Weeks 15 and 16: LIFE IS BUSY!! 20 Miler, and Taper Time

Life has been busy. BEYOND busy. So yeah, I guess blogging has kind of fallen to the back burner.

With both of us training for the marathon, that eats up a lot of our time.

 

We've also been doing play practices for Savior of the World every Friday night and Saturday morning which has been all consuming. Memorizing lines, working on music, rehearsing for 4 hour blocks, it keeps us busy.  (This is a pic I snapped of some of the cast during rehearsal)

Here's a little peak at one of Taber's scenes as Eli the shepherd. I'll post more pics when we start doing dress rehearsals so you can see us in costume. Anyway, the play is going to be AMAZING and I don't regret doing it for one second, but it just takes up a lot of time.

I was also busy the last 2 weeks planning a birthday party for this peanut. She turned 6 and wanted makeovers, rainbows, and unicorns.

All the girls got their hair and make up done and then posed for some fashion shots.

They decorated unicorn horns

And had rainbow unicorn cake

I knew with my time crunched schedule I couldn't pull off the rainbow cake Teya wanted so my awesome friend ended up making it for me and it came out perfect and so so yummy!

So yeah, that's why I haven't blogged in awhile. But here's a quick recap of the last 2 weeks in training:

Week 15:

Monday:

5 miles on treadmill: avg pace 8:34

Tuesday:

30 day Shred level 2

Pilates

Wednesday:

5 miles on treadmill w/compression socks for my shins. Avg pace: 8:41

Thursday:

30 Day Shred level 2

Friday:

5 miles on treadmill: went all hard to see how my shins would do. Avg pace 7:56 and the legs felt great.

Saturday:

20 MILER OUTSIDE!!! WOOOOOOT! Avg pace: 9:32

I could do a whole long post about the 20 miler but I'll try to sum it up as quickly as I can for you.
On Saturday we got a babysitter after play practice so we could run together. We started at 3:30 pm and it was WINDY! like 20-25 mph winds with 30-40mph gusts. We ran the first 9 miles on our normal hilly route, keeping around a 9:15 pace. We stopped back at the house at mile 9 and I ran in to use the bathroom but kept my watch going because in the marathon you can't pause the clock when you go potty. So yeah, tried to go as fast as I could and then we started back out again.

Second half the sun started going down and I was a lot colder. We did an out and back for the last 11 miles that is relatively flat (for New England ; ) and that was nice on the legs. The sun went down around mile 14 and we ran the last 6 miles in the dark. Taber had a reflective vest and headlamp on but we still had to slow down a bit to avoid tripping or falling. The last 2 miles were really challenging for me mentally but Taber kept pushing me on with positive encouragement.  His positive words helped and for the last 1/2 mile I started chanting out loud, "I CAN DO THIS! I AM STRONG! I CAN DO THIS! I AM STRONG!" We finished mile 20 at a 9:05 pace, which is my goal pace for the marathon. As dead as I felt after that run, it was encouraging to run a negative split at the end.

My legs were hashed afterwards. My left knee hurt and my right IT band was painfully tight and inflammed. I stretched and foam rolled and rubbed ice on my IT bands but I still took 2 solid days off before I tried to run again.

Which brings me to WEEK 16:


Tuesday:
eased back into it with a slow 3 1/2 miler at a 10:10 pace. Was supposed to do 5 but the legs felt testy so I jumped off after 3.5.

Wednesday:
After 3 days of intense stretching, rolling and icing I tried another 3 miler and it felt a lot better. Avg. pace was 9:15

Saturday:
Took two more days off then I tried my long run and managed to pull off a 12 miler at an 8:45 pace. That run was a testament to me of the value of taking time off and really following the Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation rules.

I ran alone in the snow while my friend watched the kids. My legs felt a little heavy but my knees, IT bands and shins all held up so I think it's safe to say I will actually make it to the starting line INJURY FREE!!!! 10 Days till the marathon people, I'm getting excited!