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!

First goal for 2011 met!

I case you missed it, my goals for the new year are here. In summary, they are to donate blood at least once (needle phobia), run an entire marathon (not walk parts due to poor training), and set new PR's for 5k, 10k, half and full marathons.

The good news: I donated blood and fulfilled one of my three goals for the new year. I didn't get much feedback on my blood donation post so I assumed marathon runners don't give blood or it was just one of those lazy weeks where people don't feel like posting. Or my post was just super crappy. But probably not ;)

Now I know that people training for marathons probably aren't blood donors because it really screws up your training. The goals was to donate Friday and maybe become a regular blood donor. I hear that giving blood saves the lives of a million babies per pint, saves the world, and pretty much makes you everyone's hero. Who wouldn't want to save a million babies in 30 minutes? Instead we relived the "let's pass out in front of the students" and see the light/speak to God" experience of 2008. I believe the technical term I overheard them use as I drifted off to that mansion in the sky was "code light blue". Aren't I dramatic? Or is it just the over-use of "quotation marks"?

Long story short, they got the blood so the goal was met. Bad news is that the kind head nurse explained that some people are just not blood donors, and that I shouldn't come back for another donation. The jury is out on whether I should get a second opinion. My painfully stiff arm and my dear mother say no, the jolly phlebotomist who nursed me back to life says yes. I think we might wait 3 more years for a verdict.

Oh, and I can't do any moderate to strenuous activity for 2 days. At least I will be in the clear for my long run Sunday. I might be a bad patient and try an easy 2 miles today so I am only 4 miles behind instead of 6. