Surf City | Pre-Marathon Thoughts

So basically... it's HERE.

Surf City, and obviously therefore, my first full marathon, is 3 days and change away. Am I terrified? Meh, a little bit. Nervous? Not really (yet). Excited? Heck yes!


I'm almost packed. The music will come together.

I feel like I should be nervous. And I'm not yet. I'm excited to join the thrones of those that have accomplished the 26.2 dream, whether one time or hundreds of times. (Speaking of, have you seen the really awesome infographic that Running Shoes did?)

I know I can trust my training. It was far from perfect, but it's far enough to get me from Start to Finish. I've got people behind me, cheering me on, and I'll have my family and some friends standin' on the curb doing it in person.

I'm so excited. Just hope that emotion carries through until Sunday! I mean, I've worked hard for this:

• 18 weeks.
• 334 miles (plus two tomorrow and a slooooowww two on Saturday).
• Countless 6 am gym days.
• Just as many 8 pm, post-work days.
• Sacrifices.

It's my turn to prove that I can. To show how far I've come since last January at half marathon #1 and how far I know I can go with full marathon #1. Just watch it - I'm comin' for ya, Surf City!

Think positive thoughts on Sunday. And thanks for reading my rambles.

PS. You can live track me here! Please feel free to follow along and send good vibes!

Surf City | Week 17

I have one week until I can say I'm a marathoner. Me. A marathoner. Who would have thought at any point that I'd actually make it this far?

Monday: Rest
Rest
Monday was also travel day back from Austin. After rolling out of bed, hightailing it back down to the outlets in San Marcos for the most productive and most time-controlled trip ever (we had exactly an hour and twenty minutes, and I got to all 3 stores I wanted, victory!), we hightailed it back up to Austin to the airport. Thankfully we all left almost all together, so there was no way to leave someone behind.

I slept the entire flight back to Atlanta, drove home and desperately wanted to pass out when I walked in the door at 6:45. I ended up staying up a little longer to start unpacking, get some things done, and apparently didn't pass out until 10. Oops.

Tuesday: 45 Minute Tempo
Rest
I had packed for the gym and everything. I was going to go after work. After being at work until 7:15, I headed towards south campus to get to the gym... and kept on driving. I couldn't do it. Not with bags to unpack, dinner to make, and too many other things floating around in my head. Disappointed, especially as my only goal for tapering was to not miss a run at all. Urgh. Mental game, 1, Megan, 0.

Wednesday: 3 miles
2.57 mi / 25:32 / 9:50 pace
I decided at the last minute on Tuesday night that I needed/wanted that extra hour of sleep in the morning, so I sacrificed running in a warm building for running outside in some bitter coldness. Worth it? Totally. Not a great run by any means, but a run  nonetheless, given how Tuesday went.

I've also decided that the best part about running is the  how-many-colors-can-I-wear-at-once game.

 Happy to have gotten some miles in, felt like a fool running down the street in safety green and a houndstooth headband, but man... the cold felt good. I ran out of time, otherwise I'd have pressed on for more. Oops.

Thursday: 3 miles
3.27 mi / 30:26 / 9:18 pace + .36 cool down walk / 6:02 / 16:45 pace
TBD

Friday: Rest
Rest
Happily rested - took my casual time gettin' up, on the bus to work, and caught the bus home, which always delays the evening. Went to watch some things on Netflix in bed, only to discover that my laptop won't recognize that it's plugged in - and the battery doesn't hold a charge so it has to be plugged in to function. Cue freak out. Frustrated, went to bed at somewhere near 8:30 pm (on a Friday! I'm such an old lady) and called it a day. Prayed for my beloved little Dell and that she wouldn't be totally dead.

Saturday: 6 miles
6.1 mi / 1:00:03 / 9:50 pace
Dell is dead. Cue freak out, Part II.

Cleaned the house for a bit in the morning while (more importantly) waiting for it to warm up outside. With absolutely nothing but this run on the agenda for the day, why bother going out in 30 degrees if I have time to wait until it's 50, right? Right. Best move on my part - got to head out for a run in January in shorts and a long sleeve tech-tee. Busted out hard on 4:1 intervals for the whole run, pushed hard, even at the end when I had to jog out a little extra arm of the road to ensure I broke the 6-mile mark. Felt awesome - great last long-ish run of training! Weeee!

