As of yesterday, I have 7 weeks until I run my first marathon. Pretty insane. This weekend as I looked over my planner and my training plan I realized that September is probably going to be the busiest month I’ve had in a really long time. Between moving day on September 2nd, North Coast Music Fest that weekend, some crazy awesome marathon training mileage, and a full time job—I think I’ve got a lot on my plate. But that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared for it. After all, I’ve got those crazy To Do lists to keep everything straight and organized. It’s weeks like this past one that let me know that I can handle being busy in every sense of the word.

I felt so strong after the Rock ‘n Roll Half and was excited that I wasn’t overly fatigued or read to just lay low for a week. I jumped back into my training pretty quickly and was surprised that my legs carried me the way that they did (especially after some hamstring tightness last week after the Elvis is Alive 5k!)

So, as always, this is how it all went down:

Monday, August 15th: Oil Change

2.68 miles

Short shakeout run with Manny! It was a great evening to get out and I was excited to go for a nice, easy jog with my man. I can tell he’s getting a lot stronger. He’s itching to go faster and farther which is great! I felt heavy during this run, but I told myself that it was to be expected after a killer race just the day before. Coach told me an “oil change” would make me feel much better and prepare me for another strong week of training (no rest for this girl!)

Tuesday, August 16th: Speedwork

9 miles/1:18/ 8:37 per mile

Yet again, I didn’t wake up early enough to fit this run in before work. I rolled over and looked at the time on my phone before deciding that I should just run at night. (Running 9 miles in 40 minutes would have been impossible, after all!). I ran from North Avenue all the way up to Foster during this speed ladder:
2 mi w/u
1 mile at 7:25/mile
400 m recovery
2 miles at 7:35/mile
800 m recovery
800 m — 3:35
400 m recovery
800 m– 3:37
2 mi c/d

My legs were SO heavy, but I persevered and tried to distract myself by listening to the beat of the tunes pumping through my ears. I was so distracted that I ended up totally miscalculating where I needed to turn around in order to end up where I started. I ended the run near Fullerton Ave. on the lake and walked/jogged the remaining mile and half to the gym to change. I think it was probably a blessing that I had an extended cool down because I needed to walk out some calf issues. I was sleepy and ready to go to bed after this one!

Thursday, August 18th: Short tempo

5.26 miles/00:44/ 8:21 per mile

After a fun dinner with the girls on Wednesday night and a scramble to get packed for a Thursday afternoon flight, I am surprised I had the motivation to get up and go that morning. I knew that I had to get this run in before some traveling to surprise my twin sister with a visit to see her in Oklahoma. I had to shorten the miles a bit in order to shower and get ready for work in time, but I’m glad I was able to fit it in. My target pace was between 7:55 and 8:05 and I ran: 8:03,  7:46, 7:50 including an easy warm-up and cool-down. DONE!

Saturday, August 20th: 2hr 45 min LSD

I still can’t believe that I ran 17.5 miles on Saturday. It’s almost a 2 mile distance PR over my long run 2 weeks ago. I know I should be getting used to this PR Feeling by now, but it really is mind boggling that I can run that far and still feel energetic the rest of the weekend. Of course, I did my fair share of ‘laying low’ afterward and stayed cool in Oklahoma by going to the movie theater and drinking beer at an awesome pub with my sisters, but it’s all relative right? I’m looking forward to running my 20 milers soon and feeling just as strong.

So in total, I ran 36 miles this week which is ALSO a distance PR 🙂 I’m all smiles here!

Have a great week of training everybody!

-J