The Final Weeks: Erie Marathon BQ Hopeful

Man did I fall off pretty abruptly with the blog posts! I wrote a post that I never published because I sent my phone (with all the pictures!) to the genius bar and was hoping I'd get it back... but it's still there and my guess is I'm never going to have those photos of Maebels birthday.... so sad... but I had hope and held out a bit too long and then fell behind on blogging.... but now... home sick from work and already slept a bunch, I'm just catching you all up as I'm just a few days out from the marathon. I'm keeping the updates short and to the point because there's almost a whole month to catch up on and I can't even remember yesterday... Thank God for Strava! 

Monday 8/12: 7 Miles 8:30/mi
I was slow on this run but man! I was happy! I ran 14 and 7 back to back without much pain! Real Progress!

Tuesday 8/13: Off
I did my PT and basically did nothing else.... and enjoyed every minute of it. 

Wednesday 8/14: 6 miles 8:42/mi 
Still feeling quite heavy... but sometimes a day off will do that 

Thursday 8/15: 7 miles plus 6 x 30 second strides with 1:00 jog... 8 total
Another hot day... I was obsessively nervous about the strides and kept stopping to check if my calves felt tight throughout the run. Whatever, Overly cautious has worked so far. 

Friday 8/16: OFF Cross Training: AKA walking around Davis Farmland with my kids for Maebels birthday... No pictures because my phone battery died and it never came back on. :(

Saturday 8/17: FAIL another day of walking around in the New England Aquarium this time. Matt had to work in Boston and we were on our way to the Cape so we stopped. Probably would have had more pep in our step if we knew the expo closed at 4 instead of 8 like all the other days... More on that on a Falmouth update (another one I wrote but didn't post yet because I was waiting to post this update first.... ha!)

Sunday: 8/18: 14 total, plus Falmouth (7 miles, 50:52) Read more soon.... I’ve fallen behind for blogposts obviously... but I’ve already written the post just in a word document and haven’t switched it over yet.... but the short version is that this was supposed to feel like a workout but I had no gas... I wasn’t redlining but felt flat and tired and like running through quicksand ... i was surprised and discouraged by how hard it was... but I still did an almost perfect progression run.

Overall the week totaled 34 Miles with one "race" workout and a handful of strides. Gotta admit, Falmouth really knocked the wind out of my sails... if I were writing this entry right after Falmouth Id be saying “there’s just no way!”... but... I’m still in the game!

Monday 8/19: 4 miles @8:09/mi, plus one hour spin
Just trying to recover while still putting in some aerobic work. Just some general soreness and really tired... Pretty normal I think
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Tuesday 8/20 OFF, Don't mind if I do!

Wednesday: 8/21 7.14 @8:24/mi
Ran with Matt at Mines Falls. Never ran here before but it was beautiful, pouring rain, and kind of romantic. Literally needed windshield wipers for my eyes kind of rain. My last day off before full time school... Nice way to cap it off!

Thursday 8/22: 8:22 9.5 @8:13/mi with some strides.
More of the same. Fear of fast. freaked out about my sore left shin the whole run and prayed to the running Gods that I got through the strides unharmed. Phew!

Friday 8/23: Off Fridays were supposed to be cross training, but it always worked out that I had something that required a lot of walking around instead. Had our rally at school today and that was enough for me.

Saturday 8/24: 7 miles 8:23/mi sluggish run on the rail trail. I had a wedding to get to.... My top priority was to find a pair of shoes I could wear with my dress that I could also fit my orthotics in. Does all the dancing count as training? In hindsight, I probably should have left the party early but Matt and I love to dance the night away.

Sunday 8/25: 17 miles @ 7:40 (last 5 harder) This was exactly what I needed to make me feel like I could do this. Falmouth made me feel like crap about myself, but this weather reminded me that I'm fit enough for my goal and just to trust the training.

Overall a really good week coming in at 44.7 miles total. The highest I will hit before Erie. My rolling 7 was 47 at one point. Ya know... not too shabby given the short amount of time I have had! I’m feeling pretty proud and also ​ready!

Monday 8/26 OFF: First day of school with the students. No Big Deal. I took today OFF instead of my usual Tuesday. My shins were a little sore after the long run and then full work days on concrete... My favorite.

Tuesday 8/27: 6 miles @ 8:16. My mom watched the girls after school while I did this easy 6. I have a sore left shin but not too bad. I have new shoes on their way.

