Boston Marathon Training {Week 6}

I was riding a wave of momentum from the past 2 weeks and then I crashed hard into the wall Tuesday with a stomach bug. Oh well, a little (4 days) rest never killed anyone.

Motivation

In my groggy, mad that I felt like shit state, I put my name into the lottery for the NYC marathon. I'd love to run it again- and this year would mark the 15th anniversary of my first marathon- which was the NYCM. Although the more I look into logistics and everything, there is a chance I'll take my name out of the drawing before it even happens because {I am over analyzing and} it is overwhelming me too much . But for now I'll keep my fingers crossed.


Workouts

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling off with stomach distress and Wednesday I ended up going home from work to try to sleep it off. I didn't feel like rushing back to working out and setting myself further behind, so I waited until Saturday to run again.


Training Plan

Monday- easy 4 mile run + easy 7 mile cycle

Tuesday- Friday {REST}

Saturday- 8 mile progressive run

Sunday- 13 mile cycle immediately before 10 mile run containing 8x4min @ 7:30 pace

Since I missed Tuesday's speed sesh, I figured throwing in some faster stuff on the weekend would be good. I felt fresh and springy and had a lot of fun zooming up and down the lakefront in the 60 degree craziness on Saturday and the extreme fog on Sunday.


Goals and Stuff

I feel on track to be able to run a sub 3:30 comfortably in April. (Pending weather and everything). Compared to last year I think I'm in a better place athletically, and am excited to smash the next 12 weeks of training.




Other

I changed it up this week and made a few recipes from the "Racing Weight" cook book.

Humpty Dumpty...


I made apple bran muffins and mushroom egg frittatas which were great for breakfast during the week. For lunch I stuck to bland foods because of being sick.


On Sunday we took the Cb dog to Dovetail Brewery and Begyle Brewery to celebrate his birthday. We had a great time with our friends and their pups.


Looking Forward

Continuing to meal plan and cut back on alcohol is priority for me. I also need to drink more water on the weekends, I do a great job during the week but fail when I'm at home. Also, hills.

82 Days to go!





-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training {Week 5}

Motivation

I am an All World Athlete Bronze level for Ironman! By completing a full and a half IM, my combined points put me in the top 10% of my age group for the overall 2016 rankings. There's some perks for being AWA, like being recognized in the event program, priority bike racks and a special swim cap for the full distance- which makes me almost want to sign up for another 140.6 this year. Almost...

Workouts

This week was mediocre- nothing exceptionally great or poor. If I had to pick a highlight, the 8 miler on Saturday would be it. Since Ive been running inside a lot, it felt great to run outside and enjoy the lakefront. The low point would have to be my speed sesh on Tuesday where I felt very hot. Another low point was having to run inside on Sunday after I ran with CB because the Raynaud's decimated my hands too much to go back outside.

I'm looking into better winter gloves but wonder if it's worth it to spend $60 on a pair- because I'll just run inside if it's below 25 anyways.


Training Plan

Monday- Easy 6 mile run
Tuesday- 5x 1k w/400 recovery 
                2x800 @ 3:30, 2x400 @ 1:45,1:40, 2x800 @ 3:30 + JasYoga "Run Your Core"
Wednesday- Rest    Easy 13.5 mile cycle
Thursday- 6 Mile tempo run  Easy 3 mile run
Friday- Easy 6 mile run  16.5 mile cycle
Saturday- Easy 6 mile run  Easy 8 mile run
Sunday- Easy 12 mile run. (4 mile with CB, 8 Miles inside including 5x1 min @7:00 pace)

7:49 Hours, 65 miles Total
35 mile running- 5:05
30 miles cycling- 2:21
22 min Yoga
            

Goals and Stuff

I feel like I'm still on track for a 3:25-3:30, although I feel even better now than I did last year at the same time. I zoomed up and down hills while I was outside, but haven't done any dedicated hill training yet. The stair machine in my gym is still broken, so I'll likely just start taking the stairs up to my place after workouts.

Other

I'm now about 5lbs lighter and 2% leaner than when I started training. I owe this almost entirely to meal planning. For this week I made Shalane's Lemon Blueberry scones again and also the soba noodle salad- but changed up the ingredients a bit. I also made the peanut sauce from her book and I'm pretty much obsessed.

My Ombré game is strong in this outfit

Sunday was CB's 12th Birthday. We did an easy 4 mile run on the lakefront to celebrate. He insisted running on the ice on the side of the trail and looked so freaking happy. I love him so much.

