Week 9 Training Update

Last week was a "recovery week" and it definitely felt like it. My long run was 12 miles and somehow that brought me great relief. And I got to have three days off. My total mileage was still 31 miles but I felt fresh as a daisy approaching this week. It's crazy what taking a couple of miles off and one extra day will do to your body!

But this week was no joke. The prescribed mileage for the week was 35-40 miles with a 16 miler on Saturday.

Starting on Monday, I had a 7 miler to complete. But half-way through I felt something was not quite right with my body. I got freaked out and quit around 4 miles. Went to see the doctor on Wednesday and she told me everything was fine and so I got right back to it. It's crazy how you have so many hours alone thinking about how you are feeling that as soon as you don't feel awesome, you want to know WHY.

So I got right back to training and managed to get my miles in. My legs are feeling that I ran 4 days straight and so my training pace went down a bit but I got the overall mileage I wanted.

On Saturday, I joined up with the running ladies and we knocked out 12 miles together and I tacked on additional four so I could get my 16. It is so fun to run with someone for a majority of the long run. I am really going to miss them for the last month of my training. We have the Asheville Citizen-Times 1/2 Marathon in two weeks, so I think they will all stop running once they hit the finish line. :(

I will still have my 20-miler to accomplish! 

Saturday long run was pretty great. A little off my pace for training but that is what you get when running in a large group. I was only off by a minute or two so I am not going to stress. 

And it was another record breaking week! Woo HOO! 

Gear of the Week:

Smart Wool Running Socks: The temperature dropped substantially last night and it was 51 degrees to start running this morning. I would have run in these socks if it had be 65. They wick sweat incredibly and no blisters. I really love them. Wish I had more than one pair! Into the wash they will go. 

Gatorade Carb Blocks: I got these in my StrideBox a few weeks ago and they really hit the spot around mile 10/11. It is just enough sugar and carbs to give you a boost when you need it but not too much to overload your stomach and give you the trots. 

Lululemon Fast Cat Running Skirt: I have a super fun story to share with you in my next post, but I LOVE my Lululemon running skirt. It is a peeing mom's best friend when you run. No one can see and you look super cute. It also wicks away any moisture really fast. LOVE it. So glad I have it. I'm hoping for warm weather during the marathon so I can wear it. 

Week 5 Training Update

As I wrote earlier this week, the training got really tough this week. 

Pretty sure it was a combination of being on vacation at the beach + the extreme temperature shift from North Carolina to Florida + the realization that I have a little under three more months of this to go. It'll wear you down! AND the mileage was pretty tough this week. 

The training calendar looked like this:

 That's a 36 mile week.

It was no joke to get organized while on vacation, get up early cause it was hot and then manage this mileage. I was tired. Cranky and irrational. I'm glad for those around me being merciful.

 Overall you can see the leap in the mileage over the last month has just been incremental but this week was pretty big from last week to now.

And even in the last three months! That is pretty amazing for me to see. I thought I was running a lot in Colorado. Peanuts compared to now. 

 But it has been worth it! Check it out! I hit some personal bests this week!
Distance, Duration, Calories Burned, Elevation Climb for the workout and the week! That is really fun to see the results getting cranked out like that.

Saturdays run was a special one because I got to join back up with the running group. The ladies were only running 9 miles. But Amy Noll continued on with me for the additional 4 that I needed to complete my 13 miles for the training week. But within the training group was my good friend Natalie Knauer and my old roommate and teammate from soccer at South Carolina, Linda Greene. Linda was visiting from Dublin and is running a marathon there in October. She joined us for a couple of miles before driving back to catch her plane to Dublin. I was thrilled to run next to her again as we did 15 years ago on the pitch. It filled my heart up big time. 

I was battling this week with a bad blister on my toe, dehydration issues and exhaustion. But I made it! Exceeded my expectations really. 

Gear of the week:

ING NYC Virtual Trainer: This is a program put out by the marathon. It emails you the night before and tells you what the workout for the day is going to be. Then you log in and tell them how it went. 

I love this! 

I ran on Thursday and it gave me a target pace to slow me down. I ran faster than the target and it told me "You ran too fast. We know you think this is a good idea, but you have a long way to go until race day. Try to keep to pace and you will have plenty of energy."

I really appreciated that perspective and feedback. It is hard to adjust from running 10k's to marathon pace and you have to learn to go slower to build stamina.

Brooks Pure Cadence: My sweet shoes have had it. I got a blister this week. My arches started hurting during the long run. I think they've had it. I thought they were fairly new. But when I bought them the salesmen said they would last around 200 miles. I looked on runkeeper and I have far exceeded that mark. Time for new shoes. 

Here we go! Onto Week 6!

Here's the link to donate: 

http://inheritanceofhope.org/leslie-sloan-2232

Week 4 Training Update

I've made it a month! I can't believe I am one month down. Which means that the NYC Marathon is less than three months away!!! 

I had another absolutely huge week in fundraising: $1,135 in one week! That is crazy! I'm only $1675 away from my fundraising goal. It is so close I can taste it! 

And all of my supporters came in handy this week because--shooey--this week was when the real training kicked in!

Monday: 7 miles

Tuesday: 8 miles

Wednesday: 4 miles

Matt was out of town so my usual before work running schedule was not going to work so I had to run later in the heat of the day. My body did not like that. 

