My Training Plan

When I read the posts of other running bloggers, I read about how they train. I almost NEVER share with you how I train. Why? Well, I think it's boring as hell. Sorry.

This is how I imagine people look when they read about my training schedule.

The weird thing is this: I am fascinated by others' training weeks. I think my own is far less than fascinating, so you may have noticed that I generally base my posts on my races, long runs, or something weird that happened to me.

Oh, and also food pictures. I like to post about eating.

Arguably, none of this is more interesting than reading about someone else's weekly training.

My current goal is to keep a 40+ mile week. I have decided that my weekly runs (and walks) must total at least 30 miles, so that everything on the long run is cake.  The challenge is that I must do this safely: no shin splints, pf, or ITB syndrome allowed.

So far, so good. Last week was  48 miles, and I feel that I rested my legs enough that I'm not hurt.

Monday: Yoga and stretching. I had to recover from Sunday's 16 miles.

This is EXACTLY how I look before I stretch and recover from the Sunday run.

This is EXACTLY how I feel after I stretch and recover from the Sunday run. Hey, I am who I am; you can't expect miracles here.

Tuesday: 5 miles on the hills of Sand Run.  I kept a good pace, especially considering my sinuses have been KILLING me.

Wednesday: 10 miles.  I did my "Reverse Blue Line" route, which I just decided to do this year.  It follows the old Blue Line of the Akron Marathon (which goes right by my house). I start from my house, run the 3 miles of Sand Run, and then take on a mile long ascent to the Blue Line on Portage Path. I actually love this route even more now that I'm running it in the opposite direction. It's more difficult, but it makes me feel like a badass. Plus, now I can finish at my house rather than at my car.

You can see that there is an actual Blue Line painted on the route. This is what runners in my 'hood follow when they train.

Thursday: Lifting in the morning; 2.5 mile walk in the evening. I find that I am walking for recovery more than I used to do, and it really feels good. My super-speedy, so-amazing-she-is-frightening friend and fellow-ambassador Pam actually got me started on this. She ran the Canal Corridor 100, and she paced her husband Steve at Burning River for the last 30 miles. She posted a lot of recovery walks, so I decided I must not be lame if I decide to go for a walk.

Did I just basically say that Pam taught me how to walk?

Friday: 5 miles on Sand Run again. I need to take advantage of this park being so close to my house because once school starts (this week--gulp), I won't be running this area in the dark. I'm going to miss Sand Run. Every day it looks different to me.

Saturday: 5.37 miles with the Goddesses at Tree Farm Trail. Normally I don't run on Saturdays (so those of you whom I've refused before, don't get mad!), but this started at 8:30 and it was only 2 loops, so I was able to get back home just as the family was getting their act together.

We chose the tallest person to take the selfie. He was, like, 7 feet tall.

Sunday: This was the biggie: 18 miles on the Towpath.  GAAAAAA!!!! I did 2 miles before starting with the Road Shoes crew, then we ran out to Station Road Bridge and back to Lock 29, and then I finished with 2 more.  I made pretty good time on this, even with allowing myself to walk the first .10 of each mile after 14.

So glad it's over! Now to eat ALL the food!

This is probably my last week of really high mileage; I'm dialing it back before the Blue Line practice run (my 20 miler), and I'm going back to school starting Wednesday. Between my kids' crazy schedules and my own weird schedule, I won't be doing a 10 miler in the middle of the week. Plus, now I must complete all miles before 5:30 AM. I can do this; I did it training for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, and I can do it for the Akron Marathon.

Are you training for the Akron Marathon? Will I see you at the Blue Line Run? How about the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon--did you sign up to run with me?

Whether you're training or not, I hope you run happy, Peeps!

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Payday 2016

It's payday, Peeps!

Not my work-payday (although it is actually my work payday), what I mean is that today is the day I pay myself for all the miles and races I ran. I started this about three years ago when I got the idea from another blogger, and I think it's a big motivation for me.  How does it work?

First, I take the total number of miles run this year (tracked on Daily Mile): 1379. Not too shabby, huh? My goal was 1500, but I had to stop running early this year due to some minor surgery last week.  Nevertheless, I'll take it.

Next, I subtract the number of racing miles I ran this year: 122.

1379-122= 1157

Ok, I decided this year to pay myself $.50/mile for non racing miles and $1.00 per mile for racing miles.  I also award myself $5.00 for each PR, and this year I had four of them.

