Marathon Training Weeks 3 and 4: Solo Runs and Minimal Geese Attacks

Oh, hello there. Week 4 (well, actually week 5 at this point) of marathon training and I’m already behind in my posts. Not surprising. Anyway, I’ll just combine week 3 and 4 here, yes? Okay, cool.

Week 3

Miles: 19

Long Run: 6 miles. Wooo! First cutback week!

Geese attacks: one. Seriously, they're vicious, and they chased me off the path. Please see the below photo for how many GD geese I have to deal with on my daily running path.

Cross-training: yoga. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (yeah, oxford comma, b*tches. get used to it)

Breakdowns: zero. Again, wooo!

The vicious gang of geese. (Not pictured, an additional 50 geese on the other side of the path)

Overall: Pretty great week. Still trying to get more miles in, but it’s kinda difficult with an 1:40 minute commute (that’s one hour and forty minutes. UGH). I skipped running with CARA for my long run since it would’ve taken longer to get to the starting point than the actual length of the run. Also, only six miles? Child's play. Anyway, I found it interesting  that my long run seemed SO much more enjoyable alone. 

Also, first week using my new Garmin watch! Hollllaa. Still trying to figure out all the buttons and how to keep myself from deleting parts of my run, but I'm really digging it so far. And it matches my shoes, so how could I not?

Week 4

Miles: 20 (oops)

Long Run: 11 freaking humid miles. See below photo in which you can physically see how humid it was. (Also, once again accidentally deleted the first 1.2ish miles from this godforsaken watch)

Geese Attacks: zero. Thank christ

Cross-training: yoga on Friday and Sunday. (week 2 of actually getting some cross-training done on Sunday. holler.)

Breakdowns: none, shockingly

Um. Sorry this photo is so gross.

Overall: Once again, not nearly enough week day runs. In my defense, it was a holiday week! Anyway, despite a truly terrible difficult 11-miler on Saturday, I’m really feeling like I’m starting to hit my stride. My body is remembering how to perform and react to the long runs which is a pretty cool feeling. Muscle memory is a pretty amazing thing.

Additionally, this was the second week in a row that I skipped my CARA group. I know, I KNOW. But honestly, even though it was absurdly humid, the sun was beating down, and I had to stop at pretty much every mile, I still think I might’ve enjoyed this run more than the 2 runs I did with CARA. There’s something just SO embarrassing about having your mental breakdowns around people that you’re supposed to be casual chatting with. Not to say that I don’t love the social aspect before and after runs, I’m just wondering if I really am a solo long-runner, especially since I did my first marathon alone. Honestly, I really love running by myself on the lake, not having to chat with anyone, just listening to my jamz. I’m going to do everything in my power to make it the run next week, so stay tuned! 

2 Weeks Down, Only 14 to go....

Well, coming off a less than impressive week one long run, I assumed the only place to go was up. Turns out I was wrong. While pleasantly cloudy, the weather at 6:30 could only be described as soup like.

Once again, I'm disappointed in my myself. I know that my mind is SO much stronger than it's been leading me to believe in these last two weeks. I'm not sure if it was the humidity, that I'm still getting used to running without music, holding conversations while running, or if the pace is just too fast, but this long run was, again, a serious struggle. To my credit, I ran the whole time, 9 miles, 9:00 pace, but the last mile was brutal. I'd like to chalk it up to the extreme humidity that my body just isn't used to yet, but  like I said, I just can't help but be disappointed and slightly embarrassed. My fellow runners were BEYOND amazing, cheering me on, telling me to just take it one step at a time. But ultimately, my hips and IT band felt like they were surely going to explode and they won, keeping me from running up the hill yet again. Though, I suppose I can be proud of the fact that I did not stop until the hill even though my mind was trying so hard to convince me to stop. Also, real talk: attack of the chafing has already begun. It's gonna be a long summer...

This isn't the first awful run I've had, and it surely won't be the last, but dammit if won't
it use it as fuel to work that much harder this week. Most importantly,
I know I'll have another truly great, life-changingly awesome run again soon, and all this will be a distant memory.

2 weeks down, only 14 to go...