accountability Monday

Training Week 18 & 19: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

I have continually asked myself: Am I ready for this?

Like most of my races in the past year, I haven’t really been sure until I start running. But as you probably know, every run feels different. I know this marathon is going to be tough both mentally and physically. But I’m feeling… really anxious. Especially after starting to experience some knee pain on my long run last weekend.

WEEK 18
MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: Rest Day; concert after work and Uber-ed home with friends, so only walked to work (1.5 miles).

WEDNESDAY: Disappointed that run//yoga run club was relocated because of the post-season game, but that was exactly why I wouldn’t be driving anywhere. I was annoyed enough by merely walking through the crowds to get home that I didn’t feel like running around downtown anywhere. I’ve been feeling *really* burned out, so was looking forward to our weekend get-away. Walked to-from work (3 total miles)

THURSDAY: Ran my commute home from work (with an extra loop around the Point State Park fountain). 2.18 miles at average 9.19 pace

FRIDAY: Packed, prepared for our trip. Lots of stretching in between loads of laundry.

SATURDAY: Guys, I went swimming. OUTSIDE. Our resort pool was beautiful and warm and it was so wonderfully relaxing. I did some water exercises, walking, and some laps.

SUNDAY: Again, another beautiful day for swimming (maybe a bit cooler than the day before). Not so exercise-intense as the previous day, but I stayed active to keep warm. Then, realizing that it was probably a little too chilly to hang out at sundown, we spent 15-20 minutes relaxing in the hot tub.

Truth be told, I intended to do my long run Sunday morning, but I woke up either severely hungover (wine pairings with dinner the night before, so… incredibly likely) or sick from something I ate. I attempted to get out of bed a few times — once even meeting the boyfriend for a quick game of putt-putt and lunch. But then as I sat in the restaurant, I got nauseous again and had to go back to bed. Around 5pm, I felt well enough to keep food down and start moving around. I didn’t trust my stomach in the shuttle bus either, so I walked both ways. It was probably a 4-mile round trip! Alas, I moved my long run to Monday.

Total runs: 1
Total miles: 2.18 miles

WEEK 19
MONDAY: I was supposed to do 10-12 miles for my long run, but ran out of time in the morning before checking out of our hotel at Nemacolin. I suppose it was a blessing, given that my left knee was starting to hurt around 6.5 miles in. I’m hoping it’s because of all the rolling hills around the resort property and not an actual injury. I have been dealing with really tight hamstrings and piriformis issues, which might be related to the . Strangely, this is the SAME knee that was acting up prior to the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, which didn’t bother me at all during that race; it hasn’t bothered me since, actually.

I continued for another couple miles — the pain lessened after a mile, but flared up again as I finished. The grounds of the resort were pretty neat though, especially running around the Animal Sanctuaries (I’m pretty sure that the white tiger was trying to chase me). Alas, another 8.74 miles logged at average 10:57 pace. Although now I don’t know if I should just rest until the marathon, do a few easy/low-mile runs, if this is what happens to every first-time marathoner at this point in training or what. Maybe it was from swimming?

When we got back home, I made sure to spend a lot of time foam-rolling my legs.

TUESDAY: I did some hip exercises and strengthening for possible Runner’s Knee (per Dr. Google and Runner’s World recommendations).

WEDNESDAY: I joined in with my run//yoga run club friends for a slow three miles and it felt REALLY good. I skipped power yoga afterward to focus more on stretching at home. No knee pain.

3.04 miles at average 11:09 pace.

THURSDAY: Rest and stretch.

FRIDAY: Had to work late, so Rest Day.

SATURDAY: Fineview Step Challenge – review coming this week! FIVE MILES OF FUN.

SUNDAY: More foam rolling, stretching.

I also walk-commuted to work three days this week.

