Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Week 40 and 41: Pina Colada Baths

Training:

Last year, my marathon training cycle was 3 weeks.  I had 6 weeks between Kerrville 70.3 and the Rock and Roll San Antonio Marathon.  So, that really meant one week off, three weeks training, and two weeks taper.  If I picked the same race, I’d be heading into my last week of training again next week.  My thoughts are both a) I’m ready, bring it on, and b) thank the dear fluffy lord I have a few more weeks of mileage.

Yesterday, I ran 20 miles without stopping for the first time ever.  It’s not the first time I’ve traversed 20 miles on foot, in fact, it’s the third, but I finally was able to run it.  Frankly, pretty much every run over 13 miles for me has been a crap shoot for me.  I was almost convinced that I didn’t have it in me to be able to run 15+ miles without walk breaks.  Even just 3 weeks ago (was Kerrville ONLY 3 weeks ago…?), I had very little run confidence.

Two weeks of training later, 10 runs, 73 miles, and about 20 degrees cooler, and I’m pretty much on top of the world.  Instead of dreading shuffling through runs, I’ve gotten the run mojo back.  Doing speedwork again rocks my socks off.  Feeling turnover in my feet that’s faster than molasses, seeing paces that make me happier on the garmin, and being able to cover more miles without wanting to die is amazing.  I covered the easy 20 miler at a pace that was faster than my predicted marathon goal pace – so I’m going to have to revise that.  It’s crazy the difference these 2 weeks of training have made.

Also, let me plug ice baths here.  Ice baths may be intense, but they’re tolerable with booze.  Plus my legs feel a lot fresher and seem to be handling the miles better, so it’s worth it.

I’m scared to think about what’s happening to my swim and bike skills, but this is the first time since April, since I surprised myself by PRing at Austin 10/20, that I’ve felt good about my running.  This gorgeous weather is definitely helping the run love along as well.  I’m still waiting a bit to decide, but I’m having high hopes about what I’d like to do this winter training-wise.  I do have a few weeks of high (for me) mileage to get through first, so we’ll see.  I could learn to hate running again yet!

By the numbers…

Week 40

Monday: Run: Progression Run 3 mi 00:32 10:45 pace Weights: Gym 00:45
Tuesday: Run: Easy 3 3 mi 00:34 11:27 pace Run: Lunch Run – Double Run Tuesday 3.1 mi 00:37 11:54 pace
Wednesday: Bike: Spinny Spin – Green Lantern 12.45 mi 00:30 24.9mph pace
Thursday:  Run: Lunch Run 5 mi 00:57 11:22 pace Weights: Home 00:45
Friday: off
Saturday: Run: Long Run 18 mi 03:44 12:26 pace
Sunday: off

32 miles running, 1 cross train, 2 weights.  All according to plan.

Week 41

Monday: Run: 6x800s on the Treadmill 5 mi 00:51 10:15 pace Weights: Quickie 00:30
Tuesday: Run: Easy Run 1 – Morning 5 mi 01:04 12:48 pace Run: Easy Run 2 – Lunch 4.33 mi 00:52 12:07 pace
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Run: Didn’t Wanna Didn’t Wanna OMG… 6 mi 01:05 10:50 pace
Friday: off
Saturday: Run: Gorgeous Day, Happy Run 20 mi 03:54 11:41 pace
Sunday: Bike: Quick Spin 10.36 mi 00:30 20.7mph pace

40 miles, 1 cross training session, 1 weights session.  Skipped one weights session because my legs felt trashed Wednesday and never felt untrashed enough to make it up.  It’s lost to the ages, and that’s ok.

This coming week I am trying out back to back long runs Thursday and Friday (and taking the weekend a lot lighter – I have THREE halloween parties to attend…).  Looking forward to some happy running this week!

Food/Scale:

I’ve been eating what fitbit tells me (or trying to do so).  I wanted to eat the garmin after my 18 mile run, but fitbit said no, so I ate other stuff instead.  I haven’t really lost anything yet, but I know it takes my body about a month to really get with the program, so I’ll be patient.  I just know i have to keep tracking.  Tracking is the key this year to having taken off about 10 lbs, and not gaining it all back during heavy training.  I haven’t been counting DQ the last few weeks – I’ll get back to it – because I have made some less than wise choices (three deserts in one day what what?) nutritionally, but with running so much, I have more calories to play with, so I’m getting good food too.

I keep hearing about runners/triathletes going low carb during the day and only eating carbalicious things during/post intense workouts, and at night.  I’m not entirely sure how to feel about that… I feel like I earn my carbs by the way I plow through miles, and I also feel a lot better when I maintain a steady diet of about ~200g carbs per day (give or take 50).  However, quite a few credible sources swear by it, so maybe it’s something to consider at some point.  Not now.  I’m not ready to do a major upheaval of my diet right now, especially since my running is going really well, I don’t want to screw that up.

Since the fitbit interface is actually pretty amazing, here are my calories in/out for last two weeks:

Week 40:

10-7to10-13

Week 41:

10-14to10-20

This also very, very illuminating – it’s really hard to create a deficit and VERY VERY easy to eat back even 4 hours running without batting an eyelash.  In fact, the longer I’m running, the more likely I am to eat more percentage-wise.  It might also be that I usually cap off my longest run day with a lighter or off day, and have a few adult bevvies.  But that’s probably not it at all, right? 😛

Other stuff:

This summer, I started having half a starbucks mocha as wakeup juice/calories in the morning before races and long workouts – I found a case of peppermint mochas at Costco and I guess I will have to do a lot of long workouts before March (when they expire).  Soooooo good.

I made these pumpkin protein cookies.  The batter was amazing, the cookies right out of the oven… just ok.  I tend to like them better cold so they’re in the fridge.  Next time, I might try something similar, but raw?  Zliten loves them though!

Had fun watching Kona last Saturday.  How about that Rinny, huh?  Man, it was an intense day!  I enjoyed the heck out of watching the race start to finish (well, the pros, I couldn’t stay up til 5am to see the 17 hour finishers).  I love the spirit of that race and it’s amazing to watch triathletes conquer one of the toughest days of their lives.

I’ve got my costume all set besides one little thing I have to sew.  I’ll share with you soon, for now, it’s a surprise (if only because I don’t have a picture of it yet! :D) So I better get on it!  Off to be productive, see y’all soon!

Question of the week: Pumpkin spice – amazing or overrated?

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1 Comment

  1. Based on the week I’ve had, parenting is also more tolerable with booze. Too bad I couldn’t take that route. Dammit!

    That pic of you with the Garmin: I was sooo tempted to steal your pic and tweet it to them. LOL!

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