Marathon Training: Report 18

Well, wishing I was keeping up with the other fun times in my life unrelated to training on this blog. Hopefully I'll be able to get something else up soon. Training is having quite an impact on my life right now, so I suppose the blog is just a reflection of that. Ten weeks from today I'll be a marathoner!!!

Yesterday was supposed to be an easy 3 miles, and that's it. However, I allowed myself to be peer pressured into a Boot Camp class at the gym with a friend. My kids were thrilled to play with her kids in child care, so we grabbed granola bars for breakfast and were off.

The class itself was good. The running around the room doing obstacles was different, though not too tough, but the strength work, as in hold-the-plank-position-until-your-body-shakes-with-fatigue was super challenging for this upper body wimp. I'm sure it was good for me though.

After the class (50 minutes as I was 10 minutes late), I headed up to the treadmill to get my three miles in. Just couldn't give up the running even though I'd added the extra class. I ran it in 32:49 (10:56 pace) while visiting with two friends, including the one from the class. They left before I was done so I listened to the good old Ipod while watching the captions on Tiger's press conference. So sad when families come apart, regardless of the reasons.

Today I'm not sure if the Boot Camp class was such a good idea. My run was super tough, and I'm sure that was a contributing factor, but still no regrets.

Here's what I posted on DailyMile:

18:01 miles in 3:13:26 (10:44 pace)

Slower pace than planned for. Should have been at 10:37. Ran to the forest preserve but after a few miles there I had to choose another place to run. The snow was deep enough and the hills frequent enough to make the running really really hard for me. After passing a cross country skiier I knew I didn't have the energy for a long run on that difficult of terrain. Still encountered a fair amount of snowy buildup on the sidewalks and some hills that really kicked my rear in my detoured path.

Accidently ran through a puddle about half way through that drenched one of my feet. Treadmills are boring, but no wet feet!

Tried to eat breakfast a few hours before leaving and true to form, it made my stomach feel very upset. Guess I am destined to only start runs on a banana. Even though the last few miles were torture, I was proud to pound out the last half mile in about 4:35. Then I wanted to vomit. :)

Runs like this are discouraging and encouraging at the same time. I am bummed that it didn't go as planned and I couldn't keep pace, but pleased that despite the difficulties, I finished the miles I had set out to do. Haven't felt this hammered after a run in a long time. Thank goodness for the day of rest tomorrow!!! I'll need it.


Happy running!