So I recently transitioned from a job where I mostly sat at a computer doing errr, “administrative things” (i.e. blissfully writing my Salty Running training log at work) into a job that keeps me running around like a banshee all day er’ry day. This has been a healthy change for my sanity and work enjoyment level, but sadly it has been at the expense of my Salty Running blogging punctuality. And let’s face it, I wasn’t doing all that great with blogging punctuality, or any other type of punctuality for that matter to begin with.

What I’m trying to say here is that this post my chronicles week 10 of my Boston Marathon training cycle, and that was 2 weeks ago. Weeks 11 and 12 are soon forthcoming, I swear, but in the meantime, read all about the 54 miles of awesomeness that made Week 9 one for the books!

Monday, 3/3: After Sunday’s 20 mile long run, I traded in my usual Monday Runday for Monday rest day. It was pretty sleety and gross today, so I think it all worked out just fine.

Tuesday, 3/4, 6.1 Easy(ish) miles.  I was hoping to get in 6 to 8 easy today, but as usual I was tight on time and busy running from this client to that job, etc.  Furthermore, I am far too lazy to get up  and get shit done early on my own, and  since I couldn’t convince anyone to brave the bitter cold for a pre-dawn run with me, I found myself squeezing it in solo at the always-odd-to-me 11 am time slot. But you do what you gotta do to get the miles in…

It was chilly and a little slippery-ish, but I felt mostly good and since I was pretty pressed for time and trying to maximize my mileage, I went ahead and dropped it down to MGP after a little 2 mile warm-up, and even made up for those 6x 30 sec strides that I eighty-sixed in favor of catching up with friends on Saturday. AND I ran into my  fabulous friend Caren and got to visit with her a little! #winning!

Hooray for feeling good and unbroken after Monday’s 20, and to getting it done!

Wednesday, 3/5, 2x (4x 800m). This week the BAA’s Intermediate Boston Marathon training program called for 2 sets of 4x 800 meters at 10K pace with 5 minutes rest between sets, so I headed out to the track to meet up with Kara and Laura M. for the workout. I was advised by Coach Saffron to aim for 3:10ish pace for the intervals, although that is a good deal faster than my real-life 10K pace.

Here’s what I actually ran… Set 1: 3:10, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01. Set 2: 3:08, 3:02, 3:03, 3:03. All things considered, I felt good and strong, and I was pretty pleased with the consistency of my splits. I just wish I had a teeny bit more time to get in a few extra miles, but alas, my crazy life of running from one job to the next to the next continues to prevail. Cheers to having a little company on the track and to being one more speed workout out closer to Boston!

Thursday, 3/6, Easy Peasy 8.09 miles. For the 2nd Thursday in a row I had the pleasure of running with the fun and entertaining dynamic duo of running pals Karen and Jen. I had 6 miles of great conversation with them before dropping them off at The Bean (our fave coffee shop and the starting point of today’s run) to finish up the last 2 solo. Hooray for fun miles, great company, and the gateway to the weekend!

Friday, 3/7, Back to the Dreadmill, 8.02 miles. I woke up this morning to find that it was cold and precipitating a wintry mix out. Needless to say, this did not make me excited about the 2x 15min tempo workout the was on my training calendar for today. I decided to do a little schedule rearranging and postpone my run until after my am personal training client. I thought I might take advantage of my new-found morning free time by heading over to the gym to do a little core work. In the end, the yucky weather rendered me too lazy to leave my house, so I substituted some leisurely coffee drinking for core work. And then it was STILL wintery mixing like a boss out after my PT appointment, so I begrudgingly drove back over to the gym to grind out some miles on the TM.

I just couldn’t find the mental fortitude for the sustained hard effort on the treadmill, so I opted for some shorter, faster intervals instead. 8 not-too-terribly-miserable miles and 6x 1 min at 10K pace followed by 6x 1 min at 5K pace later, another sweaty, unglamorous treadmill run was in the books.

Hooray for dry, climate controlled running, and TGIF!

Saturday, 3/8, Just Another Happy Little Donut Shop Run! 8.02 miles. Today I met up with yet another set of darling, fabulous running buddies, Sarah K. and Caren M. So happy to have some fun friends to hang out with on this chilly, slippery Saturday morning! I did a little slipping and sliding both in the car on the drive over and on the run itself. But by the time all was said and done it had warmed up quite a lot and things were starting to thaw out. Great to get some easy miles in without face-planting. Cheers to the weekend, y’all!

Sunday, 3/9, Garmin Trouble in Sunday Funday Land. 16 miles. Today I had an exceptionally awesome long run! The weather was marvelous, tons of my favorite peeps showed up to make it extra-fun, I saw even more of my favorite faces out on the trail, and to top it all off I felt absolutely great! Today’s 16 miles was supposed to include 2x 2 miles at MGP, but since I was feeling unstoppable and also because I bailed on this week’s tempo workout on account of inclement weather, I went ahead and upped the ante to 3x 2 miles at half marathon goal pace. (I know they say that you have to let missed workouts go and that there’s no use in making them up, but I felt good, so I went with it.) I mean, seriously guys, have you EVER IN YOUR LIFE said to yourself on your long run “You know, I feel really great today and I think I would like to do some additional miles at a hard effort.”? Yeah, me neither. But it happened today, I swear it!

