An Unmentioned Goal

Happy Monday All! I fell off the face of the planet this weekend, but another jam packed weekend will do that to you. We attended 2 football games this weekend, which is absolutely exhausting assuming you are doing things correctly:)

We starte our Saturday here in The Swamp...

From what I have read we set the record temperature for a game, some rediculous heat index like 108* or something. Needless to say it was disgustingly hot, and I am praying for all night games until at least November. I opted to wear gator running attire since I knew from last week I would be sweating buckets (which I did) but the dry fit made me not want to kill myself.

Problem became that since I had on something different before the game, my sunscreen was put on in different places and left me with a result looking something like this...

Needless to say, I was not real happy about this new tan/burn lines, but at least the will line up with my sports bra when I run so I don't look like too much of a freak. Sunday we hit the Jags game, and it was hot, but thanks to a fan and some access to the A/C I felt it was a much more bearable game. 2 Games, and 2 wins in the books, both looking much prettier than the week before.

Sunday after Game 2, was spent doing a lot of this...

And getting ready for our week. As much as I liked having a short 4 day work week last week, I like the routine of a normal week, and went to bed last night excited about all the things I would be getting done this week.

I ended up doing something this weekend that I have not done in I can't remember how long- I took 2 days off in a row!!!! It felt nice to have a little break, and especially after the long 20 miler, but this morning I was more than ready to get back to my running!

This morning I was to do 7-9 miles, I was shocked I had given myself a choice in the matter, but I remember when and why I did that, because I knew I would be coming off of 2 insanely busy weeks. After a lower than desired mileage week last week, and a few schedule tweeks, I knew this would be a high mileage week for me, so I opted to do the 9. I was really exctied for it to, normally I stick with 8 or 10, so 9 seemed like fun.

Monday = tempo, and after several missing tempos the last few weeks, I decided I really needed to nail this one. The schedule showed 5 @8:25 pace, but since I had been slacking I knew 8:30 was probably more realistic, so it went like this:

9 Miles- 1:20:19, 8:55 average pace

Mile 1-  9:44

Mile 2-  9:39

Mile 3-  8:33

Mile 4-  8:28

Mile 5-  8:31

Mile 6-  8:26

Mile 7-  8:23

Mile 8-  9:17

Mile 9-  9:18

Per usual, it took 2 to warm-up, but I actually started feeling better the more miles I went, the faster miles got easier and easier, and I almost added one more in for good measure, but decided that would be enough miles for today. Great run to start off the week, I am hoping for a stellar running week, to get the confidence back up, we are less than 6 weeks until race day, and I really feel the biggest thing missing now is the confidence.

When the end of 2009 came, and I was making note of goals I wanted to hit this year, one that came to mind was that I wanted to run more than 1,000 miles in 2010. It seemed reasonable enough, but the more I thought about it, it seemed like such a huge number, especially to someone who was hitting 20- 25 miles/week during the peak of half marathon training. I had no set plans of a full marathon at that time, so I just kept that goal in the back of my brain, and made sure I kept track of my miles this year, just to see if I could hit it. Well today my run put me comfortably over the 1,000 mile mark for the year and we still have 3+ months to go. I am really proud to have hit that number, especially because I was so afraid I couldn't that I didn't even write about it in my 2010 Goals Post. After revisting that post this morning, I actually had another realization: I have smashed every goal I had listed in that post, and then some! Since I have some how exceeded my own expectations well before the year end, and am in a completely differnet place with my running, I feel it necessary to update my life (and blog) with some new goals I am working towards before the end of this year. Those will be coming at ya tomorrow!

The First Time

They say you will never forget the first time, well last night I did my first ever 20 mile run. I'm not sure there was anything especially memorable about it, but it will always be the first one I suppose.

