6 Days to Race Weekend, 41 Days to the AVON Walk!

It is Sunday morning and I am chilling out in a hotel in Milwaukee, waiting for Room Service to bring breakfast. I am relaxing, watching MythBusters, after doing a quick run in the Fitness Center at 7:15am. I got in 3.65 miles at a 10:45/mm pace (including my warm-up/cool-down walks) and felt pretty good. My 3.06 mile run segment was at a 9:34/mm pace which is acceptable. That brings my weekly mileage (both run and walk miles) to 24 miles (definitely in Taper mode). Now it is time to let my body recover and get ready for the Illinois Marathon Weekend on April 27-28.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. I have running the 5K on Friday night and then the Half Marathon on Saturday. I want to PR both races. I feel that I am prepared physically to achieve my goals. The only concern is the fear of injury during the 5K that could prevent me from running the Half (that would be devastating). My piriformis is doing much better (only slightly sore now), and I am hoping the massage I have scheduled for Tuesday night will help loosen it up a bit further.

I am going to take this week pretty easy. I have a CardioPoint Assessment scheduled for 7AM on Tuesday (to evaluate my heart rate zones since my last assessment in early January). I want to make sure my HRM is set accurately before the race weekend. I look forward to seeing if my VO2 MAX has increased and how my zones have changed. After my assessment, I am going to run a 3-mile Easy Run (my last run before the race weekend). Then later that evening, I will have a 1-hour Sports Massage with focus on my hips, piriformis, and legs. I think that is the most I can do to prepare myself. Starting Tuesday, I will begin carbo-loading across the three days leading up to Friday.

Hey! As of today, I have logged 97 miles! I will surpass 100 miles for the month on Tuesday after my 3-mile run! W00t! Then, add to that 19 miles from the race weekend and a Long Walk on that Sunday (for up to 11 miles), I may log a total of 130 miles for April!! How crazy is that!?

In May, I only have one race scheduled -- the Soldier Field 10-miler. Not really planning on running that race hard - I am treating this as a Fun Run, because the main excitement is to run down the field to the 50-yard Finish! For a Bears fan, it doesn't get much better than that. LOL But other than the 10-Miler, I am going to be reducing my running and increasing my walking in order to be fully prepared for the 39.3 mile AVON Walk. I need to get at least one 18-mile Walk in before the actual event.

So my plan for May is three Walks and one Run each week (the run will be a 6-Mile Easy Run). My three Walks will be a 6-Mile on Wednesdays, a Long Walk on Saturdays, and a 10-Mile Walk on Sundays. The Saturday-Sunday walks are similar to the event itself (which is like the WDW Goofy Challenge but for walking). This will get my body/feet comfortable with the two-day Walk schedule. My 18-Mile Walk is scheduled for the May 20th, 12 days before the AVON Walk itself. I should be in good shape at that point, with plenty of Taper time before June 2nd.

May is going to be another large mileage week, with over 100 miles of walking and 34 miles of running. This will probably be my highest mileage month of 2012. I worry that this might be too many miles! But I am not sure how else I can gradually increase the distance. I suppose I could skip or reduce the Sunday walks. We will have to see how my body responds. I definitely don't want to get injured.

But to raise money to help the fight against Breast Cancer, I am up for the challenge! And if you believe in this fight too, you can help me by making a donation. I appreciate your support.

Bring on the Illinois Marathon Weekend and the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer! I am stoked!!

Setting expectations, tapering, and racking up those miles

This week marks the beginning of my Taper -- the period where you reduce your mileage and workouts leading up to a Race so that your body can recover, repair, and store up Glycogen -- for the Illinois Marathon Weekend on April 27-28. I am doing the "iChallenge" -- running a 5K on Friday night, followed by the Half Marathon on Saturday. When I finish both races, I get medals for both races, plus a third medal to show I completed the iChallenge. Fun stuff! I love a challenge!

So this week, I am cutting down on my running miles (but not my walking mileage for AVON). On Wednesday, I walked for 6.5 miles at a 14:25/mm pace. It was a nice walk on a bike path for part of it (thanks Megan for showing it to me last week). Today, I went to LifeTime Fitness after work to run 3.81 miles on the Treadmill. I decided to do a Tempo Run, with a 3.46 mile run segment at a 9:38/mm pace. I even ran the last 1/2 mile at a faster 8:45/mm pace just to push it a bit. After the run, I foam rolled my piriformis muscle which has been sore for the past week. I am trying to get it nice and comfy before my races next week.

I am hoping to PR both of my races at the Illinois Marathon Weekend. My goal is to run the 5K at a 9:00/mm pace, and run the Half in the 9:30/mm range. We will have to see how this turns out. But as long as I PR the two races, I will be satisfied. A good race result here will be the times I will submit to Disney for corral placement for the WDW Marathon Weekend in 2013.

Earlier this month, I estimated that I would run/walk for over 100 miles in April. So far, I have 'moved' (walked and/or run) for 83 miles! Woo Hoo! There is no doubt now that I will cross the 100-mile/month threshold for April! Since I am tapering, my mileage will be much less than in prior weeks. But even taking that into consideration, it looks like my mileage total will be close to 115. Whew! I just bought my Newtons on March 27th and they already have 60 miles on them!

Today, I spent some time finishing up my training schedule for the ENTIRE YEAR and entering all of that information into my iPad calendar. Now I can just follow the plan day-to-day. I am sure the plans will be adjusted as needed -- certainly once I start my marathon training program through the RRCA, there will be changes to make -- but at least now I have a complete game plan that includes all my scheduled races.

I have to admit that as I entered in all these runs (and walks), I started to get a little panicked. Can I really accomplish all of this??? I mean we are talking hundreds and hundreds of training miles (with many Long Runs in the hottest part of the summer), not to mention the Chicago Marathon AND the Goofy Challenge. I will likely exceed 1000 miles in 2012. Am I crazy??!! I guess we will see -- and you get a front seat right here as I chronicle the journey. Stick with me because I will need all of your support and encouragement as I keep moving forward. We will encourage one another, okay?

Speaking of support, the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer research is coming up fast -- June 2-3, 2012. There is still time if you feel called to support me with a donation, and help us fight the battle for a cure to this disease and help women and men get the care they need to overcome. Just click the SUPPORT ME link at the top of this page to learn more and make a donation. Thanks!