Naturally, I was super-excited to get home and document all of this rainbow-and-puppy-filled awesomeness on Daily Mile, and that is when I realized that the unthinkable had happened… Somehow, (I still do not understand how), THERE IS NO RECORD OF THIS AMAZING RUN STORED IN MY GPS WATCH!!! Oh, the horror!!! I suspect the universe did this as a preemptive measure to spare you all my obnoxious gushing over my every mile split of this perfect and glorious long run. So just suffice to say that my average pace for the entire distance came out to be around 7:50 and my paces for the 3 working 2 miles efforts were roughly 7:20, 7:10, and 6:50, respectively.

In any event, I was pretty pumped and grateful to get in another long run where I felt strong throughout. Here’s hoping a can ride this little good long run streak all the way to Boston!

And so goes another week of Boston Marathon training. My so-far-so-good streak lives on for another week, and I remain cautiously optimistic about my fitness and my ability to hit the 3:19:59 goal. Looking forward to a proper fitness assessment next week at the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach. Until then, you stay classy, Salty Readers!

An alternative name for this post might be “Wasabi’s Surviving Snowpocalypse Training Log”. The weather certainly threw a big icy, slippery wrench into my running plans for last week, but it also saved me from what was shaping up to be the most hellish work week of my life, so I can’t complain too much. Through it all, I somehow managed to log 50 miles across 5 runs. Check out all the juicy details in this week’s edition of my Salty Running training log!

Monday, 2/10, Rest Day, FTW! I was feeling a little beat up from Sunday’s epic marathon relay victory/ long run combo, so I opted for a little rest day. Nothing like a little listening to your body to kick off the week!

Tuesday, 2/11, 7.5 Easy Miles, Plus Few Hill Sprints: Guys, I am staring down the barrel of the week from hell . The open at one job/ close at the other shifts are RELENTLESS this week, and I seriously don’t know if I’m going to make it. Struggling to find a way to fit the miles in nonetheless.

Today was a just an easy hour, plus a few little hill sprints with awesome run buds Kara and Amy. I felt pretty drag-assy and underwater, but I was also very grateful to get a little physical activity in my day, and for the support of awesome friends. Just taking it one day at a time this week. I can do this!

Wednesday, 2/12, THE REAL SNOWPOCALYPSE 2014 paralyzes The Triangle and thwarts my workout efforts! Unplanned rest day.

Thursday, 2/13, Snow Day Dreadmill Grind, 8.01 Miles: After missing yesterday’s run thanks to the insanity that came with The Real Snowpocalypse Durham, I knew I couldn’t make any excuses today. The fitness center opened at 10 so I dragged myself on over for some work (and by “work” I mostly mean catching up on social media), some coffee, and some running on the treadmill. I tried to take the lessons I had learned from my recent treadmill speed workout suck-fest (ICYMI, you can check it out here,) and apply them to you know, making this time on the treadmill a little sucky.

My plan was to do something interval-ish to keep my mind engaged as much as possible, but not something so hard that it broke me mental and physically like last time. I settled on 6x 1 min at 10K pace (6:40)/ 1 min at 8:00 min pace, a 4 min break at 8:00 min pace, and then 6x 1 min at 5K pace (6:18)/ 1 min at 8:00 min pace. There isn’t any science or coaching expertise of any kind behind this workout. I was just going for something that would vary frequently to keep me entertained with bouts short enough that they wouldn’t kill me but intense enough that they still might give me some sort of aerobic fitness benefit. Who knows if this was a good choice from a physiology standpoint, but it worked pretty well as far as keeping my treadmill suicidal thoughts to a minimum. The 1 min intervals were completely attainable at both paces and the 2 sets of 6 ate up six miles, so I just had to slog through a 2 mile cool down to get the 8 miles I was after. The cool down may have been the most excruciating  part of the whole workout, but in the end it was still a vast improvement over my last treadmill experience. I immediately negated any caloric expenditure benefits of this run by consuming approximately 7 Thin Mint girl scout cookies upon returning to my desk (I swear they should rename those things “Fat-Ass Mints”), but hopefully I still reaped some marathon training benefits. Cheers to getting it done, even on snow days!

Friday, 2/14, Braving the Snowpocalypse Aftermath, 7.26 Miles: Today I just couldn’t bring myself to run on the treadmill again, so I set out to survey the carnage of Snowpocalypse 2014. The temperature was actually quite fabulous for running, somewhere in the mid to high 40’s, but the little trails and parking lots that make up the first part of my little around-the-work-campus loop were still quite treacherous indeed. I clocked an 11:06 split for mile 1 as I teetered, skated, slid, and swore my way across the first shady, glacial abandoned parking lot. It was on the road to melting, but still mostly a sheet of ice and slippery as crap. I was really glad to put that part behind me and proud of myself for busting neither ass nor face.

