Current Status...

For the first time in a long time I finished my long run this morning and thought "I can probably get through London ok". The best thing about running in the London Marathon next month (apart from it being my 4th Marathon Major, and apart from the fact that I'll be running in a new country (which I love doing), and apart from the relative lack of humidity in London compared to Florida), is the very generous course time limit of eight hours.

This morning's run started a lot later than normal for me. Not only because the cruelty of Daylight Savings Time robbed me of an hour of precious sleep, but also because I checked the humidity levels at 4am (when I normally get up to get ready for my run) and realized how much Mother Nature seeks a B+ in this area (i.e. humidity in the high 80s). Since the humidity levels were going to fall during the day I decided to sleep in a little more... and boy did it pay off. Not only was I better rested for this morning's run, the weather was awesome and I got through 14 miles!

I relieved myself of the pressure of hoping for a marathon PR a long time ago, especially with the way training has been going, but I still want to have a better finish time than my last few marathons. And while that's still possible (if I'm to believe my VDOT O2 Calculator app)...

...there's also comfort in knowing that I won't have an unmanageable course time limit to contend with.

Plus, it helps that Garmin boosts my self-confidence with occasional race predictor and "Current Status" updates...

Despite my (current) productive training status, I've only stuck to my training plan about 84% because of various runs or cross training activities I've missed. I've also had to make revisions to the plan to remove the emphasis on speed work (which to be fair was not really working to improve my speed anyway) and focus more on endurance...

(It's going to be above 90% by the end of training 😉)

The other aspects of the London trip are slowly coming together as well. Airfare and accommodations are confirmed and there is some semblance of a "plan" for a few things to do while I'm there. My twin sister is planning to come too which will be great because she's been to London a lot more than I have. I told her she isn't allowed to get annoyed when my pre-marathon anxiety turns into pre-marathon moodiness (which is a lot worse than my "this is just my personality" moodiness), to which she sent me a very non-committal straight faced emoji 😐. So we'll see how that goes I guess. 

I'm not excited about the trip yet, but I'm hoping I will be. The more things fall into place training-wise, and the closer I get to my trip dates, the more I hope I'll be looking forward to everything about the racecation. It's the LONDON MARATHON after all! Only 7 more weeks to go before the big day!

How often do your deviate from your training plan?

Do you use race predictor apps/calculators?

Do you get pre-race moodiness too? What do you do to calm your nerves before a big race?

Tapering In Time For Hurricane Irma...

I sit and wait for Hurricane Irma to come (and go!). It's been a busy, and as you can imagine hectic, past few days trying to get ready for this storm. But, I've done all the preparation I can: shutters are up... extra water and food... flashlights (and batteries), candles (and matches) are ready... "go bag" in case I need to leave in a hurry... and now I wait...

I'm two weeks away from the Berlin Marathon so technically I'm supposed to be tapering. I did a 12 mile taper run yesterday with a few members of my running group. We actually did two 6 mile loops so some did 6 miles and others did 12...

And now that we are getting closer to the main event of my Fall running season, I'm getting both nervous and excited as each new email update comes out...

Blogging and running will go into "wait and see" mode until after the Hurricane passes. Until then I hope everyone that has been and will be impacted stays safe!

I'm Only Three Weeks Away...

Three weeks before the marathon typically calls for your last "long run"...

So I set out to complete 20 miles of running (in reality it was mostly walking) very early this morning...

I'm feeling a little more confident about Berlin now. I'm not anywhere near the pace I need to be, but I hope I have the ability to finish the 26.2 miles in the course's 6:15:00 time limit...

Of course I want to be well within the limit (don't we all), especially since Garmin thinks I can do it...

But training has been riddled with injuries so even if there are no marathons PRs on the horizon, I want to finish strong and mark another World Marathon Major off my list (Berlin will be #3)...

Whenever I'm feeling really down about training and pace I remember some of the words of wisdom found on Jeff Galloway's website...

And considering I mostly walked, and it was really humid, I think I will be in good shape for Berlin and the non-humid running weather September will bring over there.

One thing I realized about running, now that I have my braces, is that I'm going to need to figure out a way to get a small burst of sugar energy that does not involve anything chewy. I normally use skittles, but I'm not supposed to "taste the rainbow" with braces on...

Besides my lack of a sugar boost this morning, I was really glad I was able to complete the 20 miles because I've spent the past few months gearing up for a major event at work (which is one of the things that limited my training this season). The work theme this Summer has been...

