Marathon Training - Week 21 Wrap Up

Nov 5th-Nov 11th ~ 35.9 Miles

Day 140 ~ 6 Recovery Miles
Day XX ~ Rest
Day 141 ~ Boot Camp & 3.5 Miles
Day 142 ~ Run 8 Miles
Day 143 ~ REST
Day 144 ~ REST
Day 145 ~ 18 Mile Long Run

Meal prep this week - My Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl

I swear, I should just skip rest days so I can keep the numbers right. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

So, Marathon training is FAST wrapping up. I had one more long run this week, which my chiropractor advised against. Not the ENTIRE run, but no more than twenty miles.That was after telling me no more dancing on pine cones, which of course made me laugh harder than it should have. See, I had a major panic after my long run Wednesday night. I kept having these super sharp, pretty painful spikes in the side of my knee, so much so it felt like my leg was going to buckle. It didn't happen a lot, but it happened frequently enough to cause concern.

When I finished running that night, got home and got settled, the muscles above and below my knee got super tight, and I still had that spike of pain every once in a while. I stretched. I slept it off. Everything felt like it was going to be fine on Thursday, then I had to walk up three steps at work. Let's just say I was on the phone with the doctor's office as soon as they opened Thursday morning.

Dr. Wonderful asked me everything I'd done as usual, then I told him about the pine cone during my last long run. I don't know if I shared the pine cone story, but... running UP Neshoba in the almost sunrise, my foot landed on a freaking huge pine cone. If it had been a snake, this might be a very different conversation. Anyway, my left foot rolled forward and to the left. I screamed like a banshee, nearly gave Yella a heart attack as she lunged for me. We laughed it off, and I kept running. Everything fine Saturday. As you can see, everything wasn't fine. Dr. Aaron informed me that I had a new injury, to which he taped for me, which gave me a fairly successful run on Saturday.

Since we're talking about Saturday--like my segue? Anyway, it was cold and early, and my heart really wasn't into doing two laps of eleven miles around the same dreary parts of downtown and midtown Memphis. I figured out where to cut a mile out of the loop, which would've given me the twenty, but ugh... LOOPS! There's nothing I hate more than running a loop. So boring. I'll do it, but I'd rather visit the dentist on no caffeine day. Yeah. No.

Kirsten, my brilliantly insane running buddy, told me she hated loops too. We commiserated while running in the cold, watching our breath, and charging through downtown on how we could get the miles without doing the loops. She was deep in thought, doing math while I happily plodded along to whatever dance club jam was coming out of my phone while she muttered numbers beside me.

Eventually, her plotting and mathing led us to changing the plan and going off course for one of the funnest, most epic adventures of my marathon training. We took off toward the river and ran cross state lines! We went from Midtown Memphis, to Downtown, to Arkansas, and back again. There's been so much good change in my city, change I'd never seen until now. Martyrs park was so freaking cool. It would've been a lot cooler if we'd been about 20 minutes later and the bathroom at the visitors center had been open...

The last few miles weren't fun for either of us, but I had an injury, and we were both cold and flu season hungover. We still made the best of it and laughed along the way. Two more long runs before the big day!

Marathon Training - Week 20 Wrap Up

Oct 29th-Nov 4th ~ 23.1 Miles

Day 133 ~ 6 Recovery Miles
Day 134 ~ Dance
Day 135 ~ Boot Camp
Day 136 ~ Run 6 Miles
Day 137 ~ REST
Day 138 ~ REST
Day 139 ~ 11 Mile Long Run

Meal prep this week - Sooooo much fail. Luckily though, I'd made cucumber dill wraps to munch on after my long run Saturday and I didn't eat them all so I didn't have to eat out every day.

Man... it's been a rough week. I'm so far behind on everything. Let's see if I can remember the standout moments from last week.

Ooohhhh... I remember last week. CHOCOLATE!!!! Oh, and cold. Lots of cold.

Oh wait. Something did happen. But it wasn't last week. I just wasn't ready to talk about it last week. My feelings were a little hurt, and the only feeling I had about it was nastiness. So I just kept my mouth shut.

A friendship ended. Over rumors. Over training. Over... whatever. The reason doesn't matter. And I wasn't going to write about this, because it's not part of marathon training, but it kinda is. Emotions can seriously get in the way of training if you let them. I refused to let them. I'm not going to go into details, but I've learned a lesson about people... when they check out on you, don't take it personally. Its a decision they made. Not you. Also, people talk. People lie. Rumors happen. If you value someone in your life, ask them if the rumors are true before you believe them. Not the other way around. That's all the life/friendship advice I have right now.

As you've been told many times before, running is as much mental as it is physical. So after losing my friend, I wasn't in the greatest head space, but I persevered. I didn't make it obvious by boohooing about it, but yeah... it hurt a little. I also didn't have time to dwell. People will always come and go. Their departure should never, ever stop us. Goals are still goals and failure still isn't an option. Other's involvement doesn't determine my success. I do.

The previous week, while it sucked, ended on a 20 mile high note that left me feeling strong and confident.

