Day 33

Day 33

Today I got up and ran 7 miles before work! Wowsers! I have to say I am tired but I feel better than I did on Tuesday, the first time I did the 7 miler. First of all my legs feel much better. I think my leg workouts have helped a lot and I have been stretching out a lot as well.

I started out with a one mile run with my dog. Then I ran 6 miles. I stopped with 1.5 to go to stretch out but the whole thing went really well. There were a few times where I could tell I was losing my technique, so I turned off my music and focused a lot on how I was running. I was running pretty fast too! My average was around 11 minute miles, which is great because typically I am closer to 12. My guess for the marathon was 11 minute miles and I may right there. Now that my husband is doing it with me, I have less control over time, at the same time my husband generally has been faster than me when training. But I will have logged more miles than him by the time we get there, so I may be in better shape. We will see! My goal is to finish...the only advantage to running it faster is that it will be done sooner! lol

Tomorrow is 14 miles! Eeek! That is the farthest I have EVER ran! It actually ties the farthest I have ever ran so I will let you know how it goes! Ciao!

Day 31 and 32

Day 31

Yesterday was a 4 miler and I decided to run it in the afternoon. I woke up several times the night before including one time with a low fever. Generally I felt terrible the night before and decided to take the morning off. That seemed to work out well for me because I felt pretty good all day. 

So, I did my 4 miler after work yesterday. It was HOT. I was slightly freaked out by my right leg hurting so badly the day before and so I let myself run really really slow. I had fun imagining who lived in each house, haha! I would think in my head which ones I would fix up, which ones were new, which ones were old and renovated. I had a good time. The bad thing was at the end my left hip was hurting which is generally a sign (For me) of a tight IT band. That is NOT a good thing for me. It has taken me out of running before, but the good thing is I know the sign of it and I know how to begin fixing it and that is by doing more quad and glute exercises. I have been doing them once or twice a week, but I guess that isn't enough. 

Day 32

Today is my rest day so I slept in again this morning and I honestly feel pretty good. I can still tell my body is tired though and I think it is important that I truly make today a rest day. However, since yesterday I found out my legs need more work, I am definitely going to get in a good leg workout today. My plan is to do a lot of squats and jumpies. Maybe even a few kettle bell swings. I will probably start doing my squats every day besides my long run days to make sure I keep that part of my body strong. I will let you know if I do anything different today. Ciao!

Day 26, Day 27, Day 28, Day 29, and Day 30

I got behind again...ooopsies.

Day 26

This was my only 6 mile run for the week and it was relatively easy. I did not run it too hard and felt strong for the whole thing. I ran a mile with my dog and then 5 on my own.

Day 27

This was my 9 miler and I started late. I was really tired and knowing that I only had a 9 mile run, I figured I could sleep a little later than normal. Normally I would get up, run a mile with my dog, then run however far I needed to go that husband wouldn't run with me, and then finally run with my husband. But on this day, I woke up and woke my husband up to run...he let me know he was frustrated we were starting so late since it gets so hot. I wasn't too worried about it because the night before we had a huge storm, I figured it wouldn't be too bad out side. It wasn't. 

We ran in the shade and easily finished the 7 miles together. Towards the end the sun was high in the sky and we started to feel pretty hot. At the end of that I turned around and finished out my last 2 miles. At this point I was hurting...I was hot, thirsty, and hungry. But I made it through and knew it was just part of the training process, pushing through when you are not feeling your best.

Day 28

This was cross-training day! I was not completely sure what I would do for my workout. I was still tired and so I waited to do my workout later in the day. I did a circuit that added up to 200 jumpies and 5 sets of ab work. Later in the evening, I felt a little better and so I did 75 lunges, 100 kettle bell swings, and 125 pushups. Overall, I think I did a pretty decent workout, even if it was spread out.

Day 29

This began my hardest week, yet! All of my daily miles went up this week and this day was a 4 mile run. I did the 4 miles straight through with a stretch break at 2 miles down. I felt strong for the run but felt a little tired. I think it was extra humid yesterday morning too, which didn't help.

Day 30

Finally we have reached today! I had a 7 mile run today. YIKES! I have to admit, I was nervous about this run. I had a terrible time falling asleep, even though I felt exhausted, but actually woke up pretty easily. My husband decided to run part of it with me, so I woke him up when I was taking off with the dog to run the first mile. 

He wasn't ready when I got back, so I ran the next two miles. My calf and foot were hurting pretty badly for the mile run with my dog so I was a little nervous about running 6 more miles on it. So, although I was a little annoyed that my husband was not ready to run when I got back, breaking it up by running 2 miles first was probably not a terrible idea. My calf and foot felt better for that part and then again didn't hurt too badly for the last 4 miles I did with my husband. 

They are definitely sore now though. I think my foot muscles and calf muscles are a little tight from running badly in my toe shoes. See, if I pound too hard on the pavement, my feet hurt because I have no support. I normally focus a lot on running lightly, but sometimes when I get tired or want to push my speed, I fall back on pounding on the pavement. Yesterday I challenged myself to run a little faster, so I probably slacked on my technique. I was much better today, but I am not completely sure if I should run tomorrow...

