Week 15 of Livestrong Marathon Training

This is a picture from my run on Friday.

Workouts for the Week so far:
Monday- Rest Day
Tuesday- 5.17 mile run (Run Group+ Run Home)
1150 yd swim
Wednesday- Rest Day
Thursday-3.32 mile run (Run Group-Track 1k's)
Friday-4.67 miles (Town Lake Run)
Saturday- Rest Day
Sunday- 16 miles (Long Run- San Gabriel Trail)

So, sorry I haven't been blogging as much lately. I am right in the middle of the semester at school so its been pretty busy. Some highlights of the week:

Monday I read my poem "Chocolate Milk" in Spanish and English at the Poetry Festival at my school. I was really nervous as I barely know any Spanish but it went pretty good.

I'm not much of a cook- my husband is the cook in the family. But I do make pretty good hot wings. So Tuesday I made some:

For my Magazine Writing Class, we are now working on "people" essays. I'm writing mine on my turtle, Puppy.

Friday I went for a run at Town Lake on my way home from school. It felt nice to have the break in my commute. It was actually my best run of the week.

Also on Friday, I ate dinner with my run group and my mother and brother-in-law. I haven't seen them in three months, so it was really nice to spend time with them.

But the biggest news in Jamie's running world is that today I ran my longest run ever- 16 miles!! It took 4 hours and 6 minutes, it was very humid and kinda hot but I did it!!

Week #15 of Marathon Training in the bag!! Only 17 more weeks!!

47% done!!

Week #14- Recovery Week and Out of Town weekend!

Picture from the track at University of Texas at Dallas

Workouts for the Week:
Monday: 900 yd Swim
Tuesday: 2.55 miles ( Run Group)
Wednesday:  REST DAY
Thursday: 2.94 miles (Run Group- Track Ladder Workout)
1000 yd Swim
Friday: REST DAY
Saturday: 3.29 miles (@ University of Texas at Dallas Campus)
Sunday: 5.76 miles (Lookout Park, Golf Course, Nature Trail Area- Richardson, Tx)

So, last week was a recovery week. I don't know what my deal was but last week I just was not feeling very motivated to run. I had a lot of homework, my legs felt blah and I was anxious to go out of town to see my sister and go to our friends wedding. However, on the upside, every run I had last week was better then the last. So although Tuesday's run was crappy, Sunday's run was pretty good.

I also got to run in 4 different location last week: San Gabriel Park, Forbes Middle School Track, UTD, and a park in Richardson which is always cool as running in the same places every week can be boring.

I wish I would had more mileage, but after 3 weeks of increasing my run, I think my body really needed the break.

Pic of my husband and I before the wedding!



Not sure if you guys have seen UT at Dallas campus before but it's pretty nice. In addition to the track there, which is on the outskirt of multiple soccer fields and is 1.5 laps = 1 mile, I also ran around campus:

Sunday before we left to go home, we ran at Lookout Park in Richardson. I mainly ran on a golf course, but also ran up across the street to the trail. I've never run on a golf course before. Lots of little hills and weird turns.



Also, last week marked my two and a half year anniversary of running! I have run every week at least once since April 12th, 2010!

Week #14 of marathon training in the bag! 

44% done with training!



The Almost 15 Mile Long Run at Town Lake



*These pictures are not in order! *

Today we ran at Town Lake in downtown Austin. I was really looking forward to running there as we haven't run there in over a year. I was majorly dragging butt to get out the door as I was tired and am a baby when it comes to the cold. When we got there and I started running, I was really cold the first mile and pushed it too hard. I ended up starting out too fast and paid for in the second mile. But I did get warmed up so there was that! I refilled my water on the 2nd mile and continued on!

Mile 1- 12:43
Mile 2- 15:51

The light started to come up and everything was just so awesome to look at. I really think running in a different area then what you are used to helps brighten your run. More people started to come out to run as well. I really love people and dog watching here. There is always such a variety of people. I saw a lot of UT college runners. They were SKINNY and NAKED! Not really naked but a lot of them had little tiny shorts on and no shirts. I'm thinking to myself, it's like 50 degrees! Aren't you cold with no fat on you?

