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Liberia here we come!
Marathon Training Week 4
So here is my recap from last week's marathon training:
Sunday - 4x1 Mile Repeats
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 40 min run with pickups
Thursday - "Cross training"
Friday - 40 min run with pickups
Saturday - yoga
Total Mileage - approx. 12 miles
Total Marathon Training Milage: 64 miles
So far this week the recap has been: 0 miles ran. Due to some travel hiccups beyond my control, Sunday's 17-miler was replaced by a 13 hour bus ride to Accra. Since I've been in Accra, I've been running around to prep for our trip to Liberia and have not been able to get in a run (i know, I know excuses...but because of the heat/safety there are really only two times a day you can run 5-8am or 5-630pm and neither of those times were available since I've been here!) Honestly, I had time to run this morning but I am just too afraid of the Accra traffic! Its crazy and I don't want to be hit by a crazy driver and die.
I'm not too stressed if I end up missing a long run at this point in my training because Galloway's program is weeks longer than other training programs and I know am way ahead of the game as far as endurance training goes.
Im not sure WHAT the situation will be like in Liberia, but I plan to get in atleast a few shorter runs while I am there!. Stay tuned!
marathon training in ghana reality - sports bras take over your laundry...
Saturday afternoon yoga.
Top two pics
Left: Our landlord insisted on building a weird concrete slab in our front yard. Its so ugly but conveniently perfect for yoga
Right: Post yoga self-pic. Our security man Yakabu is in the background sweeping the ceiling of our veranda. This is my life...
Bottom: View from the mat. Perfect day.
More mid-week speed intervals
Yesterday I headed out for another 40 minute run and decided to try some more speed intervals. I wanted to change it up from the last time so, I did two pickups in a row follow by two recovery intervals. Here was my plan for the 8 run-intervals:
1 - slow warm up
2 - run at comfortable pace, faster than warm-up
3 - pick up (this was also uphill so it was a little 4 minute hill sprint)
4 - pickup
5- recovery
6 - recovery
7 - pickup
8 - cool down
Garmin wasn't working again but I tried a new route and it worked out that I was able to capture my split for a good portion of my 3rd run-interval:
.45 miles in 3:13 minutes (7:08 pace)
The full run interval is 4 minutes, but I think I kept up that pace for the rest of it. I couldn't really capture any other splits that didn't also have a walk-break or part of a recovery interval also in the distance.
I have a 17 mile LR on the schedule for tomorrow! It will be my last long run in Tamale for a while because next week Kathryn and I head to Liberia for a week and a half! I'll still be attempting to run in Liberia but we'll be traveling to new villages/counties almost everyday and I am not going to go out if I don't feel safe. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!
Marathon cross training: my goal is to do yoga twice a week but so far I've really only been doing it once a week. But I've managed to sneak in some non-traditional cross training. This Thursday was a prime example:
2 hours of moving, counting, cleaning and organizing the safe-storage container storage rooms = killer arm workout.
40 minute run with pickups
This morning I headed out for one of my usual 40 minute mid-week runs. In this training program, I only run three times a week. Two, 40 minute mid-week runs (which eventually change to 45 minutes) and then a weekend long run (or mile repeats/magic mile if its a cutback week).
As I've posted before, since I've been in Ghana I've had a hard time getting my mid-week runs up to the faster paces that I was running at home. I know the heat has a lot to do with it, but I am sick of just slogging around at a slowish steady-state pace for 40 minutes. So, today I decided to change up my game-plan a little bit.
Since I follow a 4:1 run:walk ratio, I decided that I would throw in speed/recovery intervals into the run. This was the plan for the eight 4-minute run intervals:
1st interval: warm-up
2nd interval: faster than warm up
3rd interval: pick-up (run at a hard pace where I am breathing heavy and wouldn't be able to carry a conversation)
4th interval: recovery - jog
5th interval: pick up
6th interval: recovery
7th interval: pick up
8th interval: recovery
I decided to do a few laps around the small loop in my nieghborhood since my garmin had worked so well there this weekend. Unfortunately, the satellites from the weekend must have moved on because my garmin was a big fail again. BOOO. Since I knew that the loop was 1.25 miles, I pressed lap each time I passed my house and got some splits. Splits from each interval would actually be much more helpful, so I could see how fast I was going for each pickup (because it all kind of averages out if I look at distance instead of time) but it would be too hard to map out the distance of each one. Anyway, here's the info that I do have:
1.25 miles - 12:16 min, 9:48 pace
1.25 miles - 11:58 min, 9:34 pace
1.25 miles - 12:39 min, 10:07 pace
0.22 miles - 2:07 min, 9:37 pace
total distance: 3.97 miles
total time: 39 minutes
average pace: 9:49 pace
Even though my overall average pace is not any faster than it has been during my other midweek runs, it was way more fun to pick up the pace and then recover than to run at a slower, steady pace the whole time. Its also better for training, so win-win. I didn't bring my ipod because I wanted to be able to pay attention to my breathing. I never run without music, but I kind of liked it. I'll probably leave the ipod at home for most of my midweek runs and just bring it along for my LRs.
