Week 1 of Twin Cities Marathon training

I've decided to use this space to track my training for the Twin Cities Marathon. It would be the 4th place I'm tracking (in addition to my running log, my mileage calendar at work, my run/strength training calendar at home), but hey, what's one more?

This is after last year's Twin Cities 10 Mile race, which has been my best race to date. I trained well, I felt strong during the race, I had negative splits and ran pretty aggressively the last 6 miles. While I'd like to think I can repeat that level of performance, 10 miles isn't 26.2. It's an entirely different ball game and I'm not kidding myself. My IT band issue flared up again last winter, and am still shaking off the last lingering effects of that.

I've modified the Green Bay Marathon training plan for this race. The first 3-4 weeks are similar in distance to what I've been doing the past month, and this gives me a level of confidence in my base training. I was worried that my IT band injury was going to leave me at 0 at the beginning of the training plan. I've got 7-8 weeks of base training, in addition to the first 3 weeks of the marathon training. The marathon plan adds an additional day of running per week, but since the daily mileage is similar, I'm not worried about it.

This week so far:
Sat/Sun - off. I decided to take a break and sleep in before 18 weeks of long early weekend runs.
Mon - 3.5 miles, hills. In St. Paul, there's some big elevation gains from the river up to the Cathedral (260 feet). The route follows the last half mile or so of the Twin Cities course, so I like to imagine that I'm finishing the marathon when I do this route.
Tues - 3 miles, and I did some of the physical therapy/strength training routine from my physical therapist and a few yoga stretches for my hips.
Wed - Strength training. I've started using this Nike Training Club app to vary my strength training, since I was getting a bit bored. I'll let you know how I like it. I did the 15 minute Ab Burner workout.

Plans for rest of the week:
Thurs -3 miles, easy. I have to learn how to run easy - every run tends to turn into a tempo run and I have to give myself a break some of the time.
Friday - 3 miles, easy, plus yoga. I actually think my IT band re-flare up from mid May was because I had not gone to yoga for three weeks in a row.
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - rest

just because i can

We're all moved into our new place and putting the finishing touches on a few things, like hanging pictures, etc. Plans are in the works for an awesome island for the kitchen, ala Erich. I'll have to post a picture of the table he built (once Andrew gets all his computer stuff off of it) and the rest of the place. 

I really wish Sam would act happier and more pleased with our new place.

 

No appreciation for what he's got. Except for a very, very dirty tennis ball and a stick. He had a stick in the sun and a stick in the shade, and would move between the two to chew on them.

Also, this is Sam trying to play Andrew's harmonica:

I went to my physical therapist yesterday. He did a deep tissue massage (so good!) and put some kinesthetic tape on my leg from below my knee up to my hip. I went out for 4 miles today (longest run since March 4), and it seemed to help somewhat. The first half felt great; the second half I could feel irritation in my knee. I did some stretches and iced it, and I don't feel any pain or soreness right now. So we'll see how it goes. I'm optimistic for my prospects - I'm on the fence about trying the Cellcom, but I think I'll be in good shape for the Bellin. Either way, I was so excited to be running today. I was running and felt tired and thought about turning around early, but then reasoned that being tired means shit. I can keep going if I'm tired. If it was painful, that's a different story. But tired? Keep going, just because I can.

Anyway, time for a nap. Bacher out.

holding pattern

Soooo, my IT band is still on-again, off-again irritated. The IT band wrap didn't help so I'm just resting, not running and doing strength training. I don't know where that puts me for the Cellcom, but I'm hoping I can do a run/walk thing and still participate. Any thoughts of improving on last year's time are out the window... now it's mostly a hope that I can do it at all.

We are moving to a new apartment in less than a month! I'm quite excited. Of the list of things I wanted in a new place, it meets 90% of them - two bedroom, fenced in backyard, non-coined operated washer and dryer, plenty of counter space... just no dishwasher. But I can live with that. I'm anxious to move and get out of this current place... a backyard! Room to invite people over! A dining room!

In preparation for the move, I've been sorting through my stuff and decluttering. I found my old high school journal yesterday, which was sort of fascinating. I'm slightly amused at the things I found important enough to write down and how different my interests were then compared to now (for example, I was talking with an old high school friend a few weeks back and she thought it was amusing how I would do anything to avoid gym class in high school but now I'm a runner). It also seemed like each day was either THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE or omg, life is SOOO terrible. I never felt like I was particularly moody and I felt like I was pretty even-keeled emotionally, but that could be my current outlook projecting back on how I imagine I should have been. But I suppose at that point, I was invested in my friends or the shit I did at school, and investing yourself in something can lead to being hurt. Maybe I've made better choices now (and had better options) about the people I surround myself with and the activities I choose to do, but I haven't really felt emotionally distraught now the way I seemed to feel frequently back then. Or maybe I deal with them better. Either way, it's certainly interesting to have my feelings stored and preserved in that fashion compared to just regular hindsight.

