Sunday, October 20th was the day of the Grand Rapids Marathon – my first marathon. I think it was a wise choice to make this race my first because it was an excellent event.

The sticker I received at the finish

Matt and I drove to Grand Rapids the afternoon before the race and arrived at the expo around 4:00. The expo took place at the YMCA, which was also the site for the race’s start and finish.

This YMCA is a really nice facility

The race expo

We picked up our race packets, which included socks and a very cool shirt.

The race packet

Another photo of the race shirt

One of the cool features of the Grand Rapids Marathon is the celebrity pace groups. Rather than boring old pace groups that simply list times, this race uses times run by various celebrities to determine the pace groups. My ambitious race goal was 3:35, so somewhere between 3:29 and 3:44 seemed ideal for me.

I hoped to fall somewhere between these pace groups

Celebrity pace groups

There were plenty of things to buy at the expo, and we chose to purchase a book written by the race director, Don Kern. His book is about his quest to run marathons on each continent in less than a month. I’m sure it will be an interesting read. Don was also available to autograph the book.

Don Kern’s book

There was a booth for the Fifth Third River Bank Run and they were handing out glasses for free! I loved running the 25K in May and was excited to add this to the collection.

Free glass

Gazelle Sports had a variety of merchandise to purchase, including some awesome Saucony shirts designed specifically for the race. Matt and I browsed for a bit and that worked in our favor. The racks said the shirts were 25% off, but someone came around and changed the signs to 50% off while we were still looking around! It was nearing the end of the expo time, so I’m sure they were trying to get rid of things.

Gazelle’s area

I love this design

After the expo, we stopped for dinner at Noodles & Company on the way to our hotel. When we got to the hotel, we discovered that our toilet was broken. Matt found a workaround to still make it functional, but we called the front desk to let them know. They gave us the option to switch rooms or stay in our room for only $15. We chose to deal with a little inconvenience and save the money! We spent a while preparing everything for the next morning and got to bed around 9:00. They always say that you may not sleep very well the night before a race, and I blame at least half of that on our neighbors. The people in the next room stayed up much later than us. They had their TV cranked up, spoke loudly, and hacked up a lung out on the balcony. Grrrr.

5:15 am rolled around too soon after a restless night, and it was time to get ready for the big race. I had my typical pre-run breakfast of a banana and a Honey Stinger Waffle with water. Rain had been in the forecast just before the start of the race, but luckily it had already cleared up by the time we left the hotel. It was partly cloudy and in the low 40s which was perfect. There was quite a bit of traffic in the area when we got there, but we made our way to a parking lot a few blocks from the YMCA a good hour before the start of the race. I hit a porta potty along the way, then we met up with some friends near the start. After chatting for a bit, I figured I ought to drop my stuff at the gear check. While I was there, I could hear the National Anthem. I hadn’t realized it was so close to the start of the race! I hurried up, found Matt, and we walked around the block to get to the start. Luckily, we still had a good 10 minutes or so.

Right before the start

Waiting for the start

Matt was running the half marathon and would be going much faster than me, so we wished each other luck and found the pace groups we needed. It was easy to walk on the sidewalk then jump down to the street in the right spot. I chose to start a little behind the Dubya Running Mates, who were aiming for 3:44. I was going to start conservatively and hopefully save some energy for later in the race.

Somehow I managed to not freak out before this race. I figured the nerves would really kick in Saturday night or at least Sunday morning, but they never did. I think I took the pressure off myself by not really pushing for a specific goal. I told myself I was going to go out there and see what happened. Everyone kept telling me that I shouldn’t have a goal time for my first marathon. Even though I’d followed Higdon’s Advanced 1 training plan, I was obviously far from advanced when it came to actually running a marathon. I felt confident in my training and didn’t want to discount that, but I also knew very well that the marathon is quite a monster and anything could happen. I viewed my 3:35 training goal as my best-case scenario, but I wouldn’t be bothered at all if I didn’t hit that for my first marathon. My plan of attack was to start easy, run a pace in the 8:20s until later in the race, then drop closer to my 8:13 goal pace if I had it in me.

The race started and I spotted Matt’s parents before I crossed the starting line. It was awesome that they came to support us, and I saw them a couple more times along the route. Over 1,500 people ran the marathon and just under 2,000 people ran the half marathon. We all started at the same time and the half marathon runners split off before the 9-mile mark. Because both races were together for so long, the course was filled with people. I didn’t feel like it was congested in a bad way though and didn’t weave around people too much.

One reason I chose this race for my first marathon was because it was supposed to be a scenic course. We ran through some of downtown Grand Rapids, and much of the run took place on park and bike paths. It was peaceful and pretty, especially with views of the fall colors in many areas.

Another reason this race appealed to me was because it was billed as flat and fast. There were a few little hills before the halfway point, but nothing significant.

The elevation

While there were a number of spectators throughout the downtown, there were not many once we hit the park and bike paths. The people at the aid stations were wonderful and enthusiastic, and there were a lot of people at the various relay exchange points. A few spots here and there did have people cheering, and I especially loved seeing a fluffy white Samoyed several times throughout the race. I had a Samoyed when I was growing up, and it made me smile each time I saw the dog on the course.

The awesome dog I had growing up

I did a pretty good job sticking to my plan to run fairly easy early on. The Dubya pace group was within my view, though they were probably a good 30 seconds ahead of me for a while. I caught up to them before the halfway point and ran near the group for several miles. As I hit 13 miles, I felt a pain in my left knee. I’d never had a problem there before and it bugged me for a while, but I ran through it. Luckily the pain faded after a few miles and I still felt good. The pace was easy enough and I was happy with how the run had gone so far. I wore my hydration belt with a couple of 22 oz bottles, one with GU Brew and one with water. With my own bottles, I didn’t have to stop at the aid stations. I also had some Honey Stinger Chews to eat along the way, and I ate some of those at least every 6 miles or so.

The pace group was nice to keep my pace in check, but with the pacers came larger groups of people. As we ran on some of the more narrow paths, I started to feel like it was too congested for my taste. Around the 16th mile, I finally broke away from them. I didn’t like being right on top of other people and needed more space. I sped up a little to get around them, then I had all the space I needed.

When I ran a 20-mile training run on part of the course a month earlier, one of the biggest struggles for me was on the bike path – Indian Mounds Road. For both the training run and the race, that portion involved an out and back stretch. I was fine on the way out during the training run, but struggled a bit on the way back. There weren’t many people around and it was a pretty isolated area. I had been concerned about struggling with that portion during the marathon, but I was fine. There were plenty of people around at all times. Even when I broke away from the pace group, there were always people in front of me that helped keep me going. Because it was an out and back stretch, soon enough the speedy runners came back in the opposite direction. It was fun to watch them, and I also enjoyed watching people after I turned around. I got to see the various pace groups go by and it was a good distraction.

I didn’t mean to speed up too much, but after 17 miles, my pace dropped for a bit. I felt bad as I passed people off to the side dealing with cramps or those who were walking. I hoped that my conservative pace early on would help me finish strong. My pace for the 22nd mile was clearly slower, and that’s when I decided I should stop to fill one of my bottles with more water. I was running low and knew I was getting pretty thirsty. I pulled off at an aid station, dumped a few cups of water into my bottle, then got going again. That was the only time I stopped during the whole race.

My pace slowed down after that point, and things got a bit more difficult. From about 22-23 miles on, it became a struggle. Aside from the knee pain at the halfway point, I hadn’t had any issues. No other pains, no stomach issues, no cramping. However, I started to get pretty tired and my legs started to break down. The bottom of my feet hurt and my legs got heavier and heavier. I knew an aid station would have some Oreos coming up, so I had that to look forward to. I took a couple of the cookies, but my mouth was pretty dry. I made it through one and a half cookies as I ran before I couldn’t do it anymore. Cookies and a dry mouth were not a good combination. I did have plenty of water in my bottle, but maybe I hadn’t been hydrating quite enough and it was starting to catch up with me. Also, it was probably the fact that I’d gone 23 or 24 miles and I was getting pretty wiped out by then!

