Marathon training update - End of week 1

Yesterday was the end of my first week of MT2 (marathon training 2). It went pretty well over all. I was supposed to run 3-5-3-5-8, according to the training plan that I picked. But I only managed to run 3-5-3-8. 19 miles overall, but at least I got in 4 days. I missed my 5 miler because on Saturday, when I was supposed to run it, I taught yoga in the am, then we had to leave to go drop of Corbin to his dads by noon. We had planned to go camping, so since his dad needed him by noon we ended up just leaving then. So frankly, I just couldn't find the time to do it. We did 3 miles into our camping spot, with 25lbs each on our backs, and it was pretty rough terrain, so I considered that pretty good cross training. Then we did 3 miles back on Sunday, late morning. 

Zaleski Backpacking trail - Our campsite. We were on top of a hill and it was nothing but beauty all around us (do you see abe walking off to be manly and get us firewood? Too bad it was all wet!) There was not a sole around us for miles and miles. The only thing you could hear was quite a lot of coyotes, which are creepy when there is no other noise.

I learned the my favorite thing about sitting in the silence, in the deep woods of nature with not a sole around, is the fact that you can hear the wind come in. From miles away, it slowly gets louder and louder, starting to blow the trees and the leaves near you, until you can finally feel its presence on your face. Its almost a like a person, walking up to you from a distance, and gently touching your cheek.

 The sunset view from our spot The other sunset view from our spot.

We drove in from camping and got home around 1:30. I knew that if I didn't walk in my home, change my shoes and immediately start my run, that I probably wouldn't do it at all. It didn't really matter how gross I felt, or the fact that I was still wearing the same clothes that I had slept in and hiked in cause I was about to get even grosser in them.

I hit the streets for my 8 mile run. The first time I had ran that far in 7 weeks. 7 weeks ago I ran the half (on my own) during the columbus marathon. Then I decided to take the next few months to work on conditioning to avoid the same knee problems during my next training, so I made my pre-new years resolution to run no more the 5 miles, and try to do it 5 days a week.

So I was nervous to hit the road for 8 miles, unsure if I could do it, but my legs felt very strong. I think the 3 days of not running before always refreshes my legs. The weather was ok. The rain of Dec 2011 started yesterday (we are in a flood advisory for the next 3 days) and I got out right at the beginning of it. Despite that it was very grey, and there was a substantial wind from the south, the temperature was about 50, so it was really great for running. Around 4 1/2 miles in there was a soft downpour of really cold rain that lasted about 10 minutes. I think it was a warning. It happened on and off for the rest of my run, and thankfully I always run with my hoodie, so I was able to cover up my head. It never got heavy enough to cause any problems (like last week when it caused my earbuds to shock me!), and I was home before it came down hard. 9:15 min/mile average)

I have a 3 mile run today, then I'm thinking a bath will be in order for tonight, plus some yoga and foam rolling. It's like the trifecta of awesomeness when you have sore legs.