Emily's training blog

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.