Gretch Runs

Well, that didn't go as planned!  This weekend was my big race, my first marathon in nearly 4 years.  I was excited and felt ready.  Then the race started and everything went downhill (except for the course, which went up and down and up and down....).  Here's a look at how my final week of taper went, as well as the race itself: Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3.1 miles / 9:28 miles  I felt great, which made it hard to keep the pace slow!  I ran in the morning before work and kept my pace slow enough that I didn't lose my breath or break a sweat. Wednesday Yoga Nice and easy flow just to keep everything loose. Thursday 4 miles / 9:15 pace The plan was to run 4 miles, with the middle two at marathon pace.  My "warmup" pace kept creeping up into that race pace territory, so I had to force myself to keep it slower.  I felt amazing and did this run with absolutely no issues, which made me super excited for the race! ...

It's finally race week and I have a lot of thoughts about it!  Since it's Thinking Out Loud Thursday , I figured it was a perfect time to share all (or at least most) of them. I've really enjoyed training .  This is a big deal to me, because I've always been someone that trains just so that I can race.  This time around, I've just been enjoying the training aspect!  I've found mileage that works really well for me and the majority of my runs have been amazing.  Even when I have a tough workout, I've always felt like I was getting stronger or becoming a better runner. This has been my best training cycle ever .  I ran more miles than ever, didn't skip out on any important workouts, and really pushed myself.  I think this has to do with feeling settled in my life- this was my first training cycle since moving into my first house, getting a job that I absolutely love, and getting married.  My life is good right now and I have a great rout...

I've made it through training and it's finally race week!  I had a great final week of taper and now I'm a few shake out runs away from running another full marathon.  I'm getting excited and have a lot of thoughts to share in a post, but for today let's just talk about how the week of training went. Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3.1 miles / 9:23 pace Nice an easy run aroun the city to start my day.  I got to see a beautiful sunrise and the weather was perfect, which made me really appreciate these early morning runs!   Wednesday Yoga / 30 min It was absolutely gorgeous out, so I decided to do my yoga outside.  Nice and easy flow to get things stretched out. Thursday 4 miles / 8:44 pace Did not expect this run to go well, but it was amazing! Plan was 1 mile warmup, 1 or 2 miles at tempo (8:10-8:15), 1 mile cooldown. Ended up doing 2 miles at tempo with the first mile at 8:15 and second at 7:44!!! Felt so good the entire time, l...

After an up and down training cycle, I finally made it to the taper!  Most runners seem to hate this time and call it the taper crazies, but I love it!  After beating up my body for months, I can finally back off and go back to having a somewhat normal life.  It's amazing!  This week was a lower mileage week an my boy absolutely loved it.  It's hard to believe that race day is less than two weeks away, but I'm finally starting to get some confidence back. Here's a look at my week of training! Monday Rest Day Tuesday 3.6 miles / 9:00 pace It was a wet, rainy day that only seemed to clear up while I was out running.  I could feel the rain about to start the entire time I was out, so that helped me keep up the pace on this run!  It was pouring by the time I got changed and walked across the street to work, so I finished just in time. Wednesday 5 miles / 8:59 pace I was supposed to do a hill workout, but my body just wasn't...

Race day is getting closer and closer, and every day I'm feeling stronger.  This was overall a great week of training, and I can't believe I'm already into my taper!  This has been such a long training cycle filled with lots of highs and lows, so it's exciting to be near the finish line (or, I should say the starting line for the race!). Here's a look at how my week of training went: Monday Rest Day Tuesday 5 miles / 9:17 pace Today's run felt so, so good. Everything felt great and loose, and I was just going through the miles effortlessly. My breathing was fantastic and nothing hurt!  I also tried out a new pair of running shoes which I really liked.  I'll test them out for a few more days before sharing more. Wednesday 6.75 miles / 8:57 pace This speed workout was a great start to the day! 1 mile warmup, 4 miles at tempo (8:30ish), 1/2 mile of strides, 1.25 mile cooldown. I was getting annoyed with my watch b...

