Marathon Training Week 7 - Check!

Hansons Marathon Method Week 7 Recap
Soooo...who else in Maine is getting a little irritated with the snow ruining their running plans? These past two weeks have been unrelenting and guess what? 4-8 more inches tomorrow!

This was my first 50+ mile week for Hansons. By the end of the week I logged 54 (and a quarter) miles of running. The speed workout this week was my favorite (ugh - not so much) - the ladder. I am so relieved there is only one ladder in the speed workout sequence. Knowing that I only had to do it once helped me get through it.

 This week also marked my first run over 12 miles since I started - a 14 mile long run (finally!). I ended up doing a SUPER crazy hilly route for this run with about 1000ft of elevation. This is a route I usually do once a year, and then never want to do it again. But this time, I loved it (and I'm already planning on doing it again next weekend). I ran on heart rate (instead of pace like I was suppose to) so I didn't burn myself out on this first big mileage week, but in the end only ended up about 10 seconds slower per mile than I was suppose to do. I figure given the course, it would more than even out.

I also put a lot of time into my strength/warm up routines this week. I have been consistently "myrtle-ing" and "ITB (p)rehabbing" and doing the "standard core workout" for 7+ weeks now, and this was the week where I started to see the difference. It may seem like a small victory, but yesterday, I could hold a side plank on each side for a minute, and do the 10 suggested leg lifts in the middle of the planks! Yay! I love progress!

 Also, and this is slightly embarrassing to admit, but I am AWFUL at lunges. Seriously, I couldn't really do them prior to this training cycle. I would fall over and had the worst form ever. However, I was recommended a great warmup routine that was all lunges that is suppose to help prevent injuries and I really wanted to make it part of my daily running routine. So, I gave it a try. And guess what! I can do a pretty great looking lunge now! (I am sure to many of you that sounds ridiculous -but, again, small victories).

On another note, I have to thank Jen from Running With the Girls and Sarah for the great conversation about Daily Mile. I have used DM to log my training for over a year and love the graphs and how it tracks unique useless facts about your training (as of yesterday, I had burned off 1,999 donuts over my lifetime on the site - sweeeett!). However, being the awful type A personality that I am, it also felt like a competition. And it's NOT. And I hated it. But I loved it. But I hated it. You get the point - I have a bg issue comparing myself with others and I am trying to stop...and "social media" doesn't really help my cause. So, with Jen and Sarah leading the way last month and giving it up, I have decided to be a follower and give it up as well (thanks ladies!). Well, kind of. I'm still on it, but only using it for personal tracking, not for social media. So, if I was "following you" on Daily Mile, and no longer am, that is why. I need it to track my training, not to peep on other people's training. Everyone is different and therefore everyone's training plans are different. There are many roads to get to the same path...and your goals should be YOURS, not what you feel they need to be because of someone else's. (That was me preaching to myself BTW).

And on another, kinda related note - if you haven't read this blog post...read it. Now.

Zoe Goes Running: Look at What this Body Can Do

Really amazing. And very well put. I felt kinda ashamed reading it, because I know that if I knew Zoe, those questions - "OMG - how much weight did you lose...what did you eat?" would have been the first out of my mouth. And that is an awful, yet honest, reflection of my unconscious priorities. But Zoe is SO right in her post. It's not about weight, or how you look. It's about what your body can do today, that it couldn't do a few months ago. I mean,  I can freaking do a side plank with leg lifts now. I can freaking do awesome lunges now! Dear me: It DOES NOT matter than you haven't lost a single pound doing this new regiment, because you are getting faster, healthier and stronger, both physically and mentally. So - thank you Zoe for sharing with the rest of us and making us aware. I would have asked you those questions, and it never would have occurred to me how wrong those questions were until you said something.

I know I'll have Zoe's words in my mind during my runs/workouts this week.