Another thing that got to me was the fact that I was going to run quite a bit long. As much as I thought I was being aware of the tangents, I clearly did not do a good job. I’m sure I picked up quite a bit of extra distance each time I drifted from one side of the path to the other when I passed others. While I usually run a bit extra in most races, when the race is 26 miles, each little bit adds up quite a bit by the end! As I got closer to the end, I realized I was going to be about .3 miles over, meaning 26.5 miles instead of 26.2. Since I was feeling pretty miserable and counting down the distance I had left, that fact sure didn’t help me feel any better.

I was kind of surprised that my pace was still around the 8:30s near the end, because it sure felt like I was just trudging along. I was in pain and kept telling myself that even if I ran a little slower, I was still going to keep running. I kept passing more and more people who were walking, and I couldn’t let them get to me. Although walking sure seemed appealing, I couldn’t do it. At the same time, people who were going strong were passing me. I couldn’t let that bring me down too much either. It was a bit of a mind game, but I was mostly thinking about how miserable I felt. When I reached 23 miles, I told myself that I had just over 5K left. It felt like the longest 5K ever.

I knew that Matt should have finished a couple hours before I would finish and that he was going to try to track me. I had my phone with me and we had made use of the “Find My Friends” app. He had talked about coming out to run with me near the end, and I saw him coming towards me when I had a little more than a mile left. Although I was glad to see him, not much could truly lift my spirits at that point. I was struggling and in pain, just trying to get to the end. He kept talking me through it and told me that his parents were going to be up ahead cheering for me. I was happy to see them, as well as my friend Jeff near the finish. I tried to push a little bit at the end. I dropped my pace a little, but really didn’t have much left in me. Here’s how my splits broke down:

My splits

I ended up finishing with an official time of 3:42:07. Because I should have run 26.2 instead of 26.5, my official pace was 8:29. I prefer going with my Garmin’s pace of 8:23 though. That’s 10 seconds slower than my best-case scenario pace of 8:13, and it’s kind of what I expected to hit all along. It was nice to know that I was right on track!

Almost done!

Don Kern, the awesome race director, waited at the end to shake hands with each person who crossed the finish line. Although I really appreciated that personal touch, I failed to show much appreciation when it was my turn. I had finally stopped running and was absolutely beat. I shook his hand and shook my head as I realized how much pain I was in. I got a bit winded for a minute which freaked me out, but luckily that feeling went away. I collected my medal and slowly worked my way through the food area.

I did it! I’m trying to smile through the pain.

Very nice medal

A closer view of the medal

As I walked through the food area, I tried to stretch and recompose myself. I was starting to realize all of the places on my body that hurt. I already knew that the bottom of my feet and my calves were trashed, but my hips, IT bands, and nearly everything else ached as well. It probably took a good 5 minutes for me to walk through the food area. I drank a couple cups of Gatorade, then collected a bottle of water, half a bagel, a bag of chips, a banana, and my favorite – a cup of chocolate custard from Culver’s. I worked my way through the area and went to see Matt, his parents, and Jeff. It was great to see all of them.

Instead of a feeling of elation, my only post-marathon thought was that I was in so much pain. I kept thinking, “I hurt.” I didn’t shed any tears as I crossed the line. I was just thankful that I finally got to stop. A feeling of accomplishment didn’t really hit me. It was so hard to look past the pain!

I got my stuff from the gear check to make sure I’d stay warm enough and realized I had a Clif Builder’s Bar in my bag. The bagel seemed too dry since I was probably dehydrated, but the chocolate mint Builder’s Bar tasted good. I followed that up with my chocolate custard and I was growing happier by the minute. I was ready to check out the beer tent with Matt. I’m not much of a drinker, but a beer at the end of a long race always seems appealing. However, I’m very picky and wasn’t really thrilled with the taste of the beer they had available. I had a few sips and was done with that. Oh well!

After a little bit, we decided to take off and go get some lunch with Matt’s parents. It was a bit tricky getting around the traffic and closed roads, but we made it to Peppino’s. They had a post-race buffet available with pizza and pasta, and I wanted to check that out. The choices were pretty limited, so we chose to get our own table and order from the menu. I had some cheesy breadsticks that nearly filled me up alone, then I ate a few pieces of pizza on top of that. Although I had plenty of calories to gain back, I quickly realized that I didn’t need to do it all at once. I was going to end up feeling sick in addition to feeling like my legs were completely trashed. It was quite a mess whenever I tried to walk. As I walked through the restaurant, a fellow runner looked at me and said, “You look like I feel.” Usually a speedy walker, I was the complete opposite as I hobbled around.

Following lunch, Matt and I had a 2-hour drive back home. I was a bit worried about my legs stiffening up. I did put my compression sleeves on in hopes that it would help a little bit. We stopped for gas at one point and I decided I had better try to get moving. Getting out of the car was ugly. I realized how bad my hips hurt and felt a pain in my left knee as well. We saw an old man shuffling through the store, and I knew that I wasn’t walking much better than him. We made it home, and then I found out just how bad it was to deal with stairs. I had always heard that stairs would be difficult following a marathon. I always thought it was because of sore quads. My quads felt fine, but my left knee was a mess. I had to take two steps on each stair because it was agony to bend my left knee.

As expected, I was quite a mess for a couple days following the race as well. Going to work the day after the race was interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so slowly. My knee was a definite issue and it felt like I was limping along, dragging my left leg. Somehow I made it through the day, sore calves, hips, IT bands, knee, and all. I was walking a bit better by the end of Tuesday, though my knee still made stairs very painful. By Wednesday, nearly everything felt fine again, other than my knee. I’m not sure what I did to it, but it may take some time to heal.

Now that the pain is fading, I’m better able to comprehend the accomplishment of actually finishing a marathon. After talking to so many runner friends, it almost feels like running a marathon is just a given – something most runners do. Part of me feels like it’s no big deal because so many of our friends have run multiple marathons. I need to realize that it really is a big accomplishment though, and feel proud of all of the work I put into it. 18 weeks of training is quite a long time, and it meant pushing a lot of things off in order to concentrate on following my training. Even a year ago, I didn’t really think I’d run a marathon. I wasn’t sure my body would hold up, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to subject myself to that kind of torture. Yet eventually I broke down and decided to give it a try. I set my mind to it, and I was able to do it!

I’m really happy with how my first marathon went. Yes, take note that I keep referring to it as my “first” marathon. I’m sure more will come in the future! I need a little time to distance myself from the pain I went through in the last few miles, but when that memory fades, I’m sure I’ll plan to run another. It just may be a good year or so before I put myself through it again! I’ll leave you with the final stats from the race. Not bad for my first attempt!

– Janet

The last week of marathon training…this is it! I’ve spent the last 18 weeks working toward this race and it’s finally here. Marathon #1, the Grand Rapids Marathon, is tomorrow. Here’s what the final week of training looked like:

Monday: Ran 3 miles. It felt kind of weird to be done with my run in less than half an hour. It was kind of nice though too!

Tuesday: Ran 5 miles. My schedule had a 4 x 400 workout on it and I wasn’t really sure how fast I should run. The plan specifies how fast to run 800s, but this week was the only time I had to run 400s and I couldn’t find any info about the pace. Matt thought somewhere around 10K pace seemed good and I agreed. I didn’t want to go too fast so close to the marathon. I settled on aiming for a 7:30 pace, which is a little slower than my 10K pace. I ran 1.5 miles to warm up and a little over 2 miles to cool down just to get more distance in. My splits were 7:16, 7:29, 7:18, and 7:15. I was a bit fast on most of the repeats, but not too bad I guess. Getting in a few bursts of speed for the last time before the marathon felt good.

