Day 91 (1/29): 7 miles / 1:02:49

After a frustrating week, this is exactly what I needed to complete my second week of marathon training!  It was just one of those "I can do anything I put my mind to" kind of days...

I spent the majority of this past week sick with a cold.  I had a serious lack of energy and, unfortunately, the last minute details of my son's second birthday party took every last ounce of the limited energy I did have.  I was certainly disappointed to not get in a single run since Monday, but I had to accept the fact that my body just wouldn't have been able to handle it.  By the time I regained enough energy to run, there just weren't enough hours in the day to fit it in.

So, here I am... it's Sunday and the last day of training for this week.  I almost had myself convinced that I shouldn't go ahead with the long run I had scheduled thinking I should probably take it easy.  Then I remembered that I'd taken it easy all week and now was not the time to become a slacker.  So I bundled up in my winter running gear and headed for the great outdoors (well, I guess the sidewalks of my subdivision don't exactly qualify as the 'great outdoors', but I'll take anything over 7 miles on the treadmill).  The newest addition to my cold weather running gear is a pair of running gloves that my ever-supportive hubby bought for me.  I didn't think I'd like wearing them, but was surprised to find that they were absolutely perfect... just warm enough to keep my poor fingers from freezing and still light enough to keep them from sweating. 

I gave serious thought to running at a slower pace, but again, my lack of training this week made me feel like I'd earned the right to really push myself.  I checked my watch at every mile, mostly to make sure I didn't start off faster than I could handle.  I was right around a 9:30 pace for my first two miles and really felt like I could keep that pace for the entire run.  I was pleasantly surprised at the half way point when I noted my time was about 33:00 and that I still felt like I could keep that pace going.  I was pleasantly surprised that the second half of my run was even faster than the first.  I'm guessing that my insistence on increasing my speed when I'm on the treadmill has made this a possibility for me.  Of course, one might argue that it actually suggests I'm not starting off as fast as I should be, but it's pretty amazing how your body works and what you get used to and I'm a pretty big fan of finishing faster than I started.  It doesn't hurt the ego to have faster splits at the end of a long run :)

So, even though I trained for all of one day this week, I can honestly say that I still feel I did pretty well.  I'm sure that it doesn't make up for all of those missed miles, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not at all disappointed with my week.  I gave my limited workouts all I had and I'll take that over a handful of uninspired workouts any day :)

And now there's just 16 weeks to go...

Day 90 (1/23): 3 miles / 26:30

Today I was pretty excited about mixing up my workout... partly because I'm finding that I enjoy doing different things from time to time and partly because a personal trainer I know was able to give me some tips to help alleviate some of my hip discomfort.  I started my workout with a few new stretches and exercises, then headed downstairs for my 3 mile run.

The only disappointing part of today's run was that I wasn't able to get outside like I'd originally hoped.  Today was another crazy warm day for January in Cleveland, but by the time I was able to run, the temperature had dropped back into the 30s.  Because I've heard too many stories of people getting hit by cars, I rarely run in the street and am completely unwilling to do so in the dark.  The warm weather had melted all of the snow on the sidewalks and I was excited about squeezing in an outdoor workout... until the dropping temp had me concerned that the rain on the sidewalks might get icy... and I just didn't want to take any chances.  As much as I would have loved to be outdoors, I'll take the safety of my treadmill until the sidewalks are clear.

So, to mix up my run, I decided to do some interval work... and was amazed at just how good it felt.  I started out running 1 minute at 6 mph, then 30 seconds at 8 mph, repeating the cycle for the first mile.  That actually started to feel a little easier than I had expected, so I kept the same pattern, but stepped it up to 6.5 and 8.5 mph for the second mile.  For my last mile, I set the treadmill to 6.5 mph and slowly increased the speed throughout, ending my run at 9 mph... which felt fantastic!  Of course, the very best part of today's run... I went the entire workout with zero discomfort in my hip.  Don't get me wrong... I know my hip issues aren't gone for good, but I am pretty excited to find that a few new exercises could make such a difference. 

Needless to say, I plan to continue working on building up my hip strength and, who knows, maybe I'll get this thing taken care of after all...

