Monday, April 11, 2016

Training Week 14: Life Happens

Today I'm joining up with the Weekly Wrap hosted by Holly and Tricia where we join up with other active women to connect and support each other in our activity goals. I started joining up with them two weeks ago and I love their camaraderie!

The past week was a tired one! The littlest has been doing some major teething and he's wearing this momma out. Those top two teeth have been so stubborn for my baby!

We attended my Great Grandma's burial on Saturday and my teething baby boy was dedicated to the Lord on Sunday. This weekend celebrated the beginning of two new lives — my Great Grandma's new life in Heaven and this new journey of walking with our baby boy along the path of life.
You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. PSALM 16:11

As for marathon training, the lessons I'm learning in Greg McMillan's book, "You (Only Faster)", have taken on a whole new meaning in training for this marathon. This is one of my favorites:
"The training plan must fit your body, not the other way around... The goal being that you stay fresh and excited for training, not fatigued and unmotivated." Greg McMillan
In training for past marathons, I have had that concept reversed. No matter what I was feeling or what life threw at me, I wanted to stick to that training plan.

McMillan's lessons have taught me that life happens and marathon training needs to adjust accordingly. Training needs to adjust for different seasons of life to keep the stress of a workout and the rest and recovery time in a healthy balance. When the balance is lacking rest, we end up fatigued and injured.

I am not super prone to injury (now that I typed that something is bound to happen!) but when I get too tired my immune system suffers. In training for each of my past marathons, I'm pretty sure I've been sick with a nasty cold or sinus infection at least once per race!

This week I fit in the training and did my best to listen to my body. I'm still feeling wiped out so who knows what training will bring for week 15; hopefully some extra rest. Let's just take it one run at a time.

Six weeks 'til race day and I'm getting excited!


Fargo Marathon Training Week 14:

Monday, April 4

Easy-Effort: 7 mi, 01:05 @ 09:15 avg pace.

I woke up with a sore throat and feeling a cold coming on. My immune system really takes a hit from the lack of sleep but I sure can't complain about the extra cuddles from this smiley little man! Please come in, top teeth, PLEASE!

Tuesday, April 5

 Speed Intervals: (Treadmill) 5 mi, 00:41. WU, 1:00 hard effort with 1:00 jog recovery x 15 (3 intervals at 7:22, 7:01, 6:46, 6:32, 6:10 pace), CD.

Running in the early morning wasn't an option today so I hit the treadmill that night. Doing my speedwork on the treadmill has been really helpful because it keeps me accountable to the paces and it's a whole lot safer than running fast in the dark!

Wednesday, April 6

Strength Training: Side lunges, hip raises, leg raises, bridges. 3 x 2:00, 4 x 1:00 plank variations.

Thursday, April 7

Tempo Run: 7.61 mi, 01:00 @ 07:51 avg pace. Super windy but 37 degrees felt warm. 2 x 3.25 miles with .5 mile recovery jog in between. 7:41 and 7:37 avg pace.

This morning was very windy with a mix of rain and sleet. Thankfully it wasn't coming down too hard. The sleet felt like pin-pricks on my face. Our dog joined me for the warm up and the first 3.25 interval. That was enough for him!

Friday, April 8

Long Run: (Treadmill) 12 mi, 01:38 @ 08:09 avg pace. 6 miles @ MP 7:40/mile.

This was originally planned to be 8 miles @ MP but I had to listen to my body and cut it short. I know I hadn't recovered from yesterday's tempo run but today the long run had to happen instead of the easy run. Life happens and running fits in around it!

Saturday, April 9

Easy-Effort: 3.1 mi, 00:29 @ 09:21 avg pace joined by my husband. I actually ran without my watch (!?) so that pace is just a guestimate. Running watchless is so freeing!

Sunday, April 10


Total Mileage: 34.71 miles

How do you adjust your fitness routine when life happens?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.


  1. HI! I just started the weekly wrap ups with holly and Tricia too!
    I am so sorry to hear about grandmothers passing. It seems you are handling your training pretty well even when life ( and a teething baby!) happen. Hang in there with everything, you got this!!!

    1. Thank you, Melissa :) My great grandma actually passed away back in January but they waited on the burial until it thawed a bit outside. Having that extra time to process everything helped me to not be an emotional mess at the burial.

      As far as teething baby... one day at a time, that's what I keep telling myself!

  2. Life does happen and at the end of the day it really is more important than the miles you had on your training schedule. Congrats on the baby dedication- good stuff!

  3. I lost my 94 year old grandmother just a few weeks ago, I was not as sad because I tried to focus on how happy she is now. I love that quote from the book. I'm going to have to check out that book before I decide on my 2nd marathon. I'm getting the itch again....

    1. Same here, Tricia. It helped to know Gram is in heaven and healthy once again. It had been so long since she felt well!

      And I highly recommend You (Only Faster)! I have learned so much from it.

  4. I'm sorry to hear about your Great Grandma! Let me just say that your are very inspirational to train for a marathon with a small child. That smiley face is adorable! You know, all kinds of things can throw a kink into our training. It's how we adjust that matters. I'm soon be training for my 2nd marathon and want to use a different, less stressful approach. Thanks for linking with us Amy.

  5. Very sorry to hear about your great grandma!
    You have such a cute lil kiddo:)such an adorable smile!
    I totally agree, while I have not read McMillans lessons. Life happens, that's why I adopted the train in advance to give myself leeway when life happens. I don't believe in the "make it up" philosophy that many get into. If something happens, let life take it's course then go back to where you left off, instead of making it up or stressing about it.
    Kuddo's to you for figuring out how to fit it all in while being a mom! My sister was a marathon runner but she can't figure out how to fit it all in now, but she is so looking forward to a few years when the kids get older and she can get back to it.
    Good luck with your training, love your attitude!!!