Marathon Training: Week 14 Recap

Another week over and done. The marathon is less than a month away! Craziness. This was another step-back week with a shorter long run to keep me sane! Scheduled runs in pink, actual runs in purple.

MONDAY: Rest / 5 Miles. I should have taken today off. I had to walk a lot in the last couple of miles because my legs were so tired.

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / 8 Miles. Ran with Brooke. Lots of fun, especially since we went to Einstein after!!! Is it sad they know us there? I'm no longer a regular at any bar in town, but I'm a regular at a bagel joint. Awesome.

WEDNESDAY: 8 Miles / Cross Train. I did 37 minutes on the bike before nearly dying of boredom. I'm reading a new book called Chi Running and while interesting, its not really enough to keep me on the bike.

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / Rest Day. My legs are sore.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / 5 Miles. I didn't think it would be a big deal running 5 the day before my long run since the long run was so much shorter this week. I don't think it helped though. I followed my run with an On Demand Ab workout with a title of something like, "Totally Ripped & Hardcore Abs" and the guy in the video was slightly less than ripped. He was kind of big, and I couldn't take him seriously because I'm pretty sure if he'd have taken his shirt off we'd have seen that my abs are more ripped than his... which means he's got squishy tummy. Funny stuff though.

SATURDAY: 12 Miles / 12 Miles. No biggie, right? I mean we blew through 20 last week, so this should be a breeze. Nope. It sucked. It was long and hard (that's what she said) and we got lost. Brooke actually said, "I can't wait to do 20 next week." Yeah, that's how bad it was.

SUNDAY: Cross Train / Hangover Recooperation. I really need to learn to say, "No Jess, I don't think you should open that second bottle of wine. One's enough for me thanks." I'll work on that.

TOTAL MILEAGE: 30 / 30

***Marathon Tip Of The Week: Find a friend! Training with a running partner is so much more fun than training by yourself. Brooke is the perfect running partner for me b/c we run the same pace, have similar goals, and both of us have too much pride to say we want to quit this stupid f-ing 12 miler. It really is hard to skip out on a run, knowing that I'd be letting her down. Plus, having someone to chat with makes the miles go by so much quicker! It's also a good idea to have a backup in case your running partner gets knocked up. Sam stepped in when Brooke was pregnant with Jack. She also has all the traits of a good running partner, except she lives 3 hours away. But it was still nice to know someone was out there running all those miles too and to have someone to call after a long run to talk about how it went. Oh, and then she went and got knocked up half way through marathon training. So my advice is to find a training partner: someone with a similar pace, similar goals, and a similar commitment to those goals. Then ask them about their preferred method of birth control.