Finally. I finally feel like I’m getting in the groove of my marathon training. All in all, it was a pretty great week. Hitting weekly mileage that I haven’t had in a long time (46 miles this week!).

  • Training for: Glass City Marathon, April 28th
  • Miles run this week: 46

Monday – 6 easy miles, treadmill.  I was actually debating on this run because I woke up with a tight feeling shin on the left side.  It felt tight when I pointed my toes. For some reason that tightness appeared after my long run on Saturday, but I figured it was just caused by sitting on that part of my leg in the wrong way.  I iced it, and didn’t feel anything on Sunday. Odd it came back this morning, but it didn’t bother me when I walked or ran, so I got my miles in. Overall the run felt good! My breakfast was a bit sad though. I was trying not to waste food, so I ate the leftover waffles from Sunday. Boring!

As a bonus though, when I got to work I had one of these. Yummm! Have you ever seen these before? I’m not sure who left it in the lunchroom, but thanks!! 🙂

Tuesday –  5 miles speedwork  Track night!! I was sub coaching for the Dave’s Running MIT (Marathon in Training) group.  Our workout was 10 min warm up, 2 x 2400m (1.5 miles) with 2 min rest and 10 mins cooldown. My group was only 2 other runners, but that just meant we had lots of great conversations!  It was as little slower than my tempo pace, but it still felt like a good push.

Wednesday  – 6 miles easy.  I was seriously considering just going back to sleep when that 5:30am alarm went off, BUT, that would throw off the rest of my week’s workouts, so I hopped on the treadmill.  Despite not getting the 24 hrs rest since my last workout, this run went well. I was a bit thrown off when I thought it was 5 miles, but checked my schedule and it was 6 miles!  Glad to get it done 🙂

Thursday – 9 (!!) miles, pace run.  Happy Valentines day! 🙂 It was a wonderful day. My run was supposed to be 6 miles at marathon pace, but I decided to make it 7… and then I needed a cool down too, so it turned into 9 miles.  Yeah! I’m still not sure if I can run 26.2 miles at this pace, but I can run 7 miles. haha

It also started a 5 day weekend for me. 5 days! And oh, look at my painful fingers. Ugh. I guess it’s Raynauds. I never used to have that issue, but in the past few years it’s been getting worse.

Next stop, the gym! Thursday is leg day. Got it done.

Then I went to lunch with my husband, and we enjoyed a beer. Yes, a BIG beer.

For dinner the family cooked a great meal, followed by cake my husband made. You can see why he’s a keeper!

Friday – 5 easy miles.  I opted to stay on the treadmill so I could watch the Celebrity Big Brother finale.  Almost finished it… but didn’t.

Saturday – 15 miles, long run.  I was the sub coach for the Dave’s MIT 10:00 min mile pace group today.  We had a good time! Good time = nice chats, and right on pace!  I didn’t even realized that I had run 2 ½ hours until I looked at my Garmin data.  Wow! I haven’t run that far in a long time!

The best part? Our fastest mile was our last mile, and I didn’t feel like dying at the end! Win!! And here’s the celebratory donut for 15 miles….

Sunday – R.E.S.T.!!  But I did manage to walk on my treadmill to finish up Big Brother. I’m actually shocked at who won! I wanted that person gone from the start of the show… but it was won by a person who needed the money I think.

So that wraps up week 7. I feel like I’m really getting into the plan. I don’t fear an 8 mile run, and I’m not starving or exhausted every day. It’s funny how a training plan eases you into the miles, and builds you up properly. Week 8, here I come!!

** Need more inspiration? Check out these other blogs in the Weekly Wrap hosted by HoHo Runs and Wendy (Taking the long way home). Thanks for hosting!! **

Q: Do you have any circulation issues or painful fingers from the cold?

Q: Did you celebrate Valentines Day? Get a box of chocolates??

Q: Did you watch Celebrity Big Brother?  Did you like the winner?

25 thoughts on “GCM training week 7 – in the groove!”
  1. I don’t have Reynaud’s but my hands do get really cold when I run — even when I’ve worn good gloves! My husband sent me red roses and chocolates at work, so I guess I’ll get over the fact that he’ll never make me a cake. 😉 I do think your body gets used to more mileage as you build up, but I still get rungry from time to time!

    1. I still eat a lot, but those first few weeks I was soooooo hungry all the time! And super tired. 7 weeks seems like a long time for it to click, but I’m glad I’m finally getting there! My fingers have been getting painful after just driving home from work in my cold car for 10 mins. It’s so annoying!

  2. Nice job this week! It’s always a great feeling when you feel like you’re finally hitting your groove in training 🙂

    I’ve never seen those DD coffee things before but they look yummy!

