owl b running

I will be posting my marathon training here to help keep me accountable, to log how I felt, what I might need to change, and to share how it is going.  I am using a 4 month (16 week) training schedule from Runner’s World Magazine from last summer.  My friend tore the page out and gave it to me so I am not sure what issue it was in.  Sixteen weeks from race day actually starts on Monday July 23, 2012, Mondays and Fridays are always off days(day 1 and day 5 of the week), so I will not talk about them unless I change the schedule some.  So I will be running the week 1 training schedule for the next 2 weeks to help me get back into running.  This is CRAZY!  I am totally not in shape for this.  Ha, better get going, because I am going to kick my butt in shape and finish this marathon!

{Edited 09/02/12}  I think I have decided to cut it back to the half-marathon.  I want to train to run the entire race and for time in the shorter race instead of finishing the longer race…so to the half?  I have yet to change my entry and may not decide until race day, but I think that I am going to train for speed and non-stop running.

San Antonio Marathon 6 months, 9 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes ago

Runs will be posted in reverse chronological order.

08/23/12-09/02/12:  Ok, off the band wagon AGAIN!  I swear I AM committed!  It has just been ridiculously hard finding time to run with Bo having to be at work early and working late hours.  I can NOT run late, because it keeps me wide awake!  I did however run 13.18 miles last Saturday 08/25/12 with a friend and I know I can do the half.  I am getting the treadmill set up in the house (it has been in storage) so that I can run in the mornings even if Bo has to go to work early.

08/22/12:  I got my tushie out of bed and ran 3 miles, I know not a whole lot, but I had to start back somewhere.  3 were scheduled for yesterday, which I skipped and that sounded way better this morning than the 5 easy plus 2 at marathon pace that was on the schedule for today.  Umm, what exactly is my marathon pace you wonder…let’s just say, I am pretty sure it is the same as my easy!  I have one speed!  Today was a great run for being off.  I felt great, the temp was PERFECT and my body liked getting out on the pavement.  I just wish it did every morning!

08/15/12-08/21/12:  I am not going to waste your time…I basically just took a whole week off, because 3:30am is way harder for me to roll out of bed than 4:30am.  So I just did not.  Bo had to be at work early these days and I was like “umm, no thanks…wanna snuggle Jackson?”

08/14/12: Day 2, Week 4.  3 miles on the schedule…again, I like said miles.  Why can’t every day be that many miles?  Although it was very hot, because I ran after work since I did not want to wake up at 3:30am because husband had work early.  Walked quite a bit of today’s miles.  My spaghetti I had for dinner was sitting right in that puking zone.  Fail…but it was DELICIOUS and I could not wait .

08/12/12: Day 7, Week 3.  5…same story as yesterday.  No one to watch Jackson, so it was a no go…but we did go visit my friend’s baby and she was oh so adorable until she got bad mad because she was sooo tired.  Hmm, let us just boil this down to one more crappy week and maybe by now my foot should be completely healed?!  I swear I will crawl across that finish line in November.  They might have packed everything up by the time I get there, but I will cross it!  Ha, good luck you say?

08/11/12: Day 6, Week 3.  14 on the plate…does 3.5 in the 104°F 12;30pm sun count for anything?  No, ok, well that is all that I did.  This was not entirely my fault, you see Bo had drill and my parents are out-of-town, so I had no one to watch Jackson in the early morning.  It was family day at drill, so I dropped Jackson off with Bo to have lunch and went and got in as many as I could before I could not breathe, felt burned, and was exhausted…I am not cut out for this kind of running .

08/09/12: Day 4, Week 3.  3 scheduled, but I ran the 5 from the day before.  This morning felt great, it was the perfect temp, not too humid, and a beautiful clear sky and well-lit by the remaining moon.  I ran 5 in an hour, which is great for me for right now and this half booty training the last couple weeks!

08/08/12: Day 3, Week 3.  5 scheduled, but my husband had to be at work at 5:30 which would put me waking up at 3:30am to run…umm not so much.  I thought about doing it after work, but a friend wanted to do dinner, so of course I chose that option!  I am a hardcore runner .

