Days 123 - 127

Wow, I am really failing at this blogging thing, huh.

Ok... Wednesday I took advantage of my double workout Tuesday and kind of slacked off a little. I did practice my belly dancing and did some arm & ab exercises for about 30 minutes, so it wasn't a total loss.

Thursday was a better run than Tuesday was. 7 miles again, but Chris and I were both less sore and tired, so we finished in about 1:13... definitely much better.

Friday was a rest day! Saturday I went to hot yoga, but not Bikram. Decatur Yoga & Pilates offers a Karma class on Saturday afternoons, so you just pay what you can and it allows some newer teachers to get in a little extra practice. The class was really small yesterday, only 5 of us. And the instructor was super-zen. But it was good to get back into some real yoga after over two weeks without any. Definitely need to get more diligent about practicing again. I really believe it helps with the soreness from running.

Today was 16 miles, and it was actually a great run. Our mile times stayed under 12:00 the entire time, except for 3 short walking breaks we took so we could hydrate properly. Supposedly the run/walk thing is actually good; there are several trainers who recommend some sort of combination. During races, Chris and I have settled on a regimen in which we walk through the drink stations every 2 - 3 miles, and that seems to work pretty well. It allows us to actually consume the water/gatorade instead of pouring it down our shirts, and gives our heart rate a chance to decline for a few minutes. Our 3 walking breaks today were at about a 15:15 pace for 2 - 3 minutes each. We just need to keep our overall pace under 16:00 to ensure we finish the marathon (otherwise they'll pick us up in the truck and we won't get to finish because we're too slow. I'm not too worried about it). We talked and laughed and had smiles on our faces nearly the whole way, and didn't really start hurting until about the last 2, and even then we both agreed that it was mostly just our legs. We even ran the two big hills at the end of the route! From the waist up, I could have run several more miles when we finished, but my legs would definitely have revolted. Our total time was 2:57:47. That's basically 3 minutes better than our 15 mile run! Hurray!

I think 15 miles was just the next wall in distance training after 10. It's just one of those points where your body gives you a big middle finger and pulls out all the stops trying to get you to quit. How you handle those walls really affects how the rest of your training will go. Because you HAVE to listen to what your body is telling you to some extent, or injuries are guaranteed. But running is also a lot of mind over matter. So last week I let myself be slow and walk up those last two big hills, because my body was right: we were covering a significantly longer distance than the 13.1 it's getting used to running, I hadn't eaten, slept, hydrated, or trained properly the entire week before, and it was hot. But forcing myself to make up the distance by running the flat stretch at the end and dragging myself out Tuesday despite how sore and tired I still felt was my way of telling my body that I am still in charge, and darn it, we've worked this hard, we are going to finish this. I think that mental attitude, combined with carbo-loading, lots of water, and a good night's sleep yesterday really facilitated today's excellent run. I can barely walk up the stairs, but I feel confident and optimistic and just generally great that we conquered that next wall and are still fighting. Definitely feeling excited for the marathon...