Looking Forward

Hill training is a priority- especially since the half marathon I'm signed up for is a beast elevation wise. I need to add in more of my PT exercises with the resistance bands. I also need to be more positive if I swap an easy run for cycling. I guess that's one of the downfalls to having a training plan- I feel guilty if I amend it too much. I also want to do training right and feel good about the process vs most of my other training cycles where i felt like I could have done better.

90 Days to go until Boston!





-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training {week 4}

This week was all about getting into a routine and good mindset with training that will carry me the next 14 weeks.

Motivation


On Friday, it was 100 days until the BM! It is finally getting closer and more exciting, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

Workouts


Monday- Easy 6,

Tuesday- 1x 800 @ 3:20, 4x400's @ 1:40, 3x400 @ 1:37, 1x400 @ 1:35. 7.07 miles total

Wednesday- Easy Cycle 15 miles, JasYoga "Optimal Hip Reset"

Thursday- Easy 4

Friday- 5 Mile Run

Saturday- 8 miles w/ 22x1 minute @ 7:30 pace, and 3.12 miles with #MRCChicago

Sunday- Easy 8 mile run

Training Plan


I deviated a bit from the plan I'm following.

Instead of Tuesday's scheduled 6x800's, I settled on 1x800, and 8x400's because I hadn't done more than a handful of speed sessions since the Carmel Marathon. 400's would be less taxing on the body- although they left me sore for a few days.

Wednesday was to be a rest day, but I opted to cycle easy to assist with recovery.

I didn't do the scheduled 6 mile tempo Thursday, and instead did a fartlek type workout Saturday when my legs were more recovered. For my Carmel training I would tempo a portion of each of my 2 back to back long runs- it worked really well so I'll continue to do this.

With any training cycle, I believe in amending as I go to fit my needs and recovery so that I stay healthy.

Goals and Stuff
Each week I evaluate how I feel and analyze what time goal I should be aiming for. Currently I'm training for a 3:25-3:30.

Starting next week I plan to incorporate hill training into a few of my workouts each week. I'll practice running hard on down hills, and also run hard up hills. I'll also use the stair machine at my gym.

Other


For the first time in a while I did meal prep. I made a soba noodle salad out of Shalane's cookbook- which was enough for 4 large salads during the week. I also made lemon blueberry scones from her cookbook, "Run Fast, Eat Slow" for breakfast. As a result, I didn't eat out at all during the week- which is a huge contrast to the 3+ times a week I go out while at work. I feel much better, am 2+ lbs lighter and 1.2% leaner.


Looking Forward

I'm looking forward to continuing to find my training groove- and embrace speed work more. Pending the weather, I'd like to run more outside.

14 weeks from today is Boston!



-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training {Weeks 2 & 3}

Quick recap- during week 2 I got my wisdom teeth removed. So being a few grams lighter, I should totally smash all Strava segments and PR all the races in 2017!

Motivation
In my post surgery haze, I bought some fresh kicks. Nike Pegasus shield, because they are awesome in the cold. No, really. They are awesome. And green and rose gold makes my heart flutter.



I also registered for a hilly half marathon. Perfect Boston training run.




Workouts
Summary:





Totals:





Training
After a great start to training in week 1, everything came to a screeching halt. On the Friday of week 2, I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed. This was planned, and also a reason for doing a 20 week cycle- that I would have plenty of time to recover and train my ass off before race day.

Post wisdom teeth, I took a few days off for recovery before I got stir crazy and started walking on the treadmill. I was super lucky to not have much if any swelling, and very minimal pain. Walking on the treadmill made me feel better than slothing around on the couch- once I felt good enough to do so. I was very conservative with returning to running because recovery was number 1. And because I was terrified of dry socket.

Goals and Stuff
My only goal for weeks 2 & 3 was to recover from wisdom teeth surgery.



Sums up getting 4 teeth ripped out of my head. Written in the recovery room while still high AF from sedation

Other
Having to eat only mushy food for a week helped with resetting my mindset towards food- I wasn't as active so I didn't feel the need to consume large quantities of food- which made me feel much much better. I also lost a few lbs, so that was cool too and made me feel marginally better. Body fat is still not budging.

Looking Forward
I'm excited to get back into training and start doing speedwork again! Yay!


102 Days to go!


-Xaarlin