Week 10 - 2/27/12 - 3/3/12

This week marks the beginning of my monster runs!  My 20 milers.  From here on out, I will be completing 20 mile runs every other week.  By the end of March, I will have completed 3 twenty milers and will begin my taper.... Good grief, this marathon is getting close.
I also started reading Jeff Galloway's book, Marathon, this week.  Currently, I do not follow his run/walk plan in the marathon but I found his insight into mental preparation intriguing.  If you have ever run any distance, you know that running is not only physical.  It is also mental.  I know that at each starting line I stand, I have always been physically prepared.  However, there are times I have stood at that starting line and mentally, I was not prepared.  These are the marathons I have bombed!  So I thought it would be good to start preparing, mentally, to run Boston.
In the chapter titled, "The Power Of Rehearsal", Galloway talks about the Left Brain vrs the Right Brain (p. 93).  He says that the left part of your brain is the logical part.  It is the part that will start telling you that you are crazy as you stand at the starting line.  It is the part that sends the negative messages that make you want to go back to your warm bed and forget the crazy notion of running 26.2 miles.  The purpose is for self preservation.  Running 26.2 miles is crazy and your left brain knows this.
However, at this point in time, I have been through too much to turn back.  So, as crazy as it is, I will choose to shut the left brain off and run.  This is accomplished by actively engaging the right brain.  Your creative part of the brain.  He gives some suggestions such as:

1. "Diffuse the stress by saying that your not going to push yourself."  Focus on the fun and how easy it will be.
2. "Focus on the positive effect of your marathon experience." How has this changed you...how focused you are....how you are a better person because of it.
3. "Gain a vision of yourself crossing the finish line." Think about the feeling you will have, the medal around your neck.
4. "Walk or jog around." This helps with relaxation and engages your right brain.
5. "Tell a joke."  Laughing helps to engage the right brain.
6. "Have a number of positive success stories."  In training, from others, from other races....I will draw on when I qualified for the race! :)
7. Breaking the race down into smaller events that are not challenging is helpful.
8. Rehearse the marathon in your mind, and envision yourself doing well even when tired.

All these tips, and more, can be found in his book.  I have enjoyed reading it.  I also followed his plan when I trained for my first few marathons and really had great experiences.
I also would like to add a few more thoughts to this though....

1. I have a friend that says, " Your body can handle so much more pain than you think."  This is true, so don't be afraid to push.
2. The more you accept the pain of the marathon, the better you will endure it.  The left brain is right.  Running 26.2 miles is hard and somewhat hurts.  If I am to do well, I just need to accept this.
3. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
4. I am the one who puts pressure on myself.... no one else does.  So just go out and enjoy the Boston experience.

So with all that said, I start my first monster week.  This week included 46 miles of running, ending with 10 wet miles on Friday and 20 soggy miles on Saturday.

Monday was a pace run:
Goal was to get in 10 miles with 4 being at my marathon pace.  It was wet and rainy when we started and despite my long sleeves and tights, I was cold.  I am sure 4 miles of my marathon pace was in the run somewhere.  However, they were not all consistently together.  Michelle did this run with me and we had to reroute, dodge trucks on the greenway, and tiptoe through mud.  My average moving pace was 8:31 and it took me 1:34.14 total time.
I also miscalculated and accidentally did 11 miles.  That's going to leave a mark!  Someone said that it is better that I went long than to come up short.  However, this is not true during the "Monster Weeks".  Doing more mileage than the plan calls for does not help. It will only make you more tired when you enter the weekend long run.
After the run, I felt great.  Nothing was hurting and I wasn't even that tired.  I went home, did some paperwork on the computer for my job, then got up to go pick up the girls from school.  When I stepped down on my left foot, I almost hit the ground.  The pain that radiated through my foot and into my leg was almost unbearable.  My neuroma was back!!!  I wasn't all that worried though.  If I could just get through the day, I would call the doctor to set up another shot!  GRRR!  I wanted to put the shot off as long as I could though.  This last one lasted about 9 weeks so I knew the longer I waited, the better.

Tuesday Swim
I swam 1500 today.  It was slow going but I was just trying to help my muscles recover from yesterdays run.  My foot was no longer hurting, but was tender.  I could feel the nerve, but it seemed OK.  If it hurt Wednesday, I was going to bag the circuit run and go get my shot.  I told Matt to pray and I started praying as well.
I also decided that I'm tired of being dehydrated...so I upped my drinking (of H2O).  I filled up a milk jug (16 cups of water) and drank 14 cups of it.

Wednesday was Circuit
I do this on the soft dreadmills at the Simmon's YMCA.  When I got up, my foot was good.  I decided to go try the run and see what happens.  As I started running, I could sort feel something...but I think it was my foot hurting because I had been walking weird on it. 
Because of all my water drinking, I took an electrolyte pill.  This was an AWESOME run!
Circuit consists of a 1.5 mile warm up, 5Xhalf mile repeats (at a 7:13 pace - 8.3 on the dreadmill), and a 1 mile cool down.  During the repeats, I do crazy strength training stuff.  It is so AWESOME with a total of 5 miles!!!  Then I went to work and saw clients until 2000!
Tomorrow I will start taking my resting heart rate.  I do this so I know it I am over training!  The procedure is as follows: before I get up, I take my heart rate for a minute.  I do this a few times and take the average so it will be more accurate.

Thursday was a rest day.  I'm glad it was because I saw clients from 0800-1800.  I was tired at the end of this day.
My resting heart rate was 47!  I also drank about 13 cups of water.

Friday was my short long run.
Resting HR: 40!
The goal was to do 10 miles.  Just run 10 miles.  I woke up to thunder storms and was wondering if I was going to have to complete this run on the dreadmill.  Matt and I dropped off the girls at school then headed to the DOWN Y to start.  By the time we got there the storms were gone.  It was still rainy but not thundering.  Took an electrolyte pill and I headed out to start my run.  I LOVED this run.  I did not take music and tried not to look at my garmin.  I did not worry about pace. 
I love to talk to God when I run.  I prayed for 10.12 miles (Averaging an 8:52 pace with a total time of 1:29.42).  It is amazing how quickly the time passes and how wonderful the run is when I get my focus off of me.
After the run, I went to visit a friend in the hospital.  She is our "Woolly Lamb" in our Sunday show.  She is one of the sweetest people I know.
Then I went home, took a shower and put on my compression socks for the rest of the day.
I drank 14 cups of water!

Saturday was my 20 miler!
Resting heart rate was 37!  I thought this was low so I took it more than normal!
Storms rolled through the Charlotte area all night.  We lost power several times.  My dog and my 11yo ended up in the bed with me and Matt.  So needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep.  When I woke up at 0500, it was still storming. I decided to push my 0630 run back to 0900.
Michelle was going to meet me for some of the run so I thought it may be a good idea to go a bit early and get a few miles in.  I started running at 0840 and got 2 whole miles in before meeting up with Michelle and starting our run.  My Legs were tired, but not sore and the plan was around a 9:00 average pace.
Michelle ended up running with me until I got to mile 13.  I knew she was leaving and I had 7 more miles to go....I was tired, and had a fierce headache!  So bad I had to take some Advil.



Me getting ready to go back out for 7 more miles!

However, I engaged my right brain by pretending I had not run yet.  I told Michelle that I was going to go out and just run 7 miles.  And that is what I did.  It was actually a great run. 

I was tired at the end but that is to be expected.  I completed this run in 2:54.03 with an average 8:42 pace.  20 miler #1 DONE!

Next week is a step back week and I run a half marathon!