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 16.51 miles
Total training miles: 252.58 miles

Less than one week until the marathon. *gulp*

Training Week 17 — and (quickie) September Wrap-up

- Mel

This is it. The hard work is done, and I am officially in my taper (hashtag, taper madness). I’ll certainly do a reflection post on my training later on but right now? I’m exhausted.

taper_img

MONDAY Rest Day

TUESDAY Had a grad school open house after work, so another Rest Day (and I am seriously on, like, four snooze alarms in the morning now. Sigh). I realize that I need to bring a set of workout clothes, my yoga mat, and a pair of running shoes back to my office. At some point, I took everything home and never brought my workout gear back; there have been so many times that I’m sitting at work, stressed, and totally want NEED to run it out.

WEDNESDAY Again, plans after work, so another Rest Day (I realize that this is too many in one week, especially in days off in a row after the Akron Relay. Feeling disappointed in myself, my training, and super antsy about not making this more of a priority). So my Thursday run was rough…

THURSDAY 3.96 miles with some speed bursts — It was fun to play Dodge the Drunk as Steelers fans encroached upon the North Shore though. There are always those idiots who have no idea how to move over when you call your path to the left (or worse, those who step right in front of you). I’m not ashamed to say that I put my shoulder in a guy when he stepped in my way, and I refused to break stride.

But my body did not feel good. At all. My shins were bothering me, and I was super stiff with heavy legs and my foot felt like it was attached crooked (??). I guess I needed a better warm-up, since Miles 3 and 4 felt much better. Mentally though, I had to talk myself into that last mile. I did a lot of stretching when I was done.

Splits: 10:26 (1)/ 10:04 (2)/ 9:52 (3)/ 10:04 (4)

FRIDAY Sick day from work, so I needed to rest and work this out of my system. I guess I’m not surprised at this point that my body’s immunity is being tested.

SATURDAY I’m always nervous about running the day before a long run, so after my massage, I did a half hour of strength-based yoga for runners at home (since I missed my weekly yoga night on Wednesday) and did SO much stretching.

ETA: I nearly forgot! I went for a 60-minute sports massage in the morning. She helped me stretch, which felt amazing. I’ve been having a lot of tightness in my piriformis, and she spent a good bulk of the massage time on my legs and glutes. Next month, I’m doing a 90-minute FOR SURE.

SUNDAY Long run — 20 MILES (and the Penguins/Lemiuex 6.6k race). I was freaking out about this run, especially since I missed a 18-mile run in my training. I was allowing myself to get *as close as possible* to that 20. But once I was close to 18, I needed to keep running. And then needed to get past 19. Because my GPS wouldn’t connect at the start of the training run, I knew that I had to add about .75 to my total mileage.

If you want to know what kind of person I am: I needed to see 20 miles on my watch, so I kept running beyond my actual 20 just to get the pleasure of seeing that number. Those last three miles were slow and felt terrible BUT I RAN TWENTY FREAKING MILES. Actually, 20.76 (Total time: 3:37:39).

Splits: 10:02 (1)/ 10:14 (2)/ 10:14 (3)/ 10:01 (4)/ 11:01 (5)/ 13:30 (6)/ 9:09 (7)/ 9:35 (8)/ 9:42 (9)/ 14:20 (10)/ 10:38 (11)/ 10:28 (12)/ 10:10 (13)/ 10:36 (14)/ 10:21 (15)/ 10:52 (16)/ 11:04 (17)/ 11:35 (18)/ 11:58 (19)/ 11:45 (20)

Some of those splits are outliers because I forgot to pause my watch walking up to the start line of the 6.6k race (and, again, afterward when I finished and walked back to where I was meeting the group), and I obviously ran the race WAY TOO FAST. But… eh. I slowed WAY down on those last three miles by myself (and I was really starting to hurt everywhere). I need to trust that I can run the bulk of my race at an average 10:15 pace though, slowing to an 11:00 for that last portion. I think I can, I think I can… finish less than 5 hours?

And, yes — LOTS of stretching and moving around after this run! (And I ate, like, 8 meals.)