Got this for Christmas, and was finally not afraid to wear it out for a run.

Sunday: Cross
13.06 / 53:46 / 14.6 mph pace
Felt like the first legit cross-training session in a long time, even though I pumped out nearly 7 miles last Friday in Austin. Played a little interval game from the few spin classes I took a few years ago - push hard on the verses, push harder during the chorus. Made for an awesome workout and even better last XT day! I wish I had stuck with these more lately.

Spent the evening at the dog park, finishing cleaning the house so I can leave in peace on Friday, and cuddling with this kid:

Her life is hard.

By Sunday evening, I also picked up a terrible knot/cramp/Charlie Horse in my right calf. After the dog park, spent some time rolling it out with my stick, dosing it in Icy Hot and trying to stretch it out. Come today, Monday morning, it's still here, so I spent some of the morning rolling it out again, Icy Hot-ing up, and wearing a compression sock as a boot sock to hope that it works itself out today. Hope for the best, y'all!

Total Week Run Miles: 12.3 miles
Total XT Miles: 13.06 cycle
Total Week Miles: 25.36 

Bring on the last week of the training plan. Oh. Em. GEEEEE. And to get rid of this pesky calf knot - hoping these compression socks do the trick today - hope for the best - and to spend the week rolling it out if I need to!

ONE WEEK TO GO! EEEEEEK!

How did your training go this week? Any last advice for me for my first marathon on Sunday? Tips for things to do/not to do during the week leading up to it?

Track Tuesday 8

I'm pairing up with Denise at Run DMT to bring you a weekly thread where you can brag, show off, cry or celebrate your weekly  (or whenever it is) speed workout. Whether it's Monday, Tuesday, or never, you can link up (at the bottom) and tell us all about your session!

My Track Tuesday actually became Track Wednesday this week, and even then wasn't much of a track sesh. I was in no mental capacity to get in a 45 minute tempo run on Tuesday night after 10 hours at work and with lots to do around the house (namely unpacking from this weekend) and sucked it up and went home. At least I did get done what I had missed the gym for - unpacked, made my lunch, and was in bed at a decent hour. 

So today's post is more like Track Tuesday Lessons. Things I have picked up on over the last 18+ weeks since I've begun seriously committing participating in Track Tuesdays. I'm officially into my taper mode so I'm out of Track Tuesday opportunities for now. Don't you worry, I'll be back at it! But for now, I bring you these lessons.

• Speedwork works. Even if just helps shave some minutes here and there off your race time, you'll see the difference. I certainly have, given that I PRed my half at three of the four half marathons I ran October-December this past fall. 
• You need to commit. Sure, it works. You just need to make sure you're committing to doing it, in some form. My plans have alternated weeks - one week would be a tempo, the next week a speedwork session, then back to tempo. 
• Push yourself. Much like my first lesson from 2012, you're often more capable than you think. And track workouts are a great way to see just how much you can push!
• Emotionally-charged runs work well. Maybe that's just me. But that day that I was super aggravated with all things life and went and killed a 9x400 session? Awesome. Maybe it does really work... 
• Track (pun not intended) your progress. Keep track of your splits, your warm ups, your pace and total mileage. It makes it so much easier to see that progress -- and then you know your effort is worth the work.

Do you do regular speedwork as part of a training plan? Did you this week? Link it up! If you post on Twitter, don't forget to use #TrackTuesday too! Do you have any additional lessons or things to consider with speed work?


And feel free to add the button to your site and entry, too!

Surf City | Week 16

I knew this week could potentially be really long - lots of work stuff coming up, and while exciting, a very, very busy weekend ahead in Texas. I pushed through, made good of it and am happy with the outcome! This was my first official week of tapering - I've dreaded the mythical (or legit) taper madness, but truth be told, given that I was out for a week and a half with that cold, I feel like now I can just appreciate being able to run at all during these next two weeks (eeek! TWO!?). My goals for tapering weeks are really that I just can't miss a run or a session - need to carry it out, make it count, and maintain all the work I've done since October 1.

