Just checking in!

Last week was really tough. The heat and humidity make the miles seem really long. I've been bringing extra gatorade & gu.

Sunday's long run was an 11 miler through lots of country roads with Dan. I don't mean to complain, but I really, truly believe Manchester was built on a road that is uphill both ways. There is no direction you can run where you can avoid hills. We ran into a lot of traffic on Sharon Hollow before we crossed over M52. From there, it was just a lot of road to cover. We finally came back to M52 just north of town, and have never been so glad to see that road. Both of us had been walking up hills for a couple miles. We stopped at the water fountain at Chi Bro Park to get a huge drink of water, and dump a bunch more over our heads. We both covered the miles with some new blisters, and new appreciation for the difficulty of running in the humidity.

4 miles today were pretty uneventful. Looking forward to the 16 miler at the end of this week.

8 Weeks to go

Here's what is supposed to happen this week:

Mon: Cross Train
Tue: 4 Miles
Wed: Cross Train
Thur: 7 Miles
Fri: 4 Miles
Sat: Rest
Sun: 11 Miles

So far (it's Thursday) so good. Ran 4 miles on Tuesday - 20 min on the track with Chris & 20 min on the road. Taekwondo on Mon & Wed. Tonight I'm scheduled for a track date with my husband, kids, and one of my friends with her two kids.

Catch-up post....

I've been slacking on the blog posts lately (though not on the training...) Here's a quick catch-up...

Mon & Wed have been Taekwondo days - getting the cross training in. Tuesday & Thursday's I've been running with my husband at the track - knocking out those 4 & 7 milers.

I did a little juggling of schedules to get a 10k in on Aug 1st. The running schedule said to do 14 miles on 8/2 and 9 miles on 7/26. I swapped those two days and ran 14 miles on Sunday, July 27th. On 8/1 I ran the Manchester Run 10k . Here's my race time:

Female 30 to 39
  Place    Name                    City              Bib No  Age   Overall       Time      Pace            
     1    Laurie Luckhardt        Saline  MI            123   35       25        55:14    8:55/M           
     2    Caroline Giordano       Ann Arbor  MI          82   30       26        55:32    8:57/M           
     3    Michele Ingalls         Manchester  MI        199   39       32      1:00:04    9:41/M  

Not too bad! I'll have to work pretty hard to pass up those two ladies ahead of me....

After the race, I ran another 3 miles with Chris to make up the whole 9.

Last week-end, the weather was really hot on Sunday, so I ran my long run a day early. 15 miles on Saturday, 0 on Sunday in the 95 degree weather. 10 miles out in the country, 6 miles on the track with the husband. Unfortunately, I wore the wrong socks on my long run, and found myself at the track with blisters on the arches of my feet (giant orthotics...). In a moment of complete insanity, I took the orthotics out of my shoes and let my family take them home. Because of the thickness of the orthotics, running without them makes me feel like both feet are turning in pretty sharply. Six miles of this really ended up being painful, in new and different ways... Hobbled home, took an ice bath, then refilled the tub with hot water, ate dinner then passed out in bed. The next day I made arrangements with my mom for a massage.

13 Weeks to go: What is *supposed* to happen

Mon: Rest / cross train
Tue: 60 min or 4 miles
Wed: Rest / Cross train
Thur: 6 mi
Fri: 4 mi
Sat: rest
Sun: 12 miles

I changed training programs. Can't teach an old new tricks, I just didn't like the program in the Dawn Dias book. Loved the book - "The non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women". I laughed and laughed at her sarcastic view of training, running and racing. My husband has thought I'm off my rocker - cracking up as he's driving down the road. It's heavy on the marathon training, light on the women's stuff, and just really funny.

Back to the training program, I'm switching because I'm very injury-phobic. Hal has guided thousands of people through the training process over the years, he's one of the experts.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take some of Dawn's advice and go get some Cheetos and a nap.

14 Weeks to Go

What's supposed to happen:

Mon: 55 min run
Tue: cross train
Wed: 60 min run
Thu: Rest
Fri: 45 min run
Sat: Rest
Sun: 115 min run

What really happened:

Mon: 90 min run
Tue: cross train w/ family
Wed: 60 min run
Thur: Rest
Fri: 45 min run
Sat: Rest
Sun: 2 runs, 30 min & 60 min

With the trip to KY last week, my long run got moved to Monday. The first three miles were great. The 2nd three miles went OK, the last three miles really hurt. I ran to the track and worked out a system for getting in those last 3 miles. I ran one lap in each lane clockwise, then one lap in each lane counter-clockwise. With 6 lanes, that's 12 laps = 3 miles. Then I loped home with blisters on the arches of my feet. Tuesday was Motrin day. Wednesday's run was tough. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Thursday was GREAT!! I love rest days! I ran on Friday in the evening, showered and went out to play some poker. (the poker didn't go well, but I got to meet some great players and the father-son team running the poker room!)

Saturday was a really hot and humid day. I'm thankful that was a rest day.

Sunday is when I really started questioning the training program I'm following. 115 min of running equals approx 11.5 miles. It's pretty darned early in my marathon training to be running 11+ miles. Next week's long run is 6 miles, the week after is 7 miles. Last week's 9-mile run really kicked my butt too, so I backed off a bit, and cut the run down a little.

15 Weeks untin the Marathon

What's supposed to happen this week:

Mon: 40 min run
Tue: Cross Train
Wed: 45 min run
Thu: 40 min run
Fri: 40 min run
Sat: Rest
Sun: 90 min run

What really happened...

Mon: 40 min run
Tue: cross train w/ family
Wed: 45 min run
Thur: little cross-training w/ the family
Fri: 2 mile hike through the hills of Kentucky, swimming
Sat: horse-back riding, 50 min trail run
Sun: LONG car ride - have to do long run on Mon

We had a family reunion over the 4th of July holiday in Kentucky. Vacations always throw off the running schedule a bit. With an 8+ hour car ride on Sun - there was no way to schedule in a long run. I'm feeling pretty good - the trail run was incredible!

16 Weeks Until the Marathon

What is supposed to happen this week

Mon: 60 min run
Tue: Cross Train
Wed: 50 min run
Thur: rest
Fri: 50 min run
Sat: rest
Sun: 60 min run

What really happened this week...

Mon: 60 min run
Tue: walk/run with husband & kids
Wed: missed the 50 min run
Thur: 50 min run
Fri: Rest
Sat: 60 min run
Sun: 60 min run

Think I may have written the schedule wrong in my calendar. After starting out for the 3rd 60 min run of the week, it just seemed like too much. Looking at next week, it just doesn't seem right either! Maybe I ran too much this week.