2019 Marathon Training - Week 4

So far week four has been pretty bumpy, I'm still getting over whatever illness my husband and son had the other weeks but I am also trying to get my workouts in. 
Monday I still wasn't feeling that morning, but by evening I decided to take Dorian and Jetta for a quick run. It's not easy pushing a 50 lb child in a 40-60 lb stroller in warm, humid weather. Ended up running 3.4 miles, then realized later that I hadn't planned to run Monday....... so there was my Tuesday run.

Tuesday I did get up and go to the gym for shoulders, it went pretty well and I almost went for a run but then thought about going home to get Jetta. By the time I got home, I remembered that I had technically ran my Tuesday run on Monday so I said screw it and got back in bed.

Wednesday I just didn't want to get up when my alarm went off at 3 AM, the forecast threatened severe weather and I just didn't want to get caught out in that. Plus I didn't want to go to the gym either, so I reset my alarm for 6 AM and went back to sleep. I ended up waking at 5:30 and took Jetta for a run, traffic was crazy and we had to stop a lot but we got 5.1 miles done. 

Thursday I woke up at 2:40 AM, disoriented and just tired. I thought about going to the gym but I knew that if I did, I would not go for a run after. I just knew that I was still feeling the illness and I would have been exerting too much energy. So after a few minutes of arguing with myself, I got up and go ready for a run. Jetta and I headed out the door, it was 75 degrees with a dew point of 72 and 83% humidity. I couldn't help but notice Jetta was struggling a bit, or at least she was panting pretty loudly so I made sure to take some walk breaks and stop for water breaks as well. I thought I had chosen a 6 mile loop route, but it ended up being a bit longer than that. Jetta and I ran 8.3 miles, not bad.

Friday I managed to get up and go to the gym and put in some work on my back and a little bit on my glutes/hammies. 

I decided to head to Fieldman Park to get a quick and easy run in, I was feeling a little queasy so I wasn't going to push it. The first mile had an uphill, so I walked a bit of it but after that, I felt pretty good. I ended up running 3.2 miles and it turned into a progression run.

Later that evening I went for a walk with my niece, it ended up being 3 miles and I was feeling pretty sore by then. I was looking forward to my day off Saturday.

It wasn't quite the day off, Saturday morning I had to meet my brother and sister over at our late father's house to clean up what we could while taking items we wanted (most in remembrance and because some were valuable). It was tiring, and then later on in the afternoon I lose my keys and never found them. By the time I got home and was done for the day, it was like 6 in the evening and I was tired as hell. 

I didn't get much sleep Saturday night, and Dorian started to wake up and complain at 3 AM and a few times after that before 5:30 AM. My chance at 14 miles was shot, I woke up at 6 AM and sat around in self-pity and frustration. My legs were still sore from Friday and I also had a 10k race Monday morning. I was considering not running at all, but a big part of me wanted to at least get 5 or 6 miles in.

I ended up walking out the door just a bit after 7 AM, it was humid and warm and the sun was out in the sky. I had decided that I wouldn't need my hydration pack for 5 or 6 miles. I quickly discovered that was a horrible decision, at mile 4 I decided I would attempt 8 miles and by mile 6 I had decided that I could handle 10 miles. I was dying and craving ice cold water, it was hell.... it was tough.

I walked quite a bit, it was tough and I was struggling. But I got 10 miles done and made it home. Along with the walking, I got 33 miles in for week 4.... it was a struggle.

2019 Marathon Training - Week 3

Another week that didn't go as planned, hubs was sick and Dorian wasn't doing too much better along with waking up each night around 3 or 4 AM.
Monday I did manage to get to the gym, but I still wasn't feeling it and also ended up pulling a muscle in my neck and upper shoulder during Back day. I ended it at that point and headed home.

Tuesday I was the only one at the shop so I tried to sneak out for a 5 miler, had to cut it to 1.2 miles and go get hubby his lunch. 
After that, I headed back home to grab the dogs and change my shoes. We went out to the Bluegrass Fish & Wildlife Refuge to run, it was a bit tough on Rocky. Sunshine and 60 degrees, and my pace was sub 10 min/mile so that would also explain his struggling. We stopped plenty of times for water and so they could soak in one of the lakes, we also had a couple of walking breaks. In total, I got 5.8 miles Tuesday. 

Wednesday was another struggle, I wasn't able to get up and go work out or go for a run. After I picked Dorian up from school, I took him and Jetta to the Newburgh river front for a run. Ended up running 3 miles, it was tough and a bit stressful, I felt out of sorts and a little aggravated. 