Mile 3- 13:05- gel
Mile 4- 14:01

So, the town lake loop, at least where I was starting from, was a 10 mile loop. Since I was planning on going about 15 miles and since the town lake trail is pretty flat, I decided for distance and elevation I was going to run up and down every set of stairs that came by way throughout my run. After about 9 miles though, I was WAYYYYY too tired to go out of my way to go up and down stairs though but at least I managed for 9 miles!

( These are views from some of the stairs going up and down.)

Mile 5- 17:39- bathroom break
Mile 6- 13:30
Mile 7- 14:20- waffle bar
Mile 8- 14:09

Something that really annoyed me during this run, however, was that all the bathrooms were locked. What is up with that? Fortunately though, I saw Vince go to the Porta Potties by where we parked the car. However, he told me there was no toilet paper. So I tried to hold in but I couldn't. So I took the short cut up the bridge after about 4 miles and used the restroom. After that, miles 6-8 went by pretty fast. The weather started to warm up a little, the waffle bar gave me some energy and life was good. :) So this part was actually my favorite and that made me feel good as usual I really start to drag around the middle.

I mentioned earlier about the people watching, but I think it is also worth mentioning that at Town Lake there is also so much varied scenery. You could be on a trail one moment, then on a bridge overlooking the river, look at the canoes, see sculpture and see art on the walls. It's really pretty cool.
Mile 9- 15:20
Mile 10- 14:50
Mile 11- 14:50- gel

Around this point, I was starting to get really tired, paranoid and cranky. When I was on bridges, I would worry about the weight of everyone on it making it fall. I would die in what would be known as the "The Great Town Lake Bridge Collapse of 2012".

Later, I was running low on water and was getting pretty thirsty. I'm not familar with the area and didn't know where the water fountains where so even though I was thristy, I didn't want to drink my water in case there wasn't another water stop for a while. Finally, I saw a water fountain and a beacon of light fell through the sky and all was good. UNTIL....

I went to the water fountain and no water came out. Then I threw a temper tantrum and starting cussing as I was not in no mood. Pretty Mature, I know. Luckily, it was one of those 3 spouts water fountain, with one on top, one a little lower and one on the floor for the dogs. So the top one didn't work, but the middle one did. Which was good as I was at the point where I was fixin to lie on the floor and drink from the dog fountain.



Mile 12- 14:16
Mile 13- 14:26
Mile 14- 14:40- 3:23:40
.67 miles- 9:05- 13:33 pace

So after 14.67 miles, I was done. I was hoping for 15 miles, but I had nothing left. Still, I am happy for yet another new distance PR and to get to run somewhere different!

Week #13 of marathon training in the bag- 19 weeks left after this

40 PERCENT DONE WITH MARATHON TRAINING!!!!

Ten Things Thursday

Workouts so far this week:
Monday- Rest Day
Tuesday- 3.54 (Run Group- Hills)
1200 yd swim
Wednesday- Rest Day
Thursday-2.56 (Run Group- Track Time Mile +400's)

1. September was my best month ever of running!
I ran 99 miles- my most ever.
Last week I ran 25 miles- my most ever.
Anddddddd last week I ran a long run of 13.70 miles- my most ever!
So best month, best week and longest run! All in one month! Thank you kindly!

2. I saw this on facebook and as a doglover who knows other runners who read this blog are dog lovers, I thought it was worth sharing:

(I don't know if all this is true but still it's interesting.)

 



3. I know a lot of people love Boston and maybe it's because I am so slow that I could never even imagine going anywhere near Heartbreak Hill but for me, it's all about the New York Marathon. I love/am infatuated with New York City.  The New York Marathon is also the first marathon I ever watched. I'm really looking forward to watching it online next month!

4. My hip has been giving me guff all week. I am fixin to throw it out the window and demand a refund. I am not sure where you can get a refund on right hips, but someone let me know!

5. I am going to be a bridesmaid next month (VERY EXCITED!!). The people told me that I was in between sizes and needed to lose 10 pounds to fit into my dress. However, when I got my dress and tried it on last week, it fit despite the fact that I gained weight. I think (logically) they were just wrong about the pounds but ( in imaginary land) I'm just going to say I got more muscular and go with it.

6. I'm about 80% sure we are going to do the Jameson 5k in Georgetown next November. I really hope so because it just does not get much better then a race that is only like a 5 min drive from your house. When I was reading the bio on Jaysn Jameson, it struck me how similar he is to my husband. Both attended Southwestern, run, and were science majors. It really is incredibly sad that he died at only 24 and I think the scholarship fund in his honor is a great idea.

