Week(end) 14 + Week 15 because I’m lazy that way

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September 10, 2013 by Amy B

At least I think it’s week 14! At some point I stopped counting and all I know is that after I get through this week? I’m tapering. Hallelujah.

Twin Cities in Motion sent out these super nice Clif sample boxes to marathon registrants. Even though I’ll probably only eat the bar and let Scott have the other things (me and my picky fueling choices), free stuff is cool. Also in the mail: a box of Pro Bar Bolt Energy Chews. I enjoyed these so much in my Kona Kase a few months ago that I decided to buy some for the marathon. I really think this is the best tasting chew I’ve ever had. So far, it isn’t upsetting me too badly, so fingers crossed.

I had started a post on Friday’s run and never finished it, so let’s just lump everything together so that I can get back to working, shall we?

Friday

I think I’ve said this before, but I’m totally over the 8 milers before work. I decided to go four six and after some miscalculations, just went for 7 miles.

I justified shorting the distance a mile by the fact that I’d kept up a kick-ass pace (for me) and it was kind of like speed work. Or something.

Totally overdressed for the weather but wanted to test out the flyte long sleeve shirt. This will be perfect if marathon temps are lower on race day.

I can totally live with these splits!

Later that day, team /var/run met for carb loading at lunch at our unofficial sponsor, Rodeo Mexican Kitchen.

For real, I’d run solely so that I could eat this on a regular basis.

Saturday (Long Run)

I didn’t have any really high expectations for this run. I also didn’t want to get up at the buttcrack of dawn; the weather wasn’t going to change much. There was a chance or rain, so I wanted to beat that if possible. And man, was it humid.

I am still screwing around with different fueling concoctions, and I think I’ve discovered that sports drinks fuck me up. I do much better with plain old water, and that’s what I’ve been going with, occasionally toting along a small flask of electrolyte punch if I’m wearing the vest. I’m not sure how this is going to work on race day, as I have traditionally been a “Powerade at every other station” type of person. And maybe I should give Powerade a shot this weekend, just to see. I’m just trying to stay away from the HFCS sports drinks, of which Powerade lists this as one of the first ingredients.

I’d figured out a route to use – a big loop that goes out on the highway and comes back on a gravel road. I wanted to get the highway part out of the way first, since there’s not a lot of shade on that stretch. This was fine, and even though it was a little warm, I was trucking along at a reasonable pace for me. It felt okay. I went with it.

At the point where I needed to turn onto a road that crosses the highway (and eventually leads me to the one that goes back home, I had a complete brain fart moment and forgot that the road is actually called a different name at that juncture. So I kept running and wondering when the hell the turn was going to happen. About a mile down the road, I came to a sign that let me know that I had clearly fucked up. I pulled out the phone to check (elapsed times were longer on these middle miles while I was trying to determine why I am such a directionally challenged loser).

Not the route I was planning on, but there was some shade, which was awesome.

Decided to just head back toward the highway, hop on the trail and try to make it back home close to the 12 mile total distance; I really did NOT feel like putting in an extra few miles, and I sure as hell didn’t feel like walking a long way after hitting the 12.0 point.

I surprised myself; I didn’t do too badly!

My stomach did start to roil toward the end so instead of chewing on the energy chews (pro bar citrus), I just stuck one in the corner of my mouth and let it dissolve. Don’t tell my dentist.

I went with the handheld bottle, which while wasn’t my favorite thing to carry, was nicer than having a waistpack slapping around and being an annoyance. It didn’t seem worth it to wear the vest for two hours. iPhone fit in the pocket of my distance shorts.

Even though I’m mentally ready to eat ALL THE THINGS when I’m done running long, I find I’m not always super hungry or my stomach is in so much turmoil that I have to take it easy for most of the day. (Now that it’s been almost a week since this run) I can’t remember what I ate immediately, but it was likely the other half of my Picky Bar. Later, I emptied out the rest of the iced coffee from the fridge and tried making a frappe thing. There was chocolate ice cream involved (also stuff I’m trying to clear out of the fridge, ahem). It wasn’t too bad and definitely cheaper than Starbucks.

Also a nice surprise in the mail:

I say “surprise” only because it took so long to arrive, not because I’d forgotten I’d ordered it. 🙂

Sunday

Rest day! Potluck at church. All the things were eaten, including a sour cherry apple crumble, which satisfied my pie cravings. Lutherans do potluck right.

Monday

Monday’s runs are usually TEH SUCK. I was pleasantly surprised, though.

This was my first “wake up at 4:30 to run OMG that’s too fucking early” day. Daughter started preschool, which means our mornings just shifted earlier by a few hours.

Even though I have made it a routine of waking up around 5AM most mornings throughout this marathon training, I find it extremely difficult to get out of the front door on time. There are many factors involved: two (often cantankerous) kids to wrestle into submission and clean clothes, a husband who doesn’t always spring out of bed on time (read: never), and all of the “prep for the workday” shit that I don’t always get done the night before (read: never).

I can’t remember the last time I was up this early for a run, though I do remember having to get on the road with Scott at around 4:00-4:30 for a long run before we took a trip to MN. Getting your body ready to go that early can be a little brutal, but the part I hate the most?

It’s fucking dark that early in the morning, especially when you live in the middle of nowhere.

Don’t worry – I have been running with gear to make myself more visible to motorists (and weirdos who walk the streets in the wee hours of the morning).

Amphipod Xinglet

Petzl Tikka2

Nathan LED strobe

So 5AM running? I’ll admit that getting out of bed at 4:30am kind of blows, but in terms of running? It’s just as dark at 6AM here as it is at 5AM, so the only difference I notice is much less traffic, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m trying to stick to mostly lit roadways, which unfortunately means the highway at times, but it’s just too dark to run on completely un-lit roads. I’ll see how long I can keep it up. Getting the run out of the way in the morning still beats having to slog it out after work when all I want to do is crash.

Tuesday

And that brings me to today!

It was about 4:40am when I realized my alarm was going off, so I was out the door ten minutes later than yesterday.

Weather? Foggy. Humid. I was sweaty by the time I reached the end of the street, and I hadn’t even begun running yet.

There are mornings when I just give myself a pat on the back for making it out the door and keep my expectations relatively low. Today was one of those mornings. Regardless, I was happy with the workout; this was a variation on a familiar loop, with a few detours added in to bring the mileage to 5.0.

Ignore that sixth lap blurb. Oh, Garmin. You’re funny.

I considered rerouting to the local HS track for an attempt at a speed workout, but the fog was a little freaky and since I had left late already, I was worried I’d completely wreck myself and have a hard time making it back home (the track is 1.5 miles away). Tomorrow, perhaps?

Finally, (yes, I’m almost done with this ridic post), our marathon registration booklets arrived yesterday. This is really happening in less than a month. Time to really pick up the mental prep. Any recs on inspiring reads?