Week 14: Shins and Girl Issues

Week 14 wasn't my best week. Basically after my 19 miler I ran a speedy 5 miler, and ever since my shins have been giving me some trouble. Nothing horrible but enough that I've backed off the speed workouts, cut down on my mileage and started wearing Taber's compression socks during and after all my runs.

 (I guess fitting in my hubby's compression socks is one of the benefits of having huge calves ; ) I also think I need to get some new shoes since I just looked on Runkeeper and I've run 547 miles since I bought my last ones. So yeah, hopefully switching up the shoes will help the situation. 

Warning: If talking about female monthly issues makes you uncomfortable, skip the next paragraph: )

Besides my shin trouble I was also dealing with my monthly visitor which majorly threw off my running mojo. PMS hormones make me weepy and turn me into a sugar monster. I seriously ate so much junk last week it is disgusting. I also get horrible cramps which makes running tough too. Guys are so lucky they don't have to deal with that. It is horrible!! Anyway, I'm a little concerned that my monthly visitor's next projected visit falls right during marathon week! Blah! I do not want to run 26.2 miles wearing a tampon or a bulky pad. I'm praying it's late, or early, or doesn't come at all. That would be awesome.

Despite those little setbacks I did have a huge highlight this week when I knocked out 12 miles in 1:40:15. I ran outside on a hilly course but pushed myself hard and was pumped to see my average pace was 8:20! Taber of course saw that I did that and had to go out and run it even faster with an average pace of 8:15.  I swear he will never let me hold a PR in this house! ; ) It's all good though, a little friendly competition keeps us on our toes : ) 

 This week we've got our big 20 miler and then it's finally taper time, THANK GOODNESS! I'm so ready for short easy runs.

Here's my workout summary:

Monday: 

a fast 5 miles at a 1 incline: avg pace 7:57 (this is the run that sparked the shin pain)

Tuesday: 

8 miles on the treadmill, shins were bugging so I dropped the incline to 0. avg pace: 8:31

Thursday:

5 miles on the treadmill, 0 incline because of my shins. Avg pace: 8:41

Friday: 

12 miles outside: avg pace 8:20- my shins and knees definitely felt it after this run so I took the next 2 days off and have been going easy ever since.

Week 13: Bruises, Doubts, and Confidence

 Last week I took a ridiculous fall that bruised the heck out of my knee. I was parked on a steep hill and as I was climbing down from my car I slipped and fell and my knee slammed hard into a metal rod. It hurt really bad and started to bruise and swell right away. I was SO mad because I've been so careful in my training to avoid injury and then in one split second I bust my stupid knee.

 Here's a picture of the worst side of the bruising, there was a smaller bruise on the other side too. It hurt like the devil and filled me with doubts. 

The biggest doubt being whether I can really run a sub 4 marathon. Lately I've just been feeling like that was a pretty lofty goal for myself and wondering if my training has been inadequate considering my goal. I've been following Hal Higdon's Novice 2 marathon program, and while I've been spot on and haven't missed a run, it's not that demanding of a schedule. I'm only running 35-38 miles a week and my biggest week will be 40 miles. When Taber trained for Hartford he was doing 40-45 miles a week and sometimes hitting 50. 

Also I've had to do the majority of my runs on the treadmill which is a lot easier than running outside and I worry that will affect my marathon pace as well. I do try to keep it at a 1 incline to add a little resistance but it's still not the same. 

So yeah, the bruised knee + creeping doubts left me feeling a little insecure about my whole sub 4 marathon goal.  The knee thing happened the day before I was supposed to run my 19 miler and I wasn't sure if I should run but I didn't really have a lot of options. Friday was the only day I could do my long run because the rest of our weekend was jam packed, so I iced my knee all day and the next morning I set out for my run. I decided to do a 9 mile loop to start with and if the knee felt okay I would do a 5 mile out and back to get the other 10 miles.

