Day 1 of "Official Marathon Training"... 18 weeks to The Wineglass Marathon!

Today was my first official follow-the-training-plan day.  It is 18 weeks to my FIRST MARATHON & I am both nervous & excited.  Seeing as today is my official start it seems appropriate to lay out my goals for this marathon.  So here they are....

1. FINISH!  Yup, that's my #1 goal. Just get out there and finish the race.  Regardless of time, it will be a PR ;-)
2. Under 5 hours.  This is my realistic goal. I think I can do this.
3. 4:37.   This is my 'The Gods are shining on me & my running shoes & the planets have all aligned to give me perfect weather, strong legs & all the energy needed for a strong finish' goal. 

I was pumped to get out there today & opened my door only to be hit by a thick wet blanket of humidity & heat.  Yes, it seems we have skipped right from winter to summer here in the Northeast.  Yuk.  I closed the door & went back to get my water bottle.  Good call.  It was only a 5 mile tempo today but HOLY MOLY, I almost died the last mile.  Usually I do my run & if I'm not back home to the gym when I hit the mark I just keep going.  If I'm feeling good, I might add some extra detours.  NOT TODAY.  My ipod shouted out "5 miles completed" & I shut it down and walked the 1/4 mile or so back to the gym.  I actually went through 22 ounces of water by mile 4.  I am going to have to force myself to get up and go earlier or I'm never going to make those long runs in August. 

Here's how it broke down:

Plan: 5 mile tempo run: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 10:19 pace, 1 mile cool down

Mile 1: 10:53  Not bad.  There's a crappy uphill portion right at the beginning so feeling ok so far.
Mile 2: 10:12  Ok, pretty good.  Sweating pretty good but keeping hydrated.
Mile 3: 9:55  I hit the flat.  I can see the waves of heat radiating from the pavement.  I stick to the gravel shoulder and drink alot. 
Mile 4: 10:28  I'm starting to hit the wall here.  I'm on the pavement.  I know I only have this mile of tempo pace left but I can't sustain it.  I feel like I'm breathing a hot wet blanket. 
Mile 5: 10:46  I'm almost dead.  I'm doing the "I can make it to the next lamppost" game.  There's a guy out for his lunch hour walk that I barely pass.  I'm out of water.  I hit 5 miles & shut it down. I'm walking. I'm tingly.  Thank you to the inventor of A/C....you are my hero.

Next run....8 miles friday....lesson learned....will be out before 10 am!

I broke the 100 mile mark!!!

Got my computer back today after being at the computer spa for a week getting a new motherboard...this will be a short post - I have distracted Thing 1 & Thing 2 with chores so that I can update my running log - this won't last long! lol! So after logging in over a week's worth of runs I clicked over to view my month & was confused...I was looking at it like there was something wrong (maybe those darn computer guys messed with my log!) but no, it turns out that I have indeed logged 107 miles so far this month! I am stunned! I had jacked up my short, medium & long runs a bit as I head into full-on serious marathon training, but hadn't really been keeping track of the accumulated miles.  WOW! And I'm glad to report that I'm feeling pretty good after those longer runs too.

Anyone read: "Chi Running"?  I picked up a copy last weekend and love it!  I have no form...really. It generally looks like a flailing ragdoll is staggering down the road but NOW, I'm going to have form...good form...hee hee.  All kidding aside, I had no idea what just a few little changes made & it's not really too hard to pay attention to what your body is doing while out there.  Haven't finished it yet, but look forward to it. 

Happy Running!

"You'll sweat a lot today but it'll be worth it in the end"

It's funny where inspiration comes from...the sun is finally shining here in the Northeast & I headed out for a long run fully sun screened & loaded with my dreaded (but I realize necessary) water belt. Well, a little over 7 miles in & I'm a sweaty mess & have gone through 22 ounces of water so I stop at a corner store to replenish my fluid & as I'm leaving the store I get the above pep talk from what looks like a homeless guy outside of the store! It was just what I needed to hear with 5 more miles ahead of me! I thanked the guy, tossed him my change & hit the road again finally finishing 12.5 miles in a little under 2 1/2 hours. Not a great pace but it was hovering around 80 degrees & I felt good at the end. And really, sometimes I look at pace & timing, but mostly I just want to keep enjoying the run...sweaty mess & all! So thanks stranger, you were right! It was worth it in the end!

Mental Heath Regained...

Today was my first day off after a long 3 days of short-staffed, stressed out work at the hospital...I logged a lot of running up & down the hallway over the course of 3 back to back 12 hour shifts. I was tired. Slept like the dead last night & despite the light rain, knew I needed to haul my butt outside & run if I was going to have any chance of regaining some sanity...'cause it's back to it tomorrow bright & early. Don't get me wrong...I love being a nurse but sometimes it wears on my last nerve & I knew I needed to recover for my own sake as well as for my patients' sake. I'm a MUCH nicer person when I run :)

Anyway, out the door I went, iPod blaring some G&R LOUD! Up the first hill & 2 miles in I'm already starting to revel in my happy place...it's very peaceful there & I love it. Mad music done time to tone it down a bit! I do my best thinking out on the road. Today though, I just let myself drift & by the time I got home my Nike+ said 11 miles! It's a good day now. Not even too bothered by the prospect of going to stand in the rain for Thing 2's last mile race of the track season. Funny tidbit of trivia: every sport practice/game in the district was cancelled today due to rain.....except track! We runners are a hearty bunch :)

On another note...anyone ever used a pace group for a marathon? I just found out my marathon will have pacers available, but I fall right in between 2 pace times so I'm not sure what to do. Opinions?

Happy running & mental peace!

10K under 1 hour....Hell Yeah, I can do that!

Got up this morning & the sun was shining (finally!) and though our day was packed with stuff we needed to do, I needed to get out there and run....not just run, but I felt like racing!  As luck would have it there was a 10K locally.  Just made it there under the wire before registration closed.  I haven't run a 10K in a year & last year it wasn't pretty.  1:06 & I gave it everything I had and still was at the back of the pack.  Even in the 2 half-marathons I ran 10K splits better than that....and thought I should be able to pull off a 1:02, but what I really wanted was to break that 1 hour mark. I was really feeling it today, & holy crap!, not only did I beat 1 hour, I smoked it with a 58:25!!!!!  Not only that, but, get this......I came in 2nd in my old lady age category!  My first medal!  Check this out:

Let me tell you, it felt goooood! 

Now, I'll be honest and admit it was a small field & a pregnant girl & a guy pushing a jogging stroller both kicked my ass......but hey, did you see this:

9:25 miles...that rocks!  Oh, and I ran a negative split.  My 5K split was 29:30.  Another new experience: picking off runners instead of being picked off.  That's pretty darn cool!  No one got by me in the second half of the race. 

Welcome, Mr Sunshine, you may stay a while!  I am a happy runner-gal :D