Wednesday: Ran 2 miles. 2 miles? That’s it? It was a little cool outside and 2 miles wasn’t even long enough for my hands to warm up completely by the end of the run.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 2 miles. A shakeout run the day before the marathon. Since I was still really bad about getting enough sleep during the week, I made sure to get at least a solid 9 hours Friday night. It was rainy and cool for this one, but the run had to get done. Matt and I went out to the trail and the run was just fine. My feet were numb to start and my fingers were cold for most of the run, but the rain was light enough and I felt good. This was about 20 seconds slower than goal marathon pace. After 2 days of rest, my legs felt great!

Totals for the week: 12 miles of training with 26.2 more miles coming on Sunday!

Right when it was time to really taper in the week leading up to the race, work got ridiculously crazy. Tuesday and Wednesday were especially bad. I easily walked several miles each day and spent way too much time on my feet. I think that irritated my shins, and my legs were heavy and tired by the end of each day. Luckily things were calmer on Friday.

One really cool thing is that so many people at work have been extremely supportive. A manager who has toyed with the idea of running a marathon was intrigued to hear about the whole process. He had me talk to a “healthy living challenge” group one day about my training. I think he really likes the idea that anyone who sets their mind to it can accomplish it. A lot of people have been really curious about how it all works, and a lot of people have been genuinely excited for me. It’s kind of unexpected, yet a great feeling to have support from so many people.

Now that I’ve been through a true taper, I have to say the concept of “taper madness” was blown out of proportion. Maybe it hits some people more than others, but I didn’t notice a thing. I’ve read or been told that I’d have new aches and pains that would freak me out. I’d get irritated and snappy. I’d feel anxious or antsy. None of those things happened and life went on as usual. As I suspected, even though I spent less time running and working out, I managed to fill that time easily with something else. Maybe the craziness at work distracted me and helped keep me from worrying too much. I’ve had plenty of moments where I think about how I ought to pace myself during the marathon, but no freak-out moments. I didn’t have any new pains or feel like my legs were dead. The hip pain I first noticed a couple months ago is still very much present, but luckily it doesn’t seem to bug me when I run. My legs felt refreshed from running fewer miles.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of anxious moments the night before and the morning of the race, but I’m trying to keep calm. I need to trust my training. I worked my butt off for the last 18 weeks and feel like the training was a big success.  I’m not truly hung up on hitting a certain pace – it was more of a guide for me in how I should complete my training. I plan on starting slow and possibly running somewhere around 10 seconds slower than the goal pace for as long as 20 miles. If I have anything left in me, I can step it up toward the end. If I don’t, I’ll just continue on the best I can. This is a learning experience. I’d rather end up a little slower than I may be capable of and enjoy my first marathon experience rather than run the risk of crashing and being completely miserable.

I have a feeling my biggest worries will be about what to wear. Right now, it looks like the real-feel could range from about 39-46 degrees while I’m running. While I’d planned on wearing short sleeves before, now I’m leaning toward long. I’m also hoping to get that damn Miley Cyrus song “Wrecking Ball” out of my head by tomorrow. I heard it while I was at work yesterday and haven’t been able to shake it since. I don’t run with music, so I usually end up with choruses of bad pop songs running through my head over and over. Please, please, please don’t let THAT song torture me! I’m also hoping I hold it together emotionally. When I saw Matt coming toward the finish line of his first marathon, I got all teary-eyed. I hope I can hold it together so I’m not crying in my finish line photo!

In the meantime, I’m giddy and looking forward to the race. I’m looking forward to going shopping at the expo and seeing the cool GR Marathon gear they have. I’m especially looking forward to finishing this weekend as a marathoner! I’ve come a long way over the last 18 weeks and I know that I’m ready. Thanks to anyone who has actually taken the time to read this blog as I work toward my first marathon – I appreciate your support!

– Janet

Week 17 was a nice taper week and the Grand Rapids Marathon is now only 6 days away. The past week was about as perfect for running as anyone could ask for. Sunny skies, nice temperatures, and fall colors made for some gorgeous runs.

Paint Creek Trail was beautiful this week

Before I became so obsessed with running, I used to take a lot more photos and post them on my website. Although I am lucky enough to take photos all day long for work, I’ve kind of neglected “fun” photography lately as training has taken up so much of my time. Last week I FINALLY got a new phone with an excellent camera (my old one was terrible) and that will surely inspire me to take more photos again. Most of my runs this week turned into half jogs and half photo expeditions. As a result, this post is loaded with photos.

Here’s how the week of tapering went:

Monday: Ran 4 miles. My typical 5-mile run days dropped down to 4 this week. I split this run up between the Paint Creek Trail and Rochester Municipal Park.

Rochester Municipal Park

Tuesday: Ran 6 miles. I had been worried that the taper might leave me with fresher legs and I’d end up going faster than I should, and that did happen during this run. Not that I really went fast, but when I’ve gotten used to running easy runs 25-30 seconds slower than marathon pace, 10 seconds above seemed faster than usual. When I realized I was at marathon pace for the second mile, I slowed down. Yet I was back to it again for the fourth mile. It was nice to feel good, but I have to make sure I don’t push it too much.

Wednesday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by a 4-mile run. I’ve been told I should stop strength training before the race. Lately, I’m down to only once a week as it is, and I honestly don’t do much with my legs when I strength train anyway. I read an article from Runner’s World that addresses this topic, and it sounds like it’s ideal to cut out strength training 8-14 days before a marathon. So, this was probably my last weights session for a couple weeks.

After the gym, I headed out on the trail once again. I’ve spent so much time on the trail during marathon training because it’s flat, close, and convenient. Although I’m extremely thankful to have such an amazing place to run, for a while I’d grown a little bored with seeing the same sights day after day. The fall colors have suddenly brought new life to the trail though, and I loved running there this week. This was my first run with my new phone and I stopped a bunch of times for photos.

Paint Creek Trail

Along the Paint Creek Trail

Thursday: Ran 6 miles. I had a 30-minute tempo run on the schedule, so I ran a mile to warm up, a mile to cool down, and did a cut down run for the middle 4 miles. Pretty much all of my tempo runs for marathon training have been done on the treadmill. It keeps my pace steady and where it should be. I had to get out to enjoy the nice weather though, so I attempted to keep a decent pace on my own on the trail. I originally figured I’d aim for miles at 8:15, 8:00, 7:45, and 7:30. I ended up with 8:09, 7:55 , 7:44 , and 7:24. It was a successful run, though my pace was pretty choppy and I was constantly speeding up or slowing down to hit the goal paces.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 4.25 miles. 4 miles seems like such a wimpy weekend run after going through the full marathon training segment. Since this was supposed to be an easy run, I used it as an opportunity to take some more fall photos. I didn’t care if I jogged for a few minutes then stopped for a few minutes for pictures. At this point in training, it’s kind of nice to have no pressure and just go out and do whatever I feel like doing. Matt and I went out on the trail, through Rochester Park, and through Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve.

Paint Creek Trail

Rochester Municipal Park

Rochester Municipal Park

Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve is a nice little area off the Paint Creek Trail just north of downtown Rochester. It’s very peaceful and has a lot of pretty sights. We saw a large family of deer in the woods, including the dad.

