training Tuesday...marathon week 10

Six more weeks of training! EEK!

Seriously. I can't believe I'm about to tackle 18 miles this coming weekend. I'm a little terrified. My 20-miler has been moved up to Feb. 2 (too many conflicts the week of Feb. 9 and didn't want to push it later in February, with the race being March 3.) I'm just in disbelief that we're at this point.

I'm also almost convinced that this will be my last marathon. Training is tough and the long run days just take so much out of me - mentally, physically, you name it. I just don't have it in me.

That said, let's see how I did this past week.

Tuesday - sick. I didn't do anything except rest (when I wasn't at work).

Wednesday - 2ish miles in the light rain.

Thursday - 30-day shred.

Friday - rest

Saturday - 15.5 miles running, 1.5 miles walking. I think my run time was around 3 hours, 1 minute. (There was one mile that I didn't have on my Garmin, and I know we were averaging an 11 minute pace.)

The long run was just that. Long. It helps to have a running partner, for sure (hi, Suzanne!) but it hurts to be up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning just to prepare for that long run. This time, I took Twizzlers rather than Gu. I also had Gatorade gel blocks. Around 4 miles and every few miles after that, I ate either a gel or a Twizzler....and I think it helped. Gu tends to upset my stomach now (even though I swore by Gu during my first marathon) and the Twizzlers are just fantastic.

I ended up being extremely sore after this run. I'm not sure if it will get easier/better over the next few weeks, but at least I know I have roughly 6 weeks left and then I can go back to "just" running half marathons. (I say that very loosely. Half marathons are tough, too!)

Sunday - walked.

Monday - 30-day Shred (and I increased my weights from 3 lb. weights to 5 lb. weights.)

Today - I'm hoping for a short run. It's coldddddd, though.

So there you have it. Not a total waste of a training week. Could have been better, but I'm also (still!) getting over this cold.