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 24.72 miles
Total training miles: 233.89 miles

SEPTEMBER NUMBERS
Total runs: 10
Total miles: 66.55 miles
Increase: 5.89 miles over August

Training Week 16: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

It’s ALMOST taper time, you guys. I have my long(est) 20-mile run to look forward to this weekend and then the insanity of waiting and advanced mental training begins.

MONDAY: walked to/from work (2.75 miles); LOTS of stretching and foam-rolling tonight too.

TUESDAY: walked to/from work (2.75 miles); I’ve been obsessed with squats lately, so every spare moment — brushing teeth, petting the cats, eating breakfast — I’ve been randomly doing them around the house. My neighbors must think I’m SO weird.

WEDNESDAY: Ran 3.04 miles and 75 minutes of hot yoga with Urban Elements run//yoga club. We had a substitute yoga instructor for the session, which helped to keep me focused on my yoga poses instead of my mind straying to off the mat. I loved the difference in style and it switched up my practice a bit. Unplanned, but obviously something I needed.

THURSDAY: Run 3 miles… three ANGRY miles. I did *not* want to run, and I was exhausted. But I tried the ol’ sport psychology trick of putting all my running stuff on to see how I felt then. And then I walked out the door to see if I still didn’t feel like running. Well, it worked, I guess, because I ran. But I still didn’t want to. lol

FRIDAY: Travel day to Akron

SATURDAY: Read my Akron Marathon Relay here. I ran Leg 3 (5.5 mile leg, but my watch registered 5.63 miles) + another 5.76 miles.

SUNDAY: Rest Day; travel back to Pittsburgh

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 17.43 miles
Total training miles: 209.17 miles

Training Weeks 14 and 15: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

I have no reason to split out Week 14 since… well, my only run was the Movie Madness Half Marathon. Every other day I was hit by a major struggle bus. I don’t know if that’s a typical point where wannabe-marathoners feel super exhausted and like everything is impossible, but I feel those things.

So, Week 14 — total runs: 1; total miles: 13.1 (those were 13.1 GOOD miles though!)

Week 15
MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: Didn’t realize that my afternoon meeting was scheduled through 6pm (and I had to walk home), so unfortunately, my scheduled run didn’t happen. I probably could have done a quickie workout at home, but I was so exhausted from traveling over the weekend (and again all the way to the North Hills for a dinner party Monday night) that I fell asleep early. The boyfriend said he pulled my iPad out of my hands and I didn’t even move.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run club with Urban Elements. Tonight we did just shy of 4 miles. No splits. Followed up with some really powerful hot yoga. Body felt pretty good and yoga felt strong.

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: Today was National Run @ Work Day, so I took advantage of the group run that Steel City Road Runners was hosting from Point Park. It was hot, and I was sweaty (for a long time after the run too). But I befriended a couple guys for the five-mile loop, and they kept me motivated to finish at a quicker pace than I anticipated my body would do in the mid-afternoon. It felt good. I might make that part of my work-week schedule (I purchased some scented body sprays this weekend to stash at my desk too).

5.06 miles at average 9:42 pace. Splits: 10:02 / 10:16 / 10:30 / 7:50 (??) / 9:58

SATURDAY: Recovery Day with a massage and facial (and a little retail therapy at the mall).

SUNDAY: I was so glad that I saw someone post a group run from downtown in the SCRR group. While I wasn’t doing the full 20-mile Bridges of Pittsburgh course, I knew that I needed some running camaraderie to get in my 16. I seriously lucked out with this group, who all shared great marathon and training advice — and their own long-run courses and schedules. I’ve been looking for a “tribe” so to speak to keep my training in check, and they really made me feel welcome. I never needed my headphones, and I was able to converse throughout the run. I think I got 12 of the 14 total bridges (I also crossed the 10th Street Bridge off my list!).