Thursday was Field Day for Dorian's school, they were going to John H. Castle Elementary school at 9 so after I dropped him off at school I headed to the Chandler Community Center and did my best to get a good run in before heading home to clean up and change clothes and then head to their Field Day.

I ran 3.6 miles, I could've done 4 but didn't want to risk missing him in his little competitions. 

Friday was another day I wasn't able to get up in the morning, but I was able to leave the shop early enough to get a run in before Dorian got out of school. I parked at his school and then ran a loop, ending up with 4 miles.

By Saturday I could feel the sickness trying to creep up on me, and I knew deep down that it would not be a smart idea to try and get in a 13-14 mile long run. I made the tough decision to rest during the weekend and call it done with 16.4 miles. I'm hoping and praying things are going to get easier or I'll get my mojo back, at this point running is priority #1 and I don't care if I only get to the gym once a week or not at all, as long as I can run. I can do plenty of workouts at home to keep up my strength.

2019 Indy Monumental Marathon - Training Week 1

   So after week 8 of the base building, I kind of stopped blogging..... my father passed away back in March and I just tried to focus on running and working out and my sanity. About two weeks ago, all the pain and stiffness I had been dealing with just disappeared. I've been trying to stay cautious and realistic, but I am now hopeful. 
   Monday, April 29th began my marathon training for the 2019 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Week 1 went by very well and I am feeling very optimistic.
  Monday morning I went to the gym.

Tuesday I went to the gym for arms and chest, then went out for what ended being 7 miles.

After running 7 miles Tuesday morning I thought I should take it easy Wednesday, but instead I decided to head to John James Audubon State Park since my husband was going to be busy and out of the shop so he wouldn't notice me not there. It was a very tough run, but I finally got to do the Back Country Trail twice, and it kicked my ass. I ended up running 4.75 miles with an elevation gain of 771 feet and got a lot of good pics along the trails.

It went really good, surprisingly. Thursday I went to the gym for shoulders and then went back home, figuring it a good idea to rest after that run on the trails. 

By Thursday evening the storms had come in, and when I woke up Friday it was lightning and rain galore. And then, of course, Dorian woke up at like 3 AM so I couldn't go anywhere anyways.

But later that morning upon finding out my husband would be leaving the shop be ben gone for an hour or so, and making up some other excuses I snuck out of the office and headed downtown for a quick 4 miles or whatever. I don't really like running downtown, it is dangerous and crazy and there is just a lot going on and to top it off there was a lot of construction.

I managed to run 5 miles, technically 5.2 but my garmin never resumed after a stop at mile 4 until I realized it about a minute or 2 later. I ran a sub 10 min/mile pace and I can honestly say that it has been months since I've felt like a sub 10 min/mile pace was so easy and effortless. It felt great, and I was feeling even more optimistic. 

Saturday I rested, even though I had planned to go to the gym I slept in. Most of the day was just relaxing and chilling.

Sunday morning I woke up at 5 AM and had my coffee, then got dressed and after some other "chores" I left the house. I had wanted to leave at 6 but started down the driveway around 6:05 when I realized I would have to fuel up Cameron's truck. That stole another 5 minutes from me, but I was finally on the road, speeding...... I couldn't remember how long it takes to get from Chandler to New Harmony but I was pretty certain it was at the very minimal 45 minutes.

I finally got there with about 10 minutes to spare before the start, I could feel the coffee finally kicking in at that point but I had no time for that. I figured I could stop at a port-a-potty somewhere along the course. It was a 6.something loop course and I realized that they hadn't even bothered to put a single port-a-potty out on the course. 

Other than that issue, I felt fine, my legs felt fine. I had to stop a lot because my "need" was much worse when I'd try to run. And the old village of New Harmony still has a lot of old concrete roads that just kill my calves, shins and feet. But I survived that, I also had to make a stop in some bushes/trees toward the end of the first loop. Each loop has an out and back of like a mile from the start before we pass the start/finish to go around the outskirts of the small town. As we were going past the start/finish I knew I had to go again so I headed into the park towards the bathrooms that were about 100 feet off the course. I probably lost 10 minutes total from this bathroom issue, including both times. I still felt like I had to go, the final 3 miles sucks because I had to stop and walk a lot for fear of having an embarrassing accident. The final mile I gave it what I had (just enough not to have that accident) and was relieved to reach the finish line. 

It wasn't my best day, or my best half marathon for sure. I did a lot of walking, but thankfully it was due to pain or anything like that. I finished with a time of 2:22:43 with an average pace of 10:52 min/mile.

And so that finished marathon training week 1 with 30 miles.