race return

On Sunday I will be making my return to racing following the marathon that did not go as planned.  Well, I guess that's kind of a lie.  A couple of weeks ago I ran a 5k for fun in the middle of a 12 mile training run.  So, I don't really count that one.  Sunday I will be running my 9th half marathon and 4th of the year.  I am running the Seacoast Half Marathon in Portsmouth, NH and am very excited for it!

We'll be heading over to Portsmouth Saturday afternoon and spending the night in a hotel before the race.  I think this is actually the first time I will have stayed in a hotel the night before a race.  Any other time I have traveled to one I've stayed with friends or family.  I'm looking forward to a fun little adventure.

This week training has gone really well so far.  Tuesday I ran an easy 45 min w/ 4x 100m strides.  Wednesday I had to run after work.  It was dark, but unseasonably warm.  I had a reflective vest to wear, but I wish I had had some sort of light to carry with me.  After reading this running in the dark PSA post by Danielle, I am definitely planning to invest in some knuckle lights.  Anyways, I had wanted to go to the track to get my workout in, but the track was not lit up, and I can be a bit of a wimp in the dark by myself, so I decided against it.  Instead, I just ran easy for a half hour, and planned to do my workout the following day.  Thursday I had to work the night shift (NOT FUN), but at least it gave me most of the day to make my way up to the track. The workout scheduled was 4-5 x 1000 @ MP w/ one minute rest, 15 min warm up and cool down.  Everything about this workout just felt right.  My pace was much faster than my marathon pace, but I felt great and was able to stay consistent through all 5 k's, my last one actually being the fastest.  I started at 8:06 pace and worked my way down to 8:02.  I'm hoping this means good things to come for the race on Sunday!

As for my goals on Sunday…I really just want to run a consistent pace.  I STILL struggle with going out too fast and crashing at the end most of the time.  This was a big part of what caused my marathon disappointment.  I need to learn to hold back a little at the beginning.  The only way I think I'll learn how to do that is to practice.  So, with that being said, on Sunday I am really going to try to stay calm and start out slower than my goal pace.  I'd like to have the first half feel almost easy and then push it for the second half.  It's going to take some serious self control, but I have to figure out how to do that.  After the race we're heading down to MA for a wedding.  It's going to be a busy, but fun weekend. 

Is anyone else running the Seacoast Half, or have you ran it before?  Who else is racing this weekend?!     

halloween update

Happy Halloween!  For some reason this has always been my favorite holiday.  I haven't dressed up in years, but there's just something about seeing little kids trick-or-treating that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  I also am a sucker for Halloween decorations as well as the month of October.

Anyways, I've been on a little blogging hiatus since the marathon.  I was feeling down mentally and physically the following week, and then was going through some personal things that caused me to take a small break from reality, and definitely left me with no desire to write.  I did however, spend a lot of time snuggling with this guy:

He's a good snuggler (is that a word?) 

And drinking many of these:

Unfortunately, I guess bad things have to happen so you can learn from them and see the good things...?  I definitely learned a lot in these past couple of weeks.  I learned a lot about myself, as well as others, and the importance of good old communication.  It was a rough ride, but I had a lot of incredible support.  Thankfully, things took an unexpected turn for the best and are moving in a much better direction.       

I am now in my third week post-marathon and back in to training.  The first week after the marathon was somewhat of a rest week, although I did not take it off completely.  I went for a walk the day after to try to loosen up my muscles a bit.  I was sore.  Very sore.  That week I ran three times, very slowly, starting at 20 min and ending at 42 min on Saturday.  The soreness slowly subsided, along with the feeling of disappointment from not doing as well as I had hoped at the marathon.  I was beginning to feel ready to look ahead at the race calendar, instead of focusing on what had already happened.

I have started training again for what's to come, while still trying to take it somewhat easy by taking an extra rest day each week.  I am excited to be back but also don't want to push it and do too much too soon and risk an injury.  On today's agenda: 15 min warm up, 2 mile tempo, 2 min rest, 800 @ 10k pace, 3 min rest, 2 mile tempo, 15 min cool down.

What's next on the race calendar?  I am running the Seacoast Half Marathon on November 10 in Portsmouth, NH.  I have never done this race before and am excited to see what it's all about.  Tomorrow, the registration opens for the Vermont City Marathon and I am planning to register.  I know it's not exactly the flat course I was hoping to find, but I LOVE the city of Burlington and feel like I can't pass up the opportunity to run through the streets.  Who's with me?!

for some reason I really liked this little quote.