Side note: I woke up SUPER early for this run: 4:45am. It was still dark out when I left the house around 6:15, and I had a scary almost-incident with some guy yelling after me in the park by my house. I freaked out (honestly, I was truly scared) and my fight-or-flight response took me quickly back to the house, where I locked up and set the alarm and sat still in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Anyway, I waited for the skies to lighten up a bit (and more signs of life to appear) before I set out to meet the group at the West End Bridge at 7:05 — just in time for the perfect sunrise over Pittsburgh.

IMG_1687

I would never have paced this fast if I was alone, but it was really cool to see that my body was totally capable of handling it (until I got a side stitch at Mile 10). I split off from the group at Mile 13 to take the North Shore Trail back home. After showering, I immediately napped for nearly two hours. I felt really, really sore for the remainder of the afternoon (and hungry!), so I spent half an episode of America’s Next Top Model (ha!) stretching and rolling my feet.

16.01 miles at average 10:20 pace (total time: 2:45:21). Splits: 11:12 (1) / 10:52 (2) / 10:24 (3) / 10:18 (4) / 10:05 (5) / 9:53 (6) / 10:04 (7) / 10:28 (8) / 10:48 (9) / 11:07 (10) / 10:13 (11) / 8:27 (wut 12) / 10:28 (13) / 10:16 (14) / 9:58 (15) / 10:43 (16)

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 25.02 miles
Total training miles: 191.74 miles

Training Week 13: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

It’s another drop-back week in my training plan and THANK GOD because the Demons of Summer Humidity have returned with this awful weather and really wrecked my training week. My mid-week 4-mile run felt terrible, and I felt even worse the day after (soreness that I didn’t even experience after running 14 miles, which I cannot figure out).

MONDAY: Usual Rest Day/Laundry Day.

TUESDAY: Took another rest day.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club – 4 miles started off at a 9:30 pace, but I started trailing behind the group at 2 miles in. I decided to turn around before my companions and slow it up a bit. That was a good decision, since that group ended up with about 4.8 miles. And OMG the heat and humidity. UGH.

Yoga felt better than last week. I really focused on stretching out my hamstrings and hips throughout the practice. I felt really strong in my warrior and crescent poses — been far too long.

4.15 miles, average pace: 9:36/mi, total time: 39:53 (no splits)

THURSDAY: My body felt like absolute shit. I’m so frustrated.

FRIDAY: I had to spend another night stretching. I wish I would have rolled too. This is something that I’ve completely let fall to the wayside but this week convinced me how badly my body needs more care.

SATURDAY: Yoga outside! These park sessions through Yoga Hive will be held every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. (The date on the Fittsburgh website says it ends on August 29 but the instructor confirmed through weekends in October.) The weekends when I’m in town I plan to make this part of my Saturday morning routine. Drop-in rate is only a $5 donation too.

SUNDAY: Any previously-denoted “bad” run that I’ve ever talked about is now one-upped by the run I had this Sunday. I planned to meet the boyfriend after he golfed so I could enjoy a little pool time; since our club is only about 6.5 miles away and my plan called for 10, I figured I could commute there by my legs. Seemed like a good challenge. Until you realize that once you cross the West End Bridge, it’s all uphill to Crafton. ALL. UPHILL. All uphill without a lot of sidewalks. And then uphill some more.

To be honest, I’m surprised that it didn’t take me longer to do those 6.83 miles. Also a big fail that Google Maps kept crashing so I kept getting lost. At a certain point I realized that I was one street over from where I needed to be but it may as well have been 3 miles. And I still had to go uphill to get to the club entrance.

Being in the pool after that hot mess felt amazing though both in cooling my body off and getting my joints moving in the water. And I got to show off my hawt running shorts tan.

6.83 miles, total time: 1:29:02
Splits: 10:59 (1) / 12:13 (2) / 12:59 (3) / 10:51 (4) / 16:12 (5) / 12:38 (6) / 13:12 (.82)

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 10.98 miles
Total training miles: 153.62 miles

Only a couple more days of this insanely hot and humid weather. Then, good riddance dog days!

