If you missed my recap of the Indianapolis Marathon, catch up HERE; in that post, I shared that my next marathon will be the Publix Atlanta Marathon on March 1!
Dustin (my husband) and I had already planned to go to Atlanta to watch the Olympic Trials. Since we haven’t run a marathon in Georgia yet and are doing the 50-state challenge, we decided to register for the marathon the next day. I know that it’s a very hilly course, so I don’t plan to train as aggressively as I did for Indy. But I will respect the marathon distance and will always train! You just might not see quite as many 70 mile weeks. I also expect to have to do a lot of running on the treadmill due to the timing of the marathon, which is a necessary part of safely training for a marathon during a Minneapolis winter!
With Atlanta 14 weeks away and my full week of ‘no-running’ over, I started easing back into training mode this week. Here’s how thing went!
Monday: Discover Strength followed by 4 miles on the treadmill. I rarely lift before I run, but that’s how it worked best this day.
I hadn’t done a full strength workout at Discover Strength for about 3 weeks (two weeks before the marathon and I took a full week off after the marathon), so I was very sore afterwards!
Tuesday: 5.3 mile run commute to work.
Wednesday: 5.3 mile run commute to work.
Thursday: 5.3 mile run commute, Discover Strength after work. It was very rainy and windy on this run! Fortunately, I had on my Ultimate Direction V2 jacket; I wore this jacket for the Antarctica Marathon in hail and stayed dry. It kept me dry on this run as well!
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 9.5 mile long run with my friend Nordica! It was a crisp but sunny November day and the miles passed quickly as we caught up. I hadn’t run with her in months; it was a great morning!
She lives in St. Paul and after I told her we had dinner reservations at Grand Catch that evening, she gave me lots of other recommendations to check out!
We took her up on her Barrel Theory recommendation, which was a great brewery in Lowertown. (Thanks Nordica!) It was a fun little St. Paul date night.
Sunday: After lounging around for most of the morning, we made it out around 10 am for a sunny 40 degree 4 mile run with Matilda. Ruth is still too young to run with us, so she has to stay behind for now. We did go to the dog park afterwards for her to get her running in. (She generally goes to the dog park every day- vizslas need a lot of exercise!)
Summary: 33 miles of running, 2 strength sessions. A great week of easing back into training.
I’m not looking forward to snowy, slippery runs in the near future. Fingers crossed it will be a mild winter in Minnesota!
In other news, I hung up my Indianapolis Marathon medal with the rest of them; the left side are Dustin’s, the right side are mine.
I also jumped on the decade challenge bandwagon on social media; 2009 to 2019!
I’m linking up as usual with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner as part of their Weekly Rundown. Check it out!
That marathon medal collection is really impressive! Excited for you to take on another challenge.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You too Wendy!
I missed your Indy recap and the Atlanta announcement. Off to read it now! I like the way you display your medals. Much nicer than just hanging them on a rack. Very cool!
Thanks, my dad made me the medal racks!
Love the medal displays so cool. Long runs are the best way to catch up with friends. Atlanta sounds fun and yes hilly
Thanks Deborah, my dad made the medal racks. I’m excited to run Atlanta!
I love your medal racks! We have some random hooks under the mantel in our den and that’s where I’ve started my collection. I tell you what, getting to run a marathon in Atlanta after training in Minnesota is going to be a treat. Thank goodness for the ‘mill for dark and icy mornings.
Yes, Atlanta will be a treat in Feb/March- a warm welcome change!
What great medal displays!
I was cracking up at your rainy Strava run comments — recalibrating indeed.
Glad you had a good week easing back in- I’m sure you’re going to have a great race!
Hehe, it’s hard to remember how to just run for fun 🙂
Where did you get those medal holders? I love them! How cool that you are running the Atlanta Marathon. I am running the half and am sort of excited about it. I hate hills and know the race is hilly. I’ve been wanting to run a race in GA for quite some time so now I cannot back out anymore. 🙂
My dad made them! I’m trying to convince him to sell the on Etsy!
And how fun you’ll be in Atlanta too for the half!
Oh my goodness, look how tiny Matilda was in the 2009 picture!
I ran the Georgia Marathon in the mid-March 2008. I just did a Google search to see if they still run it and all the results were for the Atlanta Marathon. The race was run in Atlanta, but was sponsored by ING. I wonder if it’s the same course?
I think it’s the same one- it used to be ING and is now Publix
Do I see Grandma’s medals from 2015 and 2017? For some reason, I am not remembering you’d run those…I was there for those as well! One in torrential rain and one in crazy heat LOL I have my sights on Air Force Marathon in September (which is why I passed on applying for Chicago). Right now, a marathon is the furthest thing form my mind. Good luck training for Atlanta! I know I could never put in those kind of miles on the ‘mill, so I’ve never considered a spring marathon, but I”m excited to live vicariously through you 😉
Yep! Good eye- I have run Grandma’s three times- 2015, 2016, and 2017!
here’s to another amazing training cycle! fingers crossed it’s not too bad this winter!
you guys are so adorbs in the 10 year photos <3 and Matilda was so tiny!!
love the medal displays too. We really need to go through ours – there are too many and now there are medals in drawers and on shelves, etc. it's kind of ridiculous (not just marathon medals, ALL distances).
I only put the marathon ones on the boards, but have a different hanging rack for other distances! It’s fun to see how the medals have changed over the years.
I love your marathon display! I think I’ll save that photo if you don’t mind and get hubby to make something like that. It’s awesome. Looking forward to your next Marathon! How many states of the 50 have you done now?
Yes, flattered that you’ll save the photo to make something similar! I’ve run 22 out of 50 states, though 33 total marathons. Repeated a few states and then a few international ones 🙂
I think it’s awesome that you are already jumping back into training for a marathon – I don’t know how you do it!
I love how you display your marathon medals!
Thanks Kim!
Great week! Your medal racks are gorgeous and impressive! Is there a little his and hers competition? 😉 I don’t think we’ll get any snow until January at least.
Haha, definitely a little his and hers competition. He had the whole year when I was out of commission though to keep adding to his!
You’re a marathon machine! I love your medal display. Hope training goes well and the pesky ice keeps away!
Thanks Liz! I do love marathoning…it’s my favorite.
I’ve never seen medal hangers like that. Very nice! Looks like you are back in the swing of things again. Great workouts!
Thank you Lisa!
You just never stop! And you don’t look a decade older, either. I’m pretty sure I do, more gray hair, pretty darn tired looking. Oh well.
Sounds like a strong week to kick off your training for the next one.
Oh, you’re too kind Judy!