Sunday I did my recovery miles--very gently--on a treadmill while watching a horror movie. It was epic and the six miles were done before I knew it. I chose the treadmill because I still hadn't warmed up from the previous day and the idea of getting cold again was about as vomit-inducing as the idea of my feet hitting MORE pavement. The dreadmill was a great alternative and got me through the miles with no problem.

My usual dance and boot camp followed, though I'd opted out of running Tuesday night because my legs felt really fatigued in boot camp that morning, and I was concerned about my left leg. Throughout my training, I've been dealing with some anterior tibialis and IT band issues that has me in a chiropractor every other week. When things start hurting, I ask myself "what would normal, stubborn and sometimes stupid Allison do" then I do the opposite. Normal Allison would've suffered through and probably been sidelined before the big day. We're trying really hard not to be stupid Allison.

Wednesday night, I learned that four legs are faster than two and sometimes dogs are better than GPS. I also learned that Sir, Issac Newton had it wrong. What goes up doesn't always come down. Like in Kirsten's neighborhood where you can go up 27 hills and only come down once and still make it back to the starting point. And I'm not talking about kiddie hills either. I'm talking about hills to make you say bad words. But we had fun. Well, I know I did. And hills only make you faster so we love them SOOOOOO much. That may or may not have been sarcasm. It really depends on the day.

The week ended with an eleven mile long run that the lovely and zany Yella joined me for. Oh. My. God. Soooooo cold. The run was wonderful and we had lots of laughs with our imaginary boyfriend Ryan from Boston who just wants to have beer and donuts with us, despite running in the kind of cold you felt in your bone marrow. I think I'm still trying to thaw out.

So now we're to a point where training is winding down and the big day is upon us. Well, after Saturday's long run, anyway. I've found my tolerance for bullshit is fading. I don't have time or patience for the things I used to. I'm trying to be smarter about my body, i.e. going to the doctor when something doesn't feel right... even if it's just a little sinus pressure. I've found the advice from experienced friends has been monumentally huge in the success of my training. I've surrounded myself with wonderful, positive people who uplift and encourage. I've found that any talk of kids with cancer gets to my core more than it ever had in the past. I've found confidence in myself where it seriously lacked before, and I think that's probably been the most rewarding part of this so far... I'm sure there will be a hell of a lot more to come.

Marathon Training - Week 14 Wrap Up

Sept 17th-Sept 23rd ~ 29.1 Miles

Day 92 ~ Recovery Run (3.1)
Day X ~ REST
Day 93 ~ Boot Camp
Day 94 ~ Run (7 Miles)
Day 95 ~ Dance & Run (3.1)
Day 96 ~ REST
Day 97 ~ Long Run (16 Miles)

I apparently can't keep up with the number of days in this thing. I was doing pretty good there for a bit. Anyway, I guess the number of days isn't that important. It's all about the miles, right?

So, you guys know last week's long run did me in. Bad. I suffered. Hard. I did all the wrong things and paid for it. I beat myself up for it. Anyway, this week's long run went sooooo much better. It started off with appropriate rest and fueling the night before. Yes, rest and fueling makes a HUGE difference when you start getting up into the double digits. It's a serious thing. I had my beloved DGB burger from Red Robin and about six and a half hours of pretty decent sleep.

When I woke up bright and early the next morning--around 3:30am--my best friend in the entire world, my Pookie, was sitting in my garage with her husband, having a chat with my husband. She lives like 160 miles away, so we don't get to see each other much. But she knew I needed some time with her, and she came to Memphis to see me. I didn't say anything. I just hugged her whole entire head. I can't remember the last time I was so happy to see another human being.

The boys went to their respective beds. Pookie sat and chatted with me while I had a cup of coffee and something light to eat. We talked about lots of things, but the thing that really stayed with me was when she told me I could do this whole marathon madness, that she believed in me. I left for my long run with the biggest smile on my face and the best warmth in my heart. She's not a runner. But she gets it. That's all I needed. Did I mention I love her like whoa?

The first four miles I did by myself. That worked well for me. I had about an hour to get warmed up and get my head in the game. Almost like reading a book and having coffee to mentally prepare yourself before going to work. I enjoyed the sounds of my music without other gossiping and chatting around me. It was just me and the road, and I loved it. On Johnson Road, I picked up Kirsten and we finished the remaining twelve miles with mostly laughs and smiles. The last mile was a bit of a bear, but I sucked it up and got through it. Had lots of little sections of negative splits. That was nice. It looked like the longer miles that messed up those splits were fuel and hydrate breaks. Overall, I'm happy with the long run. It left me feeling like I could conquer the world if I wanted to.

Later that night, I celebrated my longest miles ever with my bestie, RockBand, rum and Fireball. Don't judge me. It's been a minute since I've been able to go crazy and have fun with my Pookie like that. The most awesome part of that evening was when I realized I was actually dancing... not twelve hours after running sixteen miles. HOLY SHIT! It was like a cartoonish AH-HA moment. I've conditioned myself enough to run sixteen miles then dance and jump around like a fool. All in the same freaking day!!! This time last year, after running my first half marathon, I could barely walk for two days. I had to let that sink in for a minute. That's the moment I realized I was a baddass. And I'm totally okay owning that.

"Never underestimate your own strength. You were born for a purpose and are blessed with the power to achieve it." ~ Leon Brown