My First Marathon (x2)

Tonight I helped Leona pace the 14:00 min/mile group for the Indy Runners training program again. You might be like, Rose, 14:00 isn't going to get you to your goal of finishing the mini sub 2:40...and you are right, but there are so many runs in the week that helping out once in a while doesn't mess with the universe...AND 13:45 is about the pace I will need to be able to beat to finish the marathon in under 6:00...so it does give me a good "feel" for what my slowest pace should be during that race. The great thing about the training program runs is that I don't even notice if it is getting dark when there are so many people on the trail because I don't need to be quite as careful about the things that might jump out and attack me (just kidding) - but there is a sense of security in numbers and it is a lot of fun to see everybody.

The ice has put me on the treadmill more than I would normally prefer lately and I have been playing"treadmill games" that are essentially a variety of approaches to intervals and speedwork. I wasn't sure if they were really getting me any faster (and I still don't know for sure) but if today is any indication the speedwork might just be helping. Today I ran at the indoor track at the Monon Community Center since I fell on the ice outside yesterday but didn't feel like 5 miles on the treadmill. I wasn't really super excited to run but since I need to take a rest day tomorrow from a schedule perspective I decided I HAD to run. So I started slow and speed walked the first half mile and then I started running. When I got to 3 miles I was noticing that I was actually at 5K pace even though I had walked the first half. Overall I finished 40 seconds faster (over 5 miles) than my tempo run pace of 12:00. Considering I wasn't running the first .5 mile I must...

So today is the first day of the Indy Runners training program. While it is a half-marathon program I am also using it to train for the full by doing the "advanced" distance in the program daily and doubling the Tuesday distance for Saturday. In the IR program Tuesday is the "long run" for most runners. Saturday is generally a good day for me to do my even longer runs. Tonight's run is 3 miles. Shouldn't be too difficult, but Saturday's 7 will be the longest I have run since December 31. I am running with the 12:00 min/mile pace group which is still faster than I run long races, but it helps push me to get faster.

Yesterday was not a running day. But that doesn't mean I didn't do anything. This year I am taking cross training a little more seriously, even when it isn't warm outside. Many days (except for the longest run days) I am also spending some time on the bike trainer. The first week in January it was 15 minutes a day, the second 20 minutes, and now I am trying to do 25 minutes a day this week. On "rest" days from running I am doing the time on the trainer and steps. I am also doing some arm weight training every other day. I wish I still had access to a gym for better weight training, but I will do what I can at home with what I have. I am not so sure how I feel about calling my other exercises (especially the bike - and swimming) "cross training" since I don't really think of myself as a "runner" first (or most days at all) and I do compete in triathlons, so they count too. But it seems to be the standard phrase and since this is my m...

So why is it called "My First Marathon (x2)" - well, the 2011 San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon will (hopefully) be the first marathon I finish...I had to drop out of the 2009 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon at mile 15 (I got sick at Mile 11 and couldn't hang on) and it still haunts me. I really need to FINISH a marathon. I am not a runner and not a triathlete despite claims to the contrary. I am a 34 year old fat chick with diabetes (Type II) who managed to decide after diagnosis that I should get off my butt. That was in August 2008. In October that year my best friend decided to talk me in to doing Run Like Hell - a 3 mile costume run on the downtown canal in Indianapolis. I was like - I can't go three miles and I don't run...she said to walk it and see what I could do. I not only finished, I wasn't last, and it was in under an hour (no record setting here). And I was hooked on races. I also did the Drumstick Dash (4.5 miles) with my sisters and J...