Training Week 12: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Nothing like a good half marathon race to put your running spirits on overdrive! I had to force my brain (and my body) to rest on Monday.

MONDAY: LAUNDRY DAY! aka: Rest Day. Seriously though, I go through an ungodly amount of clothing in the summer.

TUESDAY: My plan called for a Fast Finish workout (4.5 easy and 1.5 moderately hard), but I was more in that mood where I wanted to see what my body could do. Surprisingly, I was able to sustain a fairly fast pace at Mile 3 (once I was warmed up). And though it was a cooler evening, the humidity still was pretty unbearable (hello, elbow sweat). Followed up with about 20 minutes of foam rolling.

5.10 miles, average 9:40/mi pace. Splits: 9:27 (1) / 10:02 (2) / 8:10 (3) / 10:45 (4) / 10:03 (5)

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club night!

3.00 miles, average 10:10/mi pace. No splits. I struggled with this yoga session a lot and my hips were so tight. I frequently felt “stuck” in poses, especially warrior. My legs eventually gave up.

THURSDAY: Rest day. Originally planned to do the Elevation Challenge with True Runner, but other plans took priority.

FRIDAY: Rest day

SATURDAY: 14 miles!!! Yep, my furthest training run. I honestly cannot believe how great this run felt. AND I was out the door by 7:30am. The morning was so nice and cool, which is probably why I felt mostly normal again. I kept this training run intentionally slow because I knew it was going to be a long morning. First time that I listened to a podcast during a run, and synced up perfectly with the release of Nicole Antoinette’s new show Real Talk Radio.

14.00 miles, average 11:23/mi pace. Total time: 2:39:39.
Splits: 11:34 (1) / 11:17 (2) / 11:34 (3) / 11:08 (4) / 11:00 (5) / 10:57 (6) / 12:11 (7) / 10:47 (8) / 10:50 (9) / 11:39 (10) / 12:04 (11) / 11:11 (12) / 11:53 (13) / 11:29 (14)

I should mention that my legs felt *really* tight afterward, and I had to stop to stretch my IT band near the end of the run because my left knee was starting to go wonky on me. Not pain, but TIGHT. I also have my new favorite long run fuel in these Pamela’s lemon shortbread cookies. It may be wholly unconventional but those goos and gummies do absolutely ZERO for my hunger on long runs.

SUNDAY: Early in the morning, I took off for OMs in the Outfield at PNC Park. To be honest, I was underwhelmed by the experience despite feeling very excited before the event. I originally intended to do a separate review, but now that I feel very “meh” about the whole thing, I won’t. And I refuse to give in to FOMO again. I did think it was cool that Chelsea Collective got involved with OMS in the Outfield though — every participant got a free branded yoga mat.

Maybe I was just crabby about how janky my feet looked?
Maybe I was just crabby about how janky my feet looked?

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 22.10 miles
Total training miles: 142.64 miles

Training Week 11: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

MONDAY: Finally got back to spinning class this week (on what is my usual rest day). I knew that I would have more than enough rest days this week. And I just really wanted to start the week off right.

TUESDAY: Went to the Chelsea Collective store preview party. See my post here!

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club with another 3.01 miles (time: 29:54) and 75 minutes of hot, sweaty yoga. Still a little adapted because of my finger, but I definitely felt stronger than last week.

THURSDAY: Anticipated getting a post-work run in, but there was an office party that went longer into the workday. Meanwhile, I skipped drinking at the party so I could run, but then I was too tired by the time I got home at 7pm PLUS I still had to pack for my weekend trip. At least I got another day’s worth of walking in for my commute.

FRIDAY: Drove to Cleveland, and there was no time for anything but singing alone in the car. Hashtag, thanks Pitbull Sirius channel.

SATURDAY: I really didn’t want to run the day before the race. I did a 5K the day before Pittsburgh, and well… I didn’t want to do that again.

SUNDAY: Half Marathon Day! Read my recap here. 13.1 miles at an average 10:37 pace. This run felt great, and as I wrote in my recap, was 33 seconds faster than my Pittsburgh time. I only walked at two water spots (just long enough to drink and eat some beans). I probably could have even done the first few miles a little faster but I had a really great pace group. This feels good though and makes all this mileage madness worth it. A few seconds is progress, and interesting to see where I can make even more.

Rock Hall Half splits
Rock Hall Half splits

My breakfast was a little different than for my usual long runs too, which is interesting to note. No eggs (stupid room service).

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 16.11 miles
Total training miles: 120.54 miles

By the end of next week (and in next Monday’s post), I can officially say that I have run the furthest that I ever have, with a 14-mile long run on the schedule for my weekend. Here’s hoping for some crisp Fall-like weather, eh?

Training Week 10: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

So since I broke my finger, I intentionally took a couple days off because of the immense swelling. But by Wednesday I felt my body was ready to do some running and yoga and get back into my routine (and get over my crankiness). My finger is still super bruised and gross though.

MONDAY: Scheduled Rest Day

TUESDAY: Supposed to be a Fast Finish day, but rested (and hated everything and everyone and OH MY THE CRANK).

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club with lululemon from Urban Elements. Our group run started off with a nice gift from lululemon — a pair of their running socks to try out. That’s super exciting (and they’re purple)! They fit very similar to the Champion socks that I swear by, but my feet felt a little sweatier in them. I’ll test out over a few more short runs before claiming them as a new option.

We did 3.07 miles at a 10:00 average pace. We kept it slower than normal because of a new runner to the group. New people means the club continues (you should join us). Plus, the weather felt nice! Like, THERE’S HOPE FOR US ALL.

I was able to modify my yoga a bit too, so as to not further injure my finger. 75 minutes of hot flow, as per usual (but without any difficult inversions or floating).

THURSDAY: Rest. Was invited over to a friend’s for a little patio fun, which was necessary.

FRIDAY: Supposed to be a Fartlek day. *sigh*

SATURDAY: Had enough of rest days, and went out for a 5-mile run at average 9:38 pace. Today was supposed to be cross-training, but I needed to run. And it felt awesome. I followed it up with some plank holds and GOOD stretching.

SUNDAY: Functional Fitness 101, aka: moving furniture. It was too dang hot and I wimped out of my run (again). I keep telling myself that we are less than a month away to the onset of Fall temperatures (sweet baby Jesus, hurry). I know that I need to work on my resilience and my motivation, but 94 degrees plus humidity means NOPE. So I spent an entire day cleaning out my attic and organizing.

This was a day that all I had to do was put on my run outfit, and I probably would have gone out. But I became so preoccupied in getting this space organized. (At least, it’s no longer an excuse, right?)

I’m starting to feel bad about missing my runs. Seriously though, I know that I cannot continue this behavior and be able to run a full marathon. I will chuck this up to a fake taper learned behavior for my half marathon next weekend, and then I need to get super serious about my training. I MEAN IT.

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 8.08 miles
Total training miles: 104.43 miles FINALLY over that century mark!

Fun fact: I’m just about equal to the total training miles that I had for the Pittsburgh Half (granted, that was at 14 weeks of training). It’s still probably far too few miles, but I had a pretty good half in May and I hope this spells good for Cleveland next weekend.

Training Week 9: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

I knew going into this week that I would be pressed and stressed for time (probably a self-affirming limited belief as well). Do I accumulate any points this week for driving over the bridge that I’ll be running over for this marathon? How about any for breaking a finger?

(Seriously.)

MONDAY: The usual rest day (but maybe it shouldn’t have been…)

TUESDAY: Had tickets to Kinky Boots after work, and couldn’t wake up any earlier in the morning despite three alarms and one set to System of a Down.

WEDNESDAY: Drove to Toronto, crossed over on the Peace Bridge. Got super giddy about running this race!

