Taper Time!

Sunday:  5 miles
Monday:  20 miles
Wednesday:  4 miles
Friday:  8 miles
Saturday:  4 miles
Monday:  10 miles
Tuesday:  5 miles
Wednesday:  5 miles
Friday:  20 miles

Two Week Total:  76 miles

The second 20-miler was another Tour de Twinsburg on a very warm day.  I was out for 3:17 which is well over marathon pace but I am not going to freak out. Did you hear that?  Not. Freaking. Out.   It was super warm and I struggled with a very negative internal voice.  Thus, the run became more of a mental training session despite fried legs and sore feet.  No matter how you slice a marathon there will always be a rough patch.  Typically this will fall in the last 6 miles but I fell apart once at mile 11 (Charlottesville Marathon) and once at mile 15 (San Diego).  You better know how to silence your brain if you have to gut out 2 or 3 hours of agony in the second half of a marathon!

So now it's taper time.  I am not working much so it should be a productive couple of weeks.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself.  Time to bring back the yoga that has been sadly missing in my life.  I also want to revisit my 5-lb weights and get some strength back.

Abby has improved her 2-mile cross country time to 14:17!  This weekend is the big Woodridge Meet at Pine Hollow (also known locally as the Sound of Music hill).  It will not be a fast time but that place is truly magical and I hope she has a great day. 

Gina is swim, swim, swimming and realizing that high school swim season is just around the corner.  We are not looking forward to the oh-dark-thirty alarm for the 5:30am swim practice. 

Fall seems to have safely arrived after all that scorching heat of September.  I wish it would last until April!

Twenty Mile Tour de Twinsburg

Monday:  5 miles
Wednesday:  5 miles
Friday:  13 miles
Sunday:  3.5 miles with Abby
Monday:  8 miles
Wednesday:  4 miles
Thursday:  5 miles
Saturday:  8 miles

From the above record it does not appear that I am doing much training for the upcoming Columbus Marathon, but it is slowly filling in little by little.  The week before last was insane with lots of work, two school open houses, our 19th wedding anniversary and Abby's 13th birthday.  Oh yeah, we also went to NY and visited my family over Labor Day. 

The Friday night 13 miler was ridiculous and we can leave it at that.  This morning I did my first 20-miler and I am fairly pleased with how it went.  It's never easy.  That's why it's called a training run.  Today I toured my lovely little community for a bit over three hours.  Down the bike path, past the schools, uphill to the garden and then up, up, up the Old Hickory Trail until my turn around point at 5 miles where I turn around and head for home.  I don't mind stopping at home once but that's about the limit.  It gives me a chance to fill up bottles and use the bathroom before heading out for another 10-mile loop.  The weather was perfect this morning and I am so grateful for that.  Now I can check that off the training schedule.  I will do another 12 or 13 miler next weekend and then another 20 after that.  Then it's taper time!  WooHoo!  I am vacillating between wanting to do really well at Columbus (sub-4 hours) and just running to celebrate my 10th marathon.

Abby is doing really well with middle school cross country.  The first two dual meets were on days where the temperature was over 90 degrees.  She really struggled but who wouldn't.  Here is a photo of her at the meet in Cuyahoga Falls.  That day she finished at about 16 minutes. The tears were flowing in between her gagging episodes.  However, this Saturday she ran in Brecksville with much cooler temps and cruised her way to a 14.23 finish.  That's a PR for her so she was super happy.  Most of the other girls are soccer players and have lots of running and endurance under their belts.  Next year they will all most likely go back to soccer which is good for Abby but not for the team.  In typical Denise fashion, I guess I really don't get the big deal about soccer.  I was never good at ball games, so its no surprise that I have a swimmer and a runner!  I can't imagine anything worse than playing a game where I have to chase after a ball.  The other thing is that I always try to promote life long fitness. I may be guilty of somehow persuading the girls to try sports that they could continue as adults.  I see lots of adults running and swimming.  I don't see too many playing soccer - usually just sitting on the sidelines screaming at their kids.  But I digress....................

Jerry is in China.  My mommy is coming to hang with me this week.  I'm really looking forward to some down time!  I think I can turn her into a vegetarian yet!