12 weeks until Marathon

Haven't blogged in a while, but I'm always up for it after a good run.  A little over a month ago, I did a 12 mile run on the treadmill that was just torturous.  I wasn't happy with how it went, which always gets me a little down and unmotivated.

A few weeks later, Nathan and I went to the track to run in order to start preparing our bodies to actually move forward as we run (because unfortunately, the ground won't be moving under us on marathon day).  Nathan was able to run about seven miles until he got really bad blisters, which is pretty good considering he has not been training regularly because of his busy schedule.  I ran 14 miles but was delusional by the end.  I went around a quarter-mile track 56 times!  No wonder I was a little loopy by the end of it!  That night, we went out to dinner, and I treated myself to a nice, big steak :)

In the days following (my Spring Break), I could barely move.  When I could finally exercise again, it hurt to run after only a few miles.  I ended up walking most of the following week and wondered why it was taking my body so long to recover.

I since then have decided to take it a little bit easier.  The training plan I was following starts increasing by three miles each long run, too much in my opinion, especially considering I need to transition from a treadmill to a track to outside (once the weather permits).  Since Nathan is still on track on a different program, I'll be adjusting so that I run following the schedule he is using.  What's nice about the plan I found for him is that it only increases a mile or two each week.  It also doesn't require that we run more than marathon distance before the race (which I was nervous about).  Supposedly, once you run 18 miles, you are ready for marathon day.  

I did not want to go to the track today, so I ran 12 miles on the treadmill at home.  I figured I would race against myself (rather than a schedule) and try to beat my 12 mile time from last month.  I only shaved off a minute, but this run was much for enjoyable.  I feel like I'm back on track in such a way that I am finding pleasure in running again instead of feeling constantly overwhelmed and behind.  It also helped that I downloaded a new song called "Radioactive" by the band Imagine Dragons.  I actually listened to it four times during my run because it totally got me in the zone!

Quote of the day: "I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow" from the song "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons, of course