08/07/12: Day 2, Week 3.  3 miles on the schedule.  See I can do this, why the heck can’t every run be 3 miles or less?  Oh, because I am training for a marathon not a 5k.  I see.  Well that is dumb…I like 3 or less!  My foot was a little tender, but is much better from last week.  Lets just hope that it stays that way.  :)  See you tomorrow for 5.

08/05/02: Day 7, Week 2.  I was going to try to run the 12 today (3 are scheduled), but same thing.  So, I will continue to rest and ice it until it is a little better.  I am going to go ride the bike when my husband gets home to watch Jackson.  I plan on tweaking my training schedule this coming week to try to get an extra shorter run in.  I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.

08/04/02: Day 6, Week 2.  12 Scheduled.  I had every intention of running these.  My foot ached all night and has a sharp shooting pain when I stand or walk, so I slept in and did some lap swimming when the pool opened.

08/02/12: Day 4, Week 2.  Again took the day off, but I went to the orthopedic surgeon just to make sure I was not going to ruin anything permanently.  He said that it could possibly be a stress fracture (he could not see it on the x-ray), so in order to not make it worse to rest.  He gave me a cortisone injection to see if it helped ease the pain.  He suggested taking a couple of days off, although he said I could run if I really wanted too, but that it would not necessarily be a good idea.  Hmm, ok I won’t argue if you are telling me not to run!

08/01/12: Day 3, Week 2.  I took today off, because my foot was still killing me.  I was planning on heading to the gym to ride the bike, but to no avail!

07/31/12: Day 2, Week 2.  Man I am off to a running start…pun intended.  Let’s see, yesterday morning I woke up with this killer pain in my left foot.  Umm, hello, I did not run Sunday or Monday, so why the heck does my foot hurt?  Exactly, my thoughts too!  Sheesh, so this morning I decided that I would run and see if it worked itself out…IT DID NOT.  I set out for my 4, my heart was feeling good, no major tightness, just felt good…except my foot.  Well apparently said foot is important to running and I limped my way back to the house by turning right when I was supposed to turn left and cut the run in half.  I am not so excited about this, first, because I sound like a crybaby and second, because I felt good this morning, was up in time for the full run and third, I have not had so many darned aches and pains since I played competitive basketball.  So, I got in 2 out of 4, I have been icing my foot since I limped home and will ice again after work to hopefully be recovered for my 5 that are scheduled for tomorrow.

07/29/12: Day 7, Week 1.  I have decided that I enjoy having my entire Sunday off.  We were busy doing household stuff all day and did not even think about running until right now (7:30pm).  I had actually almost forgot I was supposed to run…oops!  Well I am not going now, I have a baby to get ready for bed, so I will have to either redo my days off and change the schedule some or get off my lazy booty.  Not sure which one it will be .  I will let you know once I figure it out though.

07/28/12: Day 6, Week 1.  Up at 4:30am to be on the road by 5am…ok, so we (Callie and I) hit the road at 5:21am.  Not too bad.  We had to run early because Bo had to go to work and we are having our annual Family Reunion so we needed to get back to kick that shindig off.  Callie used to run marathons and has decided to run this one with me.  She is limited on her running because she has osteoporosis and has broken her back a couple of times.  Her doctor has advised her not to run too terribly much…I think 26.2 miles might fall under that category.  So we ran/waked this morning and made pretty good time.  I got a side stitch, which I have not had this whole back to running time, what the heck, and began to mentally exhaust and tighten for the last 1.5 miles.  But we did it.  It is soo much easier to run in the morning before the sun comes up.  The sun does some serious mental and physical exhausting.  So, while I LOVE my sleep, I think I love being finished earlier in the day.  I did not eat anything before and I could tell.  Luckily Callie is Queen Snacker and had her pockets loaded down with 2 granola/energy bars and some peanut butter crackers.  1 PB cracker and I was back in business.  I used one energy gel at 1:15 and it seemed to get me through.  It recommends every 45 minutes, but I am pretty sure my pace does not make me burn enough calories/energy for that schedule, so I am working to figure out what I will need on race day.  By the way…those gels are NASTY, but I can not chew, swallow, run, and breathe all at the dame time, so the gel it is.

