Training. New Plan. It's On.

Alrighty. It's time. Focus is officially switching to full marathon training. Which, truthfully, has sort of gotten lost in all this Ragnar relay madness. In exactly 9 1/2 weeks (ha!), I'll be running my first 26.2 in Portland. And I'm behind. Officially, but not irretrievably.

Ragnar wasn't the only thing that threw me and my training off this month. I was averaging about 100 miles/month since March but only did 60 in July due to my pulled butt muscle. There was a couple weeks of self-imposed total rest and a lot of the runs were cut short. Which means that I have quite a bit of ground to make up. I've been back to somewhat normal this week so far. I've run three days in a row, just my short 3.5 mile loop and I'm feeling ok. Received the Stick I ordered this week and have been putting it to good use. Seems to be helping a bit. It's hard to tell if the ohmygodimgonnadie feeling is mostly coming from the injury or the fact that I am having to do some serious make-up fitness. Probably both.

I've revamped the training schedule yet again....it still feels a bit ambitious for how I'm feeling...but I'm going to slog through for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes, while I simultaneously go through the rig-a-marole for finding a PT and navigating through my insurance requirements. Fun times. I had lofty goals for this cycle. I was going to go all out and really up my weekly mileage...and not just for the weekend long runs. Pre-injury plan had me running a full 26 a few weeks before PDX and was fairly aggressive in the weekly increase. I've dialed it back a bit.....still planning on trying for a full 26 during training but it meant getting to that point in less time than anticipated.

And going from an average of 25 miles a week to peaking around 45 will be a challenge. But it's time. Over the course of this year, I've built up to a good weekly plan that keeps me in 'half shape'....which to me means that I could do a half tomorrow if I wanted to, without doing anything different to prepare. Training like that got me through a very fun series of half marathons this spring and my regular Ragnar Relay. But now it's time to raise the level of both the training and my game.

I've never run more than 13.1 miles before. Next weekend, I'm tackling 15 for the first time. And it only goes up from there.....It will be fun to come up with some new routes, and add on to some of my existing favorites to make them longer. Maybe when I get up to the high teens, low 20's, I can do a crazy loop incorporating my two favorite long run routes - the Seattle waterfront to the Magnolia Bridge and the Madison to Lake Washington loop.

Also, take a look at the plan for Ragnar in November! Totally makes me want to vomit. But I'm ready. It's time to work on the mental game, b/c this is about to get 'real'....

Week in Review - 3 Weeks till Ragnar

 It's been a while since I did a weekly review. I stopped doing them because my training was virtually the same every week so I felt like they were probably getting a bit boring to read. So I figured I'd pick them up again when the training shifted to something different.

I like tracking my weekly mileage and haven't stopped doing that but reflecting on what I was accomplishing wasn't really necessary since I was mostly focused on staying in half shape for my spring series. That series officially ended last week with the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon, my 5th. Felt pretty good to complete that many in 8 months.

4 weeks between RnR and Ragnar. Training for this relay is specific in that I'm doing back to back runs, to simulate the shortened recovery time between each of my legs. My body needs to adjust to running on very tired legs. So even though I really should have taken it easy this week post half, I started doing my back to back runs. I did take it easy earlier in the week though and ended the week strong.

Monday
Rest day. Took an extra day off for two full -no activity at all- rest days. My body needed it for sure.

Tuesday
Nice easy recovery run of my 3 mile loop. Left hamstring and knee still sore so I took it very easy.
3.54; 35:04;  9:55
Wednesday
There was a 5 mile tempo run on the plan today, but I was just wasn't feeling it. So I took another easy loop around the neighborhood.
3.44; 38:08: 11:04

Thursday 
Rounding out the week with another easy 3 miler. I guess I did take it relatively easy this week.
3.22; 34:27; 10:43

Friday
Rest day. Needed it. Hamstring is still tight. Knee feels better though.

Saturday
3 mile run with Wear Blue in the morning. Nice and easy. Left leg still sore.
2.96; 30:39; 10:21
Another 3 miler in the evening. The mileage on this triple got all messed up, but I ended up hitting most of it.
3.12; 31:26; 10:04

Sunday
Finished out the week with a 6 miler on very very tired legs. But that is part of the training. Running on tired legs and after a long week. I really wanted to cut today's run short but forced myself to keep at it. I am proud of myself for finishing.
6.10; 1:04:50; 10:38

Next week, I am doing a 5k at midnight on Tuesday night-- it's a run 'into the 4th'....it starts at 11:55pm. Never done a night race before and we've got tons of fun costume-y stuff to wear so it should be very fun. Rest of the week will be pretty normal and then I do a double on Saturday...this one will be a bit longer- 8 miles in the am and 3 in the pm. We'll see how it goes.