Dinosaur Hill

Dinosaur Hill

Dinosaur Hill

Dinosaur Hill

Just a few of the many deer we saw

Sunday: Ran 8 miles. My last longish run of marathon training. Because it was going to be another beautiful day, I wanted to go somewhere we don’t usually run and enjoy the fall colors. Matt and I decided to run on the Polly Ann Trail and chose to start in Leonard. We ran on the trail once during the summer, starting in Lake Orion. I wanted different scenery, and Leonard is one of the few towns along the trail that has a good area for parking. We enjoyed the sights as we drove to Leonard on some dirt roads through the country. When we got to the parking lot we saw a couple women heading out on the trail on their horses. Aside from them, we saw a few people walking and a few on bikes, but the people were few and far between. The trail was nowhere near as busy as Paint Creek Trail. There was one short portion that was paved, but the rest was crushed limestone. The trail was so covered with leaves in spots you wouldn’t even know what kind of surface was underneath!

Polly Ann Trail

Polly Ann Trail

Polly Ann Trail

Polly Ann Trail

The trail was beautiful! Although I also enjoyed running through the Lake Orion and Oxford portions of the trail the one other time, I’m really glad we decided to check out the Leonard portion this time. We will definitely have to go back.

Totals for the week: Ran 32.25 miles, strength training once.

I haven’t had a week with so few miles since the beginning of this training segment. It was nice to be more relaxed this week and take in so many beautiful sights. I’m feeling good and I noticed that I had a bit more speed. I’m trying hard to keep the extra speed in check, though the 8-mile run on Sunday was nearly at marathon pace even though it shouldn’t have been.

It’s hard to believe it’s almost time to do this. Don Kern, the race director for the Grand Rapids Marathon, had some great advice in today’s email to race participants – “re-freakin’-lax.” There’s nothing more that can be done at this point. You’re either ready or not ready. I know my training has gone extremely well. The marathon is such a monster though, and it can be easy to worry about a lot of different factors. I need to heed his advice and do the best that I can to chill out. I think I’ll be okay for the most part, but nerves always kick in before any race. Time to take lots of deep breaths and remind myself that I’m ready!

– Janet

Week 16 of training for the Grand Rapids Marathon is complete. Only 2 weeks until the big race! Although this past week could be viewed as the beginning of my taper period, it didn’t really feel like it. It just felt like another stepback week. I think this next week is when I’ll notice more as I drop from just above 40 miles down to just above 30. I haven’t run a week with less than 40 miles since mid-August. Here’s what I did for week 16:

Monday: Ran 4.5 miles. I had 5 miles on the schedule but only made it to 4.5. I think my mind was in a fog or something because I had convinced myself that I was going to end up with 5.5 miles. I had my watch on, but I guess I was oblivious. I did not feel good during the run so it was probably for the best. This run actually felt worse than the 5 I did the day after running 20 miles. I went slow and my shins hurt during a good part of the run. Aside from a few moments here and there, I usually don’t feel my shins while I run. It’s more of an issue afterwards. The fact that I felt them so much during the run worried me. In addition, my nose had been pretty runny during the day and I figured I was coming down with a cold or some kind of sinus issue. Just great. I reasoned that if I’m going to get sick, it’s best if it happens 3 weeks out from the race so I have time to be completely healthy by race day.

Tuesday: Ran 7 miles – 6 hill repeats. Sure enough, the runny nose and congestion problem I developed on Monday was no better on Tuesday. By the time I got out of the car after work I was ready to fall asleep. I was determined to keep up with my training though. Running usually makes my sinuses feel better and luckily that was the case for this run. The hill repeats plus a warm up and cool down went just fine. I had an audience for this workout – our cat and the neighbors’ dog were both watching me out the window.

It’s always nice to be greeted by our cat when I get home from a run!

About 5 minutes after I was done the sneezing started up again. I also had all of the warning signs of a migraine, but fortunately it never fully materialized. I haven’t dealt with a migraine for at least a couple years and I think the sinus pressure probably had something to do with it.

Wednesday: Ran 5 miles. I felt crappy all day at work and could barely breathe, but decided to try running anyway. It was actually the best I felt all day. Once I was done I went back to feeling like crap again. Too bad I only had 5 miles to run!

Thursday: Ran 8.75 miles. I had 8 miles on the schedule but went a little bit longer. It’s starting to get dark too early now and I ended this one in the dark. I’m not looking forward to the evening headlamp runs! I finally started to feel better today and could breathe again. It’s a relief that it didn’t turn into something more serious.

Friday: 40 minutes of strength training. Typically my rest day, I decided to get to the gym since I hadn’t been all week. I didn’t feel like it would be appropriate to go earlier in the week while I was sniffling, and I finally felt okay by Friday.

Saturday: Ran 4 miles at marathon pace. Here’s where the cutting back started to feel weird. Only 4 miles on Saturday? At least it was a pace run to help keep things challenging. It was dark and raining when I woke up. I wasn’t too excited to head out, but I’m sticking to my plan and if it says I’m supposed to run, I’m going to run. By the time Matt and I went out it was light and had pretty much stopped raining. I still had some congestion that annoyed me during this run, but I was fine otherwise and we averaged 7 seconds per mile under my goal pace.

Sunday: Ran 12 miles. It was raining once again when I woke up, but it let up by the time we headed out. I guess I got lucky with my timing this weekend. Matt ran with me for the first 5 miles. My legs felt tired and I was a bit slow for the first 4-5 miles, but then I must have warmed up enough to pick up the pace a tiny bit for the rest of the run. It was super humid outside and when I actually did have brief moments of rain, I think that felt better.

Totals for the week: Strength training once, ran 41.25 miles.

Everyone keeps warning me that strange things will happen when I taper. I’ll suddenly feel new aches and pains, I’ll be lethargic or really jittery, I’ll have a short temper, etc. We’ll see what actually happens. I have a feeling I’ll be thankful to have a little bit of extra free time! If I was smart, I’d use the extra free time to get more sleep. However, I always find something to fill that time and never get the extra sleep. For example, I write a blog post like this when I ought to be in bed. So if I end up feeling lethargic, I’m not going to blame it on the taper. I’ll be used to it from my typical lack of sleep!

2 weeks to go and I’m ready to just do this thing…I don’t want to wait anymore!

– Janet

Week 15 was probably the most challenging week of my training plan. I had a couple of 10-mile runs (one at marathon pace), an 8×800 workout, and my final 20-mile long run. I didn’t make things any easier by shifting my schedule around, causing me to run 9 days straight without a rest day. I survived though and my runs were a success, so I’m hoping it’s smooth sailing now as I begin to taper. Here’s what I did for week 15:

Monday: Ran 10 miles. I normally would have run 5 miles to start the week, but I shifted the previous week’s runs a day earlier so I’d be able to run 20 on Saturday this week. I ran on the trails at an easy pace, but it didn’t really feel like such an easy run. I got bored with the long, straight stretches of the Paint Creek and Clinton River Trails. I was okay physically. I just wasn’t very excited about the run mentally. I came across Matt when I had 3-4 miles left, and finishing with him definitely helped.

Tuesday: Ran 8 miles – an 8×800 workout. After running 10 miles the day before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my legs in terms of speed. I figured I’d run my repeats slower if I needed to. While I’ve done some of my 800s around a 6:40-6:50 pace, I told myself to aim for a 7:00 pace this time around. Now is not the time to get hurt, and I don’t need to push much faster than that if I’m aiming for a 3:35 marathon anyway. After warming up for a mile, I hit the track. I made it through all 8 repeats without a problem, averaging around 6:55 overall. I went as fast as a 6:49 pace and as slow as 6:57. I especially felt that the workout was a success because I didn’t walk at all during the recovery laps. When I’ve done 800s recently, I’ve been walking the first 100-200 meters of the recovery laps when I’ve found myself struggling to catch my breath. Maybe slowing the pace down just a bit helped enough to keep me from walking this time around. I was thrilled to complete what I considered the toughest workout run of my marathon training.

