Marathon Training Part 3: Week 1

After the Atlanta Marathon I knew I wanted to run more. But due to my tendonitis I decided not to jump into any other races until my inflammation calmed down.

But dude, it was so hard.

Even though I was injured I still yearned for other races.

I looked them up frequently and there were so many in November and December and it was hard.

But I couldn't sign up.

I had to look at the big picture and knew I had to heal.

Luckily, my desire to sign up for a race was appeased when I won an entry to the Georgia Publix Marathon thanks to a raffle at the Run 10 Feed 10 event held by the running teacher!

I had spoken with my podiatrist so even though running a marathon in the winter was not ideal I would be healed up and ready to rock by March.

It was perfect.

 

For 8 weeks I didn't really run. Like I didn't run more then a 5k twice during that time. 

Oh, that was tough physically and mentally.

At that start of December I was given the OK to start to build my mileage up by my podiatrist. Around that time I saw an update on Facebook from the Georgia Marathon about a training program. It wasn't being held by the group I have trained with in the past. So I wasn't sure what to expect but I decided to sign up.

 

I was kinda nervous because you had to be able to run 10 miles on the first run.

Typically this isn't a problem but I was concerned after being off for 8 weeks I wouldn't be able to do it and my ankle would get jacked up. So during Christmas break I started to run again. Short runs, I ran 2-3 miles every other day.

It was fantastic.

I felt great, my ankle felt great.

I was ready for training to begin.

 

I have participated in both amazing and just OK training groups.

When you find a good group it doesn't matter what time it is or what the weather is like you will want to get up and run. I feel blessed I have had an exceptional training experience because it got me super excited for this program. Like, I worked 11 hours the day before and didn't get home till 8 and got up at 5:30 the next morning unphased by the exhaustion and instead felt like a child at Christmas.

 

 

 

My husband jokes that I'm just not right but who is he to say such a thing when he wakes up to make sure I have all my gear and to take photos at 6 in the morning ;)

 

After some photos I headed off to Phidippides (ya know the store owned by Jeff Galloway).

I actually got there 30 minutes to early but I was in good company.

Lots of early birds.

 

 

Before you knew it there were about a hundred of us. Oh, and my running pal Harley was there too!

 

 

 

We headed out just as the sun came out.

It was cold.

Like in the 20s.

Only a 50 degree difference since my last distance run. No biggie.

The run went really well.

Lots of talking.

Oh, and we tried a new strategy.

Three minutes running, One minute walking. (will talk about that in another post)

It was different but I think i'm going to stick with it to hit the 5hr mark for this marathon.

 

My phone died right after this picture. (Lucky for my friends) otherwise I would have been snapping away at all of the city's pretty views.

 

 

We finished our ten mile run in exactly 2 hours. I felt really strong. No salt face, no ankle pain.

It was a good way to get back in the game.

Oh, and each week this group switches locations so we will literally be all over the city.

I cant wait for the run, the fellowship and to check out this sweet ass city.

 

Race Menu

21 oz of tri-nuun

1 roctane gu

2 handfuls of grapes at the finish

 

How was your weekend?

What do you think of training programs? Yay or nay?