Saturday (3/26/2011) - Spent the day preparing myself for the 20 miles that will be completed on Sunday. Drank lots of water and did some carbo loading by eating pizza for dinner! Yummmm. Now time to continue resting up!
Friday (3/25/2011) - Did absolutely nothing in terms of a workout and LOVED every minute of it.
Thursday (3/24/2011) - Did a 3 mile easy jog around the apartment with Jenny. While running she noticed that I apparently was limping a little bit (my knee is still bothering me). I had not noticed I was changing my form, but decided that it would be best to rest for the next 2 days and prepare myself and my knee for the Eastern States 20 mile run on Sunday.
Wednesday (3/23/2011) - I was supposed to get up before work to head to the gym, but for the first time in my three plus months of training I decided I needed my rest more than anything. So, I opted for an extra hour of sleep and headed to the gym after work for 3 miles of sprint jogs and a circuit workout. The 3 miles of sprint jogs was very difficult for me. I had no desire to be at the gym and was mentally weak. I was not physically tired from running, but just not into it. After what felt like the longest three miles and circuit workout ever, I was finally done at the gym.
Tuesday (3/22/2011) - Run club day! Ran the 5 mile route with the usual crew, but this time was joined by a woman from Mississippi. It was so nice to chat with her along the run, as she has run multiple marathons before and motivated me to keep working hard. She reminded me to focus on the fact that I will have completed a marathon in less than a month, instead of focusing on how long it takes me to cross the finish line. I finished the 5 miles with a favorable pace, but as soon as I stopped running was reminded of the fact that my knee has been bothering me. I don't notice the pain when running, but as soon as I stop the pain returned. I have no idea what caused the pain as it came upon me so quickly with no warning signs. I iced the painful spot on my leg/knee when I got home (by using a bag of frozen peas :) and prepared for the rest of the week ahead of me.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Less than 1 Month
Monday (3/21/2011) - Took the day off to relax. My knee is really sore today and needs to be rested.
Sunday (3/20/2011) - Since I did not do my 14 mile run yesterday like I was supposed to, I decided I needed to complete at least a 12 mile "short run". Let me tell you, it was a mental weakness day. I started out on a roll, then before I knew it I was battling a constant low blood sugar. I felt very weak and dreaded each and every step I was taking. For the first time in a few weeks, I was completing my long run by myself. Running two hours by myself caused me to start talking to myself. Some of the comments I even said out loud to the tress and river next to me were "common Val, you can do it" and "it's just you and the pavement, one step after the other". As I approached mile 11 I hear this "beep beep" with two hands sticking out either side of an approaching SUV. Two of my friends had come to check on me and give me an extra water. It is always fun to see people I know to give me that extra support for the final stretch. Finally I had completed the run and have only 3 more weekend runs before the big race day!
Saturday (3/19/2011) - Shamrock Shuffle 5K! I was too tired to get up early to do my 14 mile run, so decided to run with some friends in the 3.1 mile race in Lebanon, NH. A friend of mine could not participate, but had previously registered and asked me to run on her behalf. I agreed and actually achieved a personal record for a 5K!! Sweet! Guess I'll just have to sign up for another 5K so that the speedy time is actually under my own name :-) It was a great day for a little "jog" with some amazing friends.
Friday (3/18/2011) - Rest Day
Thursday (3/17/2011) – St. Patty’s Day! Quick 3 mile route before heading out with friends for some corned beef and cabbage! Cheers :-)
Wednesday (3/16/2011) – Up early to get to the gym!! Time for a circuit workout again. I just love waking up before the sun comes up to go work out. Nottttt. But knowing that a friend was holding me accountable to meeting her there got me out of bed and off to start my day. I did a little warm up on the elliptical and got through my circuit before it was even 7:00 A.M. I had hoped to do a little jog after work but did not get home until after 10:00P.M. so decided to call it a night and rest up for the next workout.
Tuesday (3/15/2011) – RUN CLUB DAY! Yesss! For the second week in a row I was joined by Jenny (my cousin/friend/roommate/
Monday (3/14/2011) – Headed to the gym to complete a 3 mile jog on the treadmill and do some circuits. My most dreaded circuit is the push ups on the half ball (I don’t know the formal name). After a quick 3 miles on the treadmill it was time to face the dreaded circuit. Finally another workout done and only 5 more weeks until race day. Ahhhh Crazy!
