A Future Maniac

I've got crazy plans for running this spring. Before that, though, is the cliche new year's round-up of last year's running:

9 races

2 first place age group finishes

6 personal records

1 DNF marathon

1 most awesome marathon

3 half-marathons

3 new countries on my Garmin Connect history

1498.56 miles run

It would have been cool to have run 2000 miles or a nice, even 1500, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy. I ran about 70 miles more than in 2012 and I'm completely over the Cleveland DNF back in May. Now I look forward to an even more awesome year ahead.

That brings me to my abovementioned crazy plans. My big goal is to become a Marathon Maniac.

Marathon Maniacs do crazy things (http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/are-you-a-marathon-maniac/maniac-criteria). I've got my sights set at the entry level here:

What led me to attempt this? Foremost I want a new type of challenge without going entirely insane and running an ultra--I have no interest in that. Second, I love running the marathon distance. I don't know if I've ever actually said that, mostly because I feel like it's a weird thing to enjoy. Also, I run with some cynical folks who capitalize on such statements with condescention and discouragement.

We're so over marathons.

You're new to running and therefore naïve.

It must be nice to still have the time to train for marathons.

I just realized that I've got enough fodder for an entire post about running negativity.

Anywho, here I am stating it proudly and nervously: I am going to run two marathons in as many weeks. And now I have to poop. Those who know me well know that I need to poop when I get nervous.

The races:

Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon on April 19th

Glass City Marathon on April 27th

We learned about the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon while at the Chicago Marathon expo and Joe had been pushing for us to run it ever since. I'm not too pumped for the non-flatness, but Joe is really excited to run a lap on Churchill Downs. Oh yeah, that means that Joe is also running the full. I could see us running this one together, since we're running it for more of a fun, destination marathon.

Regarding Glass City, Joe and I initially thought we'd be running the relay with our running group, but it has really fallen apart since running Chicago back in October. It's kinda sad, but such is life. After I ran Glass City as my first full back in 2012 I am fairly certain that I said I'd never run that full again. Not that I had anything against it, but I think I wanted to just try new things. Now I'm ready to try it again. Also, the directors have slightly changed the route (less bike trail = good). With the itch to become a Marathon Maniac and Joe's fervor to run the KDF Marathon, all signs pointed to Glass City. Side note: Joe is running the half.

And that's my crazy plan. I will run two marathons in April. Now I just need the right training plan to get me there.

17 Miles in the Low Country

My 17-miler took me past this:

And this:

And this:

On the morning of my cousin's wedding, I managed to squeeze in an awesome 17-miler. Before setting out, I doubted that I'd make it the entire 17 miles. I was up late the night before shucking oysters (which I learned that I do like roasted) and drinking bubbly and beer, then I needed to be so fresh and so clean and at the spa  ready to be beautified at 10:00AM. I woke up around 5:30AM, Joe got up just after 6:00, and we were running shortly before 6:30. He stuck with me for the first 10 miles, which helped so much namely because I really needed motivation to get started. It's always easier when you're with a buddy, especially on long runs.

We were at the Ford Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. Prior to arriving on Friday, I attempted to map out my run, but I couldn't seem to find enough road to make up anything interesting. We learned upon arrival that the cart path on the golf course is accessible to runners, there is a 2+ mile levee/dike/dyke/slave-built bridge connecting each end of the plantation, and that there are 13 miles of road. With some creativity, dodging of horse apples, and swinging through a few holes of the golf course a couple of times, 17.03 miles were complete. At a good training pace, might I add! 8:51 per mile.

And then, I got hair-sprayed, airbrushed, and fake eyelashes.

Oh yeah, and I drank champagne all day.

Long Runs: Great Success

It's the middle of training week 8 for CLE. Things are looking good; I've been reaching my planned weekly mileage, long runs have been solid, and I'm feeling improvements. Unfortunately, I haven't done any speedwork since Yassos a few of weeks ago. I can only blame myself for that--because I haven't designated speedwork days on my Excel document of this training plan, I've failed to think of doing it. I could do that now, but...

