Emily's training blog

I'm going crazy!!!!  5 miles this morning.  I keep feeling like I need to run more.  But, I will get a long enough run on Saturday.  6:49 pace.  I have way too much nervous energy!  It's nice to feel good running, though!  

I ran 2.5 miles over to the track, did 2 miles of speed changes, and ran the short way back home.  My legs feel amazing.  My brain is busy overanalyzing everything.  

Easy run on a blustery morning.  SLCC loop.  7:11 average.  We leave this afternoon!  Just got to get one marathoner, three kids, one husband, (and a partridge in a pear tree) packed up for the van ride down.  Cole gave me his packing requests this morning.  "I want to bring Woody, and Captain America, and Optimus Prime, and my Leap Pad.  Buzz Lightyear has to stay here."  You know.  all the essentials.  No big deal!

2:40:30. 3rd place. Happy but not satisfied. Race report tomorrow.

So, I am proud to officially call myself a marathoner!  I feel such a huge sense of accomplishment in fulfilling this goal.  It has been a long journey to make this happen.  I'm glad that I have stuck with it, and FINALLY got that first marathon under my belt.  In addition, it was such a good experience that it won't be my LAST marathon.  That's a good thing.

I've really enjoyed training for this race.  I went in just wanting to get in shape after having Myles, and have some fun.  As my fitness improved, I found myself getting more competitive, but I tried to keep the mindset of enjoying my training.  I think that kept me from getting injured or burned out.

Race day:  I was so nervous, but it was a good nervous energy.  I just wanted to get to it.  I vowed to take it out conservatively.  There were 3 other girls I knew would be strong:  Amber Greene, Sariah Long, and Rosy Lee.  Amber and Rosie have run St. George multiple times, which is a huge advantage.  

Amber went out hard at the start, which I expected.  I chose to hang back with Sariah and Rosy.  We went through the first two miles in 6:15-20 pace.  (I didn't even keep my splits.)  Then we got rolling.  I knew the real challenge for me would be the hills in miles 7-12.  Sariah and Rosy gapped me.  I chose to stay comfortable, since I was still hitting under pace.  I was hoping to finish strong the second half.  Miles 10-12 were probably the biggest mental challege of the race.  It was uphill, and I was by myself.  I just concentrated on getting through the half. 

I went through the half in 1;20:30.  I told myself that it was time to get after it.  I started making up some time and distance on the other girls.  At mile 15 Sariah pulled off into a port-a-potty, and I found myself in third.  I could see Rosy through mile 18, then she started to really move and put on more distance.  

Mile 20 I was definitely feeling it, but knew I could use the last downhills to maintain.  I was keeping a sub-six average, and at this point was just concentrating on breaking 2:40.  All was good until miles 24-26.  My legs were shot, and I knew I was slowing.  At mile 25 I felt a blister  on my toe tear open.  Ow!  I tried to ignore/embrace the pain as much as possible.  I was elated to know I was actually going to finish this sucker, but I was not loving how I was feeling.  I was surprised to see a blond ponytail not to far ahead.  I didn't realize that I was that close to second place.  Too late to do anything about it, though.  I crossed in 2:40:30.  I felt so happy to have accomplished my goal, and in a pretty decent time. Then, I watched Jenny finish in an amazing 2:52.  I was so proud of her!

I realized that a couple of things really hurt me.  My downhills were fantastic.  But, I really lost the race on the climbs.  I have good leg speed, but I need to get stronger.  Something to work on for next time.  Secondly, I knew I could negative split, but to finish as strongly as I would have needed to win, I needed more endurance.  I topped out at 80 miles a week, the girls ahead of me were in the 95 mpw range.  Still, I did what I could with the time that I had.  I can build more mileage the next time around.  Finally, I did train downhills, but probably not quite as much as was necessary.  To really be successful at St. George you definitely need to train to the course.

Still, despite the improvements I can make, this was overall a hugely positive experience.  It feels amazing to break physical and mental barriers.  I enjoyed the camraderie of the experience.  My competitors were so tough, and gracious, and just really awesome women.  I met some of the ladies from the blog, and was happy to hear that they met their goals.  I realized, that when it comes to a marathon "we're all in this together"  (cue the disney music!)  

A big thanks to all the bloggers who encourage me with their input.  The blog really kept me positive and confident. It was fun "virtually training" with everybody.  I'm also really lucky to have a supportive husband.  Teren really put his running aside this summer to play Mr. Mom while I ran.  And, I couldn't have done it all without Jenny to train with.  She made it so much fun!  I look forward to incorporating more fast ladies into my training.  We can only make each other better! 

I'm so excited for a little break, but even more excited to do this again!  

Nada!   

Nada x 2

1 hour on the spinning bike while catching up on all the recorded tv that I missed while in St. George.  It felt good to get some blood pumping through my legs.  Feeling better every day.  I can almost go down the stairs without taking them one at a time.  At least I don't have to go down backwards.  

