Greater St. Louis Marathon / April 27, 2024

 I'm back to my blogging! Hopefully I'll actually stick to it this time. The last marathon I ran was a virtual/solo marathon for Indy Monumental here in Warrick County back in 2020, I really enjoyed the solo miles and watching the sun rise and running in silence. BUT after a couple of years of focusing in the gym on weight lifting and getting stronger, and just basically enjoying a little time off from the time demands that go along with marathon training, I am ready to jump back in.
I've set my sights on the Greater St. Louis Marathon next April, but my goal is not to just finish it - I'm setting my goal to a sub 4 hour finish time. That would mean I would need a steady pace of 9:09 min/mile, but I intend to train focused on running a 8:46 min/mile.
Even more shocking.... this is my first time to actually use a real training plan, I've been running and lifting for nearly 14 years, but I know that in order to accomplish this feat, I will need to actually use a training plan that is for a sub 4 hour finish. 
My twenty week training plan doesn't officially begin until December 11, so I've got 5 weeks to build my long run back up to 10 miles and my mileage back up to 4 days a week with the long run on the 5th day. My training plan also includes 3 runs at the 8:46 min/mile pace, intervals on the treadmill, along with the easy runs and the long run to be ran at a slow pace... still not sure about that one but I'll probably end up running my long runs at my easy pace...maybe slightly slower than easy.
I've also been decreasing my time spent in the gym lifting, over the last few months I've been going 5 days a week and normally spend 2 hours lifting. So I've been cutting back as closely to 1.5 hours as possible while also cutting the sets back from 5 to 4 sets each. And leg day won't be as intense, but focused on maintenance while I build my mileage.

My diet has been awful though, I'm not pleased with that but I'll admit it. Not sure if I'll really talk about my eating though, maybe I should but I'll start next week. My blogs will be weekly. Doing them each day would take too much time and be too tedious. 

Monday was my first treadmill run focused on marathon pace, or at least building to it. I figure I'll focus on an 8:57 min/mile pace during the first two weeks, holding it steady for 4-5 miles before bumping it down to 8:46 min/mile which will be the marathon goal pace. 
1 mile warm up at 9:10 min/mile
4 miles at 8:57 min/mile pace 
Then I lifted for an hour and 50 minutes, I know that the days I focus on legs and back will be quite a bit longer than delts & chest or even just back.

Tuesday I worked out first, focusing on delts and chest with some abs. One hour and 45 minutes total.

Then I went out for a very easy effort pace, the top I had on was not proper for 25 degrees.... more like 35-45 degrees... so I was freezing, even with two pairs of gloves. I ran 3.5 miles with an average pace of 10:16 min/mile so it was a successful slow and easy run.

Wednesday was another run on the treadmill focused on marathon pace. I do like the treadmill when I need to focus on pace and keeping a strong, steady pace.
1 mile warm up at 9:14 min/mile
4 miles at 8:55 min/mile
Legs and Back focus in the gym, though I'm now maintaining current intensity and effort for legs, while also cutting down the sets.

Thursday I didn't run but took it as a rest day from that, focusing on delts & chest and some abs in the gym. One hour and 45 minutes

Friday

Happy Birthday to me! November 3 and I am now 36 years old. I went to the gym and lifted first, since it was only back day and some arms, it only lasted one hour and 35 minutes.

I decided to run some easy effort birthday miles on the treadmill, since I turned 36 years old, I ran 3.6 miles in 34:32 minutes with an average pace of 9:36 min/mile.

Saturday.... Dorian woke us at 2:09 am going downstairs to the bathroom, by the time I got down there I could hear him puking. After cleaning up and cleaning him up, we went back upstairs and he got in his bed with his phone. I got back into our bed and tried to get some sleep, around 4:00 am Dorian came into our room ready to go back to sleep so he got in bed with us and I stayed there with him for a bit before it was obvious he was back to sleep. 
I told myself to just be happy with 6-8 miles, I honestly didn't feel like getting out and running. It was an out and back route so when I reached mile 4:6, I decided to just keep going to mile 5. Ended up with 10.02 miles with an average pace of 9:45 min/mile so I succeeded at keeping it steady and slow.

In total, I ran 27.2 miles for this first week. And I worked out for 8 hours and 45 minutes. Not bad at all. 

My Next Goals for 2023 - 10K PR & 13.1M PR

     After crushing my 5k goal, I've still got my 10k goal which I'll have the opportunity to attempt a sub 50 minute PR in May at the Memorial Day 10k. I had a goal sub 1:50:00 PR for my half marathon since 2018, but every time I'd try to  hit it, I'd blow it and actually crash and burn. It really hurt my ego, and so I refocused my efforts.
    With my 5k PR goal crushed, and looking at crushing my 10k goal in May, it seems even more possible to crush my half marathon goal. Using a pace calculator, in order to run a 1:49:58 for 13.1 miles, I would need to average a pace of 8:24 min/mile.... WHICH seems quite doable at this moment. My half marathon isn't until September 30th and I don't really see another one before that, at least not within 45 minutes from me. I can't even find one that is less than an hour and a half, so unless Cameron and I agree to a quick out of town stay at a hotel... September 30th it is.
During the middle of the week I signed up for the virtual Flying Pig Half Marathon that's in May....

