Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Taper Crazy

Ooh my gosh. This tapering thing is like a roller coaster ride. One day I'm up and the next I'm not so up.

On Saturday I had my last long run before the marathon. I ran an easy 10 miler with another friend that is also running the Indy Monumental marathon (it will be her first). We kept it to a pretty easy pace and finishing overall with a pace slightly faster than my marathon goal. That made me feel good especially since it was 30 degrees out the morning we ran. Brrr. So not ready for winter, but looks like we might have winter temps on race morning.

I haven't had a ton of spare time to really think a lot about how the taper. Saturday my son broke his arm while riding a scooter at a friend's house, so that evening was spent at the Children's Hospital ER. Sunday I volunteered at a local race then spent the day taking care of the house and kids because my super awesome hubby had a case of food poisoning and remained in bed until Monday morning. The fun does not end there though. We had to take my son to the orthopedic office to have a cast put on. That turned into an almost all day ordeal since they had to reset the bone, x-ray (twice) and do the casting. So for a few days I had so much to keep me busy the taper before this marathon was almost the last thing on my mind.

Yesterday though was my last speed workout before the race. I had a 3x1 mi track workout. Marathon pace/half marathon pace/5k pace. It went like this:

9:44/9:06/8:44 

Which is a bit faster than marathon pace, faster than current half marathon pr pace and slower than current 5k pr pace. Overall though I was pleased with my workout.

Today has been somewhat different. I'm crazy today. I cried at Starbucks when the barista told me they were sold out of soy milk. Weird. So, no latte like I had hoped for. Yes, I cried and asked if this was some sort of sick joke the guy was playing on me. I drank two cups of mediocre coffee when I got to work and have been grumpy about it ever since.

I'm to run an easy 4 miler this afternoon. I have plans for that one. Hopefully it calms the crazies I'm feeling today and I can go into tomorrow rested or fresh or something. Tomorrow Halloween and ToT with the kids will keep my mind occupied for a while. And I'm thinking I may not be completely on Friday morning since I'll start the day with an easy run. We shall see though.

I got my race plan and had a meeting with my coach yesterday. I feel really confident about the goal and am just going to trust my training. My long runs have all gone really well. I just need to remember that and not let this crazy taper thing take over my mental state.




Wednesday, October 23, 2013

22 Monumental miles on the VA Creeper Trail

Time has flown by since I first mentioned I was running marathon #2.
And my lack of blogging shows how far behind I am on my original goal of weekly marathon recaps. oopsie!

Almost 2 weeks ago we traveled with my Knoxville Endurance family to the beautiful Virginia Creeper trail to get in our last 20+ mile training run before Indy Monumental (Nov 2nd). We started our run in Abingdon and ran to Damascus. It was so beautiful. The weather was perfect and the company was great (even if I was running my 22 miles solo). I didn't run with my phone/camera but really wish I had though I'd probably have gone way slower than I should have if I'd stopped to take pictures. Seriously my words can't even describe the beauty of this run. It's an old rail bed, so we ran mostly on tightly packed pea gravel and wooden bridges. Overall the run went well for me.

We got a run plan Friday night (we all stayed in a cabin w/our coach) and went over how our run would go. This was to be our real last chance to get things right for race day as far as fueling/water, etc. So, that said I wanted it to go so so well. Here are my actual splits:

9:59/ 9:55/ 10:05/ 10:13/ 9:55/ 10:14
10:05/ 10:01/ 9:59/ 9:57/ 9:52/ 10:15
9:50/ 9:55/ 10:21
The first 15 miles (above) were to be at easy pace so around a 10mm according to my coach (though I want to be 9:45, but marathon pacing and all.... blah). Anyway, the last 7 miles were a pick up which would be at marathon pace (9:55-) or faster. They are as follows:

9:28/ 9:28/ 9:36/ 9:38/ 9:38/ 9:39

Like I said, overall this was a good run for me. Pre run breakfast was good, fueling/water during the run was good. I took a gel every 4 miles and did Enduralytes every other gel. I chose to not carry my Cambelbak this time as I think I've decided to leave it home for the marathon, so I opted for a small handheld and refilled at the water stops coach laid out for us. This worked well. 
Overall time - 3:38:43 for an overall pace of 9:56 which is within my marathon goal range.


The weekend was more than just the last long run but a great time spent with awesome friends! Stay tuned for how I've been coping with the taper. The countdown to Indy is on... T minus 9 days.