Marathon Training Update

Time for a marathon training update!  I don't have any pictures of me running, but I have these two cool CHARTS that I thought I'd share!  The data is far from perfect--like really far.  It's all collected from my Garmin watch--it was dead for a few months this Spring and sometimes I just don't wear it, but it's a decent rough picture of what the last four years of my running has looked like.

So this first graph shows miles per month over the past four years... although their are quite a few months missing.  My favorite realization here--the pink bar, April 2008, was when I was living in Boston alone (Sol had moved to DC ahead of me) and I just RAN all the time.  One of my highest months of running and if you look at the second chart it was also my fastest month.  90+ miles at a 8:30 pace.  Insane.  And as you can see, I was seriously injured because of it and barely ran after.  Then I got pregnant... ran two marathons... got pregnant again... ran three marathons... and just finished my second highest month of mileage ever. (The green stars are marathons. I was having a lot of fun decorating this chart. NERD!)



And then this chart is my pace per mile.  For a point of reference, I need to run about an 8:15 mile to qualify for Boston--although I train at a MUCH slower pace.  This one is a little more interesting to look at--you can see how pregnancy gradually slows me down (13:00 min mile!!!), and then I slowly get back in shape.  Pace is also harder to measure because I run about an 11-12 min/mile when I'm pushing the stroller, do my long runs at about a 9:15 min/mile and do some speedwork even faster.  But it's a nice rough picture of what is going on with my ole legs.



So um, thanks for indulging me. I'm a math teacher.  I like to make charts.

As I've mentioned, I'm currently training for the Chicago Marathon and have almost decided to sign up for the Philadelphia Marathon as well.  It's six weeks after Chicago and one I've always wanted to run. It's supposed to be pretty flat and fast--and it's driving distance away.  So I might as well squeeze another in while I'm in shape, right?

Training has been going pretty well--I've running six days a week and have missed very few workouts. I try to switch out some of the smaller runs for cross training or weight lifting, but I really don't like to because I'm a punk.  I did my first track workout in a VERY long time yesterday and it was awesome--six 800s ranging between 3:14 and 3:29. I was aiming for under 3:35, so I was really excited with that. All in all it's going well.  Who knows how it will go on race day, but I'm enjoying myself and hopeful that I can PR at the very least.

It's still challenging finding time to run, between the boys and the heat, but I'm managing to make it work.

And really, what's more inspiring than the Olympics to make you feel like training a little harder?  I mean, I feel like a lazy slob about 100% of the time watching those people do their thing.  GO USA!