Emily's training blog

80 minutes of easy-ish running. I may have run too hard yesterday. Surprise Surprise.

AM: Chilly morning! I pulled out my capris for my run

Marathon weather should be perfect for the St. Georgers this weekend. I can't believe that last year at this time I was tapering. This year I have 9.5 weeks of training left.

5.05 easy morning miles. I'm really trying to learn to take my recovery runs slower. It's hard to undo almost 30 years of conditioning to run hard all the time. It freaks me out to run slowly, even though I understand the benefits.

It was foggy on the river trail this morning. Halloween is in the air. Nice and creepy! 7:36 average.

PM: I didn't have a sitter for very long so I decided to save my workout for tomorrow. So, one more easy run. I ran on the canal road. I usually don't run thete because it's usually too dark. It's such a pretty road. 6.4 miles. 7:05 average.

I'm going to get more than 70 miles this week.

Fartlek workout. I thought of getting on the track, but decided to protect my sore calves. I will resume regular workouts next week.

20 minute warm-up. 3 x 1-2-3-2-1 minute repeats with 1-1-2-1-1 minute recoveries.This is probably my favorite fartlek workout. It's great for turnover. I cooled down with a loop through the neighborhood. 6:55 average for entire workout. 6:35-6:40's for 45 minutes of fartlek.

Zumba after.

1st 20 miler tomorrow.

Yay for my first 20 of my marathon cycle. I felt really strong after several weeks at18. I pushed the last half pretty hard. I will need some recovery.

7:45, 7:30, 7:18, 7:02, 7:01, 7:04, 7:12, 7:14, 7:19, 6:47, 6:42: 6:46, 6:50, 6:51, 6:29, 6:27, 6:31, 6:51, 6:58, 6:37. 6:58 average. My stomach was not happy today!

Easy run this morning. I don't even know what pace because my Garmin died. Probably a good thing. I feel the beginnings of a head cold coming on. I might feel kind of gross this week.

Without a Garmin to obsess over, I had time to ponder the important things in life. For instance, how many LDS church buildings are on my route? I counted eight in four miles.

What's the most important component of marathon training? Overall mileage? Quality marathon workouts? Long runs? What is the perfect marathon training formula?

Then, I thought about Heather Lieberg, who is from my hometown of Helena, Montana. She just ran a five minute pr in the marathon to place second at Twin Cities. She went to my high school, but I didn't know her. While I was winning state championships, she was playing basketball. She did a little long jump her senior year, but didn't run until after she had babies. Her progression is incredible.Who knew such a talent was sitting there in Montana this whole time? I'm pretty blown away. It's tough training in Montana. There's lots of great places to run, but the weather is terrible. Plus, she had three kids and teaches Elementary school full time.

Anyway, she's my hero this week! Read up on her. She's amazing. I hope I can copy some of that success. After all, I'm a Montana girl, too!

AM: Tempo Tuesday. 2 mile warmup. 50 minute tempo. I start at 6:15 pace and increase .1 every six minutes. I finished at 10.4 mph (5:45 pace). This workout got really hard the last ten minutes. I will have to alter how I run tempos if I want to make it longer. 8.3 miles in 50 minutes. Hit 8 miles at 6:03 average. 11.65 total.

I cooled down for 10 minutes. I will run a short easy run this afternoon.

PM: 4.35 miles. Grass loops at the park. 7:52 average

AM: Another beautiful morning. I had a little more energy in my legs. My breathing felt a bit forced. I'm still fighting a cold that hopefully won't turn into a full blown respiratory virus. I may have to adapt tomorrow's workout a bit since my immune system is a little compromised. Otherwise, my legs feel good!

5.55 miles. 7:26 average. Fall is beautiful!

PM: Ugh. 7.5. Garmin died. Tired. Can't make complete sentences. Workout tomorrow.

That was NOT a good workout. There is definitely something wrong with me. I've been fighting a cold this week. It's been sitting in my throat and upper chest, not making me really sick, but making me tired and lethargic. My resting heartrate is about 60, which is high. When I run, my legs feel fine. But my perceived exertion isppretty high. I feel like I'm breathing really hard at easy paces.

So, workout. I went to Liberty Park for 5-6 x 1 mile repeats. I warmed up two miles. My repeats were 5:57, 5:55, 5:57, 5:57, 6:02. Usually I run mile repeats in 5:35-5:45. I was getting .4 recovery. 3:30-4:00. I cooled down to 10.

So, here's where I need a FRB coaching session. What to do tomorrow? I have twenty on the docket, but I'm not sure it's a great idea. Here's my options:

A) Run the twenty.

B) 10-12 easy recovery miles

C) Cross train instead

D) Nothing. Just sleep all weekend.