Mile 2 of my campus route goes up a little wooded trail to a substation and back. This part was less icy, but still very much covered in deep, crunchy snow. I was genuinely surprised by how far I sunk down into it with each step. Like 3 or 4 inches, probably! Guys, Snowpocalypse 2014 was actually kind of legit! (You know, by North Carolina standards.) 10:05 split for my second mile. OMG, kill me now.

By mile 3 I had cleared the sketchy, snowy parts of the route and was on to nice, plowed, paved roads. I thought I might try to get a few MGP miles out there but it didn’t really work out that way. Completely unable to settle into a rhythm and find my mojo, I ran 3 more struggle bus miles at 9:15, 8:26, and 8:12, respectively. (At least they were progressively less struggle bus-ish each time.) And finally, by mile 6 I was able to access one laborious little 7:30 split, plus at 7:57 for the final mile cool down. At least it wasn’t the treadmill. Although my last run there was much faster.

Ah well, cheers to getting it done and to remaining injury-free despite icy conditions.

Saturday, 2/15, Rainy Slush-fest, 10.01 Miles: I kind of can’t believe I actually went on this run, y’all. It was totes disgusting out there… Cold, rainy (and I’m talking real rain, not just a little drizzle), with slushy snow and black ice all over the place. But youngsters Emma and Liz were there to keep me company so off we went.

Since Snowpocalypse 2014 kind of effed up my training calendar for the week, causing me to miss, you know, all of my workouts, and some mileage altogether, I really wanted to get 10 in today to sort of make up for it. As we set out into the yuck I couldn’t help but wonder if 10 was really worth it.

The slippery conditions on the trail definitely slowed us down, but we progressed along in the rain without too much misery, until about mile 8 until I reached the point of complete and utter saturation through and through. My “water resistance” vest was drenched and my no-longer dri-fit shirt clung to me in an unpleasant fashion and I dreamed of stripping all those wet layers off in favor of a warm shower. But I was this-close to getting to 10, so eff it. Hooray for getting it done,  maintaining my zero-face plants in the ice streak, and for the weekend!

Sunday, 2/16, Hilly, Slippery, but Still Good Long Run, 17.21 miles w/ last 4 at MGP: This was a really good long run, despite the fact that the route essentially visited the courses of all of the various races on my list of local events that I never want to do again. It was quite hilly indeed and many an icy spot/ bridge kept us slow and (at times not so) steady for the first part of the run. This probably really came in handy at mile 13 when it was time to pick it up for 4 miles at MGP. I was feeling a little beat up and lethargic from the hills by the time go-time rolled around, but I was really pleasantly surprised at how strong I felt once we got rolling with the working effort part. I had vowed to really stick to the plan of truly running marathon goal pace (7:30). No more of this ridiculous too fast shit. I mean what is the point of that anyway? But alas, the thrill of speed got the best of me once again, and my alleged marathon goal pace splits looked like this: 7:01, 7:03, 7:10, 6:58. These were miles 14 through 17 of today’s 17.21 mile run. Probably inappropriately fast, but I was happy to finish strong and comfortably, even after 13 hilly, slippery greenway miles!  Week 7 of the Boston training cycle is officially in the books, friends!

And so goes my tale of yet another week of Boston Marathon training. Looking forward to reaching the half-way mark next week! Until then, happy trails Salty readers!

Xoxo,

~Wasabi

Have you had to modify your training plan on account of winter weather? How do you manage getting  your miles in when mother nature is being an inhospitable punk? Tell me all about it!

Hi there, Salty Readers! Another week of my Boston Marathon training program has come and gone and boy, was it a tough one! Craziness at work plus the return of the Polar Vortex made my schedule erratic and training partners scarce. It wasn’t easy braving the cold and the hard workouts mostly all by my lonesome, but somehow I managed to grind out 50 miles over 6 runs last week. Here’s hoping this will prove to be boost to my mental strength, confidence, and independence moving forward.  Now  get comfy while I tell you all about my epic, lone wolf week of training!

Monday, 1/21, 4.02 miles: Another nice, brisk Monday Runday! My little run groupers at work just keep getting faster. Always nice to start Monday with some easy miles!

Tuesday, 1/22, 8.01 miles w/ 6x 20 sec Strides: Nice, cool easy/ MGP miles on the ATT with run buds Amy P. and Rachel, plus Kara and Lacy for the first 2. The Legs and the pace felt really good. I was feeling a little fatigued by the final round of strides, but I guess that’s kind of the point. As always, I was grateful to get some good miles with good company. Hooray for getting it done!