But now that the "event" is over I'm beyond happy... and apparently so is my administrative leadership team...

(feels good to be appreciated)

What's the nicest thing that has ever been done for you at work?

What are you looking forward to the most in September?

Which World Marathon Majors races have you done?

Just A Few Words...

Today was a pretty quiet day. My niece and nephew and I were up late because my noisy neighbors decided that they didn't need to respect the sleep time hours of the rest of the complex. By the time we fell asleep it was after midnight. So this morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed for breakfast, and then played games on the stairs in between "let's wake up Kai" sessions (none of which were successful 😕). The kids had a great time though...

And after they went home I spent most of the rest of the day in bed catching up on the sleep that eluded me last night. 

I also spent some time at the local running store looking at night lights. Then I came home and waited for the sun to set so I could go on my long run...

The "long run" ended up being only 2.2 miles...

It's hard to do a long run at the end of the day when you're still exhausted from not getting enough sleep. It was also pretty dark in sections of the route I ran and I wasn't able to get the night light I wanted so I had extra motivation to cut my run short. 

Race week #3 for 2017 starts tomorrow! I'm looking forward to another race and another medal 😊.

How was your Sunday?

How many miles was your long run?

Do you have noisy neighbors or are they nice normal people?

The Seventy Five Percent Club...

This morning I ran my final long run. Most of my usual weekend running group were missing because of races (Halloween Half Marathons and the Marine Corps Marathon); so that just left Jani and me to try and tackle 8 miles...

And now that my long run is done I can proceed with my plans for the rest of the weekend...

The Last Long Run...

This morning I ran 21 miles as my last really long run before the NY Marathon...

I ran the first 16 with my friends Mary and Will...

And then I ran the last 5 miles with Will (Will is also running NY). We decided to do loops (since it's so much easier to refuel that way) but because I don't pause my watch on the really long runs (or at least I try not to because I can't figure out how to turn off the auto save feature on Garmin) our two stops for refueling messed up my splits...

9 miles + 11 miles...

I was thinking about the significance of today as I was driving home to type this blog post. Kai and I had just finished watching Sully (you should see it if you haven't already) and I was once again in awe of the miracle that occurred when that flight landed safely on the Hudson River. Today as we remember one of the saddest days in the country's history, most of which centered around New York, I was able to watch a movie that celebrated something amazing (which also centered around New York). I by no means mention the movie in an attempt to take away from the significance of today. September 11th 2001 will never be forgotten. We will always remember where we were when we heard or saw tragedy unfolding right before our eyes. We will never forget how we felt in that moment. This day will always remind us to never take any day for granted. To always tell the people we love that we love them. To thank those that risked their lives on that day, and those who continue to do so every day.

This morning's "9 + 11" run went well...

Then and Now...

This morning I ran 18 miles. It's the longest run I've done in a while and I have to say I feel pretty good about it (overall). It wasn't my fastest run and it isn't the farthest I've ever run, but it's still a pretty big accomplishment for this training cycle (especially since nothing is hurting me right now and I have NO BLISTERS!!!!)

I started to wonder how the run today compared with the 18 mile run I did when I was training for the Chicago Marathon last year, so I looked at a few differences in where I am in my training now (based on the run today) versus where I was then (back in July of 2015)...

Right away you can see that I reached these training milestones nearly a month apart. This year has been a busier race year and that's probably why I'm just hitting 18 miles now. Also, the Chicago Marathon is a month before the NY marathon (Oct vs. Nov) so it also makes sense that the training schedule and mileage progression is a month later this year. 

Another thing you will notice is that both runs took place along the beach (Ft. Lauderdale beach for today's run and Hollywood beach for last year's 18 miler) and, in my quest to avoid running in the sun, started around the same time.

Begin Gradually...

I really intend to do blog posts more regularly than once a week. I really do. But this year has been crazy and the past several weeks months have been particularly hectic and busy. Some of the "busyness" have been welcomed distractions and so while it has kept me away from blogging it was the kind of distraction that I needed (and still need). The rest of the stuff has just been your typical work stuff.

But thankfully none of that has kept me from running. And more importantly none of that has kept me from completing my long runs. The ability to complete the long run mileage is not something that I take for granted. Like Henry (below) it's taken me a while to get to the point where I can complete a long run and still be able to walk after...

Wrapping up the Birthday week...

Pictures from the last five days (mostly)...

Today marks the end of my birthday week and the beginning of my "time to get it together and actually start training properly" week. So to kick off the new week I ran 8 miles with Dafney along Ft Lauderdale Beach...

