn party.

Of course there will be other shorter races and stuff along the way (for instance my 5th consecutive year of RAGNAR) but these are the big ones. The must-dos! But first I've got three more weeks left of aimless wandering- mixed in with some celebrating, holiday-ing and general good cheering.

Then we begin anew.

Schaumburg Half Marathon Recap-a-Roo

Hey! Not a bad way to finish the season! Especially after the double marathon drama.  My hope was to beat my time from last year (1:45:01) and it almost literally slipped away from all the icy patches on the course but I pulled it out by one single second with a finish line sprint. (Official time was 1:45 on the nose.) I wish I would have run the tangents better and dipped into the 1:44s but Safety First. Had one big slip but I didn't faceplant so I'm celebrating my one-second victory. *shimmy* This race is a Thanksgiving weekend tradition for me and it didn't disappoint.

Yes I stole this photo. I buy a lot of photos. Not this one. Sorry.

Taking a closer look at my Garmin it looks like I ran the last mile fastest and peaked down the stretch at a 6:08 pace during my finish line sprint. HEYYY. I have to think this bodes well for me taking a stab at a sub-1:40 in the half marathon next year! I'm signed up for the Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon and although running on a flat track in a climate-controlled environment might be considered an unfair advantage.... I really don't care. Running in circles that many times takes a level of mental fortitude that I seem to have tapped into so I'm going for it there. Hopefully that will be my launch pad from which I will spring to a BQ at Wisconsin Marathon on May 3rd!

But I'm getting ahead of myself again. This is not a post about 2015 goals. I will say this though: If I do finally get my BQ in May then I hope to have a triumphant return to trails and ultrarunning over the summer and boy do I have some goals there too.

All in good time though my pretties. All in good time.