Physically this has been a really rough week for me, I have felt sluggish and stiff since we got back from Atlanta on Monday, I don't know if it was just from a non-stop 3 day weekend or if it was running the monstrous hills last Sunday, but I have pretty much sucked it up ever since. I started Thursday morning with a 2 mile walk while John ran, I thought I would run, but my calves were so tight I didn't even bother.


My only options for my long run this weekend were Thursday night or Friday morning. In order to get 20 miles in on Friday morning before work I would have had to start about 3:30am or so. And while I am lucky enough to have a 24 hour gym membership, I didn't want to be stuck doing 2 hours of this run on the treadmill when there would be not a thing on tv to keep me entertained, so I opted to do it Thursday night.

I have had hits and misses with evening long runs, my most recent being a major miss, so I was a little nervous how my body would react, but it held up pretty well considering. I started as soon as I got home from class, and had a plan to hit at least 10 goal pace miles (9:30 or less) and I didn't care how/when/in what order they came, as long as there was at least 10 by the time I finished. I also consider miles in the 9:30-9:40 range to be quality, just not goal pace anymore.


I started my goal pace miles a little earlier than I usually do on purpose, because I had been thinking about how I always start almost 20 seconds slower and don't pick it up until I am thoroughly warmed up. I felt like I was making it easy for myself to hit my goal miles by building them into the middle when I warm but not yet tired, and then doing a "cool-down" so to speak. When marathon day comes, I will likely not be starting out slow for 5-6 miles and then hoping to make up ground and hit times below goal pace, so I figured I might as well get used to running near goal pace from the start, or at least sooner, and more at the end to make sure I could get near it when tired.


20 miles- 3:11:00 (9:33 average pace)
Mile 1-  9:50
Mile 2-  9:48
Mile 3-  9:45
Mile 4-  9:28
Mile 5-  9:23
Mile 6-  9:12
Mile 7-  9:13
Mile 8-  9:28
Mile 9-  9:42
Mile 10-  9:40
Mile 11-  9:22
Mile 12-  9:26
Mile 13-  9:21
Mile 14-  9:45
Mile 15-  9:39
Mile 16-  9:42
Mile 17-  9:31
Mile 18-  9:29
Mile 19-  9:40
Mile 20-  9:35


When I finally pulled up my stats this morning I was actually really surprised. I knew I had hit exactly 10 goal pace miles, with 4 more in the 9:30-9:40 range, but this run was nothing stellar, it just felt average- not slow, or quality, just decent, but I was so surprised to see my average pace so close to goal pace over the entirety of the run.

I am not going to sugar coat it, this run was tough, certainly not the toughest ever by any means, but I definitely felt more worn out than I have for any other long run, and it wasn't even in the last few miles that I was dragging, more so in the middle. I actually got a 2nd wind about mile 16 (maybe it was the gatorade), but after I was finished, and especially this morning, I can feel a major difference in my recovery than other long runs, I feel like it's already moving slower, normally 12 hours later I am fine, maybe a little stiff or sore, but fine, and never hungry. Today my joints are so stiff I would swear I had arthritus, and forgotten to eat yesterday because my stomach will not stop begging for more food.

Mentally I thought I held up well, I zoned out quite a bit and was thinking about all the other things that I have going on and need to get done, I actually only used my ipod for the first 5 miles to get into it, and after that I went solo. I thought a lot about the remainder of my training, and to be honest I think I may have had the training bar set a little too high for my first marathon. This was supposed to be my first 50 mile week, and my body just revolted, depending on how I feel the rest of the weekend I still could hit 50, but I am not going to force it. I feel like the quality of my runs has been slipping as my mileage has increased. When I was at my base mileage, almost every was intense and of high quality. I know I am training for a major distance and at this point being built up to the distance is more important that speed, but both are important and with 3-4 weeks to go, I find myself thinking about making sure I have the right balance, and I'm just not sure what I think that is. I know by now I have the distance built up, but I guess getting more comfortable with doing it faster is going to be the key.