Wednesday, 1/23, 2x (4x 800m), 8.51 miles: In case you haven’t heard, it snowed like a fraction of an inch in Durham last night! OMG! Unfortunately, our little Snowpocalypse rearranged my schedule a  bit. Our opener at work didn’t feel comfortable risking driving in on “icy roads” (I put that in quotation marks because the road were not actually icy), so I had to come in at 8 to relieve the substitute opener. Since there was no one to meet up with for an ass-thirty am sub-freezing workout (not complaining here), I had to run in the afternoon. Naturally, I spent my whole day stressing out about stuff  like getting it done, carefully timing my lunching, having to do it by myself and from work, etc. I was pretty relieved when it actually came time to go so I could just get it over with already.

Today the BAA’s intermediate Boston Marathon training program called for 2x (4x 800m) and Coach Saffron agreed that this was the way to go. As always, I thought it seemed pretty daunting, especially since I was doing it by myself and mid-day, but it had to be better than those effing 2Ks from last week, right?

In the end, it did not feel as great or as easy as I had hoped, but I got it done. The intervals were supposed to be at 10K pace with 90 sec recovery in between, and 5 min. recovery between sets. According to Coach Saffron, my 10K pace should be roughly 6:33. What actually happened was something in between 10K pace and Vo2 max…

Here are the splits… Set 1: 3:02, 3:04, 3:01, 3:01. Set 2: 3:06, 3:09, 3:08, 3:07

Although the 2nd set came a little closer to the prescribed pace, I was kind of bummed that it was slower than the first. I know that’s totally silly, but I just thought round 2 felt a little better and smoother and more controlled. I suppose there is a good possibility that the 2nd set felt better because I was running slower, but still, faster splits are always a nice ego boost.

At any rate, it wasn’t all that easy, and I didn’t feel super great or excited about it, but damnit, I got it done, and I did it all by myself. So that’s pretty cool, and worthy of a point or 2 on the Wasabi Becomes a More Confident and Independent Runner score board. So yay for celebrating Hump Day in style by conquering that beastly workout!

Thursday, 1/24, REST DAY! Holla! 50 minutes of aqua jogging FTW!

Friday, 1/25, 4x 1 mile at LT Pace, 9.01 miles: Today was an epic workday from hell that I had been dreading all week. Opening at one job and closing at another made for 5 am to 7 pm work-a-palooza, and my only break to speak of was going on this run, which I was also dreading because (a) it was a hard effort at the end of a tough week, crammed into the longest day of all, and (b) it was more frigid than ever this morning, and that’s when my workout had to happen.

I incessantly stalked my phone’s weather app all morning, watching the temperature creep from 9 degrees to 10 to 12, which was where it seemed to stick. 12 degrees. I know some of you have probably spent your winter dealing with colder temps, but to this North Carolinian that just seemed really effing cold. As game time approached, I seriously considered just bagging the run until tomorrow, or worse, doing it on the treadmill! (Gasp! Who AM I?) At 10 am I told myself that if the temperature (still stuck at 12) rose to 15 degrees by 10:30 (the latest possible time I could start my run and still get away with not cutting it short) then I would go outside and do it.

At roughly 10:27 I held my breath as I opened the weather app to see that the temperature was…. wait for it… a balmy 16 degrees. Half annoyed that it was not still 12 so I could call the whole thing off, I bundled up and set out to take care of business.

I have no idea how this happened, but to my great surprise, I had an awesome run! This was particularly unexpected because if I’m being perfectly honest here, Wednesday’s workout was a lonely ride on the struggle bus, and I had feared the same for today, being confined to the same lackluster route around the campus at work, and even more run down than I was earlier in the week.

But somehow I felt strong and the miles clicked by quickly, and reasonably consistently. My splits for the 4 working efforts were 6:36, 6:30, 6:35, and 6:32 vs. my goal of roughly 6:40 pace, and I felt really good about that.

When all was said and done it was a huge win to get through workout where I felt really good completely by myself and despite stressful, less than ideal circumstances. Add a few more points in my column on the confident, independent runner scoreboard! Cheers to Friday and to my survival of the most epic workday ever!

Saturday, 1/26, Easy 6.01 miles:  My running store hosted a (very chilly) fun run on our local greenway trail this morning. Guess who drew the short get up early and go stand out in the effing cold while everyone else gets to stay indoors and not come to work until 10 straw? This girl. Standing in 20 degrees (which is double the temperature it was a the same time yesterday) is MUCH colder than running in 20 degrees. When it was all said and done, we had an awesome turnout despite the cold and I enjoyed being a part of it, except for the part where I had to forgo my beloved customary Saturday doughnut shop run.

Instead, I was reduced to running after work, which was supposed to end for me at 4. I finally escaped around 4:30. My plan was to run from the store, so as not to get sidetracked by things like my couch or my laptop that could thwart productivity at home. But alas, no running tights or pants of any sort made the trip to work with me that day. Since pants-less running is (sadly) considered to be socially unacceptable, I headed home where I reluctantly set out on what felt like my one hundred millionth run around the work campus of the week.