7. For my Images of Women class, I am really happy that my professor approved my idea to do a presentation on She's Come Undone. It's one of my favorite books. I read it when I was 12, 18 and 25. If you haven't read it, you should! It's been out for 20 years so what are you waiting for?!

 

 

 

8. You know, I am grateful that we live so close to a park and so close to a running group. But I miss some of the old places we use to run at back when we lived in Round Rock. I know Round Rock isn't that far away, but its not the same. We use to live on a block that had a lot of traffic but the block was almost exactly 3.1 miles and had inclines and everything. It was the way I trained for my first 5k. Plus, we would run over by Old Settler's Park which I really liked. We had our wedding rehearsal under one of the Pavilion's there and we would take Eva there back when she was a puppy. And we use to go over by Wells Branch and run that tiny loop and by the houses and underneath that little road/dam thingy that had a mirror. Also, it was a lot closer to Lake Pflugerville which we use to go more too. I guess I'm just nostalgic.

 

9. I have been realizing I eat a lot, a lot, a lot of bread lately. I've always had a sweet tooth and liked bread stuff but lately it is just a carb crazy mess. I'll eat like cereal, bagels, tacos, pasta, just carbs,carbs,carbs. It tastes good at the time but then later I just feel so bloated. Do people crave carbs when they increase mileage? I know that's probably just an excuse and also that my mileage isn't that high, but with walking, running and swimming last week, I did almost 9 hours of cardio ( very slow cardio as it was like 9 hours for 31 miles but still). I don't know. At this point, maybe I just want to blame everything on marathon training lol as IM TRAINING FOR MY FIRST MARATHON!!! :)

( I feel like the girl who just got engaged. What's that you say? Oh yes, I am training for my first marathon and my body is sore all the time and I'm hungry and I STILL haven't even run 20 miles yet so imagine how pleasant I will be after I do that!)

 

10. Don't really have a 10th thing other then to say after last week's training- I am offically on Week #13 of training for the Austin Marathon with 19 more weeks to go after Sunday.

And I want to get this shirt:

 

 

 





My longest run ever!!!



On Sunday I ran the longest run of my life. Ever. In both time and distance: 13.70 miles in 2:21:55. I still can hardly believe it. But I know as I increase my long runs for the marathon, my distance PR will just keep improving, so that's even cooler.

When I first started the run, my hip was hurting a lot and my gel hadn't kicked in yet.



The next couple of miles my hip started to feel better, the wind felt nice and I refilled my water and had another gel. I felt like I ate a whole meal between the bag of jelly belly sports beans, two gels and waffle bar I had during the run.

Mile 5 I was really starting to feel better. Since the course isnt long enough for me to get the full length, I run parts of it twice or take detours. The pic above is from an incline about a mile or so after Rivery Park. I hadn't run up that part before, it's a nice view of the town when you get to the other side.



(They have a bunch of these on the trails. They are pretty nice.)

I was starving by the time I ate the waffle bar. I don't know why I was so hungry but I was. I was happy though that the weather was still pretty nice. After dealing with Texas in the summer, it's a relief to have cooler weather.

Several times throughout the run I saw lots of deer. However, that's not unusual in that area. But this time, they were really close to me and didn't really run off. I actually said to them, "excuse me" as I ran past. I was feeling pretty good during my 7th and 8th mile.

But then, catasphore struck! My stomach started really bothering me and I couldn't hold off using the restroom. It really brought down my overall pace but it was worth it as I really had to go. Afterwards I did feel better, but I never really recovered pace wise. 

After that, my pace and splits went down as I started to get tired but I really was gunning to go further then 13.1 miles. When I did, I was exhausted, sweaty and tired but I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I hope my next long run is a better pace, but with more then 4 months to go till the marathon, I am hopeful I can improve my long distance pace!

Mile 1- 13:52 min
Mile 2- 14 min
Mile 3- 14:40- water refill
Mile 4- 14:50- gel
Mile 5- 13:42
Mile 6- 14:00- waffle bar
Mile 7- 13:37
Mile 8- 12:20- fastest mile!
Mile 9- 17:09- bathroom break
Mile 10- 14:15- gel
Miles 11- 14:57
Miles 12- 15:48- water refill
Miles 13- 15:51
.70 miles- 10 min, 32 sec