Week 9: No Pain, No Gain

Week 9 of training is very nearly a blur. Remember last week when I said I was looking forward to dialing into training and parsing back on post-work things? Well I may have had a bit of a lofty goal. Let's jump into last week's training recap:


SUNDAY 3/23
Rest

MONDAY 3/24
7 m easy
Gym

TUESDAY 3/25
Hot Yoga
Gym

WEDNESDAY 3/26
4 m easy before work
Gym
6 m pace Run Club

THURSDAY 3/27
5 x 800 Yassos
+ warm up/cool down
Gym

FRIDAY 3/28
8 m tempo

SATURDAY 3/29
Rest

SUNDAY 3/30
16 m tempo
7:30 pace

Week 10: Too Much of a Good Thing

I'm a little late with my weekly post, but that is simply because there are so many things going on. It's a wonderful problem to have, of course, but I am looking forward to dialing back on the weeknight engagements and focusing a bit more time and energy toward training. My weekly training update is as follows:

Week 11: One Month In, 10 Weeks Away

Another week has flown by in my running adventure; chock-full of heavy hearts, new perspectives, and training challenges and successes. How has it only been seven days since my last post? Well, let's get started with a training recap:

SUNDAY 3/9

13 miles at 8:09 pace

MONDAY 3/10

3 m easy

Gym lifting

TUESDAY 3/11

Unintentional rest day

Gym lifting

WEDNESDAY 3/12

6 m tempo

Run Club

Gym lifting

THURSDAY 3/13

4 x 800 (Yasso 800s) + 2.5 miles

Track Workout

FRIDAY 3/14 - Pi Day!

9 mile tempo

SATURDAY 3/15

4 m easy

So, if all goes according to plan, I'll be hitting just below 40 miles this week, which is right on target 10 weeks out from the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. My hip flexor / upper quad is dying a little bit after a weird stutter-step at Run Club on Wednesday, so I might skip my run and go to yoga instead tonight (correction: I decided to run 9 miles at 7:30 pace because the weather was so nice. AND, my hip flexor / upper quad felt way better after). Bodies are complicated things (correction: no pain, no gain).

Sunday 3/9: 13 miles up Grizzly Peak + around Lake Temescal

Week 12: Run Your Race

If you ask a runner what could be more important than a long-run Sunday, they will likely come up with a very short list. 

I'm on my full rest day of the week and enjoying the subtle joy of not being pulling toward my running shoes for one whole day. That is to say, I am trying to convince myself that my body needs to rest and recover in order to be best prepared for my weekend runs. And yes, I did eat a cookie today. Rebel without a cause.

I have two objectives for this post: 

1. To recap my training, now 12 weeks away from my first marathon of the season, Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. 
2. To explain a very important running and life lesson: things don't always go according to plans.

The Honest Secret: An Introduction

I can't promise this will be a unique read. I can't promise you will learn much about how to improve your pronation or drop your mile splits. And I can certainly not promise that I am in any way an expert about what I've decided to write about; although, by Malcolm Gladwell's standards, perhaps I qualify for that 10,000 hour minimum. But what I can promise, or at least wholeheartedly aim for, is that this blog and these posts will be honest.

It is about time that my secret life of running -- the good, the bad, and most definitely the uncouth -- be put somewhere for safe keeping. That is what I've set out to do and to the extent possible, will continue to write about here. And so, without further ado, this is my humble story: