Niagara Falls International

Training Week 5: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

With my workouts this weekend, let me just say how awesome it is that the boyfriend can drive me to work this morning. WOOF, my legs. I will enjoy my Monday rest day to the fullest.

My training week called for four days of running — with one fast finish workout and a Fartlek (which… what?) and two cross-training days (which, two-a-days are my BFF). I was also back to my increasing-weekly long run on Sunday. My home TRX system was delivered this week, so I’m excited to start those workouts (buuuuut probably not until next week, since I’m traveling this weekend).

Highlights of the week: 7-mile long run and CrossFit
Highlights of the week: 7-mile long run and CrossFit

MONDAY: Day of REST

TUESDAY: 4.03 miles at average 10:11/mi pace. I made sure to stretch a lot today after this run.

WEDNESDAY: 3.04 miles with run//yoga club at average 9:29/mi pace, followed by 75 minutes of hot yoga. This was an awesome class tonight too!

THURSDAY: Today was supposed to be my cross-training day, but I got enough of that from yoga the previous night.

FRIDAY: REST. Today was supposed to be my Fartlek training day with 4 miles easy and some hard 15 second bursts. I was already anticipating a tough CrossFit class the following morning, and of course we ended up doing sprints! #nailedit

SATURDAY: Run 1.45 miles to CrossFit. Today’s workout felt like TWO workouts (I don’t know if I was quite ready for this kind of return to CF). Warm up with some kettlebell swings and single-arm snatches, then 4 rounds of 8 box jumps/8 burpees/40 jump ropes (that was just the warm-up!). The WOD itself was a 20-minute AMRAP: 5 pull-ups, 5 knees-to-elbow (I did my first set of these toes-to-bar), 8 thrusters, 8 cleans, 3 flights of stairs, then road sprints. I intended to run home, but nah, I was good with walking it off — especially since I tweaked something in my glute during sprints (thankfully, while it still feels strained, it didn’t prevent me from my long run on Sunday).

SUNDAY: Run 7.01 miles at a (miserable) average 11:00/mi pace. I felt OK, but definitely felt like I was slogging through these miles again. I took a few 30-second walk breaks throughout the training run too. One of these days I’ll wake up early enough to get ahead of this humidity, but today wasn’t that day. And amidst all the crazy homework I had due, I’m happy that I mustered the energy to pull myself away from my computer for a little while.

Weekly Runs: 4
Weekly Miles: 15.53 miles (that’s a 3.41 increase from last week! woo-hoo!)
Total Training Miles: 51.60 miles

Training Week 4: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

The most important WIN from this week is that I did all four of my scheduled runs. They weren’t fast or pretty and one was a mile short, but I went out there (in this humidity, ugh) and did it.

MONDAY: Active rest day: foam rolled with a new app, called simply Foam Rolling, that targets areas for runners. The app is great! There are instructional videos, sport specific “exercises” and timers for each release. Today I also had a few bonus miles by walking to/from work.

TUESDAY: Run 2.06 miles at 9:06/mi pace (yay?) The plan was for three, but there was a heavy thundering in the air that provoked me to run straight home. I followed up with some upper body work with weights at home. Also, walked to/from work today.

saucony shoes run club pittsburgh
Saucony Party!

WEDNESDAY: Lunchtime restorative yoga for an hour, then run//yoga//run club at Urban Elements after work. We did 3.06 miles at 9:47/mi pace and 75 minutes of hot yoga. I didn’t feel strong today at ALL and found myself not being able to keep up in the flow much, which was disappointing, but… meh. The instructor did a LOT of core-based movements too. I also walked to/from work/yoga studio today.

THURSDAY: Rest day; walked to the hair salon from work which is a little bit further than my normal walk home (boyfriend was nice and dropped me off before he went to golf for the morning).

FRIDAY: NO WORK, NO EXERCISE. FREAK OUT ABOUT FINISHING PROSPECTUS. [repeat] I have no excuses for not running, other than I was just plain tired and decided to listen to my body. I moved this run to Saturday morning.

SATURDAY: Ran 3 miles at 9:43/mi pace and then did some core work at home.

SUNDAY: This week dropped back into a foundation week, so no “long” run today (I move up to 7 miles next weekend!). I completed 4 miles at an average 10:44/mi pace — another hot and muggy day AND IS IT OVER YET. I scheduled a 90-minute massage for the afternoon, and let me tell you: BEST. DECISION. EVER. Not only has my shoulder felt messed up all week (yay, sleeping injury!), but when he got to my feet, I was in 7 minutes of pure heaven.

I’ve probably talked about this here before, but getting a monthly massage is part of keeping my body healthy and I consider it my physical therapy. Admittedly, I don’t stretch as much as I should, so I get deep tissue or sports-specific massages and it REALLY helps my muscles relax.

Weekly Runs: 4
Weekly Miles: 12.12 miles
Total Training Miles: 36.07 miles
*Walking miles from commute not included in mile totals

Training Week 3: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Worry about finishing my two classes resulted in my not really following along with this week’s Training Plan. For what it’s worth though, my scheduled long run this week felt amazing.

Monday: REST

Tuesday: REST DAY. I had the intention running before work, but I suffered from some serious insomnia the prior night. We had a baseball game after work, so oh well.

Wednesday: Lunchtime yoga, restorative and some trigger point therapy. This class was exactly what I needed! Unfortunately, I had a concert after work, so I had to miss run//yoga club (and my training run).

Thursday: Now it was time to catch up on work for my final papers and projects that are due this week…

Friday: I ran 3 miles at 6am with a friend! And it was a slow, heavy slog through those three miles — over 11:30/pace (that felt much faster). Gross. I took her over through the West End Bridge loop though, and there was a perfect fog resting over the tops of downtown Pittsburgh. Little things like that remind me of my adventures while running and keeps me coming back to “see the view,” so to speak.

