While the rest of Pittsburgh and its vicinity was hungover from too much St. Patty’s Day partying today, I was running. And running a LOT. I am back in the game and ventured into the unknown today with a 15-mile run, the longest run I have done to date. Yay! Here comes the recap:
How I’m feeling this week:
Pretty good. My weekday runs happened as usual, and today’s 15-miler went well. I was in some pain starting at mile 11 and then afterward, but some stretching (especially some yoga down dogs for my sore lower back) helped. I am currently RICEing. I have a feeling I will be a little sore tomorrow, but all in all I didn’t pass out or puke! Yeah.
What I ran this week:
- Tuesday, 3/13: 5.01 miles, 53:55 (10:46 average pace), treadmill, mostly flat
- Thursday, 3/15: 7.55 miles, 1:23:15 (11:00 average pace), roads (part of marathon course)
- Sunday, 3/18: 15.00 miles, 2:34:17 (10:17 average pace), trail
TOTAL: 27.55 miles, 4:51:29 (on par with my training schedule)
LONG RUN SPLITS:
I didn’t have negative splits but I don’t really care. Maintaining a 10-something pace is really all I care about. I want to finish the marathon, not kill myself training for it.
How I cross-trained this week:
60 minutes of spinning, taught by my very own running buddy Autumn!
What I ate (pre, post and during the long run):
Day Before:
Breakfast:
Egg and cheese on a multigrain bagel
20 oz Pepsi (I normally won’t drink pop the day before a long run, but I had some drinks the night before therefore it was needed)
Lunch/Dinner:
Burger and fries from Burgatory. Nom nom.
After Dinner:
Homemade shamrock shake from my boyfriend’s mom. Cute huh?
+lots of water all day
Long run day:
Breakfast:
Bagel with butter
1 cup coffee
1 banana with sunflower butter
Water and coconut water
During the run:
Gu (no caffeine) right before
Gu (2x caffeine) at mile 7.5
About 30 oz of water, I think
After the run:
Lemon Lime Gatorade
Lunch/Dinner (about 1 hour later):
Ribs
Mac + cheese
Coleslaw
Later on snack:
Life Cereal with almond milk
I’m noticing a pattern of my eating the day before and the day of a race. Mostly carbs (not even the good kind) plus no fruits or veggies. I am kind of scared to eat fiber the day before or the day of when I’m embarking on a long distance for, ahem, bathroom reasons. It’s been treating me well so far so I am going to stick with this plan for the rest of my long runs. The rest of the week is typically less meat, more greens.
Roadblocks this week:
I can’t say there was any. It’s amazing how week 9 ‘s goodness changed from week 8’s blahness. Let’s keep this up.
Goals for the week ahead:
I didn’t make a new playlist like I wanted to last week, so that’s on the to-do list. I also want to work on my abs. My lower back was killing me from mile 11 on today, so I think taking time to strength up in the middle will help. I’ve never had a good middle section, so now would be a great time to work on that. I also have not been to yoga in like a month, so that WILL be happening this week. Maybe twice since week 10 is a low-mileage week (THANK YOU, Runner’s World.)
This week’s running topic: Finding a place to run
In week 2, I talked about the treadmill vs. trails vs. roads. I said that I like to change it up to keep myself challenged and not bored, and also to stay safe from a redundant routine. But where can someone find a place to run? Well, there’s LOTS of places. If you’re training for a particular race, a good place to start is the website of that race for the course. They usually post a detailed map with where you’ll be running. This is the link to the Pittsburgh Marathon Course. I like to run as much of the Pittsburgh Marathon course as I can. These training runs have been mostly the North Side, South Side, and the Strip District. That’s the half course. Soon I will be venturing to Oakland and Shadyside to try my hand at the second half of the course. Also, Pittsburgh is known for it’s bridges and hills, so I’ve been running over as many of those as possible. Bridges are hard to run, surprisingly, because there is a small incline.
Another thing to do is to Google “Running Trails” with the name of your city next to it, or visit MapMyRun.com. You can search routes near your home or work easily, plus they have a phone app which is nice. It can track your mileage by your phone’s GPS, then store all of the data.
Today, I ran on a trail that I had never been on before — the Great Allegheny Passage. This is known mostly for bikers, but it is a great running trail as well. It’s very scenic and flat, and I loved all the nature around me as I did my run. I highly recommend making the drive here to all my fellow Pittsburgh runners. (Or people that live between Pittsburgh and D.C. for that matter, because it spans that long.)
Past recaps:
Week 8
Week 7
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
Pre-training post with my 16-week training schedule
4sunshinesmommy says
I am training for my first half. I usually run without taking in any liquids or food-type anything. Most days I run without eating beforehand. Today was my second day to run 7.5 miles and I took in some GU during, ate a small amount of food earlier in the day. This question may sound silly, but how do you carry your water? I was hoping for the half I could just grab cups from the roadside water stands.
Deanna says
I usually don’t run with water, but yesterday I had to since I wasn’t running a loop — just 7.5 miles up and back. I got a small water bottle from my marathon packet last year that I used. I just carried it the whole time in my right hand. It sucked, but was necessary! I usually like to keep a bottle of water in my car and loop back to my car, OR I will stop in McDonald’s or something and ask for a cup of water. There’s much easier ways to do this — you can get a belt or a bottle that clings to you. These are some examples: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpage-hydration.html/ Good luck and stay hydrated!
Ris says
I’m going to need to check out the Great Allegheny Passage, for sure. I did a long run in Squirrel Hill this weekend and man, that neighborhood is aptly named. I need a nice flat place for my 9+ mile runs–thanks for the tip 🙂
Deanna says
You will love it! It’s so pretty (and FLAT). I have heard Squirrel Hill is quite the doozy. But then again, they have frozen yogurt for after 🙂
Danielle Long (@daniellelyn) says
Just started running more and I’m looking for some nice trails. I’m not training for a marathon or anything, just training to be more healthy. 😉 Either way, I’m definitely going to have to check out the Great Allegheny Passage soon! Looks amazing. Thanks for posting!
Deanna says
That’s awesome! Training to be healthy is a very good thing. I miss that LOL. Definitely check out that trail. There are tons of places to hop on. Keep me posted on if you go!