Who knew that Ammon, Idaho has a school policy that prohibits letting kids go to school if it is -20 degrees or colder? I got to find that out today and Isaac had no school. I'm gonna go ahead and classify this as a "true" Idaho winter. I haven't seen grass since before Christmas.
And I signed up for the Provo City Marathon on May 4th! I'm following a workout plan, and my muscles are already sore. I've figured out a way to enjoy treadmill runs--just watching an episode of "Merlin" on the Kindle Fire while I run. Nice. Of course, my pace was an 11 something today, so I'm no speed demon. I'm a whole lot faster outside, though. My goal is to finish the race within 5 hours. There are two parts to that goal, and I'll be okay with just finishing the race, even if it takes me 5 hours. But I will train with the complete goal in my mind. Any tips anyone has for me?
A funny point made by a running specialist: He points out that Ethiopian runners (the fastest in the world) eat carbs as 65% of their diet, and therefore we should all increase our carbs. What he fails to mention is that in many African countries, people only eat one meal a day, and probably 1/4 of the calories I eat in a day. So inviting me to eat more carbs is funny. Doug and I enjoyed that.
Also, Doug and I have been enjoying Season 3 of Downton Abbey. If you're a Downton Abbey lover, and you want access to Season 3, google "Simply June Downton Abbey" and you'll find the woman's blog, where she has posted all the episodes. The only trick is to click play on the episode you want, and then click "ignore this ad" when an ad starts playing. Happy viewing, from the land where dreams of White Christmases and Januaries are par for the course.
6 comments:
I have only one suggestion/tip/advice as you are training for this marathon. Stop thinking about time at all. Don't even consider a finishing time until you have run 2 or 3 or them. I am not being a downer- it is just the truth. I finished my first marathon in 5:25-ish. Two weeks prior to that marathon I ran a 2:04 half. I finished my second marathon in 5:20-ish. Two weeks prior to that I finished the half in 1:54. Granted, I would have been about 20-30 minutes faster during that second marathon had I not been running with a first time marathoner (my Adam).
You just don't know how horrible a marathon is until you hit 18-22 miles. By horrible I mean how it will systematically destroy your body and you use other parts to make up for it. So your calves start cramping, so you use your hips and quads to take the beating, but then those wear out twice as fast and by the end you are hobble running through the finish line.
Let me assure you- you won't give one jot what your time is come 20 miles in.
So let your focus go more in the direction of mental and physical stability for the whole race. Marathoning is an extreme sport- and as such should be treated with the same kind of mental preparation as sky diving, rock climbing, white water rafting. You can die doing this- and there is a reason for that. Marathon's hurt because you are destroying muscle. You are overtaxing your heart. You are straining even the most prepared ligaments- and it is gonna hurt. Prep yourself for that moment that you just want to stop, to leave the course and say "TO HELL WITH THIS!" Because that moment will come- especially in your first. Have an arsenal of things that will help you stop crying if your calves sieze up and you still have miles to go. Be comfortable with the fact that you are gonna have to walk- because it is okay.
That is my advice. You will enjoy it more if you only prepare to finish. And you know me- I am the most competitive person out there- but I have no embarrassment over my "over 5 hour" times- not when 12 months post partum I was rocking some serious abs, rock hard calf muscles and months of extreme mileage (we were averaging 40-60 miles a week at the end of training).
You can do it :)
Thanks, Bekah! I appreciate the advice! I've sort of been operating on the idea that if I train for the marathon at sub 10 minute miles, my runs won't take as long, and the ultimate marathon won't take as long. I'm trying to take the training one day at a time, because my whole family will have to sacrifice for me to get the runs I need to get to prepare--and I worry about that. I can just keep track of my times for now and then be easy on myself in my first (and maybe last) marathon. I don't know how people train for these regularly!
Marathon!! That's awesome. My co-worker and avid marathoner said in order to increase your speed do sprints 2x/wk on your low miles days. Like warm up for 2 mi then sprint a minute jog a minute 5 times.
I LOVE Downton Abbey. And I season 3 is no disappointment. I don't how the writers can make the simplest plot so exciting. Doug like it huh? I'm telling Troy. I can't watch it when Troy's home cause he makes fun of it the whole time.
Thanks for reading my blog post. I didn't mean it to be so sad. We just feel so much of the time that we can't see the end of it. We are trying our best to try to move out to Utah this September, but it's not looking so good. What we wouldn't give to be around family! Sayla needs her cousins. I love her purple outfit that you bought. When Sayla wore it for the first time, to my chagrin, she said she was pretty as a princess. The problem is that the shirt is more of a sweater and - don't kill me for saying this - but it's been too warm for it. She ends up taking it off after just a few minutes. But we are promised snow and cooler weather in the week ahead. Fingers crossed.
Good luck running this week and love to the family!!!
Good luck marathoning! And also, I love Merlin. :)
I ran a marathon and I had two goals: 1) To finish and 2) Not to walk at all. For me the not-walking (even through aid stations) was really important because a marathon is all a mental game. I think that physically it's a lot harder to start running again after walking for a few seconds, and mentally it's too easy to take walking breaks if I allow them at all. So for me, I had to be strict about that. I didn't care about my finishing time at all--I just wanted to finish--but I also tried to speed up my miles as I trained just so I would have better endurance and be able to do miles faster. So excited for you--you're going to rock this!
Re: Downton Abbey--Dave and I watched all of season 3 online and I loved it, although parts of it made me really mad. So much fun though.
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