I HAD NO INTERNET.
My primary excuse for not blogging for literally, over a week. But, there were some other reasons/factors as well.
Shall we recap? (I’ll try to keep in brief and interesting)
Saturday (Oct. 4)
Winchester Marathon = UGH.
Long story short, I made a last-minute decision to run this marathon. The weekend before, I laid down 30 miles in two days, the weekend before that, 40 miles in 2 days, and the weekend before that, 32 miles in two days. Needless to say, I was slightly fatigued. I ran Tuesday and Wednesday the week prior, and took Thursday and Friday off. I knew it was going to be a tough race, and I was right.
My intention was to try to hold on to 7:00 – 7:10 splits for as long as possible. That lasted for 6 miles, and then we hit a stretch of 3 miles of gradual incline.
I bonked at mile 9. I knew I didn’t eat well the night before, because I woke up very hungry. I did not compensate for a proper breakfast. I did not shake out my legs the day before. All of my Golden Marathon Rules broken. Not to mention the lack of taper. Around mile 12, my vision started to blur, which I later learned was a sign of low blood sugar. I thought several times about stopping. I don’t know how I didn’t.
Splits were as follows: 7:06, 7:02, 7:01, 7:09, 7:05, 7:09, 7:26, 7:15, 7:21, 7:23, 7:45, 7:52, 7:57, 7:47, 7:50, 7:42, 8:03, 7:49, 8:25, 8:01, 8:08, 7:56, 8:05, 8:16, 7:42, 8:08.
The total time was 3:21:18 with an average of 7:40mm pace. WOOF. This is so far off of what I am capable of, and I was NOT happy with the result, despite knowing the precise reasons for it. It frustrates me to not be able to “compete” when I race, but this was a ridiculously tough course on top of everything else. Despite my frustration, I am still 7 for 7 in Boston Marathon Qualifying Performances, so I really can’t be bummed about that.
That night, TTU football played Murray State and WE WON! It was an AMAZING game that went into overtime, and we won on a field goal. We all went out for some celebratory drinks afterward, and needless to say, I collapsed into bed after 1 a.m.
Sunday
I didn’t run Sunday and struggled at work all day. I don’t know how I managed to get through the day, but I did it. Pocketed some cash, had a glass of wine and found me in bed shortly after 8 p.m. The team had to play again on Thursday, so poor Steven went straight back to work at 7 a.m. and didn’t come home until after 10 p.m.
Monday
I also didn’t run Monday, because I had to leave for Hunstville, AL. at 6 a.m. to recruit at a Graduate School Fair. I can’t even explain the level of exhaustion that had consumed me by the time we got back at 4:00 p.m. Once again, I crashed on the couch immediately and was asleep by 8:30 p.m. Steven worked until 11 p.m., so I really didn’t see him from Saturday evening until Tuesday evening.
Tuesday
I finally got my run game back on, and somehow was able to hang with Angie during our speed work. We did 15 x 1min. on/1min. off fartlek runs at about 6:15mm pace. The last time I did these, I tried to keep up with Mike and Luke and ended up running sub-6mm pace during the “on” portions. Too much for me. Angie and I ended up running it out to 10 miles and I enjoyed chatting with her about girly stuff once we left the rest of the group behind.
We cooked out on Tuesday night, which was super fun and involved copious amounts of grilled burgers, hot dogs, chicken, chips and cheese dip and all sorts of other stuff. Needless to say, Tuesday night did nothing for me when it came to catching up on sleep, but we had a great time.
Wednesday
I bailed out of the A.M. run on Wednesday but forced myself into 6 miles OMO after work. Once again I was beaten, and I felt like I was running with tree trunks for legs. I also forgot my watch, so I tried to just focus on getting through the six miles and listening to my body. Managed it in 47 minutes, which is close to an 8mm pace.
Thursday
I somehow was able to turn around less than 12 hours later and do some speed work again. 5 x 2000 meter repeats with a goal pace of 6:19 – 6:40. I think I hit all of the splits except for the 4th repeat, but it’s hard to track the pace on a 1.25-mile repeat. However, my “fast mile” splits were as follows: 6:19, 6:36, 6:34, 6:55, 6:35. Not so bad. Ended up finishing 10 miles in 75 minutes, 7:31mm pace on average.
I had to go to Nashville to recruit again on Thursday, and for the second time this week, I fell asleep on the way home. Thank God I wasn’t driving. But the struggle is real.
Friday
I thought about taking Friday off, but I’m waging a war with my scale currently and thus far, it’s winning. I can’t find any excuse to take days off, so I ran an easy 6 with the group. It was Mike’s birthday, so Bryan’s wife Valerie was sweet enough to meet us at 6 a.m. when we finished up with coffee and donuts. For whatever reason, the coffee was out of this world.
Saturday (today)
I promised myself I was going to take it easy this weekend, and 15 miles would be the MOST I would run. I already “committed” to running 13 on Sunday morning, but I can’t NOT do a Saturday long run. I just can’t. Today’s was rather ambitious and I’m so glad I was able to finish what I set out to do.
I know that I really need to start getting comfortable with cruising around 7:10mm pace if I want to PR in Huntsville, and lately I’ve been having trouble “cruising” at ANY pace, let alone 7:10 (refer back to Winchester Marathon if you need a reminder…) So, this morning I told myself I was going to run 10-13 miles with 8-10 inserted at PMP (7:10 or better). I was on my own, as per usual on Saturdays, and the weather was misty and cool. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt GOOD while I was running.
Mile 1 (warm-up) – 8:13
Mile 2 – 7:01
Mile 3 – 7:06
Mile 4 – 7:09
Mile 5 – 6:59
Mile 6 – 7:04
Mile 7 – 7:00
Mile 8 – 7:09
Mile 9 – 7:07
Mile 10 – 7:06
Mile 11 – 7:01
Mile 12 (cool down) – 8:16
Mile 13 (cool down) – 8:12
Total Time – 1:35:31
Avg. Pace – 7:21mm (including WU and CD)
My breathing felt good and my legs finally felt lighter than they have been (although not 100%) and I figured coming off of a marathon weekend, tired legs from 3 days of running (2 of which included speed work), and hydrating with gin & tonic last night, that this was a pretty decent performance.
Of course, it pales in comparison to Jeremiah’s half marathon PR this morning. He ran the Middle Half in like, 1:24 and some change. So there’s that. I have resigned to the fact that I am basically incapable of anything like that right now, anytime soon, this year, ever in my life, ?????, so I am just going to have to get back to running for the love of it, rather than for the love of competing at this point.
I am stuck on the couch now and do not plan on doing anything but watching football and hockey for the rest of the day and night. We might have friends coming over, which will mean that I need to make myself mildly presentable at some point.
Enjoy all of these amazing football games. It was really weird cheering #BoomerSooner during the Red River Rivalry, but I just want Texas to lose ALL the games for the duration of Charlie Strong’s tenure. And I’m pretty sure Charlie Strong has a few things he’d like to lose as well, namely 20 or so LBS.
Charlie Strong – Louisville
Welp. You know what they say… #EverythingsBiggerInTexas