This week’s team run was 8 miles. The longest that I’ve ever run on my own was 10 miles, and that’s when I was training for my half marathon. So I knew I could do 8 miles, but I still had some butterflies in my tummy.

This was the first week of training where we had a water stop. Now that we’re getting in to the longer miles TNT will have water stops every three miles to help keep us hydrated and fueled. This is one thing I love about TNT. Long runs can be scary, but it helps to know that there are stops along the way, not only to provide hydration and fuel, but in case of emergencies. I always got nervous when training on my own that I would get to far away from home and my legs would give out on me and nobody would really know where exactly I was.

With the water stops now being introduced we also went over hydration and fuel options. My coaches made it clear that, with these distances we all need to be bringing some type of hydration pack with us on the trail, even though there will be water stops it’s important to be have water/Gatorade with you out on the trail. My go to hydration pack is my trusty Camelbak, which is always filled to the brim with water.

We also talked fuel options. The suggestion for long distances runners is gel packs, shot bloks, chocolates, or gummy bears. These are perfect because they give your body a boost in glucose, and are absorbed by the body quickly. I am a gel and shot bloks kind of girl, my body just reacts really well to them. One big warning though, if you consume gels, you MUST chase them with water. If you chase them with Gatorade you have an overdose of glucose and it can cause you to have an upset stomach…not the the thing you want on a long run.

After our hydration and fuel chat, it was time to get a move on.

Our run was on the mountainous east side of town, where we ran right along the basin of the beautiful Sandia Mountains.

The route was gorgeous, but very hilly. My legs were screaming at the end. But the views helped to keep me distracted.

I was actually surprised that the 8 miles flew by. I felt like I was done before I knew it. 1:17 was my 8 mile time! My feet and calves were a little achy at the end, which I attribute to all of the hills.

Feeling strong and proud.

Here’s a recap of the week’s training

Feb 27 – March 5

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5 miles in 49 minutes

Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa

Thursday: 4 miles in 39 minutes

Friday: 4 miles in 38:56 minutes

Saturday: Team Run 8 miles in 1:17

Mile 1: 9:40

Mile 2: 10:00

Mile 3: 9:06

Mile 4: 9:17

Mile 5: 9:06

Mile 6: 9:40

Mile 7: 9:13

Mile 8: 9:45

Total mileage for the week: 21 miles

Next week’s training schedule

March 6 – March 12

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: 6 miles

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: Hoy Vinyasa

Thursday: Track Workout 2

Friday: 4 miles

Saturday: Team Run 10 miles

The runs are getting l-o-n-g!

This week our team run was 6 miles. 6 miles is still a comfortable distance for me, it’s an hour on the road, which is doable. But, with week 5 completed, we are now well on our way to some serious miles.

…back to this week though.

My training this week went really well. My pace is definitely picking up, and I just feel like I’m finally finding my groove.

Here’s a recap of this week’s training

Feb 20 – Feb 26

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 miles in 48:25 (9:15 pace)

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: Track Workout 1. Completed 4 miles in 36:57

Friday: 4 miles in 38:30 (9:05 pace)

Saturday: Team Run 6 miles in 56:08

Mile 1: 9:44

Miles 2: 9:26

Mile 3: 9:26

Mile 4: 9:38

Mile 5: 9:38

Mile 6: 8:13

Total Mileage for the week: 19 miles

After our team run we celebrated with cupcakes!! Woohoo!

I can tell you one thing’s for certain, my legs are sore! And I can feel the early stages of plantars fasciitis starting to flare up. The arch of my left foot is becoming really sore and achy.

I brought this up to one of my coaches and he recommended to use a frozen water ball as my pain reliever. After every run, no matter if my legs are hurting or not, I need to roll my feet over the frozen water ball. Doing this will loosen my muscles up and ice them down at the same time. 5 minutes per foot, and then I can also roll it over my legs to soothe my calves, quads, and hams.

I was in pure heaven. I was amazed at how good the ice bottle made my feet feel. Live saver!

Next week’s training schedule

Feb 27 – March 5

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa

Thursday: Track Workout 2

Friday: 3 miles

Saturday: Team Run 8 miles

Training is really starting to wear on me, I’ve got to admit.

I feel more tired now that I did when we started. But I can feel my legs getting stronger and my runs getting easier. (I think I just need more sleep)

This is how my training schedule turned out for the week

Feb 13 – Feb 19

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 4 miles in 39:15. Kept a steady speed of 6.5 to 6.7 on the treadmill

Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa

Thursday: Track Workout 2. Completed 4 miles in 39:45.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Team Run 5 miles in 45:36!!! Smokin’

I was able to stay on track for the most part from last week’s planned schedule.Which is a really good thing

Waking up for the team run was actually a relief. The weather man had predicted rain for Saturday morning…thank goodness that guy’s never right. I was happy to see not a drop in sight. Even happier to wake up to such a gorgeous sunrise.

