It’s been a while.  Where to begin?! I guess I’ll start with the one person who hasn’t been sick in the past few weeks- thank you Anna! Why can’t we all be more like you!

It is hard nearly impossible trying to keep everyone healthy at this time of the year. I do my best to keep things clean and sanitized but for some reason this nasty cough/ cold thing that is going around will not leave us alone!  I’ve made countless trips to the doctor with various children.  I know it could be much worse and I am very thankful for the health care we have- I just wish it didn’t cost and arm and a leg. 

First the boys had it right before Christmas.

This was during our 3 hour wait in the waiting room. Both boys had ear infections, coughs, etc.

Then, I had it around New Year’s.

Then Abi got it.

Another lovely waiting room picture.

Then John got it and now back to poor Ashton.  I just took him back to the doctor (again) yesterday and he has another ear infection.  Poor boy.  Somehow Anna has evaded it so far but I’m not going to hold my breath.  I’m looking forward to some healthy days ahead. 

Little man only wants me when he is under the weather.

Since my last post- we no longer have a baby in the house.  Ashton turned 2 and is officially a toddler.

His birthdays are always a little bittersweet for me.  It’s always the “last” time we will celebrate someone turning that age.  I never even think about that with the other ones.  Last year when I put up the number “1” from his cake it hit me that the next time we’d use it was when Abi turned 10. And I’m sure that will be here before I know it! Time really does fly when you have kids.  Someone once told me that when it comes to parenting- The days are long but the years are short.  This is so true!

As far as training- I guess I have two weeks of workouts to post.  I will warn you- this is a bit lengthy! Sorry!! Feel free to skip the training tidbits if you are not into that sort of thing. 🙂

Week 5 was a little off for me.  After my week of 80 miles (week 4) I was only able to get in 40 miles for week 5.  John went out of town a few days and Abi was sick so I didn’t want to leave the kids with anyone.  (I don’t have a treadmill at home- I just use one at the gym.)  This week (week 6) I was back to 80 miles.  I just did my usual Saturday run on Sunday so it made this week’s mileage higher. I had a few key workouts but overall lots of easy miles.  I am feeling pretty good about my training so far.  I love racing but I’ve actually enjoyed a break from it this month. I have some big things planned in February so hopefully all of this training will result in a few solid race performances.

Week 5 (of 12) Little Rock Marathon Training:

Sun. 1/6- Off (I had just completed my first 80 mile week- including an 18 miler the day before and my body needed a solid rest day.)

Mon. 1/7- 8 miles @ 7:53 pace.  Easy run on the trail with the girls- 26 degrees when we started!

Tue. 1/8- 11 miles with 15K (9.3 m) @ 6:33 pace.  HARD workout mentally and physically.  I already wrote about this one here.

Feeling a little more recovered after my 15K

Wed. 1/9- 15 miles @ 7:50 pace on TM.  This was tough run because I was so tired.  My legs were pretty sore from the 15K but I needed to do my long run this day because John was heading out of town and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get in a long run for several days. 

Thur. 1/10- 6 miles @ 6:59 pace outside around the block.  I didn’t have a lot of time (J heading out of town) so I made it count! Here are my splits from this run: 7:38, 7:18, 7:08, 6:47, 6:38, 6:21.

Fri. 1/11- Off. (J was out of town.)

Sat. 1/12- Off. (J returned but we had family visiting for Ashton’s bday and there was never a good time to run.)

Total: 40 miles (And 3 days off!)

Week 6 (of 12) Little Rock Marathon Training:

Sun. 1/13- 15 miles @ 7:41 on treadmill.  This was purely a make-up run from having taken the past 2 days off.  I was supposed to do 17 as my weekend long run but I was trying to squeeze this in before church and my body could not wake up any earlier than it did.

Mon. 1/14- 7 miles @ 8:35 pace outside.  Cold (24 degrees!) but still enjoyable easy run with Tish.

Tue. 1/15- 9 miles with mile repeats on TM. First, 2 mi warm-up @ 8:06 pace. Workout: 5 x 1 mi w/ 3 min active recovery. Mile 1- 6:04, Mile 2- 5:55, Mile 3- 5:53, Mile 4- 5:50, Mile 5- 5:47.  Then a mile cool-down.  I have never done mile repeats on treadmill. After the first one I figured out that too much time was wasted if I started TM over so I actually would rest TM after I finished and start over on recovery jog. I would gradually pick up pace until I got to .25 and then I would start the clock and just run until TM read 1.25. This was a much better system. This was a hard workout but not awful like the TM 15K. I had enough energy for each set. I would have liked to cool down one more mile but as usual, I ran out of time. Had to hurry home to get the big kids up and ready for school!

Wed. 1/16- 13.1 miles @7:41.  This was my mid-week long run on the treadmill.  Originally, I hadn’t planned on running this far but we had a 2 hour school delay this day because of weather so I had some extra running time! 

Thur. 1/17- 8 miles @ 7:57 on treadmill.  I was pretty tired on this run.

Fri. 1/18- 18 miles outside (30 degrees) with 13.1 @ 6:39 pace.  This was my second “hard” training session this week.  I was dreading this workout but it went surprisingly well. I wanted to run faster than my goal marathon pace (7 min) but not quite as fast as my goal half pace (6:30-ish?). I quickly settled into the 6:40’s but I did try to make the last few in the 6:30’s once I realized I could.

Splits:
Mile 1- 6:43
Mile 2- 6:49
Mile 3- 6:42
Mile 4- 6:42
Mile 5- 6:43
Mile 6- 6:41
Mile 7- 6:39
Mile 8- 6:34- **quick 30 second water stop during this mile. I also discarded one of my layers and ate one shot blok.
Mile 9- 6:42
Mile 10- 6:43
Mile 11- 6:33
Mile 12- 6:34
Mile 13- 6:26
Mile 13.1- 0:36 (6:01 avg.)

Total time: 1:27:13 which is actually my new PR by well over a minute. (Yes, this is definitely uncertified as the mileage was based entirely off my watch but it gives me an idea of what I can do in a real race.)

Happy to have nailed this workout!

I had gone back and forth on location- should I do it on TM? Track? But it hit me that the new trail around HU’s campus would work. It is about 1.7 mile loop which meant running it 7 times and finishing up at track. It was perfect and much more of a real race condition environment than a treadmill or track. There was some light incline and decline but generally it is flat and SAFE. Almost no traffic except for one side of it when the road connects with a sidewalk. So glad I chose this location. Plus, it helped me figure out what I would wear if I were ever going to race in 30 degree weather. 🙂 This top is definitely on my cold weather running list.  Love it!

Sat. 1/19- 10 miles @ 8:49 pace.  This was an easy recovery run with my friend Tish.  She was running 20 today so I joined her for her first 10.  We talked the whole time and the time flew by.  Perfect easy recovery run for me!

Total: 80 miles

So there you have it.  Two more weeks of solid training.  I’m going to have one more high mileage week and then I’m going to cut back a little.  February 2nd is the 15K in Little Rock.