Bring on the challenge!

Woke up to lightning, thunder and pouring rain this morning.  Had to bag the 20 miler.  Postponed till next weekend.  

Decided since I couldn't run 20 miles I was going to do all three workouts on Jillian's video this morning.  1 and 2 were great.  By 3, I was getting pretty tired.  Mostly my arms.  But, I was glad to at least get some form of exercise in for the day, since this is usually the big day of the week. 

Track workout.  Not as great as last week, but okay.

Tempo run.  Didn't feel like I was going that much faster today, but I was able to keep up with hubby and friend a little closer than usual.  I asked him after if they had been going slower, and he said no.  That made me feel good.  

20 miler scheduled for Saturday. 

We were supposed to start at 5:30 this morning.  Hubby inadvertently forgot to set his alarm, so we were an hour behind schedule when we finally started.  Weather was FREEZING!!!  Upper 30's this morning.  I so hate to have to run all bundled up.  Here's hoping the weather cooperates in a few weeks for the marathon!

The run actually started pretty good.  We were doing sub-9:00 for the first 6 miles and feeling pretty good.  Made it to the 10 mile marker/turn around, and still doing good.  Got back to the 15-16 mile marker and I started to slow down.  All my muscles were starting to tighten up, not only from the pounding, but from the cold.  And, I think I was a little dehydrated this morning.  By 16, I felt like I couldn't get enough water.  Had to really pound out the next 2 miles, and then finally turned on the music.  Why I didn't do this earlier is beyond me.  The last 2 miles, while slow and exhausting, I felt like I had a little spring back in my step with the music.  

We both just ran out of energy by the end.  Snacked on granola bars throughout the run, but probably should have brought some gu's along or something else.  Did the run in 3:16, so if I continue that, I'm looking at a race similar to SL last spring of 4:20.  However, I'm hoping that I can pick up the pace just a bit for the race.  Usually, I am faster there than in training runs.  I'll fuel better, and hopefully the weather will be better.  I would really like to get closer to 4 hours again.  

Glad to get this over with.  I know those last six miles will probably be brutal (they usually are!), but I'll just have to pound them out.  Passed A LOT of people out running this morning, too.  Many training for the same race.  I love living here!! 

Did not get to run Saturday because of the rain.  Luckily we were able to get out this morning and do a long run.  

Went out for the tempo run this morning and another member of our group wanted to scale it down since the marathon is only a week away.  We did less mileage and no tempos today, just an easy jog.  Was nice to do, but I could have slept in an extra half hour had I known!! :) 

Haven't recorded my workouts for over a week.  I just went back and hurried and filled in the numbers.  This has been a busy month.  We had guests in town last weekend, and the weather has been crazy lately, too.  Glad we got our 20 miler in a couple of weeks ago, I don't feel as stressed because we were able to complete that.  Still, looking ahead to the marathon next week and hoping that everything goes well! 

I was so excited to "only" have to run 10 miles this morning.  It was going to be a piece of cake compared to the last several weeks of training.  

The reality of it was, it felt like I ran 15 - 20 miles.  What happened to an easy run??  Part of it was I got a side ache about 2 miles in and it never really went away.  The other part, which probably relates to the side ache, was a POOR diet this week (aka, girl scout cookies. . .).  Yeah, they are evil.  I am determined to have a much better diet this week in order to not feel like crap on Saturday.  That would be a very miserable and long 26 miles.  

Overall, the run was right on par with time, but I definitely don't want to have to feel like that next weekend.  I'm excited to get this race behind me, I'm feeling the burnout of training.  

This week will be easy, 2-3 days of easy runs.  That should help the burnout, too :)