Marathon Training - Week 16 Wrap Up

Oct 1st-Oct 7th ~ 30.7 Miles

Day 105 ~ Recovery Miles (4)
Day 106 ~ Dance
Day 107 ~ Boot Camp
Day 108 ~ Run (6.4)
Day 109 ~ Dance & Run (4.1)
Day 110 ~ REST
Day 111 ~ Long Run (16)

MEAL PREP THIS WEEK - Chickpea, Carrot, and Dill Salad (Yummy!)

My brain is sooooo not online. I'm looking at the pictures from last week and it was a pretty damn good collection of seven days, if I say so myself. It was the first time I've broken 30 miles in a week. I'm not exhausted. My body doesn't hurt. All good signs.

I had family in town and she let me drag her to the gym with me (that's her in day 106.) She didn't die... and doesn't hate me. Life is good. I turned her on to Cari's dance class... which is on YouTube as FitnessFiveO. I provided the link to get you there.You can thank me later.

The best feeling yet came after the sixteen miles on Saturday. We'd just finished running, had walked it off/stretched it out. I had to take Kirsten back to her car. We did the same as last time. I let her sleep in and picked her up at mile 4. Anyway, once we finished, we were back in the car and Missy Elliot was playing. It was "Let Me Work It"--a favorite to run to. I was dancing before I got in the car, then dancing in my seat as we pulled away. She said to me, "you're on top of the world right now, aren't you?"

First instinct... grin like a loon. 

Yes, I was on top of the world. 

I had a major runner's high.

Runner's High: a feeling of euphoria that is experienced by some individuals engaged in strenuous running and that is held to be associated with the release of endorphins by the brain.

~ Merriam Webster

Yes, I've felt that feeling lots of times. Every time I conquered a new goal or achieved something I didn't think was possible, I got this all over excited feeling that made me want to cheer and dance and jump and scream... and sometimes run a little more. This time was different. It was a runner's high, mixed with realization, mixed with achievement, mixed with I CANNOT BE STOPPED!!!! I ran sixteen freaking miles... for the second time in my life. But this time, I wasn't murderous by the end of the fourteenth mile. I wasn't silently screaming for my friend to shut up. She knows I love her. I wasn't miserable at the end of my run. I wanted to celebrate!!!

So now is the time when I look at that last sixteen mile run and I do the mental hopscotch, bouncing back and forth from one emotion to the next. I get in my mood where I'm tell myself if I can do sixteen miles, I can do twenty-six-point-two. Then, alternatively, I tell myself that I didn't want to do anymore when I got to the end of the run Saturday. I was done. How the hell am I going to add ten more miles to that? Then I go back to well, I wasn't mentally prepared for more. I was mentally prepared for sixteen. 

Truth? I think I'm prepared to go twenty-plus miles. I know at least one of those long runs is going to be torture. I'm okay with that. I think I'm a lot stronger than a couple of numbers on a device. I know that I've committed to this and failure isn't an option. I have committed to something remarkable and I honest to gods plan to see it through. 

"What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable"

~ John Green

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 7 Wrap Up

July 30th-Aug 5th ~ 19.7 Miles

Day 44 ~ 5k Recovery Miles
Day 45 ~ Sick
Day 46 ~ 50min Bootcamp
Day 47 ~ 5k Base Miles (Bad Day)
Day 48 ~ Base Miles (dreadmill), Dance
Day 49 ~ Rest (Carb up, Grocery shopping, Chill with the hubs)
Day 50 ~ Long Run (9 miles)


Not every week or every workout will be paved with rose petals and showered in rainbows. Sometimes, life gets in the way. Sometimes, emotions get the better of us. This week was like that for me. Actually, let me re-phrase. Sunday was amazing. I had awesome splits. The weather was perfect. I had the best time running the 5k loop around Cancer Survivors Park. I volunteered for MRTC (Memphis Runner Track Club.) Life was good and I felt great about myself. Then Monday happened. Stupid Monday. 

Mother Nature kicked my ass Monday morning. I wasn't even trying to fight her on that one. But it was a really sucky start to the week. It seems like if I have no motivation on Monday, the rest of the week ends up shot too. So we chalked Monday up to being a total bust. I told myself I'd work through it and everything would be okay. I wasn't going to let negative Allison get in my way. 

Tuesday I crawled my hind parts out of bed and went to the gym. Boot camp felt pretty good. I had a good feeling that the rest of the week would get progressively better. I went to work, prepared to do the damn thing and turn the week around, then I got a call from my dad. My mom was in the hospital and it sounded serious. The doctors never seem to be any help when you're trying to find out what the hell is going on. It was frustrating. I didn't have anything to tell the family, nothing to tell work, and I didn't want to leave until I knew what was going on, or at least until it looked like she was feeling better. I spent most of Tuesday at the hospital with her, went back after work Tuesday night. Still didn't know much and had a really hard time sleeping because of it.

Wednesday came and I couldn't roll my butt out of bed no matter how badly I wanted to. All day long I beat myself up for not rising and shining and hitting the pavement like a good little runner, but I just couldn't do it. Later that night, I made a promise to myself that I was going to take all that bad energy out to the trail (asphalt trail) and leave it there. I was supposed to run five miles, but I didn't. Instead, I ran three incredibly hard and possibly too fast miles, and I left every bit of the icky on the pavement. I felt like a million dollars after.

