Week 2 of Ash and Hal

Hal Higdon and I have become pretty good friends these past two weeks. He is the same guy I used for my half marathon training. On his website he talks about his book "Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide." It was pretty much one of my top requested gifts for Christmas this year.

I am about halfway through and it is awesome. I haven't read a non-textbook in years. I guess you just have to find a book with a topic that interests you, right? He has given me some great advice. The biggest thing that I need to remember is to not push myself too much during training. Last week he said to run three easy. I ran 3.5 and not really "easy" pace. Another day when I was told to run three miles, I was on the treadmill and saw that I only had a few minutes more to get to thirty minutes. I felt good, so I continued to run the some .4 miles to make it to 30 minutes. What I didn't know was that I am actually doing myself a disservice by pushing during my easy days.  Hal advises to do only what he says - and ONLY that. No more and no less. Pushing yourself to do more "just because you feel like you can" only makes you more prone to injury. I need to save my "push yourself" moments to the days when I am supposed to run hard and/or far.

Right now I am in week 2 of training. 2 days of 3 miles each. 1 easy, 1 hard. 1 four mile run easy. 7 mile long run, and cross training (I like spin class for cross). Yesterday was my 3 mile hard run and it was awesome!! I did it on the treadmill at the gym and actually had fun. I tried to pump up the speed every .1 mile or so. I eventually was running at a sub 8 mile pace (not for very long), but it was fun. I average about an 8:30 mile, which is a little more than 5k race pace (not Marathon pace!!). That is my other thing - trying to determine Marathon race pace. I used http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator to determine my projected finish time based on my slowest half marathon time from this past year - of 2:03. The Runner's World calculator projects I will finish the Marathon at 4:16. The goal in the back of my mind was 4:15, so it sounds do-able. But in reality, I have no clue how I am going to do. My realistic goal is - No walking. zero. I don't walk. Never have. I know some people do the Jeff Galloway method of training, but I just can't. I learned in cross country that walking was giving up (be it good or bad) and so it just kind of stuck. No walking for me. I know this will be hard sometimes, but I realistically think I can do it. Can I make it in 4:15-4:16? I don't know, but I am pretty sure that i can manage to keep running - even if it is very slowly.

Training right now is fun. Not too much mileage during the week and pretty decent long runs on the weekends, but soon I know I will not be so thrilled to run 5 days a week. For now, the adrenaline and excitement is still around and I am loving it. Let's hope it continues for awhile!

Here is a blurry iphone pick from my run yesterday on the treadmill.

 
Rest day today and long run tomorrow! It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow, so I can run outside :) Can't wait. There are some great running trails (like my old XC days) near Murphy-Candler Park that I am excited to run.

Number 2!!!

This is what I saw when I checked the race website:

Can you read that? AHHHHHHH!!! Second in my age group!!! SECOND!!! :) :) :) And I was the 13th female overall!! That is the best I have done in a race since I have been back into running. AH-MAZING :)

I am so motivated by how hard I can push myself. This race hurt during that last mile for sure, but it paid off! I need to remember this when I feel like giving up during the marathon - remember how far you can push yourself.