Doing the math, if I replicate this run for the first 20 miles during the race, then I could actually drop to a 10:00 pace for the last 6.2 miles and still finish just under my goal. That leaved me feeling much more confident about my capabilities for this race, knowing that I am pretty darn close to my goal times during training means I have at least been doing something right, I think the biggest question is what will be the right balance to make sure I stay healthy and finish training strong.


Ok enough reflective running babble...This is a football filled weekend I have ahead of me, so I am glad to have my run out of the way. Gator game Saturday and Jags game on Sunday, this will be my first Jags game since I was kid, and the first since I moved to Jacksonville in 2007, so I am really excited! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A whole lot of thinking

Happy Hump day all! I love that we are already pretty much just sliding into the weekend!

First a running update:

Last night, once home from class, I went out with John to do a short run. He is planning to do his first race since February in a few weeks, and I am doing most of his runs with him, because it is more fun to not do it alone.

Last night I did 3 miles, I ran the first mile with John, but he said he was going to do 2.5, and we all know I don't do x.5 miles ever, so I picked it up after mile 1 to get in 3 miles and try to make sure we finished at the same time.

3 Miles- 27:44, 9:15 pace
Mile 1-  10:11
Mile 2-  8:45
Mile 3-  8:48

The last 2 miles, picking it up felt pretty effortless, and if I had been doing a longer run I feel confident I could have maintained that pace as well. I finished feeling refreshed, especially after the blah-ness of my morning run.
I went to stretch and foam roll after to find that Ms. Peach has been using the end of my foam roller as a chew toy! There is only a few little bite marks and one small chunk taken out, but still, not cool little doggie!


This morning I had 9 miles easy on the schedule, but since yesterday was easy I wanted to throw in some faster miles this morning. I ended up only getting in 7 miles, I got some shooting pain in my right foot around mile 6, and since it wasn't subsiding I cut it short. It seems fine now, but better to be safe. I am planning to run with John again tonight assuming it is fine, so if I get out, I will make sure those miles are fast also.

7 Miles-  1:05:36, 9:22 pace
Mile 1-  9:45
Mile 2-  9:38
Mile 3-  9:31
Mile 4-  9:07
Mile 5-  9:19
Mile 6-  9:13
Mile 7-  9:03


So there you go 2 more runs since I last left you! I have also been doing lots of running-related thinking. I am working on making the final adjustments to my taper schedule which is approaching pretty quick now. There is a half marathon on my schedule exactly 2 weeks before the marathon, and my original goal was to go out, hit it hard and ensure myself a nice sub-2:00 PR, the more I think about it, its really not a good idea.

The course for this half is not super hard, but there are 2 steep bridges, 2 normal ones, and a few other spots that make it not the easiest course out there. I know I will be in pretty peak shape by this race, and if I am not careful could go out waaay too hard, and end up needing a full week to recover, not the best idea. So I think I am going to play it conservative, and try to do the whole race at my "aggressive marathon pace". It will make a really quality long run to round out marathon training plus it still ensures a PR by about 10 minutes. I have 3 other halfs scheduled post-marathon, and I can go balls to the walls for my sub-2:00 then, when I have to time to recover from it. I did not spend all these weeks training for a marathon to go destroy those goals on my first of 4 fall half marathons.

I have also been doing a lot of thinking about Marathons #2 and #3. There is one already on my calendar, and 2 more than I am debating between. Even though I haven't done the race yet, going through this training cycle has been more than enough to know that I do want to do this again. Anyone have any tips on 2nd/3rd marathons? Is it better to just stay in marathon shape or put in a longer waiting period and start from scratch???

10 Things Tuesday- Long Weekend Recap

1.  I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend, I know we did, it was crazy super busy, but so fun!

2. Saturday John and I headed to Gainesville for the first Florida football game of the season. It actually started as a beautiful morning weather wise, but the 90+ temps quickly set in leaving me sweating as if I had just run 20 miles. The Gators managed a very ugly win, but I suppose a win is a win. The highlight of our Gainesville trip was a stop at my Beloved Pita Pit for lunch, Heavenly!