It was 5 pm by the time I started and I felt very uneasy about getting caught in the dark. Running around campus when no one was there was pretty creepy, and I was very eerily stared down by a deer as I lapped an empty parking lot. All I could think of for the rest of the run was those infomercials for “When Animals Attack” which scared the crap out of me as a child.

It wasn’t particularly fun because I was feeling uneasy and counting down the miles and minutes until it was over every step of the way, but I got it done.

Sunday Funday (?), 1/26, 14.5 miles with miles 6-13 at MGP. (Well, kind of…) Guys, running 7 miles of your long run at marathon goal pace is not as easy as it seems like it should be! Eff! This was a tough one!

The plan said “14 to 16 miles with miles 6 through 13 at MGP”. I really wanted to get the 16, mostly because this time next week I will be living it up in NOLA and it seemed like a good idea to get a longer long run under my belt in case I’m inclined to slack off a little while I’m away. But Coach Saffron insisted that 14 was the way to go.

The first 5 miles went well enough. Just cruising along and chatting with Caren, Allison, Lacey, and Sarah at 7:45 to 8:10 pace, but then Saffron and the fasties  looped back to get me, and so the suffer-fest began. Perhaps I’ve already mentioned this, but I thought it sucked to have to drop it down to MGP  halfway through the run. Like a lot. This could be because my first split for the MGP miles was 7:13. My marathon goal pace is 7:30. When I saw that split and realized that it felt like crap and not all maintainable (not to mention the fact that it was NOT MGP), I vowed to run my own run, even if it meant letting my fastie pacers go. I kind of did that for MGP mile 2, which flashed up in a more appropriate, but abysmal-feeling 7:36. I think my rabbits felt bad for me because they slowed down until I caught up with them, and pulled me through another heinous 7:08. I have to do this for how many more miles???

I summoned my best polite and grateful, yet firm voice and told my speedy pacers that I HAD to slow down to survive this workout, and also in order to do it correctly and actually benefit from it. I successfully talked them down to 7:20 for the next split. And somehow, by the grace of God, I began to feel less terrible. The remaining splits were 7:21, 7:19, and 7:10. It took a few miles, but I eventually settled into a (only a little faster than MGP) rhythm. And that last 7:10 was just a classic case of hurry-the-eff-up-and-get-the-last-mile-over-with. I couldn’t even hang on to anything that started with an 8 for the remaining mile and a half, even with the aid of a sad and desperate bathroom stop. So much for getting 16 miles in.

I probably  definitely over-ran the MGP portion of the run, and this was evident by how spent I was by the time I reached the cool down. But I got it done, and so closes another week in my 2014 Boston Marathon training log. Looking forward to taking somewhat of a step back next week, and happy to be one week closer to Beantown!

Cheers to finishing another chapter in the Boston training saga, and hooray for pushing through some pretty gnarly workouts all on my own! I think this element of building self-reliance and self-confidence is something that has been lacking in my marathon training gone by, and my race performances have often reflected it. I’m going to go ahead and high-five myself for practicing a lot of solitary training this week and mostly coming out on top!

Until next week, happy trails and thanks for reading!

Do you struggle with training on your own too? How do you cope when you are stuck doing a hard workout all by yourself? Teach me your ways, friends!

Buenos dias, Salty Readers! I have completed yet another week of marathon training and lived to tell about it! My third week of Boston training consists of 6 runs for a total of 47.31 miles. Highlights include a pretty abysmal attempt at speed work on Wednesday, and a mini race report from the Charleston Half Marathon on Saturday. So cozy on up to your laptop or mobile device and read all about it!

Monday, 1/14 Recovery Run, 4.13 miles. It was a clear, crisp Monday morning and I was kind of glad to have some seasonally appropriate, non-crazy weather. Just one other brave soul joined me in tackling Monday Runday, and it was one of the quicker souls from my little at-work running group. As always, it was a lovely way to start the week, and I was grateful to get a few miles in at respectable, but comfortable pace. Monday Runday FTW!

Tuesday, 1/14, Easy Hour, 7.64 miles. For the second Tuesday in a row I found myself on a solo afternoon run.  Last Tuesday I was holding out for the “heat of the day”, better known as 20 degrees or the least polar-y part of the polar vortex. Today, after an epic Monday that included a 4 a.m. wake up call and zero hours of napping, I decided that I deserved to sleep in. I further rationalized this when no one from our little running group listserv responded to my pleas for an early a.m. running buddy. I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of getting up to run by myself in the morning even when I don’t need extra sleep. So to make a very long – but not all that interesting – story short, I opted for an afternoon run today.

My plan was 1 hour with 3 to 4 miles at marathon goal pace (7:30 ish), and I suppose I kind of accomplished that. I definitely got the hour run part, anyway. As I always do when I run the boring loop around the campus at work, I felt really sluggish in the beginning, but progressively better as the run went on.

