Wednesday's task: 4 x 1200m in 4:56 min
Thursday's outcome: 1 mile warm up, 3 x 1200m @8.5 mph, 400m rest intervals @7 mph, .5 mile cool down @7.5 mph
Confused? Yeah, me too. Between holidays, snow days, sick days, and vacation days, I'm having a hard time keeping up with what day it actually is. Long story short, we went on a ski trip this past week, and with the girls in ski school early Wednesday morning, we did our intervals on Thursday instead.
I regret not getting any pictures of the adorable fitness room at the hotel, but it got the job done. Ryan and I ran side by side on treadmills for the first time ever, and the girls sat on a weight bench watching SpongeBob while we got our sweat on. My legs were really sore from six hours of snowboarding the day before, so I cut myself some slack and ran the intervals a bit slower than I was supposed to. To make myself feel like less of a slacker, I ran the recovery intervals much faster than I normally would. I'm just happy I was able to get some miles in on the trip. Here are a few highlights from the week:
We left for our trip a day early to get out of Dodge before a Bohemoth snowstorm hit, and we came back to find our neighborhood covered in a blanket of white. My first thought? Where am I going to get 12 miles in tomorrow? Murphy's Law would have it that the year I decide to train for a marathon, we get hit with back to back snowfall that makes the roads a mess for my long runs. I decided to go with the strategy I used last week, which was to do a shorter loop twice instead of out and back. Like the saying goes, the hardest step for any runner is the first one out the door:
Literally. The snow was piled up so high outside my front door that I had to squeeze my way out. I walked cautiously down the driveway and onto my street...
...took a deep breath and got to work. What was supposed to be a slow, steady pace felt more like a dozen miles of intervals. Between high stepping it through a few inches of snow and tip-toeing over patches of black ice, I was having a hard time finding my stride. It wasn't until mile 3 that I hit a stretch of dry pavement and was able to look up and just run. This freedom was short lived, but felt great while it lasted. Before long, it was back to the fancy footwork I started out with.
The second half of the run was a little easier than the first. The sun and the temps were climbing, which helped melt a lot of the black ice I had to contend with the first time around. I felt my average pace being a little faster on the second lap, but every now and then I was reminded of the winter wonderland I was running through with a little slipping and sliding. But I channeled my inner Apollo Anton Ohno and was able to finish with an average pace of 8:25. Here are the specifics:
Saturday's task: 12 miles @8:30 min/mile pace
Saturday's weather: 30ish degrees, sunny, snow and ice everywhere!
Saturday's outcome: 11.56 miles (oops) in 1:37:28 (8:25 min/mile pace)
Mother Nature has done a bang up job making my road to 26.2 a rocky one, but with each passing week (and apparently each passing snowstorm), I'm gaining the confidence I'll need to tackle whatever she throws my way on race day. Of course the physical aspect of training is crucial, but I'm starting to realize that the mental training is equally, if not more important. It's a bit cliche, but I'm reminded of this quote:
With our normal routine being completely thrown out of whack the past few weeks, I'm looking forward to finding our groove again this week. The weather forecast has me thinking the kids will have a full week of school for the first time in two weeks, which i think we're all looking forward to. A few things I'm not exactly looking forward to would be an 18 mile run, followed by jumping into the Atlantic Ocean for the Special Olympics Virginia Polar Plunge. I think I may be making the executive decision to run those miles on Friday instead of Saturday. We'll see how the week goes. Ready to get on with it!
Thursday's outcome: 1 mile warm up, 3 x 1200m @8.5 mph, 400m rest intervals @7 mph, .5 mile cool down @7.5 mph
Confused? Yeah, me too. Between holidays, snow days, sick days, and vacation days, I'm having a hard time keeping up with what day it actually is. Long story short, we went on a ski trip this past week, and with the girls in ski school early Wednesday morning, we did our intervals on Thursday instead.