Day 89 (1/21): 6 miles / 1:00:19

Today's run felt pretty good... for the most part.  There's no question that not smoking makes a big difference in how I feel.  But, unfortunately, I think this problem with my hip is one that I am just going to have to deal with for the long haul.  With the time I've taken off so far, I would have thought that whatever injury I was dealing with would have been taken care of.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Instead, I believe I'll need to deal with it as I go and attempt to keep it from getting worse.  Of course, I will continue with lots of stretching, which seems to help a great deal.  From there I'm guessing I'll need to rely on ice and pain relievers.  I'll also continue to try to find new ways to alleviate the discomfort.  At this point I'm willing to try just about anything.  It's not so much that the pain is unbearable... I'm more concerned with the fact that it will be a very long 26.2 miles (as if that's not already a long way to go) if I have to deal with this discomfort the entire time.  Wish me luck!

Day 88 (1/19): 3 miles / 35:19

Today's goal was to keep my run at a leisurely jog... just a little time to myself to reflect on my day, enjoy some music, work up a little sweat, but go easy on my hip just to make sure I'm not overdoing it in my first week of training.  The hard part: figuring out how to do that.

The only plan I could come up with was to cover all of the treadmill screens so that I couldn't focus on the numbers.  I even covered the speed and decided on my pace solely based on how it felt.  Obviously, at some point, I was going to have to keep an eye on how far I was going so that I was sure to get in my full 3 miles, but I was determined to wait until I thought I was at least half way through my run before checking my progress.  I was very proud of myself... the first time I checked, I had already run 1.66 miles.  Not only was I impressed that I'd held out as long as I did, but also that I was able to so closely guess when I'd reached the half way point.  After that, I managed to only check my distance occasionally.  I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment alone.

In the meantime, with no numbers glaring at me, I was able to focus on other things.  I mostly just listened to my music and my slow pace actually allowed me to sing along to my favorite parts (my husband's Thursday bowling commitment was suddenly a blessing in disguise - I have no doubt my horrendous singing would have been grounds for divorce) and my crazy mix of music even allowed me to bust out some sweet dance moves from time to time (and by 'sweet' I mean 'scary'... I imagine anyone watching might have been concerned I was having a medical emergency and would have likely called 911 if there wouldn't be some question as to why they were watching me through my basement window in the first place). 

Anyway, a few months ago I had put together a running playlist and, after today's run, there's no question that it needs some work.  I always put it on shuffle and, with my ipod in my arm band, I don't have the ability to skip songs... here's what I got to listen to today:

All Star - Smash Mouth
(one of my favorites from my running playlist)
Chasin' That Neon Rainbow - Alan Jackson
(seriously? I mean, I like country, but this is just silly)
Boot Scootin' Boogie - Brooks & Dunn
(a little embarrassed to even claim this one)
Lighters - Bad Meets Evil
(love the song... terrible for running)
American Girl - Tom Petty
(not too bad I suppose)
Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner
(oddly enough, I actually love this one)
Ridin' - Chamillionaire
(who's playlist is this anyway? so not me)
My Body - Young the Giant
(a friend's recommendation and by far my favorite from this playlist)
Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
(hmmm... I'm not even a Kravitz fan...)
Down Under - Men at Work
(love this song... but I have no clue why)
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
(kinda love this one too)

Needless to say, this playlist could use a serious makeover.  There are definitely a few I really like, but with more than half of these being questionable, I'm thinking I need to spend some time working on a playlist I might actually enjoy for my entire run... especially if I plan to use my music to get me through some of my longer distances.  Suggestions welcome.

Day 87 (1/18): 3 miles / 26:51

Well, I guess that'll teach me...

I started out with the intention of simply running 3 miles on the treadmill... no pressure, just get in the miles and call it a day.  The problem, of course, is when I get half way through my run and start thinking 'hey, I feel pretty good... maybe I should be going a little faster...'  Which is fine... until I start thinking 'maybe I can beat yesterday's time... maybe it was just an off day and today would be a better test of my current fitness level...'  So, off I go to better my time.  I was so sure yesterday that I could have gone faster, so let's see what I can really do...

Seriously?!?  2 seconds?  That's it?!?  That's all I managed to shave off my time from yesterday?  I'd tell myself to take a deep breath, but I'm bent over and sucking wind so hard I can barely pull myself together.

So this proves it.  Regardless of how fast I want to pretend I can go, this is most definitely where my current fitness level is... just shy of a 9:00 mile for a 3 mile run.  One might think that, based upon my disappointment in yesterday's time, I would also be disappointed in today's.  But, truth be told, I actually feel much better.  After 2 days in the same conditions and with the same goal, it turns out that a 9:00 mile is about as good as it gets right now.  I have no reason to be upset with that.  I'd say that's consistency at its finest. 

