Grand Rapids Marathon - 12 weeks to go!

After a couple of rough weeks in a row, I am super happy to have an awesome week to write about! Dialing back on the mileage and intensity really seemed to do the trick. In my training plan, this week had slightly less mileage than the previous week, but it also had a fair amount of difficult runs. I've made note of the changes I made to the training plan in blue.

Monday
Distance: 6.0
Pace: 8:52 average

To make things interesting I ran: 
1 mile EZ, 1 mile hard (7:47), 1 mile EZ, 2 miles hard (8:02, 7:42), 1 mile EZ

Tuesday
rest day

Wednesday
Distance: 12.0
Pace: 9:27
Reduced mileage from 14 to 12

Thursday
rest
Friday
Distance: 6.0
Pace: 10:00

Saturday
Distance: 4.0
Pace: did not time
Reduced mileage from 6 to 4

Sunday
Distance: 16.0
Pace: 9:19
Reduced intensity from 16 miles with 12 at MP to just 16 miles.

Total: 44 miles

It was absolutely awesome to end the week with a long run that I finished feeling strong! I'm glad that I didn't try to push myself to hold MP for 12 miles on Sunday. I wasn't sure how this run was going to feel. My last two long runs started to get messy around 14-15 miles into the run. I was feeling pretty good at 12.5 miles, so I dropped my pace down to MP for 1.5 miles (Garmin indicates 9:03 for this section, but I got caught at a stop light* right before my watch ticked over to the next mile. I was running ~8:45). For the final two miles I pushed it a bit harder to average 8:10.

*I typically don't pause my watch during long runs and speed workouts. I figure that I won't be stopping the clock during a race, so I try not stop my watch during important runs. For easy/recovery runs I stop my watch to wait for traffic signals because it forces me to be honest about my pace. If I let my watch run for 90 seconds while waiting at a light I could run faster than I should for recovery but it wouldn't be noticeable looking at my average pace. This would defeat the purpose of an easy run.

One final thing: I will probably be late with my next training check in. My sister's family is staying with us for a long weekend and I will be way to busy being Auntie Heather to work on a blog post. I am counting down the hours until I will be doing this:

Side Stitch Fix

I know Mondays are usually dedicated to training check-ins, but I have been trying to resolve my side stitch issue and wanted to share some of the things that I have been trying. I'll try to get my training update up on Wednesday. I don't usually get side stitches during training runs, so it has been a bit hard to nail down possible fixes. The side stitch that I got during the Charlevoix race left me with abdominal pain for the next few days and any moderate efforts in the next two weeks gave me a side stitch. So hooray for pain, I guess.

Poses I'd like to avoid during my next race!

I had two long runs where I got side stitches. Since I was less focused on my time during these runs I ran until the side stitch became unbearable and then tried to figure out the best combination of walking and running that would let me transition back to full on running. I found that alternating 1 minute of walking with 1 minute of running for a couple rotations while I focused on keeping my breathing steady seemed to work. Once I could make it through a minute of running without any issues I reduced the walking breaks to 30 seconds and started extending the running portion to whatever time felt comfortable. One thing that I learned is that if I am fighting a side stitch downhill running will make it worse. I think it is the added force from landing.

I also had a close call with a side stitch during a 5 mile tempo run. I started to notice the pain creeping in about 3.5 miles into the tempo. I really, really wanted to make it through all 5 miles without stopping so instead of letting the pain get worse, I immediately started working on my breathing exercises.

I've noticed that when running my breathing tends to be a bit shallow. I don't think I am utilizing my diaphragm correctly. So I try to focus on taking a slow, steady breath in while expanding my diaphragm, then I sort of forcefully exhale. This was a tip suggested to me by Dolly. I also have been timing my breathing so that I am landing on my left foot when I begin to inhale/exhale. The combination of these two things seems to do a pretty good job at keeping the stitches at bay. During my tempo run I only saw my pace slip a tiny bit during mile 4 and I was even able to pick up the pace for the remaining mile (mile splits for that run were 7:49, 7:43, 7:45, 7:54, 7:13!!!).

Unfortunately it takes a lot of concentration since I seem to naturally want to inhale/exhale with my right foot striking the ground. I do worry that at mile 12 of a half marathon I won't have the capacity to really focus that closely on synchronizing breathing and left foot landing. I have been trying to practice these two breathing exercises during most of my runs so hopefully by the time my next race gets here it will be a little more intuitive. 