Wednesday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by a 3-mile run. I really debated if I should run or take the day off. Higdon’s schedule has workouts take place on Thursdays followed by a day off on Friday. I understand why, because I was feeling it after running the 800s. I felt okay for the most part, but my shins were pretty sore. I was supposed to run 5 miles, but compromised and ran 3 instead. I treated it like a recovery run and took it slow. I was fine and decided it would be wise to ice my shins afterwards.

Thursday: Ran 10 miles at marathon pace. I normally would have done this run on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday. However, I was going to run 20 on Saturday instead. I really wanted to get the pace run in before my 20 and not the day after. Running 10 on Friday was not really an option. We were going to drive to Grand Rapids after work on Friday, so I couldn’t get the run in then. I start work way too early in the morning to squeeze in nearly an hour and a half of running beforehand. So, I shifted the run to Thursday. My work/running buddy Jeff kept offering to run with me, so I took him up on his offer. He’s super speedy, so maintaining my 8:13 pace was a breeze for him. We ran out and back on the Paint Creek Trail, and his company and distraction really helped. A few of the miles on the way out felt a little tough, but it felt better on the way back. With an 8:07 average, we hit my goal pace and then some. My legs felt a little stiff the next day, but they loosened up as the day went on.

Friday:  Rest. I think 9 days in a row is about the longest I’ve gone without taking a break from running. I needed the break!

Saturday: Ran 20 miles. When I first saw that Gazelle Sports was putting on a 10 and 20-mile training run, I was definitely interested. For $20, the training run allowed people to run a good chunk of the Grand Rapids Marathon course with aid stations, plus a special technical shirt from Saucony was included. We had plans to go to the west side of the state to visit family anyway. I mentioned it to Matt and he was interested, so we decided to sign up and get a hotel. We actually booked the same hotel that we’ll be staying in for the marathon, so this would be a true test run for the big race day. I’d never done an organized training run before and I was excited. I was especially excited to get a preview of parts of the course.

Map of the Grand Rapids Marathon training run

The training run started at 7:30, and our hotel was about 15-20 minutes away. Yet another crazy early morning! The run was based out of the YMCA, which is where the marathon will start as well. We got there about half an hour early to pick up our shirts and bibs. Although it was not a race, they gave us bibs so they could track people in case of an emergency. I would guess at least 200 people were there.

Gathering before the start of the run

Don Kern, the director of the Grand Rapids Marathon, was there and talked to the crowd before the start of the run. We lucked out with the weather – it was in the low 50s and clear. Since this wasn’t a race, the start was kind of uneventful. The crowd got moving and Matt and I followed. The roads were not closed, but we only spent about a mile in town before we hit trails. There was very little traffic at that hour anyway. The crowd was so big that half of us were on the road and half of us were on the sidewalk. The first mile or two was a little slow, but then people spread out a bit more. Matt is training for the half marathon, so he signed up for the 10-mile run. It was an out and back course, so he was able to go out a little farther before he turned around to get more than 10 miles in. We ran the first 5-6 miles together which helped pass the time.

Most of the run was on the Kent Trails / Indian Mounds Rd. It is basically a paved bike path, and we had run on a portion of it when we did the River Bank Run 25K in May. It’s a tree-covered path that’s very pretty and peaceful. As the 20-mile runners got farther out, we went through a park and along a main road before turning around and retracing our steps. When I got back to the bike path, the pretty and peaceful aspect was harder to appreciate as I got tired and bored. That stretch is pretty desolate. On the way out, I always had a number of people close by. People were much more spread out on the way back. Miles 15-17 were the toughest for me. Although my pace was still decent, my splits slowed down for those 3 miles and it was more of a struggle. As we got out of the tree-covered portion, I stopped at an aid station around 15.5 miles. Most of the stations were unmanned, and people could help themselves to water, Gatorade, oranges, Oreos, and pickle juice. That station didn’t have the snacks, so I put some extra water in one of my bottles and kept going. I had it in my head that I needed to at least try some of the Oreos. I wanted to wait until later in the run in case they didn’t sit well. About a mile later I hit another aid station. There was a friendly volunteer and that table had Oreos. It was the one thing I had to look forward to at that point in the run! I stopped my watch for a couple minutes and ate a couple Oreos as I stretched. They were wonderful, and then I trotted on happily. It’s possible that the Oreos boosted my mood and/or blood sugar, or the stretching and brief break helped my legs. Maybe it was some of both. My pace picked back up for the remaining 3 miles or so and I had a strong finish.

There was a table about a mile from the finish where a guy from Gazelle cheered for the runners very loudly and enthusiastically. He made me smile and I’m sure that helped too. Right around the corner, I ran into Matt. He had come out to help run me in. I knew that I had less than a mile left and I got pretty excited. I was about to finish 20 solid miles and I felt good! It felt very empowering to finish those 20 miles. I realized that I don’t care what kind of pace I run for the marathon. I’m just going to feel so excited that I’ve done it when I finish.

At the end of the run, there were bottles of water, apples, and some bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. We hung out for a little bit, then headed to the car where I also had a Clif Builder’s Bar to eat. I found out that Matt had been able to swap my t-shirt, and I was thrilled. For some odd reason, small shirts were white while all of the other sizes were orange. White shirts are usually my least favorite and often seem to be see-through. I signed up for a small since that’s typically my size even though I knew I’d be stuck with white. They had extra shirts afterwards, so Matt asked if he could swap for an extra small. I was worried it could be too small, but it was actually just right. I really like the design of the shirt, so I was happy I’d actually want to wear it.

Front of the shirt plus my bib

I was really glad we did this training run. I knew if Gazelle was involved, it would be a good event. When it comes to running stores, Gazelle is one of the best. They have locations in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Holland. When we’re on the west side of the state, we love to stop there.

Sunday: Ran 5 miles. Matt and I ran 5 miles together near the Battle Creek area, where we were visiting family. I thought my legs would surely struggle after 20 the day before. It was a nice surprise that I held up just fine.

Totals for the week: Strength training once, ran 56 miles.

I’d like to think I’ve made it through the hardest part now…aside from the marathon, of course. Aside from some aches and pains (my shins and my left hip) I’m holding up pretty good. I’m feeling confident and I’m looking forward to cutting back on the miles as I taper for the next few weeks.

– Janet

Week 14 was a stepback week with reduced mileage. During the week, I mostly ran 5 or 6 miles. My long weekend run was 12 miles. It was a relief to cut back a bit after last Sunday’s Romeo 2 Richmond Half Marathon. I pushed so hard during that race that I was cautious going into the next week of training. Here’s how it went:

Monday: Ran 5 easy miles on the trail. This was the day after the half marathon, and it’s probably one of the slowest runs I’ve done during this training segment. I wasn’t sure if I should even run, but figured I’d take it easy and give it a try. My calves were tight and I felt stiff. Around 3.5 miles I began to feel my left achilles. That’s never been a problem for me, so I took it extra slow. I iced my shins a bit and wore my calf/shin compression sleeves to bed and to work the next day.

Tuesday: Rest. I was supposed to run 6 miles, but thought taking the day off would be smart. Now is not the time to get injured!

Wednesday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by a 6-mile run. I listened to a Dave & Chuck podcast at the gym, and that’s not always the best idea. Laughing while lifting heavy things is not a good combination. It does keep the workout entertaining though. I went home and decided to try running the 6 miles I had on the schedule for yesterday. I felt a bit better, though my calves were still a bit tight and my shins were stiff. I was slow, but not as slow as I was on Monday. I used the foam roller and wore my compression sleeves to bed again.

