W/E 4/17  Total week: 10

2 miles this a.m to avoid posting a weekly total of 8 miles.

It's showtime, folks.

 

Week end Sun 4/10/11.  Total weekly miles:  29.6

The wind has shifted, calmed some; today was NE winds off the ocean.  My last bit of real mileage, 8 miles oceanside, felt pretty OK for once.  When the wind hit hard I tried to remember that today was not the day to try to prove anything, and let myself slow and just get home.  One more week. 

 

Week end Sun 4/3/11.  Total weekly miles:  34.05

With two weeks to go, I closed the week unable to face the WNW winds any more.  I did my "long" run of 12 miles on the treadmill:  Ten to start, hopped off to take Ben to soccer, then back to finish two more.  After a month of west winds, to think marathon day - which is 26.2 miles from west to east - might bring E or NE winds is a hard potential reality to face.

Week end Sun 3/27/11.  Total weekly miles:  56.13

Today's long run was 20.13 hilly miles in 25 mph west winds.  I'm about as far east as it goes in Mass.; this hammered me. 

But it's done.  Now I just want to get through this and not die.  Wind is cruel:  I say to myself while climbing the hill around Bass Point for the fourth time, training for a marathon is one of the stupidest things a person can do.

Hopefully marathon day won't have 25 mph headwinds.

This makes 56.13 miles for the week for me. That is the most I've ever done. I've come close - in the 50s - but this was the most ever.

 

Week end Sun 3/20/11.  Total weekly miles:  22.07

Well.  I missed one easy mid-week 6 miler, which would be fine by itself, but then today I took the kids up to NH to a sugar farm.  It was a fun day, and they learned all about tapping maple trees, boiling sap, evaporation, and bottling; they sampled syrup; they ate maple candy and petted cows and turkeys.  People were nice to us everywhere we went, gave us candy for no reason other than to be nice, gave us free frosties when we stopped to use the rest room.  I made them pancakes for dinner and poured fresh maple syrup on top.  Running?  At 9:45 p.m., after getting them to bed, I figured I procrastinated long enough and dragged my sorry self into the basement for my 12 miler.  One mile into it, the power went out.  It turns out to have been a fuse, which I changed, but when the universe tells me to get to sleep and Rosemary tells me to get some more miles on the road instead of the treadmill, I'll finally listen.  I'll have to get this 12 miles tomorrow on the roads.  Of course, tomorrow, after being lovely all week, it's supposed to rain.

I did have a panic today, which I remember as being normal, but is humbling nonetheless.

Week end Sun, 3/13/11.  Total weekly miles:  52

Another 20 miler today.  Cardio felt fine, but my feet are an everlovin' wreck.  Yesterday I bled through my sock into my insole, from a blister that I ... oh it's just nasty all around.  Fun facts:  as of today my 2011 mileage is at 422.62.  If I had been running from Nahant to points south, I would just be making it to Baltimore.

Tomorrow is five weeks to Boston, and I'm certain I have no idea why I decided to run another marathon.

Week end Sun, 3/6/11.  Total weekly miles:  38

Tomorrow is six weeks to Boston, and my feet now look nasty, with one toenail not long for this world and the remains of an instep blister not ever quite healing properly.  Today was a 12 mile long run, which I did while contemplating wind, sunshine, heat, and wondering what was headed my way for April 18.  Nothing I can do about it, but it's my nature to fret through all the permutations and potential conditions.

We enter another high mileage week now, with another 20 miler next Sunday, the second of three.  I just need to make it through without my body falling apart in rebellion.

 

Week end Sun, 2/27/11.  Total weekly miles:  54.11

One of the highest mileage weeks I've had in a while; I'm fortunate to remain injury-free.  This week culminated in a 20 miler today, at a 10:20 average pace, on the treadmill.  Lots of people groan when I tell them how much treadmill running I do, but one of my dirty secrets is that I *like* the treadmill.  I don't have to carry my gatorade, fruit snacks, powerbars,  and the bathroom is right upstairs. 

Recovery week is up this week and I'm relieved.  Tomorrow is seven weeks to Boston.

 

Week end Sun, 2/20/11,  Total weekly miles:  48

A hard week, with real loss having nothing to do with running.

A long run of 19 miles today, on the treadmill in the basement while my kids played upstairs and I listened over the baby monitor.  It's the only time I'll let them play video games uninterrupted so they look forward to my long runs.

By Saturday of this week I was convinced that I wasn't capable of running a marathon; yes, I've run five.  This afternoon when I stepped on the mill and saw three hours in front of me I wondered how I could possibly do it.  If you ever receive an email from me "running...7 down...12 to go" or the like, and it's sent from my iphone, it's me in the dark basement in Nahant, Massachusetts.  Running.