We'll see how it goes today. Ciao!

Day 25

Day 25

Rest day :) I slept in an hour later than normal and that did not feel like enough sleep...blahhh. This busy week is getting to me. I may take my dog on a long walk tonight and I might do a little weight circuit tonight, we will see. It was nice not having to get up and run though :)

Finding a hotel in Savannah is ridiculous. I am almost ready to give up. I would if my husband wasn't so grumpy about the idea of having to drive to the starting line rather than walk...but I am starting to get over the idea of pleasing him. lol  Ciao!                  

Day 24

Day 24

 Today was a 3 miler and it was fairly uneventful, except I didn't want to get up :). My husband went shrimping last night so he got home really late. I was barely asleep when he got home and of course I woke up when he came in. It was after midnight when he got home so when my 6 am alarm went off, the only thing that MADE me get up to run this morning was knowing that I have dinner plans with my dad and siblings tonight...so I wouldn't have time to run.

Anyway, I think I ran it kinda slow, but I am a lot less sore than I was yesterday, YAY! Tomorrow is rest day, yay! Friday, a 6 miler, then Saturday a 9 miler. So, this is basically my easy week. I started trying to make arrangements for a hotel for the Savannah marathon and I feel like such an IDIOT for waiting so long to make a hotel reservation. I have 3 months left but there is NOTHING available close by. Ugh...I am hoping for a cancellation at this point...Ciao!

Day 23

Day 23

Oh boy, I did not want to wake up this morning. It is about 2 pm and I am super barfy...blahh...

Anyway, I did get up! And I started out running with puppy dog for a mile. I almost convinced myself to wait to run the other 4 because it was incredibly smoky outside and smoke is not good for your lungs! But, then I saw that lots of other people were out cycling and running so I decided, if they can handle it, I can too.

So I started out on my 4 miles, about 1.3 miles into it, it started to rain. Not bad rain, just sprinkling, BUT I had my iPhone with me. I did not want that thing to get wet. I have a super duper tough case on it, the OtterBox Defender, but I didn't want to risk it. Luckily I was not far away, I had done the first part of my run weaving around blocks so I had racked up some mileage but was only about a quarter of a mile away from home. So I sprinted home to drop off my phone. 

Sure enough, I leave to finish out my run and it STOPS RAINING. So, all of that effort for nothing. Oh well. My phone is safe and I finished the run easily. 

I do have to say that my legs were KILLING ME! It felt like my but had rocks in it and when I ran they were poking out of my skin. That workout on Sunday kicked my butt! It did yesterday too but since I blogged before my 3 mile run, I didn't mention it. Basically these past two days have showed me I have to keep up the lifting during my training weeks or else I may hurt myself. That is all for now! Ciao!

Day 18, 19, 20, 21, & 22

Yikes, I got behind again!

Day 18

Today was my rest day...I thought about making up my three mile run that I was supposed to do the day before when I made up Tuesday's 6 mile run...but I changed my mind. I had my Ultra Sound for my gall bladder and couldn't eat before 9 am...so I didn't want to run before it. Then I found out my grandfather is dying...so by the end of the day I was donezo...I wasn't working out, I wasn't cooking...done. 

Day 19

My friend Liz and her adorable son, Collin, came in town for breakfast at 7:30 am so I woke up at about 5:15 am (ouch!) and did my 6 mile run - a mile with my dog and 5 on my own. I was happy I got myself out of bed! And the run went really well, which was also great.

Day 20

This run went pretty well! 12 miles, wowsers. At the end of it honestly my feet hurt, but they were fine after an hour or so, which is a good sign. Here is how it went:

1st mile - with my dog. I started out at about 5:50 am because I wanted to do this run early before it got too hot. 

9 miles - This I did with my husband and it was super slow, but honestly super easy for me. After my first mile with the dog I got a little bit of a sick stomach like last week but once that was over with and we started the 9, I was totally fine. Didn't even need all of my gatorade and gave some of my portion to my husband...who was not doing so hot...that was why we were slowww. He started feeling bad, so we slowed down, but he made it through the 9 miles!

Last 2 miles - When we finished the 9, my husband headed towards our building doors and I kept running. I took no break between the 9 and 2, just a quick water/ stretch break after mile 1 and then I finished the last mile sore but strong. I only felt like taking a break because I ran my last mile with my husband without a break and we ran it harder than the rest....plus it was getting realllly hot (we didn't start the beginning of the 9 until about 7...ugh...which was frustrating since I had gotten up so early, but oh well...) 

Anyway, I did all 12 and felt good about it! 

Day 21

Today was cross training day! I did a decent job cross training by doing a weight circuit at home and honestly today my legs and butt are SORE!

I did 200 jumpies, 125 lunges, 125 pushups, 100 kettle bell swings with 45 pounds, and 4 sets of abwork. It took me about an hour, so not a bad cross training day. 

Day 22

Well, this morning did not go as planned...I set my alarm for 15 minutes before I needed to get up then I reset it for the correct time...or so I thought..Turns out I hadn't, and I woke up too late to run, grrr. So technically I have not done today's 3 mile run yet...but my plan is to do it after work today. :) Tomorrow I will be back to running in the morning...