18 miles . . . The Last Long Run

Today, I had a fairly successful 18 mile long run. The LAST long run before the marathon. Yep. That's right, after today I begin "the taper," and my longest run until the marathon is 9 miles! It's hard to believe.

This week, I was back on track with my mileage and training. I completed all of the runs, as scheduled, except that I pushed my 3rd run of the week to Saturday which wasn't ideal because it was the day before the long run, but I needed the mental edge of knowing I'd completed all my mileage. My pace definitely took a little bit of a hit due to my disasterous week last week, but I also didn't really push the pace because I've had a sore right hip (I think it's just strained and inflamed), and I didn't want to stress it any more than I had to because the 18 miler HAD to go better this week.

I ate better this week and stretched A LOT. I also just tried to get back on track with positive visualization during and before my runs. It definitely helped. I still feel more unfocused than I would like at this point in my training. I feel undertrained and am having a hard time believing that the 18 mile long runs that I did are actually going to translate into me being able to run 8 miles further on marathon day. Despite the fact that the long run went well today, by mile 16, I was SPENT, and I am questioning whether this training program has really prepared me to run 10 MILES further than that. With how I felt at the end of 18, I have NO idea how I will go 8 more.

I've trusted the training all along, so I guess, at this point, I just have to trust that I've done enough and that the adrenaline will carry me through, but at the moment, and maybe it's just because I'm still so tired from the long run today, I find it hard to believe.

My goals over the next 3 weeks--YES the marathon is 3 weeks from today are to:

• focus on refining my mental focus techniques
• pick up the pace since my mileage is dropping
• stretch LOTS
• eat well
• rediscover my excitement about the marathon

Even today, as I ran 18 miles, I wasn't feeling the excitement that I usually feel when I think about the marathon. What got me through today was knowing that I absolutely had to have a successful long run today otherwise my chances of successfully completing the marathon were very slim. I don't know if it's still burn-out or what. I'm going to try to re-focus.

It feels good to say that I have finished my last long run before the marathon in January. I just wish I could have finished on a high note, not a medium note.

Today, I didn't run with Bella, and it was soooooooo sad and lonely. Bella (she's fine) got bit by a scorpion last night around 11pm. We think it bit her mouth. She seems to have recovered fine, but it was so sad to watch her in pain. Guess we are just lucky that she is 63 pounds of muscle (as opposed to a small dog who would have been more affected by the neurotoxin emitted by the scorpion). STUPID scorpion. They are so evil.

Why Am I So Tired?

This last week (one of the BIG, high mileage weeks of training), all four of my runs can be summed up in one word. Crappy.

The Monday after Tucson, I knew I was feeling "run down." I just assummed that my "high" mileage week before the race and then the super windy race to boot, had left me more tired than usual. I also wonder if maybe the fact that I sat in the hottub only a few hours after the race (usually I wait a few days and stick to ice in the first 24 hours) had anything to do with my sore, energyless state that resulted.

Every day that I was SUPPOSED to run during the week, I got up and got out the door. And each time I WALKED instead of ran approximately 2-3 miles (instead of 5 and 8 and 5 miles like I was scheduled to). Unfortunately, a good deal of my problem was MENTAL. I was just REALLY burned out. And failing at one day's run made it that much easier to fail at the next day. I was so beside myself and depressed all week.

What kind of loser trains for 6 months (fairly consistently) only to lose her motivation in the second to last week before the taper??? That would be me.

Needless to say, by the time I set out to do my 18 mile long run on Sunday, I went into the run feeling defeated. I totally psyched myself out about how far 18 miles was and also about what monumentally bad impact my bad training week would have on my marathon performance. Early in the run, I was already talking myself out of finishing. Early in the run, I was already thinking about what I was going to go do instead of running. I started the run super late in the morning because I couldn't get myself out of bed because I was dreading the run so much (which only made things worse because I felt the rest of my day slipping away as I ran).

