Boston Marathon Training 2018 {Week 11}

Week 11!



Weekly Miles

Running: 60.49 miles, 08:35:25 hours
Cycling: 0 miles, 0 hours
Yoga/stairs: 00:32:11

Total Miles for this cycle
Running: 540.42 miles, 76:34hours
Cycling: 186.63 miles, 14:42 hours
Yoga/stairs: 03:05:00 hours

Summary

What a week! I completed my first race of the year and also ran my highest mileage week ever- 60.49 miles! I feel great and will continue to do everything in my power to ensure I feel this way for the next 7 weeks leading to Boston!

I bought my first Boston Marathon item this week- a scarf. I had seen one similar last year but when I went to purchase it- it had sold out. So yay for unicorn scarves.


The boys had a nice week too. Puppy brother went to school on Saturday so we could enjoy a beer festival - and I’m sure CB dog was happy to have some quiet time. PB has also been mastering the art of jumping through a hoop made from my arms. Because that’s important life skills to have. Totes.

I’ve also been teaching them about social media. They’ve had their own Instagram accounts for a while now and post sporadically, but I feel they need to know some important things. Pretty much the main thing is that they can never ever post a picture and start (or end) with anything that is wrong with the picture. Only positive, only real, only authentic. None of this “I look so fat and tired in this picture but wanted to document that I chased a squirrel.” Eliminate the BS and say “I enjoyed chasing that squirrel- I bet he thought I was going to get him this time.” If they can’t handle social media and comparison, I’ll yank their accounts. I also deleted any face editing apps on their phone- nothing is more awkward to see than someone’s face blurred into oblivion, yet their fur is perfectly crisp.



Keeping it real and authentic since 2005

Lowlight

My 8 mile tempo turned 8 miles at goal pace with short pauses to stretch my calf felt hot and tired and crappy. Broken record. The calf/ankle thing that was giving me some minor discomfort the past few weeks has disappeared.

Feeling dehydrated post stair climb.

Highlights

Tuesday’s 6x 1 Mile repeats at 6:58 with 5th mile recovery went so smooth! I went in thinking id have to switch it to shorter intervals (why?get out of your head, k!?) but felt in control and smashed each of of them with ease. Tuesday uniform FTW!



I climbed to the top of this building!

I also completed my first race of 2018- Hustle up the Hancock! 94 flights of stairs in 18:02. I can absolutely say my half assed stair climbing /jump squats helped tremendously with preparing for this event. (And executing the race perfectly) I’ll write a race recap with more details.


Thoughts

I’m so happy with how this week went minus feeling dehydrated post stair climb. I feel like the work I’m doing each week is putting me closer to achieving my goal of 3:1x which is exciting. I’m really happy I took on the challenge of the stair climb- the additional stair sessions I’ve been doing to “train” for the event is definitely making a positive impact on my running.



I’ve been wearing green a lot the past week and felt the need to document it

Looking Forward

I’d really like to run outside for a long run soon. The cold wind snow whatever is no fun- and I don’t need “practice” running in shit conditions. Been there done that too many times in Chicago. But it would be nice to not run on a treadmill. Heat training > cold weather every single day.


We went to one of my favorite beer festivals this past weekend- Uppers and Downers. All the beers had coffee in them. Perfect pre race event to go to!

In 2 weeks I’ll pretty much cut out alcohol until Boston. I have one more beer festival to go to before that starts. In the meantime, I’m making sure I stay hydrated on the weekends (big issue for me- at work I drink tea and water all the time) and not solely with beer. Ha

I’ll continue to do stairs on hard run days and throw some cycling in here and there when I’m not running on fumes.



#22 not updated yet- Brussels sprout salad with faro and oranges and candied walnuts. Lunch for this week.

I’m enjoying cooking new to me recipes and am currently at 21/52 for 2018. A continually updated list is {HERE}



Days to go: 49! 🦄


-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training 2018 {Week 10}

Week 10!!



Weekly Miles


Running: 50 miles, 07:01:27 hours

Cycling: 15.16 miles, 1:06 hours

Yoga/stairs: 57:40


Total Miles for this cycle

Running: 479.93 miles, 67:58 hours

Cycling: 186.63 miles, 14:42 hours

Yoga/stairs: 2:33 hours

Summary


I felt really good this week. The workouts I used to find borderline impossible at the beginning of the cycle now feel comfortably hard-almost easy. To see progress like this is what I live for with my running. I’m all about pushing and striving for something better- and I just hope on April 16 everything aligns and I can run my goal of 3:1x- I know for the training side, I will have done everything possible to ensure I meet my goal. Anything else is out of my hands and is something I won’t worry about until race weekend.