My other major goals for 2023 is to attempt and complete my 7th marathon, even if that means a solo/virtual one here in Warrick County. A very big goal, which might turn out impossible for 2023... is to complete my first ever 50k (31-32 miles) and do it solo out here in Warrick County.

A Low Mileage Week and a Race

First off, I'm excited to say that this morning I achieved multiple goals. This morning's Run of Luck 5k was brutal, it was 31° with a feels like 21° and NW winds of 16.3 mph.... 

Goals Crushed:

• Sub 22 minute 5k

• Sub 7 min/mile 5k

• Place in either top 3 overall female or top 3 in my AG

I'm very pleased with the results, even though the wind was miserable. Can't say much more about this race, it's just too short to really add to.

As for this week, I kept my mileage low in order to feel refreshed and ready for the race.

Typically my minimal week mileage goal is 30, and my weekly time goal for strength training is 6 hours and I reached 9 hours and 35 minutes.

I try to stick to an intermittent fasting ratio of 14:10 though I don't always achieve it, I am going to get back on track as far as snacking goes.

My daily Nutrition goals are:

Calories vary between 1,600-1,900 and don't matter nearly as much as macros (Carbs, Protein and Fat)

My macros: Carbs-45% Protein -30% Fat-25%

Monday:

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday I was getting back on track as far as nutrition goes and went heavy in the gym, I was very pleased with the "pump" my Back and Arms got.

Sunday morning I headed out for an easy long run, I wanted more than 5 miles but wanted to take it easy. The first half of the run wasn't bad at all, but around mile 5 it started to snow and I was running into the wind which made the 24 degrees feel like 15 degrees, even with two pairs of gloves on my fingers were frozen and actually hurting.
I ended up running 7.1 miles though, 1:03:28 with an easy effort pace of 8:57 min/mile.

So that gives me 22 miles for the week, I feel pretty good about that cutback week after the last few weeks in the mid 30's.

I'll be getting back to my weekly mileage goal this coming week, and I'll be throwing in more 7:30 min/mile pace miles on the treadmill, and maybe out on the roads. 

Getting Back to Blogging

    Yep, I hate to admit it but I am very lazy when it comes to blogging. It is the middle of March and I've got quite a few goals this year, including my blog. 
1: a 5k PR (sub 22 minutes) 
2: a 10k PR (sub 50 minutes) 
3: my 7th marathon, even if it's virtual/solo. 
4: an ultra marathon - a 50k, even if it is virtual/solo.
And yes, my blog is going to be a goal I'm focusing on... if I only blog once a week and combine all of my running, workouts and nutrition for that week, that'll be good enough for me. I will be including my nutrition logs from the myfitnesspal app, even occasionally taking pics of my food and discussing my fitness goals.
I'll post a snapshot of my Inbody Scan I took 2 or 3 weeks ago, I don't quite believe what it said about fat percentage (around 12%), as I'm pretty sure I'm more around 18-20%, but everything else looked correct.

    As of right now, my fitness goal is to either maintain 135 lbs or drop down just slightly lower, to around 132 lbs. About four weeks ago, I did the Inbody Scan at my gym and most of the results synced with my Dara Smart Scale at home, except the Inbody showed my BFP around 12% which is impossible, while my Dara Smart Scale showed me around 22%, which seems a little more realistic. I'll post pics of the results:

I hope that shows all the details, everything looks correct but I just don't see how it's possible that my BFP is that low, because if it was, I'd be seriously lean and cut which I am not.

This was taken about ten days after I did the scan, and I'm pretty certain that my stomach would be shredded if I was around 12% BFP. So I'll be doing it again, probably by the end of this month or in April to see where it puts me.

As far as running goes, this month I've focused on staying between 35-40 mpw and am averaging around 36-37 miles. Last Saturday I ran 15.4 miles, first time in over two yeas since I've ran more than 13 miles.  This Saturday I only ran 12.3 miles, mostly because after a rough morning, I didn't expect to get my long run in and so I didn't wear my LR shoes or my hydration pack. The shoes I wore were killing my toes by mile 10 and I wasn't about to attempt another 5 miles, so ended with 12.3.
By April I want to be averaging 40 miles per week, throwing in a few 16 and 18 mile long runs. Basically the plan is to be ready for a marathon by Autumn and either run one out here in Warrick County by myself (or with some friends) as a virtual or find one in a city that my family and I'd be able to go to. As far as a virtual/solo 50k which would be my first ever ultra, I'm certain that one will be a virtual I'll complete out here in Warrick and not at the actual race.
This other goal I am currently keeping to myself, but I'm hoping that next March I'll be able to attempt the 50 mile ultra at Land Between the Lakes (Fingers Crossed).