Sunday Running...

Today is Day 2 of my "Training Streak"

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I did a 6-ish mile run this morning with Andy and Tabitha...

Tabitha was testing out her makeup and costume for the upcoming Star Wars half marathon that she and Andy are running next week because she, like all smart runners, knows not to try anything new on race day!

Weekend Recap...(oh and Happy Monday!!!)

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I'm feeling very accomplished (as I type this at 5am) because I already finished my swimming workout for today...

The Long Run I'm Not Calling A "Long Run"...

So technically 10 miles could be considered a long run. Technically. But since I stopped several times to stretch and hydrate I didn't feel too bad about ignoring my doctor's "no long run" orders. Overall the run was great (only a little painful), but I think my endurance level for time on my feet has really suffered because of all the reduced mileage weeks. I hope I will be able to build up enough endurance with swimming to help off-set the decreased running endurance in time for Chicago (which is in 35 days)...

I also think the fatigue I felt was exacerbated by the humidity...

I was silently complaining about the humidity during my run this morning because my running singlet was drenched and sticking to my stomach. Which, while great for highlighting my 2-pack abs, was really annoying. But, although running in humid Summer weather mostly sucks, there are a few things that could possibly be seen as positives:

A First Time For Everything...

It takes a special kind of crazy commitment to get up at 1:30am to prepare for a 3am run (especially when you're not getting paid). But sure enough that's what I was doing at 1:30 this morning. I also wanted to give myself extra time to get ready because I wore my new compression running pants and didn't know how long it was going to take to squeeze myself into them...

The early mornings don't bother me because, as you probably already know, I would rather be running at 3am than dealing with the Summer heat and humidity later in the morning. And since the humidity seems prevalent regardless of the time of day, the only way to avoid battling both is to run before the sun starts blazing.

ENDURANCE...

Every long run morning will have to start really early if I'm going to get my mileage goal completed. Today was no exception: I was up by 3am; out the door by 4am; & at the Boardwalk ready to run by 5am. This week I only did 1 mid-week run so I was eager to do a 13 mile long run...

Normally I get fixated on what the weather conditions are going to be during my run, but (even though I knew it was going to rain later in the day) the weather was pretty nice this morning. I also had great company which helped distract me from the miles...

A Lot Of Fight Left In Me...

I have a new song crush!

I like all the lyrics of the song (& I pretty much know most of it by heart, now that I've had the song on repeat for the entire day)....

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In addition to my new favorite song I joined a new running group! I'm excited about the new group because we are all training for Fall full marathons and 2 of the other ladies are also training for Chicago :) My main #ChicagoMarathon training partner is in Jamaica and unfortunately I won't see her again until marathon weekend :(

Is It Too Late For Fireworks???

The strategic planning for my 18 mile run started days ago. It was the type of planning that had layers, and built-in contingencies. There was a Plan A, B, and C. All of them had several moving parts. None of them were guaranteed...

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The trouble with planning for training runs (and why there are "no guarantees") is the unpredictability of extenuating factors. The "out of your control" things... like the weather. Assessments and predictions are made by trained experts but no one really knows what the weather is going to be like days in advance. Sometimes we don't even know what it will be like hours in advance (especially in South Florida)...

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Silver Linings....

It's been a busy couple of days filled with lots of good news and some bad news. Well maybe not bad news... more like "I have a super long to-do list now" news. I started (what I enthusiastically call) my "New Beginnings" to-do list on Friday and spent most of Saturday adding things to the list as they came up...

The thing about to-do lists is that they can become overwhelming if you focus on ALL the things you have to get done. So in order to avoid feeling overwhelmed I've just been focusing on one thing at a time...

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My Latest Crush

I completely overslept this morning! I had these amazing plans to be up early so I could start my LR by 6am (6:15 the latest) and be done by 8/8:30. But I snoozed my 4am "get out of bed" alarm. And I think I just kept snoozing it over and over again because I didn't end up getting out of bed until 5:30...

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The Milepost quote for this morning was the perfect motivation I needed...

Mother's Day Morning Run...

As I stepped out the door to head to the beach for my morning run I knew it was going to be a struggle. The humidity hit me like a ton of bricks! The air was wet and warm and awful :(

As I started my run on the beach the temperature was bordering on 80 degrees...

it felt so much warmer than that (the humidity will do that to you). 

I gave up on trying to maintain a pace that I liked and just focused on my form...