Week 11 of Glass City marathon training is done! We only have 5 more weeks of training left. That sure doesn’t seem like much! I ran 46 miles this week, along with some biking. My week started out rough and painful, and ended very nicely.

Sun – Just wanted to circle back to last Sunday because we actually got to go on our first mountain bike ride of the season.  The trails were in great condition.  Up until now I would never have realized that riding bikes on wet trails actually ruins them (leaves ruts).  I feel like a more educated cyclist now! 🙂

Mon – 1.5 miles walking, treadmill. Oh man, my legs were still in really bad shape from Saturday’s race.  I was in pain going up and down stairs.  I thought I might try some easy miles on the treadmill, but after just a minute of that, I shut it down and just walked instead.  Yikes. After that I did a 15 min stretching video with my son which made me look like the most inflexible person on earth.  I just wasn’t feeling it, so no photo today.  A blah day.

Tues – 9 miles.  Our track night is now going to be on Thursday, so I made arrangements to get this run done in the morning, outside.  This meant going in to work 2 hours late, but luckily my boss is a runner and he understands!  It was a gloomy day, but luckily no wind so all was well.  I wasn’t sure how my legs would be feeling, but it was decent enough to get in a mostly progressive run instead of pace miles.  A job well done deserved a stop at Starbucks!  [Stars update: balance is 5,275 stars left… equal to 35 free drinks!]

Weds – 6 miles, treadmill. I had to be at work early for a meeting, so I opted to get this one done before work because I had special plans after work.  Partying on St. Patrick’s day with my first COVID shot!  Wooooohooooo!  I got the Pfizer shot and besides the sore arm, I also was super tired a few hours after my shot.  My husband had a sore arm also, but wasn’t tired. We went to a mass vaccination site and the efficiency of this place was amazing. Everyone was not only speedy but also friendly and helpful. They told us they were doing 4,600 shots that day. Wow!

Thurs – 5 miles.  It was our first night of outdoor track… and the weather sucked!  It had been super windy and rainy all day.  With all of the water on the track during the day, our track night was cancelled.  No worries, I didn’t want to run in that ugly stuff!  So I ran on my treadmill instead.  6 x 800m with 1 min rest.

Fri – 6.2 miles.  I was feeling a bit of soreness from last night’s speedwork.  But overall this was an OK run and I enjoyed the early morning sun!

Sat – 18.2 miles, long run!  This run actually went by fast, despite it being 3 hours of running.  I’ve reached the point in my training when I think running 18 miles is no big deal.  Who am I?  LOL!

It was a bit of a comical run because although I had the route on my watch, I wasn’t the one who created the route and I kept taking wrong turns.  The first 10 miles with the half marathon group was pretty close to our 10:15 goal pace overall.  My husband even stopped along our route to give us cheers and take a picture 🙂

For the last 8 miles I ended up running with one guy and we just talked and didn’t pay attention to our pace.  I’m fine with that as long as it’s comfortable, conversational pace! Near the end of the run we picked up the pace even more because he needed to be somewhere, and I ran mile 18 solo.  A strong finish!

We enjoyed tacos and Mexican food to celebrate our long run accomplishments.

Sun – Rest day (from running…).  We will be going back to Ray’s MTB (Indoor Mountain Bike park)!  Here’s a link from the last time we went there.

In case you missed it, here’s a race recap from the Shamrockin’ Mayhem last weekend.  3rd in my age group.  Woot!! 🙂

Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!

Q: Do you ever use the course navigation feature on your Garmn watch (if you have it)?

I still have a lot to learn about using it.  I need more practice!

Q: Are the COVID vaccines being offered to more age groups in your area?

They just opened ours up to everyone over 16 years old!  We are waiting to track down a Johnson & Johnson (1 dose) shot for my daughter.  She does not do well with shots!!

27 thoughts on “Weekly workouts – GCM training, week 11”
    1. It seems like we have an abundance of shots now! The GCM runners are on a tight timeline now because you had to have been vaccinated for 2 full weeks prior to the race on April 25th, so depending on which shot you got, you might not make that deadline. Even so, I hope everyone decides to get the vaccine. I want to move on!

  1. Nice work on that bike ride. I can concur about the damage bikes do to the muddy trails. Ugh.

    No systemic side effects from your vaccine? Our vaccine distribution is not at all well organized here in Illinois. I’ve tried valiantly to get one for my husband but it’s ridiculous. My son did get his in Wisco, tho. He got the J&J. No side effects for the win!

    1. The first shot did hurt my arm more than I expected it to, and that sudden bit of fatigue. Oh, we did both feel an odd soreness in our chest/back too, but after 48 hours all was gone. My friend lucked out and they had J&J when she went so she got that. I hope you find one for your husband soon. That is frustrating!