But it prepared for me my 12 mile run on Saturday in Florida. We are on vacation and it is 90 degrees at 8am. I got up to run at my usual 7am time, but I almost had heat stroke during this run. No joke. It was so hot. I had water but it was not getting it done. Asheville is about 67 degrees at 7am this was a 30 degree difference and it made me ill.

But it was pretty! And I got it done. In not terrible time. This was a tough week. Upping the mileage. 

And I hit some more personal bests!

Little recovery and heat. But I ran 31 miles for the week which was a solid increase over last week and I feel great about that.

This upcoming week has some tough days since we are still in Florida and we are going to be traveling so we will so how it goes! 

Gear of the week:

Peanut butter

Almonds

Gatorade

I'm working hard to recover, so I need all the help I can get right now! 

Week 3: Killing It.

This was a  serious record setting week. I raised $1000 this week to push my fundraising efforts over $2000! I've dropped my average running pace down and lifted my mileage! I don't know why it shows my average pace being fastest this week and it's not highlighted. Irks me a little cause I worked really hard for that 8:30 average. But I finished off July having run 85.3 miles. I can't wait to see the next few months stack up!

Inheritance of Hope also gave us access to the official New York Road Runners Training Plan for the NYC Marathon and so I've switched my training schedule which threw me off a little this week. Instead of running 30 miles, I was supposed to run 28 again. I met in the middle and ran 28.7. So just a little bit more than last week, but not much.

There were some hard things this week, I am back to work to trying to squeeze in workouts at the end of the day or at the very beginning of the day (6am) is a good wake-up call on how hard this is going to get when the kids are back in school.

I just completed the long run this morning, but my running group is all training for a 1/2 marathon while I am training for the full. So I had to tack on an extra three miles. Around the 9 mile mark, I was feeling super low on sugars. Thankfully I had packed a goo and choked down a double espresso goo shot. Tasted nasty initially but I felt so amazing about 30 seconds later. It made me a believer! I won't try a long run without one again.

Gear of the Week:

Nuun Electrolyte Tablets--I had a rough hot August day run on Thursday. I needed to rehydrate and these guys got me back up to speed quickly. I wouldn't have had any except for...

Stridebox: Monthly subscription service that sends you fun running samples. Running has so few "accessories" but electrolyte tablets, goo, fun socks, handheld waterbottles. For $15/month they send you a box full of that stuff and you get to try them out. I love it because it means I have new things to try out all the time. And I don't have to go to a running store on the Friday before my long run days. 

Lululemon: I love my Lululemon gear. I can't really even get into it. But it just works. It fits. It doesn't stink. It wicks away moisture so quickly its ridiculous. It is super expensive. Like the most expensive clothing in my whole closet. No joke. But...I wear my running pants more than any dress ever so maybe it's worth it? I say yes. I only have two pair of pants, so I just alternate. But if you get a chance, I would buy some as soon as you can save your pennies. It'll change your life. 

Is that an endorsement or what? 

Now this is big time. I have $400 to go until I am half-way in my fundraising efforts. 

Who is going to be on my first-half team? 

I need 10 people to give $50 to put me over 1/2 way. 

Are you one of the 10? 

Let's get this done! 

Click here to donate and be on the 

"First Half Team"! 

Week 2: Training Update

I just finished the 2nd week of the training for the NYC Marathon and I am actually seeing the results of training!

It feels gooooood.

I saw some improvements in pace and in just little things, like I had to sprint up a hill to grab something from the car one day and it was absolutely no problem. Rejoice!

I ran two times inside on the treadmills at the Y.
It has been raining a TON here and I just got exhausted from trying to dry my shoes out, and in general just deal with muddy, wet conditions. I just ran on the treadmill, watched the news and listened to my "new playlist" courteous of my donors for the marathon! It was glorious. And boring. Not recommended but easy.

I hit 28 miles this week. It wasn't a huge leap in mileage over last week but about 5 miles more and than has added up the calories burned and time spent running! I'm doing a LOT more laundry this week.

I hit some personal "Bests" this week on the runkeeper app. Obviously I wasn't using this application when I was training for the half-marathons this Spring. But it is fun to see the improvements with this training alone and not over the last year.

I ran with the group of women training for the Asheville 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning. It started spinkling as we headed out of the parking lot. As we finished up mile 2 it was an all out thunderstorm downpour. I have not "played in the rain" like that since my soccer days. Needless to say, shoes are in front of the dehumidifier today. 

The most important gear items I found this week are:

REAL running socks, not Target running socks

Moji Massage stick for sore calves, quads and IT Band

Handheld miniwater bottle for the long runs on hot days

Jelly Belly Sport Beans gave me some extra kick on my long run at the end. Tasty and easy to eat!

The craziest thing I 've done all week is stand ALL day long at Bele Chere (a free street festival here in Asheville) and sell parking spaces at our downtown YMCA in an attempt to raise money for Inheritance of Hope. My legs are shot from doing that--NOT RUNNING! I'm taking a rest day today from running and getting after it tomorrow. 

This upcoming week is slated to be a 30-mile week. 2 miles upward! 97 days till race day. 

Click here to donate to Inheritance of Hope!