Grandma's Marathon Training: Week 7 (Catching Up!!)

Spring Break is officially over. Normal life can resume - thank goodness! WAY behind on all of you - sorry!

But although last week seemed chaotic and hectic and crazy, I still managed to get all my miles in, run with my sister, run a 5k training run PR, run a (4 minute!!) half mary training run PR, run my highest weekly mileage ever, and run my highest monthly mileage ever. Not bad!

On the plan:
M - 4 easy
T - 8 tempo
W - 4 easy
Th - rest
F - 9 tempo
Sa - 16 easy
Su - cross
Reality?

Monday: 4.01 easy miles at 10:20 pace. It was bizarre to be running in a vest and gloves again.

Tuesday: Rest. TMI ALERT: My girl parts have not been playing nice lately. Flo showed up with a vengeance nearly 2 weeks late. Felt like ass. Bailed.

Wednesday: 5.69 easy miles with Sarah. Beautiful morning and a much needed run - kids making me nutso. Wednesday night strength class was awesome. A little kickboxing, and stations of moves with heavy plates. It was tough, but I felt good.

Thursday: 8 miles at a 9:19 pace. I was aiming for my temp run, but I was meeting some running club ladies for my last 4 miles. So my plan was to run my first 4 super fast and then finish up easy and chat with the girls. Um, that wasn't exactly what happened. Turns out, the new girl we were running with (there were 5 of us) is a little speedier than she let on, and we ended up pulling ahead together. So tempo DONE! And I ran a 5k PR in my first 4 miles. Without pushing. NEED to race one soon. (9:28, 9:23, 9:09, 8:54, 10:08, 9:36, 9:12, 8:50)

Friday: Rest. I ended up taking James to the doctor that morning because he'd been complaining off and on about his ear bothering him, and I didn't want to go to the er over the weekend (NO TIME for that). Everything checked out good and he was of course instantly better after that. Sigh.

Saturday: 7.8 miles at a 10:20 pace. This was our crazy day of the weekend. We left the house at 7am to our semi-annual dentist office take-over. Six dental cleanings later (with no cavities! Winning!) we were off to our friends' place to meet their newest addition (the CUTENESS!) and chat for a few. A quick Mickey D's lunch and we were off to my sister's house for an afternoon of running and fun.

It was Michelle's longest run in 5 years and she rocked it! And then she made us dinner and we visited and the kids played and it was perfect. Awesome.

We didn't get home til after 8pm, and I was exhausted. And NOT looking forward to getting up early to run long alone.

Sunday: 16.25 miles at a 10:16 pace. I got up. I ate a cliff bar and had 2 cups of coffee. I putzed around until I could no longer put it off and decided to head to Rollins Savanna for this one. Rollins is a 5.5 mile loop, so you can stop at your car/bathroom regularly which is nice for a 16 - you just run it 3 times.

I forgot my spi belt, so I left my phone in the car and headed out into the fog. It took me a bit to warm up - it was low 40s and I was underdressed, but was ok once I got going. I was wishing for gloves though. I concentrated on starting slow, and after a couple miles, just ran easy on feel. I stopped at my car at 5.5 and had a gu and picked up my handheld water bottle. NOW my hands were freezing, and it took a while again to get warmed up. It didn't help that I was a sweat ball and the wind was biting.

I stopped again at mile 11, thinking I'd pick up my tunes, but I forgot. I gu'd again and took salt. I ran the last loop with Bohemian Rhapsody on repeat in my head. I felt tired but still strong. I stopped at 13.1 and was sitting at 2:14:50, which is nearly a 4 minute PR. I high-fived myself and kept going. Mile 15 was a little bit of a struggle, but over all? I felt STRONG. What a confidence boost!

I came home, jumped in and out of the shower, and took my son to see the Hunger Games. By the time we got home, it was nearly dinner time, and after that, I camped out on the couch for the rest of the night. Wiped. Out.

Week total miles: 41.75

March total: 146.37