Marathon Training - Week 13 Wrap Up

Sept 10th-Sept 16th ~ 29.1 Miles

Day 86 ~ Recovery Run (3.1)
Day 87 ~ REST
Day 88 ~ Boot Camp & Run (3 Miles)
Day 89 ~ Run (4.07)
Day XX ~ REST
Day 90 ~ Cooper Young 4 Miler
Day 91 ~ Long Run (15 miles)

(One of these days, I'll get the numbers right again. UGH.)

FOOD PREP MEAL -  Thai Quinoa Salad Bowl

There was a time, in the not too distant past, when I struggled sooooo hard to fit 20 miles into my training schedule every week without killing myself, burning out, or absolutely hating running. I won't be so bold as to say that time has past, because I'm sure it hasn't. I'm sure there will be weeks in the future where running at all will be a chore. That's real. But we're not going to talk about what the future MIGHT bring. We're going to talk about the fact I put up almost 30 miles last week and I didn't die. That last part... the not dying part... is important, because Saturday, I honestly thought my death was upon us. I'm going to go ahead and tell you everything I did wrong to make Saturday so hard.

First... it's important for you to know that 15 miles was my longest distance to date.

Second... it's even more important for you to know that I'm one of the most stubborn people you'll ever meet in your life, and if you doubt that, Kirsten - the crazy lady helping keep me in check - will gladly back me up on this.

So, Friday night I did the Cooper-Young 4 miler. It's a great race, known for the epic party throughout one of the coolest neighborhoods in the city. I signed up for it a LONG time back... so long ago my bib number was like 134 or something. Upwards of 2,000 people signed up for that race. Anyway, I told myself I was going to be a good girl and take it nice and steady. I honest to god thought I was, and at the half mile point RunKeeper told me I was running at about a nine and a half minute pace. C'mon, Allison, slow your ass down. Everyone knows this is a huge problem for me. Before the first mile ended, I'd had a shot of Fireball, and I swore I was slowing down.

The first mile was behind me and I'd managed to get myself to about a 10:00 pace. Awesome. But not good enough. I was going to pay for this tomorrow on my long run. I just knew it. 1.5 miles, 10:20 average pace. 2.0 miles, 10:17 average pace. Then I came up on another guy offering Fireball. What the hell, right? It worked a little. Why not try some more? I pretty much did intervals after that. Walk whenever. Run whenever. Just enjoy the party. And right before the last turn, maybe a quarter of a mile from the finish, someone was handing out Vodka gummies. After all I'd had, I couldn't turn down booze AND sugar.

I got home that night around the time I normally go to bed on Friday nights. I was wound up from running and my husband and a couple friends had just come in from throwing darts. They wanted to throw a few more rounds in the garage. I stayed up and talked to them. Before I knew it, it was 10:30.

Oh. My. God. So late!

All jokes aside, I slept like crap that night. I remember checking the clock at midnight, 2am, 3am, and then at 4am I just decided to stay up since it was about that time anyway.

And to make matters worse, I didn't properly fuel for Saturday because I had a race Friday night and didn't want to eat anything too heavy...

So as you can imagine, Saturday was pretty miserable for me. Wait. No. That's too broad of a statement. Saturday started out awesome. For eleven miles I felt like I could conquer the world. Then all the bad things started to happen. It started with my thighs burning on even the slightest incline. Then fatigue set in and my back started to hurt. My shoulders hurt. My head hurt. Then my stomach hurt. Every time I tried to run I felt like I was going to hurl. I spent four miles bitching, moaning, complaining, and making every excuse why I couldn't run anymore, to the point I told Kirsten if she would just leave me she could get on with her day. Stubborn cow stayed with me the whole time. <3

Moral of the story, don't deviate from your routine and expect a stellar performance, especially when you're adjusting to new distances or speeds, or even new routines. Your body will real fast teach you that you are not a.) the exception to the rule, or b.) half as bad ass as you think you are. I've definitely learned my lesson. Soooo... I guess I should strap on a Nun's habit for the duration of my training. HAHAHA!!!

Takeaway? 26.2 miles in like 5 or so hours doesn't sound so scary now that I've squeezed in 22 miles in less than 48 hours. It probably doesn't compare, but as of this moment, I believe I can do it.

Marathon Training - Week 11 Wrap Up

Aug 27th-Sept 2nd ~ 25.8 Miles

Day 72 ~ Recovery Run (3.4)
Day 73 ~ WRWM Coaching (3 miles)
Day 74 ~ Boot Camp
Day 75 ~ Base Miles (6.18)
Day 76 ~ Walked 3 miles (after packing the car)
Day 77 ~ Set up camp and ate camp food, then did planks by the river... on my rest day.
Day 78 ~ Long Run (Traded 14 pavement miles for 10.34 gravelly, hilly miles.)