Tapering reminder!

Monday: Rest
Rest
I really don't remember last Monday at all. Resting is wonderful for that very reason!

Tuesday: 10 x 400m / 5K pace
5 x 400 / 2.62 mi / 23:00 / 8:46 pace + 2.25 cycle cool-down
I knew, even as I was barely walking into the gym, that a 10 x 400 sesh was going to be rough. Being that this was going to be my first whole week back in training since the chest cold from hell, it would be a stretch if I got to 10 repeats. The track was completely empty, which was awesome, but I could only push my body so far. 5 repeats it was - still a half success! Read more here, and check out our posts every Track Tuesday!

Wednesday: 4 miles pace
4 mi / 36:57 / 9:14 pace + .25 cool down
So so so happy with these 4 miles. Pushed myself hard, just to make sure I was still in the game and ready to get to work. Great morning at the gym to start my day and the boost I needed to be sure that I finished out the week strong!

Thursday: Rest
Rest!
Thursday wasn't originally my rest day, but after the long day that Wednesday became, and the amount of stuff I needed to do before heading to the airport straight from work on Thursday afternoon... it just wasn't going to happen. Thankfully Heather and I got to make a 24 Hour Fitness date for Friday morning, so I got to make up for the fact. Success.

Friday: 3 miles
3.1 mi / 33:17 / 10:44 pace + 6.72 mi cycle / 40:00
HP and I ventured up to a 24 Hour to get our sweat on. She was doing Body Pump and for as much as I wanted to try it, I wasn't sure that I should jump into something new just two-ish weeks out from the race. So I ran instead on the dreadmill - it's been awhile since I've done that and I remember why. Ha! No time goal for this run, just a solid 3 miles to gear up for Sunday's long run.

Saturday: Rest
Rest
Our sorority board meeting was all day Saturday and went straight into the dinner and induction ceremony for our new chapter at Texas State. Full post coming soon of all the fabulousness! Amazing weekend and so excited I got to be there to celebrate these women and their accomplishments.

They all wanted to wear cowboy boots together - LOVE.

It's such an amazing opportunity to get to see a new chapter form - from meeting two of these girls at our Convention in July, to meeting my little sister when I visited in November, and seeing them through all this. Knowing their ups and downs, seeing them continue to push forward and not let it drag them down for too long, it's so much fun to help them celebrate and see that they have so many sisters, both active and alum, who are there to support their new endeavors. So excited to see this chapter grow, thrive, and make Texas State even more awesome than it already is. Congratulations to our 19 Alpha Nu founding mothers!


Sunday: 10 miles
8.44 mi / 1:26:11 / 10:12 pace
Sunday morning after the last of our business I got to meet up with one of my former co-workers from Texas State, Andre, (who I used to spend many mornings running with) and get in some miles around San Marcos. Through some of my old running stomping grounds, around some new areas that have popped up in the last year and a half... it was wonderful. Got quite warm towards the end, but an awesome run overall. At first I was disappointed I ran short, but realized I still went over my scheduled miles for the week with that, so I call it a success anyway.

Andre and I, post long run!

Happy with this week overall - here's to Taper Week 2 and counting down to the madness that is to be 26.2!

Total Week Run Miles: 18.16
Total XT Miles 8.97
Total Week Miles: 27.13

TWO WEEKS TO GO!

How did your training go this week? 

Surf City | Marathon Music

My running playlist needs a makeover. Like, a total overhaul. Especially since I've been doing so many runs inside on the track, and trying to focus, I don't regularly run with my iPod anymore - with that, it needs some help.

I have some super random stuff on my running playlist - everything from Survivor to Neon Trees to Ke$ha to Psy. Like this:

BUT - I currently have just about 2 hours' worth of songs in my playlist and need at max, 5 hours. So, bring 'em here: Your marathon music suggestions for 2013. New faves? Trusty go-to power songs? Faves to get you through a hard workout? Share 'em here!

I'll be sure to share my final playlist prior to marathon weekend, and my iPod thanks you for helping to shake things up a bit!

What are your running playlist must-have songs or artists? Thanks for your suggestions!