Week end Sunday, 2/13/11.  Total weekly miles: 25. 

Let it never be said that I don't take my recovery weeks seriously.  This was the first week in over a month that I fell off the schedule a bit, though I didn't cheat on the long run, which was only 12 miles today.  I think midweek I was too cocky, because by Friday I had a deep ache in both thighs that only comes from the middle of marathon training.

But I'm ready for the next push up this week, and benefited from the relative rest.  I'm helping the kids with their valentines and stickers for third grade and preschool tomorrow, and looking ahead, it looks like my long run is 19 miles on Sunday.  I think I'm ready.

 

Week end Sunday, 2/6/11.  Total weekly miles:  41.15

Long run this week ticked up to 17 miles on the treadmill.  It was tough to get through, mentally:  after an hour of running, you still have a long way to go and you're not even halfway done.  At mile 10 I think there's no way I can run 16.2 more miles; at mile 14 I thiink I can really, seriously, for real, only run two more; at mile 16 I crank up to marathon pace and finish wondering if I have another 9.2 miles in me, somewhere.  32 oz of gatorade and three packs of fruit snacks stabilized this run, and the kids are clamoring for what I love to have on long run days - pizza for dinner.  After I make sure Ben finishes his reading homework, I'll place the order.

 

Week end Sunday, 1/30/11.  Total weekly miles:  44.

There's something mildly amusing about running 16 miles on a treadmill in a basement, listening to internet music through an auxillary cable hooked up to the treadmill speakers.  Maybe masochistic too.  But it's done, and I've gone through a lot of gatorade and more fruit snacks, which are my new favorites for long runs. Now off to shower and corral the kids who I'm sure have laid waste to the house while I was downstairs.  Yes, I had the baby monitor on but they're sneaky.

Sunday, 1/30/11, 10:59 am., a sick boy and the need to research winter tires for my car are my excuses right now, but seeing as both tire stores are closed on Sunday and the boy seems well enough to ask for a snack, it's almost time to hit the treadmill for 16 miles.  Where I live, it's snow banks as far as the eye can see.

 

Week end Sunday, 1/23/11, total miles for the week - 35.36.

The only real glitch this week was the seven miler that I was running on the treadmill at the Y when the school nurse called at mile 4.  I ran back to the school to get Ben, settled him in with some soup and when he was safely cuddled in bed, got the last three miles of that run done on the treadmill in the basement.  Everything else went ok, including this afternoon's ten miles on the treadmill in the basement, at an easy pace.  Next week I think the long run is 16 miles, but I'm trying not to look that far ahead.  We're due for more snow mid-week, and temps in the single digits with negative wind chills for the next few days.  My next door neighbor occasionally, casually mentions that she sees the basement light on at odd hours.  Well, that's where the treadmill is. 

1/23/11, 9:58 a.m., the thought of even one person coming onto this page and finding that I haven't done my long run for the week is enough to hangdog me into figuring it out.  Of course, I woke up late this morning and have a four-year-old girl next to me singing "feed me breakfast" to the tune of jingle bells, and I have to take her to a birthday party at noon, and, and, and...it's 12 degrees outside.  This ten miles will get run, but it will be sometime later this afternoon, right about the time I really don't want to do it. 

Breakfast for the kids, though, is in order right now.

 

Week end Sunday, 1/16/11.  Total miles for the week:  37.

Long run this week was 14 miles, again on the treadmill just shy of 10 mm.  A tribute to good nutrition, I drank plenty of gatorade and ate Target brand fruit snacks to keep me going.  13 weeks to go.  Next week is a cutback week, with a long run of only ten miles.  I could use the break.

Week end Sunday, 1/9/11.  Total miles for the week:  43. 

Long run was today, 13 miles on the treadmill at 9:58 pace, listening to bluegrass on pandora, trying to picture the weather on April 18, visualizing crossing the finish, again.  Tomorrow is a recovery run, or a swim, or both. 

Now, off to shovel snow and clear off the cars so I can get the kids to school tomorrow.

1/5/11  Thank you for supporting me as I raise money for MAB Community Services in the 2011 Boston Marathon.  This is my second year as a member of Team With A Vision.  Last year, you helped me raise over $3,500 in just twelve weeks for this honorable cause.

Follow me here as I spend the next 15 weeks trying to manage my weekly mileage, run races, set milestone goals, and raise money.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.

Thanks - and of course, see you on the roads.

Ellen, 1/5/11