Short and sweet weekly roundup

Thanksgiving week, marathon week, kids out of school, so much to do and no time to do it! So now that I used up all my blogging time worrying about the marathon, I'll have to make this roundup brief.

Monday, 11/16:

6-mile run

A tough one. SuperAthlete J proposed that we run the first 3 miles in our "zones" (the heart rates where we're most efficient) and do the second 3 at "tempo" (higher heart rates, where we're burning calories from carbs, not fat). Three miles was a long time to stay in a heart rate that high, but I did it -- and keeping myself there was made easier by the fact that one mile of the three was uphill. Whew, I was wiped out afterward and thankful to be done.

Tuesday, 11/17:

57 minutes on the stairclimber in zone 2 (approx. 148 bpm)

See how I can't round up to an hour? That feels too much like cheating to me. I know, ridiculous. This was supposed to be a running day but I'd run the day before and needed to do intervals the day after, and I didn't want to risk three days in a row.

Wednesday, 11/18:

Full-body weights

Intervals at the track: 3.75 miles total

A split day: weights early in the afternoon, intervals in the evening. I already posted about my wonderful rainy track experience with my husband so I won't repeat myself except to say I was so grateful to have him come along with me.

Thursday, 11/19:

1 hour on the treadmill in low zone 1 (approx. 110 bpm)

I thought this would be an easy, relaxing workout and it was -- until I got off the treadmill and discovered that my legs were incredibly sore. Why is that? Does a fat-burning workout increase lactic acid production? Unfortunately, my legs were already a little sore when I started ... this really made them feel worse. Ugh.

Friday, 11/20:

Upper-body weights

30 minutes on the elliptical in regular zone 1 (approx. 125 bpm)

It drove me crazy that I ran out of time and couldn't manage my usual 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. So, in my OCD weekly exercise log, I also wrote that I biked with Little C to school, rode on my own to the bike shop, walked home after dropping the bike off for a complimentary tune, ran back to the bike shop to pick it up, biked to the gym to work out, then biked back to school to pick up Little C. Think that made up for the 15 minutes I lost on the elliptical? I hope so. What a weirdo I am.

Saturday, 11/21:

Rest

I had a hard time taking this as a rest day when I'd done so much less exercise than usual during the week, thanks to the shorter runs on the marathon training schedule. Fortunately, it ended up being a really busy day so I couldn't make time to exercise.

Sunday, 11/22:

8-mile run

Full-body weights

The last run of any significant distance before the marathon and it did not feel as easy as I would have liked. Instead, it was a push. SuperAthlete J and I reversed our usual loop, same as we'd done separately the week before. For me, it felt harder than it did when I ran it while in the throes of a cold -- WTF? The hills were brutal and I couldn't help but wonder, "If this is how I feel on an 8-mile run, how am I ever going to get through 26?" I started having visions of feeling that awful sense of exhaustion just a few miles into the marathon, and I had to work to push them out of my head. Instead, I focused on the reasons that I might have been extra tired: still getting over my cold; too much to drink at a dinner party with friends the night before, followed by really minimal sleep; poor eating the day before; no protein at breakfast because I overslept and didn't want to eat anything heavy less than an hour before running; eating too close to the start of the run. Hopefully at least one of those reasons has some credence, otherwise I may be in trouble.