What would you do? I hate modifying my training plan. Having to back off sucks, but I don't want to put myself in a hole.

So, I opted for an extra day off today. My tickle in my throat turned into a tight nasty cough. Twenty miles didn't even sound appealing. Thanks, Allie and Nan for helping me keep my common sense. At least I know why I was so off yesterday. I'm really hoping this is short lived. I've been downing apple cider vinegar and honey mixed in water today. I think it might actually be helping! There might really be something to homeopathic remedies. I'm breathing a bit easier this afternoon.

I'm feeling much better. I still have congestion in my head, but I'm breathing better and I'm not so wiped out. My legs feel great! I will probably continue to play it safe and wait until Wednesday for a workout.

Monday mid-long. Kept the breathing nice and easy. Besides the cold I should feel fantastic this week!

AM: 4.5 on SLCC loop. I had to cut it a bit short. Last night's taco soup didn't sit well this morning. 7:42 average.

PM: 4800S to river trail out and back. 9.2 miles 7:00 average. Feeling okay. My chest cold is now a head cold. That's improvement, right? Windy afternoon.

My entire month of October entries are missing. Sasha, can it be fixed? I ran a tempo today. I warmed up 2 miles and ran a nine mile tempo. I started at 9.5 mph and increased .1 every six minutes. 6:04 average. I cooled down 1 mile.

I woke up not really knowing what I wanted to run today. So, out the door I went. I decided to explore and map out a new route. I ran out 4800s and turned on 700 w. It was a nice, lit, wide road that wound up to 5400 S. I decided to cross 5400 and continue to Winchester. I ran up the hated Winchester hill to 1300W. After running back to 5400s, I noticed I was at eight miles, so I decided to get in all my miles this morning. I ran the long way back to my house and finished with a little loop through the neighborhood. 10.4 miles. 7:42 average. I liked this route!

PS: Crunching through leaves is fun!

I originally planned a fartlek workout for today, but Teren stayed home this morning so I decided to take advantage of perfect weather to run a track workout. I ran a tempo just the other day, and I have a. ong run with Jen Hughes tomorrow, so my goal was to get through 10 x 1k with 2 minute recovery. I gave myself a leeway of 3:30-3:40. ( Big spread, I know. )

I ran a 2.5 mile warmup and 4x 200. I could tell by the 200's that marathon legs have set in.

Workout:

3:33

3:33

3:33

3:32

3:32

3:32

3:31

3:31

3:32

3:29

I am pretty happy with this workout. It's not blazing, but I felt like I could run it forever. Much better than my mile repeats last week. I was actually recovering in 60-90 seconds. So maybe the goal next time will be to cut the recovery.

Only a mile cooldown because Teren had to go to work.

FYI: Similar workout about ten weeks out from St. George. 65 mile week. 17 mile long run at the end of the week. 7 mile tempo three days before. As opposed to 80 mile week, 21 mile long run, 9 mile tempo two days before.

8 x 1k. 400 m jog recovery. 3:27, 3:29, 3:31, 3:29, 3:31, 3:31, 3:35

Compare and contrast.

Yes. I'm counting that .04.

I picked up Devra and drove to Orem to run with Jen Hughes. We are both running CIM. We ran an out and back on the Murdock Canal. What a beautiful place to run. It's generally flat, with just a little roll to it.

I ran 10 x 1k yesterday, so I knew I would feel flat today. I planned on easing into it, but Jen was there to run hard. There are many different schools of thought to Marathon training. Jen comes from the low mileage, high intensity school of thought. After a 7:37 warm up mile, we started clicking off low sevens. It was a little more intense than I had planned on, but I could deal. We were at 7:04 average at the turnaround. I felt good about continuing at that pace. Jen had other plans. I admit to being a pace pusher, but Jen came to run hard this morning. After a few sub--sevens, we started throwing down 6:40's. My wheels were coming off hard asI tried to hold on for dear life. At mile 19, Jen said she wanted to pick up the pace some more. Devra and I let her go for it. I still finished my last mile in 6:36.

Just to provide a picture of the run, here are the splits:

7:38, 7:01, 7:03, 7:01, 7:01,, 7:03, 7:02, 6:55, 7:03, 6:57, 6:56, 6:55, 6:55, 6:50, 6:45, 6:40, 6:44, 6:44, 6:48, 6:37.

6:55 Average pace.

I'm going to need a couple of days to recover from this one. This was really hard at the end of a long, tough week. I was wondering how Jen felt so frisky. She told me she just ran a mile yesterday in preparation for today. Ah. Fresh legs. Like I said, there are different schools of thought to marathon training. She definitely took it to me today. I was not mentally or physically prepared to run that hard!

