Sunday, March 5, 2017

Grandma's Marathon Training - Week 4

It's very hard to believe I've already wrapped up 4 weeks of training for

To get in the spirit of the marathon race day, 
here is a throwback to somewhere between mile 14-16 of Grandma's.   It was pretty
obvious I was still feeling pretty good! 


Here's a look at the recap this week! 

32 miles
Sloth-like-behavior
Kick-ass  Kick-boxing
Momentum Jewelry
BeachBody & Oofos 

MONDAY

Monday, we did 1/4 mile sprints.  I ended at 6.4 miles with 9 quarter mile repeats!  The shag was a bit short at .14 miles, so my heart rate didn't decrease as much as I would have liked.  For this reason, I'm going to slow down my shags and add more time to try to get out of the anaerobic zone during the shag period.  Even though I was pretty happy with my splits, which ranged from 1:59-2:05, I'd like to see my sprints be in the neighborhood of about 1:45-1:55.  I think a longer cool down may be just the ticket!   

All in all, I really did feel like a million bucks after this run so it started my Monday out great! 

TUESDAY 

I run with three other women on Tuesday's and it's hard to all be on the same page with our goals.  Wowza!  This run quickly became close to my 10K race pace and I ended 6 miles at 8:29 mile.  It was definitely not something I was planning after a hard day of sprints, but it all worked out and I knew that my Wednesday rest day was coming! 



WEDNESDAY

Actually, Wednesday's have quickly become one of my favorite days of the week!  I wonder why?  NO 4:45 ALARM!!!  WOOO HOOO!!  This day is devoted to an extra hour of sleep.  In addition, it's always fun on Tuesday nights because I stay up a bit later with my husband to catch up on some TV.  

I also found out on Wednesday that I'd be joining the Momentum Jewelry Ambassador Team for 2017.  I have several pieces of their motivational jewelry.  The one I'm wearing in this picture was a gift from Wendy and I really love it!  I wear it the most because it has so much meaning!  She gave it to me about 6 weeks before Grandma's Marathon last year!  Big smooches to you Wendy! 


THURSDAY

Oh, Thursday!  You know the feeling.  The alarm rings.  Your bed is warm.  You're supposed to work out, and then.... you just don't!   Thursday was my sloth morning.  I was feeling insanely guilty because I told myself I would try very hard to not skip a workout during my marathon training.  But... just like that....I did.  The bed just felt so good!




I did redeem myself a bit when I attended my morning kick-boxing class before work.  It's fairly comical because I shower completely, do my hair and then I go to class.  Sounds backwards doesn't it?  If I didn't do it this way, I'd never make it to class.  So, after class, I wash my face in the gym bathroom and put on some makeup.  I change my clothes and head to work - sweaty mess and all.  Nobody seems bothered by it and I get a fantastic workout!  I'm still sore in my shoulders from Thursday! 



Thursday after work,  I also got shipped a few pretty awesome products to test out through Bibrave.  Currently, I'm testing the Beach Body Performance Series Supplements and Oofos Recovery Sandals

I have been very pleasantly surprised by the Beach Body supplements!  They taste fantastic and are easy to mix up.  I will be writing a review shortly,  but I have to say I may become a beach body coach 'just' for these products.  

PLUS!  This is a huge bonus for me.  It's been 3 entire days without soda!  The energize product has natural caffeine, so I've been drinking it to help me curb the cravings of my favorite carbonated beverage.   Slowly, I'm using less and less energize to hopefully completely eliminate the need for caffeine.   

Here's to hoping I can kick the habit! 

FRIDAY

This is supposed to be another rest day, but I was feeling so crazy guilty about not getting my run in on Thursday, I hit Millie for a run.  For this workout,  I focused on 3 x 1 mile sprints.  I had one mile of slow warm-up at 10:00/mile followed by one mile splits at 7:50's.  All with 0.4 miles of recovery at a slow/easy pace in between.  I really enjoyed this workout!  I felt that I could maintain these faster 5K-like paces because I had 4-5 minutes recovery in between.  I will be doing this workout again! 

Because I'm going to be testing out the amazing Oofos recovery sandals,  I needed a pedicure STAT!  Also, my feet were pretty tired.  I treated myself to a spa pedicure in my house and wore the recovery sandals after.  They are super comfy and my feet feel light when I take them off! 



SATURDAY

If Minnesota could bring some nice long run weather that would be FANTASTIC!  Unfortunately, this run was very cold and windy.  However,  I accomplished my goal of 14 miles and I sure was happy when it was done.  My pace stayed fairly steady and I ended my run with 14 miles @ 9:06 per mile so I can't complain.  Although, Marcia tells me to run even easier so that I can do 9's all day long.  She's right - I'm going to focus on slowing my pace down even more because I struggled the last two miles to finish.   



Even though it was cold, the sun was shining - so there's that!  

We also had a pretty crazy scare on the run on Saturday as well.  At about 5:30,  we passed a vehicle with a man slumped over in it.  We quickly ran by because the area of our town we were running in has been known to have a bunch of drug traffic.  Sure enough, at the end of the run, he was still there slumped in his vehicle!  My friends immediately called the police. 

Long story short, they impounded his car and he was arrested for DWI and possession of a controlled substance.  Yikes!  My friends said they were tagging the run, "Save a Life, Go to Jail."   

Running always bring adventure doesn't it?!?!

All total this week, I ran 32 miles.  It's my most weekly mileage since LAST February!  I also closed the month of February out with 110 running miles.  I'm pretty happy about that!  