For this week’s team run we started out with a Timed Mile.

The purpose of the Timed Mile is to provide a baseline for my marathon training. Being a novice marathoner, my coaches have recommended that I come up with a walk/run plan to help me improve my run times while being able to minimize the probability of being injured. It also helps to determine the best training pace for me. I completed my timed mile in 9:19, good consistent pace.

After the timed mile we moved on to our Measured Intensity Mile exercise. The purpose of this is to determine my Long Slow Day (LSD) pace. My LSD pace is the pace I need to be running at during our long team runs, which again will help to build my endurance, get my body used to long runs, while preventing injury.

The measured intensity mile exercise consisted of one mile at a warm up pace, one mile at an easy pace (where you can easily carry on a conversation with someone), one mile at a hard pace (as fast as you feel you can go while still gettin a few words out at a time) and then a cool down lap.

Every time I completed my miles, my coaches were there to record my times. They will be pluggin my times in to an equation to give me an idea of what my LSD pace should be. I’m excited to learn what my LSD pace is, but even more excited that I finished the whole five mile run in 45:36! My legs were movin’!!

I was really surprised at how efficient my body has become during these teams runs. I give all the credit to me doing my homework runs everyday. Consistency really is the key to build up endurance.

And always make sure to stretch

Next week’s training schedule

Week of February 20

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5 miles, steady pace

Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa

Thursday: Interval Training

Friday: 3 miles, steady pace

Saturday: Team Run 6 miles

3 weeks down!! 16 weeks to go!

Marathon training requires a lot of dedication, and I am so proud that I have really been sticking to my training schedule. I just keep telling my self Consistency or Death!

I was supposed to meet my team on Saturday for our 4 mile run, but I just couldn’t do it. I was so exhausted Saturday morning from a whole week of work, rigorous training, and staying up the night before helping Lucas with some Firehouse Subs business, that I decided I would do this run solo after some sleep.

After a morning nap and a cup of coffee I was ready to hit the streets.

As I was running I starting think about mileage. This 4 mile run was gonna take me about 40 minutes, which to me is an average workout, and not something that really scares me. The next few weeks of long runs will be pretty average mileage for me. I’m used to running anywhere from 5 to 7 miles just as one of my everyday workouts. But in 3 short weeks we will be at the 8 mile marker, then 10 miles, then 12 miles, and we continue to climb from there. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be at the point of almost running a half marathon or more every weekend in just a few weeks! Very soon these short easy runs will be no more.

My running mantra at that point will be: SCREW IT, RUN THROUGH IT!

The weather this weekend was fabulous! Sunshine all day long, which sure makes running a lot easier!

I was also excited to jam out to some new songs on my iPhone. Black Eyed Peas, Glee, Lady Gaga and Roscoe Dash had me moving at a good pace, and running a little further than planned. I ran 4.57 miles in about 45 minutes.

Towards the very end of my run I was feeling it in my legs. I had done my tempo run the night before, which had my legs a little sore. So by the end of the 4.5 miles I was glad to see my front door.

After stretching for a bit to loosen up I was dying for some breakfast. Goodbye week 3, hello week 4!!

Next week’s training schedule

Week of February 13

Sunday: Hot Vinyasa

Monday: rest and eat chocolate

Tuesday: 3 miles

Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa

Thursday: Track Workout 2

Friday: 4 miles

Saturday: Team Run 5 miles

I can’t tell you how much I am longing for warmer weather. I don’t want to run in the cold any more!! My long run this week was three miles, which isn’t too bad, but it was so darn cold out!! I thought my legs were going to freeze off.

We started our three mile run with a Turnover Clinic. In marathon running you want your turnover to be 180 steps/minute, which is ultimately the most efficient stride rate. The gauge our turnover we started our first mile to the whistle of our Coach.

He would blow the whistle to start, we would run and count how many time our right foot hit the ground. After a certain amount of time he would blow the whistle to signal us to stop counting. We did this four times to get an average count. My count was 84 everytime, which is really good! You want your right foot to hit 90 times because if you multiply that by 2 (for your left foot) that equals 180. So I am actually very close to have a really efficient stride! Sa-weet!!

After finishing our Turnover Clinic we set out to finish our last two miles.

The run was actually really nice, despite the cold. I felt really strong, and was able to get in to my groove pretty quickly. The thing I hate about shorter runs is by the time I finally getting adjusted we’re finished. But that will change real quick because those miles are gonna start adding up.

I only tracked the last two miles on my Garmin, because the first mile was done in the Turnover Clinic. Obviously I need to read over the instruction booklet, because I’m not sure how to get the pace to show up. Still getting used to my running buddy.

It’s funny how you can start off being soo cold, and then when you’re done you’re sweating like a pig. I felt like I could go put on my bathing suit. Shew, it was hot!

After my run I was ready for some coffee…and a nap