Thursday: Ran 7.5 miles. I had a 45-minute tempo run on the schedule. I kept debating whether I should try the run outside or on the treadmill. I ultimately chose the treadmill because I thought I’d have more success hitting the paces. It’s way more challenging for me to do a tempo run and control the pace on my own than it is to mindlessly set the treadmill and just do it. It was the easy way out for me. I ran a mile to warm up, starting above a 9-minute pace. I cut down to 8:27, which is where I started the tempo portion. I ran a half mile at 8:27 and cut down each half mile for the next 5.5 miles – 8:20, 8:13, 8:06, 8:00, 7:53, 7:47, 7:41, 7:35, 7:30, and 7:24. It started to feel hard when I hit the 8-minute pace, but at some point I must have gotten into the flow and the rest wasn’t too bad. I was working hard by the end, but I was able to maintain it. I did a mile to cool down, and the run was a success. I wondered if I’d be able to pull it off because my calves were still a bit sore, but I was okay.

Friday: Ran 6 easy miles. Friday is usually my day off, but since I took Tuesday off, I kind of swapped rest days. I decided to switch my schedule around a bit and move my weekend runs a day earlier this weekend to allow me to run 20 miles next Saturday rather than Sunday. It was on the verge of raining when I was ready to run and there was a chance for storms, so I ran on the treadmill again. Of course the storms never came, but it did rain. I seem to do better on the treadmill when I try to run faster. This was a slow and easy run, and I didn’t have a good rhythm half the time. It wasn’t super enjoyable, but I got it done.

Saturday: Ran 12.5 miles. It wasn’t too warm outside, so I slept in a bit and started my run later. Luckily this run felt fine despite running 6 miles the night before. We live along the Brooksie Way course, so I saw a bunch of signs notifying people that the race is coming.

Brooksie sign

I mapped a route that would take me to the cool boardwalk area I had discovered a month or so ago. I enjoyed the distraction of the nice scenery for a little bit.

Boardwalk

Boardwalk

Sunday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by a 5-mile run. I’ve been doing strength training on my shortest run days lately, and with only 5 to run today, it seemed like a good time to hit the gym first. Matt was running 8 miles, so he started a little earlier and we met up for the last 5 of his run. It was in the 50s with a breeze and sunny, so it was a beautiful day for running. We did much of the run along the Paint Creek Trail.

Just off the Paint Creek Trail

Just off the Paint Creek Trail

A friendly kitty on the trail

We took it nice and easy because I have 10 miles on the schedule on Monday.

Totals for the week: 42 miles of running and strength training twice.

Luckily I seemed to recover okay from the Romeo 2 Richmond race. I was a little iffy for a few days, but a day off early in the week and easy runs helped. This next week will be the peak of my marathon training. I’ll be doing a couple of 10-mile runs, 8 x 800s, and my final 20-mile run. I will approach 60 miles by the end of the week. If I can survive the week, it should be smooth sailing the rest of the way. Only 4 weeks to go!

– Janet

Sunday, September 15th was the day of the Romeo 2 Richmond Half Marathon, and it also happened to be my birthday. I managed to PR by 2.5 minutes, so it was an excellent way to celebrate!

When I first considered this race, it was half because it would be fun to race on my birthday and half because it would help me get through a big chunk of my second 20-mile training run for the Grand Rapids Marathon. I was supposed to run 10 miles at marathon pace the day before, and 20 the day of the race. I was thinking that I’d add on the extra 7 miles and take it easy during the race. As race day approached, I realized it was going to be nice and cool. Combine that with a fast, flat course, and it makes for perfect racing conditions. I knew it would be hard to discipline myself and not truly race it. I opted to still run 10 miles the day before, but took it easy. I’d save the marathon pace for race day and push it harder if I had it in me.

Matt signed up for the half as well, and we headed out to Richmond early on Sunday morning. Packet pickup was available on Saturday morning in Romeo, and we were strongly encouraged to go then. We were told that it would save us from having to stand in line on race day. We didn’t want to make the extra trip, so we waited until the morning of the race. We got to Richmond High School a little before 7am and got our packets quickly and easily. Because the race raises money for the Macomb Food Program, we took some canned goods with us to the pickup.

Romeo 2 Richmond race t-shirt

They had technical shirts which actually had different cuts for men and women. They didn’t mention the different sizing when we signed up for the race, so luckily the size did work out for me. The packets included a drawstring bag with some goodies like animal crackers, trail mix, pretzels, and the usual coupons and flyers.

There were bathrooms in a building by the football field with no wait, but that’s probably because it was still an hour and a half before the start of the race. Since this was a point-to-point race, busses ran from 7-7:30 to take us out to Romeo. We found our friend Jeff, a speedy runner who I sit next to at work, and got on a bus easily. It was about 7:45 when we got to the park in Romeo, and the race was due to start at 8:30. I had decided to run 3 miles to warm up prior to the race. Rather than try to run the full 20 miles on my schedule, I’d run 16 miles and figure that the harder effort would help make up for fewer miles.

It was a cool morning around 55 degrees, so I had a jacket to leave at the gear check. They gave us garbage bags for our stuff and bussed them back to Richmond. Matt, Jeff, and I headed out on the Macomb Orchard Trail to run 3 miles to warm up. We went out 1.5 miles and got a preview of the first little part of the race route. When we got back, we had a good 10-15 minutes to spare before the start of the race. We knew a bunch of people at this race and chatted a bit as we headed out to the start. Everyone was gathered in a park/field area right by the trail, but the race actually started a good quarter mile or so up the trail. There’s a bit of an incline where the trail crosses over M-53, and we started right in the middle of the incline. The chip-timed race started right at 8:30, and we took off up the short hill. After we got over M-53, there was a nice little downhill stretch that made for a speedy start. After that, the trail flattened out and stayed that way.

The elevation chart for the race

The Macomb Orchard Trail is a nice paved path that mostly runs through some woodsy areas with a few farm-like areas with cornfields. People can probably run about 4 wide. With a little over 300 people running the half, there was a little bit of dodging and weaving at the start. It wasn’t bad, and people spread out soon enough. Luckily, it didn’t seem like there were many (or any?) non-racers out on the trail. At one of the first crossroads, I was surprised to see a co-worker there with his kids calling out my name! It was a great surprise that gave me a little boost and kept me smiling for a bit.

Considering how I’d run 10 miles the day before and was approaching the end of a 52-mile week, I wasn’t sure how I might hold up. I hoped to at least run at my goal marathon pace, which is 8:13. I actually ran 8:13 for the first mile, sped up a little for the next couple miles, then ran a sub-8 pace for the rest of the race. After the first mile or so, I ended up behind a couple of guys who were running about the same pace. I usually get uncomfortable if I’m hanging too close to people, but they both happened to be running a pace that was just right for me. We only chatted for a minute early on, and I learned that one of the guys was aiming for an 8-minute pace. That sounded good to me, and I joked that hopefully he’d pull me along. Although we weren’t talking, it was actually kind of nice to have them around. They were going at a good, steady pace and I think it helped keep me consistent. I was probably by one of the guys for almost 10 miles. There were a few miles in the low 7:50s, and I worried that I might be pushing too fast too early. I wanted to be a bit conservative for at least the first half of the race, and I’d step it up later on if I had it in me.

I’ve never eaten anything during a half marathon before, but wanted to practice for my marathon. I ate a few Honey Stinger Chews around 4.5 miles when I got hungry. At that point I’d actually run a total of 7.5 miles for the day. I ate a few more about 6 miles later, and switched between drinking GU Brew and water that I had in my hydration belt. The belt might seem heavy and obnoxious, but I’ve gotten used to it and really like being able to drink whenever I want to.

When I reached the 10-mile mark and I’d held up consistently in the 7:50s, I decided it was time to give that extra push for the last 5K. I dropped to a 7:39, 7:27, and 7:11 for the last 3 miles. Somehow I dropped down to a 6:43 pace for the last .16 miles! That’s about the fastest I can run Yasso 800s, and I didn’t realize I’d picked it up that much. It was definitely a hard effort for the last little bit. I had the race a little long on my Garmin, probably from my weaving at the start. My official time was 1:43:09.7, which shaved 2.5 minutes off my previous best time!

My splits

I was thrilled with my time. I knew I was well overdue to crush my half marathon PR, but kind of shocked myself that I could finish that strong. When I can hit my 5K pace at the end of 13 miles, I feel like I’ve definitely done something right. In the spring, I ran the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K at a 7:50 pace and beat my half PR within that race. It was nice to finally be able to beat my PR officially though. The 25K was the most successfully executed race I’d run at that point. I started out a little slower than goal pace, picked it up and held it through the middle, then finished strong. I took a similar approach during this race, and it paid off yet again. It’s a really great feeling to finish a race feeling so strong. I probably still need to find the right balance so that I don’t have THAT much energy at the end though. Maybe I should push my pace a tad bit more a little earlier. It’s always a learning experience!

The finish

I collected my sweet medal at the end and got a bottle of water. Matt had finished just a bit before me and found me right after I finished.

Romeo 2 Richmond medal

The medal features the barn-like covering over M-53 at the start of the race

I went right for the food to see what was available. I got some apple cider, apple slices, a banana, and a bagel. The guy I’d been running by for the first 10 miles came over and we talked for a bit. He managed to hit the 8-minute pace he’d been aiming for and PRed. In addition, he got an age group award. It’s always fun to talk with people at races and realize how friendly and supportive most people are. Most of us are out there trying to achieve our own individual goals and racing against ourselves – not each other.

This race awarded age groups by every 10 years and I was 5th out of 48 women 30-39. Had they used 5-year age groups, I would have pulled off a third place finish. Oh well! I have never placed in a half marathon and wasn’t expecting it anyway. Matt and I hung out for a bit to talk to friends, and it was fun to see so many people we knew.

Me with my medal

When we left, we went to Dairy Queen to gain back some of those calories we’d burned. After that, we hit a cider mill for some donuts. Running a half marathon on my birthday was a great idea because it helped me justify eating a whole bunch of junk food without feeling too guilty!

Although it may have been a little risky to race so hard during marathon training, I’m glad I did. It makes me wonder how much more potential I still have when it comes to racing a half. If I don’t run 10 miles the day before and I’m not in the heart of marathon training, I can probably shave even more time off. This race left me feeling even better about my upcoming marathon. Apparently Hal Higdon’s Advanced 1 plan is working wonders for me!

– Janet

My 13th week of training is complete, and I now have 5 weeks until the Grand Rapids Marathon. Higdon’s Advanced 1 training plan is still going well. A week of 50+ miles ending with a half marathon PR tells me that it must be working! Here’s what I did for week 13:

Monday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by an easy 4-mile run on the trail.

Tuesday: 10 miles on the treadmill. I think 10 miles is about the most I’ve ever done on a treadmill. Somehow I survived. My car said it was 100 degrees outside when I left work, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I debated between suffering in the heat versus suffering on the treadmill, and the treadmill seemed like the better option. I usually survive the treadmill best when I do intervals because changing the pace every half mile or so gives me something to strive for. This was supposed to be an easy run, so I started around a 9-minute pace, worked down to an 8-minute pace for half a mile, then slowed down to around a 9-minute pace to finish.

My key to treadmill survival lately is to listen to funny podcasts. Dave & Chuck the Freak keep me distracted and entertained. The tricky part is that sometimes they crack me up so much that I laugh out loud. Of course they had me laughing when I was trying to maintain an 8-minute pace, so that was a bit challenging. I also listened to a Patcast for part of the run. Pat Monahan, lead singer of the band Train, interviews people and does a song or two with them. This Patcast featured Matt Nathanson, one of my favorite musicians. Matt is practically a comedian too, so I was very entertained. I was thankful for these podcasts because they helped me survive an hour and 25 minutes on the treadmill!

Wednesday: 30 minutes of strength training followed by 5 miles on the treadmill. It was crazy hot outside again and storms were on the way. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to beat the storms, so it was another treadmill day. I listened to music this time around and varied my speed again to keep it somewhat tolerable. The storms were pretty bad when I left the gym, so I definitely made the right choice.

Thursday: Ran 7 hill repeats and made it to 7.5 miles total. Luckily the temperatures dropped to the high 70s by the time I started this run. Hill workouts are already intimidating enough, so I was glad I didn’t have to worry about the heat as well. I ran a couple miles on the trail to warm up, then hit the hill. I was not excited about doing hill repeats at all. However, when the first couple weren’t too bad, it made me feel better about it.

I always like the look of the elevation chart when I do hill repeats.

I made it through the workout just fine and aimed to do a couple miles to cool down. By that point, it was getting pretty cloudy and I knew rain was coming soon. I knew I should stick close to home in case I had to bail on the cool down, yet somehow I convinced myself to run a mile down the trail. That was a bad idea, because of course the rain started once I was exactly a mile out. There was quite a downpour and I was drenched pretty quickly. It can be kind of fun to run in the rain until the mixture of sweat and water gets into my eyes. When my eyes start to burn, it’s not so fun anymore. Instead of running a nice cool down pace, I went faster than I should have following the hill workout. As a result, I aggravated my shin problem.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 10 easy miles on the trail. My schedule called for 10 miles at marathon pace. That was originally my plan, then I’d run 20 miles on Sunday. I planned to run the Romeo 2 Richmond half marathon at an easy pace on Sunday. I realized the weather was going to be nice and cool on Sunday, and I knew the race course was flat and fast. I had a feeling it would be difficult to discipline myself and take it easy during the race. I decided I should run Saturday’s 10 miles at an easy pace and save the faster pace for Sunday. It was nice and cool Saturday morning, so I didn’t feel the need to get up early to beat the heat. That meant I finally got a solid 9 hours of sleep – that never happens anymore! I ran into running buddies Jeff (see his blog at Detroit Runner) and Kevin right after I started, so I ran with them for a few miles as they finished their 20-mile run. It was nice to have the company. I also got to see a couple of police horses on the trail, and that made me smile.

Sunday: Ran 16 miles between the Romeo 2 Richmond half marathon and a warm up run. I had my second 20-mile run on the schedule. However, I had decided I would run 3 miles before the race and give a pretty solid effort during the race. Even though that would only get me to 16 miles total, I figured the hard effort would help make up for a few less miles. I didn’t know how hard I’d be able to run, but hoped I’d at least run at marathon pace. I did run marathon pace…for the first mile. After that, my pace was roughly 10-20 seconds under marathon pace for a good portion of the run. I ended up with a new PR by over 2.5 minutes! Hopefully I’ll write a recap of the race in the next few days.

Totals for the week: 52.7 miles of running and strength training twice.

I was pretty thrilled with the results of this week’s training. I knew I was well overdue to break my half marathon PR, but didn’t expect to do it by 2.5 minutes at the end of a week with 50+ miles. I probably pressed my luck by running the race so hard, and I’m hoping it doesn’t set me back in my training at all. I have another down week coming up, so hopefully that will help me recover. I’m pretty excited about how well training has gone so far, and I just need to keep it up for 5 more weeks.

– Janet

Another week of training for the Grand Rapids Marathon is in the books. Although it was a stepback week, it felt challenging enough. That’s partially because I was coming off a hard week last week, and because I squeezed all of the runs in without taking a day off until Sunday. Here’s what I did for week 12:

Monday: Ran 4 miles. I had the day off for Labor Day and chose to sleep in. By the time I got out, the sun was pretty warm, but half of my route was in the shade anyway. My quads were still sore from the Milford 30K, but I felt them more on stairs than I did while running.