The miles I had hoped to run at MGP turned out to be 7:44, 7:23, 7:20, and 7:41, so a little slow, then a little fast, and then a little slow again. Whateves. I didn’t do the math, but I’m betting that all averages out to roughly 7:30, so let’s just go with it. Cheers to getting it done on Tuesday!

Wednesday, 1/15, Something Akin to Speedwork, 8.42 miles. Guys, Al Buehler punched me in the face this morning. (Not Al Buehler the legendary Duke University Track and Cross Country coach, but the trail that bears his name.) Holy super-tiredness! Someone pass the coffee and the foam roller!

This morning’s run was a comedy of errors to say the least, but my always rock-solid friend and teammate, Nancy, was there to keep me company and save the day, so I’m optimistic that it wasn’t a total bust. (God bless you, Nancy!)

According to the BAA’s intermediate Boston Marathon training program, my workout today was to be 3x 2000m at 10K pace. I thought this sounded like a wretched suckfest, and I proposed to Coach Saffron that I substitute our track club’s workout of the week, 2 to 3xs a ladder of 1 min, 90 sec, 2 min, 90 sec, 1 min with 90 sec rest between efforts. Saffron ruled this an unacceptable substitution, but I spent my entire warm-up fretting over which workout to do nonetheless.

I had agreed to meet the track club group at our normal 6:30 time, just so I would have someone to be accountable to, and I had it in my head that they would be starting their workout on the fitness loop (this weird little add-on loop to the XC course) for some reason, but before I knew it, our warm up gang turned on the Al Buehler Trail and we were off. Guess I’m doing the track workout. Confused and caught completely off guard (some sort of verbal cue announcing that the workout was starting would have been awesome) Nancy and I muddled through the first round of the ladder. The surprise start plus the up and down-ness of Al B. (let me tell you, it’s one hilly son of a gun!) made it very difficult indeed to hone in on 10K pace. I think we were both feeling a little frustrated and out of control at this point, so we decided to switch it over to the BAA’s 2K workout.

We did one effort to the fitness loop. 2K proved to be long enough to get a nice sampling of both uphill and downhill, and my average pace was nowhere close to 10K. (7:08 vs. 6:30) Pretty far off the mark, but I think with all the hills and the sloppiness the effort was probably still pretty 10K-ish. We took a 3 min recovery, which we mostly spent complaining about how awful 2Ks and the Al Buehler trail are, and then did a 2nd 2K effort (2 laps)  around the fitness loop. Talk about FML.

I managed to keep that effort (barely) sub-7, with a hard-fought a 6:57 average pace, and I was very, very glad when it was over. Nancy is a XC Club Nats 2013 veteran, and she said next year’s race should be at Duke because Al Buehler is way harder than this year’s course in Bend. I believe her.

So needless to say, it was a pretty tough run, and I was really, really grateful that Nancy was their to get me through it, even though she was way ahead of me most of the time. Hooray for getting it done, and Happy Hump Day to all!

Thursday, 1/16, Another Glorious Rest Day! 3 cheers for 45 min of aqua-jogging!

Friday, 1/7, 6 at 6 with the girls, 6.01 miles. You’ve gotta love running friends who cheer wildly in the parking lot when you pull in at 6:03 as opposed to your usual 6:08 to 6:12 arrival time. It’s all about the small victories, y’all. I was feeling pretty grumpy when my 5 am alarm went off, but I couldn’t help smiling when I was greeted by my run buds Jen and Kyle’s  happy, cheering faces.

It was dark, and even with headlamps, (theirs, naturally I forgot mine. Remembering the headlamp AND being on time (ish) would just be way to much to ask for) it was pretty much impossible to see what was happening on the watch, but that was why this run was awesome.

The miles flew by quickly as we chatted, listening out for the Garmin beeps to count down the miles until the turn around. It was one of those runs that felt gloriously comfortable and effortless. Just what I needed on the eve of tomorrow’s, hopefully not-too-gnarly marathon goal pace + a few miles at LT long run, also know as the Charleston Half Marathon.
Cheers to fun friends and fun miles!
Saturday, 1/8, The Charleston Half Marathon! 13.1 miles, plus 2.25 miles warm-up/ cool-down. I’ve always thought of Charleston, SC as a warm, sunny place. This was not the case on Saturday. It was sunny enough I guess, and the temperature was chilly, but certainly not the coldest I’ve ever run in. The thing that made it unpleasant was the wind, which was in our faces practically the whole way.

Teammate Caren and I lined up a little further back than we usually might. I thought this would be helpful in avoiding going out too fast. It was, but if I had it to do all to over again I would move up a little more. But I got to say hi to fellow Oiselle bird, Sara who was running the full, so no regrets. Congrats on your new PR, Sara!

