Vegas Marathon Training: Wrapping up Week 1

Both Thursday and Friday were cross training days for me, due to the 5k on Saturday and the fact that I chose to do my long run this time with the Mach Tenn Running Club on Sunday. That's not exactly how FIRST says to do it, but I am not that anal. I was looking forward to meeting some of the people in the running club, and they were having a 13 mile group run - exactly the distance FIRST said I was doing - so I thought it was a good idea.

I ended up riding my bike almost 14 miles with a coworker during my lunch break on Thursday. Nothing too exciting, just a nice little loop to keep me in the saddle.

On Friday, I finally made it back to the pool. Instead of going early in the morning, I waited until around 11:00 and brought Bo along. Much to my surprise, as I picked out a lane at the pool, I noticed that Coach Dan, who used to coach the swim team Briar was on, was swimming next to me. YES!!! "What perfect timing!!!" I thought to myself. I have emailed him some lately asking for tips, and he has been very gracious to try and help me. I didn't think he recognized me, and I didn't want to interrupt his workout, so I just started my workout hoping that he might recognize my stroke from the McMinnville City Tri video. After a good while we spoke, and I re-introduced myself. He took one look at my stroke and gave me 2 things to correct. I am stoked about the possibility of correcting these things and hopefully getting faster!! I am hitting the pool tomorrow morning with the sole purpose of working on these.

Saturday, ofcourse, was the 5k, and Sunday was my first long run for Vegas Marathon Training. I met some of the club members at Motlow College at 6:30 a.m. We introduced ourselves, chatted a minute, and then took off on the 13 mile loop. My pace was supposed to be "Planned Marathon Pace (9:00) + 30 seconds". Well, most of them were running faster than that, so I kept up. The first 3 miles averaged around 9:00, but then everybody stood around a couple minutes at the water/gu stop, so that set the pace back some. I was not used to doing that - I normally don't stop during a long run, mostly out of fear that I won't start back. But as it turned out, we did that every 3 miles. The run was beautiful - lots of scenic country sides and places I wished I could build a house on. One guy with us was great at keeping the dogs away, and the other female with us really pushed my pace. Around mile 9 we encountered probably the most monsterous hill I've ever tried to attempt on foot. I ran it as long as I could, then had to revert to walking the rest of the way. Most all of my miles(except for every 3rd) were between 8:20 and 9:30, but my final time for the 13 miles was 2:08 - a 9:50/mile pace. Not exactly a 9:30 pace, but it was a fun and beneficial experience, and I was sweating buckets by the time I was done. My shoes were even "squishing" like I had been running in the rain. I had to take off as soon as I was done in order to make it back in time for church.