After another day of worrying about my injury and whether it will heal in time for me to run MCM, I was feeling defeated. I left work thinking that all I really felt like doing was going home and lying down for the whole night. And eating. Lying down and eating. My other option, since I'm still not ready to go back to CrossBoot, was to go to a yoga class. But even that seemed like work, and I just felt like giving up. I thought about how I'd feel if I chose my first option, and I knew that would potentially make me feel even worse than I already did. So, while stopped at a traffic light (of course), I used my phone to register for the yoga class at my studio, Bella Prana  (there's now an app for that!). I knew that if I registered, I wouldn't back out. So I arrived home in time to change and get to class a bit early. I hadn't taken a class from this particular instructor, Greg Hass, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The class was a Flow Level 2 class, which was...

Actually, I've been humbled by a lot of things lately, but I felt particularly put in my place by my bike ride this evening. I took the road bike out to Flatwoods after work, in my first real effort to do more than the typical 12-mile route I do. I thought this new route, a paved path without the interruption of traffic and surrounded by trees, would be inspiring. And while it was a beautiful setting, I just didn't have a great ride. I can't seem to go much faster than 15mph, and even then other cyclists buzz past me as if I'm barely turning my feet over. My thighs burn constantly, one knee gets tight, and my hands cramp. I know I don't have a lot of power in my legs--it's been pointed out to me more than once, but this was ridiculous. I struggled to just get through 18.66 miles. Meanwhile, a man comes up along side me for some chit-chat and tells me how he's just out for a 38-miler. He asked me what speed I was trying to go, and when I told him 15, he pre...

I've gone through quite a range of emotions over the past four days of rest from training (Thursday through Sunday). Thursday, the first rest day, was fine, as I usually have one day of rest in a week, anyway. But Friday was greatly frustrating. My leg wasn't feeling any better (I know, I know--I hadn't even given it two days of rest), and tiny seeds of doubt about running the marathon had planted themselves in my brain. To add to the frustration, I learned rather inconveniently that my gym membership on campus had ended and was in need of renewal. So when I arrived to take a Muscle Madness class and was told I needed to renew (which I hadn't been notified of), I lost my civility and started mouthing off to the desk attendants (who were, in fairness to me, pretty much the opposite of helpful). Instead of helping me, they told me I could renew over at a kiosk. I wasn't prepared to make the decision to renew, and I didn't want to pay the daily fee of $10. So ...

Last week was a fairly strong week, except that I really started to feel persistent pain in my left lower leg, mostly in my shin (anterior and posterior) and high Achilles. If felt the worst of it Thursday, when I attempted a 5-miler but instead cut it short to 3. I wanted to preserve my legs for my 17-mile long run on Saturday. I'm sure it didn't help that we did tons of sprints at CrossBoot on Wednesday night. I've been so proud of myself for making it out to two CrossBoot classes per week, but I'm afraid my legs are just not handling the speed drills very well, on top of my long training runs. Monday I ran 4 miles before CrossBoot, because I didn't wake up in time to do it in the morning. This was my first run since the previous Saturday's 20-miler, and I really felt the pain in my leg. Then we had a rather leg-heavy CrossBoot class, but I didn't feel much pain during or after the class. On Tuesday I ran with a couple of buddies in the evening....

Last week was basically an anticipatory build-up to my second 20-miler, which I initially wasn't planning to do, as that meant I'd end up with three total before the marathon. But I was feeling good enough to do it, and in a way I think I was still riding the success of the first one . Also last week, I got two more CrossBoot classes in--one was a morning holiday session (for Labor Day), which are notoriously brutal sessions, and the other was my normal Wednesday night class. I feel really good when I can get two classes in per week; although, in the immediate days following, my legs don't feel great when I run, but I think in the long run (no pun intended), I'm getting stronger and even a bit faster. I wasn't as good about doing morning runs last week, and in fact, I fell two miles short of my weekly mileage because my Tuesday run, which I switched with my Thursday run, was a painful one (and should have been six miles). For pretty much the first time this t...

I really need to get better about posting these closer to the week in which I actually completed the training. As I try to remember what I did last week, I'm confusing it with activities and feelings from the current week's training. But here's week 9, at a glance: And since I actually took notes, I'm going to just use them in their raw form: Monday a.m. run -- "hurricane," misty, windy, puddles (bike lane), good run. Monday p.m. -- yin yoga, ahhhh  Tuesday a.m. -- slept in :/. Tuesday p.m. -- 100 burpees (13:29), CrossBoot meeting Wednesday a.m. -- slept in :/. Wednesday p.m. -- CrossBoot! speed work, burpees, sprints, sprints, sprints Thursday a.m. -- 4 miles, fast. Thursday p.m. -- 4 miles, faster! ab work Friday p.m. -- CrossBoot! drain-ing. lots of reps w/ weights + speed drills. blue moon! Saturday a.m. -- 15 miles, sloooww. a bit tired from CrossBoot, crampy, etc. need to start ice baths. Sunday a.m. -- 12 miles bike, felt okay. a little ...