Friday, November 28, 2014

The world through my iPhone camera lens...and the Full dilemma

I woke up this morning, rolled over to look out the window and saw gray skies; checked my weather app and saw 52 degrees; checked the time and realized it was 6am; rolled my eyes and went back to sleep. When I finally got my lazy butt out of bed it was after 7. I got ready for the gym very slowly (like 2 hours "very slowly") and finally made it there around 9:15. I haven't been to the gym in weeks and since I'm still paying the membership I didn't want to miss an opportunity to go. 

I did a short session at the gym...

And then I decided to go for a walk. These feet were made for walking (& running)...

It was such a beautiful day outside today...

Shadow selfie...

Smiling in the sunshine...

Walking mileage summary...
(which I deleted from Runtastic after because I only want to track running mileage on the app for this year)

The afternoon was spent doing a few errands and then I had a nice coffee break at the Barnes & Noble cafe...

And later went home to watch back-to-back episodes of "Brothers & Sisters"...
(this show will put any family drama into perspective)

Tomorrow is a rest day, and I'll probably spend it stretching and foam rolling in preparation for my run on Sunday with my running group. As December rolls around the mileage schedule for the running group is increasing. I got the new training calendar today and I definitely need to decide if I'm going to train with the "full marathon sub-group" or cut back and focus only on the mileage that the 1/2 marathon sub-group will be doing for the rest of the year. 
There are pros and cons to both options I think. The primary benefit of joining the "full" group is to see how my body responds to that type of distance early in the year so that I have enough time to recover and get ready to train for Chicago in October 2015 (Chi town full training will officially start at the beginning of May). The primary drawback is...well why train for a marathon you're not running? (my running group is training for a full on Feb 15th...but I'm not doing that event). The group will train up to a 20 mile LR and then taper. That will give me enough time to rest prior to my last FL Storm Series half marathon (on March 1st). Then I will rest, do yoga, strength train and swim in preparation for Swim Miami 2015 (on April 19th). And then I can kick off my Chicago Marathon training cycle with the Wings for Life World Run on May 3rd! Is it just me or is 2015 going to be an insanely busy and intense year?! Am I crazy for wanting to do all this? (I hope not)...

Alternatively...I could focus just on half marathon training mileage until after the end of my 4th FL Storm Series event (which like I said is March 1st); then focus on Swim Miami; and still stick with the same Chicago Marathon training start date on May 3rd. The drawback to this option is that the first time I run a 20 miler will be at the peak of Summer...with the associated heat & humidity...and without the benefit of the moral support I normally get from my running group.

What to do, what to do, what to do? I'll have to decide after the Palm Beach half marathon...which gives me a little over a week to make up my mind. What option would you choose?

Hope you had a great Friday!!!

5 comments:

  1. It's temping to want to get in the higher mileage earlier in the year, but I would opt for the lower mileage to save your legs for the REAL marathon training. Many people are only able to run one marathon per year injury free. You may be able to train for two, but why risk it? I would personally just work on getting stronger and better at the shorter distances, which will definitely help you when you start marathon training.

    I did the Princess half in Februrary and didn't start full marathon training until July, but I ran double digit runs every weekend leading up to July. I think that helped me a lot as I was comfortable doing distances up to 16 miles... mile 17 was a game changer for me, haha.

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    1. Sidenote: I didn't run LRs up to 16 miles before July, I ran 10-13 miles each weekend. But I think once you're comfortable running 13 miles you can easily run 15 or 16. I've spoken with other people who have said the same thing -- that everything up to 15/16 miles feels comfortable and after that you start wading into new territory!

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    2. Thanks Kristina! I've gotten that feedback from a lot of people also (that seems to be the majority consensus so I may end up waiting until my full training officially begins before I start crazy LRs). I just get nervous...put up my own mental blocks etc.
      Thanks for the advice I appreciate it!!

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    3. I totally understand. I had the same thoughts about wanting to get in long runs early and wanting to run 26.2 miles *before* the race just so I knew I could.

      Regarding long runs in the middle of summer.... it's a challenge for sure! There were some days I got up at 3:30am so I could be out the door by 4:30 to get the majority of my run in before the sun came up. The good news is, everyone else marathon training in SFL is up and at it that early too so you won't feel too alone! haha

      I also split some of my long runs up between outdoors and the treadmill if I didn't get up early enough.

      AAAAND my 70oz Camelbak became an extension of my body although there were some really long runs where 70oz wasn't even enough and I would stop and buy a bottle of water to add to it! You'll definitely want to make sure you have lots of water on hand.

      15+ mile runs in South Florida during the summer are challenging but they totally make you feel badass when you're done!

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    4. Thanks Kristina!!! I may need to get the Camelbak soon...my tiny hydration bottles definitely won't be enough.

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