FOOD PREP MEAL -  Chipotle Chicken Quinoa Burrito Bowl

Week eleven already seems so far away, that I had to go back and look at the pictures to remember everything I was feeling/enduring/or fighting to push through the previous week. I'm telling you, three days of quiet time on the river was everything the doctor ordered. Okay, maybe I could've done without the rum and the Fireball, but this girl had needs, and getting sloppy ass drunk was one of them. I'm such a lightweight, however, sloppy ass drunk is one rum and diet coke and a single shot of Fireball. Don't hate me because I'm a cheap date. LOL

It's pretty safe to say that each run felt pretty good. I think the only day I absolutely didn't want to do anything was Thursday, and that had everything to do with having to pack up the car and nothing at all to do with exhaustion from training. So massive bonus there. Boot camp Tuesday morning was even awesome. I had slight pain over my left knee, but Dr. Wonderful took care of that for me.

My long run wasn't 14 miles like it should've been. Mentally, I was there. I was ready to do it. I told myself that just because I wasn't at home didn't mean I couldn't do those miles. That was before I realized that getting out of camp was ALLLLLLL up hill, and I mean up long, tall, gravelly hills. So in reality, for the effort, I might've done 14 miles. I will say that it was a fun and somewhat frightening adventure. My love of horror movies made the adventure better than the run. I'm woman enough to admit that. There are more pictures on my Facebook and Instagram.

The Sunday recovery miles have yet to disappoint. I know its coming. I know that after running 16, 18 or 20 miles on Saturday there will be a Sunday when the thought of pounding pavement will reduce me to tears. Right now, I plan to enjoy the comfortable Sundays, while doing the cross-training needed to make this whole experience a lot less painful.

The best part of the week, however, wasn't the training or eating the bad foods, but the fact that my LARGE InkNBurn singlets finally fit me in a way that I'm not embarrassed to wear. I started out in an 2XLarge, so this is a huge deal for me.

UPDATE FROM THE PREVIOUS POST....

I'm not one who typically likes to wallow in my self-pity. After an inspiring email from my best friend in the entire world, you guys know her as Pookie, I decided to stop making myself more miserable than I needed to be. Or at least try to. To start that process, I reached out to a running buddy who nearly made me puke all over my Mizunos last time I ran with her. In her defense, she was trying to get me to finish a 5k in 28 minutes, in the middle of summer and on a full stomach. We figured out real fast the three things don't constitute a working combination for me.

Anyway, Kirsten is funny as hell, crazy, and loves to talk, and from what I hear can keep me on pace pretty damn good. She has agreed to do the long runs with me, and since she's all like "I can do a 50k for breakfast" I figured she was just insane enough to get up before the sun and run lots of stupid miles with me. Sometimes training is also about regrouping and finding what's going to work for you. Just because things didn't start the way they were supposed to doesn't mean they can't finish with a stellar ending. In December, I expect to have my stellar ending. To quote Michael Jordan...

"You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them."

Marathon Training - Week 9 Wrap Up

Aug 13th-Aug 19th ~ 28.3 Miles

Day 58 ~ Recovery Miles (2.5)
Day 59 ~ WRWM Coaching (4.93)
Day 60 ~ 55min Bootcamp
Day 61 ~ Base Miles (6.06)
Day 62 ~ Base Miles (4), Dance 55min
Day 63 ~ Rest (Shrimp Quesadilla, Chips and dips, and Churros to fuel)
Day 64 ~ Long Run (10.83 miles)


Clearance from the doctor gave me a new lease on running this week. I took the miles gently, and there were many more to be had. I just wanted to run and run and keep on running, and for the most part, I did. It was nice to get back into my routine with boot camp and dance. I did feel like tweak a little dance class on Thursday, and I called it quits a little earlier than I wanted to. I just didn't want to take any chance on overdoing it. 

For now, I'm treating with an anti-inflammatory and three to four visits with the chiropractor. I think Monday will be my third visit. That being said, I've told him he's my guy for the rest of the year. By the time the marathon rolls around, I want to be running like a well oiled machine. I believe Dr. Aaron is the guy to get me there. He seems to understand runners. It helps that he's really nice and truly listens, then explains everything that's going on.

