Blood, Sweat, and ... Cheers!

Well, faithful blog readers, I realize it has been awhile since I've updated about my training. It has been a crazya few weeks, actually. But I will get you all up to date. First, let me say, it is ONLY 2 WEEKS until the marathon! How scary is that?!

You may remember that my longest run (a few ago) was 15 miles. Not anymore: last week I ran 20 miles! Our schedule was for 180-200 minutes (a revision from the original, which said 180 minutes). I really wanted to get 20 miles under my belt. Several things I've read allude to that being a key milestone in the race itself, plus at my pace that leaves only about one hour more to complete the remaining 6.2 miles of the marathon. I wobbled to mile 20 in 3 hours, 27 minutes (yes kids, that is 10 minutes, 20 seconds per mile). I feel really good about that time!

I missed Saturday's team practice, so I went on Sunday afternoon instead. As before, Erin went with me, riding ahead on her bike along the Interurban trail. This time, we started at Bayside Cafe at Squalicum Harbor, traveled east to downtown then turned south to catch the trail into Fairhaven. Once in Fairhaven, the trail picks up again at 10th and Donovan, and it continues all the way to Clayton Beach Parking lot. Then we just followed the same route back.

Just two days before, I managed to fall off my bike. My left knee and elbow were both scraped up, and at first I thought that was the worst of my injuries, but then Saturday I discovered that my right thigh and buttock were bruised and sore, so running on Sunday was interesting. The first hour was really comfortable (except my butt hurt) but some soreness started to set into my left knee after that. Then my right thigh, then both knees, then ... I'm not going to lie: by mile 20 I was pretty sore and tired. At home I had an ice bath, which was not pleasant to get into, but made movement easier for the rest of the day, I'm sure. (My upper legs were pretty stiff for two days afterwards, too.)

It gives me a good taste of what the running part of the marathon will be like. There is still the X factor of the race experience itself: the crowd of runners, the mob of people cheering, the adrenaline in the air. I have that to look forward to!


(This is my knee after the bike "incident.")

Lake Padden, Take Three

Yesterday's run was again at Lake Padden. No mud! this time since we've been having sunny days. We were a small group this week. Coach Terry was out of town and a few people were having fundraisers so there were just seven of us. I was the lone runner from our group again. But I was definitely not running alone; Bellingham Fit, a different marathon training program, met at Padden too, and there were quite a few of them.

I knew that I would run at least 10.4 miles (four loops around the lake), and thought maybe a bit more depending on how my time was. My third lap was the best, thanks to a couple other runners behind me. I was playing a bit of a game with myself: when I heard a runner behind me, I'd push my pace a little to see how long before the other person would pass me. Some of the male runners are faster and they passed easily, but the two behind me on loop three never did pass (and in fact I gained distance on them on one of the hills at mile 2). Pushing myself a little helped my pace; I finished lap 3 in 23:40.

Overall, I ran 11.5 miles in 110 minutes. My pace has been faster throughout this week, and yesterday I kept under the 10 minute mile throughout the run. At the end I waded into the lake as I did last week. It was super cold, but it really does feel oddly good on the legs. I got a few questioning looks from some nearby anglers and a group of walkers. I few months ago I probably would've thought I was crazy from their point of view, too!

Here's how my lap splits were for yesterdays run:

Lap 1 26:46 26:46 (I walked 4.5 minutes for warm up)
Lap 2 24:00 50:46
Lap 3 23:40 1:14:26
Lap 4 24:43 1:39:09
Lap 5 11:03 1:50:12 (1.1 mile add-on to make 110 minutes)