As always, I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap!  I look forward to hearing about your week too! 



44 comments:

  1. Great week for you! I have a pair of Oofoos....total comfort :-)

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  2. Smooches to you too! I'm excited to be an ambassador with you!

    I love my Oofos. I need another pair!

    Marcia tells me to slow down too. It's a work in progress. I did pretty well on my 10 miler today. I still need to go slower tho.

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    1. I was reading an article about how running fast all the time actually slows you down. Something like 60% of runners who fail to actually run the long runs easy don't improve their speed. :( Kinda of daunting!

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  3. Great job getting those miles in! I got a momentum wrap for my birthday last year and I love it!

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    1. Thanks! There are so many cool things I want to get from momentum! I'm going to hold off on the footnotes I think though... I have so many of those :)

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  4. It sounds like your training is going perfectly! What an incredible pace for your Tuesday run. Congrats on the Momentum Ambassadorship. I have two of their wraps (Wendy gave me one of them). Can you believe I never set an alarm? On the rare occasion I oversleep (like Thursday) I figure my body needs the sleep more than a workout. Kick boxing sounds fun. Thanks for linking, Gina!

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    1. You never set an alarm? Wow - that's amazing - your circadium rhythms are perfect :)

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  5. Great week Gina! The fact that you can nail a 10k at a sub-8:30 pace the day after 400m repeats is telling. Isn't it always "the joggers" who discover the dead bodies, etc.? Haha! Ooooh I'd love to get my feet in thos Oofos!

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    1. It IS always the "joggers" that discover the dead bodies - and cue ---- nightmares. Lol! Thanks for the comment - makes me feel good about my training!

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  6. O love my Oofos! Momentum Jewelry is a great company -congrats on working with them!

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    1. My oofos are so comfy! I'm glad you like them!

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  7. I had a similar issue on a long run- we were in a rather sketchy part of town for a mile or so and a guy ran out of a side street shouting that he had smoked too much crack and drank too much! He asked us to call the cops and then he fell on the ground and began convulsing. It was pretty scary!

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    1. Oh my goodness! That is super scary! :/ I would have peed my pants!

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  8. What an awesome week you had!

    I am also a Momentum Jewelry ambassador this year (my first year) and I'm so excited!

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  9. What a great week of running! I have yet to see a "3" in the front of my weekly mileage total, though I'm sure I will see that once I start marathon training. Keep up the great work!

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    1. It's hard to believe really?!?! I can't believe some people run in the 50's for weekly mileage! WOW

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  10. Great job on your training and those paces! Wow! I admire you and Wendy! I have been offered a job to be a sub to teach Kickboxing. That's probably the only class I've never taken! I'm excited to learn about it! Cheers to another great week!

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  11. I love my kickboxing workouts too! Congrats on the momentum ambassadorship.I need to get some more of those

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    1. I have a feeling I'll be trying to hold myself back from buying all of it. :)

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  12. Nice week, Gina! I had a hard week last week with multiple days of speed, too. It was a doozy!

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  13. I've had too many sloth morning lately haha. Congrats on being a Momentum ambassador! I love their stuff :)

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  14. That's pretty scary about the man slumped over in the car. Had he crashed his vehicle or was it just parked?

    Congrats on your Momentum Jewelry ambassadorship! How fun!

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    1. He was oddly just parked. In 26 degrees. Car wasn't running.

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  15. That sounds like quite an adventure on your run! Thats awesome that you do your hair and makeup before kickboxing class. I dont think I could ever pull that off!

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    1. No makeup - that would just run all over my face. :) but I have to shower because otherwise my hair is out of control :)

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  16. Great week!

    I do sometimes shower before I go for a run, just to wake myself up a bit, but there's no way I could get away with work all sweaty. It's funny - in our handbook, it says that if it's slow and someone else is there, we can go for a run, but I can't get over having to come back and not be able to shower!

    Great week!

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    1. I want to work at a place where you can run in the middle of the day! WOW! How cool!

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  17. Wow, great week! I had an aha moment while reading your recap. I've been struggling to fit in 4 runs a week without running 3 days in a row (weekends are out because of hockey chauffeuring).,, I can start running Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, I can't believe I didn't think of that before! thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Ha! That gives you a day to rest in between. :)

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  18. Great job on all of the hard workouts! And congrats on the ambassadorship.

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  19. Congrats on Momentum - love those wraps! I also love my Oofos - first thing I slip on post run!

    How crazy about the guy slumped over in his car. Never ceases to amaze me the things we can come across on a run!

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    1. Runners always seem to find crazy things! :)

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  20. What a great week for you! I love my oofos! and congrats on the Momentum gig- Coach M sent me a wrap and I just love it! The slumped over guy is kind of crazy!

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    1. I didn't realize "JUST" how popular oofos were! Cool!

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  21. Great mileage this week, Gina, and I wish Minnesota would give us some nice long run weather this weekend! We are back to 5 degrees F today... Spring, where are you?!??!

    Keep up your awesome training! I'm really enjoying the Beachbody products and your Oofos look super comfy!

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  22. Great job on getting your kick boxing class in before work! What a way to get your day started for sure! I broke down and bought me some oofos early last year and man they are worth every penny to me!
    Wow that is pretty scary about finding the man but what a great tag! Stay safe out there Gina!

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  23. Looks like a great week! I always attempt
    To get kickboxing in prior to work....great job!

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