Here is what I have so far:

Non-racing miles: 1157 x .50 = $578.50

Racing miles = $122

PRs: $20

So,

$578.50 + $122 + $20 = $720.50

Seems like lot, right?  But wait!  I have to SUBTRACT racing fees.  Uh oh.

Racing fees: $475 (This is an estimate.  I should have kept a spreadsheet, but I AM AN ENGLISH TEACHER, NOT A MATH PERSON. STOP JUDGING ME!)

$720.50 - $475 = $245.50

Suh-weet!

What will I do with this money?  I have a special savings account that I keep for this purpose.  That money will fund my eventual running of the Paris Marathon!  Oui, oui, bebe!

This is EXACTLY how I will look in Paris!

If you are like me, and you need a boost that goes beyond kicking your own ass all the time, you might try paying yourself for your fitness.  Yes, I realize that you are paying yourself WITH YOUR OWN MONEY (as my brother helpfully pointed out to me as if I am an idiot-child), but again, if you are like me, you probably wouldn't put aside that amount of money for yourself without a good reason. Parents give their time, their money, and their energies to their families, but they rarely give to themselves without some prodding.  Consider me your cattle prod, Peeps (ummm. . .that doesn't sound right).

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN: you have my permission to reward yourself for taking care of you.  Find something you like: clothing, an outing with a friend, a luxury item, and work towards that goal. It helps on the days you don't want to get out of bed at 4:30 AM to do a tempo run. Well, usually it does.

Well, it has been a hell of a year.  I've accomplished so many running goals: Ragnar Trail Ultra, Burning River Relay, MY FIRST MARATHON (Akron Marathon).

I've run in hail, rain, sleet, snow, sunshine, and waterspouts, all in the same race (Cleveland Half Marathon). I've made new friends and kept the old (Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors).

It has been a great running year for me, and I am setting my sights high for 2017.  Stay in touch to read about my future goals (as soon as I can figure them out).  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Outside Again!

     First of all, congratulations to Vera, who won the SLS3 Belt Giveaway.  For those of you who didn't get lucky in the drawing, check them out on Amazon while the price is still reduced!  

 Last week I did thirty miles, all on the treadmill.  All. On. The. Treadmill.  When the snowstorms started up again Monday night, I felt like I would never see the sun again, but then Saturday happened.

The sun DOES exist in Ohio!

     When I finished my cleaning, I put on a tee shirt and capris and ran part of Sand Run Park.  It was windy, hilly, muddy, and glorious.  Usually Saturday is my take-it-easy-day where I walk on the treadmill while watching Supernatural, but NO WAY was I going to let a 68 degree day go by without running in the Metroparks.  I told myself that I would run super-slowly, but I lied.  Going up and down those hills in the first 2.5 miles made me feel like I was flying, and I just let myself go.  Of course, what goes up must come down, so the next 2.5 miles after the turnaround were considerably slower, but WHO CARES????

This is EXACTLY how I look when I feel like I'm flying down Sand Run.

Do you see me?  

     As a bonus, I ran 10 miles today in the sunshine for part of the Medina Half Marathon route with my running buddy Kristin.  We had a great time running around Medina, mostly streets but a bit of trail by Lake Medina.

     While we were running, I told Kristin the following story about her daughter, to whom I taught AP Literature and Composition:

     We (AP Lit. students and I) were analyzing Carpe Diem poems, looking at how different poets use the same motifs to convey the theme of Seize the Day; then we talked about how we could embrace the moment.  I told the students that I had recently signed up to run a leg of the relay for the Akron Marathon, and that next year I could probably run the half marathon.  Mattie said, "Wait. Haven't you already run more than any of the legs of the relay?"
     
     I replied, "Well, yes, but I don't think I'm ready to take on the half marathon this year."

     And then Mattie said, "Then what the hell are we doing talking about Carpe Diem?"

     Huh.

     That day I went home and registered for the Akron Half Marathon, and the rest is history.

   

I teach some pretty smarty-pants kids.

     I remembered the lesson of Carpe Diem today as I ran with a fun group of people because I was thinking of how I'm seizing the day this year:

1st time running on Burning River relay team (Leg 7--holla!) with the Mother Runners
Ragnar Trail Appalachians WV ultra team relay (woot!  First time on an ultra team! 30 miles of trails!)
1st time running back-to-back races (8k and half marathon for Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Series)
My first marathon (Akron Marathon)

     All of these goals scare the hell out of me, so I know they must be worthy.  Now I'm going to work my ass off to achieve those goals because-- CARPE DIEM, Peeps!

This is EXACTLY how I look when I say, "Carpe Diem, Peeps!"

How will you seize the day this year? This week?  Tomorrow?  Start by running happy, Peeps!

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Race Recap: Akron Half Marathon

I was more horrified than excited about running the Akron Half Marathon this year.  On Expo day, the text messages and Facebook posts were flying around.  When Peeps asked me how I was feeling, this was my post:

Stuck at work, no cardio today, and I just realized I'm running 13.1 tomorrow!

 I didn't have time to linger at the Expo because I had my kids with me, and they were registered for the Fun Run, but I did get a burst of anticipation from being there:

This was my third time running the Akron Half Marathon.  It is part of the new Rubber City Series, and both the marathon and half marathon routes are completely different.

Holy Hills!

When I ran the Blue Line practice event, sponsored by Vertical Runner, I wasn't impressed with the half marathon route.  It seemed deserted and ugly.  I had written in my review post that I hoped Akron could fill up that route with some interesting bands because I didn't think the crowds would be there.  I was partially correct.

I still think the route was mostly boring and ugly.  Some people didn't like the hills, but I didn't mind them until I got to mile 10, and then I was toast.  More on that later.  There were some highlights to the half marathon part of the route:

Starting line before we lined up

The start to the race was awesome.  There was some really exciting music with an inspirational speech as we walked toward the line.  Normally I'm pretty cynical about that kind of stuff, but I got super-emotional as I listened to it.

Before the start, I met up with as many of my Peeps as I could find:

Some of my fellow Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors

The Ohio Runners Network

Jen and me.  No, we are not sideways.  You are imagining it.

How did I get assigned to Corral A?  What am I doing here???

I felt great during the first eight miles of the course.  That should have been a sign that things weren't going to go my way later, but honestly, when I checked my pace, I was usually between 8:49 and 9:01.  I did lose it a bit at miles 6 and 7, but I was never slower than 9:23 for those miles, and I regrouped for miles 8 and 9.  I didn't even stop for the Milkshake Mile or this guy:

Mile 3: The Beer Mile!

One of the many pluses of the race series is the volunteers.  They were enthusiastic and LOUD, which is what all runners need.  Thank you, all volunteers, for giving your time for us.  In many places of the course, the volunteers outnumbered and out-shouted the spectators, even in some residential areas.  God, I miss Firestone Park.

This next part is a little difficult to write:  

When I got to mile 10, I had had enough.  I couldn't take ONE. MORE. HILL. and I suspected/half-remembered that there were more to come.  I had done a good job of getting my act together in previous miles by counting my breaths (in, in, in, out, out) and chanting (relax-er, runner, easier, runner, I am strong, runner, I feel strong, runner), but I just couldn't seem to do it.  I started to call on my father for strength, and then I realized that my father isn't strong; he's dead.  I know that sounds weird, but remember that I have been avoiding dealing with this for exactly three months (on the day of the race).  I started to cry, and then I promised myself a good, long, cleansing cry as soon as I crossed the finish line IF I made my time goal.  I sucked it up and moved on, but the times got longer as more hills arrived, and I felt pain in my legs for the first time in months.  My worst mile was 12 with a 9:43; I looked at my watch and I lost hope.  I went back to 9:17 for mile 13, and I even did an 8:45 pace for the last .21 miles (even on the stupid blanket on the field), but I knew I didn't make it.

I didn't even make my time from last year.

I'm not gonna lie: I'm disappointed, but deep down I know that I didn't do the speedwork I should have done.  I had a lot to deal with this summer, and I let it interfere with my training.  I'm going to give myself a break and remind myself that the course was much more difficult than last year's course.  I did the best I could with what I had in me.

The after-party was fabulous.  My fellow CLEMarathon Ambassador Andrew and I stretched, ate some recovery food, and scarfed up non-drinkers' beer tickets while we waited for the rest of our friends to finish.  Did you know that four Michelob Ultras are only 384 calories?  At least Michelob Ultra has that going for it.  

How many beers in was this? I dunno.  Erin isn't counting either.

Shout outs go to fellow CLEMarathon Ambassador Jamie and TORN friend Shelby who both ran their first road marathons.  They both had strong finishes; I am proud and jealous.

All in all, the Rubber City Series is definitely worth running.  Just because I didn't like the course doesn't mean that there aren't others who do.  The race directors planned a quality experience for the runners from the expo to all the volunteers to the finish line party.  I plan to run the series next year, but I think the Universe has been telling me that I need to pursue a new goal: next year the marathon.  Gulp.

I'm looking forward to some easy, relaxed runs as soon as my leg stops cramping. Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!Akron