With that out of the way, it will be my intention to simply run 3 miles tomorrow.  No more competing to improve my time.  Just log the miles and enjoy the workout.  Now we'll just have to wait and see if I can actually follow through on that :)

Day 86 (1/17): 3 miles / 26:53

So, it's officially the first day of Marathon Training... a very scary thought.  You see, I've gotten pretty darn good at starting things... and really good at telling people about them... haven't always been the best at following through.  I found it easy to tell friends and family that I was running a marathon this year.  It occurs to me now, however, that there are a few things to consider with the official start of my training... I can no longer tell people that I will start training in January, because January is here.  I can no longer explain that I'm planning to follow an 18 week training program and that, for now, I'm just doing a little base training, because base training is over and it's time to get serious.  I can no longer simply tell people what I'm planning to do, because it's time to start showing them.

Don't get me wrong - since the very moment this idea came to my mind, I have had every intention of following through.  This was never something I was just going to talk about.  The problem is that I no longer have time to talk about it... it's time get this plan in motion.  I'm officially training for a marathon.  Wow!

As far as my run was concerned, I put on some headphones, jumped on the treadmill and ran it as fast as I could.  I really wanted to get an idea of where my fitness level was at the start of training so I could better track my progress.  While I do believe I would have run faster outdoors, it was, unfortunately, not an option with the man of the house out of town for work. 

And here's where my struggle begins... as I sit here to write, I find there's a mini tennis match happening somewhere back behind my eyeballs... that I can't decide how I feel about today's run.  Initially, I think: sure, it wasn't my fastest 3 miles, but I'm comfortable with where I am right now.  An 8:58 pace is pretty darn good.  Then it occurs to me that, if I'm being completely honest with myself, I was really hoping I could have run it faster.  Then a third thought comes to mind... "Could I have run it faster?"  That's a stupid question... of course I could... in a race, with people around me, an actual finish line... who really has the ability to give 100% on a treadmill?  It's the reason most treadmills become overflow closet space... it's boring and monotonous and hard to stay motivated.

So, here's where I'm at... I truly did push myself and feel that I got in a good workout, but I know I can go faster.  This is the beginning of my training and I look forward to my times improving from this point forward.  And, of course, I'm planning to get myself outdoors to run every chance I get... because I'm bound and determined to keep my treadmill from becoming an extra closet.

And I look forward to seeing where I end up in 18 weeks.  As far as this new chapter in my life is concerned, I'm nervous, excited and anxious all at the same time... but I think I'm mostly excited... or maybe nervous... no, definitely excited...

P.S. - In addition to being my first day of training, it seemed as good a time as any to call it quits on the smoking... so it is also my first day without a cigarette and, thus far, seems to be going better than I would have expected.  Hopefully, if I manage to get through the next 18 weeks without one, maybe I'll be able to make it a permanent change after all.

Day 85 (1/10): 3 miles / 27:03

Although accurate, the time for these three miles is a little misleading.  After thoroughly enjoying changing up my workouts over the past couple of weeks, I decided to try something different, yet again.  With only a week to go before my official marathon training begins, I wanted to get a feel for what else might make a good workout for me so that I can stick to the training schedule while also mixing things up from time to time.  Today's plan was to mix in some intervals. 

It's been so many years since I've done any kind of real training... any time I've run since high school, it's just been plain old running.  Since I wanted to make sure my hip was up for it, I ran my first mile at a comfortable pace (6.2 mph), then took a quick break for a little more stretching.  Back on the treadmill, I decided to try this... I went with my comfortable pace (6.2 mph) for two-tenths of a mile, then bumped the speed up to 9 mph for one-tenth and back down to 6.2 for two-tenths.  I repeated this five times with my last fast-paced tenth of a mile ending 2.5 miles into my run and ran the last half mile at 6.2 mph. 

This made for a very interested workout.  I loved the way it felt to push myself a little harder and not allow myself to come to a complete stop to catch my breath.  I'm sure this will come in handy on marathon day as it's my goal to not only finish, but hopefully to do it without walking.  And while I have no intention of sprinting during the middle of the marathon, I do feel like pushing myself in the middle or at the end of a workout makes a long distance run seem that much easier... it should certainly be easier to keep a steady pace than it is to throw in sprints from time to time.  I guess I'll see how I feel about my crazy training techniques when I actually complete the marathon.