  3. I have seen similar bars that have ground coffee beans (?) mixed in with other flavors (chocolate and caramel). Not sure of the brand, but I thought they actually were pretty tasty (and I am NOT a coffee gal). It’s crazy how our bodies adapt to the excess miles that training requires. I’m still kind of in off-season mode (in terms of mileage), but have been increasing the intensity of my runs, and adding a few extra miles here and there. My first “big” run isn’t until the first part of April, and it’s a 10-miler, which isn’t that big of a training issue for me. I won’t be in marathon training mode until mid-summer, so I’m enjoying the easy mileage for now LOL

    1. As much as I love the consistency of a training plan, I’m also happy for the flexibility to do whatever you want when you’re not on a serious plan. Despite the heat, I do enjoy summer running a lot!

  4. Great week for you! Of course you’ll handle that marathon pace when the time comes. 😀 Wait. Your hubby made a cake?? Wow. Mine can broil a steak and other than that he’s clueless. Lucky you!

  5. I definitely have Reynaud’s- sometimes it takes a really long time before my fingers aren’t white anymore!

    I appreciate when other runners can still enjoy a donut and/or a beer 🙂 Live a little!

    1. No more shin soreness after that event – it’s all good! I do have a spot on the side of my foot that’s quite suspicious, but it doesn’t hurt when I run. It is really suspect though, I’m not liking it! I notice it because I sit cross legged a lot and the pressure on that spot makes it mad.

  6. I love it when marathon training starts to feel GOOD! Nothing like being in the flow, right?!
    How fun that you got to sub-coach! Do you do that often? I have been thinking lately to do an assistant-training course, but I’m just not sure if I have time or energy for it.
    Whoah 5 days off! And that beer! Haha! That’d be my husband “Just one beer…”
    The donut you had was definitely earned!
    All in all a great week of mileage for your training!

    I don’t have circulation issues – but I have tingling in my foot that literally no specialist knows how to treat (or where it comes from). So I have to watch how I sit or lay down.
    I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day (and very ok with that) so no chocolates last week. At least not on Thursday haha!
    I’m in the Netherlands so no Celebrity Big Brother either!

    1. Howdy Netherlands!! The training plan is 17 weeks, and I signed up to help out as a sub coach, so I fill in whenever one of the coaches is out. There are 7 different pace groups, but I can realistically only sub for maybe 3 of them. Not too fast, not too slow!! But each group has 3 coaches, so it’s plenty of opportunities for me. Short answer – maybe every 2 or 3 weeks! I do enjoy interacting with all of the people training for the marathon (or half marathon). I’ve made a lot of great friendships in this training program! I didn’t want to commit to the all of the training days with the group (track day and long run day), so that’s why I decided to just sub coach.
      Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    1. It was really good! I would have preferred dark chocolate, but I rarely say No to chocolate! Well, actually I do pass on white chocolate sometimes. What a snob I am 🙂

  7. That celebratory donut was well-earned! You had a great week of workouts, and one ginormous beer 🙂 Hehe. My fingers turn blue when I’m cold though I’m not sure if it’s a circulatory issue or not. Very strange. And it makes me thankful for cozy gloves even when I’m indoors!

    1. Speaking of indoors – why are offices always so cold? I work at a bank and my desk is always freezing. I have a blanket that I put on my lap when I sit at my desk!

    1. Thanks! I like seasonal beers the best. That beer is a “two pull” – it’s a mix of a bock and a lager beer. Two beers that they brew at their brewery. It’s quite delish!

  8. Raynaud’s is the worst. It takes my fingers so long to get back to normal sometimes. It makes it so hard to do things, like make breakfast and pour my coffee! All I want to do is be warm! lol My toes get it sometimes, too. That’s a weird feeling.

    Nice job on those runs!! Your training is coming along really nicely!

    I’ve never watched that show. I don’t even know if I know what it’s about. haha

    1. Yes!! Raynaud’s makes everything a pain when it’s all flared up! ugh. Celebrity Big Brother involves a bunch of people (12 I think) living all together in a house for a month or so (yep, I really pay attention to the details). Anyhow, they vote each other out and compete for control of the house (the voting). I like to watch them compete because there are really crazy competitions. I’m also a big Survivor fan. I’m watching the season premiere tonight!

  9. Good job with your training and finally feeling in your groove. That’s always nice when that (finally) happens! I don’t think it gets cold enough here for me to have circulation issues from the cold. I’ve run in colder weather before when I lived elsewhere and not had issues, though.

    1. I wonder if it’s a certain temperature that triggers it. Today I ran outside and it was close to 35 degrees. I ran without gloves for a while and I didn’t have any issues when I came indoors. That would be a good piece of data for me to track from now on!

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