End of Week 14 Double Dare Training

Wait...end of week 14? That means there are only 4 more weeks until the big race weekend!?! Holy cow is it coming up soon! It is so exciting! I'm not really concerned about whether I will be able to finish the races or not at this point. My training has been going nice and steady and after every long run I've had, I actually feel like I could keep going without any issue or discomfort. I just stop because I don't want to push too far too soon, but my body has done it before and can most certainly do it again!

Seriously though, I am really, really, REALLY excited for this race weekend! All the chatter and information on get togethers has been growing steadily and it just makes me so excited for the weekend to get here and sad to know that it's only a couple of days of whirlwind fun and excitement, then I'm back to reality and missing my running friends from across the country again. :(

The countdown until we leave for Disneyland started months ago and looking at the countdown now we only have 21 days until we are in the Happiest Place on Earth. I'm so excited, I have this awesome picture as my background on my work monitor.

I LOVE this picture! What makes me sad is that the Haunted Mansion will be closed for refurbishment during race weekend. BOO HISS!!! It's one of my FAVORITE rides and usually one of the first ones I ride once I get in the park, but not this time, I will only be able to admire it's exterior. :(

Okay, let's get to the training information, right? Had enough of my carrying on about the trip? :)

Tuesday: 30 minute run
Thursday: 30 minute run
Saturday: Walk 4 miles
Sunday: Run 12.5 miles

Tuesdays run was shot down again this week. I woke up with a screaming headache, like the kind where you come into work with your sunglasses on because the lighting and staring at your computer screen hurts too much. Yeah, that kind of headache. But I powered through the day and got my work done and the headache eventually went away, but left me drained for the rest of the day. So my Tuesday run was a wash. :(

In my mind Thursdays run was going to happen because I wasn't able to run on Tuesday and I need to keep up my consistency. So I made every effort to get my body ready and able to run on Thursday. It was a beautifully overcast morning along the waterfront. The sun hadn't burned the clouds away so it was refreshingly cool during the whole run. It was peaceful out with plenty of runners on the trail. It was so nice and I was having such a great run I didn't want to stop and head into work, but that wasn't an option. My time was decent and I actually went further on the trail than I usually do, more mileage in the same amount of time = progress! Woohoo!

 

 

My runs are usually around 2.25 - 2.32 miles during the 30 minutes, so increasing my distance by a 1/4 mile is good progress to me! I'm happy with that and will be working hard to close that gap to 3 miles. 3 miles in 30 minutes...I think I can get there, it's just going to take time and persistence with my training, but I'll get there.

 

Saturday's run was my long run of 10 miles. Again, I wasn't following the schedule to the letter because I'm still ramping my mileage from not having run consistently in months. I also seem to have the back-to-back running weekends mixed up, I thought it was next weekend until I saw all the tweets and FB updates about how people had done their back-to-back runs. ::hit palm on forehead::  Regardless, I went out on Saturday, a bit later than I like to for my longer runs, but I went out to Alki to stomp out my 10 miles for the day. I picked that area because there is a nice stretch where you can run along the waterfront for several miles back and forth, and no matter how many times I run back and forth along the water there, it is always beautiful with this blissful breeze that comes off the water. It's quite divine!

 

So the route I took was 3 miles out and back which got me up to 6 miles, then went out for two miles and back to complete the 4 additional miles I needed to get to 10 total. Now by the time the run ended I was ready to be done, not because I was fatigued, but because it was so dang hot!!! The sun was beaming down on me, the breeze had died down and I was almost out of water! I think that is one reason why I like out and backs is that I can keep extra water in the car and fill up my water bottles when they get low or empty so I can keep running. The 10 miles felt good and I felt like I could keep going. I was looking down the rest of the trail heading the opposite direction and it was beckoning me to keep running, but I had to resist, I don't want to push it and risk injury.

 

 

I got my mileage done and fueled up after the run with my favorite post-run items. Other than water, of course, I try to have chocolate milk and a Picky Bar to help refuel my body and give it some much needed energy!

 

So that is my training for this past week. I'm going to make this weekend my back-to-back run weekend as well as next weekend according to the schedule. I am feeling like I can do these runs as long as I listen to my body, properly hydrate, rest and recover (compression socks/sleeves are a must!) between the races. If I take care of myself properly over those couple of days, I will be able to knock these runs out and have a great time with my friends while doing it. Did I mention how excited I am for this race weekend? :)

 

Now it's your turn: How is your training going? Do you ever feel like you are "ready" for the race or that you are just going through the motions?