Our wonderful Memphis heat and humidity decided to make reappearance. It's my fault. One day last week I wondered when the heat wave would be back. We were wayyyyyy too lucky to get out of summer without too many triple digit days. Yeah, Mother Nature got me good for that one. She rolled in a heat wave that made me sweat buckets, which made for a few excruciating run days, but I got the miles and at the end of the week my legs were feeling pretty good. My mind that got the best of me Saturday (which happens), but we've had a talk and it's not going to do that shit again. If it does, I'll torture it with reality TV.

Also new this week... (2 new changes, actually.)

I've started using MyFitnessPal again. I absolutely hate counting calories. Hate. It. I can think of more pleasant ways to be tortured. However, everyone I know keeps warning me about how I'll want to eat everything in sight while training for a marathon, so I thought I should get control on that now. Especially since my weight seems to be hovering in the same five pound range. It's frustrating to exercise so much and not get anywhere, but then I remember the slice of cake or ice cream or the entire pizza I ate after pounding the pavement for two hours. I'm also very aware that I need to eat better. I need to fuel my body better to get me through all this working out. I'll still have my cheat days on Saturday for sanity's sake, but Monday-Friday, we gotta get real.

Which brings me to the second thing I changed this week...

I've jumped on the meal prepping bandwagon. Oh yeah. Totally did. I went to IKEA and bought two - 3pks of containers. My husband cut up all these veggies he swore I wouldn't like. We mixed up the recipe, and he tweaked it a little by adding some garlic. I think it could've used a little more dressing, but overall it was a success. Each portion came in under 400 calories and filled me up all day. I was impressed. So we're going to do it again next week, with a different recipe that pushes the line of my incredibly picky taste in food. Tune in to found out how it goes. 

Marathon Training - Week 8 Wrap Up

Aug 6th-Aug 12th ~ 19.8 Miles

Day 51 ~ Recovery Miles, 22 Mile Cycle
Day 52 ~ Rest
Day 53 ~ 50min Bootcamp, Therapy Run
Day 54 ~ Painful Run
Day 55 ~ BENCHED (11 Min HIIT)
Day 56 ~ Rest (Or visit a chiropractor)
Day 57 ~ Long Run (10 miles)


Not every chapter of our lives will be a good one. Some days we'll see sunshine and rainbows for as far and wide as the eye can see. Some days, no matter how hard we search, we can't see past the grey skies. That was pretty much my week. And I just realized that my post last week started out much the same way. I guess it's safe to say I'm in a funk. 

It's no coincidence that you don't see a bunch of pictures of me drenched with sweat and smiling from ear to ear. I just didn't have it in me this week. I wanted to put on my big toothy grin and get through the pictures, simply because it seems to be more inspiring when people see you having fun. But that's not real. Don't mistakenly think I'm saying running isn't fun. It is. Besides my husband, it's probably one of the best things that's happened to me. It's just hard to explain and I'm trying hard not to sugarcoat anything. Not even the mental aspect of this journey.  My first promise to myself was to do this blog for me. So when I go back and relive this journey--for whatever reason I need to--I'll have an accurate account of everything. So in the spirit of being real, this week sucked for me, both mentally and physically.

So... about that chiropractor. 

My therapy run on Tuesday did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. I was supposed to hit the pavement and clear my head after I let my emotional state keep me locked in the house Monday evening. As soon as I started running I knew it wasn't going to be good. By the time I got to the 1.5 mile mark, my entire left leg hurt. I'm talking from the hip to the bottom of my foot. Something wasn't right. I'd hurt myself. I wasn't going to be able to do the full marathon. I'd screwed up. I'd over-trained. I didn't do something right. I thought I was doing everything right. What. The. F$%@!?!?!

By the time I got back to the house, all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and cry.

I soaked and iced and wore compression, and I knew that Wednesday night I could run with the beginner ladies and go super, super easy, and those ladies always cheer me up. I needed all of the above, but I swore if I felt the least little bit of pain I would stop. So I went out Wednesday evening and everything felt okay enough. I didn't run hard. I finished 3.25 miles and life was good. 

Come Thursday my left leg hurt all over, just walking wasn't comfortable, not to mention the popping that has been coming and going for awhile was LOUD. I was scared again. Scared enough I desperately started searching for an orthopedic doctor. Every time I hit the wall of receptionists and found myself trapped at another road block, I nearly lost it. I was on the verge of panicking while my dreams of success where slipping out of my hands. (Yes, I really am this dramatic.)

