oh the choices!

I absolutely love getting the mail. It's something about the unknown of what could be in that little silver box. Usually I'm disappointed with junk mail and bills or the mail person not delivering necessary items on time but not today. Today I arrived home from my morning long run (16 slow miles) ready to relax. The hubs is golfing all day and my condo is actually clean since we had friends staying the night last night so I actually have free time for me. I was thinking of taking the computer to my front porch to catch up on blogs but then I opened our mail slot to find this...

I hit the mail jackpot today! Now I need to figure out what to start out with on my lazy day of reading. I'm thinking Tom and Amy's advance copy of The Ultimate Runner may be a good one to enjoy on my front patio this afternoon.

It's a good Saturday I only wish could be longer! A long run in the morning, reading and relaxing all afternoon, and Craig Ferguson's stand-up show at the Chicago Theatre tonight!

taper time

While my left lower leg isn't 100% recovered the difference between 2 weekends ago and this past week is huge. I guess RICE and some athletic taping really does work ;) Usually I'm not very good about ice, or generally taking care of my injuries, but I freaked myself out over this one and have been good about icing and elevating while catching up on some favorite shows. I hit all my scheduled miles last week that included a very tough 10 miles with 4 x 1200 meters at my 5K (puke threshold reached) and a nearly enjoyable 20 miles (a slow 20 that I really didn't want to do at all but then after 4 miles found myself really enjoying the distance). So a high of 52 miles last week with little to absolutely no leg pain during the runs! Yea! So I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and hope it takes me through to May 16th.

And now it is time to TAPER!

I'll try to keep the crazy taper thoughts to a minimum around here. Maybe work will continue to stress me out so I don't have much time for the taper craziness. Not that I want work to stress me out (even though that's all it seems to be able to do as of late) but it may help in this instance.

rest days

This weekend I spent a lot of time laying on the couch with a leg up. Though, I nearly froze that leg off with the bags of ice I went through. My lower leg pain which has only been a slight annoyance so far made itself known after Saturday's 17 miles. In fact other than my leg pain the rest of me felt fantastic following the run. I decided it was in my best interest to skip Sunday's run to rest and ice. Although I did go to the gym for some weights (for the first time in long time) and the stationary bike. The leg is feeling better today but I'm taking another rest day and keeping my fingers crossed it is even better tomorrow. I know I won't be 100% but I'm holding out for bearable and no further damage. I'm feeling guilty missing some miles and I really don't want to miss any more!

How do you "get over" the guilty feeling on missing miles during training?

Right now I'm telling myself my body needs the rest/low impact days more than the miles on my legs. I want to show up healthy and ready, not hurting!

cravings

We all know when we amp up the mileage or change up the training our hunger can become out of control. I don't think I've been full in weeks. My work bag is stuffed full of fruit and granola bars that travel easy. It's kind of out of control. In addition to the hunger I also get ridiculous cravings and I can't focus on anything else! Usually it's avocados... I want them on or with everything. Tonight I made guacamole to go with our Argentinean steak meal and last night I was upset when the avocados my husband bought weren't ripe enough to add to our salad pizza dinner. I nearly went back out to find acceptable avocados but realized that was a bit nuts.

So am I alone in this weird training craving or do you find yourself craving certain foods too?

Training Update:

Although I do have a couple day trips this week they have fallen on my rest/cross-training days so I am able to stick closely to my running schedule. Though it would be nice to have a cross-training day that includes something other than running through airports!

Tuesday I had 8 miles with 5 x 600 meters at 5K pace. I was nervous heading out but nailed this workout! My legs were feeling the need for some speed (well as speedy as I get). I was consistent in all 5 repeats with my slowest being the 3rd repeat. It was still only 2 seconds off the fastest. Very happy with this workout!

Wednesday I had 11 miles and even though it warmed up a bit I turned these out at a very extremely consistent pace just under 10 minute miles.

Overall a good first two days of training this week :)

50 is fabulous

Apparently when one turns 50 you party like you just turned 21. The only difference is you hurt a lot worse the next day! I think all of us "kids" did a great job with the decorating and Dad did great taking care of the bill (as usual) ;) Plus Barbie was surprised! That's all you can ask for is that the birthday girl is surprised at her surprise party!

pink and black candy table - a big hit as the night went on!

cupcakes made from scratch (courtesy of her daughter-in-law)

Surprise!