It feels so good to finish a full week of training again.  The weather was also perfect all week (is spring finally going to stick around?) and it felt amazing to run outside in SHORTS.  I'm happy to be running again and for the most part this was a fantastic week.  I did have a little setback that I'll talk about, and is the reason for the title today!   Only four more weeks to go until race day, and each day I'm getting more and more of my confidence back.  I'm using this entire training cycle as a lesson on what (not) to do and learning from it.  I know I haven't even run this race yet, but I'm already excited to use what I learned to improve and crush some PR's this year. I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's just talk about training this week! Monday 5 mile walk I didn't really want to run for a third day in a row, so I decided to head out with Selma for a walk around North Park.  She's always up for some exer...

Hi everyone!  Training is almost over and there are only 5 weeks until race day.  It's so hard to believe, and I almost skipped this update because I haven't been feeling that positive about training lately.  But, it's a new week and I'm going to look forward (by first looking back).  I've had 15 tough weeks of training so far, so I know that I can still reach my goal!  I'm not going to let a little shoulder stop me! I'll be going through the past five weeks of training (the good and the bad) and talk about what I'll be working on for the final stretch of training.  This is also the last that I want to talk about my injury, because even I'm getting sick of hearing me whine.  Just a warning that I talk about it a lot in this post, but after this it's time to move on. Let's get into it! A Look Back I started training by following Kara Goucher's Half Marathon Plan , which I really liked.  After a few weeks, I switched over to a marat...

I'm happy to report that I got back to running this week!  I took nearly two weeks off of running (and one full week after I stopped feeling any pain in my shoulder) just to be safe.  Nothing would be worse to me than starting too early and being back where I started. Here's a look at my week, which includes some running miles (finally!).  Only five weeks till race day! Monday 3 miles elliptical Finally pain free, so I got to exercise!  It was so weird to go a week without working out at all.  I felt so sluggish and lazy all week, so I was really happy to get my sweat on!  I used the elliptical at the gym and finished 3 miles.  I kept my bad arm on the arm rest and only "pumped" with my right arm. Tuesday Physical Therapy I did the exercises from my doctor, which has some strength moves and stretches.  It takes about 15 minutes to finish and helps me feel stronger! Wednesday 2 miles elliptical / 4 miles spinning I start...

Hi everyone!  Today's weekly update is going to be a bit different because there wasn't much running happening.  In case you missed it, I've been having pain in my shoulder for about a week, and at my annual check-up my doctor told me that I had a rotator cuff injury and I had to stop running before it got worse. I went on one run early in the week (before my appointment) just to see how my arm was feeling, and stopped after the pain got too bad.  After that, I stopped running for the rest of the week and started doing some physical therapy that my doctor gave me.  There are a lot of stretches and strengthening exercises that seem to be helping!  I also got a sling to help isolate my arm in a comfortable position, and have been taking some acetaminophen for pain and to cut back on the swelling. We had a big snow storm on Friday, so I wasn't too sad to stay in :) I'm not going to lie and say I'm not disappointed that I had to miss the Rock n' Roll ...

Hi everyone!  I'm getting a little tired of the titles on these posts (and still have 7 weeks to go!).  This seems like the never ending training cycle.  Don't get me wrong- I'm still loving training and get excited before I do each and every run.  I'm just getting tired of counting the weeks, and every week feels like a repeat of the last.  I hope these weekly recaps aren't getting boring for all of you! This was another decent week.  I was still recovering from my 20 miler for the majority of the week, and dealing with random aches and pains.  I have my next race on Saturday, which I'm really excited about.  I'm going to take it easy this week so that I can have a good effort at the race, and then it's all about the marathon in April!  I can't believe we're getting that close to race day. Here's a look at week thirteen  (unlucky 13?  We'll see!): Monday 3 miles / 9:53 pace I was happy to be back on the morning...

Well guys, I finally did it- I finished a 20 mile run!  I'll share more below, but this is a huge milestone for me and I'm really proud of myself.  This entire week was really great (thanks to unseasonably warm and clear weather).  I'm feeling better and better about training each week, and I'm getting excited for race day!  There's still 8 weeks to go where a lot can happen, but I'm on the right path. Here's a look at how my week went: Monday 3 miles I had the day off for Presidents' Day and it was a beautiful morning, so I took Selma to Riverview for a trail run.  We did a loop of all of my favorite trails, and she did such a great job.  I've never run with her on trails, but she handled them so well!   Tuesday Rest Day! Wednesday 7 miles / 9:44 pace Hill repeats today! 2 mile warmup, then 6 x 1/4 mile hill repeats. These were HARD and steep (and of course in the picture it looks flat as a pancake), so I wasn...