Race Goals + Wineglass Marathon Training (Week 17 – Race Week!)

Oh my gosh. In 2 days I’ll be at the start of the Wineglass Marathon!!! I can’t believe it!

I looked back on some of my training posts and I really feel like I became much stronger this training cycle. I feel more prepared and ready than I did for Goofy!

I am really happy I decided to change to the Run Less, Run Faster training plan and will be sharing some thoughts on the training program after my race.

The past 3 weeks of tapering since my 20 miler have been full of a ton of anxiety but mostly, I feel confident. Though it feels like FOREVER since I have run “far”. I hope this means I’ll be ready to run – and run far – come Sunday. I feel hydrated and rested so all there is left to do is get to Corning NY, get my bib (it’s gonna seem SO real when that happens), and get to running. 🙂

Since this is a my 2nd marathon I do have a few goals.

1. Finish around 6:30

2. PR (Anything under 7:07:xx) – I feel really confident about this.

3. Finish

In the end I will be happy to simply finish my 26.2 mile victory lap but I feel very confident based on my last 13 miler that I can hit all three goals.

And here’s how my last week of training went (holy low mileage!):

Saturday – 8 miles

Sunday – BodyFlow

Monday – 3 miles tempo run

Tuesday – BodyAttack

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – 3 miles speedwork (400s, yay!)

Friday – Rest

Total Miles: 14

The race starts at 8:15 on Sunday morning so any awesome vibes you can send my way after that time would be greatly appreciated. My twitter should be tweeting my split times (hopefully I set it all up properly!).

Have a great weekend and catch you on the flip side. 🙂

Wineglass Marathon Training (Week 16)

Oh boy, one more week! Race day is a week from Sunday. Commence: freak out.  Okay not really, more like excitement/bring antsy/nerves/questioning my sanity/questioning my readiness. This week was a significant cut in mileage, especially because I had to bump my 13 miler to last week due to traveling over the weekend. So my week looks at bit sparse mileage wise. The good news is I got in all the workouts I planned. The bad news is that I am now done with BodyPump until after race day.

Oh and the 13 miler I bumped to last friday? I rocked it. It was super speedy, I felt great the entire time, and I think I finally figured out how to mentally keep myself motivated through the longer runs even if my pace isn’t consistent. I have struggled with getting bummed out early on if my mile splits aren’t exactly what I want them to be for every single mile. But having that expectation is obviously pretty unrealistic. So I found thinking in 3 mile chunks, and doing the math in my head to figure out what my time should be when I hit the end of the next 3 miles, worked beautifully for me. Hopefully this is something I can keep up with during the marathon.

Saturday – Rest

Sunday –Rest

Monday – 4.5 miles of speedwork (1000m repeats)

Tuesday – BodyAttack* + BodyPump*

Wednesday –RPM*

Thursday – BodyPump

Friday – 4 mile tempo run – this run felt SO hard. I think I am over having to get in anything over than 3 miles in a non-speedwork workout during the week.

Total Miles: 8.5 (though technically the 21.5 due to pushing my 13 miler forward to friday, you gotta do what you gotta do).

*Links for more information: BodyPump, RPM, BodyAttack

This weekend will reflect the beginnings of my final reduction in mileage as I’m only running 8 miles on Saturday. “Only.” Funny how your perspective changes huh? And instead of my beloved BodyPump+RPM combo on Sunday I’ll be settling for BodyFlow – a Les Mills yoga-like class. I think it’s going to feel like I have a ton of free time this weekend, I just hope I don’t go crazy. 😉

Have a good weekend guys!

Wineglass Marathon Training (Week 15)

This week started off with a pretty great 20 miler. I needed that good run to boost my confidence. I was on an endorphin high for like 24 hours afterwards haha! I felt really great even the day after the 20 miler! The rest of the week I really had to figure out how to get my workouts in becuase of some commitments. Ideally I don’t like to run on two back to back days, but I had to do it this week unfortunately. But I am officially in taper mode, two weeks from Sunday is race day!

Saturday – Rest

Sunday –20 miles!!! YESSS.

Monday – 5.5 miles of speedwork

Tuesday – BodyPump*

Wednesday –RPM*

Thursday – BodyPump + BodyFlow* + 7 miles. Yes, not ideal but it is what it is.

Friday – 13 miles

Total Miles: 45.5 (though technically the 13 count to next week)

*Links for more information: BodyPump, RPM, BodyFlow

This weekend will be two back to back rest days since I will be visiting with friends. I’m looking forward to the time off!

Have a good weekend!!!

Wineglass Marathon Training (Week 14)

Less than one month until race day. I’ve got my last long run this weekend (20 miles – holy shit) and then its taper time. Crazy. I really cannot believe it. But my body certainly can. This week was rough guys, not gonna lie. My Wednesday run was a big fat failure, and my 13 miler over the weekend was run at a pace I don’t even want to admit due to 99% humidity (no joke, that’s what my weather app said).  I am a little frustrated – 13 miles feels like nothing to me now that I’m in the peak of marathon training and it is a distance I have conquered many many times. So I’m trying not to let me mental game get crazy as a result of it being so horrible.

Saturday – 13 hot, sweaty, long, slow, horrible miles.

Sunday – BodyPump* + RPM*

Monday – P90x Dynamix

Tuesday – 5 miles of speedwork – 400s, Loved.Every.Second.

Wednesday – Planned for roughly 8 miles of tempo work… got in a whopping 1.36 miles. I wasn’t feeling it from the very first step on the treadmill so I told myself to stick it out a mile and see how I felt. I did and I still felt crappy so I gave up. At least the 1.36 miles were at the planned pace I guess. 😉

Thursday – BodyPump*

Friday – Planning to go to BodyFlow this afternoon.

Total Miles: 19.36 (ugh)

*Links for more information: BodyPump, RPM, BodyFlow

This weekend I am taking a rest day tomorrow since it is going to rain on and off, and am hoping for some nice cooler fall weather on Sunday for my 20 miler!!

Have a good one. 🙂

Wineglass Marathon Training (Week 13)

This week was a bit weird – my body seems to be very aware that I am in peak training right now – my legs are feeling pretty tired. I ended up slacking on the cross training this week in order to listen to my body. Still got my planned runs in though, which I’m really glad about and is really what matters. Marathon Day is exactly one month from today, I’ve got 2 weeks of real training left before beginning to taper!

Saturday – Rest day – Saturday and Sunday were planned rest days since I had a friend up to visit this weekend.

Sunday – Rest day

Monday – 18 Miles – this took way long than I would like to admit thanks to the crazy humidity. But I loved the route I took and overall enjoyed myself.

Tuesday – Rest – I originally planned to take BodyPump but I was feeling pretty tired from the 18 miles the day before and opted for a full rest day.

Wednesday – 35 minute treadmill walking work out + P90x3 Dynamix (it’s basically dynamic stretching). I took the second half of the day off of work because I had a horrible stomach ache and after a 3 hour nap felt much better and decided to do some light working out. Moved my planned run to Thursday.

Thursday – BodyPump* + 10 Miles @ Marathon Pace. Back on track, yay!

Friday – Rest Day

Total Miles: 28 running, 2.5 walking.

*Links for more information: BodyPump

I have 13 miles planned for tomorrow and Sunday I am hoping to get back to the gym for my favorite BodyPump + RPM combo since I have missed it for the past few weeks. I’m hoping to get more BodyPump in this week but will continue to listen to my body and adjust as necessary for the higher mileage.

Have a great weekend!!!