Sunday (3/13/2011) – Recovery Day
Saturday (3/12/2011) – 18 MILER! Up early to get a head start on the run my running partner and I hit the pavement at 8:45 A.M. We got dropped off at mile 8.5ish along the course and ran the next 17.5 miles right along the marathon course, finishing the last .5 miles of our route past the finish line into the South End. The day was gorgeous. A beautiful sunny day with temps in the low 50s. It was the first day I didn’t have to wear two long sleeved shirts!! I hope race day weather is just like this long runs! The first eight miles were awesome, but consisted of lots of rolling hills which surprised me because I thought it was supposed to be all downhill. We stopped every 4 miles for GU packs and water (I have some awesome friends that went out along the course and left us water and Gatorade about every 4 miles! THANK YOU). So many people and teams were out running the course which was great motivation to know that lots of other people were running at the same time! At the eight mile marker, two of my friends joined us to run the last 10 miles (they are both training for a half marathon). Running around a nine minute mile pace I still was feeling strong. I just kept thinking to myself this is my dream. I am going to be able to say I DID IT. I will have completed the Boston marathon which is more than most people can say. Then along came heartbreak hill…the dreaded hill. There are 7 do not enter signs along the half mile hill and my focus is to just pass each one. Our pace slowed down slightly, but we did not walk at all. Having the fresh legs of my two friends that joined us helped to keep me motivated to keep a steady pace and not slow down. I made it up heartbreak hill yet again. SUCCESS! Finally we took a left onto Beacon St. and were on the final stretch. Feeling much stronger than last week, 16 miles were behind me and the final 2 of the run were left. My legs started to get tired and I could tell that if we had to stop at any cross walks my legs were going to hate me when I started to run again. One mile to go and I had to slow my pace down to about a 10:30 minute mile. With the reassuring support of my friends, I kept on going and as soon as my Garman watch said 18.00miles I stopped running! I DID IT! And felt fairly strong! Approximately 8 more miles and I will have finished a marathon! WooHooo! I drank some chocolate milk and headed home to take an ice bath (BRRRRR). Going up and down stairs was a little tough for the day but by Sunday I was ready for the next week of training that laid ahead of me.
Friday (3/11/2011) – REST DAY. One of my most favorite days of training!! :)
Thursday (3/10/2011) – I had to work late and had a busy day so I wanted to go out for a nice stress releasing jog. I had just received my Forerunner 305 Garmin watch in the mail and I could not wait to test out the distance and pace features. I planned to go 5 to 6 miles, but 2 miles into my run I was unmotivated with a low blood sugar. Luckily I had worn my fanny pack with my diabetes kit and some GU chews so I ate a few Chews and decided I would just head back home for the night. According to my watch, I ended up completing a 3 mile route.
Wednesday (3/9/2011) – I decided that I was pretty tired so headed to the gym after work to do a little bit of cross training and my circuit workout. I was joined by a friend for the workout which helped motivate me to get a great workout in.
Tuesday (3/8/2011) –Run Club DAY!!! I completed a 5 mile route with run club. Nike was the sponsor and allowed people to test wear their LunarGlide 2 sneakers!! These are the same shoes that I have been training in…so, I decided that I would test wear their sneakers so that I could save some miles on my running sneakers. After the route was completed, Nike raffled off 2 water bottles and I was one of the lucky winners!! Yayyyy. I love run club days :-)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Getting Closer!
Monday (3/7/2011) – 3 mile easy jog. An easy jog that was made extremely difficult by me being not mentally tough. Within 24 hours I better have my mental toughness back!!!
Sunday (3/6/2011) – REST DAY. Enough said.