In case you were wondering, here is what my garmin said I ran today:
One incomplete loop around my neighborhood, through people's yards in 40 minutes? NO!
Here's what the map looked like when the garmin was working last weekend:
Three perfect laps
Amazing Sunday
Today was a pretty awesome (dare I say perfect?) day! Not only was my run great (more on that later), but my garmin started working (!!!!!!) and every other aspect of the day was just great. Lets starts at the beginning shall we??
I woke up to my alarm at 4am. Yes, 4am. We had to be at the Fellows' guest house by 5 and my taxi driver needed me to call him to wake him up at 4 or else there was no hope of him getting to our office in time. Just add personal alarm clock to the list of my job responsibilities!
Kathryn, Brianan, Hudson, Ben and I arrived at the Fellows' guest house right in time to see them off for their 5am departure. I can't believe that the Summer Fellowship Program is already over. These 3 weeks FLEW by! These Fellows were such an awesome group!
The 2012 Summer Fellows, Fellowship Leaders and some of their translators, right before they boarded the bus to Accra (Just in case you thought I was kidding about the whole up at 4am thing...)
As sad as it is to see this amazing group of Fellows go, there is always a big sigh of relief at the end of every Fellowship Program. There is A LOT of pressure and responsibility when you are in charge of a group of 23 young people in a foreign country, especially when that country is in Africa and the majority of the Fellows have not traveled anywhere in the developing world before! I work for 3 weeks straight without a single day, morning, afternoon or evening off. Even though I have 2 Fellowship Leaders, who actually do most of the day to day work, at the end of the day, the Fellows and their well-being is my responsibility. Ah! The Fellowship Leaders live in the office with me, so even when I'm at home, I still have to be "on." Don't get me wrong - I love my job and think its pretty much the coolest job on the planet. But whenever that big bus full of Fellows pulls out of the Tamale station, a little mini celebration begins. "Yes! They are all still alive! Yes! No one got Malaria!"
The CWS Fellowship Leaders and the CWS-Ghana Staff, bright and early this morning! L-R: Hudson, Me, Ben, Brianan and Kathryn.
After the bus left, Kathryn, Brianan and I headed back to the office and when straight back to sleep. It started to rain a few hours later and it. was. heavenly. The sound of rain on a tin roof is so peaceful, and we had absolutely nothing that we needed to do besides sleep! I didn't wake up again until 12:30pm - it was magical!
When I woke up, James, the boy who helps out around the house was already here and had already started cleaning! What a wonderful thing to wake up to! Sharing the house with 4 other people (2 of them being boys in their early 20s), has been interesting. Now its just us girls left and the office is sparkling. Thank you James!
Since it had rained all morning the weather was nice and cool in the afternoon so I set out for my run around 3pm. As you know, I had my first "track" workout planned for today. The plan was mile repeats. Like I have mentioned before, I am following Jeff Galloway's marathon training program. With this program, I take a 1 minute walk break for every 4 minutes of running. The hardest part about this program, for me, has been figuring out how much the walk breaks slow me down and then calculating how fast I need to be running during the run intervals to make my goal time. Mile repeats help with this and help your body get used to running at/around your Marathon Goal Pace (MGP).
The goal of Galloway's mile-repeat workout is to run each mile 20 seconds faster than your MGP. You run for the whole mile without any walk breaks. Then you walk for a quarter mile to rest and start again. This was my first scheduled mile-repeat day, so I only had to do 4 repeats (by the end of the program I'll be doing 14!)
The whole run was awesome! I started with a 1.25 mile warm up jog. I wore my garmin but per usual, it wasn't really working. I was okay with that though and had a good loop that would work for my mile repeats.
Since I want to run faster than a 4:30 marathon, my MGP is 10:19. So, I was supposed to run each of my mile repeats around 9:59. About 3 minutes into my first mile, I checked my garmin and noticed that my pace said 9:07. Hmm....since I've been in Ghana my garmin has never had showed a faster than 20 min/mile - pace. This seemed pretty accurate! Turns out, it was accurate and my garmin continued to work for the rest of this run!! Fingers crossed its fixed for good! What a GREAT DAY! I continued to go too fast for that first mile, despite my efforts to slow down a little and finished it in 9:18.
