Marathon training will “Kick your ass, quite literally.”

Well, maybe not kick your ass, literally. But work it off, that’s for sure. This is one of my favorite quotes from Jullian Michaels in the 30 Day Shred video.

I don’t know why I like it. I think it’s funny I guess, because at that point in the video you really are running in place and hitting your heels against your butt. The 30 Day Shred video is really awesome, by the way. I first did it for 30 days, and now I use it for maintenance 3 or 4 times a week. You don’t think it’s going to be hard. But it is!

Marathon training is exhausting. It’s tiring, challenging, time consuming and in a twisted way…. exhilarating. I love long distance running. I’m not great, and I know that I have a lot of areas to improve in. But, I love the challenge. I love pushing myself to see what I really can accomplish. Don’t get me wrong, though. As much as I love it, I also dread it, and worry about it and some days just plain don’t want to do it. I get pretty anxious before a long run. Although I’ve done plenty, I shouldn’t. I think it’s just the not knowing. You can have a bad day. And I have had plenty of those. Runs where you’re just tired, your legs feel like anchors and you don’t think you can take one more step. I always feel better after I’m finished though. Better emotionally, anyway! Sometimes the day after a 10 or 15 mile run can feel pretty rough.

What is so great about running is that you don’t have to run in races against other people to see how you’re doing. You can run against yourself, challenge yourself to run faster, harder, longer. Or just to get out there. It’s awesome knowing that God made our bodies so perfect, that our brain, muscles, bones, circulatory system and lungs work so well together. Sometimes it amazes me.

We’ve had a pretty rough training season weather wise, too. That’s always tough to compete with. I’ve had friends who have run 10, 12, 15 miles on a treadmill! I applaud them for this because that is just one thing I can’t do. I’m good for about 6 miles on a treadmill. Fortunately, I have only had to do one of my runs inside. I’ve been outside for all the others. I’d rather bundle up in hats, face masks, etc. and go out in the sleet than run on a treadmill. (And I have!)

Here are some runs I’ve done the past week. This first one is my 12 mile long run with some runHers girls. Several of us had to run Sunday due to our schedules. Saturday it had been a gorgeous, sunny day. Sunday, not so much. It was cold and so windy! You can view all my stats for this run (splits, average pace, etc.) at Garmin Connect.

It’s been since 2006 since I’ve trained for a full marathon. The half is so much more easy to wrap your brain around. I was pretty nervous about doing my tempo run last week. Tempo runs consist of a mile warm up, the length of your tempo (in my case this week, 8 miles) and then a mile of cool down. According to the McMillan Running Calculations I did, my tempo speed should be between 8:20 minute mile and an 8:41 minute mile. A good description of a tempo pace is that it is a “pace you can hold, but one you would not like to for very long!” It’s definitely not fun to hold this pace up hills and against wind! Luckily, Wednesday was a pretty nice day last week. I was pleased with my splits.

Then here is the run from this Saturday with runHers. We had a great group this time. Our group is teaming up with the Team in Training which benefits the Oklahoma City Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. There were a lot of us out there on the streets this Saturday! Garmin Connect data is here.

Here are some of the songs on my playlist this week. A good friend of mine sends me some fun remixes. They are a good way to change up your tunes. Thanks, FunGuyDave.

• Blah Blah Blah – Ke$ha
• In the Streets – WC feat. Snoop Dogg
• Starstruck Remix – 3OH!3
• Without Me – Eminem
• Hey Baby – No Doubt
• Clocks (Workout Remix) – Shape Cardio
• Say Hey (I Love You) – Michael Franti
• In the Ayer – Flo Rida
• Pork & Beans – Weezer
• Walk Like an Egyptian – Bangles
• Telephone – Lady Gaga
• Gossip Folks – Missy Elliott
• The Way We Get By – Spoon

Off for another week of running. This week I’ll start back to my 800m intervals, an 8 mile tempo (10 total miles) on Wednesday and then my long run on Saturday. When you get into higher miles on the long runs they tend to to up, down, up, down within your training block. This week’s run is only 13 miles. Only. Ha.

Oh! Matt got to go someplace really awesome this weekend. I’m working on a post about that. Hopefully it will be ready to go up tomorrow or Wednesday, so check back!

Tagged as: Kami, OKC Memorial, Playlist