Saturday (3/5/2011) – 16 miles. The furthest distance I have ever run in my life!! I met a friend in the South End for 9 am and ran part of the course backwards, down Commonwealth Ave to Boylston Street, right onto Chestnut Hill then left onto Commonwealth Ave out towards Newton. At eight miles out I was still feeling strong. We were taking our time, testing my blood sugar every 4 miles and eating GU along the way. At eight miles we turned around and headed back to the marathon finish line along the route of the course. At mile 13 I began to feel tired, but knew only 3 more miles remained. The only problem was that the only full water bottle I had left apparently did not get rinsed out enough and had dish soap mixed with it. Ewww gross!! Thank goodness for the Marathon Sports store on Boylston Street...they had a sink I could rinse my water bottle out in AND a water bubbler to fill it back up with fresh water! The store was a savior for me. Thank you to them!! As we continued on the last two miles, my body just kept getting more and more tired. Each time I thought we had completed a mile it was really only a half mile. Talk about feeling like the last few miles were taking FOREVER!! Anyways, finally we completed the 16 miles and it feels good to be able to say I DID IT!! 18 miles this Saturday all along the course! Getting dropped off at mile 8 and running to the finish line. Oh JOY. Please feel free to drive the route and deliver some Gatorade or water!! J That would be amazing.
Friday (3/4/2011) - Got up early and hit the gym to do some weight training before work. The best part was that a friend joined me for the workout making getting up early seem a little bit more reasonable. Thank you Kari!!
Thursday (3/3/2011) - Busy at work again and T issues made for a long, late commute home. Got home after 8 pm and still had to get my run in. I really had to give myself a pep talk in order to get myself motivated to go back out in the cold to run. I decided I was going to do a little stress release jog and ended up going 4 miles. The best part of the run was during my final stretch when I ran by some friends of mine!! We all stopped and chatted for a bit. Seeing people I knew and having them be excited for my marathon goal, gave me the final extra push I needed to complete a solid run.
Wednesday (3/2/2011) - Did not get home from work until late and so did not want to go to the gym for a run and weight workout. After chatting with a friend who gave me some inspirational words, I was changed and ready to head out the door to the gym! I ended up having the best 3 miles of sprint jogs on the treadmill since I started my training. Feeling strong, I took the excitement into my weight training and pushed myself extra hard.
Tuesday (3/1/2011) - Run club day! Ran the 5 mile loop at just under a 9 minute mile pace and I finally did not feel so exhausted at the end of the run like I normally do. yayyy!!! My training is paying off!! After the run, the group met for a raffle where New Balance was going to be giving away 2 pairs of their new minimalist shoes. Guess what?!?!?! I was one of the lucky winners!! I am very excited to get a pair of these shoes in the mail soon, but probably will not wear them until after the marathon. It is getting to close to race day to risk injury from wearing a different brand of shoes than I am used to.
Monday (2/28/2011) - Recovery day for my body that was matched with a busy day at work. Perfect timing for a rest day so I did not have to think about when I was going to get my workout in!
Saturday & Sunday (2/26/2011 - 2/27/2011) - THE BIG DAY!! This was the day of my 2nd 1/2 marathon EVER!! Saturday afternoon I headed to the Cape with Jenny and Greg where we were meeting some friends for a little pre race slumber party. I am so thankful that we were able to stay overnight in the Cape with great company. One of them was also running the 1/2 marathon too!! In preparation for the run, I carbo loaded Saturday night with some pasta and dinner rolls. YUMMM! Dinner was delicious. When we got back to the house we were staying at, we listened to some amazing Celtic music to help relax us and drank lots of water to hydrate up. We all called it a night fairly early and could not wait until race time (really I just wanted it to be over with so I could stop stressing over how my blood sugars were going to react to such a physically demanding task). 7:45 am rolled around quickly and I woke up to fresh snow on the ground and flurries. Not the best conditions for a half marathon, but at least the snow was not really sticking to the road. By the time the race start rolled around, it was cold and drizzly with puddles all over the ground. 2 hours after the start of the race I was crossing the finish line and receiving my first medal for completing a half marathon (the other 1/2 I did didn't give out medals). My blood sugar stayed constant throughout the race with the help of a couple GU packs along the way. I worked hard the entire race and feel as though I did my best! 16 miles next Saturday is scary sounding!! It will be the farthest distance I have EVER run. Ahhhhh. Can't wait to be able to say I DID IT!!
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