Yes garmin! That IS where I ran! Right on that road, exactly like that! Welcome back!!
I managed to slow myself down for the next three miles, but I still was running a little bit too fast and hung right around a 9:45 pace for each mile. I had re-started my watch after the first mile to see if it would keep working - and it did! Too good to be true! Since it kept working I was able to have real splits again. Yay!
This run was such a HUGE confidence builder. I have felt so slow on most of my runs here in Ghana, it was awesome that I had to SLOW myself down to stay around my MGP. My legs felt great the whole time, and this run was just plain fun! I know that the cool weather and the fact that I had just slept all morning probably had a lot to do with that. But I'll take it!
My "track"
"Cool" weather in Ghana does not mean that you still don't end up covered in sweat...
After my run I got a call from the Fellowship Leaders who told me that they had all arrived in Accra safe and sound. Kathryn, Brianan and I checked out a new spot for dinner and had delicious Indian food to celebrate the end of another successful program! It was the perfect ending to a perfect Sunday.
Oh yea...I also got to hold a baby monkey this morning. N.B.D.
Marathon Training Week 3
Sunday - 14 miles
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Weird 48-hourish Ghana Sickness. Fever, chills, aches the worst. REST
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Rest
Friday - 40 minute run
Saturday - 40 minutes Vinyasa Yoga
Total weekly mileage: 18-ish
Total marathon training mileage: 52
Total moto-riding lessons: 1
As I mentioned on Friday, this week I learned that forced "rest days" because you are sick are not the same thing as intentional rest days for your legs. Also, although I didn't run Tuesday - Thursday I was still up at 630am everyday except for Wednesday and spent over 5 hours each day in the field - on my feet walking around villages in the sun. So, it shouldn't have surprised me that Friday's run was still so tough. Noted.
Today is my first track workout - excited to see how it goes!
When i'm not running...
Scenes From a Morning Run
40 min run this morning. Not gonna lie...it was tough. Made me realize that 4 days off running to recover from being sick does not equal 4 rest days (like the kind of rest days you take for your legs to recover and then feel fresh). BUT...I made it through, even though it was hard.
Next up, my first "track" workout this weekend. I'm pretty psyched!
no running so far this week due to an exhausting (but not serious, mom!) bout with a fever for a few days! Here's a pic of adorable Daniel to hold you over until my next, exciting-as-ever post about running...
14-mile Sunday
This morning I headed out for another long run. The plan was 14 miles, slow, easy miles. The weather was perfect! All the rain this week really cooled down the temps and there was a ton of cloud cover. My legs felt great right from the start, which was surprising at first since I had only done yoga once this week, but was then less surprising when I came home and figured out my splits and saw how slow I was running. Yes, running slow feel easy! Interesting.
Overall I felt awesome on this run for the first 9.5 miles. Mentally I was good to go and was enjoying my jog through town. My left knew started feeling a little off around Mile 8ish and continued to feel weird for the rest of the run, but I don't think its anything major. It wasn't all that painful. I am planning to ice it this week just in case.
After 9.5 miles... I hit the NORRIP village hills and my legs totally died. As much as I love this neighborhood because the streets are always empty, I think that I need to take it out of my long run routes. There is nothing fun about running up and down hills for 3 straight miles if you don't have to. As you can see from my splits below, I'm not even sure if what I was doing by the last couple hills even qualifies as running. It was more like a slow shuffle. Then my legs where shot for the rest of the run and I ended half a mile earlier than planned.
Good route in theory, but ending in NORRIP village = hell.
I filled my water bottle two and a half times and took 3 shot blocks 1 hour in and finished the other 3 around and hour and 45 minutes into the run. Honestly, I don't feel any more energized after taking shot blocks, but i know that my body needs fuel during long runs so I bring them along.
I used the lap button on my watch again at all of the big turns on my run so I could calculate some weird splits. Here they are:
1 - 1.09 miles, 11:19 mins (10:22 pace)
2 - 1.67 miles, 18:36 mins (11:08 pace)
3 - 2.63 miles, 28:35 mins (10:52 pace)
4 - .48 miles, 6:21 mins (12:41 pace - thought I was lost here so I was slowly jogging trying to figure it out)
5 - .22 miles, 2:28 mins (11:58 pace)
6 - .55 miles, 5:25 mins (9:50 pace)
7 - 1.08 miles, 12:02 mins (11:08 pace)
8 - 1.93 miles, 21:18 mins (11:02 pace)
9 - 2.90 miles, 38:72 mins (13:31 pace - HILLS in NORRIP Village, hell).