I've spent lots of mental energy trying to figure out what I want to do next.  I definitely want to do a sea level marathon next fall, but what inbetween?  The only for sure race on the schedule is the prestigious Cottonwood Heights Turkey Trot.  I'm playing with the idea of going to the US Half Marathon Championships in January,  (see, I think I'm all awesome and stuff, now!)  or possibly the Phoenix Half Marathon on March 1.  I kind of want to take advantage of my fitness to pop some decent times out.   Hmmm.  So many decisions.  

Zumba!  I pretty much took this whole week off,since I don't feel the need to recover quickly.  It was nice getting to sleep in and have time to get some other things done, as well as do some of my favorite cross training activities.  Plus, Teren was out of town most of the week, so it was definitely a great time for some down time.

I felt like trying a run this morning.  Walking after a marathon is a different story than running after a marathon.  I ran 4 miles in a blazing 8:17 average.  It hurt!  My quads are good, but my hips are so tight and sore.  It felt like my legs couldn't fire. Still, it felt good to get out and run.  There is definitely more recovery ahead.

I think if Pregnant Emily raced Post-Marathon Emily, Pregnant Emily would win.  

5 miles, 7:21 pace.  That's better!  I have more oompf, but my form still feels strange.  I'm still feeling pounded in my hips and right achilles.  But, it's getting better.  There is definitely no rush.  I'm just out enjoying these beautiful fall mornings.

Costco loop.  I was glad I had tights on today.  It was a little chilly.  My hips felt a little better today.  The achilles was still achey.  7:12 average.  

I met Jenny down on the river trail.  It was very dark this morning, even with Jenny's light.  We ran 3 out and back.  An overly friendly golden retriever jumped on us on the way out, and then again on the way back.  Of course, Fluffy wasn't on a leash.  Darn dog owners!    7 :30ish pace.  It felt good to back it off of yesterday.  I think I was a little too aggressive on my run, yesterday.  I could feel it all day.  It's the Garmin's fault. 

The East High team had a 6 am practice, so I thought I would run with them this morning.  They had a speed workout, which I'm not really ready for.  I decided to pace some of the girls to get a little turnover .  It actually felt really good to speed up a bit.  I could tell I'm not anywhere close to an all-out speed workout, yet.  

We warmed up 2 miles, and then did 4 hill sprints.  The first hill sprint felt terrible, but then my body warmed up and they felt better.  We started the workout with 2 x 400.  I ran with the girls hitting 90.  We ran 90 for the first one, and then got peppy and ran around 85 for the second one.  After the 400's they had a mile.  I ran with the group hitting 6:10-15.  I just ran 6:15.  Cardiovascularly this was no problem.  My legs felt it a little bit, though.  

At this point I needed to leave.  The kids still had some 400's, but Teren needed to get to work.  A little short today, but this is still a recovery week.  I was surprised that it felt pretty good to turn the legs over a little bit.  

I'm proud of the kids for getting up so early on their fall break and running in the cold and the dark.  They did great!  However, some of them should remember that 35 degrees is cold and wear something warmer than shorts and a t-shirt.

I didn't feel like running alone in the dark this morning.  Therefore, I ran for an hour on the treadmill at the gym.  7:03 pace.  

I got lazy on Saturday, and decided that I would finish up the last day of my recovery weeks with an extra day off.  Teren's sister and her family were staying with us.  So, I slept in, ate pumpkin waffles, and enjoyed the day.  

As a result, I was a bit stiff this morning.  I ran 1300 W to 7000S, back on 2700 W.  7:15 average.  I found that for this particular route, my internal Garmin was very accurate.  My actual garmin matched up almost exactly to the distance that I had predicted.  Years of running will do that.

I posted on the wrong day yesterday, and I'm too lazy to fix it.  So, I will post today's run on yesterday's post . . . I think I'm confusing myself.  

I drove down to Provo to run with my former teammates.  It was worth the drive to run on my old stomping grounds and catch up.  The banquet was fun last night, but running with friends is the best! Plus, my running shoes are a lot more comfortable than my high heels.

Tomy and Natalie will be pleased to hear that we ran Carterville.  Coach Shane invited us to participate in 1200 meter repeats with the current team, but we politely declined, and moseyed along at our 8:03 pace.  I'm having a blast reuniting with friends and reliving the glory days!

I've been bit by an extremely unmotivated lazy bug.  Actually, I'm really just giving some of my other life's priorities a bit of attention.  Still, I really need to get back on the training wagon.  5.6 miles, 6:58 pace.  At least my pace is picking up!  

The BYU Hall of Fame Induction is tonight.  I'm really excited to see all my former teammates.  This is such a huge honor.  Only three other teams in BYU history have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Tonight, 4 national championship cross country teams will join the ranks. I can't wait!