Linden's Pensieve

Even though I just started my taper, I decided to take part in Reid’s 1-mile virtual race to support him trying to set a sub-5-minute mile (which he did! Read about it here). My virtual race was pretty good. I did lots of warm up (3 1/2 miles of it) and plenty of cool down as well (6.5 miles of it).

Last week I had quite the runner’s high: 3 mid-week runs at great paces and a virtually spotless 20-mile run. This week, all that came crashing down. After my 12 miler on Wednesday, I had a blister on my ankle caused by deterioration in my shoes. They are unwearable. The run on Friday in my first running shoes (am I really on only my second pair of running shoes?!) was painful,

This week was really good! I don’t know if it’s because I had two full days of rest between last weeks admittedly “short” long run (13 miles), or if I was just pushing myself extra hard for some reason, but my mid-week runs were all done at a pace of less than 12-minute miles.

This week was a cut-back week, and I only ran three times. I felt so sore on Friday and didn’t want to make it worse for the 13 miler on Saturday that I opted to commit to extra stretching and a long walk on Sunday. I think that was a good idea, because I still had pain during the run on Saturday!

As a result of a discussion with Sarah, I decided to commit to stretching more. I think that might help some of my pain, but even if my pain can’t be healed with stretching,

What a week it was! Four runs in five days, including one of my absolute best long runs ever, and the worst run I’ve ever had.

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

run type: training run
route: Started at Seltersweg, out to the 1 1/2-mile marker in Stadtwald Giessen, then back.
feeling: :)

What? I’m eight weeks away from the marathon?! Ahh! That’s sorta scary, sorta exciting, and sorta close! But you know the big day is nearing when you receive your race packet in the mail! That’s right, I am officially registered. My starting number is F6001.

In other news, I have a weight loss victory to report!

Wow! What a whirlwind three weeks! Beth and James visited us, and we spent that time wisely traveling and trying some of Germany’s and the Czech Republic’s fine beers. Oh, and taking thousands of pictures (Any one want to guess how many pictures Beth and I took combined? A beautiful postcard from Giessen, Germany, is the prize for the winner! Post your guesses in the comments section.) We managed to squeeze in 2 runs a week while they were here, and three runs the week they left.

This is, hands-down, the best week I’ve had since we moved to Germany: We picked up my best friend, Beth, and her husband James from the Frankfurt airport Wednesday morning. Beth and James also like to run (and do yoga, play soccer, and just generally stay healthy), so every fun after Tuesday’s was a girl/boy runn: Rob and James out-pace us girls, so they would run up ahead. It was nice not to be pushed by someone who is faster than you and who wants to go faster. :)

Just three runs this week… This cannot keep happening! But if there is one thing I learned from my first round of failed marathon training, I need to be able to balance between work and running if I want to finish. I knew these first few weeks would be the hardest since school is still going on, so I don’t feel too bad cutting corners this week. I don’t expect it to happen again, though. Hold me to it!

A pretty good week, mostly because of the great long run, which I haven’t had in a while. We ran in Berlin on Sunday because we were up for a birthday party (which was really run!). It was… an interesting fun.