The long run could have been worse, under the above circumstances, but I still consider it a failure because I walked A LOT. I got the mileage done but not in any pretty way or in any way that I feel like will help my cause in the marathon. Certainly not in a way that I feel helped build me up mentally for the marathon.

I know it is okay to have a less than stellar week of running sometimes, I just think that my timing was really, really poor and quite possibly could jeapordize my training from here on out.

I'm burnt out and not feeling that passion for "marathon day" that I've come to rely on to get me out of these spots. (Hence, the lack of blogging as well).

Tucson Recap

What a whirlwind weekend we had in Tucson!

Early in the week before we headed to Tucson, one of the runners on our relay team backed out. While it was unfortunate timing because, with a little more notice, we could have found a replacement runner, we decided that the 3 of us would make it work! Sandy said she was willing to run the first and last leg and regardless of if we'd had 4 runners or not, I knew I was running the 3rd and 4th leg, so we hoped we'd be fine!

By the time we got to Tucson, went to the Expo and wandered around a bit, ate a delicious lunch, scouted the course and checked into the hotel, it was already time to have dinner and try to get to bed early. We quickly realized that while the purpose of our trip was noble and all healthy and stuff, girls' weekends present plenty of opportunities for a delicious glass of wine and having to make the "right" choice for our running and obstain, wasn't nearly as glamourous as it might sound. We joked about the repeated opportunities for wine consumption that seemed to be taunting us. We thanked ourselves the next day when we ran, but decided that next time we do something like this, it'll be a 2 night trip so that the evening after our race, we could lounge around a enjoy a well-deserved glass of deliciousness.

The funniest part of the trip was when we were at lunch and we were looking through our packets to check out our "loot." Sandy was examining the official relay baton. She slipped it on her finger and promptly got it STUCK. After a couple of nerve-wracking minutes and with the help of a little bit of ice, we managed to narrowly avoid a trip to urgent care. She looked pretty fun with the red baton stuck on her finger. Ha!

Sandy ran the first leg of the relay, and in order for her to take the 40 minute bus ride to the start, we had to drop her off between 5-6am. It was an EARLY start to the morning.

Shawna and I actually went back to the hotel to rest a little more before we had to head up to the first relay point. The way the schedule worked out for running for the day was a bit out of the ordinary for me because usually I wake up, eat, get my gear together and head out to run. For the marathon relay, I woke up at 4:50am and didn't get to start running until close to 9:30am. My usual pre-long run breakfast had long since gone when it was time to run. I think I ate a banana and a Powerbar closer to the time that my "leg" started to try to compensate.

When it was FINALLY my time to run, I was so happy to be running and no longer juggling logistics of getting us to and from. The relay exchanges were anti-climactic because we'd wait and wait and wait for the runner, and then she'd arrive and then instantly the next runner was off--no time for conversation or well wishes or a chat break.

Anyway, my "official" leg was 8.4 miles, and it was A LOT of downhill and incredibly windy. SO MUCH WIND. Sometimes I felt like I was running but not moving because the wind was so strong. I kept thinking that if I could make it through the wind that it would give me an edge on marathon day because hopefully, it won't be so windy on the big day. Here are a couple of non-glamorous pictures of me running that day:

I WANT to tell you that the course was beautiful. It was just okay. At times it was pretty, but honestly, it wasn't that amazing. The course was basically on the shoulder of a two lane highway. I guess I assumed that they would somehow have one of the lanes blocked for us to run on but instead, we ran on the shoulder with two lanes of traffic RIGHT by all the runners. Maybe this is typical for races, but I thought it was lame. I ran 15.4 miles in the last 2 legs of the relay. My running went really smoothly, and I was super happy with my pace--especially considering the wind!

In retrospect, the thing that I hadn't anticipated about the relay is how much the "logistics" of getting each of us to and from each of our three start or finish points. It was a lot of driving on roads that were partially closed for the marathon and really just a lot of juggling and waiting. From the time that Shawna finished running around 9:30am, she had to wait around for almost 4 hours for me to finish running. While we had soooo much fun, the three of us decided that the next time we do a race together, we'll pick a 5K or 10K so we can actually run together and start and finish at the same time.

