10 Week Review

    We now stand 10 weeks away from the Pittsburgh Marathon.  This week my training had some high points and some low points.  I started the week doing a 5 mile at a 8:30 pace. I felt really good and it seemed like I really didn't get into my groove until about the 4th mile. This is what I was hoping would happen, I want to go for a few miles before I find my groove in a marathon.  I don't want to be in my first mile feeling good and then tire out later.
     On Tuesday I did a 4 mile tempo run, in which I basically ran the whole 4 miles at a 7 min. pace.  Once again I felt really good and I felt like my breathing was finally getting back to normal after battling a cold for the last few weeks.
      Wednesday is normally a day I use for rest and wont do much of anything but instead I decided to use it for some stretching and using my foam roller.(which by the way felt awesome)
       Thursday I ran 6 miles at an easy pace for most of it and would throw in some intervals here and there. It was on this run that I started to notice my leg feeling some pain on about the 2nd mile. I was able to run through it but it was a noticeable pain that seemed to hinder me for most of the run. After the run I used my foam roller and worked the pain out.
      On Friday I took the day off and decided to use it as a rest day.  I was hoping that maybe taking the day off would help with my leg.
      Saturday there was a race where you could run 10 miles, 15 or 20.  I originally planned on running the 15 mile race but I forgot I entered a chili cook off that I do every year for charity.  So I woke up early and did my long run on my own. 14 miles is what I ended up doing, I wanted to do 15 but once again I was having problems with pains in my leg.  It started on mile 3 and I stopped and walked for just 10 seconds and it honestly helped the pain diminish until about mile 8 when it came back.  I ran through it and made it to 14 and I decided to call it quits.  On a high note I did come in second place at the cook off.  Besides running I do enjoy cooking, so I look forward to the cook off every year.  I honestly think mine was the best but judging is done by anyone who wants to donate 10 dollars to the charity (St. Judes Children Hospital), so basically you can bring all your friends and just have them vote for you.  I do bring a good amount of people, but its at a bar so my friends would be there anyway drinking.  The person who came in first owns a bar and she brought way more people than me.  I only lost by 6 votes, which tells me people I didn't bring were voting for me.
     Also it was nice because my high school cross country coach who normally enters the cook off and usually wins because he brings every teacher in woodland hills to vote for him did not enter one.  He still came down though to vote, and me and him got to catch up like we do every year. I tell him how I am training and he usually tells me what I am doing wrong or will give me some tips to help out.  I take his advice seriously, he ran a few marathons under 3 hours.  I walked away from our conversation with some advice that I need to start running 17-18 miles at my race pace goal.  So next Saturday my long run will not be a nice slow one but one that will push me to my limits and let me see exactly where I stand.  You know I will be writing about either way.
       Today I am taking another day of just stretching and using the foam roller in hopes of getting my legs back to normal. I think dehydration may be a lot of my problem. I am not really a water drinker and sometimes during work it is not uncommon for me not to drink anything all day long.  This is something I will be working on as well this week.

So how is your training going?
We all talk about how much we love running, what are your other passions?