Nike Women’s Marathon 2009 – My Training Plan

Oh Lord. Every time I look at this blog, I sort of sigh. It’s always so long between posts. But, since blogging is part of my real job at SeenON.com, it’s hard to muster much enthusiasm. However, as my training for the Nike Women’s Marathon starts to pick up, I’m sure there will be more injured toes, more sore muscles, and more training triumphs to blog about.

So what sort of training plan am I using? Last year for the Chicago Marathon, I more or less took plans from a bunch of different sources and made up my own. This year, though, I am going to more or less loosely follow the Nike Intermediate training plan, located here, and the Lasso intermediate training plan I just found in Runner’s World. Lasso’s is less running overall, which makes me happy, but I like the consistency of the Nike plan.

Regardless, I am going to try to do a few things differently this year. First of all, I am going to try to strength train more often in the first half of the training. This will include some upper body strength training (pushups and the like) as well as some hard hill runs in the middle of the week. I am going to leave the speedwork to the second half of my training plan so I don’t get bored.

In general, I’ll be logging about 25-40 miles a week, which is only slightly more than my normal current training. (Usually 3-4 runs during the week from 4-6 miles, and another 9-12 miler on the weekend.) The main difference is going to be the strength (a challenge when I get super-tuckered in the middle of marathon training) and the hill work. (Unlike Chicago, this marathon will be hilly!) I will be doing my long runs with the Nike group at Marina Green like last year, and keep up my post-run dips in the SF Bay. I’m not sure if I’ll set a goal time this year or not – probably will decide when I get some longer-than-14-mile runs under my belt.

I haven’t run longer than 13 for many months (probably since Chicago) so I am looking forward to the challenge. But first, a fabulous trip to Thailand and Cambodia, where I will probably not run all that much.

 

Lots of running and moving, no updates

Hello out there. I know it’s been a super-long time since I posted, but things have been a little crazy. Yeah, moving – that was hectic. Then there was the vacation (from all things digital) which wasn’t hectic, but decidedly blog-free. Then there was the training. And more training. And still more training. Since my last post, I’ve racked up an 18-miler, 20-miler, and 17-miler. One more 20-miler and I will be set for the marathon – less than a month away! I’ve had to be a little off-schedule because I was helping plan my coworker’s wedding, but other than that, should be on track.

The 20-miler was an extreme challenge since it was a little hot in San Francisco that day. But otherwise, the runs have gone well and now I am just trying not to psyche myself out too much thinking about what I should and should not be doing. It’s amazing how cleansing a long run is – even though it’s exhausting, I find it relaxing, too. Especially the dips in the Bay afterward – I didn’t do that yesterday after the 17 miles since I was on my own, and I am really hurting today!

I am also debating whether to do a two or three-week taper for the marathon. If I do three weeks, my last long run will be next week on Saturday. If two weeks, it would be the next week. If I want to go with the group I train with, it would have to be two weeks from now, since the marathon they are training for is a week after Chicago (Nike Women’s Marathon here in San Francisco.) So I am not sure what to do….

 

Another 14 miles and endless unpacking

Short and sweet since I am writing this from my iPhone… Went for a great 14 miler again yesterday then had a crazy move. Went pretty smoothly though and we are trying to organize. Feel like I should have run longer but no time. Hope all those stairs make up for it!

 

Longest run ever, plus a dip in the Bay

This weekend, I started running with the Nike Run Club SF as I hit longer runs leading up to the Chicago Marathon. We started at Little Marina Green at 8 am on Saturday morning to hit 14 miles – my longest run EVER! It was actually a great run – ran at about 9:30 pace – slower but easier on the joints. Nike’s training group is great because they provide a pacer and several aid stations – no lugging water on the run. We ran around Presidio, The Richmond, and then looped around Land’s End.

After the run, everyone was talking about taking a dip in the San Francisco Bay … and they were serious! Everyone swears by standing waist-deep in the 55 degree water for 15-20 minutes after these long runs to help with swelling, recovery, etc. I’m game, so I hopped in. It was frigid but I actually do feel better than after last weekend’s Half Marathon.

In other news, we packed some more for our move next Saturday, so the house is officially a wreck. I’ll be glad when it’s over with!

 

Great half marathon finish – and a tetanus shot to boot!

The good news is I finished the San Francisco Half Marathon yesterday in a good time – 1:55:28, with the last 3 miles or so pretty hilly. (That was 304rd place in about 3697 women who ran the first half of the half marathon, if you are keeping tabs). Getting up at 4 am wasn’t so fun, but the race seemed pretty easy and even the hills weren’t too bad. I could have pushed and ran faster, but I viewed it as more of a training run on my path to the Chicago Marathon. I was definitely feeling better than last year – which was my first race ever (and which i finished a full 15 minutes slower than this year.)

The bad news? I got a puncture wound. From a rusty barbed-wire fence. A DIRTY, rusty barbed-wire fence. Which I scaled – after just completing a half marathon.

Yeah, doesn’t look so bad here, but let me tell you, it smarts. The reason? Pure impatience. Plus I was in cahoots with fellow Northwestern grad and running instructor Mike, who ripped his pants and shirt on the very same fence. Let me explain…. We carpooled to the race in the wee hours (he parked his car in Golden Gate Park, I met him and drove us to the start in Embarcadero) so we could grab his car at the end of the race and drive me back to mine.

Good plan, right? I finished, he cheered, I got my little mylar blanket, and we started hiking back to where the car was parked. Problem is, Golden Gate Park is huge… and there was the rest of the marathon going on in it, shutting down most arteries out of the park. We started off on a small path through a thick wood, thinking we would get there quickly through this “short cut.” We even scrambled up a deep hill with no path. But 30 minutes of wandering around only got us deep in the woods. We could hear the road we wanted to be on… and headed toward it. But we were thwarted by a very tall, very ominous fence with rusty barbed wire at the top. Unscalable. Or so we thought.

Another 10 minutes and we can SEE the place we parked just on the other side of the fence. But still, there’s no way to get over… until, ah ha! We see the fence is shorter in one place, and has a brilliant metal bar that makes a perfect stepladder to vault over the top. AND the barbed wire is sort of mashed down, meaning we can avoid it when we hurl over. Success!

Thinking quick, I use my mylar blanked to “pad” my hands from the barbed wire. Mike says something macho like, “So what if you just ran a half marathon. You are in bootcamp. You went to NOTRE DAME (he hates the school). You should be able to do this … what are you, a pussy?”

Nuff said. I jumped over, but quickly realized the drop on the other side was a lot steeper that where I stepped off. Oh, and my pants were caught on the top. My pants! My perfect, butt-flattering, black running pants! NO NO NO!

I reach to save my pants, and puncture my wrist as I slip down the other side. Meantime, Mike is stuck to the top of the fence by his pants, shirt, and shoe. He unhinges and rips everything on the way down. Sigh. In a true sign of gentlemanly behavior, though, he does give me his torn shirt (outer layer) to wrap around my dirty, bleeding wrist. We hobble to the car, then I think about it. Rusty fence, dirty trees over fence, puncture wound… and me, no tetanus since Nature Camp counseling back in undergrad. And, I’m 29. OK, 30 but who’s counting?

Anyway, hydrogen peroxide and a bacon-printed bandaid healed the wound (all out of the Jesus band-aids… sigh), but I did have to make a quick trip to the hospital this am for a shot. After all, what’s a half marathon without a battle wound?

And so, my friends, I run another day without the fear of lockjaw.

xoxo, Heather