My little Ze Pequeno turned 10 months old on the 16th. I’m now counting the days until I can bring him on runs with me- we are waiting until he’s 1 year old to make sure he’s close to done growing to avoid any potential for long term injuries. I’ve missed running with CB tremendously and get teary eyed when photos of us running together pop up on my time hop.


Lowlight

Code brown at mile 2.75 of my easy Monday morning 6. I returned and finished the 6 after rushing up to my apartment. One major benefit of having a gym in my building.


Highlights

4x1200’s at 6:18 pace on Tuesday felt almost easy.


8 mile tempo turned 8 miles at 7:13 with some pauses to stretch my calf felt the best it has in a while.


I ran a beer mile with my club on Saturday. I beat my PR by 30 seconds- I used 2 beers and 2 sparkling water to practice (so not technically a beer mile for me). My run lap splits were consistent but my drinking was ridiculously slow again.


While running with increasing amounts of liquid sloshing in my belly- if you had told me I was running a 9:30 mile I would have believed you since it felt like such a relaxed pace. I was shocked to see I had been running 7:30ish pace the entire time.


I wanted to practice before competing in the Danish Beer Mile championships again- my only area for improvement is Drinking time. It takes me almost longer to drink 4 beers than to run a mile.

Thoughts

I’m really happy with how Training is going. I’ve been taking it day by day and just putting in the work. Seeing glimmers of the gains I’m making (even on tired legs) motivates me even more.

Looking Forward

My first race of the year is this week! I’m excited and nervous to hustle up the Hancock’s 80+ flights of stairs. I did 2 “practice” sessions on the stair master this past weekend where I did 80 flights after both of my long runs. I just don’t see the stair master translating to actual stairs like the treadmill translates to outdoor running (I think it will be infinitely more difficult). Regardless, I’ll have fun.


I love Zwift!!!

I need to start cutting back on beer. I eat well, but the beer makes me feel crappy and bloated sometimes. Getting to race weight is important to me and is one of the final pieces of training to put together to make sure I have done everything possible to smash my goal.

Life is good, life is tiring, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know when I’m old and can’t do this anymore I’d never regret not sleeping in more, having more “me time” (aka escape from real life), or more time to sit on my ass doing nothing. I try to maximize every minute I’m awake- to better myself, my family, my pups. To coast through life would be such a waste.


Roasted rando root veg tacos FTW{not part of my recipe challenge- since they didn’t come from one of my books, and I’ve made some iteration of them previously}


I’m enjoying cooking new to me recipes and am currently at 20/52 for 2018. A continually updated list is {HERE}

Days to go: 56! 🦄


-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training 2018 {Week 9}

Week 9! {holy crap I’m done with the first half of training!}




Weekly Miles

Running: 57 miles, 07:54:54 hours
Cycling: 31.1 miles, 2:18:33 hours
Yoga/stairs: 44:35

Total Miles for this cycle
Running: 429.91 miles, 60:57 hours
Cycling: 171.46 miles, 13:36 hours
Yoga/stairs: 1:35 hours

Summary

I felt much better this week- I ran 57 miles, cycled 2+ hours (my trainer under estimates mileage so I go by time/heart rate) and did some solid stair workouts plus some yoga. Sleep was much better this week too- I really made an effort to go to bed a little earlier and it made a huge difference. Ze Pequeno woke me up at 12 and 3am one night which was awful, Thanks Ze!

I took more hot baths which also helped me feel recovered and relaxed. Thanks L for dog sitting!



Not much else to write home about- just another textbook week of workouts. I wanted to run outside on the weekend, but with all the snow we were getting I knew it was in my best interest to stay inside, because what benefit would it be to my training to get injured slipping on the path? Heat training FTW!

I like to take every opportunity to stay positive- especially this time of year when weather makes things difficult (yay raynauds, yay) because complaining is draining. It’s been great unfollowing people on social media who don’t have anything positive to add to the collective conversation {noise}.


Lowlight

Nothing to speak of. This week was solid.

If I had to write one thing it would be waking up Sunday morning feeling “good” muscle soreness. Saturday I ran 10 miles and did a bunch of stair work + cycled hard- so my quads were a bit trashed in a good way. Because of this I worried I wouldn’t be able to hit my fast intervals during the end of my 15. Spoiler alert, everything went according to plan.


Highlights

The weird ankle/lower leg thing has disappeared. I’ve been icing and massaging and doing loads of calf raises/calf pumps and i don’t feel anything anymore. Yay.


Tuesday Uniform taken to the next level with unicorn shorts

6x800’s @ 3:09 were a piece of cake. I felt strong and in control.

