Grandma's Marathon Training: Week 11 (in which I ran 50 miles and did not die)

I was SCARED to DEATH of this week. I could not seem to shut up the negative nellie in my head. I got some words of wisdom from a couple good friends, and I just ran 1 run at a time. And you know what? This was a GREAT week!

On the plan:
M - 5 easy
T - 10 tempo
W - 5 easy
Th - rest
F - 10 tempo
Sa - 20 easy
Su - cross

The beginning of this week, life happened, so it ended up being really heavy on miles late in the week. But still, I handled it better than I could have dreamed. That said, I hope the next heavy week goes a little closer to plan.

Monday: Rest. Windy and cold and tired and LAZY.

Tuesday: 5.01 miles angry. Oops. Faster than I meant at a 9:28 pace. But it was just what I needed.

Wednesday: Rest. Rain and lazy and post-memorial service dinner, so no strength either.

Thursday: 10 miles at a 9:16 pace. Freaking perfection.

Friday: 10 miles with Kim at 9:37 pace. I was tired after Thursday's run, so I was really happy to have company. I faded some at the end, but not too bad - no mile was over 10 minutes.

Saturday: It was raining, and I didn't want to, but my stubbornness got the better of me - I needed to get this done to hit my planned 50 for the week. And it was so close I could taste it. So I headed out for 5.01 miles at a 10:21 pace in the rain. And wind. But I sucked it up and finished it, and by mile 4.5, my legs actually decided they weren't COMPLETELY pissed at me.

Sunday: 20 MILES! My stomach was mad. The ONLY thing I did different was to take a gu roctane before we started. I took it right before I left my house, so I forgot about it until later, but it may have been the culprit. Or maybe it was the douche of a cop that rode my bumper for nearly a mile right before I reached the trail. Anyhow, I started at 6:30 with Kim, and then we did several out and backs along the trail to pick up and drop off other runners from the club. Which was GREAT since I had to use the bathroom every single stinking time. I kept it from affecting me too much until about mile 13 when I got all pissy about it. As in, REALLY?!? how can there be anything LEFT in there? So I slowed way down and fell outside of the group and took a bunch of walk breaks. But by 17 or so I was just over myself. There was nothing I could do about it but run. So I ran. We dropped the crew off with only a mile and a half to go, and Kim and I finished up pretty strong. I was still taking walk breaks, but they were quick, just for sips, and that was that. 20 miles done.

I had planned on taking a nice ice bath when I got home, but we moved a piano instead. So the good news was that I am the proud new owner of an antique piano. But it was hours before I actually got a shower. Yuck.

I feel really decent today. Just tired. I could run, but I'm not going to. I'm taking a rest day. And a nap.

Week total miles: 50.02 - which is a new weekly mileage PR for me.

Month total miles: 175.17 - which is a monthly mileage PR for me.

I'm looking forward to a nice easy cut back week, and then CRUSHING my half marathon PR on Saturday! Also, eating. Could I seriously be any hungrier?