50 Miler Training – Week 3

You probably didn’t notice but I skipped week 2 because I ran about 18 miles due to wisdom teeth.  Anyways, it was depressing but I must got on. Now it’s week three and I am on.

Monday –  11.3 Miles (5 & 6.3) + Jillian Michaels 25 minutes
I woke up Monday determined to start the week of strong.  I wasn’t going to let this whole wisdom teeth surgery get in the way.  I woke up half an hour early and started Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zone video.  I did about 25 minutes of squats, lunges, shoulder presses, triceps and other classic Jillian moves.  I tried to return to running.  I turned off the incline and kept it slower than I would.  I was still concerned for the stitches I had left and didn’t want to do anything to ruin my jaw.  After 45 minutes and 5 flat TM miles I gave in.  When I got home I felt restless.  All those days of no running and I was suffering with just 5 miles.  I decided to try a short run at home and did 6.3 miles in 51 miles.  8:05 pace vs. my usual 8:00 pace (on the homemill). I felt much better but I started to feel delayed muscle soreness setting in from Jillian Michaels.

Tuesday – 6.5 Miles 57 Minutes 2 Incline
My run felt absolutely miserable and tough even at a lower incline than usual.  My legs were screaming from the squats and lunges.  However, I was determined to finish it panting, sweating and dying.

Wednesday – No Running  but 5.4 Elliptical Miles instead + Jillian Michaels 45 Minutes
I got on and off the treadmill 3 times in failure.  Once to start just to stop in 30 seconds.  Got a drink of water and tried again for the second time.  Lasted another 30 seconds.  I gave up went to the cross ramp elliptical for 33 minutes 5.4 miles in 4 minutes intervals.  13 Incline with 7 resistance and 10 Incline and 10 resistance.  I usually skip the elliptical as I find it pretty lame.  If it had the arms part I would probably use it more often but otherwise it’s just more cardio for my legs and I think they get enough of that from running.  My muscles felt less sore after the elliptical and I decided maybe I could do a mile or 2 slowly on the treadmill.  Got on it, started, ran 45 seconds on my third attempt and decided it was time to hit the showers.

When I got home, I felt disappointed in my workout but I knew running was not happening today.  Instead I decided that the only way to battle Jillian Michaels muscle soreness is to keep doing it until I stop being so out of shape that I can’t walk for a week from a few squats.  This time with no hurry I made it through the whole video.  I didn’t keep up with her reps.  I took my time instead and did less reps for each move.  Two years ago when I was boxing, I used to be able to do this video with ease and I was up to 5 & 8 pound dumbbells.  Now I’m on the 3s & 5s.  I may be leaner looking from running, but any muscle strength I had is long gone and I’m determined to gain it back.

 Thursday – 15 miles total – 7 Miles 59 minutes Incline 2 & 8 miles 64 minutes on the homemill
Okay, I was going to bear and face the treadmill.  On incline 2 on the work TM, I usually run between 7.3 and 7.5MPH.  However, I knew with how my run was going this week that was not happening.  I needed to take it down a notch.  My body in combination with my new strength workouts this week were not ready to handle my usual running routine.  I started at 7.1 MPH ran two minutes, moved to 7.3 MPH ran 2 minutes, moved to 7.5 MPH ran two minutes and back to 7.1 MPH.  That seems to work pretty well for the first 3-4 miles.  For the other 3 miles I was mostly running 7.3 and 7.1 in random breaks.  It may be slower than I woke like but the miles were getting done and I wasn’t feeling miserable.  My week was turning around and I rejoiced!  Average pace was about 8:25 (7.2MPH).

The second part of my run in the evening which much better! I ran on my home treadmill –  8 miles at 8 minute pace and I felt like i was back in action.

Friday – 3.35 miles 29 minutes Incline 3
I kept this run short.  I usually have Friday as my rest day but I felt weird doing that since i skipped running on Wednesday.  I wasn’t going to run but because I sit all day at work I needed to shake out the muscles.  I couldn’t get myself motivated enough to run during lunch so I ran after work.  Kept it an okay pace with walk break intervals but raised the incline a bit.  8:39 pace.  Kept it short as possible to save my legs for the weekend!

Saturday – 10.5 Trail Miles 4.6 Road miles 
I know I say this pretty often but really nothing more humbling that switching from roads to trails.  I know that other people probably have less difficulty adjusting but I am not a natural hiker.  Hiking downhill scares me and petrifies me.  You can only imagine what running downhill does to me.  I feel like my ankles and hips are sliding and bending all over the place.  Trail running really is a full body workout and I love it but my limits and speed is lower than the road. I recently joined TARC – Trail Animals Running Club which has commitments and no dues!  They’re awesome and usually a few of the locals get a Saturday run together.  It’s early around 8:30 and I know some people are early risers but waking up at 7AM on Saturday is cruel, it’s hard, but I do it anyways because the reward of running a few trail miles with this group is worth it to me.  Usually the run is at the fells about 2-3 miles from my house and I get to squeeze in a few road miles to help my self-esteem.

This week the group met up for a run at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield about a 30 minute drive from my house.  Luckily some awesome fellow animals gave me a ride there and a ride back.  We did one 6.2 mile loop  and then another half loop with an extra mile of getting lost.  I don’t know if it’s the snow or the trail, but I honestly barely saw any trail markers.  Luckily the other people knew the course.  10.5 trail miles in 2 hours.  A larger portion of the trail had about an inch of snow and some (but not many places) had a little bit of ice.  I learned that running on snow is actually not too hard if you can stay dry, running on ice, best avoided by looking for a snowy side instead.  Compared to the fells the trail seemed easier, flatter, and a lot less rocks.  I’m hoping to get Tony out there one day when the snow melts.  It looked really lovely.  I bought a snickers marathon bar with me that I realized I couldn’t eat because it got too hard for my healing teeth in the weather.  Bummer!

After getting back to hood, I finished the day with a large dose of a few spoonfuls of sunflower butter and 4.5 miles around the old concrete jungle of my home.  It was sunny and 45 degrees with 20 mile winds.  I don’t know if it was the trails, or the wind but by the time I was done, I was hungry and tired and ready to rest!

Sunday – 22.2 Miles – 20.1 road and 1.9 Treadmill
From the moment I woke up, got dressed and went out the door, my legs felt like they couldn’t run but run I must.  Every mile felt like it was my 20th mile and yet somehow I kept going.  I was tempted to stop by my house at mile 13 and then again at mile 16 but I knew if I stopped at home, finishing to 20 would have been nearly impossible.  I also had to stop back by the house after 1.5 miles to shed a layer.  Once I only had a tee and a windbreaker I felt better but my legs still felt dead.  It must have been the 15 miler from yesterday because everything felt heavy.  Even though things felt difficult I managed to keep running, and as bad as it was, it never got worse.  I kept a consistent 8:40 or so pace while I ran.  Granted it’s not the 8 minute miles I usually target but a 20 miler is a 20 miler.  It also gave me hope for my 50 miler.  Even though my legs will be tired, and I will feel dead of any adrenaline  I know that my body and legs are capable of functioning on automatic.  Today’s run proved it.  I didn’t feel physically or mentally there for the run but it got done!

Week 3 miles – 73

Week 3 feeling – Exhausted – Taking Monday off!