We stopped for some yummy pizza on our way out of town and then headed back to Phoenix. We were greeted by the delicious smell of Muligatawny soup that Rick had waiting for us! (oh and also the elusive glass of delicious wine, at last). We ate and then sat in the hottub in hopes of soothing our tight, sore muscles. It was a really fun night. I was sad when the girls finally left but proud of our amazing accomplisment!

Tucson Marathon Relay

Next Sunday, I'm doing something that I've been excited about for months!

I'm going to Tucson with some friends/co-workers to run in the Tucson Marathon Relay. Yay for girls' weekend!

We found a 3 bedroom condo to rent for a night that is fairly near the marathon start. The starting line is actually way up in Oracle, Arizona, and then the 26.2 miles lead you down into Tucson. It's not your typical "out and back" course. According to the website, the course is downhill and can lead to some fast times although it recommends training your quads for all the downhill. The course also starts at 4800 feet elevation and ends at 2700 feet. Maybe my Albuquerque altitude training will pay off.

A marathon relay is still 26.2 miles but you have a "team" that completes the mileage. The legs are as follows: 6.6 miles, 4.2 miles, 8.7 miles and 7 miles. We haven't completely decided who is running what yet, but I'm sure we will figure it out this week. I'm happy running any of the legs so I'll let my teammates pick first. I'm actually hoping to run my "official" leg and then run an extra leg since my long run is 16 miles again next week. We'll see how that works out.

Obviously, I'm really really looking forward to another race after how much fun I had in Tulsa. The running part of it will be inspiring again I hope. What I'm really looking forward to though is heading down to Tucson (it's about a two hour drive) and scoping the course, going to the Expo and then doing some exploring or shopping with the girls. Hopefully we can find a delicious dinner to prepare us for the race on Sunday morning. I can't wait for next weekend!

Here come the Tooth Runners (that's our team name, corny I know)!

Pace

I think I had a breakthrough this week. . . I've finally discovered that the majority of the reason my pace was so slow was mental. Wednesday night, when I set out for my "medium" run for the week (8 miles), I decided I was actively going to try to keep a faster pace and see if going faster would actually result in me not being able to finish my run. I think subconciously, one of the reasons I was running so slowly was that I was afraid of "burning out" early on the run and then not being able to finish the mileage. Obviously, there are other reasons that I am slow too, but Wednesday night my pace was 15:11 min/mile and then Friday morning my pace was 14:34 min/mile. That's a huge improvement for me.

Rick asked me why I thought I was able to go so much faster and honestly, all I did was pay closer attention to my pace and focus. I realized that even when I was in the 14s and 15s that I didn't feel out of breathe or overly stressed. I just focused and tried to "associate" a little bit more, thinking about my form and my breathing when I felt my pace slow slightly. When I don't focus on my pace, it seems to want to settle in the 16s or the 17s. It didn't feel any physically harder to run a little bit faster, and it was great to finish my runs with a little less time invested!

I'm really hoping I continue to improve. My goal is to continue to focus and push my pace during my short and medium runs and ease off a little bit on my long runs.

If this keeps up, I might OFFICIALLY finish the marathon. My pace has really been my last true hold-out of fear about January 17th. I don't want to be "swept" off the course after all my hard work! Keep your fingers crossed.

16 miles . . . again!

16 miles was so much better today!

It was an overcast morning when Bella and I set out today. I was halfway hoping we'd get rained on, just so I could say that I "ran in the rain" but by the end, the sun came out, and it was a gorgeous day.

I'll spare you a detailed account of the run today since that seems to be all I blog about lately. I'll just say that mentally, I was much more prepared for the distance. I kept a really steady pace and honestly felt great for all but the last mile. Today's last mile was still a huge improvement from miles 12-16 last week, but the last mile today, I had a hard time keeping a steady pace. My legs were dead, and I was starving!

Today's long run completes Week 10 of my marathon training. 6 weeks until the marathon and 3 long runs to go! It's hard to believe!