12 weeks to Boston

Just popping in for a training update! I had hoped to post weekly regarding this, but between being a wife, mom, working(I have been working extra hours since it is flu season), interviewing for graduate school, and training I have not had the time to sit down to write this blog.
It is exciting that Boston Marathon is 12 weeks away! I am even more excited that training is going so well! Yes, there have been runs that are not enjoyable. As in, while running I keeping thinking "can this just be done?" However, so many of the runs feel amazing!
I had found on the Boston Marathon page a training plan, after looking at the training plan I got excited! I looked over the workouts (especially the speed workouts), and felt they would help me get to where I need to be. There were a lot of marathon pace workouts, which I feel will help me the most. In my last training cycle for No Frills Marathon, there were not ANY marathon pace work. During that marathon, even though it was a PR, I did not feel I could get into the pace I wanted because I hadn't practiced the pace. I feel this is going to get me that 3:20:00 marathon (or faster).

Here's what last week looked like for training:
Most of this was on the treadmill due to my work schedule and the fact that it is really dark in the mornings!

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Treadmill miles: 2x(4x800m) at 10k pace (6:40min/mile) with 90 sec recovery. 5 min between each set. Total miles for the run was 9.03

Wednesday: Treadmill miles: 8.86 miles easy pace
Thursday: Treadmill miles: Tempo run 3x15 min at marathon pace (7:30ish min/mile) with 5 min recovery     between sets. 10 miles total
Friday: Treadmill miles, 6.02 easy pace
Saturday: Treadmill miles 6 miles easy pace
Sunday: Got the day off work! 21 miles outside! Last 4 miles run at marathon pace. This was a tough run, but good. My legs felt really strong! Total runner's high!

View on my 21 miler

Part of the reason I feel that my running has been going so well is that I have been doing strength training. I had a gait assessment done and the therapist said that I need to strengthen my hips. I guess having 4 babies made them a bit weak, who knew? So, I have been doing exercises to strengthen my hips. I have also been doing squats, lunges, and planks regularly. I believe it's the little things that are making the difference.

Hoping your week and month are going well! I do hope to get another post up next week.

Question of the post:
What are the little things you are doing to improve things in your life?

Weekend running recap!

Hello everyone reading this! I thought I would give you the low down on my weekend and running. Hopefully, it will brighten your Monday. Since it was -13 degrees out on Saturday morning, this is what happened:

Yep, 10 miles on the treadmill. That may be the farthest I have ever done on a treadmill. Because my legs felt so good on Friday before Spin Class, which was great cross training (more on that in another post), I decided I wanted to get a 10 mile run in. My plan was to start out slow and see what my legs would do. I told my self if I have to run the whole thing slow that is okay, but if I feel like I can push the pace I will. I just want to feel good and strong through the run. I started slow at about an 8:30min/mile pace and worked my way down to 7;30min/mile pace. Essentially, I did a progression run. A progression run is where you get progressively faster during the run. It's a great way to train your body to finish strong in races. It was a great way to start out our Saturday.

We took the kiddos to visit Santa at the fire station in the town over for us. It is such a cute event that the fire department does every year. They have Santa come in and then the kids can plan in the fire trucks. Not sure which our kids liked better. Families can also bring a toy to be donated to families in need. Plus, there is cookies and milk after, what could be better. We finished the day up by putting up the Christmas tree and decorations.
Sunday started out by going to church, to the grocery store, lunch, laundry, a visit from a old babysitter, and dinner. Lastly, a easy 7 miles on the treadmill. I hope you all had a great weekend!

How was your weekend? 

What are you looking forward to this week?