Practice Makes Perfect - Inaugural Life Time Treadmill Marathon

Another two weeks have flown by and I have been training just as hard as usual. Starting with last week, my mileage has started to drop. But, first things first – the Last Vegas Half Marathon – didn’t go as planned.  I finished in 7^th place overall, which isn’t terrible, but my time was less than exceptional. I think this was largely due to not tapering all that much for the race and therefore going into the race with tired legs. My finishing time was 1:14:56. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, so enough said.

My training since the race has been great! On the Thursday after the race I ran 26.2 miles on a treadmill! Yes, I did. It was a fantastic day outside for Minnesota in December, but I wanted to make sure to get in some heat training and be able to have the fluids (Hammer’s Perpeteum) I plan on using during the Trials on hand because these are both important aspects of what I will have to deal with during the actual race.

 I managed to make it an impressive 14 miles on the treadmill before I lifted the towel that I had covering the mileage display. Hiding the time and mileage counter helps the run not feel as long. However, as anyone would suspect, the last few miles turned into a mental grind. I kept trying to make deals with myself about when I would stop the run, as I couldn’t help but look at the mileage just about every mile. Coach Dennis had only told me to go 24 miles, so as the proverbial hamster in my head started to get tired, I tried to convince myself that it was OK to just run 24 miles. But, in the end I was able to defeat my own weakness by reminding myself how much I want to be an Olympian, and to do that I have to give 100%. So 26.2 miles and three hours after I first set foot on the treadmill at Life Time Fitness, I stepped off the treadmill, full of hope and proud of my accomplishment.

In the last week I have also put in some good workouts that I know will really count when it comes to the marathon in January. Repeat 1,000’s on Tuesday and a real ringer of a workout today – 1 hour at marathon pace followed by 30 minutes of alternating 1-minute-hard / 1-minute-easy. BAM! Because this workout was so long and similar to an actual race I prepared for the workout just as I anticipate doing for the marathon.

                Schedule:

                5:00am: Alarm 1 goes off – time to eat breakfast, then back to sleep

                7:30am: Alarm 2 goes off – time to get out of bed, make some coffee and get ready to rumble

                8:45am: Meet Dennis and the guys at Highland Park Life Time Fitness

             9:15am: Warm-ups are finished, Dennis has given us instructions about the out and back course    that we will using and where he will set up our water bottle stations.

                9:16am: WE ARE OFF! Clipping off the miles at a little under 5:40 pace

              9:35am: Making first 180 degree U-turn. We are practicing this because there are U-turns in the marathon course. So we want to make sure our legs know what it feels like to decelerate, make a 180 degree turn and get back up to speed. If you have ever done the common drill of “suicides” at like basketball practice, you will know how much energy it takes to stop your moving body, turn and get back up to speed as quickly as possible. A lot! But with practice this process should go much more smoothly and not be as much of a shock to our legs during the race.

               9:54: Bottle stations #2 – have you ever tried drinking while running at quick pace? Not the easiest thing to do and I end up feeling that I must resemble a very thirsty dog – sucking on my bottle, spit flying, while also trying to gasp for air. Not a very pretty sight.

           10:16am: First hour complete, managing to run over 10 ½ miles during that time, but I still have another hard half an hour to go.

              10:46am: The workout is finally complete and I am gingerly running my cool down back to the gym because I have managed to get a blood blister on my left foot. I wore socks that were a little too thick because I had thought that my feet would be cold otherwise. However, it was a very beautiful 35 degree day and the thick sock turned out to just be a mistake. Lesson learned.

By 11:30 I have made it home after I stop and get myself a well deserved drink from Starbucks and I am full of relief. I had gone into the workout with a bit of trepidation, but now it is all over and I can relax.

Next week I am off to Hawaii for a family vacation! I have never been to Hawaii and I am extremely excited.  So next time I write I hope that it will be from the one of the beautiful white sandy beaches of Maui. For now, Aloha and Merry Christmas!

Happy training,

Meghan