The rest of the week got better. Thursday, I did five miles on the treadmill watching The Barkley Marathons on Netflix (by the way... I will NEVER reach that level of insane. I'm putting this in writing... NEVER. EVER. EVER. Watch the documentary and you'll get it.) After the miles, I spent seventy minutes in my most favorite class of all time--Dance Fusion at Germantown Athletic Club with Cari. Her dance class is one of the best things to ever happen to me (from a fitness perspective.) She honest to gods makes working out sooooo much fun. I was so exhausted when it was over, I slept like a baby. Thankfully, Friday was a rest day.

As always, the end the week ended on Saturday with a nine mile long run--which is still not long for me. I won't start getting worried until we're above fifteen miles. The great thing was four miles were long gone before I started feeling it at all. The long, gradual hills from downtown to midtown were a pain in my glutes. But I got it done. I pretty much slept all day after. My body needed it. Badly. And to make things better, by the end of the week we knew what was going on with my mother and she was on her way to recovering. 

ALSO...
In my search for perfect fuel, I came across two new to me products that I foresee becoming staples in my running gear. 

The first was the Cinnamon Waffles from Honey Stinger. I had one before my two long runs to knock off the grumbling belly and give me a little extra boost in the begging. Oh. My. Gods. Those things are freaking delicious. I think I might have to carry them for my actual run. Most of these Gu/Jellys/Gatorade things have a weird taste to me. I mean, I pretty much know I'm eating pure sugar, but this was liking siting down with a cinnamon waffle. Sooooooo yummy! (Click on the picture for more info)

The second was Tailwind Endurance Fuel. I tried the Tropical Buzz first, and again, it was absolutely delicious. I liked this because it didn't make my water fizzy and salty. It added a wonderful fruity taste without color, and to make it even better it's all natural and all organic. 
(Again, click the picture for more info)

Marathon Training - Week 6 Wrap Up

July 23rd-29th ~ 17.1 Miles

Day 37 ~ Rest
Day 38 ~ Women Run/Walk Memphis coaching! 1.6 miles
Day 39 ~ 50min Bootcamp
Day 40 ~ HIIT, Base Miles, 2.4 extra "run buddy" miles (I'll explain this later.)
Day 41 ~ HIIT, Base Miles (dreadmill), Dance
Day 42 ~ HIIT, Rest (Carb up, be silly, chill)
Day 43 ~ HIIT, Long Run (8 miles), Swim

So, I've re-written this post like three times already. I was going to document my entire week and all my thoughts and feelings, but that's boring. I mean, who wants to read the same ol', same ol' week after week? The daily is on Instagram anyway. No sense in rehashing old news, right? Instead, I think I want to share with you guys a little gem of a documentary I found on Netflix this week. It's called From Fat to Finish Line (you can click on the title to see the IMDB listing.)

"The journey of 12 people who share the common bond of losing 100 pounds on average and then embarking on one of the biggest challenges of their lives - the 200 mile mega distance Ragnar Relay Race."

I found this movie because Thursday morning I couldn't make myself get out of bed. The alarm went off at 4am, and I just couldn't do it. The cat kept nuzzling my cheek and purring in my ear, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave the bed. But all wasn't lost. I planned to go to dance class at Germantown Athletic Club that evening, so I told myself I'd get the miles done on the treadmill. I hate the treadmill. Hate. It. So I needed a movie or something on my iPad to keep me occupied for about forty-five minutes while I ran those four miserable miles, otherwise I knew I wouldn't finish. I strolled over to the "available for download" section and went shopping. This is the one I picked... a movie about running, to watch while I was running. Obsessed much?

Immediately, I related to every single person in this documentary. They talked about lifelong weight struggles, one in particular who lost and gained and lost and gained. I know that struggle all too well. Then the woman who didn't have the confidence, the one who felt like she looked ridiculous. I related to the one who got in her own head and convinced herself she couldn't do it. I related to the sick feeling. Every bit of it, even the part where their team-mates stayed by them to pull them through bad runs, and especially the part where they all became a family.

I found a hell of a lot of inspiration in this movie, and it came at a time when I was honest to gods, no kidding, wondering what I was thinking when I signed up to do the marathon. Sure, I make jokes that it's going to kill me, but by Wednesday, I honestly believed I wasn't going to make it all the way to 26.2 miles.

Those four treadmill miles flew by and I felt absolutely amazing. I topped the day off with sixty minutes of dance fusion--which has always been my favorite part of the gym.

By the end of the week, most of my confidence in my ability to see this journey through to the end was coming back. I'll give partial thanks to the people who shared their stories through the documentary, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention my local running community. I mean... they don't exactly let you give up on yourself. And how can you not love people who will get out at 6am on a Saturday morning to sit on the side of the road and wait to hand you water?

Moral of the story, find inspiration however you have to find it. It's okay to give up for a second, even a minute or a day, but don't give up for good. Fall off the horse, but do your best to get right back on it. I've done a lot of giving up, but like one of the women in the movie said, the difference this time was she made a lifestyle change BECAUSE she found running and fell in love.

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.