Marathon Training Update

Since I haven’t posted an update on my training in awhile, I thought now would be a good time as I am now a couple of weeks into double digits on my long runs. I am continuing to follow my own “no burning out” training schedule which has me running at most twice a week.

A few weeks ago, after speaking with a few people (who have never run long distances) about my training, I started to doubt it. I am doing about half of my workouts right now on the elliptical and a couple of people in one week sort of scoffed and said that the elliptical was easy. Deep down, I know that the speed and resistance I do during my elliptical workouts has my heart pounding and my legs like jelly at the end of the workout. The way I use the machine makes it actually more difficult for me than running. Still the negative outside feedback made me question myself until I returned again to the gym and went all out on the elliptical, proving to myself that this type of training works. For me.

Over the past couple weeks I have had a couple of incredible long runs, a ten miler in the dark on a “warm” (36 degree) evening after Christmas while my hubby rode his bike alongside me and a very snowy New Year’s Eve eleven miler through the streets of Boston, South Boston, and Brookline. I map out my long run routes so that they include a variety of hills and inclines, up and down to keep my legs guessing.. No Charles River running for me, I did that when training for Bermuda and was NOT prepared. While I find it a lovely location for running, it is flat and I hate being able to see the miles and miles I have to run. It’s so much more interesting to run through a variety of neighborhoods!

Other than my long runs, my week looks a little like this:

One elliptical hill workout 45- 60 minutes, 8 minute miles at a 7-11 incline with 1/2 mile at 16 incline

One elliptical or spinning bike speed workout, 30 minutes

One other cross training workout, yoga, and this past weekend, snow shoeing!

How do I feel?

I have never had such wonderful, fun long runs in my entire life. Never. I always see runners who look light end effortless and wonder why I feel like I am trying so hard. Suddenly, I feel as light as they look. I don’t have a hint of injury or pain anywhere in my body (other than the stiffness from spending 10 plus hours a day at a computer). I am not bored with my training and I do not feel at all burnt out. The only issue that I feel on my long runs is tight calves which is natural as the elliptical doesn’t work the calves as much as running does. As a result I have started doing calf strengthening toe raises and stretches to make sure that I fatigue these muscles as much as my quads. I also get the usual post workout muscle soreness, but it magically seems to go away quickly stretching and general activity. I am recovering more quickly than I ever have.

My official BAA Boston Marathon application is arriving in the mail this week, and I am SO excited to fill it out! I know just seeing it will boost my morale even further and will get me psyched for all of the upcoming workouts planned.

I am slowly fundraising away. I would LOVE to raise $1500 by January 15 so if you know of anyone who might be interested in supporting The ALLY Foundation, please send them to my site:

http://firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally

That’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with the winner of my Skin MD Naturals giveaway and a recipe for an awesome Indian inspired chickpea dish that is my lunch this week.

Have a good night!