Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
guide to the marathon
One good idea for calming pre-race jitters, in my opinion, is making a game plan. I've already run the entire course, piece by piece, but I know that y'all have never even seen Austin and have no idea what to expect. Here's a link to a great course description to help you make a plan.
Yesterday, I finally made it to one of the group track workouts with the Texas Running Company, and it helped me a lot in feeling strong and ready for this race. We ran three miles around the track at our "race pace" with a minute or so of rest in between. Mike had us running a 9:00 min/mi pace, which sounds insane to me as a race pace, but felt great on the track.
He echoed Hal with advice to just run on little 2-miler on Saturday to shake out our legs, and nothing more this week.
Here goes nothing!
Yesterday, I finally made it to one of the group track workouts with the Texas Running Company, and it helped me a lot in feeling strong and ready for this race. We ran three miles around the track at our "race pace" with a minute or so of rest in between. Mike had us running a 9:00 min/mi pace, which sounds insane to me as a race pace, but felt great on the track.
He echoed Hal with advice to just run on little 2-miler on Saturday to shake out our legs, and nothing more this week.
Here goes nothing!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Oh my god, only six days to go before the Austin Marathon! I'm getting excited, and nervous, for the big run. How's everyone else feeling?
(we make it look easy!)
Yesterday, for our final long training run, we ran the first five miles of the course... the starting line at the capital building, down San Jacinto, down Guadalupe, over the Congress bridge, and up Congress. The first few miles have a nice downhill that will be great for warming up easy. Then there's a big uphill heading up South Congress past lots of cool shops and restaurants, before we turn around and head back down. My plan is to take it easy for this whole section, not bombing down the hills, not charging up them, but running a steady pace.
In other news!
This little furball will be cheering for us next Sunday. Meet Zeke, my future running partner!
Looking forward to the coming weekend, it should be chock full of running, puppies, Lone Stars, tacos, and sunshine!!!
Yesterday, for our final long training run, we ran the first five miles of the course... the starting line at the capital building, down San Jacinto, down Guadalupe, over the Congress bridge, and up Congress. The first few miles have a nice downhill that will be great for warming up easy. Then there's a big uphill heading up South Congress past lots of cool shops and restaurants, before we turn around and head back down. My plan is to take it easy for this whole section, not bombing down the hills, not charging up them, but running a steady pace.
In other news!
Looking forward to the coming weekend, it should be chock full of running, puppies, Lone Stars, tacos, and sunshine!!!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Ohhh-kay
Austin weather is officially insane!!! On Sunday's long run, we were sweating in the hot sun with 80 degree temps. Yesterday I went running after work and it was 24 degrees plus a nasty wind chill that made it feel even colder. Tonight it might even snow. What does this mean for the upcoming marathon, in just 17 days? It's safe to say that there is no way to predict the weather on race day. Pack lots of layers, and be ready for anywhere between below freezing and hot as hell!!! (And cross your fingers for 60 degrees and perfect.)
Monday, January 31, 2011
New Blog!!
Hey, y'all!! I have absolutely loved having this blog for our training. So much so that I've decided to start a solo, full-time running blog. For the next three weeks, I'll be cross posting as appropriate and then I'll be making a permanent switch. I'd love it if you'd still follow me there... the link is below:
http://runoregon.blogspot.com/
http://runoregon.blogspot.com/
Week 15
Did I already mention that I'm officially on taper?!?!??!
Monday - 5 @ 9:51
Tuesday - 5 @ 10:17
Wednesday - 8 @ 9:43
Thursday - 5 @ 10:08
Friday - rest
Saturday - 22 @ 10:12
Sunday - rest
I ran a grand total of 45 miles last week which is a record high mileage for me. I was tired, for sure, but it wasn't unreasonable and I was still able to manage my extracurriculars. I found that my hunger level did go up quite a bit - luckily, I didn't feel badly at all at indulging:). I'll obviously need to watch that during the next three weeks because I'd rather not add pounds to lug all over Austin! I'm going to try to really enjoy this taper by getting lots of rest and being ready to put my best race together. I'm going to need the rest since I'm planning to run another marathon just seven weeks later!!
Monday - 5 @ 9:51
Tuesday - 5 @ 10:17
Wednesday - 8 @ 9:43
Thursday - 5 @ 10:08
Friday - rest
Saturday - 22 @ 10:12
Sunday - rest
I ran a grand total of 45 miles last week which is a record high mileage for me. I was tired, for sure, but it wasn't unreasonable and I was still able to manage my extracurriculars. I found that my hunger level did go up quite a bit - luckily, I didn't feel badly at all at indulging:). I'll obviously need to watch that during the next three weeks because I'd rather not add pounds to lug all over Austin! I'm going to try to really enjoy this taper by getting lots of rest and being ready to put my best race together. I'm going to need the rest since I'm planning to run another marathon just seven weeks later!!
Yesterday I ran 20 miles for the fifth time in my life. And man, it wasn't pretty. Actually, it was a gorgeous day, with a high of 78 and sunshine galore, but that was also the problem.
After 1.5 miles, when the group usually stops to stretch out, I was already completely sweaty, and it was a humid 65+ degrees. Around mile 6, the sun broke through the clouds and we started to feel pretty warm, which translated to heavy-feeling legs and a sluggish pace.
I knew that dehydration was a danger on this run, so I drank plenty of water and ate electrolyte jelly beans at every stop. But after the mile 12 stop, we didn't see the coach again until the end... which meant that me and my two running partners finished the final hour of a three hour run with no water, no fuel, and cranky attitudes. It was pretty brutal.
But. Now it's over. I'm not really all that sore, and I began to feel better after we improved our moods over eggs, bagels, coffee, and juice, dining outside in the sunshine. So in the end, it was a good run, even though at the time I was suffering. I just couldn't beat my grumpiness with such dehydration and semi-heat stroke.
Enough whining! Happy to be on taper, knowing that the race will be better than any of these training runs, and (according to Hal) what happens on any individual training run won't matter on race day.
And, I felt ecstatic about the summery weather for the rest of the day, especially lounging and icing my legs here:
After 1.5 miles, when the group usually stops to stretch out, I was already completely sweaty, and it was a humid 65+ degrees. Around mile 6, the sun broke through the clouds and we started to feel pretty warm, which translated to heavy-feeling legs and a sluggish pace.
I knew that dehydration was a danger on this run, so I drank plenty of water and ate electrolyte jelly beans at every stop. But after the mile 12 stop, we didn't see the coach again until the end... which meant that me and my two running partners finished the final hour of a three hour run with no water, no fuel, and cranky attitudes. It was pretty brutal.
But. Now it's over. I'm not really all that sore, and I began to feel better after we improved our moods over eggs, bagels, coffee, and juice, dining outside in the sunshine. So in the end, it was a good run, even though at the time I was suffering. I just couldn't beat my grumpiness with such dehydration and semi-heat stroke.
Enough whining! Happy to be on taper, knowing that the race will be better than any of these training runs, and (according to Hal) what happens on any individual training run won't matter on race day.
And, I felt ecstatic about the summery weather for the rest of the day, especially lounging and icing my legs here:
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