7 weeks until Boston

12.75 miles of training this week; 30 minutes of cross-training
12 mile long run @ 2:13:29 (weak, I know)

Week 2 of training and the reality of meshing training and the rest of my life has reared it's ugly head. Had to skip speed training this week because of my little blood donation incident and didn't quite make my full 3 miles on Tuesday morning's early am run. The good news is that I didn't let it keep me from doing 12 miles today. Not my best 12, but 12 none the less.

Today was a little slower than usual, and I had to take breaks to stretch and let my body catch up with me. The nurse said that the shock of my blood donation fiasco would make running difficult (less oxygen delivered in my blood=less efficiency), so I am not surprised today was such a crappy run. But I did it, I feel good, had a great stretching session when I got home (man, will I be sore tomorrow, I can already feel it!), and I am going into the third of training with a positive, can do, gonna kick some butt attitude.

I was pretty nervous about passing out/getting ill because I had been pretty light headed and easily sick since the donation, so I chose to do a short route along the river near my house and just do laps (5 to be exact). Kinda boring, but safe because I was never more than 1.2 miles from the house. It was a good choice because there were lots of people around, just in case.

Good news, no tightness in the right hip today. Still having the left foot go numb in the first 8 miles (part of the reason I had to stop a lot), and my left knee and hip got a little irritated after mile 10. I am going to take pain as progress, because I had no troubles until I passed the distance I had covered in a previous long run. I think this is a message that it is going to be super important to get at least 20 miles before the marathon so my knee can get comfortable with the distance and not give me troubles on heartbreak hill.

This week's schedule:
Tuesday: Easy Run 3 miles
Thursday or Friday: Speed work 6 miles
Sunday: Long Run 14 miles

We are going to hopefully make up the speed work this week. I present for my MA Friday, so I think the speed work in the AM will be a good way to ease the nerves, build up my confidence, and make me feel good before I go before the panel. I am curious to see how I do tacking another 2 miles onto my long run, and excited to pass the half-marathon point in training. Maybe I will be ready for Boston after all!

And a final thought, thanks for all the kind wishes and support. Life seems crazy (almost too crazy right now), and the fact that people I have never met in my life care enough to say something to help me feel good about my training, well, it means so much. I am so thankful that the blogging community can bring you together with people you otherwise would have never had the pleasure of having in your life. Someday I want to meet you all!