Surf City: Week 7

As mentioned last week, from here on out my sole focus is preparing for my first full marathon, Surf City Marathon on February 3, 2013. It's unbelievable that it's only 11 weeks away now, considering I signed up for this in May! All previous posts (Wine & Dine training) were still aimed at creating a strong foundation for training for Surf City, but I chose to focus on little pieces at a time (namely, Wine & Dine since that's when I started my plan the first week in August. With that.. here we go!

Monday: Rest
Rest
I flew home from the amazingness that was Wine & Dine weekend on Monday morning. I got to Atlanta around 10:30, was in Athens by 12:30, got home, showered, and was at work by 1:30 until about 6. It made for a really long, thereby justifying (yet again) how glad I am that rest days are on Mondays!

Missed this fur-baby of mine!

Tuesday: 30 minute tempo
2.07 mi / 23:03 / 11:08 pace

I had originally planned to get up Tuesday morning and take a breeze around the neighborhood for this run. I instead woke up at 7:45 am, in a sudden panic, as when I unlocked my phone, I realized I had passed out Monday night ... in the middle of setting my alarm. Oops? Hauled butt to get ready for work and opted for a late dusk, post-work run instead. I took the pup along, just to get her out and moving, thus the slower pace than normal. Happy to have gotten the miles in, even if not at the rate I wanted and not nearly as far as I'd have liked, but after being away from the fur-baby for two weekends in a row, I needed some more time with her!


Wednesday: 7 miles pace
Rest
Wednesday turned into a super long day too - again, couldn't manage to get myself up and out of bed in time to get to the gym. Waking up to rain sure doesn't help either! I dragged myself to work, still slightly recuperating from this weekend, and hoped to get to the gym after my students' program that night (wishful thinking, right?). My students collaborated with another organization on campus to host (my office's Associate Director!) Donovan Nichols, a speaker for the Pay it Forward foundation. Much like the movie, the foundation works to encourage, motivate and inspire people all around the world to pay it forward, one act of kindness at a time. It's an incredible presentation, as he tells some really moving, compelling stories that make you laugh and cry right along with the 70 other people in the room with you. It was an incredible program and I'm really glad that was the way my day ended... not at the gym afterwards.

Donovan Nichols speaks to nearly 70 UGA students on Wednesday night!

Thursday: 4 miles
7 mi / 1:07:20 / 9:37 pace
After listening to Jeff Galloway speak about the run-walk-run method last weekend at the expo, I thought I'd give it a shot. Since I missed my miles on Wednesday, I thought I'd move the 7-miler to Thursday, and rest Friday for the (super) long run coming up on Saturday. So after work (again, morning fail!) I headed to the gym for my 56 laps around the track. It was surprisingly busy, which was nice for people-watching, allowing one girl to be my pacer and getting it done quickly. Super happy with how my timing went - my plan for marathon training/the actual race is to do a cycle. I was aiming for a 3 (run) - 1 (walk) cycle, which turned into a 3 laps (1/8 mi each) run, 1 lap walk plan which is about on target with timing. Overall super happy with this run and excited to put a r-w-r cycle to use! 

Friday: Rest
Rest
I was going to throw in a few miles on Friday just for good measure, but decided I should probably rest up for Saturday's long run instead. Glad I stuck with that decision - carbed up in the form of chicken, macaroni and cheese, and some honey-glazed carrots, and settled in for a night of Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids - among my favorite Friday night shows. Happy start to the weekend!

Best part? Christmas presents I started ordering have been arriving! Yay!

Saturday: 14  miles
14.02 mi / 2:25:50 / 10:24 pace
I'd been nervous about this run all week long - could I do it? Should I try and coerce someone into running with me? Did I need to carry my water bottle? Where the hell would I run that would add up to 14 miles? I mapped a route, changed my mind, tried another, didn't like it. So I figured I'd just end up waking up on Saturday and see where the wind (or my legs) took me. After dawdling in bed a little while longer than I should have, I rolled out of bed for a half peanut butter sandwich and half a banana while I putzed around getting my things together for the run. How many layers? It was 38 when I woke up and headed out the door. After running for 2+ hours, surely it'd be warm enough. I settled on two layers (short sleeve tee, long sleeve tech tee on top) with gloves and capris.

I had left my armband and headphones in my locker at the gym - which is closed on game days on campus. Oops. 14 miles with no music? Let's see what I can do, eh? I figured paying attention to the 3-1 cycle on my Garmin would keep me entertained enough that I really wouldn't need to worry about tunes too much. The morning was also incredibly gorgeous, so as cheesy as it is, I really did just look around and marvel at the colors, the trees, the sheer beauty of the morning. I picked a good morning to get out and run!

Miles 1-3 were easy as I settled into a cycle and got used to the feel of it. For a little while, my lungs felt really tight and I'm praying it's not a cold slowly creeping in on me. My original intent was to turn right down my usual road at mile 3, but instead kept going straight towards a new (what turns into) back-country road. Great choice, beautiful road... with no sidewalks. So every time a car came in my direction, I'd jump off into the grass on the shoulder and pray I wouldn't land in a hole. It started to remind me of Ragnar, at least in the back country roads we'd run down. Still pretty, just a little nerve-wracking!

Very Ragnar-esque.

Really, the whole run was pretty lackluster, in the best way possible. I felt great - it wasn't until nearly mile 8 that I really need to pause and stretch for a few minutes before chugging along. I passed near my apartment complex not long after this, just after I hit 9.25 miles, and thought that I'd just finish the mileage running loops in my complex (about .60 mi around the whole thing) - I made it through two laps and realized there was no way that was happening, so I headed back out on the road through halfway through mile 12, and then finished with a loop and a half around the complex. 14. Done and done.

I got home, ate, and took Molly straight to the park before I even thought about sitting down. After we got home, I promptly laid on the couch... for the rest of the day. I'd say I'm justified in this decision. College football shenanigans (well played Ole Miss, what the hell happened to you K-State?, and go Dawgs!), a whole lot of nothing, and a lot of snacking to end this Saturday. So happy I made it through these 14 miles, they weren't nearly as bad as I could have anticipated, and this run-walk-run business is the key to a) an 'easy' long run and b) quick recovery. Feelin' good!

Personal distance record! Never mind the messy splits!

Sunday: Cross-train
13.3 mi / 54:34
Wanted to push myself really well on my cycling cross-train session today - pushed it good at every chorus in the playlist for today and am super happy with the outcome! Happy Sunday - after that... my day was just as lazy as the rest of Saturday. Happy weekend!

The long run this week taught me that I really am more capable than I think I am and that, as everyone says, if you can get through training, you can get through the race - it's all mental. I feel like I passed a pretty big milestone in getting past the idea of that I can 'only' run a half-marathon. Bring it 15 miles next week... bring it! Also super excited for my Gobble Jog 10K on Thursday - gotta earn that turkey!

What was your major breakthrough in training? How do you get goin' when the goin' gets tough?