Tuesday: Ran 8 miles – 7 x 800 repeats plus warm up and cool down. Matt and I hit the track to do a speed workout. Matt has paced me through a few of my track workouts, but I know he needs to get some practice running his own (much faster) repeats. I knew I needed to work on hitting the right pace on my own. The last time I did 800s, I feel like I pushed a bit harder than I should have. Following the Yasso 800s rule, if I run 10 800s at a time of 3:30 each (a 7:00 pace), it can be predicted that I might be capable of a 3:30 marathon. Since I’m aiming for roughly 3:35, I probably don’t need to run my 800s much faster than a 7:00 pace. I ran 6:43 and faster last time, so I aimed to keep myself slower this time around.

I thought a slower pace should be easy enough to maintain, but this was still a tough workout. My legs were probably still recovering from the hard 20 I ran on Saturday. Despite tired legs, I stayed pretty consistent, hitting paces of 6:54-6:58. I’d settled on a goal of 6:50-7:00, so I was right on track. I did 400m jogs in between repeats to recover, incorporating some walking after my third or fourth 800. I struggled to catch my breath after a few repeats and the walking helped. I figure if I could still pull this off with such tired legs, I’m in pretty good shape.

Wednesday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by 5 miles on the treadmill. After the previous day’s workout, I made sure to take it slow and easy for this run.

Thursday: Ran 6 miles. I kept this trail run easy because I planned to run 6 more miles the next morning.

Friday: Ran 6 miles at marathon pace. Friday is usually my rest day, but with family plans on Sunday, I thought it would be best to shift my rest day to Sunday. Doing this run in the morning meant a ridiculously early treadmill run. I wondered if I’d be pressing my luck doing my Thursday and Friday 6-mile runs only 10 hours apart, but it all worked out. I averaged just under my marathon pace and felt good.

Work was busy and I kept moving all day, keeping me from crashing too hard from the super early morning. By the time I got out of the car after my drive home, it was a different story. I was wiped out. We were supposed to go to a concert, but I was so tired I bailed on those plans. I guess I can’t do it ALL!

Saturday: Ran 12 miles. The idea of 12 miles as my long run seemed easy in theory since I’d done 20 last weekend. After so many consecutive days of running, it was still a bit intimidating. Matt and I did most of this run together. We ventured out to some dirt roads for part of the run. It’s always fun to see that we have more isolated farm country so close to an area that’s so busy. We also ran by the Rochester Museum and Van Hoosen Farm. It’s really pretty around there, so I took several photos.

Van Hoosen Farm

Stream by the Rochester Museum

A bridge behind the Rochester Museum

More by the museum

A path leading from the farm back towards downtown Rochester

I averaged about 30 seconds above race pace for this one, and ran the last mile just above race pace. So, it was definitely a good run. It’s usually a good sign when I can finish strong.

Sunday: Rest (phew!)

Totals for the week: 41 miles of running, strength training once.

I ran 8 days in a row without a break thanks to my schedule shuffling. Prior to marathon training, I worried that running 3 back-to-back days might make my shin problem unbearable. Running 8 days in a row and still feeling okay tells me that I’ve made a lot of progress.

By Friday, I was especially hungry and thirsty. I guess running 6 miles Thursday night followed by 6 miles Friday morning can explain that. I didn’t have a big dinner or a big breakfast after either run, so I was ready for a second lunch by 2:00 on Friday. I am lucky enough to sit next to someone at work who is also training for a marathon, so we were both trying to get our hands on any food we could!

With my second 20-mile run coming up next weekend, I decided to sign up for the Romeo to Richmond half marathon. The Milford 30K was perfect to work into a 20-mile training day because I only had to add 1.4 miles to get the full distance. I’ll have to add 7 miles to get to my full distance next Sunday. The race follows the Macomb Orchard Trail, so I will probably try to get 7 in on the trail before the race starts. I think the race atmosphere is a good way to get through a long run. Plus, it happens to fall on my birthday. When I’m lucky enough to celebrate my birthday on a weekend, it seems fitting to run a race. I did that last year by running the Rochester Rotary 10K. That course was short and I wasn’t totally thrilled with the organization of the race, but it was still fun. I’m expecting a much more organized and enjoyable experience with this year’s birthday run. With 10 miles at race pace the day before, I should have pretty tired legs and will not be racing this one.

On to another busy week of running 50+ miles!

– Janet

This past week was another big one. It was my first time going over 50 miles in one week. All of this training brought a major high for monthly mileage as well – 210 miles for August. Somehow I’m still holding up. Here’s what week 11 looked like in training for the Grand Rapids Marathon:

Monday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by 4 easy miles on the treadmill. My shins were pretty sore after running 9 miles at marathon pace over the weekend, and they didn’t get any better after adding on 19 miles the next day. I took it extra easy on the treadmill and held up pretty well.

Tuesday: 7.5 miles on the treadmill. It was hot and humid outside, so I chose to stay inside. I had a 45-minute tempo run on the schedule and I always seem to do these workouts best on the treadmill. During marathon training, I’ve been running my tempo runs as cutdowns rather than maintaining a specific pace the whole time. I warmed up for a mile, then did a 5.5-mile cutdown run. I started the first half mile at an 8:27 pace and sped up each half mile, ending with a 7:24 pace for the final half mile. I finished up with a cool down mile. It was a solid run.

The run started out on a good note when OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again” began playing on one of the gym’s TVs right as I started. I didn’t start my own music until the video was done. It’s a song on my running playlist anyway! If there’s a chance you haven’t already seen this video, you should check it out. If you have seen it, you should check it out again anyway because it’s always fun to watch. At least I think it is.

Wednesday: Ran 5 miles on the trail. I was glad that I “only” had 5 miles to run because it was pretty hot outside. In addition, we had gone to a concert the night before and I was pretty tired. I took it easy, and staying in the shade for much of the run helped too.

Thursday: Ran 10 miles. I was a bit worried about running 10 miles after work when it was close to 90 degrees and sunny at the start. I’ve gotten a lot better at taking it slow during my runs. During summer runs in the past, I’d sometimes crash pretty hard. I’ve developed a much better feel for judging how fast I should really go in order to maintain my pace. One of my guides is my breathing. I know that if I’m huffing and puffing early, it will probably get ugly later. If I run at a pace where I don’t hear my breathing, it will probably be easy enough for me to maintain the pace. I ran the trails for a bit and neighborhoods for a bit for some variety. I did go through the full 21 oz. of GU Brew I brought. It was definitely a warm one. My pace at the end of the run was about the same as the pace at the beginning, and I wasn’t dying at the end. I considered it a success.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 20.14 miles. I ran 1.4 miles to warm up, then the Milford 30K. Read that recap here.

Sunday: Ran 10 miles. The way my schedule is set up, I normally would have run 10 miles on Saturday followed by 20 on Sunday. I swapped the runs due to the race, and wasn’t sure I’d actually be able to pull off 10. My shins were a bit sore and my quads were feeling it after all of the hills during the race. One bonus is that I finally got some decent sleep – probably 8-9 hours. I rarely get that much anymore and it was really nice. I headed out for the run without any big expectations, sticking to the flat trails. It was super humid and I went slow. Somehow I made it through the full 10 miles successfully, and it was actually a decent run.

I tried to do a good amount of stretching after the run. Our pal Romeo always seems to show up whenever I roll, stretch, or do any kind of exercises on the floor. He seems to have a special radar and shows up almost immediately, making it difficult for me to do whatever I’m trying to do.

He kind of gets in the way

Totals for the week: Ran 56.6 miles, did strength training once.

I’ve come to accept that I’m not going to fit much cross-training in during marathon training. At a minimum, I will make sure I always get weights in at least once a week though. Aside from shin and quad soreness, I’m doing pretty good after such a crazy week. I only have 2 more weeks of training within my plan that will be this action-packed. This coming week will be a down week, which will be a big relief.  Only 7 weeks to go!

– Janet