It’s not long now….

Not long until a few things (Hudson Mohawk marathon, Antarctica, Disney Dopey) but the most disturbing is the likely length of time until this guy (yes, he’s 7) is beating me in races. I give it only 2 years and desire to do so and it will happen. He already has speed I legitimately cannot touch and a very natural endurance talent. He has been going on 2 to 4 miles jogs whenever he gets the whim…. Between 1.5 hour travel

Soccer practices. 

⛔️ This is Michael… runners beware ⚠️. I’m holding him back for now in fear of burnout and development issues. It won’t be long. This is him jumping to grab a leaf while on a 2 min sprint race against me. He was laugh the whole time… I was trying not to die. 

Training Update:

Long Run: 18 miles (last week) this week is my drop down week so I took Michael for my first 2 miles…. That and I went out for the first time in 8 years and wasn’t feeling my very best

Training Program: Peloton’s Road to 26.2 marathon program… semi adjusted. I’m adding 2-4 miles onto the long runs and some climbing work on the off days (future post on these). 

Pacing: This program has a lot of focus on target and current pacing including: current marathon pace, target marathon pace, tempo pace, etc. This is my second time through this program and I’ve used those paces to add speed. The first time I completed the program (last winter through spring) my marathon pace was roughly 8:30 and my tempo race was 730/7:40. This time through I’ve been picking up those times 5-10 seconds every few weeks.

Program Marathon Target Pace:  8:00

Program Tempo: 7-7:10 (currently up to 9 min at a time)

Long Run Distance: 18 (program reco 16)

Target Marathon: Hudson Mohawk Marathon in Albany, NY on Oct 8th

Next Race Up…

That’s a VERY good question. Between work, kids sports schedules, husband schedules, I have nailed down one weekend to add in a practice race before Hudson Mohawk. I hate running more than 20 miles in training runs so I use marathons to get the mileage in… plus a little extra. If I’m going over 20, may as well get a medal, right?

The weekend I’m doing my next marathon will be Oct 8/9. Between now and then I’ll do (1) 20 mile training run (next weekend). For that weekend I’m deciding between 2 options:

1) Erie Marathon. 26.2 miles. It’s about a 5.5 hour drive away. The course is as flat as a pancake and asphalt. 

2) Germantown 50k. 31 miles. It’s about an hour away (no hotel needed). The course is a looped 8 mile trail with about 3,000 feet of elevation. 

Sooo yeah they couldn’t be any different. I used to find trails to be super fun-‘but that was 10 years ago. Erie is only 26 miles vs 31 trail miles. Erie is far away to need a hotel and a long drive home. But the 50k starts later and will go longer with potential heat. 

I’m SO torn! Help me decide!

ERIE OR GERMANTOWN?!

Antarctica Training Update

 We are roughly 17-18 weeks (yes it’s a range as the race’s start is subject to weather) away from Antarctica Ice Marathon. I’m planning to do 2 or 3 full marathons + as part of my training including a trail 50k to get used to the foot conditions of running on snow. Right now I’m targeting the Hudson Mohawk in October for my “fast” fall race and that is only 8 weeks away. Today I did a 16 mile training run. 

Folks, it’s hot. It’s very hot. And while I was finishing my run I was thinking:

1. Maybe training in extreme heat is not the best way to train to run in Antarctica 

2. Maybe dressing in the dark isn’t the best choice either 🤦‍♀️

People keep asking how I’m going to train for running in the arctic. 🤔 Being in Kentucky, it’s not the HOTTEST part of the country but we certainly don’t get comparable weather conditions of Antarctic summer (December is summer there) until our coldest parts of the year- typically January. Just like with all races and training, there are things in my control and things that are not. The weather is not one of those things. So here is my plan:

A. Run at the coldest part of the day / week. My oct-Dec long runs, I’ll actually look for the coldest early mornings and run then. I’ll also wear as little as I can tolerate to try and thicken my blood.

B. Lots of lots of miles. The ground we are running on is flattened snow and ice. I’m told it’s very similar to running on wet sand. I don’t have a ton of trails around me (nor the time to get to them) but I do have the ability to put in so many miles that 26 in sub-optimal conditions is easy.

C. Tempo and speed training. No, I’m not planning to run a PR, but similar to the above, the tougher I can get my body, the more doable it will be to run in not great conditions. 

That’s it… that’s all I got. Other than a wing and a prayer, this 👆is essentially my whole plan. Yeah so… wish me luck. 

Oh I forgot the top training strategy!!! Keep this guy around as a reminder that we can work through hard things! If you haven’t met Mavi John, this is him. He’s my youngest and our Neruo-diverse super hero! I’m running 2 hard challenges this winter, including Antarctica, in support of him and all of his neurodiverse friends. Mavi was diagnosed with autism at 2.5 years (more on this in upcoming posts). His biggest challenges have been speech and sensory seeking. He can’t conjugate full sentences but he is resilient and smart and finds ways to communicate and get all of his needs met… which mostly consist of asking for Pizza, ice cream, to swim and to watch tablet. What else does a kid need?! #RunforMavi

That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll stop sweating sometime today. 

-S