Marathon Training: Week 6

Week 6?! I am officially 1/2 way to CIM. EEEEK! This was not the best week for training. I haven't been sleeping well and my back has been really sore. I am hoping that next week I can re-group and have some better training sessions.

Monday: Took the girlies for a walk when I got home. Maisy was still bouncing off of the walls when we got back to the house so I made her take me for a run. We ran around the neighborhood for an easy 2.28 miles. She was thrilled to go running. I realized that my knees were a little sore from Girlfriends- ouch. After dinner I soaked in the hot tub. I am so glad that we have a hot tub. :-)

Tuesday: Skinny Jeans class. Lots of strength work- my little pea shooters are sore. FLAB made us do resistive running- not my favorite thing to do at 6am. I ran a very easy 2.21 miles in 19:17. I love running in the fall- it is the perfect weather and it was a gorgeous day in Spokane.

Wednesday: Interval day. 2 mile warm up in 17:54. Workout consisted of 6 X 1200 with 2 minute recovery in between. My target pace was 5:35/mile. I knew that I probably wouldn't hit that pace so I did some research to calm my mind prior to the workout.

This is according to the McMillan Running Calculator:
3:00hr marathon your time range for a 1200 should be 4:14-4:25. That is a 5:40-5:55 pace
3:05hr marathon your time range for a 1200 should be 4:21-4:33. That is 5:50-6:06 pace
3:10hr marathon your time range for a 1200 should be 4:28-4:40. That is a 5:59-6:15 pace

Drum roll please.....my repeats were:
5:55 pace
5:46 pace
5:41 pace
5:40 pace
5:42 pace
5:39 pace
AVERAGE PACE: 5:43

Followed that up with a 10 minute CD for another 1.16 miles

Thursday: SJ class with my favorite 6 am eye candy- AMIR. He definitely adds a smile to your face until he turns all drill sargent on you. Missed my FLAB, but Amir is a great sub. :-)

Friday: Tempo day. I used to not like interval days...now I think I like interval days and dislike tempo days. Hmm. This wasn't a very good workout for me. I had a great workout on Wednesday and just fell apart after that. My left calf felt tight and my back has been sore. My first mile was supposed to be slow (8:44) and then I just was never able to really get any momentum. I wasn't anywhere near my target pace. My average was 7:31/mile which is awful for me considering I just a ran a half marathon at a 7:10/mile. Not good! I hope that this workout isn't any indication for the the next 6 weeks of training.....

Friday night was fun. We had a date night with some friends. We went to the Manito Tap House where I had a pumpkin spice beer- it was good, but a little spicier than I was anticipating. We got dinner there and of course I had to try the yam chips appetizer which was amazingly yummy. Overall, I liked the Tap House and I think we will go back again soon. Next we went to the Hop Shop. It is a smaller bar and I wasn't impressed. The server was slightly aggressive and wasn't happy that we only ordered 1 round of drinks. Apparently I was on a pumpkin theme because Cam got me the Dog Fish Pumpkin Ale (it was better than the pumpkin spice I had earlier!). The other thing I didn't like about the Hop Shop was it looked too much like a living room to me. It had odd decor for a bar. After that we went to Flaming Joe's which Cam had labeled as "okay" from the weekend before. I would label it as "awful". It was cheap and the appetizers we got weren't that great. It was bar food, nothing fancy. The best thing about them was that they had Widmer Beer. That was about it. I doubt we will go back.

My pumpkin spice ale

Saturday: I got a massage!!!! I needed one so bad. My left calf was still tight from the day before and my back has been getting progressively more sore over the last two weeks. The massage helped relieve some of the pressure I was feeling in my back. I scheduled 2 more appointments with the therapist so that hopefully I can keep everything balanced before CIM.

While I was getting my massage/running errands Tia & Maisy went to the groomers. It was pampering all around for the Malcolm Girls. I was FINALLY able to get my Windermere Half Marathon shirt from May. The first shirts that they had ordered were sized a bit off. My sleeves (with thumb holes) were 3/4 length and the shirt was short. Apparently they had a "miscommunication" with the distributor. So....5 months later, I got my shirt. It fits perfectly. :-)

I spent some additional "me" time in the afternoon too. I let myself be a little creative. I am not the type of person who generally feels creative, but Amanda @ Runninghood has gotten me inspired! Thank you Amanda!

The perfect way to start a Saturday morning

Tia Bean sleeping after her grooming appointment

Maisy Moo after her grooming appointment

My attempt at being creative was to make my very own running skirt! (obviously this is the pattern :-))

Sunday: I ran 19 miles at 5:30 am. Not the best time to go running. I thought that it would be light around 6:30 ish, but I was wrong. Apparently it isn't light out until around 7:00 am. I had to run past the cemeteries on the Bloomsday course and I about peed my pants!!!! Not to mention the super sketchy people that were out at that hour...so freaky! Cam had a flag football game up north so I figured that I could just run up there and get to the field when his game started at 8:00 am. My plan was to run from our house to downtown (about 3.5 miles), run through Browne's Addition to Government Way which would eventually put me onto the Bloomsday course. I figured by the time I was on the TJ Meenach Bridge I would be about 10-11 miles. I miscalculated and wasn't even to 9 miles by that point. UGH! I thought about running through Riverside State Park, but I was too chicken to run that road by myself.  I ended up running a couple of random neighborhood loops just so I could get in my miles. It was boring, but it isn't an area that I typically run in so I had a nice change of scenery. I got to his game just as it was starting and changed into my warm clothes that I had him bring me. I don't think that I will ever run that early in the morning by myself again. I am still freaked out about it! Cam's team won their game and now they are in the playoffs- pretty cool! He treated me to Sbux on the way home and then I took a nap with my favorite little girls.  It was a good day and a great feeling to have my run completed by 8:00 am, even though I am probably lucky that I didn't get mugged!

I forgot to do my 3 positive thoughts for last week so this week I will do 6 positive thoughts:

1. I am having fun training
2. I have set some great short/long term goals thanks to the idea from Runninghood. I will post more on this later.
3. I was able to find some "Tasha" time and get a massage Saturday afternoon. It was amazing!
4. I put in some great extra "easy" mileage this week
5. I let myself be a little creative and I had fun doing it
6. I finally got my Windermere Half Marathon shirt for May on Saturday.
7. *BONUS* I had two half marathon PRs in 7 days!

Total Mileag: 41.15 (!!!! highest mileage to date!!!!)

I love this sticker! Now I just need to find my strong for the next six weeks.....

--Tasha