THURSDAY: I completed a treadmill run at our AirBnB apartment complex — oh, this is a hilarious one! So, the touch screen on the stupid treadmill in the gym was not working, and it wasn’t until well into my warm up that I realized that I was running IN KILOMETERS. Meanwhile, I had no wifi access (or international plan), so I couldn’t easily Google “how many miles are in a kilometer?” Obviously, I knew my 5K breakdown, so I just estimated from there. But what a hilarious adventure. (I’m quite fast in Canada!)

4.34 miles (or 7 kilometers) which included a six-minute warm-up and .4km walking cool down.

FRIDAY: Rest, convention and finish up final papers and assignments.

SATURDAY: FINALS DUE! Last day (for me) for convention. I wasted a couple hours celebrating the end of school too BECAUSE.

SUNDAY: Drive home from Canada. I was hoping to run IN Toronto in the morning, but decided to just get on the road early and back home to the cats. And then I slipped up the steps in my house while carrying a water bottle and Fig Newtons, and… well, I now have a chip fracture in my left pinky finger and I’m splinted for a few weeks.

Total runs: 1 (yuck!)
Total miles: 4.34 miles
Total training miles: 96.35 miles

This is the first week of my training that I missed my Sunday run. Last week I did one more mile than I should have, and next week is a drop-back week, so I know that I’ll be fine. But a broken finger is definitely not the injury that I anticipated experiencing during my training program! I’ll be taking a couple days off, and hopefully Wednesday I’ll be good again for run//yoga club (adapted for the yoga part, naturally).

Training Week 8: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Week 8 was an OK training week! I know that this upcoming week is going to be hit-or-miss what with traveling and finals. I also realized that my scheduled 5K is on SATURDAY (not Sunday), and I have my final presentation an hour later, so I’ll probably be too stressed to run it. *sigh* In any event, I look forward to taking some run-selfies in Toronto this week. (God, I hope it’s not 80+ degrees!)

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: I experienced technical difficulties in between my MapMyRun and my Garmin. My stupid watch wouldn’t connect to GPS (again!) downtown, so I ran around for a half mile or so to the Point in hopes of connecting. I did the reverse loop from the Point over the Ft. Pitt Bridge and over through the South Side trail, back up Smithfield and through downtown again. MMR also logged me doing a 4-minute mile swim over the Allegheny again, so… I guess I’m going to start pausing my workout when I run around the Convention Center.

Anyways, one app tracked me at 6.06 miles, the other at 4.5; I split the difference and figured I ran somewhere around 5 miles.

lululemon running tank pink
Sweating it out in my awesome new lululemon top — a gift from my run club buddy for my 5K PR. *love* (see also: cat photo bomb)

WEDNESDAY: Weekly workout with run//yoga club — 3.2 hot, slow, and sweaty miles and 75 minutes of hot and sweaty (and not slow) yoga, with an added emphasis on heart openers. This was probably my favorite practice so far with Megan at Urban Elements.

THURSDAY: Extra rest day (since I had to work a 12-hour day, oof)

FRIDAY: Liberty Mile! And yep, only that one mile. Once again, no connectivity with my Garmin, so I had NO pacing function. Recap of this race to post this week!

SATURDAY: I was really getting that urge to run again today, but I decided that resting for Sunday’s long run was more important. I did get a massage in the morning, which was overdue and much-needed.

SUNDAY: Run 9 miles Kind of run 10.01 miles. Admittedly, this was a TOUGH run. I waited until late afternoon, where the heat index was still somewhere in the mid-80s and felt like my shoes were melting on the pavement. I took several walk breaks, and went out too far on the South Side trail. And, well, by the time I was downtown, I was still a mile away from home. I kind of run-walked that last bit only because I was going to pass out if I stopped (and I seriously contemplated calling the boyfriend to come get me).

Total runs: 4
Total weekly miles: 19.21
Total training miles: 92.01