07/26/12: Day 4, Week 1.  I slept in again, but had my mom and dad watch Jackson while I went midday.  4 were scheduled, but I went to the gym to run because it was blazing hot out.  I hope on that treadmill and started jogging for the finish line…mile 2.5 and shin splints were setting in.  Umm, what.  I have not had any issues with said splints in who knows how long.  I kept on and they got worse.  I am not one for running through the pain of shin splints, so I hopped off that treadmill and said “no thanks.”  I did some ab work to finish out with.  Let me just throw out that I have not even thought about a crunch or a plank since before I was pregnant.  Man oh man, 5 seconds on that first plank and I thought my abs were going to explode.  We have got a long way to go on those babies!

07/25/12: Day 3, Week 1.  4 scheduled…SLEPT and SNUGGLED with Jackson instead.  I apparently turned my alarm off while I was nursing him.  I usually snooze while he is nursing, so that I will be empty when I go running.  Well I turned that sucker off and enjoyed my sleep.  Off to a winning start.  Ha.  I had planned to run after work when I did finally get up, but we had a birthday dinner for my mom so I just said “see you tomorrow pavement.”

07/24/12: Day 2, Week 1. FIRST RUNNING DAY OF MY 16 WEEKS.  4 on the schedule.  I felt good, but mentally was like “oh, I need to walk, I usually walk about this time.”  Not good for training if you ask me.  So, I will have to work on this mental business.  I forgot my iPod as well, so it was much easier to hear myself talking when I said “let’s walk now.”  Ha.  I must say that temperature has a great deal to do with how easy it is to run.  I wake up at 5am to be out the door by 5:30am in order for Bo to watch Jackson before he goes to work and it is nice and cool and so much easier to breathe and run.  That darned sun takes a lot out of you.

07/22/12: Day 7, Week 0.  3 Scheduled.  0 run!  I went swimming with my nephews instead, what can I say it sounded like more fun!

07/21/12: Day 6, Week 0.  10 Scheduled…I rocked all 10!   Felt great for the most part.  My right foot decided to go numb about mile 3 and not gain feeling back until about mile 6 when I actually finally got all the way loose and got in the groove!  I ran the majority of the run and probably only walked less than a mile total.  I finished it in 2:20:53, but this included a stop to talk to a friend who saw me and 2 water refills.  I feel that it is VERY important for me to maintain my hydration so there is no ill effect on my milk supply.  Jackson’s hunger comes before my marathon time .  I am proud of myself, I did not think that I would run as much as I did and when I did think about walking I was like “no, Kirbie, you can do it!”  Haha.  The power of the mind!  Lol, I most likely could have walked faster than I was shuffling my feet pretending to run, but it was jog nonetheless.  My sister did 10 today as well.  She used to be a marathoner until she broke her back.  Her doctor has advised her not to run, so she is going to walk the half marathon.  I am excited!  Tomorrow calls for 3.

07/19/12: Day 4, Week 0.  4 scheduled.  I was attempting to pull what I pulled yesterday and stay snuggled up, but I finally got a foot to my butt and got going.  I did have to make it quick, because I got a later start and my mom, Jackson, and I are going to Ft. Worth this morning, so I ran 2.5 miles.  Just a quick 30 minute jog around town. I was super stiff and tight though, not sure why, because I stretched multiple times

07/18/12: Day 3, Week 0.  SKIPPED…oops.  Jackson and I were snuggled up so comfortably, no other reason, minus a slight headache, but mainly I just did not want to get out of bed!  4 were on the schedule.

07/17/12: Day 2, week 0. 3.5 miles (4 miles scheduled, I am SUCH a slacker!). Again blisters…need I say more.  Ha, actually I felt great heart wise and mentally.  I had just a little tightness and some rubbing where my mole skin DID NOT STICK!  Jerks!  I ran the whole way, not fast by any means, but that is a start in my book.  My baby slept great this morning for the daddy, which was nice for him

07/15/12: Day 7, week -1. 2.25 miles. Bloody hot and no water.  I was in a hurry and my blisters were in full force (I had short socks because I put off laundry, oops!), so I cut things short and made it quick.  I could barely swallow, I was sooo thirsty and my mouth was sooo dry…I was VERY tempted to stop and start nursing from my own boob!  That is how danged thirsty I was.  I did not take any water with me because it was going to be a short, quick run just so that I did not miss the day (like I totally wanted to); very bad idea, especially when I had only had coffee or tea to drink all day…DUMB!

