Week Six Day Two:
Hallelujah! Noooo hangover! I wouldn't go as far to say that I didn't need some extra Zzzs, but once I got that I was up and about as usual. More errands to start my day...tons actually. I was walking about town for three hours! If I walked anymore I would have had to skip training! Haha! I figured as I was out again I would eat at that vegetarian restaurant again. I hardly eat out so this was a treat! Twice in one week!!
Curried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with steamed spinach and a cucumber/tomato/red onion salad drizzled in a rice wine or something with sesame seeds. Mmm
Once again, too much beans but I almost finished it. Not quite though.
After trekking about all morning I figured I'd need a quick snooze before I decided to work out. Today was upper body and core training. Once I had napped I started with my stretch and warm up on the stationary bike and then did a 'fast-as-you-can' cross fit session that looks short when written down but murderous to do. It was appropriately named 'Suicidal Sweat Workout' by the trainer who wrote it up. It has draining reps of 2 jump squats straight into a jump knee tuck straight into three push ups and on the third, jumping back into the squat to do the sequence again...fifteen times...yeah. Brutal but rewarding. After that I did a different upper body strength workout this week. I used one of Gilad's training sessions that you use slightly lighter weights for but more reps with no rest. I forgot how hard it was!
Definitely a successful cross train day though. I felt the burn!
Week Six Day Three:
Tempo tempo tempo! (ugh! hahaha!)
Another tempo run...and it was to be even harder this week. If you remember, last week's run was a mile warm up and then run all out for 25 minutes. It was a struggle last week and I wondered how I would be able to manage this weeks increase to 30 minutes. It was also ridiculously hot and I was not too keen about running out in such conditions. I decided that today's tempo run would be done on the treadmill...which would actually make it harder because I couldn't slack in pace. I have been doing some reading about tempo runs and they were saying that most people either run their tempo sessions too fast or too slow and its important to know your pace. A 'comfortably hard' pace was the term used again. I decided to revisit my training calculations on runnersworld.com and from how I ran my last tempo, my pace should be about 7.2 mph. Perfect! All I had to do was lock that into the treadmill and try to hold out!
Breakfast was a new regular and favourite of mine. Very simple but sooo delicious and filling.
One medium apple chopped up and mixed into vanilla yogurt. That's it! But soooo good!
Apart from being new to treadmill tempo runs...I also had something else new on my plate.
My arches have been killing me since my long run and sometimes it hurts to walk without shoes. So I realized that my old running shoes had to go. I needed a slightly bigger size to protect my toes and ones with better arch support. That was one of the things that I had to do in town the day before and I am still swooning over my purchase.
OOoooh yeah! I got Shox! Hahaha
Nike Shox.
They are so much more comfortable on my arches and I got a slightly bigger size so it was perfect. AND they were on sale! WOOO!
*ahem*
Anyways, I laced up those bad boys and got to work on the treadmill. The movie of choice was The Lion King and Hans Zimmer's masterpiece of a soundtrack was ideal for running. Go Simba go!
The mile warm up seemed to take foreeeeever again. But I didn't mind as much because I knew what I had to do once it was over. 30 minutes at 7.2 mph. Before I started training for this marathon the fastest I ever went on the treadmill was 6mph and for 30 seconds!! Hahaha!
It was the perfect pace...not terribly difficult at first but as the time went on it became harder and harder. I swear I hit a wall after 10 minutes. Ten minutes into all of my sessions that require speed, I want to stop running about 10-15 minutes in. Its always in that time that I feel like I can't do it...that I can't finish...that I should shorten the workout...things like that. I have to remind myself that I have to push through. Its hard and I sometimes doubt that I can...but once I decide to try is when I make it through. 20 minutes in, I was tired but I wasn't letting myself off the hook. I knew I had it in me...I just had to think of something else and let myself do it. I zoned into the movie as best as I could and tried not to look at the time on the treadmill when I'd adjust the incline to simulate different hills throughout. I didn't make the incline particularly drastic at any point but I would run at inclines for over a minute at a time or gradually increase it by .5 every 30 seconds...then gradually decrease. I just played about with the numbers and tried to work with my energy levels but still present an increased challenge along with holding the pace. The last 5 minutes weren't as terrible as I would have expected. I was counting every second believe me...but I knew I could do it this time. It was hard but worth it!
Lunch was my usual veggie burger/sweet potato combo before rushing out to work.
Week Six Day Four!
That's today! Yay I caught up!
Today I did lower body strength work. I started with 30 minutes on the bike alternating between moderate and vigorous effort pedaling. After that a quick lower body strength routine of squats, one-legged deadlifts, one-legged, elevated jump lunges, backward lunges, step ups and such with some push ups, crunches, lateral rows and mountain climbers thrown in. Quick and dirty. Then off to work which is where I am posting from!
More to come as the weeks roll on! Less than a month away from the race!
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