A Weird Running Week

The past week was sort of a weird, disappointing one for running.

Last weekend, I was so excited to run the Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park.  First half of 2012!  My roommate Lisa's first half ever!  Yay! 

Saturday morning I woke up to a very snowy city.  The race wasn't exactly cancelled, but it was nonscored, which I took to mean, "Show up if you really really want to, but we wouldn't if we were you."  There was also a food poisoning situation, so we all decided to skip the race.  The sidewalks were terrible and super slippery and I figured I shouldn't take a chance with my ankle still being weird.  Plus who really shows up to run when it's snowy and slushy and gross?

Well apparently a lot of people.  My work friend told me that his friend said it was his most fun race ever.  Sort of feeling like I missed out.  Bummer.

Monday I went to a tradeshow aka spend the whole day on my feet.  My ankle swelled to disgusting proportions, so I figured I should take it easy on Tuesday (supposed to be 5 miles) and spend an hour on the bike at the gym.  I hate skipping a run, but I figure it's better to take it easy than push it too hard and get injured.  Then I foam rolled... DAMN that feels good!

Wednesday my ankle was still huge, so I did my 5 miles on the treadmill.  I sprinted(ish) 1/4 mile repeats with 1/4 mile recoveries.  Followed by foam rolling.  So good.




Thursday I finally got back outside and it felt amazing.  As much as I hate getting out of bed, I think running outside is the only thing that fully wakes me up.  I did an easy five and felt awesome all day. Went to the gym after work and foam rolled some more.  Addicted.

Yesterday was my longest run to date - 19 miles.  It felt surprisingly good, and as usual my first few miles were the toughest.  A lot of firsts on this run - nature called while I was running through the woods, and I made a pit stop at Wawa to use the ladies room and refill my water bottle.  Very classy.

My Garmin started dying around mile 11, so I reset it to make sure that data saved, and started again.  It eventually died, so I tracked myself on mapmyrun... until my phone died too!  Weird.  Here are my splits for the first 16 or so miles:

As usual, my pace was all over the place.  Hoping to smooth that out on next weekend's 20 miler.

Marathon Training - Week 8

This week's training was supposed to look like this:

Sunday: cross
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 4 mile speedwork
Wednesday: 8 mile pace
Thursday: 4 mile
Friday: carbs
Saturday: Manhattan half marathon

I did my hour of cycling on Sunday.  Monday I rested.  Tuesday it rained, and I considered staying in bed again.  I like to tell myself I shouldn't run in the rain.  I could slip and slow my ankle's recovery.  I could catch a cold.  If I'm being honest though, I just like to stay in my warm bed.

Anyway, instead of being the pansy I was last week, I got my butt to the treadmill.  I even did 1/4 mile intervals with 1/4 mile recoveries.  I was so proud of myself for getting in my run and doing something good for my ankle.  I even watched the news while I ran.  So productive.

I was having a great morning... only to get home and slam my toe into the sink.  My toe is looking a little broken, so I took today off.  Hoping tomorrow I can buddy tape that friend and get back on the treadmill.

Marathon Training - Week 7

I'm just about seven weeks into training for my first marathon.

This week's running plan:
Tuesday:  4 miles Done!  4 miles with a track workout
Wednesday: 8 miles It wasn't fun to get up this morning, but DONE!
Thursday:  4 miles
Saturday:  17 miles

Seventeen!  Saturday's run will be my longest ever.  I'm heading up to a ski resort with my friends, so I'm looking forward to a beautiful, snowy run in the hills.  That, or a few numbingly cold hours.

The marathon is 2 months and 2 weeks away.  Long enough that it feels pretty far away, but it really isn't.  I feel like I'm on track - my current plan has me running three 20+ mile runs so I know I'll feel prepared.

My only concern? I sprained my ankle four weeks ago, which is why I've been wearing this cool brace.

I haven't mentioned it because I keep thinking that if I dont make a big deal of it, then it won't be a big deal. I do my rehab exercises and ice it religiously but for some reason it isn't back to 100%.  Probably because I'm training for a marathon and increasing my mileage every week. Duh Lauren.

Tomorrow I take my new Garmin watch out for a run!