Wednesday: 8/28 7 miles 8:11/mi Flash flooding and new shoes don't mix. Now that school is started it would be ideal for everyone if I ran in the morning.... but My husband has been flexible with his work knowing I'm so close. We don't want to change anything! He worked at Sneakerama with the girls while I ran with my new shoes. No shin pain! Yay!

Thursday: 8/29 9.5 miles with 1, 2, 2, 1 minute pick ups x2. Met my husband with the girls at the rail trail and planned to run the first 4 miles with him (before pick ups) but freaked out a million times since my shins were still sore and stopped to stretch my calves a million times "just in case"... and sent him ahead so I could work on my self talk. Nothing comes easy. Once the pickups started they felt better. I'm insane.

Friday 8/30: OFF Got a massage. Threapist says no disfunction in the calves and that my shin pain is from my lower legs not getting enough blood from my hips pinching things still. She worked on hips and I felt better. We Dropped kids off at my MIL's so we could commute up to a wedding up in Maine.. I slept approximately 1 hour because of whatever bachelorette party was going on in hotel. People suck. Also, I’m insane.

Saturday 8:31, 6 miles: Super tired run from Booth Bay. Beautiful Views! Shins felt 100% but the rest of me didn't feel 100% (sore throat and headache), but I knew sleep would help. Napped a bit after and then went to rehearsal dinner for the wedding. Went back to the hotel and tried to sleep. I'm just not very good at sleeping in Hotels! (I’m insane-see a pattern?)

Sunday 9/1 15 total, 13 mile race (shy of advertised half marathon) my time was 1:35 something. about 7:20ish pace Pace felt easy, weather was legit perfect in every way. Course was beautiful but insanely hilly (over 1000 ft!) then I spent the day getting ready for a beautiful wedding of two awesome friends who Matt and I feel largely responsible for their relationship. We even got mentioned in the ceremony and a few speeches. It's very special when you can see two people so happy and you feel you had a hand in making that happen. We danced the night away again... Which could be my undoing... but ya know what? I don't live to run... It's just part of the whole picture but it isn't everything.

Great week! I’ve been stressing a bit over the amount of things on my plate and it was definitely too much with two weddings, my highest weekly mileage, and back to school. I’m paying the price but hopefully can pull it together just on time!

Monday: 9/2- 5 miles Matt and I slept in (8:00!) and drove part way home and then went for a run in Portland. My legs were tired but no sore shins. Throat a tad sore but hard to tell if it was from singing so loud of not... felt a bit "hung over" even though I don't drink. I have a bad feeling about this but gotta sleep sleep sleep!

Tuesday 9/3: OFF as usual, and back to work, but it is now very obvious I over did it and am sick. You know if I don't want to watch Bachelor in Paradise and just want to go to bed there is a serious problem! Unfortunately sleep still escaped me because of the deep dry cough. Help me!

Wednesday 9/4 Off again... Need to rest! This was supposed to be 7... but Hay is in the Barn. Probably shouldn't be at work but went anyway and felt terrible. My eye was twitching all day... so I put in for a sick day for Thursday but stayed a little late (since I wasn't running) to put sub stuff together (it's so early in the year I have none of that ready yet!) I have the same staff and half of the same kids as the previous year so they were all pushing me to just take the day off knowing how sick I felt and that I had this marathon on Sunday. I already scheduled Friday off as a personal day so they were ready to take on the class without me at work. Very lucky for the staff I have!

Thursday 9/5: Today... OFF again. Ugh. I know the hard work is done but when your training cycle was as short as mine I don’t feel as comfortable with a hard taper. I took the day off from work because I’m really struggling to rest, which is what I need to get better. I slept most of the day, did warm epsom salt baths, and later in the evening when I felt better I went for a short one mile walk/run because I am worried my legs are going to be heavy and stiff if I don’t move them. I tried to run a little (my plan was 3) but my legs felt good and that's all I needed to know. I just don't want my legs to stiffin up like crazy from doing nothing... but I could also tell I wasn't going to benefit from the run.

Friday: TBD I’m finishing this blogpost enroute to Erie. I took a personal day from work today I hadn’t planned two days but Even now I’m still a bit sick but MUCH better. I slept really well last night as the coughing fits are much less frequent and not waking me up. My right shoulder is really tight from all the laying down and I think a little from the coughing (abs, ribs, and back muscles are sore!)... but other than that I feel like by Sunday I’ll be ready to BQ! I will possibly do a 20 min shakeout tonight after the long car ride and will definitely do one tomorrow morning with whoever is there from McKirdy Trained

​ITS GO TIME!