Thursday, April 28, 2011

It's All Downhill From Here

Its been a crazy month, April has flown by!  An update on my training- since the last post I have run a total of about 175-190 miles!
  A 12 mile weekend I was in Colorado to visit my sister- I only ran 7 because she lives at 6,200 feet (much higher than Pullman.) I was so out of breath and sore, more than I have been in almost all of my training.
I had an 18 mile run where I thought I might die.  I didn't bring water and a friend couldn't bike and meet me half way to give me some, I was counting on the water fountains by the trail being turned on-they weren't.  I didn't drink anything until mile 15 when I stopped at my old work, the poop plant, to grab a drink.  The last 3 miles were terrible I had to stop and walk, my back and legs hurt, & mile 18 seemed never ending.  However, I finished alive and took an ice bath in my bathtub.
The next weekend I was supposed to run 14 miles. However I was running down the (painted wooden) stairs into my hobbit hole (the basement/my room)  and slipped flying through the air and landing on the stairs.  I came out rather uninjured- only a goose egg on the back of my head, a bruised tailbone, and 3 other bump/bruises on my back.  So that 14 mile run didn't happen.  I learned that running down my stairs in week 14 of marathon training is probably not the best thing to do.
Last weekend was my longest run of all my training, 20 miles.  It was Easter weekend, I had to coach two soccer games, and teach cooking at a 3rd graders birthday party!   I managed to fit it all in, running my 20 miles before 9:00AM.  I watched the sun come up and it was a beautiful and warm morning, one of the best days I've had running yet.  The 20 miles felt really great, I had some major achilles tightness & pain that has caused me to really take it easy this week.  I am hoping its just because of the total number of miles I ran last week.
 I went to REI before my 20 miler and bought a Nathan fuel belt.  It has two 10 oz. water bottles and a pouch to hold things like a cell phone and shot blocks.  I ran with one water bottle of water and the other gatorade. This really helped me & I can't believe I waited to so long to buy one.
 I have about 2.5 weeks left of easy training before my marathon.  I am so excited!  I will make an effort to post more often!

Happy running!

Hugs - SK