The start was kind of a crowed cluster with much bobbing and weaving, but we managed to escape the first mile in 7:39. Since my goal for the race was to keep things mostly around marathon goal pace, I decided I was fine with this. Once things spread out and opened up a little we clicked off a 7:18 and a 7:20 for miles 2 and 3, and I decided to try to chill out a little.

Miles 4, 5, 6 were mostly through lovely, historic downtown Charleston, and we cruised through them  easily in 7:24, 7:32, and 7:26. All well within the MGP zone! So far, so good!

Somewhere in the midst of mile 7, we found ourselves on a yucky, un-scenic highway, floundering in the crazy headwind which was rampant with no buildings to block it. Gross. We tucked in behind a really tall guy for some seriously blatant, unabashed drafting.  This was worked out pretty well for us for a mile or so, but he was rather non-responsive when we tried to engage him in conversation, so we let him go for fear that we were annoying him. Despite the unpleasant wind, we made through miles 7, 8, and 9 in 7:22, 7:29, and 7:22, respectively.

The plan was to pick it up at mile 10. I was envisioning a nice,strong finish at roughly my lactate threshold pace (6:40 ish). That isn’t exactly what happened, but I did manage to drop it down to 7:00-ish and hang on for the last 3 miles. The first fast mile came easy enough, but at approximately mile 11.5 there was this part where you kind of jump down off a little curb or railroad tie thing on to an unpaved greenway trail of sorts. As I made the step down I was taken by surprise by a feeling of light-headedness. Huh… “What is that?” I wondered. And then it dawned on me that this was the feeling of hitting the wall. Of course once this thought crossed my brain, it was all over mentally. No 6:40 pace for me today.

I told myself not to be to be a douche bag and summoned up every shred of tenacity I could muster to maintain the 7:00 pace to the finish. It wasn’t easy or pretty, but eventually I made it to the line, and I was successful in not slowing down.

Needless to say, my inability to pick it up at the end was a little disappointing. I can think of a million different excuses for why I didn’t do it… Fatigue from fighting the wind for so many miles, inadequate fuel for a marathon goal pace effort before and during the race, just not having my head in the right place to go fast, and the list goes on… But at the end of the day I’m mostly ok with it. The good news is that I can most definitely run 10 miles at MGP, even in an awful headwind, and I can even speed up and run 5K at 7:00 min pace after that. I feel like all of this can only be beneficial in terms of marathon training.

So there you have it friends, the story of how I survived the brutally windy Charleston Half Marathon! Now bring on the shrimp and grits!
Sunday, 1/19, Pre- Brunch Shake-Out Run, 5.5 miles. I was glad that Caren wanted to get in a few miles this morning before we packed it up, threw down on some serious Charlestonian brunch, and headed home. We set out from the hotel for an easy jaunt. It was one of those classic out-of-town non-scenic down-the-main-road out-and-backs, and it was still windy as all get out. But aside from general fatigue and some minor tightness/ achiness in the lower butt/ high hamstring area on my left side, it didn’t feel too bad. So I think I probably survived yesterday’s 10 miles at MGP, plus 3 miles at 7:00 min pace without breaking myself. If you need me I’ll be at brunch celebrating with the “Bottomless Mimosa” special!

And so concludes the story of the 3rd week of my little marathon training journey. Big thanks to all of you who were a part of it and to those who bothered to read about it! It feels good to have another satisfying week of training in the books!

What’s your big spring goal race? How’s your training going so far?

Salutations, Salty readers! Week 2 of Boston Marathon training is in the books! It wasn’t quite the overly-enthusiastic, filled with wiggly puppy excitement week I described in my Week 1 training log, but it wasn’t half bad either. I ran a total of 46 miles over 6 workouts and 5 hours and 58 minutes, and you can read about every exciting detail right here in this little post! So get pumped! Here we go…
Monday, 1/6, Recovery Day: 4 miles. It was 60 degrees when I started my run this morning. I ran in short sleeves. The expected temp for tomorrow morning is 14 degrees. This makes me wonder if the forecast for Wednesday could be The Apocalypse. But I digress…

Anyway, I was feeling a little regretful for stating in my “RSVP for Monday Runday” email that we would be running outside “no matter what”, but I was relieved to find that it wasn’t raining when go time rolled around. The weather held until roughly mile 3 of our 4 mile run, but then the bottom fell out. Thus, reducing our distance to 3.71 miles rather than 4.  Dang.  We almost had it all. Alas, I guess that’s just Monday for you…
Tuesday, 1/7: Easy Hour on the Coldest Day of the Year! 7.01 miles. OMG, I RAN OUTSIDE IN THE POLAR VORTEX!!! Yes friends, this wimpy little North Carolinian ran out of doors on the coldest day of the year. Granted, I held out for the warmest part of the day, a balmy 20 degrees, but still, I fancied myself to be pretty tough for layering up and getting out there and making the magic happen. (Yeah, I know the polar vortex wasn’t as polar-y in North Carolina as it was in other places, but that didn’t stop us from claiming our fair share of whining about how cold it was.)

