Marathon Woman is Human

This week I had to face the fact that I am not invincible. I thought my only problem was speed but this week I had the challenge of a sprained ankle (from a fall at tennis due to forgetting to wear tennis shoes). After a visit to my sports medicine physician I accepted her recommendation that I not run for one week and do various types of rehab therapy. So like I told Coach John, after waiting 25 years to start working on racing again, I guess I can wait one more week. But the amazing thing is that I found that I could swim. Ive tried many times in the past but never was able to coordinate my head in the water with breathing. This week I just did it and it felt like I knew how to swim. So Ill work on that and next year will plan to do the Danskin Triathlon. I also biked 2 hours with Joan today, so even though Im not running Im certainly not slacking.

Interval Training

Today Karen and I joined our Galloway Group for a one mile miracle mile and then a supposedly 6 miles run. When we measured the 6 mile run it was really a 5 mile run. So we went from speedy 10-11 min miles to 12-13 miles in seconds. However, it was a good run as we did intervals (ran fast for 2 mins, HR 160, and then walked 1 minute). I think this is what I have to do to get faster and get used to the heavy breathing that comes with running faster.

Marathon Woman

As many of you know, earlier this summer I began to train for a marathon. Having completed several half marathons over the last few years I thought it was time to give myself a bigger challenge. Along with my friend Karen, I enrolled in a Galloway Run/Walk Marathon Training Program in Mequon, Wisconsin.

To date the longest run we've completed was 19 miles along the lakefront. The run/walk format makes it fairly easy to go the distance with almost no soreness the next day. The only downside is that I am slow (almost walking pace slow-14 mins/mile for the long distances, 11 min/mile for shorter distances). Im hoping that now that my endurance is where I need to be, my pace will pick up. At this point the runs will be shorter (10-12 miles for the weekly long run) until it gets closer to February, so I can work on pace.

The marathon I've chosen to participate in is the Galloway Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida on February 17, 2008. I would love for any friends and family to join me either as a participant (there's still plenty of time to train) or a supporter who just comes along for the fun.

Ill keep you posted on my runs and progress.