Anywho, I had a super-duper accomplishment two weekends ago. I arrived in Atlanta at 11:30PM on that Friday night, got to our accommodations around 1:00AM, and was awake until 3:00AM, listening to drunk groomsmen singing outside of our room. I woke up around 7:00AM, wide awake, and found my way to the resort's fitness center for a treadmill run. My scheduled long run was 10 miles, but I only anticipated running 7. Well, really, I anticipated doing 3 or 4, but I told myself that I would not step off of that treadmill until I hit at least 7. The last time I ran on a treadmill, nearly one year ago, I barely made it 4 miles. It was so boring. Despite my sleep shortage, the stars must have been aligned just right on the night prior, because I banged out 10 treadmill miles.

And I could have run more.

I felt like a million bucks for the rest of the day, and I attribute it to accomplishing more on that treadmill than I expected. It also helped me to feel less guilt about all of the wine, miniature crab cakes, steak, and salmon that I consumed later in the day.

This past Sunday was my longest run yet at 16 miles. On Saturday night, I had a couple of double IPAs, lots of very cheesy bread, and ribs. I was clearly not thinking about the condition in which I'd find myself the next morning. Those two beers knocked me out, so I was asleep, according to Joe, by 9:00PM. I don't know if it was going to bed so early or the champion-combination dinner I had, but I ran my entire 16-miler feeling pretty good about myself. The first 10-ish were with Joe and Rob, then I trekked solo around Perrysburg for my last 6. Here are my splits, those positive in bold:

9:04, 8:56, 8:49, 8:56, 8:46, 9:08, 9:34, 9:06, 8:58, 8:41, 8:39, 8:37, 8:35, 8:32, 8:43, 8:22, 0:17 (.03)
Total time: 2:21:44
Total miles: 16.03

I'm happy with those splits, especially for my longest run yet in training. I fueled with a couple of Clif Shots, the first I think in mile 5 and the second around mile 11.5, which I think I planned perfectly. I did struggle a little bit in miles 6 and 7, but I think it was just getting myself going again after taking a water and fuel break. Those Clif Shots are definitely where it's at.

This weekend is going to be a real challenge. I am in a wedding, so I'm not sure if my long run is going to happen on Sunday morning. I'm thinking about doing it on Saturday morning before all of the pre-wedding beautification treatments begin at 10:00AM. If I am going to do that, I'll need to be up and running by 7:00AM. That'll mean that I need to behave on Friday night at the rehearsal dinner. Here's hoping that I can continue to maintain awesomeness from the previous two long runs...

Closer to 26.2

I hit a milestone today, running my longest distance ever: EIGHTEEN MILES!  And as I type, Joe is out doing 8 miles, which is going to get him to a milestone as well--his first 30+ mile week!  Pretty awesome for someone who works easily 50-60 hours per week, has MBA classes until 9:00PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, AND wakes up at 5:00AM every day to get in an intense 1-hour P90X workout.  The half marathon is going to be a piece of cake for him.

Here's the week in training:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 7.54 miles @ 8:42 minutes/mile
Wednesday: 2.89 @ 7:26
Thursday: 5.13* @ 7:58
Friday: 4.83 @ 8:50
Saturday: 7.95 @ 8:59
Sunday: 18.07 @ 9:03
Total: 46.41 miles

It was a wild weather week.  Wednesday was almost 60 degrees and sunny.  I had planned on doing 5-6 miles after school, but changed my mind to run a 2.9-mile, 6:29PM Leap Day race at Levis.  There was a good turnout, I bet largely due to the weather.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt.  I REALLY LIKE winter, but it was pretty sweet for it to feel like a late April day on the last day of February.  Results still aren't online (BOO, TOLEDO ROADRUNNERS!  BOO!), but my Garmin said I finished in 21:30.  Not my fastest three miler, but I was happy with it.

