Marathon Mondays – Whatever it takes

Week 10 of Honolulu Marathon training was a bit intense, but luckily I got through it more or less. 🙂

(Planned miles) Actual miles

Monday (4 miles) 6 miles – I had run 14 miles the day before and normally in most training plans, they will tell you to rest the day after your long run. Due to some inflexibility in my schedule in the middle of the week, I couldn’t rest. So I ran 6 miles and it actually wasn’t so bad. I was shocked that my body was adjusting so easily. Probably because my body was thanking me for not putting it through another grueling 14 miler. Anything under 8 miles is easy, right? LOL Yeah, right.

Tuesday (Rest) 4.3 miles – I normally don’t run on Tuesdays, but I couldn’t run on Wednesday so I met up with a run group and did some interval work. As tired as I am, I always finish intervals with a feeling of satisfaction because I give it 100%. I start off slow and progressively get faster. The faster I get, the stronger I feel. That is, until I gas out because I didn’t pace myself well enough. LOL 🙂

Wednesday (8 miles) Rest – After 4 straight days of running, my body was ready for a break.

Thursday (6 miles) 4 miles – My boyfriend joined me on a night run around a bay. 🙂 Trying to get him to enjoy the running process has been a challenge, but I think he’s not hating it so I’ll take that as a win.

Friday (Rest) Rest – My body was trashed by the end of the week so I took another rest day with no active recovery.

Saturday (15 miles) 4 miles – I was missing 4 miles before my long run so I did a 4 miler with a friend who was getting back into running.

Sunday (Rest) 15 miles – When life gives you an official unofficial half marathon and a scheduled 15 mile long run, you combine the two and have yourself a great time. The local running shoe store, Milestone Running, hosted it’s second annual official unofficial half marathon this past weekend. It’s called their official unofficial because roads were not blocked off for this race. This was about a hundred or so people getting together, running a 13.1 mile course, and getting paper crowns as our medals. Haha. People also brought food as there was a potluck at the end. Because I had 15 miles planned, my friend and I parked a bit further away and ran to the start line and after the race, ran back to the car. Nice planning, right? 🙂

The 15 miler was really tough for me, but I think that because I ran with lots of people, I was mentally a lot stronger. It also helped that some of the others were doing ultra long runs like 20+ and that made me push harder because I just needed to get to 15. 🙂

Thoughts of the week: It was really difficult getting those planned miles in, but miraculously I did. I will continue to find a way to get them in, but if I don’t, it’ll still be okay. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. With 7 or so weeks to go, I suspect that I will miss some miles here and there, but keeping myself injury free is more important. One of my knees is starting to feel like it’s going to buckle so I will have to be very careful the next few weeks. Eek! Wish me luck!

Marathon Mondays – It’s Getting Real

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Honolulu Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.

If you’re interested in signing up for the Honolulu Marathon, use code “HNLBR2018” for 10% off the registration.

You know the marathon training is getting real (and terrifying) when you have your first 13+ mile long run. This week, it got real. Here is that recap of the week’s training.

Week 7 Honolulu Marathon Training

(Planned miles) Actual miles

Monday (4 miles) 6.2 miles – Having not slept enough the night before, I was debating between running 5 or 6 flat miles. Little did I know that Milestone Running had something else in mind. The 3rd Monday of every month, this store does a 10k challenge up and down Mt. Soledad. Over the course of a 5k, you gain 600+ feet and it is not fun. LOL. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that my calves are a major pain point for me and you’ll also know that running uphill sets them off. 😦 I was pretty slow up the mountain, but I made up for it on the way down. 🙂 See my splits below. LOL. Uneven much?

Tuesday (Rest) 5 sets of 30 sec handstands with stair running and 10 v sit ups – Everything about this workout was challenging. Holding a handstand at first felt fine, but after the 3rd round, my arms were shaking and I thought I’d fall flat on my face.

Wednesday (7 miles) 5.3 miles – The nice thing about having a group to hold you accountable is that they also become an awesome group to hang out with. I had a really bad work day and one of the staff members at Fleet Feet San Diego stuck this duct taped note onto a Capri Sun. (If you’ve been to my IG lately, you’ll know that I’m obsessed with Capri Suns. LOL). It just made my day.

Thursday (5 miles) 2.4 miles and 5 sets of jump roping singles and 15 lb weighted lunges across the room – Running on the treadmill isn’t very fun and during a very busy work day, I was only able to get in a few miles. I then spent after work doing some light weight work.

Friday (Rest) Rest

Saturday (14 miles) 14 miles – This was the longest run yet for this training season and boy oh boy, it sucked. I was fairly strong for 6 miles, but then it got warm and the clouds disappeared. I ran with a friend who kept my spirits up and we got to 9 miles together. Unfortunately, that’s when things got a lot harder. I was on the struggle bus the last 5 miles. I was able to jog 2 miles more before starting to take more walk breaks. Luckily, another friend found me and jogged/walked with me the final 1.5 miles. Doubt was on my mind the last 5 miles. This run made me wonder if I could ever do an ultra. 😦

Sunday (Rest) Yoga, 1600 meter swim, 1 mile run – After my long run on Saturday, I was basically bed ridden for the rest of the day. LOL. So Sunday, I decided that I should probably stretch and do a bit of active recovery. By Sunday, I was short 2 miles and attempted to run the two, but my legs were so sore that I only managed 1.

Total mileage: 29/30 miles

This week wasn’t a great week in terms of running, but I think it’ll be okay. That 14 miler was HARD, but we all have those days…I think.