In a race I would like to think that I will utilize the second method described here for as long as I can. My goal of course would be to run as much as possible without needing to take walk breaks. But, I can't guarantee that the breathing techniques would be able to fight off a stitch, so I guess it is good to have the run/walk intervals as a back up plan.

Grand Rapids Marathon - 13 weeks to go!

Was it scorchingly hot for you this weekend? The temperature starting rising on Friday and it never seemed to stop! I had a 10 mile run with 6 miles at half marathon pace scheduled for Friday. As I monitored the temperature throughout the day I watched the heat index climb from the 70s to the mid 90s. There was no way I was going to make it 6 miles at HMP in those temperatures. I waited as late as I could to start my run, but even with plenty of shade, it was miserably hot. The slight breeze felt like opening an oven. I ended up running 10 very easy miles with a walk/water break after each mile.

I had 5 miles planned for Saturday, but it was also the hottest day of the weekend. There was a heat advisory from noon-midnight due to the heat index reaching 100-105 Fahrenheit. I was up at 5:30 to start my run, but my legs were pretty tired since it had only been 10ish hours since I completed my 10 mile run. I ended up only running 3 miles.

Finally, the weekend of hellish temperatures came to an end with a 20 mile long run on Sunday. Again my alarm went off at 5:30 and I was out the door at 6. Even with this early start, it was already in the 70s when I started my run. I knew that my run would end up taking around 3.5 hours to complete and that temps would be well into the 80s by the time I finished (the heat index was 95 when I finished my run).

In my mind this run was split into three sections: 6 miles to the park, 8 mile loop through the park, 6 miles back home. I made it through the first two sections of the run without any issues, but when I realized how far away from home I was and how hot and miserable it was becoming, I kind of lost it. It doesn't take much to make me cry, and knowing that I had no other option but to keep running, no matter how awful I felt, really did me in (my husband was out of town this weekend so I couldn't call for a ride).

With 4.5 miles remaining in my run, I stopped my watch and ducked into a Panera to grab some ice water and try to compose myself (and also, AC!). I wouldn't normally take advantage of a restaurant in this manner, but I decided it was okay since I am friends with the manager. After texting my husband a bit I knew I needed to get back out there and get home! I walked for about 1.5 miles while I waited for my stomach to stop feeling sloshy and then managed to run the last three miles with just a couple short water breaks.

Training Log

Monday
Supplemental Training: Strength training and foam rolling

My hips were feeling rather tight on Monday so I focused my workout on stretching and foam rolling them. Since I hadn't foam rolled in a while I also did a quick once over on all of the major areas (calves, hamstrings, quads, IT band). I felt like a new person after this workout.

Tuesday
Distance: 7.08
Pace: 9:37 average with 6 strides

Wednesday
Distance: 12.4
Pace: 9:02

Thursday
rest

Friday
Distance: 10.15
Pace: 9:44

Saturday
Distance: 3.0
Pace: 10:05

Sunday
Distance: 15.68 + 3
Pace: 10:06 (18.68 miles in 3:08:45, which includes time spent refilling water bottles and walk break towards the end)

Total: 51.31 miles (My biggest week ever!)

So that's another week of training completed, another week closer to the big race. The insanely hot temperatures this weekend definitely added an awful twist to this week's training. But, I'm not sure that I can blame all of my issues this week on just the heat.

In May I started following an 18 week marathon training plan found in Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning. This training plan starts with 33 miles/week and peaks at 55 miles. My mileage prior to starting this training plan was right around the 30 mpw, so I thought that this plan would be a great fit. Now I am starting to wonder if the plan is slightly too aggressive for me. In the past two weeks I have really struggled with the final miles of my long run. At this point I think it would be smart to take a step back.

Fortunately I have two things going for me. First, the next two weeks in my training plan are already a step down from this week. Second, I have 10 weeks left in my training plan, but 13 weeks until my marathon. If you recall, I decided to start my training plan a bit early in an attempt to get ready for the Charlevoix Half Marathon and to build in a cushion in case of injury/illness. I'll spend some time this week making adjustments to my training plan.