Melbourne and Beaches Music Marathon
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| Maniacs at our Pre-race dinner! All pretty! |
This past weekend was Melbourne and Beaches Music Marathon and my second FL full marathon. So not a new state, but a great way to catch up with my running buddies in the Sunshine state and get a long training run in. I focused on SLOWing down!!! And honestly it was painful NOT to take off on such a flat, straight course. But it paid off to slow down because todays 9 miler was cake! Didn't even feel like I ran yesterday. On top of that, I got my sub- 4 hour FL marathon time.
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| Maniacs pre-race... still pretty |
I finished the race in a 3:45:36. It's funny that my excruciatingly "slow" pace is around my PR 2 years ago. :) The weather was great for a marathon (overcast with a little rain at the start) but I had hoped the sun would stay away until the minute I crossed the finish line then pop out to great me. It was definitely still worth the trip to get this rowdy group (pic above) together. This is the first time we've had 2 of the original Divas with our diva shirts!!
This Weekend... BIG GOALS to be Made!!!
This weekend I'll be running the RnR Mardi Gras Marathon. Upon completions of this marathon (knock on wood) I'll have made a few "strides" in running (pun absolutely intended).
1) 10-Star Maniac! ********** In the Marathon Maniacs club there are different levels of "maniac-dom" and the highest is a 10-star "Titanium" maniac. This weekend I'll be completing my 30th marathon in 30 states in 1 year, making me a titanium maniac! 2) 52 in 2 years! Also upon completion of RnR Mardi Gras, I realized I'll have run 52 marathons/ultras in 2 years. That's like running a marathon every other weekend for 2 years straight. Ok it's not THAT bad because I had a few streaks of 2-6 marathon weekends in a row and I took SOME rest breaks.
3) State 49! I'll have completed all my marathons leading up to Boston and #50!!! We're so close kids... start getting excited! :P
WS100 Training ~ Week 9
This weekends long run was set for 35 miles total (20M and 15M). Since I ran the Melbourne Marathons I ran 26 and 9. This weeks big focus was on slowing down on my first long run. This was especially hard because I knew I was capable of placing in this marathon with the top 3 women ranging from 3:21 to 3:31. I slowed down and even took 2 short (~1 min) walk breaks to help keep my legs loose and ready for a 9 miler on Monday.
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Notes/Thoughts: I haven't gotten up to "unknown territories"-- double long run mileage I haven't reached before. I have done double marathons in the past (and a 50 miler) but I've never done them surrounded by so much weekly mileage-- especially at the intensity level I've been running. Slowing down on my first long run of the week is definitely helpful and I feel like I'm starting to acclimate to the jump in miles.
Happy Running!
Stephanie
"Run to Win" - Meb
Worried about getting injured? Need a boost in speed to hit a PR? Ask yourself... "Have I done my strength training today?!?"
Way to go, stud! Sounds like you're doing well with the slowing down, taking walk breaks, etc. It is an important part of all of this, and you're doing so so so well! Yay!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, also, on being sooooooo close to 50 states! Yahooo!
I thought of you Saturday and Sunday. I had 20 and 25. Barely even sore. Gotta love taking things nice and easy for training.
Well done! You are incredible! There is not much you can do about the marathon times if you're training for a 100 miler. Your priorities are so well in order. You are very inspiring, thanks!
ReplyDeleteWow, way to go! :)
ReplyDeleteI love how your slacker pace is my DREAM marathon time! You are such a stud-ette!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was a blast. CONGRATS!!!
Best of luck at Mardi Gras! Looking forward to the recap!!!
SO exciting! Congats on being smart for a race (that would be a bigger accomplishment for me than a lot of time goals.) Kick ass at Mardi Gras!
ReplyDeleteRe: the slower pace. I once heard a quote from one of the elites who, upon getting congratulations from someone who had done the same marathon in like 5 hours, replied with "no, YOU should be congratulated - you ran twice as long as I did!" I thought that was neat to remember.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Titanium!! You should turn your next effort to making platinum-colored Maniac t-shirts for us :)