Marathon Training Recap: Week 12

I’m starting to realize I’ll be running 26.2 miles sooner rather than later, which seems both daunting and unequivocally terrifying. My last two weeks in training have been low in terms of mileage volume. My last more difficult run was more than two weeks ago when I ran 17 miles. This coming Sunday I’ll be running 20.

Queue panic.

But before I get ahead of myself, let me recount last week’s training.

Tuesday — 5 miles

Nothing to report. Just a run-of-the-mill (ha! literally…) treadmill run. The palindromic nature of that sentence makes me giggle. And I didn’t even do it on purpose. If only I were that clever… Ah, I digress.

Wednesday — 8 miles

These 8 milers are just killing me. It’s like a slow torturous death. That may be a bit melodramatic but I truly can’t keep my head in the game. I tried watching a movie, I listened to Serial, and I finally had to ditch all of my newfangled technology and get back to basics: music. A novel idea. I completed the last 3 miles of my run without stopping. I felt pretty accomplished.

Thursday — 5 miles

Ran outside! Finally! The weather was pretty nice. I somehow convinced Julie to wake up and run with me at 6:30 am, despite her taking the day off work and having no other reason to get up at that hour other than to run with me. I’m telling you, running friends are the best friends! It was nice to get some morning miles in outdoors with a pal. My fingers are crossed for some decent weather this week so we can recreate the magic. Unfortunately I missed my strength training during week 12, but I did get in some yoga which was beneficial. 

Saturday — 13 miles

Saturday. I was just. Not. Feeling it. I was so tired, and so sluggish, and so completely unmotivated. It’s not that I didn’t want to run. I just had zero drive. I missed my friends so much but when it came time to get going again, I just wanted to stay in bed. It was strange, honestly, because I really hadn’t been this demotivated except for the midweek runs (for obvious reasons). Plus, it was cold again.

The first mile was literally all down hill. And you know what happens when you run down, right? You run up. More on that later… We had a new friend with us, too, Eric. He is training for the Cleveland Half, so he only ran 9. He is more Julie’s speed so they took off together from the start.

I ran probably 80% of the 13 miles solo. It was kind of nice, actually. I had a lot on my mind. I felt like I needed to be by myself. I wasn’t in a great mood, and I truthfully didn’t want to bring anyone else down. Plus sometimes it’s nice to be able to sort out your thoughts on a run, and I felt really safe. I haven’t felt safe like that on a run in a really long time. Any time I run solo, I’m kind of on edge. So this time, having the safety net of friends both in front of me and behind me, allowed me the luxury of losing myself in my thoughts. It was a therapeutic run for me.

We did have some good laughs, and caught some great photos. And I had never been where we went this time, so it was nice to have a change of scenery. There were a ton of other runners. And I peed three times during this run, which I never do. I had to take advantage of all the flushing toilets and warm water to wash my hands with!

The second half of the run, I ran for a while with Julie. It was nice to push my pace a bit. Plus we talked about food. And talking food with Julie is always fun. It’s one topic we almost always gravitate toward, and I have no idea why, but it somehow passes the time really, really well. Starving bellies and all!

Then came the ever-so-slight incline. With three miles left, the elevation started rising. That’s when Julie and I parted ways. She trucked on ahead, and I slowed down a bit. On the first hill, I made it up 90% of the way and then decided to walk it. On the second hill, I looked at it and said no way. On the third hill, I made it the whole way. The first two were insanely steep. Almost vertical. The third one was much longer but a much less steep incline. It was manageable. I don’t know who else walked what, but I know the hills beat me into submission that day.

I had a nice, clear head when we were finished. Running alone sometimes has it’s advantages. And like I said, I felt safe the entire time which was a huge bonus.

Post-run I came home and got the house ready for Passover. That’s an entirely different post, which I’m sure I’ll touch on later this week. Let me just say this: come Sunday, I was spent.

As I mentioned earlier, this week will close with my first 20-mile run at the 20-Mile Drop. Before that I’ll be running three days of easy 5s, and I hope I’m able to get outside for them. It makes such a huge difference. And hopefully it will help build some confidence for Sunday! Eek!

Send me strong running vibes, friends!

xo

Tell me… do you ever run “solo” when you’re with friends? 

Have you run 20 miles before? Advice??