3/4 Marathon Training Briefing: Week 7 of 12

Mileage for the week: 14 miles
Long run: 14 (this will be the longest run I've ever done!)

3/4 Marathon Training Briefing: Week 6 of 12

Mileage for the week: 13 miles
Long run: 9 miles

Running in the Dark

I forgot to tell you guys! Last week, when I was on my long run that started at 5:21 a.m. and was DARK as all heck for the first three miles, I was running through a section of wooded trail and got hit in the head by a bat!

No, no, a bat with WINGS.

Are you seriously not getting this?

Anyway, I was running and trying my damnedest to keep the trail's middle line in my peripheral vision, because it was so dark that that's the only way I could see it, and suddenly felt something of Hacky Sack-like consistency whap against the brim of my ballcap and go skittering off the crown of my head. I squealked (cross between squeal and squeak) in surprise and resolved to get a headlamp, or at least run on well-lit trails when it's still pre-dawn: for the sake of bats everywhere. Because that's just how kindhearted I am.

3/4 Marathon Debriefing: Week 5 of 12

What what, y'all! Another week successfully completed. My long run today was LONG and I barely averaged under 12-minute miles, and around Mile 9 I got SO HUNGRY I could hardly stand it, and also the top of my right foot started hurting, but it's done and that's what matters.

Here's the link, if you're interested. Don't judge too harshly.

Friday Fess-Up, 16August13

Recap: On Monday morning of last week, after spending a glorious weekend in Kansas City dancing my hiney off to the sweet, sweet stylings of Brandon Flowers and his Killers (and also eating pizza and cheese fries and Sonic peanut butter milkshakes with whipped cream), I got on the scale and saw a number I haven't seen in three years. Obviously, that was NOT OKAY. I immediately texted my buddy Elizabeth and asked if she'd be my accountability buddy. Because she is a gracious, understanding, kind human being, she said she would, and over the course of the week, I texted her about every single thing I put in my mouth, including but not limited to:

Isn't she the best? Seriously, this is like Weight Watchers 101 right here, and she NAILED it.

After texting Elizabeth every ev.uh.ree.thing, I got on the scale at WW last Friday and was down 1.4lbs, according to the WW records, which was actually SIX POINT THREE POUNDS since that terrible Monday morning! Hooray for Elizabeth keeping me on track! (Also, I looked back in my Weight Record, and that was my first loss in the WW system since my birthday on May 24th. Good goddamn.)

At the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in KCMO

Low point: On Tuesday night, I got a call from a co-worker with a sick kid, asking if I could work for her in the morning. I said yes, and then realized that that meant I wouldn't be able to make it to my yoga class on Wednesday morning, and also that my day was going to run straight through from 8 a.m. until about 8 p.m., from one meeting directly to the next all day long. I didn't get to bed early enough on Tuesday either, so in addition to Wednesday being super busy, I was tired and dragging, and I hadn't had enough time to plan my snacks around the hectic schedule, so I was hungry and craving bad things all day. NOT TO MENTION that I found out at, oh, 7:20 that morning that my mom was flying out for a year in Germany at 1:00 THAT AFTERNOON, so I was mopey about that all day too. HOWEVER, despite these challenges, I still stayed honest to Elizabeth and still stayed within my PointsPlus Target. It was really really effing hard, but I did it. So I guess that's my high point as well.

Activity PPV: This week, I earned 54 Activity PointsPlus Values; last week, I earned SIXTY-TWO! See, I TOLD you I danced my hiney off at the Killers concert! It also helped that I'd already run eight miles that morning.

From an early-morning hash-scouting run
through the Tierra Park Woods

Mileage: This week, so far I'm at 12 running miles and my 12-mile long run is tomorrow morning. Last week, I did a total of 26.82, but like I said here, I credited five of them towards this week to avoid overtraining. Honestly, it was kinda nice to take a little break from running this week and not feel guilty about it. I'm feeling very ready for my 12 tomorrow, and I tells ya, last week I was really dreading the 11 I had to do.

Weigh-in: As previously mentioned, last week, I was down a total of 6.3 from what the scale had so maliciously told me that Monday (of course it's the scale's fault, duh). This morning, I was only down 0.2 pounds from last week. I was hoping for better, but after the challenges that I faced on Wednesday (and Thursday was tough as well), I'm satisfied with being down at all. And of course, it's thanks to Elizabeth's support. I absolutely cannot tell you how instrumental she's been the past two weeks with keeping me honest and in control. Thank you, Elizabeth! Here, I got you a flower.

One of those weird fuzzy-brain flowers, seen on a
walk through the Sunken Gardens with Kelsey

Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention: Amy picked up the Friday Fess-Up theme as well over at her blog, A&J - Lovin' Lincoln. Check it out, yo!

3/4 Marathon Debriefing: Week 4 of 12

Phew! This week just WIPED. ME. OUT. I ran a farewell hash (for those of you unacquainted with "hashing," I explained it here) on Saturday for our friends Amy and Jesse, who are moving to Germany for a year. The hash put about 5 extra miles of unplanned-for mileage on my week and that, combined with my work schedule, pushed my long run back to Sunday morning. Since I have to be at work at 8:15 on Sunday mornings, that meant that I had to get up at 4:30 yesterday in order to fit in my eleven miles.

Side note: eleven miles is the longest run I've ever done by myself!

Since I don't want to run the risk of overtraining and injuring myself, I'm planning to credit those extra five miles from last week towards this week, which makes me feel less exhausted thinking about another week of higher mileage.

As for the "123," I decided that I liked to just write each number once I'd done the weight training, instead of crossing them off. That means that this week, I got in my three weight training sessions. Yippee!

And because I know you won't be happy until I gross you out (okay, okay, so maybe it's ME who won't be happy until I gross you out), here's a comparison of boob sweat after running 9 miles and 11 miles.

As you can see, the extra two miles almost completely soaked my bra. Yes, I am aware, I am nothing but classy and sexy. You're welcome.

3/4 Marathon Debriefing: Week 3 of 12 (late)

This week went well, up until my long run on Saturday, when my thighs started chafing around mile 4. Finishing that run was TOUGH. I've read plenty of articles about "what to do if you have a bad run," but I never understood what they meant by "bad run" until that humid Saturday morning.

The extra "123" on the sheet is my new system for keeping track of weight training. I'm trying to do three weight-training sessions a week: yoga, free weights, circuit training, whatever. The checkmark is for tracking all my food.

3/4 Marathon Training Briefing: Week 5 of 12

Mileage for the week: 12 miles
Long run: 12 miles

3/4 Marathon Training Briefing: Week 4 of 12

Mileage for the week: 11 miles
Long run: 11 miles