Eugene Marathon/50 Miler RUNdown Week 7: 2/4-2/10

Happy Humpday! We’re off to our yurt trip this afternoon and I’ll have a full recap for you on Friday. I’m so excited to just completely disconnect for the next 24ish hours. It’s amazing how draining social media/ email/ phones can take out of you. Anyone else feel this way? I think our cats will miss our clothes the most.

Last week I hit a bit over 48 miles and will continue building for the next 2 weeks (working lots of hills!) and then have another recovery week. I’m feeling strong and ready for my upcoming races. Can it be April/May already?!?

Monday, 2/4: 6 mi easy @ 10:34 98’ up. Commuting about with errands during my lunch break. Also sporting my pats hat because ya know they won the Super Bowl or something like that? ; )

Tuesday, 2/5: 1.5 mi warm-up, 7 miles at marathon pace effort (8:18), .65 mi cool down & 20 minutes of strength. I normally would have wanted to get to that 10 miles rather than stop my cool down short (finishing at 9.15 miles), BUT strength is really important and I wanted to get it in. So I adjusted my goals for the day and made sure to make time for strength training.

Wednesday, 2/6: Rest Day. 30 minutes of Recovery Yoga

Thursday, 2/7: 7.02 miles. 1 mi warm-up / ladder workout (400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400 with 400 recovery between sets) / ? mi cool down. I was feeling really exhausted and slept in rather than getting this in first thing Thurs morning. So I switched my schedule around and was short on time to fit it in during my lunch break. My last 400 was at 6:48 pace and the others were a bit more conservative (7:14-7:20 pace I believe?) since I felt pretty crappy (major sinus headache and stomach was NOT happy). I still got it in and happy with my effort. Not every run is great and paces are sometimes not where you want/imagine them to be, but that is training!

Friday, 2/8: 10.10 miles easy @ 10:00 600’ up & strength. On the treadmill because it was -20 something out again in the morning. Lots of treadmill endurance building over here!

Saturday, 2/9: 12.02 miles easy @ 10;14 1, 332’ up. I was SO surprised with the amount of elevation I gained. My legs were definitely feeling it afterwards and an Epsom Salt bath really helped with it. I also played around with nutrition with real foods (perfect training for my 50 miler!). I brought along bananas, sea salt chips, and a dried pineapple (along with plain H2O & Nuun). It was windy out and the pace included walking breaks to get my nutrition out/ consume it/ put it back.

Sunday, 2/10: 4.01 miles easy @ 10:40 243’ up & strength. Legs were still so tired. My lungs felt great, but wow my legs felt like lead! Also did XC skiing before this, so rather than go up to 6 miles (goal was 4-6 miles easy) I stopped at 4 because of how my legs felt/ lots of other things to get done/ 45 minutes of exercise sounded good. Listening to my body more!

Total Mleage: 48.32 miles

Total Elevation: 2, 273’ up - most elevation gain this training cycle thus far!

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How’s your training going?

What’s your next race?

Training Tuesday: Marathon Fatigue

Happy Tuesday! I’ve got another 7 miles at goal marathon effort on the ‘mill this morning (it’s just too cold/ icy out to do this in the early mornings on the roads in the winter, so I’m building up my mental stamina) and some strength. I’ve come to really look forward to my early morning Tuesday alarms (4am), although when it first goes off I definitely look something more-so like this:

SOURCE

I’ve been wanting to do a post about marathon fatigue for a while now because it’s something that I honestly always forget about (and I’ve ran 6 marathons). It’s those first 4 weeks or so of training (for me, anyways), where everything feels terrible. Your legs feel dead, speed is just not happening, and anything surrounding marathon pace is plain ugly.

Your almost always tired and the fatigue in those easy recovery runs is 100% REAL. I always equate those recovery runs to running through mud, with weights on your legs. Which is honestly how these runs should feel like. They’re getting the blood flowing, your main goal is to NOT work your cardiovascular system too much (save it for those speed/long/tempo runs in your week!), and it’s just working out all those kinks. Which is why it should feel hard/terrible/aweful.

Your body is also adjusting to a new schedule, which is one of the hardest things for me! Getting into a new routine is CHALLENGING. Until I make it a habit, it’s a struggle to get up early, find a good time each week to fit in my strength/ yoga/ rest day/ long run day etc. After those 4 or so weeks, I’ve finally adjusted (mentally AND physically) to training. I know how I’ll feel after certain runs and by trail and error (many marathon training cycles to go off of), and also when running/training works best for you. Unfortunately, if it’s your first or second marathon you may not yet have this down.

Marathon training takes a lot of time and energy. FIguring out how it works into your schedule and ADJUSTING to it takes PATIENCE. It’s not going to magically feel good overnight (or rarely will you ever feel great until after race day) and it takes a few weeks to adjust to ANY new training plan/schedule/routine (like anything in life, right?). I think getting over that 4-5 week training hump is hard with every new training cycle I begin and sometimes I find that it isn’t working and something needs to change. I did this for my goal Fall marathon (LV Rock n Roll) and found that switching to the half would be best for me where I was in life at the moment. That’s OK and sometimes it’s harder to acknowledge where you are versus where you want to be and make adjustments from there. Give yourself time, patience, and grace.

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I’d love to know your tips when beginning a new cycle (marathon or something else!)- do you find to have an adjustment period? How long does it take for you?

Favorite day of the week? —> Almost always Thursdays. You’re on the cusp of the end of the week and by then I’ve got my long workdays behind me!

Where are you able to train right now ? Roads? Trails? Treadmill?

