Picture Nathan drew of me outrunning a race car :) .
( If you are wondering..I asked him what that is he drew between my legs and he says it was just a mistake. Whew!)
( If you are wondering..I asked him what that is he drew between my legs and he says it was just a mistake. Whew!)
I purchased my airfare for the trip shortly before Christmas, and will fly into a nearby out-of-state airport at the request of my hostess, Amy. Amy is a friend of mine (via my sister) from my "Portland days" (i.e. a year at Concordia University post-grad for teacher training) who has an adorable little boy and just happens to (conveniently) live in Massachusetts in the Boston area. :)
A little comparison (I can't help it) based on limited experience:
The last two weeks of training have called for some major adjustments in my body. I have to back up to explain a bit..
A year ago, when training for my first marathon- Eugene- I chose a 4 day training plan. This was deliberate, as I had a 6 month old when I began training for that race and knew it might mean plenty of missed sleep with baby craziness. I weaned him while training and he started teething (night time fussiness)- I was glad to have three days a week where I could sleep until the kids got up.
Getting more sleep vs. getting more milesSince Eugene (May, 2010) I have worked up to running 6 days a week. I do NOT feel fully adjusted to that yet- and might prefer to do a double once a week and run the same mileage in 5 days- but will see how things go. Tiredness /sleep remains my main obstacle to training. I am entirely at fault here and am sure getting to bed earlier would help!
Running "easy" on long runs
Another factor in running 6 days a week is that I am running the day before my long run and my legs are feeling the fatigue from it. When training for Eugene, I had a rest day both before and after my long run, which made me really look forward to those long sessions! And then I could recover from them too...I think I missed that today.
My legs felt tired almost from the get-go. But my pace surprised me. Somehow I ran the 18 miles in 8:06 pace - above my current easy target pace. Usually I am a slow "easy run" runner (compared to my race times)- so maybe that's a good sign. :) Or, maybe I am too concerned about making my projected easy paces. I am not watching my watch much, though- 2 or 3 times in 2+ hours. I am just trying to go by "feel".
Getting stronger:
Yet another adjustment for me right now is the RETURN TO THE WEIGHT ROOM. Ugh! Here, I will not try to impress you with the numbers from the weight room. They are way lower than high school or college...but high rep. (Go to Abby's blog if you would like to see some impressive strength training! :) ) JGF can also testify to the mystery of the weight room - and I think she sympathizes with me right now.
I LOVE weights and what they do for me, but I had not anticipated how drained it would make me feel ...tired legs, tired upper body, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that hits about 36-48 hours later and lasts going into my next hard workout.
Please!!! Can I get a massage?! I've been trying to hit it three times a week, but may have to either scale back to two, or just go (even) lighter than I have been. ***This will probably become another post soon***
Distance graph bars go up in two mile increments. I have NO idea how to get the numbers to show up without changing my background. Haha!... Oh well.
Have a great Sunday, all!