OK, a little delayed on this recap of last week. But here it is. Week three of training!…
Here’s what I had planned:
The reality? Let’s just say this week started and ended well…
U.S. Arboretum
Another week has come and gone, and we are already into APRIL! This was my second week of training for the Vermont City Marathon.
Here was what I had planned for this week:
And here’s what I did…
I announced last week that I had registered for the Vermont City Marathon, held over Memorial Day weekend in Burlington. This will be another two-month training cycle, which I’ve been liking a lot lately. I took a full recovery week after the Asheville Marathon, and then I slowly started back up this week, without a focus on mileage.
I went back and forth about how many races I was actually going to run this year, and in particular, about whether I’d run something between the Asheville Marathon in March and the Mesa Falls Marathon in August. Summer isn’t really what I think of as marathon season, and it’s fun to take some time off for weddings and triathlons and fun, non-running travel. But I guess I’m addicted at this point, and I went ahead and registered for a May marathon. What did I pick???….
As you know, I ran the Asheville Marathon this past Sunday: recap here. After the race, it was time to recovery but also to really dig in to my 30-day Composition ID body fat challenge, which started last Thursday (and it’s actually 28 days, not 30). Oh, and what about that whole “2016 miles in 2016” thing? This post provides an update on ALL of that, plus a surprise I got in the mail this week…
Race: Asheville Marathon
Location: Biltmore Estate, Asheville, in the hills of western North Carolina
Weight. We all know that weight is just a number… that in addition to not telling us anything about a person’s worth or talents or soul or beauty or likelihood of landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, it also doesn’t tell us all that much about their health.
That’s me!
But I’ve been writing for a while about thinking about trying (notice how this sentence is worded…) to lose a little weight because doing so is likely to help me race faster — less weight to haul around, less energy needed. Of course I don’t want to lose my muscle in the process; I’d want the weight to come from fat. I’ve posed some ideas about how to execute this “plan,” but it’s all been sort of esoteric, with no concrete goals and, more importantly, no data. Until now! (I know this is exactly how I intro’d my last post; this is my new set-up for all my blogs. JK.)
This morning, I had my first DEXA body scan at Composition ID!
Training for the Mississippi Blues Marathon
At the beginning of each training cycle, I set out my plan for the workouts I hope to do each week. But I’ve never looked back after the fact to see what workouts I actually completed. Until now! (Since I’m in taper mode for the Asheville Marathon, I had a little time on my hands.)
View from Sunday’s long run
Did anyone do RnR New Orleans this weekend? I did that marathon a few years ago and it was pretty fun! Check out my recap here.
This week was do-or-die for me, given that my longest run in this training cycle was 11.4 miles until this week. Yikes!!!! I usually like to get to 17 or 18 miles, if not 20. Last week I stepped it up with three Orangetheory sessions and two longer runs, and this week I wanted to keep the momentum and finish this training cycle strong. Oh, and do a true long run. Here’s how I did…
I’ve been listening to a ton of podcasts lately, and one running-related podcast I’ve enjoyed is the Run to the Top podcast from Runners Connect. In a recent episode, host Tina Muir documented her second trip to the University of Virginia SPEED Clinic in Charlottesville, VA (wahoowa!). This, of course, played right into (1) my recent speed-related goals and (2) my newfound interest in body mechanics. About three-quarters through the episode, I Googled the SPEED Clinic and emailed its director, Max, to set up an appointment. Here’s a little background and what I learned from my visit…
athlettuce 