07/14/12: Day 6, week -1.  10 miles on the schedule.  Hmm, well I had every intention of running, being dragged, or crawling said miles, but I hit a mental block when I was waiting for my brother to bring me more water and cut 2 miles off.  I completed 8.03 miles in 1:58 minutes.  It was HOT!  I got a later start than I would have liked because my husband is gone so Jackson had to get up and ready to go to his Gracie and Papaw’s house, so I did not start running until 8:55am.  I would have liked to been on the road no later than 7:00am…lesson learned!  Back to the water, I have a running belt that holds 24oz.  Those were gone by 1 hour and my brother had to be called in for help!  He brought me 33oz.  I re-filled my bottles and then chugged the rest.  I had finished the next 24oz by the time I made it back to my parents.  So I had 57oz in 2 hours and did not have to pee at all (nor for 3 hours post running when I chugged some more water)…I was sweating that junk straight out.  It was hot; oh, I already mentioned that.  Also, on my route they had speed limit signs, umm hello no one can run 55 MPH, so why are those necessary?  Oh for the cars…WHICH I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN!  And hills was not on the schedule for today, but apparently the route ordered them right up for this crazy lady.  I feel pretty good now, just a slight sore foot.  I have figured out that I need LOTS of water in this heat, so I might add the camel back to the rest of the running ensemble!  Now for some photo fun…my sheer excitement to be in the darned heat running and the never-ending road!

07/12/12: Day 4, week -1.  4 miles scheduled…I rocked 4.31 in 50 minutes.  I mean I know this isn’t super fast, but let me just say I ran 32 minutes non-stop, rolled my ankle, got up and kept running.  I walked a lot less today than yesterday, which was surprising.  It is so mush easier to run in the morning when it is nice and cool and the sun is not beaming down on me.  Plus I think I might actually enjoy seeing the sun rise!  Now back to rolling the ankle…I went down from a dumb rock I couldn’t see in the dark.  Gravel is not very comforting to skid across.  There was a truck that passed me right as it happened.  He had better not have seen it happen, because if he did and didn’t stopped to make sure I was OK, I will be mad!  Ha, I could have bumped my head and been knocked out only to wake up to the rattlesnakes slithering around me in the warming morning, or worse had buzzers swarming my head and laughing at me while the peck away at all this extra baby fat!  Sheesh, thanks man in the truck!  Lucky for him I tucked and rolled and popped right back up and now just have a little achy ankle.  Today I am going to go get new running shoes that are fitted to my stride, gait, feet, etc.!  Pretty excited to get hardcore into this whole marathon thing.  Ha, or at least pretend I am hardcore!  Tomorrow is a rest day and then Saturday calls for 10 miles…umm what, that is what cars are for!

07/11/12: Day 3, week -1 (which is week one, but I am running it for two weeks prior to actually starting the 16 week plan)  4 miles were scheduled, I ran 3.53 miles. Felt pretty good.  I stopped to tie my shoe at mile 2 and it was mostly down hill from there.  I ran 20 minutes non-stop and then ran/walked the rest of it.  Woke up at 5:30 so that Jackson could snuggle up with his daddy and I could run stroller free!

07/07/12: I am in the pre-training stages, just trying to get back some endurance in running. I have not regularly run for quite some time (read: 2 years) and have crazily decided I can run this marathon, so I shall, but need to get some running in to get my body accustomed to such things!  Today was blistering hot and I had the motivation to go at 1:20pm.  I am the type that MUST run anytime I actually have the motivation, if not, it WILL NOT happen.  I ran, jogged, er, shuffled my feet 1.25 miles without stopping while shoving the darn running stroller along (my husband is out-of-town, so for now Jackson and I are training together.  I do LOVE the stroller, just not now that I am out-of-shape running, lol).  I did however push Jackson and myself up the hill right before I started to walk.  I usually would have stopped at the bottom, so I find this to be a step toward something.  I had read this post by Tina at Carrots ‘n” Cake, which totally helped me to realize I could do it.  Ha, while I did run up it, I am pretty sure that I looked like Forrest Gump pre-busting his leg braces off!  Run, Momma, Run!

Jackson seemed to enjoy things more so than me…I did not feel as relaxed as him when we got back!  He enjoyed a nice cold bottle of ninny along the way.  Best source of hydration ever: breast milk!