Of course, like most people in the modern world of too much information sharing, I took to Facebook looking for recommendations from other runners. Very specifically, I needed a doctor who I could get a damn appointment with and someone who wasn't going to tell me I couldn't workout or run, because neither of those were an option. My friends suggested this chiropractor in Lakeland, TN--Dr. Aaron, they called him. Or Dr. Wonderful according to my friend's kid. Admittedly, when I left his office on Friday, I agreed with her. I can't remember everything he said, but I know he said I have some IT band issues and some inflammation of my Anterior Tibialis. All I know is he was saying all these Latin words while bringing the pain down on my leg. My husband paid attention to the words. I drooled all over the chair.

At the end of my session with Dr. Wonderful, I was cleared to run my ten miles on Saturday, with the caveat that if starts to hurt, pull back. I honest to God listened. I took it super easy the first three miles. When I was sufficiently warmed up, I picked up the pace for the next few miles. The hills in Germantown aren't friendly. We fought. I'll say I won more than I lost. At mile 9 I was feeling phenomenal. The only thing that would've made the run better was less humidity. And I felt every bit of that 100% humidity between mile 9 and mile 10, in the depths of the Greenway's lush green jungle like atmosphere--breathing was almost impossible, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed every single mile.

Next week, we'll see what the orthopedic doctor says about my leg...

"A champion is not made when he succeeds; a champion is made when you look back at the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months, he has spent preparing." ~ Eliud Kipchoge

Marathon Training - Week 5 Wrap Up

July 16th-22nd ~ 18.5 Miles

Day 30 ~ Rest (Or, you know... drive like 400 miles)
Day 31 ~ Base Miles, Swim
Day 32 ~ Base Miles, Swim
Day 33 ~ Rest (Or, you know, drive like 400 miles again and then sleep all day.)
Day 34 ~ Base Miles
Day 35 ~ Cycle (17 Miles)
Day 36 ~ Long Run (7 miles)


This was a special week in my little world and a LOT of slacking off was to be had. Coaches and trainers always harp on cross-training for good reason. It makes running sooooo much easier. So when they say do it, you should do it. I promise. It's not a "nice to have." It's a "you'll make yourself miserable without it." So, I guess the word of the week is CROSS-TRAINING.

Sunday (day 30), I spent recovering from my best friend in the entire world's wedding. We drank a lot. We stayed up late. It was awesome. I got to see sooooo many faces I'd been missing for a really long time. While I beat myself up a little for not doing some sort of training on Sunday, I needed the day off. My body was done.

Monday and Tuesday was spent in Biloxi, rising and shining before the sun. The salty air was welcome to my sinuses. Humidity made everything sticky, but it wasn't the same miserable soupy air I'm used to in Memphis. It was fresh and crisp, and somewhat easy to breathe. It might've been psychosomatic, but whatever works, right?

There were some questionable characters hanging out on the pier (which I will share pictures of because they're super creepy) and I ran for my life out of fear. #speedwork #nailedit. I tried not to get concerned or be scared at all. I tried not to look at these men as vagrants but rather gypsies still trying to find a place to call home, but I grew up in a city where erring on the side of caution saved your life more than not. So that's what I did. I ran until it burned my insides. And I'm still alive.

I went straight to the pool almost immediately after my run on both days. I sincerely love to swim. Ready to have a pool again.

We rolled back into Memphis around 1am on Wednesday morning, and I pretty much spent the entire day cuddling with El Gato, the demon kitty until the following day. Thursday I did my base miles, but again, was too exhausted to go to dance class. I swear, there wasn't enough sleep in the world to recover from my Biloxi vacation.

Friday should've been a rest day, but I'd had enough lying around the house. I went out to my garage and I swear my bike said "ride me." It has a petite, sort of high-pitched voice that's really painful when it whines. Yes, I just anthropomorphized the shit out metal and two wheels, but if you'd been there you would understand. It's teal and gray, and very bright in the dark. It said "Allison, I need you..." and I said okay. Seventeen miles later and I was ready to take a nap.

I went into Saturday telling myself I should've rested, that the body needs a good break, and apparently, the two I gave mine wasn't enough. Or maybe it was the 100+ real feel temperature and ridiculous humidity. I don't know. I just knew running wasn't going well and I ended up with my worst average pace since I summer last year. I'm not beating myself up over this... too much. It was my fault I did so poorly and all I can do is make a promise to myself that I'll trust the process and follow the rules because the people who made them know much more about this stuff than I do. Best thing about Saturday... this crazy chick Yella. At the end of those miserable miles, she was there with a smile on her face, waving and yelling at me "but you didn't die!" How can you not laugh? Seriously.

