good girl

I was a good girl this week and ran all the miles that Coach Josh had planned for me!!!  I think it's been a month since I've done that. His pep-talk on Monday helped tremendously. I'm so glad that I have the most amazing running coach on the planet! I got in all the hard miles he had planned and turned my "recovery run" on Sunday into a fun/scenic one. Read below for daily adventures as well as a weekly summary, highlight of the week, and goal for next week.

Monday:  Rest Day. Received a phone call from Coach Josh. He's concerned after reading my posts about my runs. He said I'm not the only one in a funk and that this weekend would be the last "long run" scheduled before my marathon. He's confident that I can complete the marathon as long as I get this last long run accomplished. I can do it. I told him it's been a challenge juggling child-care and getting motivated to run long, but my daughter will be with her dad next weekend, and I'm thinking of doing an out-and-back route that will force me to complete the distance. He encouraged me to call him any time, for reassurance, etc., and that I'm not the only one going through this "change of season" phase. I felt better after talking to him.

Tuesday: Ran 5 miles in 53:16 minutes, 10:39 minutes/mile average pace. Coach Josh prescribed 5 minutes in 54 minutes; done. I got up early and did the run. Kyra's ill (and was still asleep), so I did the run on the treadmill in the basement. I increased my pace slightly on each mile. Felt good to get it done early. Noticed that Coach Josh only had my activities posted for today and tomorrow. He usually posts a week at a time. I wonder if he's holding out to keep me from stressing over future runs. He has swimming on the agenda for tomorrow; yay!

Wednesday: Kyra was supposed to go to her dad's house tonight, which was when I had planned to swim. But due to circumstances beyond our control, she's staying with me tonight instead. She's been sick for the past week and she did not want to go to the pool. I don't blame her. I stayed home with her instead of getting my swim in. She fell asleep on the floor, cuddling on her puppy. She only naps when she's sick. Hope she feels better soon.

Thursday: Ran 5 miles in 53:00 minutes, 10:36 minutes/mile average pace. Coach Josh prescribed 5 minutes in 54 minutes; did it 16 seconds faster than Tuesday. I arrived at the office late this morning; I wanted to let Kyra sleep as late as she would in hopes that would help her cold. So, I worked late to make up my missed time. By the time I got home, it was dark so I opted to run on the treadmill again. Wasn't necessarily trying to beat my pace from Tuesday, but just tried to have it be slightly less than 54 minutes.

Friday:  Rest day. Psyched myself up for tomorrow's long run.

Saturday:  Ran 18 miles in 3:54:01, 13:00 minutes/mile average pace. Wasn't exactly how it should have been, but done.  Started out at Stone Mountain with the intention of completing all 18 miles there. I ran by heart rate rather than trying to maintain a certain pace. I kept my heart rate under 75%. The first 5 miles were easy. The next 5 miles felt "easy", but I noticed I had to walk a lot more to keep my heart rate below 75%. I knew that I would be better off running rather than so much walking, so I decided to finish that lap and then go home and run the rest of the miles on the treadmill in the coolness of the basement. When I took off my camelbak at the car, I was amazed at how heavy it seamed. As soon as I got home, I stepped on the scale with it, then without, and calcuated it weighed 8 pounds! And this is after I had drank about half the water! I'm guessing it was probably 12 pounds when I started. No wonder I had to go so slow to keep my heart rate in check! After weighing, I went straight to the treadmill, not wanting to put too much rest time into the run. I set the pace at 12:00 minutes/mile and easily clicked off the next 5 miles. But then, something weird happened. I started having cramps on my right side at the base of my rib cage. I stopped to walk for a few seconds and it disappeared. Then it would start again a few minutes after I started running again. So for the last few miles I did run/walk intervals at approximately 0.2 to 0.4 miles run with a 0.025 to 0.05 mile walk break. (As I'm typing this on Sunday, I notice that my right rib cage is still tender to the touch. Bizarre.) I almost quit at mile 17 because of the pain and told myself that I would take the dogs for a mile walk later to get the total miles in. Then I told myself that just wasn't acceptable; suck it up and push through that last mile. I did. 18 miles done... The ice bath afterwards felt oh-so-good!

Sunday:  Ran/walk 3 miles in 44:51 minutes, 14:57 minutes/mile average pace. This was supposed to be an easy "recovery run" so I decided to explore a new-to-me trail. I went to Yellow River Park.  The trails that were marked as pedestrian weren't very long, so I did multiple loops. I think the bike trails are longer, but decided not to risk getting hit by a biker. I enjoyed the view, just wish the trail was longer. I walked up the steep hills and stopped to step off the trail a few times to allow bikes to pass. My right rib cage is still tender and my legs are still sore from yesterday. Since this was supposed to be a recovery run, I didn't focus on pace, just enjoyed the new scenary.

Weekly Summary:

• Days run this week:  4
• Miles run this week: 31
• Highlight of the week: ran all the miles Coach Josh planned
• Goal for next week: taper and psych myself up for 4/24 marathon