Thursday's run at Levis was actually 5.5, according to Rob, but I didn't get outside and give my Garmin enough time to find satellites, so for nearly a half-mile of running I was waiting on that.  Pace wasn't too bad, but I regret not sticking it out for 6 miles.

And today?  Today I ran 18 miles.  I know, I know, it's not a huge deal...to you.  But I feel AWESOME about it.  This is huge for me.  Last week, I was supposed to do 17 miles and only did 15.22 due to poor (no) route planning.  Yesterday I mapped out an 18+ mile run, but changed up things this morning and still managed to do just over 18.  I think it's because I didn't do it last week, part of me thought, "Krista, you're going to come short of 18."  But that didn't happen.  I did run 18 miles this morning.  I definitely didn't kill it on pace, but my splits were all pretty close to even.

I need to think more about fueling.  I only bought one gel to try, totally not thinking about the fact that I'd need to fuel more than once during such a long run.  I had a chocolate chip cookie and a small glass of water just before heading out the door.  I got to Tammy's at about 2.5 miles and had another small glass of water.  At about 6.5 miles, I had a Power Bar Kona Punch gel and some water.  At 11.5, I had another small glass of water and then nothing more until the end of the run.  For my next long run, my plan is a Power Bar gel every five miles.  I'm going to stick with Power Bar because it's really thin, unlike Gu.  Any flavor suggestions or warnings?  How often do you fuel on a long run?

Marathon training--10.5 weeks out

After a lot of strong encouragement, I am going to try to follow a structured marathon training plan.  I think last week was "Krista, you're worrying us"-week.  I came down with what I thought was a sinus infection on Sunday (1/29).  I had planned to do 8 miles with Becky Monday at 6:00PM, but just before 5:00PM I was struck with the worst pain I've experienced in my life.  It got exciting here, as I had Joe call 9-1-1 after about 30 minutes of hell.  EMTs came.  All of my vitals were really normal (plus, they mentioned that I "definitely" am a runner based off of my heart rate, which made me feel awesome mentally).  I opted to not go to the hospital, the pain subsided temporarily after about an hour, and then it came back twice later that evening.  Haven't felt it since then, but I'm pretty sure it was a kidney stone.

After all of that pain, Tuesday had me feeling like I had the crap kicked out of me, so took a second rest day.  On Wednesday evening I was feeling good and wanted to make up for what I missed, so after work I did almost 11.5 miles.  Thursday was my first real attempt at speed work.  I did the usual Friday and Saturday morning runs, with Saturday cut shorter than my planned 16 miles.  I had been in desperate need of new shoes and on Friday I started feeling some ankle and shin pain in my left leg, so I stopped at 8 miles on Saturday and went over to Dave's for a new pair (same that I was wearing before).  Sunday was shot thanks to wine, Patron, and Mexican food the night before.  Bad idea jeans.  Here are the numbers for 1/30 through 2/5:

Monday: Nada
Tuesday: Zilch
Wednesday: 11.45 miles @ 8:22
Thursday: 3 @ 7:40
Friday: 4.33 @ 9:18
Saturday: 8 @ 9:07
Sunday: Nada
Total: 26.78

I felt kind of defeated with 3 "rest" days in a week, but there was no way I would have made it out Monday and Tuesday I needed to take care of myself.  On Sunday, I paid for it and was actually hungover until Monday evening.

This week has been better.

Monday: 7.05 @ 8:43
Tuesday: 6.02 @ 8:47
Wednesday: 5.71 @ 9:01...not so bueno
Tonight: 3.03 @ 7:34
Projected for
Tomorrow: 5-6
Saturday: 15
Sunday: 8
Goal total: 40ish+

I'm heading out now to do three miles, hoping to do something like the 23:00 three-miler I did last Thursday evening.  I should hit over 40 miles in a week for the first time.  Joe is kicking butt at training for the half.  AND he's way better at pull-ups than I will ever be.