How do you deal with doubt on your runs? Or in general? Do you just brush it off? Please share. 🙂

Marathon Mondays – Cut back week

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Honolulu Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.

Marathon training has kind of all been a blur to me the past few weeks. There are weeks where I feel phenomenal and there are weeks where I’m thinking to myself, holy crap why am I doing this to myself? Of course, the latter feeling goes away pretty quickly after I finish the training run and I find myself wanting to pursue an ultra. -_- C’est la vie. Hah.

The Aftershokz 26.2 experience training plan called for a cutback week this week. This is a week where you cut back on the mileage to allow your body to recover. I was more than happy to oblige. Here’s how the week went.

Week 4 Honolulu Marathon Training

(Planned miles) Actual miles

Monday (4 miles) 5 miles – This run was bittersweet. The local running shoe store that I had run with for the past year and a half closed down its doors this past week and Monday was my last run with the store. It was kind of a last hurrah before the store closed and so a lot of people who had run with the store in the past few years came out. I even heard that some people left work early to make it to the run. The experience was quite touching. The store had a really strong meaning to me and I was happy that it meant a lot to others as well. 🙂

A new running shoe store called Milestone running will be taking its place and it seems that a lot of the same people will still be there so I am looking forward to seeing what the staff at Milestone Running will bring. It’s kind of amusing though because I had actually purchased my first real running shoes at Milestone’s 1st location so it’s kind of come full circle. 🙂

Tuesday (Rest) 1 mile warm up with 3 sets/15 reps of squats with kettlebells, pull ups, and V sit ups – I guess that I can’t just lift weights without a warm up. LOL. My trainer made me jog a mile before some weight work. It was nothing too intense, but I was sore the next day.

Wednesday (5 miles) 4 miles – On Tuesday, I spoke with some running friends who were asking me to do an ultra with them next year. They didn’t have a specific ultra in mind, but they just wanted to run it past me. I, of course, in the heat of the moment, said “I’m down.” LOL.

Now, most ultras are done on trail and I’m primarily a road runner. I mean, I can still count the number of times I’ve run on a trail with one hand. LOL. Fleet Feet San Diego must have read my mind or something because they had us run on trails this week.

Running trails is always an interesting experience. The terrain is a bit more uneven and there are a lot more ups and downs. On this particular trail, there was a portion where it was really rocky and I basically walked across the entire thing. Didn’t want to roll an ankle. I will probably keep trying to run more and more trails and maybe one day next year, I’ll be running an ultra or at least a trail race. 🙂

Thursday (5 miles) 3.5ish to 4 miles – Treadmill dreadmill. I find it highly amusing how I’ve changed as a runner. I used to love running on treadmills. It was easier on my knees and I could watch Netflix when I did it. Now, I don’t like it as much. Running in one place for more than a mile makes me sad. LOL. Also, treadmill running isn’t terribly accurate. The treadmill said 3.5, while my Coros Pace watch said 4. The treadmill was probably right, but I had a weak moment and stopped because my watch said 4. LOL.

Friday (Rest) Rest – Hallelujah

Saturday (6 miles) 6 miles – Fleet Feet had their 2nd anniversary shindig with a 1, 2, 4, or 6 mile run. They had raffles, a snow cone maker, a waffle maker, breakfast burritos, and a lot of awesome vendors showcasing their cool new shoes. 🙂 I couldn’t resist a good party so I attended. I ran 6 miles, had a snow cone, an awesome waffle, and won a $50 gift card. Hooray!

Sunday (Rest) Rest – I try to do some active recovery on Sunday, but my feet just wasn’t having it so I rested.

This week was just okay in terms of training. My runs were somewhat difficult, but I’m trusting the process and this week will be better. In other news, I logged 93.7 miles for the month of August. 🙂

Question for you: How was your August? Do anything interesting? 

Marathon Mondays – Honolulu Marathon Training has officially begun!

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Honolulu Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.

Marathon training has officially commenced and after some careful consideration, I have decided to opt in for a modified version of the Aftershokz Marathon Training Experience plan. This plan is available through the Motigo app and if you remember a few months back, I tried this app out at the Big Sur marathon. This app allowed my friends to leave me cheers at mile markers so even though they couldn’t be there, I could still hear their cheers. This time around, they’re expanding their repertoire by providing training plans. They partnered up with Aftershokz, BibRave, and the Honolulu marathon to create a plan that is tailored to beginners. The CMO of Aftershokz will be running her first marathon there so I figured that it’d be a nice beginner plan to use. The plan will also have some audio to go along with it so it’ll be interesting to hear what types of tips they may be give out during the training runs.

I treat myself to capri suns after a workout. 🙂

I’m not technically a beginner marathoner anymore, but I thought this would be a fun one to use since I’m not really aiming for a specific time goal. Thank you to everyone who had suggested plans for me when I asked. I definitely looked into all of them and will actually be taking bits and pieces of them to add into this plan to tailor it to my needs. I will most likely not be following the Aftershokz plan too closely as not all of my social runs match up with their run days so I will modify the plan accordingly and keep you all updated here. 🙂

I’m also incorporating some cross training into this plan. I have plans to begin lifting a bit and I’ve even started swimming. 🙂 I thought I was going to die the first few laps of swimming, but after a few hundred meters, I got into the groove of things. 🙂

Hopefully, all of this cross training will help better prepare me for this marathon and for future marathons to come. I’ve even started to compile of marathons that I’d eventually want to run. So if you have a list that are on your bucket list that you’d want to share, please share away. 🙂 I’d be happy to add another one on my list.

After my first 1600 meter swim 🙂

Now let week 1 of my Honolulu marathon training commence! 🙂