At the end of the week, I came to the conclusion that I REALLY need to pay better attention to what I eat and any reason not to take at least 10 minutes out of my day to cross-train is just excuses. Excuses won't get me over that finish line in December.

Marathon Training - Week 4 Wrap Up

July 9th-15th ~ 17.3 Miles

Day 23 ~ Recovery miles
Day 24 ~ 20 min HIIT (WRWM Coaching)
Day 25 ~ Boot Camp
Day 26 ~ Base Miles, 20 min HIIT
Day 27 ~ Base Miles, 30 min HIIT
Day 28 ~ Rest Day
Day 29 ~ Long Run



Still didn't go to dance class Thursday or lift weights on Wednesday night. I've been totally slacking at that. Not because I've wanted to. Adjusting to waking up around 4am to go run has been a challenge. Usually by the end of the work day, I'm beat and I just want to go home and veg out. Week 5, gets worse. I was on vacation... hahaha.

I had one comical day when nothing came together. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Well, almost everything. I didn't hurt myself, but this LOUD bug whose nap I ruined nearly gave me a heart attack, but I couldn't check my heart rate because my watched wasn't fully seated on the charger and was dead when I woke up. That would've been day 26. The picture says it all, right? If everything's going wrong, don't panic. Make the best of it.

Women's Run Walk Memphis started up again. This is my second year as a beginner runner coach. I toyed with the idea of coaching the intermediate group--which is comprised of women who've been running and can hold about a 12 minute or better pace. That would've been a good group for me to coach, but the beginner group is where my heart is. I started there two years ago, at least sixty pounds heavier, and truly having no desire to be a runner, and here I am. I NEED to pass that on to the women who showed up exactly like I did because running has probably been one of the most rewarding and empowering things I've done for myself.

Day twenty-nine I was supposed to run with Breakaway Running (only the most awesome running store in Memphis. It's so much more than a running store) but I had to knock my miles out early because my best friend in the whole entire world was getting married at 2pm and I had a two hour drive to get to her!

As a side note, I drank all the coffee but didn't get a chance to read much of the book.

Marathon Training - Week 3 Wrap Up

Day 16 ~ Cross Training (Spent swimming Spring River. Swimming against the currents was an awesome all over workout.)
Day 17 ~ 3.1 miles (Stars and Stripes 5k)
Day 18 ~ Rest
Day 19 ~ 4 miles
Day 20 ~ 4 miles
Day 21 ~ Rest
Day 22 ~ 10 miles

(Training schedule thanks to Breakaway Running.)

HUMIDITY that, kiddos, is the word of the week. It's been above 90% all week, and if you live in the south you probably know that feels like breathing through a sweaty sock. It's gross. Point blank. <-- ha ha! Wednesday morning it was as bad as 96%. Storms coming through the area have also been messing with everyone's sinuses, so if you can breathe at all right now, consider yourself lucky.

That's not to say everything about the week sucked. Running before the sun even comes up as been nice. It's been a great way to get the happy juices flowing in my brain before going to work. It's been a great way to wake up. Plus, beating the summer heat has been pretty cool too. The neighborhood around my house has some great hills so there's plenty challenge.

WORST PART ABOUT THIS WEEK: Besides the humidity... I didn't get any of my cross training in, save for the swimming on Sunday. The gym was closed Tuesday for 4th of July, so no bootcamp, and that pretty much set the tone for the entire week. I even skipped my beloved dance class. I skipped Seven every single day and there's really no excuse for that. It's literally less than ten minutes of core exercises that I can do in my freaking pajamas. Pajamas on the couch just sounded so much better. I'm holding myself accountable right now. Tomorrow, when I finish my three gentle recovery miles, I'll come home and do the not-so-intense HIIT training. Scouts honor...

BEST PART ABOUT THIS WEEK: Saturday's long run with Daniella. She's always so much fun to be around. She has a light about her, and an incredibly fun personality. I hadn't put that many miles down in a long time, and I felt it the second loop around Midtown. I wasn't properly fueled or hydrated really, but I wasn't racing. The extra miles were just a bonus. I had a great time. It was an awesome way to end the week. Oh! And churros! I love the night before a long run because carbs!

My week of training ended with me standing at the end of my street cheering on runners as they came upon the third mile of the Hope 5k. It' always cool when neighborhood residents come out to cheer runners, even if they're standing out there with coffee in their hands and fuzzy slippers on their feet. I was still drenched from my ten mile run, but I made it home in time to get my booty out there. I had my coffee and my Oofos. Life was good.