All weather ranting aside, it was a nice, consistent, uneventful run. I logged the first 3 miles around 8:15, then 4-6 were 7:45-ish, plus a little cool down for lucky #7 in 8:02. Somewhere in there, probably mile 6 I also threw in 4x 30 sec strides with 1 min recoveries just for kicks.  And that is the story of how I went for a run in the middle of the Polar Vortex and lived to tell about it!

Wednesday, 1/8: Speedwork: 2x (800m, 600m, 600m) 5.54 miles. It’s hard to believe today’s workout was only 5.5 miles (actually we covered a little more ground than that, but the watch data does not include recoveries.) 2x (800, 600, 600) (which was supposed to be 3x 800, 600, 600, but SOMEONE was horrifically late. I won’t say who that someone was, but let’s just say it wasn’t Saffron.) felt quite challenging indeed and I was pretty grateful when it was done.

The intervals were supposed to be at 5K pace (let’s say 6:20), and here are the splits…
Set 1: 3:10/ 6:10 pace, 2:16/ 6:09 pace, 2:23/ 6:14 pace.
Set 2: 3:00/ 6:09 pace, 2:11/ 6:06 pace, 2:24/ 6:16 pace

I seemed to have 5K pace mostly figured out by the end of each set. I’m pretty annoyed with myself for having to ditch the last round on account of my tardiness, and even more annoyed that the appointment I allegedly had to run off to turned out to be cancelled, but honestly, I don’t know that it was my day to do 3 sets, so I guess I should just be happy with what I got and move on.

Also, I am recommitting myself to being more punctual in 2014, so wish me luck. I SERIOUSLY SUCK at punctuality, so I’m going to need it!

Thursday, 1/9: Rest day! 40 min. of aqua jogging with a friend just for kicks.
Friday, 1/10: Tempo, 2x 10 min. 8.01 miles. I started today’s run feeling tried both physically and mentally. The weather was gray and rainy, and I was feeling pooped from an action-packed week and not-so-pumped about running. I was even less pumped about the possibility of running fast. Thank goodness Saffron was there to make sure I got my arse in gear!

We left for a jaunt around the campus where I work with 2x 10 mins at LT pace (6:40ish) on the docket. Saffron cheerfully described the wet, dreary weather as “very Nike Oregon Project-ish” . This made me feel a little better and tougher.

I felt very sluggish indeed on the warm-up, and when it was time to go I decided that my best bet was to just sit on Saffron’s shoulder and let her pull me along while I hoped for the best. This strategy is kind of the opposite of my running goal for the new year, which is to become more self-reliant, self-motivated, and self-confident, and to do a better job of running my own run. But tagging along was honestly all I had the energy for today, so I just let it happen.

Just as I had hoped, Saffron pulled me right along to a 6:41 mile, followed by .51 miles at 6:44 pace to round out the first interval. (Let’s say that comes out to a 6:42 average for the complete 10 min?) And round 2 was a  6:36 mile followed .52 miles at 6:29 pace. I arbitrarily assign round 2 an average pace of 6:34.
I admittedly felt more alive and better about my life by the end of the workout and we cooled down with 2 miles at 7:31 and 7:45 respectively. It was wet and sloppy and not my peppiest run of all time, but we got shit done, and for that I am thankful!

Saturday, 1/11: Hour at Roughly MGP. 8.03 miles. An extra-exciting group of fabulous running friends showed up for our Saturday donut run today! So great to see some fresh new faces, plus the usual suspects. I was pretty pumped to fit 8 whole miles into just over an hour and they were close enough to marathon goal pace that I am marking this one down as an hour at MGP. Cheers to great friends and yummy donuts!
Sunday, 1/12: Long Run (better known in my inner circle as “Sunday Funday”) 14.01 miles. Another lovely Sunday Funday FTW! We returned to Umstead for this week’s long run, and did the same route as last week, but in reverse. I can’t decide which way is worse. I think the direction we went in today is a little easier. Although the climbing might be more sustained, it is generally not as steep and demoralizing.
At any rate, the weather was pretty great and I felt comfortable in just shorts, long sleeves, and compression socks. The way winter running should be. I enjoyed the company of Saffron, Allison, Caren, and Jen E., and was pretty pumped to keep the average pace (barely) sub-8 despite being temporarily separated from Saffron while she set out to do a few marathon-pace miles of her own. (Sometimes I struggle to believe that I am capable of running fast without her. #runningBFFcodenpendencyproblems.)

I managed to pull off another week of no splits slower than 8:30, even in the hilliest of places, and it felt good to finish strong with some strides.

And so I have officially survived 2 whole weeks of marathon training with out breaking anything or falling apart! Cheers to that, and here’s hoping that the training good fortune continues! Only 14 more weeks until Beantown!

How did your training go last week? What big, exciting races are you training for? Maybe I’ll see you in Boston?