1 more week

I need to remember this next week.  That's right I am 1 week away from the marathon.  I keep telling myself that I've trained for this and I'm ready so now I just need to do it! I am not going to talk myself out of going for it next week.

Tapering.....yes or no?

After the Utah Valley marathon and Ragnar I felt like I was starting over.  I didn't even go a whole week without running but I could barely run 10 miles.  A big part of me thinks it's from the long taper before the marathon and of course 2 events back-to-back didn't help.  So one thing the girls and I are doing different with this marathon is not tapering as much.  We still did our big run (22 miles) 3 weeks before the race but then haven't cut completely back since then.  

I have talked to lots of other runners who I respect and their training is all over the place with tapering.  Some do the traditional 2 week taper, others 10 days and some do no tapering at all.  I found this article The Taper article by Ed Eyestone and I really like it.  It's pretty close to what the girls and I have discussed with a few differences that I will probably do.  

Today's workout:  Tempo Run 7 miles total with 5 miles at 7:45 pace

Do you taper?  How much?

Which One?

I am planning on running the Halloween Half Marathon with a friend. I'm thinking a princess outfit would be a great option. But I'm not sure which one to do. 

What do you think? Aurora or Cinderella? 

P.S. Today's workout was spin and weights.

40 miles for 40 years

Since I can't run 40 miles straight for my 40th birthday I decided to do it for my birthday week.  Luckily it wasn't a huge task since marathon training already has lots of miles.  

So far being 40 is awesome!!  I am in better shape now that I was at 30 (granted I had a 1 month old on my 30th birthday).  Plus being 40 gives me 5 extra minutes for my Boston qualification time :)  

Last week was the last week of big miles and training and now the tapering starts.  I am so ready for the race to be here and to be done training for a while.  I'm ready to run for fun for a bit. And maybe do a few half-marathons.

Today's workout:  8 miles.  Last night when I set my alarm I was so excited to set it for 5:25 instead of 5:00.  The hubby thought I was crazy when I said "yippee I get to sleep in".  Apparently he doesn't think 5:25 is sleeping in :) 

Calling All Running Ladies

As you know I love pink.  I have way too many pink running tops, skirts, shorts, hats, shoes and even socks.  So when I saw these finishers "medals" I fell in love.  I ran the Pink Series half marathon last year.  It is the only women's only half marathon in Utah and it is the best race!

It was a crazy day weather wise (snowed most of the race) but the race is one that you ladies don't want to miss. I got a cute race shirt - that I actually wear on a regular basis.  The swag bag was amazing.  There were cupcakes at the finish line.  And I can actually wear my last year finishers medal (the cute Park City '11). Last years recap found here.

And to top it all off I won a Blendtec and not for running fast just because my number was drawn.  Score.

The course is in Park City so it's not only gorgeous but it's a great place to have a girl's weekend.  I can't do the race this year and I am so sad.  Not only is it the week after the St. George marathon but I have a big work convention all weekend.  Otherwise I would be at this race and no matter what I'm running it next year. 

My Birthday Run

Today is my 40th birthday so of course I woke up at 5:00 am and went to the gym.  I met T there to lift weights before we ran.  When she got there I was warming up on the treadmill and she gave me this sweet sign to wear while lifting. 

Only one person in the gym said anything and when I told him my friend made the sign for me he asked "is she a good friend or a bad friend?"  Ha.  The best kind of friend of course.  Not only did she get out of bed at 5:00 am to workout with me she made me something.  Love her.

Then on our way out to run she gave me this sweet new running hat and it has an awesome duck tape crown on it. 

When we got outside my van was completely decorated.  Took me right back to the good old Ragnar days of van decorating.  

So many of my running friends showed up to run with me.  It was so much fun and I love that my b-day was enough motivation to get them out on a cold dark morning.  I have the best running friends ever!!

Running my race pace

I really like this article (How to kick-start your training.) from active.com on marathon training.  I am very interested in how to make sure I am training to be able to qualify for Boston and make my goal "race pace" a reality.  The best part is that as I read it there are several things that I have been doing in my training that he talks about in the article.

One of the best ways to improve your odds of running strong straight to the finish line is by running race pace in a pre-fatigued condition. The best workout for this training stimulus is a marathon-pace long run.
Run your goal marathon pace at the end of your long run. Here are three examples:

• 20 miles with the last 2 miles at marathon pace

• 20 miles with the last 5 miles at marathon pace

• 22 miles with the last 10 miles at marathon pace

Last week on my last long run I implemented this technique without really "knowing" it but figuring it could only help me train better.  The last 2 miles of my 22 miler I was under race pace.

Let's take a hypothetical runner whose goal is to run a 3:45 marathon—or 8:35 per-mile pace. If this runner is running 40 miles per week at the peak of her training, she could do up to 20 to 25 percent of her total volume at marathon pace—or 8 to 10 miles of marathon-pace running. Alternatively, if she was doing intervals at 5K pace and a tempo run, she should not do more than about 15 percent of her volume at these increased intensities.

I love this "hypothetical runner" because that is right around my goal and the mileage I'm running weekly.  Now I have to remember if 8-10 of my weekly miles are at my marathon pace.  I think I'm pretty close to that.   


I love this quote.  Today during my run I was tired, out of breath and very sweaty.  And tomorrow I'll probably be a little sore :)

Today's workout was speed work - mile intervals.  I did a mile warm up then my first interval at 7:19 pace.  Then jogged for a half mile.  Did my second interval at 7:13 pace.  Third at 7:08 pace and for my last one I decided to do 1.5 miles instead of 1 and I did it at a 7:00 pace.  Then I jogged another 2 miles to make it an even 9 :)