So it’s the first week in October, and that means this is marathon week over here.
I’ve had a couple of training trial and errors through the month of September, and there’s a couple things I’ve learned over these past 4 weeks. This little ditty is for you long distance runners out there who might find yourself signing up for a marathon at the last minute because you were thinking “hey, that sounds like fun!!”
OK baby girl, enough with the bike riding birthday breakfast bonanzas – you’ve got a marathon you’re supposed to be training for.
Oh shoot, you’re right! Well, it’s Saturday, so I guess that means we’re running long today, eh?
A few weeks ago I made my own version of Brendan Brazier’s Direct Fuel Bites for long runs. This batch was made much like the one I made last year – with dates, coconut oil and cocoa powder. This time I threw in a little dulse (for electrolytes), hemp seeds (for protein), chia seeds (for kicks) and shredded coconut (for fun).
Item #177 on my list of Things That Make My Heart Leap Into My Throat:
That would be the 24th mile marker of the Rochester Marathon that is now three weeks away. THREE! WEEKS! Seeing that freshly spray painted “24” on the marathon course during a bike ride today made me gasp and cover my mouth with my hand whilst laying my other arm across my forehead before pretending to faint.
Holy. Crap. They have marked the miles for the race. We are that close.
For those of you following along, I read Born to Run a few weeks ago. This book was awesome and continues to have a strong influence on my running life as of late. Much of the book is about these ultra-marathoners who run this insane, 100 mile race through the Rocky Mountains in Leadville, Colorado. One of the runners featured in this story had the bright idea to do his training for the race on the actual course itself. And what do you know – he ended up setting a new course record that year.
Do you know what I think of that?
I’m officially stocked up on things to blog about!
First things first! On Sunday I took my camera along with me on an overcast and very-mild-for-January morning run.
I took a punk along with me too.
Who wants to come along on a 5 mile run through my new neighborhood? Well, you don’t have a choice. Get your sneakers on. It’s time to go.
Our first landmark would be what is currently my most favorite thing to run over in the whole wide world. A pedestrian bridge that crosses the river that divides the city in half.
Long run this morning – long for a week day anyway. I wanted to run 7 miles at my (hopeful) half marathon pace (less than three weeks baby!) Which meant anything less than 8:30/mile would make me happy.
I was easily able to maintain a 8:00/pace for the whole run, which I think was due in part to not having run for the last two days. 7 miles in 56:31 made me want jump up and down and say “Let’s have BEETS for breakfast this morning!”
So beets it was.
I enjoyed a pre-run peach waiting for my bud Shawn to show up to run long this morning. I had my mind on 10 miles but was up for going with the flow and running less if necessary.
We set out to do a 6 mile loop and as soon as we started I was feeling pretty tired. We took it easy and maintained 9 minute or so pace and I started settling in and feeling better after we had a couple miles behind us.
As part of my very loose half marathon training plan (i.e., getting in one long run a week between 7 – 10 miles) I had a long run on tap for today.
My running buddy Shawn said he was up for going long today so he came out to run with me. Waiting for him to arrive, I enjoyed a plum snowman.
Watch them disappear.
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Like magic! I think there was about a 15 second lapse between each of those photos. I’m a plum eating machine!
More Mama’s Weeds
