"Whoohoo! I had a very good day at the rink! Yay for a 6 revolution spin that was nicely controlled, and a salchow jump that I landed on one foot. I THIS close to being fully rotated with checked arms and a straighter entrance! It was so close to being fully rotated that I could taste it, and I felt very light in the air! I know it's far from perfect, but yay!!!!
Afterwards, I decided to do the first day of C25K at the indoor track, which I have an app for on my phone. At times, I was thinking, "geez, when is this going to end?" but I pushed myself to complete it, and it wasn't that bad! I have NO interest in doing an actual 5K, but I'm hoping this will push me to keep working on my endurance as that will help with my skating." 
:)
:)What a journey it has been since....now onto today's chapter: Set back week with a 12 miler.....
Today was my 12 miler, which is leaving me down to the last three weeks of my training! Ahhh!! Where did time go? I absolutely cannot believe that in 3 weeks, I will be hitting my 20 miler (or possibly a bit beyond), then will be considered "trained" for this marathon. Yet, I still possibly can't know everything about running a marathon besides that I need to put one foot in front of the other a million times to make it to the finish. I still want to be as prepared as possible for things to happen, but it's impossible to be fully prepared. I will keep a few physical things on hand, just in case (a few waterproof bandaids, some extra fuel, extra portable sized thing of vaseline, a ziplock baggie or two for my ipod, just in case, and maybe a few other little things as I think of them).
At this point, a lot of stuff I'm experiencing thought wise is pure mental. I CAN do 16 miles, so what's 2 more right? Then, once I hit 18...what's another two more after that? Then, once I hit 20, and have my rest period, I can tack on another 6...okay, maybe 4, but two more to grow on, and cross a finish line...right? But yet, how on earth am I going to be able to continue forward if I'm dead tired by mile 20-22? BTW, the few small inclines I will have at miles 24-25 (please don't laugh, I suck at hills as my area is flat as a pancake), are already getting a big finger from me. I'm just gonna have to stare them down, and put one foot in front of the other. I might have to pause a bit to get my breath, and convince my legs to move, but I will tackle those by putting one foot in front of the other somehow.
So.....in terms of weekly runs, I've been really slacking there. I did run an almost 7 miler this week, but that's about it. I'm hoping to pick up the weekly smaller distance runs a bit now that the ice arena is closed, as I now have more time to focus on finishing training for this marathon. However, the mid distance runs of about 6-8 miles seems to be good for me. The shorter distances of 4-5 should be fine from this point onward. I sometimes still don't run with a music or a watch....just kinda depends on what I feel like doing. I sometimes think I run better without the music, but other times, good tunes help me get my groove going, and make my run much more enjoyable. Running without my watch is also nice at times, so that I don't focus on my pace. I just run according to feel, and that's totally okay, too.
What I am also figuring out now is my "routine" before the long run. I'm finishing that I'm liking to be up about 2-3 hours before the long run. Keep in mind that I am an afternoon runner for my long runs, so this means I'm trying to be up around 9-10 a.m. Yes, I know that's late for a lot of you early risers, but this is what works well for me. I'm finding that having a bowl of cereal, with a cup of coffee, and a banana seems to work well....top off my energy levels, give my body some time to wake up, shower, stretch, and have the chance to use the bathroom before I take off. Starting about two days beforehand, I am trying to drink an electrolyte drink both days, and trying to eat a mostly decent dinner. I'm also noticing that I seem to be eating a bit more before my long run days, so I'm trying to meet those demands...although I caved and polished off two boxes of Girl Scout cookies...
On more serious note, I did have some (mostly) homemade pesto salad, and made up a quiche, both of which I ate last night. Those seem to work pretty well for me, plus I finished off a glass of the GU hydration energy tab mix. That seemed to hold me pretty well until I ate my late breakfast.
Knowing that I "only" had 12 miles, I decided to try and run it at a bit faster speed. AS a whole, it went pretty well, and I finished in 2:04 something, averaging a 10:20 pace. I did have a few miles in the upper 9s, which was really cool. However, I learned two things on this run. One, with using my GU hydration mix, I HAVE to make sure that I'm using the proper concentration. I totally put in the whole package, which is meant for a 21oz bottle, into my 16 oz bottle. I am almost certain that this ended up being too much for me, as I battled some nausea, had to burp several times, and generallly felt a bit blah for a few miles.. I thought that the flavor tasted a bit stronger than before, but I didn't figure out why until after my run. Once I finished my run, and added more water to my bottle, my body settled down. My body needed straight up water, not that mix in order to sort things out. So now, I know that I have to be careful with how much I put in there. Since my bottle is only 16 oz, I shouldn't need more than about 3/4 of the package.
The second thing I learned is that I have to stare down inclines before tackling them. I was running the second half of the marathon course today, and mile 10 is equal mile 24 on the course. I know that all of you hill runners will laugh at me for this, but there are three small inclines in that mile, and they freaking suck. I hate them because I'm NOT done with my run, and I have to somehow have to summon the energy to get myself up and over those damn things. Now, the hard part is that in the marathon, I will have been going for 24 miles at this point, so dang near the finish area, then get slammed in the face with those inclines.
So, what I did today was that I briefly stopped at the bottom of the first incline, took a quick breather/stretched, then stared down the incline, and did my best to tackle it like a boss. I was tired, and soooo looking forward to being done, but at the same time, this was SUPER good mental training for the race day itself. I can only hope that race day will be in the 50s with sunshine and a gentle breeze. I may be running in the rain and colder temperatures for all I know (I was in a t-shirt and capris), and yet, I'm going to get over those inclines. So, my game plan for there, if needed, is to do exactly what I did today....slow down/stop, take breather, quick stretch, and power through. Hopefully, there will be people around (and maybe some funny signs) to help me push past this point, because after that, I'm down to the last mile, and home free.
Also, on positive note, I FINALLY have a marathon training shirt! Yippee!! This shirt is honestly a bit of a morale booster as I run by people, knowing that I'm training for this event. I'm actually already thinking of wearing this on race day (along with my black capris) if it will be a warmer weather race. I wish I could somehow change the word "Training" to "Running" the Illinois Marathon on race day itself, as it won't be exactly like wearing the marathon shirt before actually running the full race, but it would be a nice touch. But yeah, I am training for this marathon, and now have the shirt to prove it. :)
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