My legs were still pretty dead today. I slept in a little bit this morning and ran at the gym. I kept my effort easy. I did a 20 song run. I made 10.5 miles in 20 songs. I thought of running farther, but I started to energy crash around eight miles. So, I finished a couple more and went and got lunch. Not enough breakfast this morning.

AM: 5 easy grass loop miles. My first mile was 8:50. Still feeling fairly shot. I planned a fartlek workout for today, but I think I will take one more day to recover a bit. My body is telling me that last week was brutal!  8:04 average.

PM:  9 miles down to the river.  My soleus kept tightening up, so I tried to keep under control.  I felt pretty good otherwise, but now I'm nervous about straining or tearing a muscle.  I will have to see if I can get it loosened uo tonight.  It did seem to feel better after about 4-5 miles.  I'm nervous about getting up on my toes for speedwork, so I may have to modify this week's plan a bit.  Please hold together, body, for six more weeks!  I have worked way too hard to get injured.  I had better get that qualifier!

Highlight of the run.  Two neighborhood girls cheered for me every time I ran past them. It actually made me run faster!  7:15 average.

I was a bit nervous to try a tempo run with my calf tightening up. I decided to see how it felt after the warm up and go from there. As long as I kept it under 6:00 miles, I was okay. Any faster and it started to get tight. I wanted ten. I settled for nine to play it safe. My calf was starting to get angry.

6:20, 6:10, 6:09, 6:09, 6:04, 6:06, 6:02, 6:04, 6:00. Other than the calf, I felt like I could continue. Time to baby my leg.

I wanted to throw in a fartlek workout this week, butI may be better off preparing to make it through 22 miles on Saturday.

AM: Calf is still tight. I need to get it to relax. No impact today. I cycled for 1.5 hours this morning. I used a cycling video on You Tube. I'm still counting cross training as mileage. Mostly because I can't bear to watch my mileage plummet. Freaking out a bit, here, but trying not to. I watched three episodes of Vampire Diaries while I rode. My kids are barfing. Aggh! 1.5 hours equals 7.5 miles.

PM: So, I think I'm going to survive. As long as I'm careful. I did 30 minutes on theeelliptical, and then got bored. I thought I would test my leg out , so I got on the treadmill. I started slowly. If my calf tightened I was done, but it hung in there. I ran 20 minutes with no problems. I will probably try an easy run tomorrow. It might be a mix of running and cross training for a couple days, but at least I'm not completely out of commission. 5.15 miles.

I cycled for ten minutes to get the blood flowing. I went out for a run without much of a plan as to how far I was going to run. My leg took a few miles to warm out, but felt better as I went along. I couldn't waste such a beautiful fall day, so I kept going. I managed ten with no problems. I will keep babying my calf, but I think I'm in the clear. We will see next week when I put some turnover back in.

7:08 average.

No calf pain today. I'm very happy it made it through 20 miles. That was a difficult run. I planned on running this morning, but I was up all night with two vomiting children. I was up until 3 AM. So, getting up at five was not an option. Not that I got much more sleep. I waited for Devra to get off work so I could have a running buddy. It was 78 degrees with 25 mph winds when we ran. We ran out 4800 S, along Vine, out to Wheeler Farm, two laps around Wheeler Farm, back around MurrayPark to 4800S, onto the river trail to Winchester, up Winchester Hill, and back via 1300W. The three miles into a headwind on the river trail was the hardest part. We ran a 7:05 average. I was so glad to have Devra pull me through.

I'm happy this week is over. Forecast for Monumental Half next Saturday: 35 degrees. 20 percent chance of snow. Time to be another kind of tough.

Flu! :(

I was still feeling my very rough weekend today, but it turned out better than I thought it would. I did a medium workout today. I warmed up 15 minutes. Then, I ran 3 x 10 minute repeats with five minute recovery. I ran half marathon pace, starting at six minute mile pace, and increasing every five minutes. I finished at 5;40 pace. I don't know about the marathon, but I do feel ready to knock out a really good half! Cooldown until I hit an hour of running.

Chilly morning, but it's good practice for my race Saturday. I spent the run debating my race attire for Saturday. I don't want to overdress, but at 26 degrees, I need to stay warm. I think it will warm up a little over the race, but the high for the day is only 42. I'm thinking, capris, singlet, armsleeves. Though, I may go with a short sleeved shirt with my arm sleeves. Hat and gloves for sure! I guess if CIM is cold again this year, I will be ready! 7:27 average.

I hate sucking car exhaust! Bleh to winter running.

Typical pre race workout. 3 mile warm up. 2 mile speed changes. 3 mile cooldown. Now, I'm off to Indianapolis!

5 miles on a fancy treadmill in my fancy hotel. The weather sucks. Tome goals are out the window tomorrow. Just race hard and consider it a great pre-marathon tune up.