Fall Training through heat

It has been too long since my last post! August was a month of beautiful weather to run! September started out hot!
We went to a wedding in Buffalo, New York and signed up for The Biggest Loser 1/2 Marathon. We had 18 miles to do that day, so we ran 5 around the Lake Erie before the race begin. It was a hot, humid, and overcast morning. It was a very beautiful area, we were able to see the General Mills factory in the background. However, the run was pretty tough. I was so dehydrated the whole time and ran a pretty poor time. I really needed to be more proactive hydrating the day before. Afterwards, we went to Niagara Falls and took the Maid of the Mist tour. The day before, we tried to do it on the Canadian side and it was too long of a wait! We had to get back for the rehearsal dinner.
Lesson learned: hydrate more in the morning and the day before!

   

Yesterday, we ran the Bird in Hand 1/2 Marathon in Lancaster, PA. I have been looking forward to this run for a long time. It would be awesome to run with Amish people and through the cornfields! The Pasta Dinner was Friday night, and when I saw Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run, was going to speak at night, I immediately bought the pasta dinner tickets. We arrived around 6pm on Friday, got our bibs, ate our food (which was made and served by the locals), and actually saw Chris McDougall walking around. He ran the 5k at 6:30pm, and we saw him walking around around 7:15. I had packed my copy of his book and asked him to sign my book. He was very willing and really nice to talk to. We discussed how he tied together several stories in the book and how he lived (near me) in East Falls before moving out near Bird in Hand. I then let him get to his pasta dinner :-). One of the best things about this run was the hot air balloons! They were launching them all weekend and would be in the air when we run the next morning. 

McDougall's speech summarized his book and the importance of running in a community. He encouraged us to run free and easy and push our fellow runners along. He told stories of one the men in the book and how they ran together, as opposed to in solitary, and this is what helped them. He then answered some questions about the book, including where the people are today. It was completely worth the $11 for the great food and to meet Christopher McDougall. 

Learning from the hydration mistake last weekend, I really made sure to hydrate on Friday and Saturday morning. Before I went to bed, I drank a gatorade. In the morning, I drank about 2 water bottles (we had an hour drive). I felt really strong at the beginning, despite the heat and the rolling hills. Hills are one of my weakness and when I got to the 7 mile marker at 1:02, I was pretty happy. I wasn't wearing a watch (I couldn't find it, and it went well with the message Christopher McDougall spoke about yesterday!) However, it became hotter and despite the cornfields, animals like horses, camels, etc, it was pretty tough. I ended up strong until mile 11, where I had to walk twice. They had ice cubes in coolers and many water stations, which was great! I would take an ice cube and put it in my mouth to keep cool. I also would splash water all over myself and run through sprinklers when I could. In the end, I beat my time from last week, although it is far from my normal 13.1 time! Sean was pretty beat up, he threw up after he finished. While it was a rough run in the heat, we did it. And the air conditioning felt so good later!

Here is our fall running scheduling, it can be adjusted based on time to a marathon or half marathon. We started right when we got back from our honeymoon:

2014 Indianapolis Marathon Training!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
August 4-10	3-mile run	5x800	4-mile run	35-min tempo	Rest	8-mile pace	12-mile run
August 11-17	3-mile run	5xhill	4-mile run	40-min tempo	Rest	8-mile run	16-mile run
August 18 - 24	3-mile run	40-min tempo	4-mile run	3-mile pace	Rest	Warrior Dash 5k	14-mile run
August 25 - 31	4-mile run	6x800	5-mile run	40-min tempo	Rest	9-mile pace	18-mile run (Wedding)
September 1 - 7	3-mile run	6xhill	5-mile run	45-min tempo	Rest	Bird-in-hand ½ Marathon	Rest
September 8 - 14	4-mile run	45-min tempo	5-mile run	4-mile pace	Rest	10-mile run	20-mile run
September 15 -21	4-mile run	7x800	5-mile run	45-min tempo	Rest	6-mile pace (Wedding)	12-mile run
September 22 - 28	4-mile run	7xhill	5-mile run	50-min tempo	Rest	10-mile pace (Wedding)	20-mile run
September 29 –  October 5	5-mile run	45-min tempo	5-mile run	5-mile pace	Rest	6-mile run	12-mile run
October 6 - 12	5-mile run	8x800	5-mile run	40-min tempo	Rest	10-mile pace	20-mile run
October 13 – 19	5-mile run	6xhill	5-mile run	30-min tempo	Rest	4-mile pace	12-mile run
October 20 – 26	4-mile run	30-min tempo	4-mile run	4-mile pace	Rest	4-mile run	8-mile run
October 27  - November 2	3-mile run	4x400	Rest	Rest	2-mile run	Indy Marathon!	Rest