3. After the game we said goodbye to Ms. Peach, grabbed our third passenger and hit the road for Atlanta. We managed to make great time, and made it up there about 45 minutes earlier than anticipated. Once there we grabbed some pizza, watched more football and hung out with everyone before calling it a night after midnight- waaay past my bedtime!

4.  Sunday morning I woke up to set out for a run on my all time favorite route. There is a big 5 mile loop through my parents neighborhood, and despite the ample amount of HUGE hills, I was so excited to run this route again. Even better, it was 58* when I started my run just a little after 7am, I was so happy to be getting real fall weather after dying in the summer heat the day before.

5.  I assume it was my great mood and the weather, but I absolutely rocked my run on Sunday! I beat my 5 mile PR time and that was including running all the hills- I credit the perfect weather, but it seriously made me want to move back to ATL and set up shop running there permanently. While the hills definitely got my heart rate way up, it never felt torturous like it did when I did the same loop about 3 months ago.
5.04 Miles- 43:48, avg pace 8:42, average HR 178 (you can see where the hills took their toll)
Mile 1-  8:50
Mile 2-  8:51
Mile 3-  8:49
Mile 4-  8:36 <---- This is where the biggest of the 7 hills was, and I just kept pushing even as my HR hit 190, I knew there would be a nice downhill on the other side.
Mile 5-  8:19
Last .01-  :20  (7:57 pace)

So maybe this is a sign that I am supposed to be running in hills and cooler weather, something to think about


6.  After the run John and I grabbed breakfast and a Pumpkin Spice Latte to celebrate the beautiful fall weather and headed up the road to meet up with everyone else. We managed to get some errands done and had lunch before heading back to house to relax and get ready for the evening.

7. Sunday night was the wedding we went up to ATL for, and you really could not have asked for a more perfect evening. The weather was great, low humidity, plenty of sunshine, and it made the outdoor ceremony and reception very enjoyable. The ceremony seemed to go by super quick, and we headed upstairs for the reception. I spent most of the night chatting, but managed to sneak in some food, wine, and wedding cake. We left earlier than the rest of the family, but John and I were both tired and ready to head home.

8.  After what was not nearly enough sleep we woke up Sunday, packed up, and headed home. I had hoped to squeeze in one more run before we left, but I was sleep deprived, dehydrated, and starving, and I knew the run would have not been great, so we grabbed breakfast and hit the road. I thought the drive went pretty quick since John and I each drove half, and before I knew it we were back to pick up Peachie. She was so happy to see us, and immediately jumped in the car.

9.  Once we were home, the dog got a bath, I hit the grocery store, cleaned, unpacked, did all those things you do when you get back from being gone for 3 days. I kept telling myself I would go up to the gym to run on the treadmill, but by the time I finally stopped and got ready it was 8pm. I knew it would be a pretty sucky run, and I had to run this morning so I opted out and got in bed early in attempts to make today great and feel well rested.

10. So today, Tuesday, I wake up and go out to run- I had 7 miles to do, I decided to start easy and would pick it up once I woke up...yeah, that never happened. I felt like a zombie running this morning. At first my legs were not working right, well they woke up after 2 miles- my brain did not. I did manage to make it a "progression run" but the progress was so MINIMAL that it really doesn't count.

7 Miles-  1:06:53, 9:33 pace
Mile 1-  9:45
Mile 2-  9:38
Mile 3-  9:34
Mile 4-  9:31
Mile 5-  9:29
Mile 6-  9:30
Mile 7-  9:26


I am pretty pissed at myself for starting what was to be a very important running week, off really crappy. I am actually planning to do doubles both today and tomorrow to get my legs and brain back to functioning and make sure I get some intensity into my runs. I have my first 20 to run on Friday, so I better pick it up.

