Emily's training blog

Yay for a down week. It's nice to get a little mental and physical rejuvenation. My last four weeks have been builds. 66, 70, 75, 76. I will run Huntsville Half Marathon on Saturday and then build for four more weeks, drop the fifth week for Monumental Half Marathon, and then it's only five more weeks until CIM.

Last week caught up to me a bit. I started out a little rough, but felt better after six miles. That's usual during marathon training. I finished strong. 7:03 average.

I'm so motivated by Deena Kastor's world record. I love Deena. I've always lookrd up to her. What a beast! And more proof that I can still run fast.

2.5 mile warm up. 4x 200. Short track workout for some turnover.

1600-1200-800-400-4x 200

1600: 5:36 (84 average)

1200: 4:08 (82-3 average)

800: 2:42 (81 average)

400: 76

200: 35.2, 35.2, 35.2, 35.0

Cooldown home 1.5 miles

Last year:

5:37, 4:12, 2:44, 79, 38-9 for 200's.

I think my mile would have been faster with another mile on warm up. It takes me a while to get moving.

Sore from yesterday. I must have pushed too hard. Oh well, I don't need to be 100percent recovered Saturday. The race isn't my most important. Plus, I have three more days to get some legs back. I ran easy today and felt better by the time I finished.

I really hope I feel snappier on Saturday. Of course, it's impossible to run very fast at five in the morning. I jogged three miles to the track, ran two miles of speed changes and jogged three miles home. It's funny how you taper down a bit and you feel lethargic. It messes with your head. However, Saturday should be more of a good hard tempo. Especially since the weather's not looking great. 90 percent chance of rain. It will be good practice in case it rains at CIM, which it has been known to do.

I'm still feeling a little sluggish. I did not eat well yesterday. It was one of those busy days where I didn't seem to have time to eat. I need to pay more attention to fueling properly or my running is going to suffer.

I'm excited to race tomorrow. I'm hoping it's a low key race. Regardless, I need to concentrate on my own race and keep the big goal in mind.

I headed to Huntsville at the early hour of 5 am. I'm glad I had Devra to share this rainy day experience with me. We drove up, got our packets and then waited for the race to start. I had two plans in mind. 1) run hard and see if I can significantly improve on my TOU half time. 2) Run tempo and hope for an easy win. There was a contingent ftom Boulder who came to race prior to Monumental Marathon. One girl, Amanda Lee said she was targeting a 1:18. Ok. Plan A.

I decided to use the first three downhill miles to my advantage. To my surprise Amanda didn't come with me. I think she planned on making up time later in the race. The course is tougher than it seems. There are no hugh hills, but lots of rolling. The last few turned into the wind which made it tough. I tried to get in a rhythm and keep sub-six average for as long as possible. According to my Garmin these were my splits: 5:41, 5:47, 5:44, 6:04, 5:56, 5:53, 6:00, 5:52, (turn into wind) 6:11, 6:08, 6:15, 6:14, 6:11, 1:16 for .22.

I should have paid more attention to the splits based on the mileage marks. It ended up longer than my Garmin. So, I was bummed not to hit sub 1:19. According to my Garmin I was! :) 5:59 average. But, I need to go off of race measurements. They are not always the same. Gotta be careful of that.

Still, lots to be happy with today. It was a complete solo effort. The next girl was almost two minutes behind and the next closest guy was probably about two minutes ahead. That's a problem with a small race. It's hard to keep pushing out of comfortable. I think I have much more to give. Obviously conditions were less than ideal. But, that's great practice. I think the more miserable the training, the nore mentally prepared you are for anything the marathon throws at you. I felt much stronger and more in control today than at TOU Half. I feel, for the first time, that the training is getting me to where I need to be. 10 weeks to go. Monumental Half Marathon will be a good indicator of what I can run in the marathon.

I cooled down two waterlogged miles and cheered Devra in. She won in a 2:47. Amazing girl!