The 9 mile loop was pretty hilly and my knee started throbbing as I climbed up and down those big hills. When I finished the loop I was debating whether or not to keep going but I decided to go on and if it got bad I could just turn around sooner.  The out and back course I picked was much much flatter than the 9 mile loop and once I got going my knee actually felt great. The throbbing faded away and I settled into a good pace. I pushed through the last 5 miles and my legs were pretty tired at the end but I finished 19 miles, the longest I've ever run by myself, and it gave me a huge boost of confidence that I desperately needed! Here are my splits: 

My average pace was a 9:00 min mile exactly. If I can just hold onto that for 7 more miles a sub 4 could actually be in my future! I was pretty dead at the end but maybe on marathon day I'll have some extra adrenaline to fuel me on. That's what I'm hoping for anyway : )

Here's what the rest of my week looked like:

Monday:

5 miles of interval sprints. Ran the sprints at a 7:03 pace and the recovery laps at a 8:34 pace. Overall avg. pace: 7:47

20 min Pilates

Tuesday:

5 mile tempo run: avg pace 8:08

Wednesday:

5 mile run at a 1 incline for the first 4 miles then upped it to a 3 for .5 and a 5 to finish with a climb. Avg pace: 8:34

Thursday:

30 day Shred Level 3

Friday:

19 miles outside: Avg pace: 9:00

This week I only have to do a 12 miler for my long run to taper back a little before my 20 miler next week. I'm looking forward to a little less mileage : )

And I'll leave you with a little Valentines cuteness from the Rigg Kids. Sure love those munchkins ; )

Week 12: Food and marathon training

So if you know me, you know that I love food. Like, really really love it. And I would definitely have to say that one of my favorite parts of marathon training is getting to eat so many extra calories every day. After a long run I'm looking at about 1200 bonus calories that get to go in my belly. If I was more disciplined I'd probably use those calories to eat stuff like organic vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats, but mostly I just want to use them for desserts : )

So I made these bad boys the other day and Mmm...mmm... they were good.

 and I ate a fat slice of this heavenly creation

And I've been treating myself to a bowl of ice cream every night for the past straight 30 days or so because it just feels like the right thing to do. 

So yeah, my cute mom called me the other day and was all worried and concerned that I wasn't eating enough with all the running I'm doing, so Mom, I just wanted to assure you that I'm getting plenty of calories, good healthy ones and some naughty little indulgent ones too : )

One thing that has helped me make sure I'm eating enough is the MyfitnessPal app I talked about a little while ago. Originally I used the app to lose the 5 lbs I put on during the holidays, but once I got to my goal weight I started using it to make sure I eat all the calories I burn in my workouts. It's pretty awesome and I just started making my daily food diaries public so Mom, if you want to know exactly what I'm eating you can check it out on there.  : ) And if anyone else is using MyFitnessPal please add me! My screen name is beccarigg. I love having other people on there to motivate me, it's awesome!

Anyway, here's a quick summary of week 12. (Just 6 weeks to go!)

Monday:

5 miles on the treadmill with a 1 incline. avg pace 8:25

30 Day Shred level 2

Tuesday:

8 miles on the treadmill, struggled with this run but finished with an avg pace of 8:36

Wednesday:

30 day Shred level 3 (level 3 is so much harder than level 2!  I was sore for the rest of the week!)

20 minute Pilates

Thursday:

5 miles of interval sprints on the treadmill. Ran 10, 2 minute sprints at a 7:03 pace with 2 minutes in between each sprint for recovery at a 8:34 pace. Avg pace was 7:48. Awesome workout!

Friday:

Ran 13 miles on a new route with my friend Kelly. She took us on some good hills that really kicked my booty. The weather was gorgeous though (loving this mild winter) and our avg. pace was 9:11.

Looking forward to a big 19 miler this week. I have to run it alone so I'm trying to decide if I want to do 9.5 miles out and back, or if I want to do a 2.5 mile loop near my house 8 times. The out and back sounds less monotonous but I get nervous running that far away by myself. Still not sure what I'll do, if anyone has an opinion either way let me know!