15 miles for Cofidence

Happy Friday!!!! I am so excited for my long weekend, only a few more hours of catch up and I will be out the door to start the madness. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my training schedule would be changing this week, and my long runs being moved to Fridays. I had never done a true long run before a full day of work, but I wasn't too stressed, Friday's are normally pretty easy right?


I felt lucky that my first pre-work long run fell on a cut back week, so I wasn't trying to tackle some new distance while getting into a new routine too. I have planned all my step-down long runs to be done quicker than step-up weeks since I am obviously comfortable with the distances. Today was scheduled 15 miles, and since my last 15 miler sucked, I wanted another chance at this distance, and it seems like a good number. Will a half marathon coming up in 4 weeks, I also wanted to take the opportunity to get in some pace miles there and push for the first 13 to really see what will be feasible for that race.  My goal was 5 miles @ MP and 5 miles @ HMP for 10/15 under marathon pace. For safety purposes since 4:20am is kind of shady on a Friday, alone, I again decided on the 6 mile route so it was broken into 6/6/3.


The first 6 miles absolutely flew by, kind of like during lsat week's 18 miler. I found myself oblivious to the fact that I would have more miles to do after 6, but that was the idea behind it, to push the whole time, I wanted to know I left everything out there today, I hate finishing my long run and thinking "well I could keep going". When I got to then end of mile 6, I was actually kind of annoyed that I had to refil my water and grab gu, but within 2 minutes I was back to it. Those were some of the best 6 miles I think I have had, I didn't care too much about time, and I knew I was moving quick enough to get some goal pace miles in so I just went with it, thinking about football and my upcoming weekend:)

Mile 1-  9:48
Mile 2-  9:42
Mile 3-  9:26
Mile 4-  9:33
Mile 5-  9:18
Mile 6-  8:57


As I quickly headed back out for the next 6 I was nervous I got to excited/pushy in the first 6 and maybe this would end badly, but I got right back into my stride and found a similar pace right away. These 6 were where I planned to get in my really quality miles both @mp and @hmp so I made sure I didn't let up. After the first 2 miles where I saw comfortable negative splits, I knew I would be fine, and I was so surprised how great I felt as I kept seeing all these great times pop up after each mile. These 6 miles were almost as good as the first, they went by fast, I felt great, so great I opted to not stop for the gatorade I had at the end of mile 6, and just keep going, I took the other half of my gu, and the little sip of water I had left.

Mile 7-  9:26
Mile 8-  9:20
Mile 9-  9:07
Mile 10-  9:11
Mile 11-  9:03
Mile 12-  8:55


When my mind cleared away the 6 and I started to think about the 3 miles left I kind of let up a little bit, my legs certainly couldn't keep up 3 more sub-9:00s and I didn't want to see some ugly positive split, so I tempered the first mile a bit and took it from there. I still felt good during the first 2/3, they went quick and I didn't find myself counting down the 1/2 miles until I could stop. As soon as I started the last mile I felt myself just crash, I should have probably gotten the gatorade at mile 12, but I knew it wasn't just that. I really put all my energy into this run, and I could see it in my times, they are so much faster than normal!

Mile 13-  9:25
Mile 14-  9:13
Mile 15-  9:27

15 Miles- 2:19:51, 9:19 average pace!
12 miles under goal marathon pace


This was the fastet long run I have ever had, ever! I always feel like I play it pretty conservative for long runs since I am tackling a brand new distance every time that I don't want to go too quick and not have anything left to finish, but with my next 3 longer step-up runs all being pretty much the same distance, I am hoping I can focus on speeding up more on the 2nd and 3rd one. This run though gave me so much confidence for everything, for my marathon, my half, my running in general. I feel like I have spent so much time building up my distances that my paces have kind of suffered, I almost felt like all I ever saw was a 9:30-9:40 pace or something waaay faster in a much shorter distance I was really beginning to believe I would not be able to really increase my pace for longer distances. The other part that I think is SO helpful is breaking the run into parts. I don't even think about the other part or remaining miles when I do that, all I think about is that piece (i.e just 6 miles) and it is so much easier to push yourself harder when you are only thinking in terms of 6 miles instead of 15, I think when I think of it that way is when I get too conservative. Any tips for completely ignoring the rest of the marathon and only focusing on each 5-6 mile segment?

