Week Two ~ Marathon Training and the Uberthons Chocolatathon!

Easy run day through Dallas City Park!

Week two of marathon training was a tough week! I wanted to up my track work and add two miles onto my tempo run. I also needed to get a 16 miler in and was going to enjoy the Chocolatathon 10k on Saturday.  My problem?  The 10k was the same day as my long run!  I had to do some adjusting to my week to make it work.



Monday ~ easy day
Tuesday ~ track work 4x800s/HIIT workout
Wednesday ~ 8 miles of tempo work
Thursday ~ easy day/HIIT workout
Friday ~ 16 miles after work 
Saturday ~ 10k
Sunday ~ off

Not gonna lie, by the end of the week I was TIRED! Working full time, and trying to get all my workouts in is a struggle. It's easy to come up with excuses not to run!  I don't do that now that marathon training has started.  After work, I dress down and get the workout done!  It's all a mindset!  It's still difficult, but I am trying not to allow the excuses right now! 

Track work and tempo work was harder this week, but manageable. Thursday it was oddly 61 degrees after work. It made for such an enjoyable easy run through the Dallas City Park. 

Long run (16 miles) through Salem! 

Friday was both good and bad.  I got off work and 2:00 and headed to Salem to run with a friend starting and ending in South Salem (HILLS). The sun was out and I was really excited to get going! The first 13 miles were very enjoyable.  We cruised along the roads of Salem and the miles were passing quickly! About mile 13 we hit South Salem again.  My watch went dead and all of a sudden my stomach wasn't feeling the best.  With only about 1.5 miles to go I had to stop and use a bathroom.  Ugh, the struggle to keep going was real!!!!  I was seriously bummed that such a good long run was ending rotten!  I felt better after stopping and made it back to Kristi's house just fine, but I really slowed down on those hills.  I was so tired!  I was thankful all my hard workouts were done so I could go just enjoy the 10k Saturday no matter the outcome.

Saturday morning I woke up very tired!  The lag of the 16 miler the night before was still there, but I was excited to go meet up with friends for a fun race! I've never ran long the night before a race so I knew this would be interesting! 

Fun morning with Uberthons! Photo Credit:Brian Hartwig Scott

The weather was great for running.  It was a nice 39 degrees at the start of the race.  Cold for standing, but great for running!  No wind and no rain.  I took off with the second group of runners.  The path was mostly paved and mostly wide enough to pass with no issues at the beginning.  There was water on the course, but I brought a small handheld and didn't stop at any water stations.  I felt great the first couple miles.  I had a good pace going the first two miles.  I was even thinking, no way...a PR???  Maybe? I came to the hill and that slowed me down slightly but I was still holding on!  The first 5k was done and I came back around to the start.  I had to do the loop again!  Running back by the start/finish line made me want to stop so badly (this always happens to me) but I knew I needed to finish the 10k!  I didn't sign up for the 5k today!  The lag of the 16 miles the night before definitely was taking a tole on my body.  I slowed down a bit and then a bit more on the second time around that hill loop.  A fellow Uberthons Ambassador Gregg came up behind me and ran with me for a half mile or so before passing me. He was very encouraging to me and others going by in the other direction for the out and back parts.  It really kept me going.  This is one of the things I love about running.  Seeing runners encourage each other!  There is a definite beauty to it! 

I came back around to the park area.  This time around many 5k people who were now done, were walking around.  This did make running difficult.  Many didn't move out of the runners way, so a lot of weaving had to be done.  As I headed out for the final out and back there were lots more people.  There were 5k walkers coming in and some gathering going on at the other end of the park. All of these people were also using parts of the running path.  I almost ran into a couple people and it wasn't because I was running fast!  It was simply crowded in some areas, going both ways! 

I was excited to see the finish line.  I totally didn't PR on these tired legs, but I ran hard.  It was an excellent training week ending with such a fun race with friends.  

I am very excited to get a rest day tomorrow! 

4th female finisher, 2nd in age group 50:28

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Marathon Training
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