Week 12 of Marathon Training

Whew! I have been super busy lately and haven't really been in the mood to post anything, instead I have just been stalking all of you while you post about all of the yummy and healthy things you've been eating, the races you've been running and generally everything else out there in the blogosphere.

But I figured this morning I would update everyone on how my training is going for my upcoming FIRST MARATHON!

I took a look at my training plan this morning, and I am well on my way. This is week 12 and I have 5 more weeks to go until the race. I have 3 more weeks until taper time.

On Sunday I ran my long run, which was about 12ish miles. I say this because stupid me forgot to charge my Garmin so it died mid-run. For some reason I just couldn't get my ass moving Sunday morning, so after a few cups of coffee and some toast with homemade PB, I got ready to walk out the door and picked up my Garmin....and it was blank. UGH.

So I waited about 15 minutes until it was a bit charged up and then headed out on the road hoping it would last. At about mile 7.5 I looked down and it had finally hit the dust. And it was strange, because although I have only been running with this thing since January, I felt like I was going to be lost without it! My immediate reaction was, "Crap, well what do I do now? Do I keep going?" Then I thought about how absolutely ridiculous that thought was and how I basically knew the rest of my loop and how many miles it was, so why was I fretting?

The run was kind of a struggle, but nothing really out of the usual for long runs. I have been feeling pretty strong lately in my runs, and I think it is because my body is finally getting into the sync of training. My runs during the week have been going pretty well and although I dread the long runs and they get boring at times, they're pretty much okay.

If it's a particularly good run, I will still have enough juice left to sprint in the final few miles. But if I don't, I'm not really upset about it. I have been doing pretty good at listening to my body, going with the flow, and just enjoying my solo runs through town, next to the water, or over the Ravenel Bridge. I look for dolphins, tourist watch, be on the lookout for super cute dogs...it's been nice.

I had yesterday off of running with intentions to do a Core Yoga workout last night...but that never happened. Matt cooked me dinner and then I just did some cleaning and went to bed early. I have been feeling a bit rundown so I was hoping to get a good night's sleep but I managed to toss and turn and keep waking up last night...oh well, I feel pretty good today.

I realized yesterday that I was not in the slightest bit sore from Sunday's run, and that kind of made me happy. I must be doing something right finally :) This week's training schedule is going to be pretty tough (as it will be for the next 3 weeks until I start tapering) but it will all be worth it on May 2nd!

This week's schedule:
Tonight: 5-6 Mile Bridge Run + Short Track Workout
Wednesday: Easy 8 Miles
Thursday: Hooray for Spring 6 Miler!
Friday: No running, hopefully some Yoga for Runners :)
Saturday: 20 Miles!!!!
Sunday: REST + Yoga

Although I have only done yoga twice since the beginning of March when I said I wanted to do yoga more often (man I just looked back at that post and realized I also said I wanted to lose 6 pounds in March! I think I conveniently forgot about that one...), it is starting to grow on me. I like doing it out on my balcony when the weather is nice. I wish I could get up early in the mornings to do it, but lately I just have not been getting up as easily as I usually do...

Looking back on my training so far, I have come a long way since January. I never actually thought I would be able to run 18 miles and not walk any. I never thought I would feel prepared for my marathon, and not scared out of my mind (although we will see how that goes sooner to the date). But as of today, I feel like if I keep up with my schedule and keep my during the week mileage steady, I will be as ready as I can be for this thing.

People have told me that I will get hooked on marathons after I run my first one. I'm not sure about that, but I definitely know that I'm hooked on this running thing...and I like it more every day.