On Thanksgiving morning, Taber and I decided VERY last minute to get up early and run the local Turkey Trot 5K. I figured that somehow those 3 little miles would make all the gluttony of the rest of the day feel justified. : )
It was a great little 5K through the trails at Mine Falls. I'm not used to trail running so it was trickier than I thought navigating some of the thinner paths with rocks and trees. I got off to a slow start but once I got in my groove I started passing people and ended up finishing in 25:55 min (8:12 avg. pace) Taber was about 2 minutes ahead of me finishing around 24 minutes. Not our fastest 5K but good enough for me to say, "bring on the candied sweet potatoes!"
We were home just after 9 am and Taber got to work grilling up the turkey. Taber's parents flew out and our friends from Boston drove up and and we ate and ate and ate and ate, all week long! I wonder if the Tarahumara indians have Thanksgiving? I'm going to pretend they do so I can still claim I'm eating like a Tarahumara, haha!
Seriously though, it was a glorious week of eating and now I'm trying to wean myself off rich buttery carbs and sugary desserts every day. I'm still in the grouchy withdrawal stage ; )
Despite the decadent eating, Week 2 of Marathon Training went well. Here's what it looked like:
Monday : 3 miles of intervals on the treadmill: 8:18 avg. pace
Wednesday: 4 mile tempo run on treadmill: 8:11 avg. pace
Thursday: 3.1 mile trail run outside: 8:12 avg. pace
Saturday: 9 mile hilly course outside: 8:34 avg pace.
The intervals are definitely making me faster, although I probably pushed it a little too hard on my long run. My legs were feeling it the next day. I think I'm going to shoot for closer to a 9 minute pace on my long runs since I heard you were supposed to run your short runs faster and your long runs slower (or something like that)
My feet are doing well without my inserts but I did have a major setback yesterday when the kids begged me to play tickle monster and chase them around the house. We were all running around, screaming and laughing and having a great time. I was really getting into it, taking big strides and then all of a sudden my foot came down hard on one of their blasted little alphabet blocks. I let out a big yelp and then had a Nancy Kerrigan moment, cradling my foot and crying, "WHY ME?" It seriously hurt SO bad! Luckily after some icing it felt a lot better but it's still tender this morning and there's a nice violet bruise in my arch where the block hit.
I think I might take today off or try a really easy run and see how it affects me. Hopefully it won't be a bid deal but I might have developed a new phobia of alphabet blocks after that one almost killed me!
Nice paces! Hope your foot heals up soon.
ReplyDeleteBecca, if you ever want to chat about the run less run faster program, I would love to talk with you. I did that program for the Hartford, CT marathon and knocked around 20 min. Off my time from my previous marathon 4:06 down to 3:47. They are intense workouts and you should follow them and do the long runs just as they say. Do not overtrain or you will injure yourself and not be able to complete the marathon. The hardest part about a marathon is making it there injury free. Trust what the experts are saying. They know what they are talking about. Long runs should be run at a slower pace. Yoga is amazing to do on one of your cross training day. Also, If you ever need someone to run with, I would love to. I try to keep my miles up during the off season around 10-15 miles for my long runs. Just name the time and place.
ReplyDeleteStill laughing about your tickle monster story.. sorry, I know that must have KILLED but your explanation was just so vivid! Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteOkay so when is this marathon?? I must say I'm having a little runner's envy that you're marathon training already, I wanted to run that Top of Utah marathon soo bad in September but it was just too much with moving. So I'm determined to do it next year, but it's a long ways off. But it will be fun to cheer you along through training and get me pumped to do it again. :)
Your training times are amazing, seriously Becca, you are so fast! I almost never run that fast unless it's a race. Not because I don't want to, because I just can't! You've got talent, girl! Can't wait to see how this marathon goes. Your sub 4-hour goal sounds so intimidating to me... I would have to cut almost an hour off my last time to do that!
And one last thing, I've also been doing a lot of interval training lately. It's soo hard but it feels so good when you're done, right??
Okay I see the bruise, but...that's a tiny foot!--Dusty
ReplyDeletegreat 5K! happy t-day and hope your foot feels better!
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at your "Nancy Kerrigan moment" line! Good one;0) but your poor (tiny) foot looks painful! We know all too well about those blasted alphabet blocks, toys, cars, etc. Ha! Hope it feels better soon!
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