Marathon Mom

Marathon week is here (yes I‘m still calling it that even though I may not run). So far the leg is good this week and hoping taper is what I needed to kick the problem. Last week went pretty well (besides the hamstring and PT!). So far my focus is PT exercises and not hurting the leg. Monday: P90X Chest/Arms/Abs Tuesday: Tempo 1 mile easy 8 miles at 7:30 1 mile easy 10 miles but couldn’t get under 7:55 without pain. Wednesday: P90X Cardio X and Back/Arms/Abs Thursday: 6 miles with 3x1600 at 6:45 then back to PT! Friday: P90X Arms/Abs Saturday: Kickboxing Sunday: Indoor Triathlon 10 miles (7 alone then 3 with Cooper) 1:24:04 and felt good This is it 6 days to go and a big decision to make, I have until Saturday to cancel our hotel so why not procrastinate the decision until them?! Right now the weather forecast for Sunday is bouncing between upper 70s and 80s but includes thunderstorms. This could be a rough race even without an injury. I haven’t run in anyth...

Since the past few weeks have been so busy and the even busier work season is approaching I’ve been easing my way back into weekly meal planning and Sunday meal prep. Despite being uncertain about the marathon in 7 days I am planning to eat this week like I am running (I’ll know my final answer before I hit carb load days!) and focus on my pre marathon week of eating with the recommendations from my nutritionist. How to eat the week of a marathon Anti-Inflammatory Foods Don't you just love how red wine is included?! Whole Grain Carbohydrates Whole Foods/Minimal Processed Healthy Fats and higher fats up to the carb load days. This helps your muscles learn to burn fat during the race better utilizing glycogen stores. Higher Carbs for 24 hours before My nutritionist has me planning 3.6g carbohydrate for every lb of body weight and consuming 2800 calories the day before. The new thought is women need even higher carb loads immediately pre-race than men. Drink Water and Be...

What a day and not what I had expected! Lots to think about in the next nine days (more realistically 8 days). The big questions that embraces my mind is whether to run or not. Not happy today! For the past month my hamstring has been achy, nothing big but achy and tight off and on. I decided to fix it early this time rather than waiting years like in the past and scheduled an appointment with PT. Tuesday I ran 10 miles with 8 tempo pace, or that was the intention. I tried to get at 7:30 pace and no go. Slow down to 8:00 pace and fine. Ugh! I continued to run and fond anything under 7:50 and pain. I finished at a slower pace and immediately scheduled with my chiro. Wednesday brought graston and acupuncture and then came Thursday morning and the PT eval. After 1 ½ hour eval and the PT needing the think aloud to figure out my complexity I was swimming with information. Our plan is intense hamstring eccentric exercise. The Good My core is no longer a useless weak part a...

Week 14 is in the books and I hate t say it but the hamstring is still not 100%. Between that and the craziest week I've had in a long time I am physically and mentally exhausted and taper madness is in full force! Looking back I probably did a little too much running last week. Monday: Lift legs/back/abs Tuesday: Intervals: 7x800m at 6:30 pace  Easy hilly 7 miles in 1:01 Wednesday: lift arms/abs and easy 5 miles with a friend Thursday: 6 miles (4 mile tempo 7:15 pace)  but I did run negative split: 8:42 8:32 8:21 8:12 8:01 7:50 Friday: P90X Cardio X and chest/back/abs  Nothing other than another long work day Saturday: 16 miles at 8:29 avg pace Sunday: Easy 5 mile run with Cooper and a friend and yoga Less than 2 weeks until marathon #27 and I am getting worried. I have rethought my plans and since I have no plans to run Boston in 2016 even if I qualify I am aimed for a comfortable race. Yesterday after watching the coverage I had a slight mome...

What a crazy week! I am officially in taper mode so watch out! I feel like this training just started and now I’m less than 3 weeks from my 27 th marathon! I think a lot is due to finally getting good weather. I just had my highest mileage week in over 6 months which seems odd considering it was under 50 miles! This was Friday! Monday: Lift chest/back/abs Tuesday: 5.5 mile hill run Wednesday: 7 mile interval run and lift arms/abs Thursday: 9 mile (7 mile tempo 7:30 pace) Friday: P90X Cardio X and abs Saturday: 22 miles at 8:40 pace Sunday: 4 miles easy with Cooper and MRTT friends 2 days later on Sunday! Like I mentioned on Friday my hamstring was acting up but luckily was better thanks to lots of rolling. Let’s just hope this was it. Mentally I can’t handle any issues during taper! Hoping for continued good weather and running. Monday: Lift legs/back/abs Tuesday: Intervals: 7x800m at 6:30 pace Wednesday: Kickboxing and lift arms/abs Thursday: 6 mi...

Sorry, I kind of disappeared for awhile here! Things have been up and down so I figured it was time for an update on my life, training and all that goes with it! 2 weeks ago I ran my first 20 miler of this training and longest run in nearly 6 months. Luckily I had friends to join me for the first 11 miles but was on my own for the rest. This kept my pace for getting too fast to start (which I have a bad habit of doing!). Everything went great until the final mile when my right hamstring started getting tight, I finished and got in my car. As soon as I sat ouch! My hamstring was in full spasm, I got home and made Matt dig in to work it out. Overall a good run but I could have done without the ending. The following day we flew to Los Angeles for my work trip and spending 4 hours on a plane and another 1 hour in the car was not fun for my leg! Plenty of walking helped that afternoon and the next day but sitting in a work conference wasn't great. Luckily we had plenty of time for D...