10 - .95 miles, 10:15 mins (10:47 pace)
Total Distance: 13.5 miles
Total Time: 2:35:46
Average Pace: 11:32 min/mile
This run proves the theory that I made to myself that no matter how slow I start during a LR, I am always exhausted and spent at the end from the distance. So, I should try to push myself more at the beginning because it won't matter in the end, I'm going to be spent no matter what. Yes, the hills in NORRIP exaggerated the situation, but that general trend is how my LRs usually go. Although I originally thought that I would not try to push my pace during my Long Runs in Ghana, I think that I am going to change that plan over the next couple of weeks to see what happens. The first 9.5 miles of this run felt SO easy, I know I could have been going much much faster. The end would have been hard regardless. Its hard to push my pace without my Garmin, but I think I just have to make a more conscience effort to check-in with how my body is feeling.
Marathon Training Week 2
Sunday - 12 mile run
Monday - 1-ish hr Soccer game with the Fellows!
Tuesday - 40 min run
Wednesday - 45 min vinyasa yoga
Thursday - rest
Friday - 40 min run
Saturday - rest
Total Weekly Mileage - 21.2
Total Marathon Training Mileage: 34.2
Another Rainy Run
I was up and out the door by 6:20 yesterday morning with a 40 minute run on my schedule. My legs felt a little tight at the beginning, but I think they are still just getting used to having to move early in the morning.
It was sprinkling when I left my house but, like the other day, the rain felt good. I managed to hit the lap button on my watch at a couple major turns so even though my garmin wasn't working, I could still get some splits.
Split 1 - 1 mile, 9:31 pace
Split 2 - .87 miles, 8:12 (9:25 pace)
Split 3- .56 miles, 5:25 (9:40 pace)
Split 4 - .45 miles, 4:13 (9:22 pace)
Split 5 - .38 miles, 3:49 (10:02 pace)
(During split 5 I had a battle with a very large puddle which is why my pace dropped a lot)
As I was turning the final corner to head home, I was all of a sudden faced with this:
Looked like the little drizzle was about to turn into a full-on rainy-season storm. I thought that I could beat the storm home but, after about 3 minutes the wind gust made it impossible to keep going. Storms literary "blow in" here. Right before the rain comes the wind picks up and with it comes the dirt, dust and sand. I can take a little rain, but a sandstorm? No way. I took cover on a random neighbor's porch and planned to wait out the storm there..
If you haven't noticed, there are many opportunities to make new friends when you are marathon training in Ghana! Earlier this week I made some new friends when I asked to use their bathroom and yesterday morning, my neighbors found me on their porch and invited me in to wait out the storm - more new friends! I apparently crashed some kind of money-counting party. at 7 am. Friends counting stacks of money first thing in the morning are great new friends in my book!
The rain slowed down after about 10 minutes so I headed back out to finish my run. Unfortunately for my pace, the storm left a few new puddles/rivers in its wake so I had to slow down a lot to traverse all the new bodies of water...
Split 6 - .64 miles, 6:54 (10:50 pace)
Split 7 - .18 miles, 1:42 ( 9:26 pace)
total distance - 4.08 miles
total time - 39:46
average pace - 9:44 min/mi (still under 10 minutes, which was great considering the storm/puddle/river situation. I m still aiming for my 9:00 or 8:xx mid-week run though!)
Next up, 15 miles on Sunday! Wish me luck!
Post yoga sundowners at the CWS Office
Getting Back in the Groove...Almost
Tonight I had an awesome run. The plan was to run for 40 minutes at a fast (for me) pace. I meant to run this morning, but the snooze button was calling my name and it just.didn't.happen. Luckily, things weren't too busy this evening so I was able to squeeze it in.
It was drizzling when I started which was a.mazing. Finally, cool weather! 20 minutes into the run, the rain picked up and it started to downpour, but I still didn't care. I love running in the rain and it was SUCH a nice change from my usual million-degree sweat fest.
This run was *almost* perfect. Towards the end I started having some stomach issues that required immediate attention. Luckily I was back in Dharma-ville so there were plenty of houses with running water (in a region majorly lacking proper sanitation, the fact that I was running in a neighbor with houses that had toilets is a small miracle!) I made quick friends with a kiddo who had already been screaming "Salaminga, HELLO!" to me and was more than happy to let me use her family's bathroom. (Maybe this is TMI, but stomach issues are a reality of marathon training no matter where you are!)
Total Distance: 3.9 miles
Total Time: 36:48 (got to the Fellows' Guest house faster than I thought that I would! and, due to the downpour, I didn't make myself run past it to keep going for another couple of minutes..)
Average Pace: 9:36 min/mile
Still need to pick up the pace and get these mid-week runs closer to 9 min/mi or 8:xx min/mi. I felt really good this run and felt like I was going faster than I actually was!