Saturday: FINALS DUE! Another rest day.

Sunday: As part of Open Street PGH, I ran 6 miles in the AM with the Steel City Road Runners Club. It was rainy but cool, the course was fun (I mean, what’s not to love about running in the middle of the street?!) AND there were legit people out there cheering on our training run. What a blast! Most importantly, it felt GOOD to run. It was a great way to cap off Week 3.

Open Streets!
Open Streets!

Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 9.02 miles
Total Training Miles: 23.95 miles

*Also walked 4.5 out of 5 days to/from work for another 10-ish extra miles, not included in the training total. I finally mapped my two different courses to work, and one is closer to 1.5 miles in one direction, and maybe that’s why I’m so tired every day? lol

Training Week 2: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

While I did increase my mileage this week, I did not meet my frequency plan. One day I feel really awesome, and then the next I’m struggling like a beginner all over again. I’m wondering when my body will acclimate to this heat.

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: Flipped my training plan, since I found out about the Flash 5K Pop-Up on Thursday (which, news flash, I didn’t end up doing), so I did some cross-training. Similar to the Kick My Ass workout that burned last Thursday, but did a few sets of push-ups instead of planks.

WEDNESDAY: Lunchtime yoga (1 hour, restorative) / run//yoga club at Urban Elements, we did 4 miles at a 9:20 pace.

urban elements run yoga club pittsburgh
run//yoga club!

THURSDAY: Flash 5K! Er, nope.

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: I did my 108 sun salutations to welcome in the summer solstice. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. I hoped to do it outside or at a studio, but after canceling the Flash run the other night, I knew that I couldn’t rely on going anywhere else (plus the weather outside wasn’t having it).

SUNDAY: Break in my new shoes (and new sunglasses and new armband) — and run (almost) 5 miles. This was the grossest, worst training run I’ve had since I started running in September. WAY too hot, humid — I had to stop after 2 miles… and then after 3. I walked after 3.5 for about 5 minutes before running again. I started cramping up (side stitch) too, even though I was barely doing a 12:00 pace. I barely eeked out that 4.91 miles, holy Lord. I feel terrible. Afterward (and after a cold shower), I was so tired that I had to nap — and was cold but sweating profusely. Something went terribly wrong today, and I don’t know what.

Replacement Saucony Ride 7 (in a different color -- I love these shoes! And my new armband from ArmPocket.
Replacement Saucony Ride 7 (in a different color — I love these shoes! And my new armband from ArmPocket.

Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 8.91 miles
Total Training Miles: 6.02 + 8.91 = 14.93 miles
*also walked 5 out of 5 days to/from work for 10-ish extra miles, not included in the training total

It’s now finals week, and I have a baseball game AND a concert this week, so it will be tough to fit in three runs this week; however, that’s my foundation goal for upcoming Week 3. How are you doing on your training plan?

Training Week 1: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

The Niagara Falls International Marathon is 20 weeks away, and I have my plan mapped out from various training programs across the internet. I found one that has 3-4 days of running and incorporates my love of cross-training for a total 6 workouts a week. I’ll be trying to stay on plan for most of it, with some two-a-days as my body (and schedule) tells me that I need another day of rest — or for the days I go to my run//yoga club.

Check out this course map!

niagara falls marathon course
Niagara Falls International Marathon Course Map

I think I’ll struggle most with the intensity of my cross-training days though, since I still want to do some CrossFit-type workouts. It will be challenging, but I’ll need to back out of any super high-intensity WODs that I cannot scale for the next 20 weeks. Also, Monday is called for a Rest Day throughout the plan and I REALLY like my low-impact spinning classes on Monday nights. Might just alternate rest days every other week. I’m a work-in-progress!

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: My training plan called for 20 minutes of cross-training, but I scheduled another rest day because of my Wednesday workout plans.

WEDNESDAY: Restorative yoga practice at lunch time for an hour; we focused on some core work, and the session felt a lot more intense than usual. After work was my weekly run//yoga club with the lululemon crew at Urban Elements (seriously, if you’re interested in joining this group, send me a message!). It was a warm one! We did a quick 3 miles (9:30/pace) and 75 minutes of hot flow yoga with a LOT of hip opener exercises.

THURSDAY: Rest Day / plan called for 20 minutes of cross-training but Wednesday was enough!

FRIDAY: Three miles before breakfast (uh, that was dumb). I don’t know how it happened, but MapMyRun told me that I ran that first mile at 6:19 (I didn’t run with my watch, so was not replicated); altogether average pace over three miles (3.02) was 8:28. OK. I think I’ll run more at 6am, eh?

SATURDAY: Did a 20(ish)-minute cross-training workout that really burned, adapted from a Runner’s World program:
1 minute of squats
3 sets of biceps curls (10# x 12 reps)
1 minute of jumping jacks
1 minute of mountain climbers
1 minute of static lunges (alternating)
30 seconds of weighted “car driving” (10#)
1 minute of burpees
1 minute of front kicks (think: kickboxing; alternating)
1 minute of plie squats
3 sets of triceps extensions (this was actually really hard for me at 10#, so I did 1 set of 12; then alternated reps of 6 with following movement; followed up by a 12-set of flies)
1 minute of squat jumps (doing in the attic was fun! LOL)
1 minute plank

#dead

SUNDAY Eh, sometimes the rain and humidity come along at the same time, and you’re all NOPE. I had a small window where I could get out between finishing a major paper and having dinner with friends, but I flaked out on my run. Meh.

Total Runs: 2
Total Miles: 6.02

Training for a Fall Marathon? Share your link in the comments, so I can follow along on your adventure — and we can commiserate together in our long-run weekends. 🙂