    1. The tiredness hit me like a train all of a sudden, but went away after a bit. My friend just got his 1st shot and had flu-like symptoms. So odd! Who knows what shot 2 holds for us!

  2. What an awesome week- 18 miles, woo-hoo!

    And I’m so happy for you for getting vaccinated. Ohio is way ahead of Minnesota. My sister is there and is a healthy 41 year old and had her first shot already. Glad your reaction wasn’t too bad.

    5 more weeks! Time is flying

  3. I’m so impressed you got your first vaccine AND run 18 miles, LOL! That’s the longest I’ve ever run & it seems SO long ago (it was, about 3 years I think). Now my long runs are 6 miles. 🙂

    No, as of today, anyway, it’s still 60+, or if you have medical conditions, essential workers, yadda yadda & I am none of those things. Everyone does say that once you get the appointment, the actual process of getting the shot is extremely well organized.

    1. I was super frustrated with the scheduling process for the shots. I am happy to help others find appointments now. I’m glad my parents and aunts/uncles were able to figure out!

      1. Scheduling is still kind of a mess, but they did drop the age this week & thanks to friends I got my first one Wednesday. Then went to see my mom the next day (3 1/2 hours driving total). By the afternoon I started to run a slight fever so the drive home was super fun. NOT! Thankfully by midday today (Friday) everything seems resolved.

        Now time for my husband’s second on Monday!
        Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…Learning my Garmin: Runfessions March 2021My Profile

  4. Sounds like you had a great week- 18 mile long run are exciting! Does five ore weeks of training include the taper?
    Yay for the covid shot! I’m eligible but haven’t managed to get an appointment yet. But I’m not upset- we’ll all get it eventually!
    Jenny recently posted…Weekly Rundown- Aging Up!!!My Profile

  5. Supposedly, April is 5th is magical date for Iowa. Frankly, I’m not in a big hurry. Others need it more than I do, and I don’t want to deal with all the hassle of trying to be first in line. Your mileage is awesome! Yeah…five weeks is not too far off… 🙂

    1. I’m sure the marathon is motivating a lot of my friends, but it does seem like everyone I know is getting their vaccines now. That’s a very good sign!

  6. Great mileage for you this week! I got tired just reading about it. :-). I also chuckled when I saw how many Starbucks stars you had left. I am so tempted to apply for the credit card but not sure how much that will affect my credit since I am looking to buy a house. Maybe I can apply once I buy a house.

    1. Good thinking about waiting until after you buy a house to open the card. Maybe they will run another super special on the sign up bonus! I was actually going to try a new drink flavor last time I went buy my app said they were out of some ingredients for it. Hopefully I’ll get to try it before they discontinue it!

  7. Congrats on your AG award! That next-day soreness is a small price to pay. 😉 LOL on being late to work due to your run. As long as I don’t have a morning conference call I can set my own schedule. Wow on your 18 miler. I can’t imagine that seeming easy!

    1. But is 2 day soreness worth it? haha! I was a bit of wreck from that race. Sure didn’t seem like it at the time though! I am clearly drinking the Koolaid now because the 18 milers don’t seem bad at all. And to think I used to worry about 8 milers! I guess that’s a clear sign the training is working.

  8. Oh, yay for opening up the shots! I want just one shot, too, but Ill take what I can get.

    Great training week for you! I’m so glad everything is going so well!

    1. I bet we could find a J&J shot if I spent some time calling around every day. Not quite ready for that step yet, but we’ll see. My friend got one, so I know they exist!

  9. great week! so is GC going on as a live event? 5 weeks to go! That’s nuts!

    It’s awesome that you have a boss who understands runner’s needs! My team and manager aren’t runners but they have always been super supportive of my training, when I have had training of course… nowadays I look at my work schedule, figure out my workouts and then either start work early or stay later.

    Glad you were able to get your shot! our rollout is just horrific. I don’t want to even think about it anymore 🙁

    you had some great runs – well done on the long run too. I never use the navigation but I have a friend who absolutely swears by it! Usually I make a long run route and then show my husband. Because he’s normally ahead of me, it normally goes wrong because he’s directionally -challenged- ha!

    1. When I plan my own routes they are just out and backs! I like the simplicity of that, but our training group tends to grumble when they run out and backs so we like to try and mix it up for them. Yep, Glass City marathon will be live! As you can imagine they are taking all kinds of precautions, and the marathon starting time has been bumped up to 6:30 am (with the half at 7:30) to spread the runners apart. I think it will be a good race!

    1. Well boo on Virginia vaccine roll out! Ours ramped up pretty quick in terms of availability – I hope your state does too! Thanks, it was fun to be racing again!

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