Barb's daughter, my sister, Barb's DIL, and me - the party decorators

sisters!

It was a good weekend home that ended with a very uncomfortable trip back to Chicago thanks to a couple too many vodka and soda's Saturday night. My Monday flight to Springfield, MO was a tough one after getting home so late Sunday!

I was able to get 1 more run in on Saturday before the festivities began. A 6 miler around Medina. I always thought Medina was so big but not so much. I ran a loop through the town and township and hit a major portion of the "city" on my 6 miler. Not as big as I thought :) But still a fun way to see how much my little town has grown over the years! After the run my left lower leg was killing me. I think I did something to a tendon because it hurts in flats but it much better in heels. My feet didn't feel better in my heels though. I had another 5 miles I needed to get in per the schedule but because of my leg pain and general body pain from too much partying I figured it best to rest and ice. So I didn't hit my desired mileage but I'm not feeling too bad about it. It was still a 50 mile week!

this week

What a crazy week! I am back in my hometown in Ohio right now for my step mom's big 5-0. And yes she is so young! I looped it with a work trip so there is a lot going on right now.

I realized on my Tuesday run that I never "officially" said what I was training for. And Kim left a comment asking if I had officially announced a race. I realized that while I had a goal in my head I had not announced it! I started training for the Cleveland Marathon not really sure I would sign up but the cost was going up in April so at the end of March I officially signed up for the Cleveland Marathon again. While I don't expect fabulousness from this race I am excited because there are so many friends and acquaintances running the 10K, half, and full! I love having people I know running (even if it is from high school 13 years ago!) I would love to break 4 hours though I am not sure based off of my training it is going to happen this time around... I am confident in that I know the course and I know my abilities. I hope to not repeat my craptastic showing last year. And my sister is planning on running a few miles with me again!

So this week. I had two back to back 12 milers early in the week. I turned 1 into a 11 easy (Monday right after my intense LR) and the Tuesday run was 12 with 7 at tempo. Whoa mama, that hurt. I had fears and definitely thought there was no way I could run 7 straight miles at my desired 15K pace. It's crazy, every time I see a nutso plan on my schedule I've convinced myself I can't do it. But then I surprise myself and pull something out, amazing or not! As far as Tuesday's tempo, I will say I did take a small break in between some miles to load up on water and bloks but I came close to my desired pace. Not ideal but a heck of a lot better than I thought!

Since I am home in OHIO I knew it would be tough to fit in a 20 miler. So before my 5 1/2 hour drive Thursday I woke up at 5 am to run 20 miles. Originally I was going to run on Friday morning before work but heels after a 20 miles and walking around a hospital seemed much worse than my recovery socks in the car. I am not a morning person or good at early morning running... so my time not so good. BUT... I did it! My legs didn't wake up until 7 miles or so and my time SUCKED. But it was on an early Thursday morning after a previously very long travel day that started at 4 am and ended 17 hours later, (and while holding my bathroom break for nearly 12 miles because all the bathrooms were closed). I only hope I can pick up the pace race day!

I'm not sure what to think of today's run. I'm happy not to be too sore but I still have 11-12 more miles to get done this week. I felt so much better in the later miles but the start was absolutely horrible. I am not sure Cleveland is the venue to break 4 hours. I just hope I can do better than I did last year!

signs of the new season

You may not always be able to tell by the temperature that the seasons are changing. If the weather doesn't always tip a you off (40's one day, 80's the next, back to rain and 50's!) here are some other ways to know winter is on its way out...

most of the faucets are back in! (Along the lakefront they take the faucets out during the freeze your arse off months.)

the bathrooms are open and ready for your business...

the water is no longer frozen and some of the boats are making their way back to the water

flowers!

In other running news I had another windy long run on Sunday. Go figure... The schedule called for 15 miles with 12 at race pace. Because of the headwind on the way South I couldn't quite hit my desired race pace on the first few miles. Overall I ended up with a decent run and my best 2 miles were at 12 and 13! That gave my confidence a little boost.

This week is another busy, busy week. It's my highest mileage week along (including my first 20 of this training cycle) with a couple work trips and a trip home to Ohio for work and family. Not sure if it's all going to come together as I hope but I'm going to do my best. Started off tonight with a 11 mile easy run. The legs felt heavy so I stretched and relaxed the rest of the night. Let's hope that's enough to make them feel like rock stars on Tuesday!