Sunday, September 30, 2012

How to train for another marathon 6 weeks after the first?

IMM, Marathon #2 in six weeks


1.  Hit the wall early in your first marathon or get sick the week or two before or both!
2.  Have a crazy running partner that signs up for another marathon 2 days after the first.
3.  Realize how disappointed you are on how you did in you 1st race, vow to do better on the next one.
4. Sign up with 7 weeks to spare for a marathon relatively close to you and during a cooler time of year
5.  Search for a training plan for a marathon in 6 weeks!
6.  Rest for about 4 days, then start with cross training, then 9 miles one week after 1st race.
7.  Foam roll like crazy.
8. Start training again!  Hal Higdon's multiple marathons plan seems to work.
9. Relax about it.  (You've already done this, now just relax and go with it!)
10.  Be smart and listen to your body.

So how am I doing on this crazy quest?  

  1. disappointing finish in 26.2 √
  2. partner signed up for Indy Monumental Marathon
  3. signed myself up for the Indy Monumental Marathon (or now IMM for the rest of the blog)
  4. happy about the normal temps and distance from house with IMM √
  5. found Hal's training plan √
  6. Rested√
  7. foam rolled out all the soreness√
  8. training started this week ( Tues & Weds 3 miles each, Fri 6 miles, Sun 7 miles)
  9. relaxing about it  (still working on this)
  10. listening to my body √

So for those of you who actually are curious on how much more running I have to do... remember I have already trained 18 weeks for the first race, and 12 weeks before that for the Pig Half...so I'm going on 30 weeks of training...what's another 6 weeks? 

Week Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
6 Rest 2 m run 3 m run 4 m run Rest 6 m run 1-2 hours√
5 Rest 3 m run 6 m run 3 m run Rest 6 m run 12 m run
4 Rest 4 m run 6 m run 4 m run Rest 6 m run 14 m run
3 Rest 4 m run 6 m run 4 m run Rest 6 m run 16 m run
2 Rest 4 m run 6 m run 4 m run Rest 6 m run 10 m run
1 Rest 2 m run 3 m run Rest Rest 2 m run Marathon   
 I'm hoping that will be enough, I might bump up  the mileage for the 12 -16 miles a bit more, but depends on my schedule with kiddos on the weekends.  I remember that was one of the reasons we (Carrie and I) didn't pick the Columbus marathon which is at the end of October, back when we decided on doing the Air Force marathon.

What am I going to do differently?  
  • Nutrition during the race- I have always used Clff Shot Blox but I found that I didn't eat as many as I should have during the race, since they were gummies and hard to eat on the run, so I'm going to experiment with gels. One of my coworkers gave me Crank Sports e-gel to try on a long run.  Have yet to try it but I liked what I saw on their website Crank Sports 
  • Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before!  I drank a ton of water during the Air Force Marathon and I didn't pee until 4 pm after the race.  Yikes! 
  • Rest more during training.  I tend to get 6.5 hrs a sleep a night, definitely need more.
  • Take my vitamins! I don't know if I can avoid getting sick again, but here's to hoping! 
  • Different socks- I had a nasty blister from socks (that I've worn on long runs before and never had problems with!- must be my callous- still dealing with Bob the blister)  
    Surprise! I thought my toe hurt!
    Warning, gross picture ahead!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Race Recap: Air Force Marathon

WARNING SUPER LONG POST

That. was. so. hard.  I have never had such a sucky race.  Granted, that was only the second time I've ran a marathon, but that was more difficult than anything I have ever done.  Childbirth was easier. 

Let's backtrack:  2 weeks before the marathon, I got a lovely cold.  A week later, the cold turns into a cough.  I head to the Dr and get a zpac and Hydrocodone for my cough.  I've never really taken anything stronger than Aleve, so little did I know that I'd have such a horrible reaction to Hydrocodone.  I had a terrible headache, nauseous, and light headed for about 36 hours until that stuff got out of my system.  I have never been so sick- I couldn't get out of bed, except to run the bathroom to throw up.  Yuck.  I missed basically one week of working out- even though it was taper time.

Last week, I was feeling much better, still a bit of a cough but nothing major.  I was really hoping it would be out of my system by race day.

Expo:  I went with a friend of mine from work who is just starting out running.  It was fun to help her out and guide her through the expo.  She got a great deal on a pair of "real" running shoes (as she put it).  I could see her excitement building...no doubts next year she'll be running one of the races.