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday! Knowing that this is a short work-week for me, makes it seem 100 times more manageable. I’ve got so much going this week, so very thankful for the extra 2.5 days off (and an amazing Yurt Trip). Let’s flashback to Friday night kitty cuddles. 

Saturday long run #2 happened with 1,300’ elevation gain (and then an Epsom Salt Bath to recover)  

Fried rice with chicken (homemade) was the perfect ending to Saturday.  

Sunday morning waffles because nothing is better than that

Then a nice little XC ski and I didn’t fall! Alex may have though... 

Then an easy 4 miles on very tired legs!  

Feature Friday: Sky Runner Book Review, I'm Sensing A Theme Here, And Currently I'm...

Happy Friday! Finally right? I really loved the recovery week last and sleeping in, but getting back into a routine this week has been ROUGH. I also blame the patriots and Adam Levine for subjecting me to his bare stomach. Why did I ever think he was good looking?

It’s been a super snowy week here, so this morning will be my third run this week on the treadmill. I’m very grateful for the new treadmill at the gym that tells me my elevation gain (so important for my 50 miler in May that has lots of rolling hills!). I honestly feel that running on a treadmill at incline makes me so much stronger come spring. Another take-away from being indoors more- I’ve had more time to do things like yoga and now apparently, cat yoga.

I can’t remember if I posted this already, but obsessed with this maple syrup that Alex’s friend from Maine bought us. It only has two ingredients, Maple & Sea Salt (since maple can caramelize). You can find the company here.

Stella begs for most things food-related and also has the puppy-eyes down pat.

I’m already well-into my next read and LOVING it. It’s nice to change-up my usual non-fiction and bibliography reads to fiction every once in a while.

Also watched this documentary the other night on YouTube and I had dreams that I ran up and down the mile-long hill by my house all night. Ha. That was fun.

I just finished Sky Runner by Emelie Forsberg. I’ll be honest, I had never heard of Forsberg before picking up this book (which I also just picked up because the photos looked really amazing). It was a really quick read (i.e. it took me 3 days I think?) and included so many beautiful photos. I’m sure that the language barrier contributed to the lack of text in the book, but it had more of a “look book” feel rather than a full “reading book” (I know that’s not that correct term, but just go with it!). It was fun to read about a few of her running journeys, but I had trouble relating to her story. Overall, just not really my thing, but still fantastic information and photos in there!

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Ever watched any documentaries on YouTube? —> I have a few more on my list that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while and will probably stream one this morning when I’m on the treadmill (thinking the Breaking 2 project!)

Favorite genre to read? —> Non-Fiction or Bibliographies are my jam.

Thoughts on the halftime show at the Superbowl?

Checking In On How I'm Feeling (In Regards To Nutrition)!

Happy Friday-eve! I thought it would be fun to check-in and let you know any differences that I’ve felt thus far when following a vegan diet for the month of February (think of it moreso as an elimination diet of sorts) and what I’m typically eating throughout the day. I’m always super interested to get a sneak-peek into how other runners are fueling, so maybe someone else is too? IDK. I’m really just doing this for selfish reasons to document and write out my thoughts anyways.

Friday- DAY ONE: Didn’t really feel any different. I was honestly so busy that I don’t think I noticed! Easy dinner of rice/ brussel sprouts/ potatoes/ sauteed spinach with lemon juice over it all.

Saturday- DAY TWO: Only “craving” that I had was for a meatball sub and that was spurred on by a commercial I saw. Otherwise, no real cravings going on here! Amazing Tempeh Chili for dinner

Sunday- DAY THREE: I did a BUNCH of meal prepping today for the week ahead and it actually got me really excited to eat it all. Some of my favorite recipes came from the Run Fast Cook Fast cookbook series and the roasted chickpeas are seriously amazing. I’ve also cooked with Tempeh a bit (had it in chili the night before) and surprisingly really loving the texture/earthy taste of it. It’s super high in iron/ protein/ magnesium, which is great for any runner’s diet (to repair those muscles!).

Monday- DAY FOUR: Had some cravings for those Utz Cheeseballs that we have at home (we bought one of those ridiculously giant tubs at Wal-Mart like a month ago), but managed to carb my cravings with a handful of chickpeas (seriously they are amazing-> crunchy like chips, a tiny bit of kick to them, salty). I haven’t really noticed whether it’s affecting my sleep or energy levels- I actually have been sleeping pretty crappy (lots of life stress at the moment, so I think that’s a big reason why). Running hasn’t felt different at all, but I have felt (in general) stronger- not sure if that’s the vegetable diet or just training in general taking effect.

Tuesday- DAY FIVE: Really felt strong on my marathon-paced miles this morning and never hit a ‘bonk’ wall that I’m used to. I know it can definitely NOT be contributed to my sleep because it’s still suffering, but I want to believe that my diet has had a huge effect on that. I have also began meditating again (determined to do it the entire month of February also), which I have noticed has really been a huge help in staying present, in the moment, and mentally concurring a run. Still craving those darn cheeseballs or a nice omelet (something I honestly never had when eating meat/dairy/eggs).

Wednesday- DAY SIX:

Some of my favorite meals/snacks thus far:

-Recovery Quinoa Salad from RFES (run fast eat slow cookbook)

- Tempeh Tacos

-This pancake recipe

-Roasted Chickpeas from RFES. Such a good snack option!

-These as a nice little afternoon ‘treat’

-Homemade Ginger Molasses granola and almond milk yogurt from RFES

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Ever experimented with various nutrition lifestyles? Anything you took away?

One meal for the rest of your life? —> All I can think about is those stupid CHEESEBALLS!