I regret not getting any pictures of the adorable fitness room at the hotel, but it got the job done. Ryan and I ran side by side on treadmills for the first time ever, and the girls sat on a weight bench watching SpongeBob while we got our sweat on. My legs were really sore from six hours of snowboarding the day before, so I cut myself some slack and ran the intervals a bit slower than I was supposed to. To make myself feel like less of a slacker, I ran the recovery intervals much faster than I normally would. I'm just happy I was able to get some miles in on the trip. Here are a few highlights from the week:
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| Hampton Roads gets ready for Leon...awwww yeah. |
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| Happy travelers |
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| Our hotel room number = our wedding anniversary |
 |
| Most adorable ice cream dessert ever |
 |
| Worst part of the trip...forgot my electric toothbrush and had to brush my teeth like it's 2005. |
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| Beautiful Harrisonburg sunrise |
 |
| Checking out what there is to do in this town |
 |
| A bit chilly on our first day on the slopes! |
 |
| So we'd have toasty shoes to put our feet in at the end of the day |
 |
| Babbling brook |
 |
| Someone has one less tooth than she started ski school with |
 |
| The pskiing Psimas psisters |
 |
| Family shot |
 |
| Pizza dough face |
 |
| Smooches from Mommy |
 |
| The salad so nice, I ate it twice (mixed greens, goat cheese, pears, candied walnuts, balsamic dressing...and some bacon stolen from Ryan's salad) |
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| And now, the pswimming Psimas psisters |
 |
| Hoping the Tooth Fairy finds us at the hotel...her ski instructor did quite a thorough job securing the tooth! |
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| Sweet, sleepy girl |
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| Someone took full advantage of the hotel's free breakfast |
 |
| Favorite non-skiing, non-eating stop = Glen's Fair Price Market |
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| "I didn't smile for that one." |
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| This kid skied like a pro! |
We left for our trip a day early to get out of Dodge before a Bohemoth snowstorm hit, and we came back to find our neighborhood covered in a blanket of white. My first thought? Where am I going to get 12 miles in tomorrow? Murphy's Law would have it that the year I decide to train for a marathon, we get hit with back to back snowfall that makes the roads a mess for my long runs. I decided to go with the strategy I used last week, which was to do a shorter loop twice instead of out and back. Like the saying goes, the hardest step for any runner is the first one out the door:
Literally. The snow was piled up so high outside my front door that I had to squeeze my way out. I walked cautiously down the driveway and onto my street...
...took a deep breath and got to work. What was supposed to be a slow, steady pace felt more like a dozen miles of intervals. Between high stepping it through a few inches of snow and tip-toeing over patches of black ice, I was having a hard time finding my stride. It wasn't until mile 3 that I hit a stretch of dry pavement and was able to look up and just run. This freedom was short lived, but felt great while it lasted. Before long, it was back to the fancy footwork I started out with.
The second half of the run was a little easier than the first. The sun and the temps were climbing, which helped melt a lot of the black ice I had to contend with the first time around. I felt my average pace being a little faster on the second lap, but every now and then I was reminded of the winter wonderland I was running through with a little slipping and sliding. But I channeled my inner Apollo Anton Ohno and was able to finish with an average pace of 8:25. Here are the specifics:
Saturday's task: 12 miles @8:30 min/mile pace
Saturday's weather: 30ish degrees, sunny, snow and ice everywhere!
Saturday's outcome: 11.56 miles (oops) in 1:37:28 (8:25 min/mile pace)
Mother Nature has done a bang up job making my road to 26.2 a rocky one, but with each passing week (and apparently each passing snowstorm), I'm gaining the confidence I'll need to tackle whatever she throws my way on race day. Of course the physical aspect of training is crucial, but I'm starting to realize that the mental training is equally, if not more important. It's a bit cliche, but I'm reminded of this quote:
With our normal routine being completely thrown out of whack the past few weeks, I'm looking forward to finding our groove again this week. The weather forecast has me thinking the kids will have a full week of school for the first time in two weeks, which i think we're all looking forward to. A few things I'm not exactly looking forward to would be an 18 mile run, followed by jumping into the Atlantic Ocean for the Special Olympics Virginia Polar Plunge. I think I may be making the executive decision to run those miles on Friday instead of Saturday. We'll see how the week goes. Ready to get on with it!
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