I've been feeling like I waste too much time online (specifically on Facebook), so I went through and deleted pretty much anyone who wasn't family or a past roommate (with some exceptions). I really don't care about random people I used to know and what they're doing... if I did, I would know about it, right? So already I can tell I'm spending less time on there. It took me like 3 hours to delete nearly 400 people... my hand felt like I was getting carpal tunnel.

I think these pictures of my dog are funny:


Bacher out!

life updates

A few updates for you:

1. My IT band is still slightly irritated. It feels fine when I'm doing my regular things, work, etc. I've tried running a bit (since I thought it was more completely healed than it seems to be), and after about a mile, it gets a bit painful. Not as bad as before, but not at the point where I'd like to be. I'm going to try a more active recovery, where I run but not as far or fast as I was going. Which is a bummer.

2. We are moving! To somewhere TBD. Still looking, which is a pain in the ass. But both Andrew and I agree - we are ready to be out of our apartment. Our perfect place has a good set of criteria... whether we meet all of them or not is another story. My guess is we'll have to compromise on something - number of bedrooms, state of appliances, price - but it really depends on the place. If anyone knows of a 2 bedroom duplex/apartment with a backyard (preferably fenced in), dishwasher, non-coin operated washer and dryer, within 4-5 blocks of a bus line that goes to DT St. Paul (preferably in St. Paul), let me know.

3. Sam peed on Andrew's leg this morning. My dog is kind of dumb.

That's it. Bacher out.

i hate my IT band.

I'm so pissed.

My IT band started acting up on Sunday. I wasn't sure that's what it was, but a little internet sluething today pretty much confirmed it. I ran my 7 miles on Sunday, then iced it Sunday and Monday nights when it started feeling sore. Then today it felt pretty good for most of the morning, so I decided to head out for my 3 mile lunchtime run. Stupid IT band got irritated on the run and I had to take an easy pace. It felt sore but not super painful on my way back to work, however, after I sat down for an hour (and I'm guessing my muscles tightened up), standing and walking around was pretty painful. Limping may or may not have been involved.

So I've pretty much benched myself until this gets itself worked out. Planning on ice and rest, mostly. I'm just mad because I was really rocking the training up until this point. I hit 98% of the training runs, am getting much faster than I used to be, and generally feel solid about Cellcom training up until this point. So it's just frustrating to get some solid training in and then have to rest due to injury.

So let's hope it heals quickly and I can get back on my training plan.

maaason!

Look at who I met last weekend!

My new nephew, Mason! He's the cutest thing ever, even with his old smushed Irish hitman face. I'm looking forward to seeing him next month when we go back to Green Bay and probably giving him a present, since I have no other children to smother with love.



Indy did his best Mason impression.

Sam chewed on both of Indy's toys in retaliation.

Sam will cuddle with pretty much anyone.

I did my six miles this morning and it went pretty good. I don't have any timed proof yet, but I'm certain I'm faster than before and absolute better at finishing strongly. It felt awesome to bang out six good miles and feel like I could do another few. I've been running during my lunch hour, which is fantastic. I feel like I concentrate much better in the afternoons after I've run and the day goes by so much faster. Now the mileage on weekday runs are getting to the point where I can't run the miles during my lunch break, so I'll be back to running in the morning again. It's a bit of a bummer, but I joined a gym across the street from my work, so on non-running days I'll head over for strength and cross training.

Ok. I'm going to go. Bacher out.

twenty-seven

Today is my birthday! I'm 27 today, which puts me squarely in the "late 20's" category.

I went running over my lunch break and thought about how grateful and lucky I am for many things:

• The physical ability to run three miles. To run three miles and feel awesome. The ability to do so on my lunchtime, in the sunshine, without a coat, in February, on my birthday.
• My gentleman and my dog.
• My other family members who really enjoy celebrating birthdays.
• The company of good, old friends.
• To be able to celebrate future birthdays with my new nephew.
• That I am an awesome guacamole maker.
• The delicious birthday meal I'm looking forward to tonight.

January is definitely over.

Birthday Bacher out.