Puttin' the miles into the bank

Since my last post, which was now ages ago, things have been busy and the days feel like they're flying by.  I've been training hard for the upcoming 26.2, working like crazy, and making sure to fit in lots of essential recovery and filling up with nutritious food (well, for the most part - there may have been a few cheezie/candy binges thrown in there!).  There have been a couple of 3 hour runs, some tempo sessions, and a set of mile repeats on the treadmill earlier this week that was so hard it will make the race seem easy!  Those 3 hour runs are just killer.  I completed one 2 weeks ago (32.5km) and another one yesterday (32km), and they really take a lot out of you! 

The first one went a little better than yesterday, perhaps it was just a matter of me not being as tired or fatigued going in.  Two weeks ago, I made it through 2.5hr still feeling really great, but then started to struggle a bit the last 30 mins with soreness creeping in in the hips/legs/back.  Yesterday I was already hurtin' only 2 hours in, which made the last hour especially challenging.  The thing that really got me to the end of it yesterday was knowing that this was going to be my last 3 hour run!  [I must say that I've been extremely fortunate thus far, weather-wise, as I've only had to do one long run so far in bitter cold (which got shortened to 90min), and all the others have been in very mild temps for this time of year.  Also, there hasn't been an insane amount of snow (yet), so the footing outside has actually been really good.]  

Although the 3hr runs ended up being a struggle during the last 30-60min, the important thing is that I made it through those runs and put the work in the bank.  Following those sessions, I made sure to spend some time doing some quality stretching and icing, and relaxing on the couch, not really able to do much else for the remainder of the day!

Of course, I can't help but occasionally entertain a slight worry in the back of my mind about the actual marathon distance, just how difficult that last 10k is going to be, and how I'll be able to maintain the same pace when the legs and body start really complaining.  BUT, I really just need to push those thoughts out of mind and instead focus on getting through these last few weeks of training and be confident in all the quality training I have already accomplished.  

There are only 5 weeks left now until Jan. 15 - race day!  This upcoming week will be a drop-back/recovery week, which my legs really need after yesterday's many miles.  So the long run next weekend will 'only' be 2 hours - pretty funny that I no longer think 2hrs is not crazy long.  Then the following weekend I'll bump the long run back up to about 2.5 hours, and since there will only be two weekends remaining after that, those two remaining long runs will be tapered off in distance/time but likely done at race pace.  So in essence there are only two long runs left.  I like the sound of that!

In other news, I've attempted to tune into my 'artistic' side, if that even exists!  As part of a recent work team building activity, we had the opportunity of getting to try splatter painting, which was a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of mess!  I'm not an overly artistic person by any means, but I definitely enjoyed this activity.  But it is possible that more paint may have landed on me than on the canvas!

Here's the finished masterpiece:

And this is a really cool piece of artwork that was up on the wall in the store.  There's a hidden *something* in the picture.  I couldn't see it at first, but when I took a picture on my phone and then looked at it again, I got it!  Can you see it?  Very cool!


Stay tuned for my tips on how to get faster in the pool!  Bye for now!