Needed this for Spinning class
I managed to hold on to most of my money!  Success! I only got 2  shirts  from the "one more mile" store.  My new favorite t-shirt says:

FRONT: You know you're a runner when...
BACK:
  • You can recite the dialogue from chariots of fire.
  • Your vacations are planned around marathons.
  • You lube up to get into your clothes to prevent chafing.
  • Your friends don't call you anymore to go out on Saturday nights.
  • The majority of t-shirts in your closet have sponsors and race dates on them.
  • You consider gels a food group.
  • You consider a half marathon a good "training" run.
  • You can say fartlek without laughing.
  • You buy advil and Epsom salts in bulk.
  • You can correctly spell plantar fasciitis.
Ready to go! High vis outfit.
Race Day:

Carrie and I got there with plenty of time to spare.  We had time to kill in the car so we managed to get on all of our silly bands.  One of co-workers gave us this idea...take one off each mile.  I have to say, it worked.  There was something nice about flinging one off every mile.  We kept the last one though...

heading towards the start of the race
Finally headed over to the start line, there were tons of people walking around the Air Force museum in the dark/first rays of dawn.  There was a nice mist on the ground which made for a surreal setting walking past all of the static display planes on the runway outside the museum.  
As the sun came up, the energy around the start line grew.  It was fun to see all the people in all shapes and sizes ready to run the marathon or 10k (which started at the same time).  Eventually, after the opening ceremonies the B-2 flew over!  Wow!  It went right over head and it was just incredible to see it in person.  I took a recording of it on my phone but I must of deleted it some how...grrr since it wasn't there later.  Finally the canon went off-scared the crap out of me BTW and we were off.

The gory details (as much as I can remember!)
Mile 1-We had planted ourselves in between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups so we were with people running our pace which was nice difference from shorter races where you have to jockey for position.  We passed a group of ROTC guys (and girl) from University of Dayton running in full gear- I really hope they were running the 10k!  Totally impressive none the less!

Mile 5 and I was feeling good!
Miles 2-8 were uneventful.  Felt pretty good, quads were a bit sore, nothing I thought I needed to worry about.  DH, kiddos and my mom were at mile 5 with their cowbells. I loved the Alien themed water stop around mile 8 or 9. 

Feeling pretty good around mile 10!
Miles 9-10 were awesome!  The City of Fairborn and the Mile 10 group made it a fantastic oasis of energy.  Saw my dh and kiddos again! 

Miles 11-20 are where the wheels fell off for me.  Once we passed the craziness of Mile 10 and we were back on WPAFB it was just us.  Time to think about everything... everything that was starting to get sore.  It started with my toes, my darn callouses which sometimes hurt when running were screaming at me, and my quads were feeling tired and heavy....then it just kept getting harder and harder.  Carrie seemed to keep speeding up, but in reality I was slowing down. By mile 13 we decided to walk through the water stops so we/I could get more energy to slog through it.  Also, I kept trying to drink Gatorade and eat my Cliff Blox.  Carrie could go at my slower pace, since her legs would cramp up going so slow, so she'd run ahead then stop and wait for me. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Carrie, I swear I was in some fog/zone  of pain).
I wanted to crawl by this time, mile 22.
Darn Garmin- it was paused not stopped at finish so it took a walk back to the car, and brief drive before I stopped it

Miles 22-26.2- I actually felt a bit better once we could see the 1/2 marathoners on another part of the course, somehow, just seeing a bunch of walkers (the end of the 1/2 marathoners) lit a bit of fire under me, I wanted to crawl, but I knew I could beat some of them.  I stopped walking through parts and just kept shuffling, afraid if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start up again.  By mile 25, I was getting really annoyed and tired of the half marathoners, since they were walking and I had to zigzag around them- I didn't want to run any more than I had to at that point!   I was so excited to see the AF museum again and the looooooonnnnggggg straightway- that I swear was at least a mile- but really more like 300 meters, but once we turned the corner and had a straight shot of the finish line and got to run by all the air planes on display it was worth it.  We finished together in 4 hrs 37 mins and 25 sec.
Waiting for DH after the race.