I actually found the pre-work long run to actually work pretty well, my brain tends to operate much more efficiently on a work day, so I was all business this morning, and I think that mentality really helped. I was smart to pick out my clothes, and pack all food last night so all I had to do once I got home from running was shower, get ready, and walk out the door. I am liking having the run done so I can enjoy the rest of my weekend, it should be a crazy busy one, stay tuned for details of all the traveling adventures!

Double Wednesday

So I got home last night bursting with energy and dying to run, so I did! My legs felt great despite a solid tempo effort 12 hours earlier, and I decided since it would really be my only chance this week, I wanted to try to get in my missed track workout, or at least part of it.

I didn't want to do a ton of miles, and I didn't want to go run on the treadmill, so I actually attempted my first ever track workout on the road, albeit a pretty straight road, but still something totally strange for me.

I programmed my workout into my Garmin, with a short 1/2 mile warm up and cool-down and would 4x400 with 400 recovery. This week had originally called for 10x400, but with all my schedule mishaps it got lost in there somewhere. So When the siren went off on Garmie that my first interval was about to start I just started to haul ass. At the end of each interval I literally died, but I started so fast each time that it really didn't matter.

3 Miles- 26:01, 8:40 average pace
4x400 with 400 RI
1:32 (6:11)
1:44 (6:57)
1:39 (6:39)
1:44 (6:58)

These were without a doubt the fastest 400s I have ever run. Though, I normally do 6-10 rather than just 4, and I also normally make my recovery my goal marathon pace rather than 15-20 seconds slower, but I was floored by those times. I always shoot for low 7:00s when doing 400s, but I suppose after my 1 mile performace I should have know I could push harder, and I guess it just took a random mini "track workout" to see that. Track workouts are becoming less and less frequent as I am hoping to get in a tempo and progression run at goal pace each week until the race, so I guess a few random intervals will start becoming more the norm.

Fall Tastes so Good

So I found it, the first indicator of fall...

 Pumpkin spice lattes are back, which means fall is in full swing. It was even a tad less hot this morning just to mark the occasion.

There are so many things I look forward to about fall: college football, cooler weather, sweaters, Pumpkin anything, Florida/Georgia weekend, soups and chili being acceptable to eat again, apple cider, all my fall races (there are a lot), especially the marathon! This is my absolute favorite season, so hopefully it sets in a bit more in the next week or two.


So...I have learned that I have to run before work on days I have class because I have no motivation to do anything once I get home after a full day of work and class, so needless to say I did no running last night. I will not be taking a rest day now tomorrow as planned, but I will take it easy before my long run on Friday.

This morning I got up and was super motivated for my run. A rest day always leaves me really motivated which is why I usually like them the day before my long run:) I did a tempo run, it was pretty tough, I realized I hadn't done a real tempo in 3 weeks and used my races as "tempos" too, but that doesn't count because of course it's easier to run faster when you are racing. I was originally hoping for 4 miles at 8:25-8:30ish, but I knew there was no way, so I just hit it as hard as I could.

7 Miles- 1:02:28, 8:55 average pace
Mile 1-  9:45
Mile 2-  9:26
Mile 3-  8:30
Mile 4-  8:34
Mile 5-  8:29
Mile 6-  8:27
Mile 7-  9:17


The tempo miles hurt, but it was a good thing to get them in, I am hoping it makes next weeks tempo a stellar one. I am also unusually energetic at the moment so I think I will be doing something this evening with the extra time on my hands, but in the past few days that has not been the case so we will see.