8 mile tempo turned 7 miles @ 7:13 with small pauses (can’t call that a tempo) to do calf raises went smooth.

15 mile long run on Sunday was also good. First 9 miles were at an easy pace and then I did 8x3 min at 7:13/mile, 2 min @ 8:30/mile which made the time on the tread go by quickly.


Thoughts




Cycling through the lava fields in Zwift

It was a great week of training- I’m happy to have cycled this week too. I joined Zwift and know it will help motivate me to {cycle more} push more while on the trainer which is important since post Boston and CPH, I’ll be focusing on training for Ironman Louisville. The bike is one area where I feel I could make huge improvement and take a significant amount of time off because I was solidly bottom of the barrel mediocre at IMWisconsin.

Being half way through my 18 week plan is also pretty sweet. I feel mentally engaged and excited for most of my workouts. Even when I’m feeling meh about going for a run, I remind myself of my goal and the progress I’ve made and just go and get shit done. No dramatic social media posts about it to waste time and energy here.

Looking Forward

For the next 7-8 weeks remaining before taper, I’ll continue to make sure I am in a great spot mentally and physically.



My coaches contribute greatly to my happiness

I’d really like to test my fitness in a 5k, but I doubt that will work with my schedule. (My 21:00 PR is from 2015 and is super stale and likely will be obliterated). Until then, I’ll just keep crushing workouts. I didn’t race at all during training for my half PR and I nailed that goal, so I’m sure with the hilly half, and shamrock on tired legs, I’ll get some chances to push myself and see some new PRs.

I’m enjoying cooking new to me recipes and am currently at 18/52 for 2018. A continually updated list is {HERE}



Days to go: 63! 🦄


-Xaarlin

Boston Marathon Training 2018 {Week 8}

Week 8!



Celebrating 3 years of #mrcchicago with L

Weekly Miles

Running: 51.18 miles, 07:27.13 hours
Cycling: 0
Stairs: 120 floors, 00:20:36
Yoga: 14 minutes

Total Miles for this cycle
Running: 372.91 miles, 53:02 hours
Cycling: 140.36 miles, 11:17 hours

Summary

I feel like the lack of sleep I get is catching up to me. I thrive on 6:30-7 hours a night, but am averaging much less. This is something I’m working on - by going to bed earlier, (duh) so I can feel better.

Other than sleep, and my lower right leg, I’ve felt great. I was able to get my husband to dog sit the boys so I could take some hot baths. #soblessed.



Lowlight

Tempo 7 abandoned before I even attempted it. Ankle/lower right leg feels off- no pain but something is annoying and has felt that way for a few weeks. I originally attributed it to tweaking it on the black ice, thanks puppy brother Ze! and I still feel that way. Skipping a tempo in favor of some elliptical miles was the best thing to do- I believe in MICE vs RICE. Movement increases blood flow and healing vs sitting around doing nothing- only when an exercise can be substituted that doesn’t aggravate the problem of course! I also think I was too aggressive massaging my leg with my MOBI and the stick, resulting in a bruised feeling.


Highlights


Tuesday Uniform FTW! Thanks Kim!

3x1 mile repeats at 6:18/Mile 3:54/k felt pretty good. The first 2 weren’t all rainbow pooping unicorns, surprisingly the 3rd felt the best and most comfortable.


My run club celebrated 3 years on Saturday. We had our largest turnout to date with 55 people! I can’t say enough wonderful things about this community of great folks!


Closing out January with 215.72 running miles was surprising. It’s the highest running mileage I’ve ever had in January. For comparison, last January while training for Boston, I ran 155 miles.


Thoughts

Despite the lower right leg feeling off, training is going great. I won’t worry about changing a few workouts now so that I can be 100% in Hopkinton.

Stairs are hard! I do stairs/trash my legs after speedwork and long runs only because easy days should be easy! It’s fun to see where my weaknesses are and to overcome them- stairs and hills being near the top of the list. It’s been good adding 3-6 min of stairs 4 days a week- I know it will make the Hustle up the Hancock marginally easier and will help me crush the newton hills.



Looking Forward

I’ll Continue to monitor the right leg and give it all the TLC and workout modifications it needs to go from 97.45% back to 100%.

More sleep, more yoga, less alcohol, smaller portion sizes of food. Blah blah blah. I know alcohol makes me sleep terrible. It’s a tough balance when my run club is centered around beer, but to be successful at my goals I’ll have to cut back and eventually cut out alcohol temporarily starting soon.

Life is so fantastically good, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Days to go: 70!! 🦄


-Xaarlin