I felt out of it/kind of sick afterwards, I just wanted shade (none around!) and salty pretzels.  I only got water, gatorade and a banana after the medal.  (They had an option of pizza- but that made me gag right after running- 20 mins later it would have been awesome- but we couldn't get back in the tent afterwards).  I would recommend giving runners a bag to put their food in, I ran out of hands, but would have liked other stuff a bit later.
Overall, the Air Force Marathon was great.  They did such a great job with everything.  The water stations/aid stations were awesome, the volunteers were so enthusiastic.  I will definitely be running this again!

I couldn't have done it with out Carrie being there for me.  She was an awesome cheerleader and I know that she felt good and probably could have done much better without me, but she stuck by me.  Thanks, Carrie!  I owe you a good marathon! 
And of course, I could have never done the training with out my super patient husband who never says a thing, as I go out for a long run or train at the Rec center.  I also think he does a great job in race photography!  Love you sweetie.

So, there it is.  My 2nd marathon, but my first in 11 years.  It was painful, but I don't regret it, in fact, we've already signed up for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov 3.  I hope not to repeat my performance!



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

In Hal Higdon we trust

Hopefully, Hal, this is going to work! 



I can't believe theAir Force Marathon is this week.  Holy Crap!  I'm really excited and I'm scared at the same time.  I know I can do it.  I can. I have - a long time ago, but I have. 

my worries:
  • never ran more then 20 miles- how am I going to do 6.2 more to run?
  • I altered my training plan- with an extra day of xtraining instead of running- will I regret that?
  • I'm not 100%- I have a stuffy nose and cough :-(
  • not having crowd support (most of the run will be on the Air Force base)
  • rain, or too much sun - most of our runs have been done before the sun got too high in the sky and hardly ever in the rain
  • I didn't get my last 8 miler in. I found out Codeine and I don't get along- sick as a dog this past weekend.
On the positive side:
  • I'm healthy (leg wise)
  • My running buddy, Carrie, is healthy so we should be able to run it all together! 
  • The weather looks decent 70s as a high 50s as a low (still 30% chance of rain)
  • I'm going probably PR- I have to break 5hrs 52 mins. I ran 20 in 3 hrs 18 a few weeks ago- so...
  •  I don't have crowd support on my normal runs, so really can be too bad, right?
  • My mom and nephew are coming to watch, along with my dear hubby and kiddos. Yay! Family!!!  
Ok, enough for now, more to come.  Expo on Thursday, race on Saturday.

 Good luck everyone!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Not now!

Don't judge, we just ran 20 miles!
  • 20 mile run - check
  • 12 mile taper run- check
  • lots of sleep- check
  • GETTING A COLD A WEEK OUT FROM 26.2- check!!!!
my new BFFs
Totally panicking here.  I've gone from sore throat, to head cold, to coughing to now huge frog in my throat.  I'm hoping my dr appt will help.  I generally wouldn't care. But really? one week before my big race- not cool at all.   I figure I'll be fine to run it, it just might not be a good as it could be.  It's still a week out, and who knows, hopefully I'll be completely over it!

In other news:



  • Buster and Cub ran a kids cross country race at our local high school.  They had a 1000 m XC race for kids in 4th grade or younger.  Cub was cool with it but Buster was a bit nervous and almost backed out last minute but wise words from the big brother convinced him it was going to be ok.  He's always watched Cub run in little races but he's never had a chance to do it.  
I'll let the pictures do the talking!


Buster and Cub with Weebee

Cub getting starting instructions



Surprise! Cub in the lead!




Surprise- little guy, is 4th!








Water and ribbons at the end!


love this shot of Buster





I did it!





Tuesday, September 4, 2012

13 13.1s in 2013 Challenge


Random thought in the shower tonight about next year's running goals- yes- I'm aware that is only the beginning of September.  My marathon is next week and I know that I'll be at a loss to what to train for after.  So here is my idea:
  Run 13  half marathons in 2013  

Right now I'm thinking that here in Ohio the majority of the halves are in the early Spring or Fall. I thought about doing a 1/2 a month but realized that finding a race close by in Jan/Feb would be pretty tough to do.  

So, I am wondering...is anyone else up for the challenge?  Take a look and see if there are any half marathons in your neck of the woods.  Find a race 

Please let me know what you think!  My initial idea is that we can do a check in and if you'd like to do a race recap or link to your blog that would be cool too.  There is plenty of time to work out how it will work.  

If you're interested, please think about following me (not required) and/or comment with any suggestions.  Any links back to my page would also be appreciated!!  


***EDITED***  Here's the link to sign up for the challenge  13 13.1s in 2013 Challenge

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