Saturday, in the Park

I've been meaning to update this blog more frequently but the times I feel most inspired to write, I strangely find myself at work and should be working. Plus, my computer at work is really ghetto - I'm not sure it's internet capabilities could handle blog posting.

That being said, I've had a pretty good running week. That is, until I headed out the door this morning. Monday, I had the 5 mile race (btw, I'm still happy about my time and not beating myself up at all for not breaking 50 minutes - not at all), Tuesday I did an easy 3. Wednesday I wanted to get another 5 in but it ended up being closer to 4.5. And, as a side note, I need to find a better 5 mile route. The one I currently run has a really awkward turn around point and sometimes I cut the run short because it's just easier. Marathon training starts on Monday so NO MORE SHORTCUTS. Anyway, Thursday was an unscheduled rest day but I needed it and Friday, easy easy 2.5 before my LSD 8 this morning.

Bringing me to a grand total of 23 for the week. I'm pretty happy with that for now.

Back to what went wrong this morning. First of all, I've not been eating well at all this week. There's no particular reason or excuse for it, I just did and I think I paid dearly for it today. I had zero energy and just felt heavy and weighed down. The second thing I did wrong was get started too late. Now that it's smoking hot outside with humidity through the roof, I have to start these long runs as early as possible. Otherwise, I'm toast by the end of it. I didn't start today until 8.30 and by the time I finished I think the tar was melting to my shoes. Thirdly, because I overslept, I ate late and didn't allow enough time for my bagel to settle before the run started. Ugg. Fourth (yes, it keeps going), I was not properly hydrated before the run so I stupidly tried to make up for that fact during the run and ended up getting one mother of a side stitch. This caused plenty of walk breaks during mile 6 and the reason it took me over an hour and a half to finish 8 lousy miles. And fifthly (is that a word?), I ate a couple sports beans when I didn't need them at all. I had them with me "just in case" and thought I should eat them before I felt I needed them. I think they just contributed to the side stitch and my drinking way too much water.

And this, dear readers, is how not to run a long run.

Did I mention that Monday begins marathon training? I'm using a combination of Hal Higdon's Novice I & II training programs. It's an 18 week program but I've factored in an extra 2 weeks in case of injury or whatever else might cause a set back. After what happened during my training for the Half this past winter, I want to prepare for the unexpected. I've done Higdon's plans before for other race distances and found that I can actually stick to it and do it. That in and of itself is reason enough for me to keep using his plans. I say I'm doing a combination of the two Novice plans because the II plan looks like it has some pace runs. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do these just yet but I'll figure something out. I am a marathon beginner so my goal is to finish strong on race day. However, I'd also like to finish strong under 5 hours. In order to do that, I'll need to get a smidgen faster. He has Sunday's listed as cross training days but to be quite honest, I hate cross training. I might do a little yoga here and there, but ultimately, I'm doing this because I love to run. I understand his reasoning for cross training (using other muscle groups and all that) but ugg. I'll give it a go and see how it works. This might be strength training day for me as well. Oh, and my gym closed (bummer) so I have extremely limited access to other means of cross training. See, this is why I love running, you lace up your shoes and you're out the door. No gym required.

Well, that's enough stream-of-consciousness babble for one stormy Saturday afternoon. 20 weeks from tomorrow, I want to call myself a marathoner. Welcome to the jungle.

Happy miles!