Training Schedules

I've been slaving over this masterpiece....my training schedule for my first Full Marathon this fall. I've already planned out to the Ragnar Relay, factoring in the back to backs I'll be doing so I don't die out there. Which meant I slightly tweaked the schedule in the run up to the Rock and Roll on June 23rd.

Only three week out until RnR. I'm starting to get pretty excited. I was focusing on all the races in the summer and beyond and haven't really given this one all that much thought. It will be fun to run that one with Wear Blue and some of my Ragnar teammates. So between now and then, I've got a couple back to backs and will start transitioning back to morning runs to beat the heat (haha, relatively speaking at least).

Post RnR, I'll be focusing on Ragnar for a few weeks and then boom- it's time to start training for my full. I've probably got a little tweaking to do once I start living it. And I was actually pretty torn for a bit on how many days per week I should run for this but feel like I've got a good solid plan. I started by pluging in all the variables to Smart Coach on Runner's World and got a good base schedule. From there, I decided on how my long runs would progress from 13.1 to 26. I am big believer in tackling the full amount during training. There are a lot of plans that have you stop short around 20 but I'm not down for that. I want to do the full amount, every single sweat drenched, tear stained mile at least once so I don't die during the race. But anyway, I built the long runs, progressing about 10% a week until taper week. Rounded out the total, peaking at about 45 miles a week.

From there, I plugged in shorter runs throughout the week, sticking with Wednesdays alternating between tempo and speed workouts. I have been doing 5 days a week for about 6 months now, so I felt comfortable sticking with that. But the total daily mileage isn't a huge difference from what I've been doing. So that means, I'll be only really killing my body on a weekly basis on increasing the long run. And that will be enough really. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little scared of running anything longer than 13 miles. But I'll get there. As they say, you've got eat the elephant one bite at a time.

Training for Ragnar

 

 I want this medal holder thingy.....

I am belatedly getting around to tweaking my existing training schedule for Ragnar. And hoo boy....I feel like I am really behind! I didn't really think that my measly little 15.7 miles over 24 hours would be that big a deal. That I could just do a few back to backs beforehand and I'd probably survive.

But after taking a closer look at the way the legs shake out....I realized I need to do more. My reasoning for deciding to do my first full marathon nearly one year after completing my first half marathon was because I want to CONQUER the full, not merely survive it. The same holds true for this relay. So I'm glad I finally got off my arse and started planning!

I realized between the Memorial Day Run for the Fallen (which has me doing two long runs this weekend-Sat and Mon) and the Rock and Roll next month, the weekends between aren't that many. And the relay is only 3 WEEKS LATER! Oy vey. So I decided that doing 5 back to backs before then is what I need to get ready.

My legs work out to be an 8.2 mile the first day mid-morning. Second leg is 3.5 miles about 10pm that night. Third and final leg is 4.0 miles at 7:30am the next morning. Even though an 8 miler isn't really all that long, I am definitely at the point where I am still pretty sore the next day after long runs. I'd love to say I can run a half marathon and still be upright the rest of the day, but sadly, I'm usually hobbling around my house grimacing with every step.

The plan goes something like this: 3 of the back to backs with be 2 legs; 2 will be 3 legs....AKA...the "Triple". They will follow the same day; next morning format to replicate the relay leg timing for the most part. And these are spread over about 6 weeks to give me good recovery time. No injuries, yo! That's what it's all about.

First 'Double Run' is only halfway there, but it was hard to squeeze in so it's a start! 
      5 mi - easy; PM run
      5 mi - easy; AM run (next day)
Second 'Double Run' 
     6 mi - easy; AM run
     4 mi - easy; PM run (same day)
First Triple Back to Back
     5 mi - easy; AM run
     4 mi - easy; PM run (same day)
     4 mi - easy; AM (next day)
Third Double Run
     8 mi - easy; AM run
     3 mi - easy; PM run (same day)
Final Triple Back to Back (exact same mileage as my Ragnar legs)
     8.2 mi - easy; AM
     3.5 mi - easy; PM (same day)
     4.0 mi -easy; AM (next morning)

Doing this on NO sleep will probably not be replicated, but I figure it's close enough. I will hopefully be utilizing a combination of adrenaline and caffeine to power through that part! So there it is...the Ragnar Relay training plan. Immediately following that, I'll launch into 11 weeks of intensive full marathon training. Tweaking that plan now so I'll post when I'm done.I am excited to enter this new phase of training!

 Bumping up my game and the mileage.....Jersey Fist Pump-Go!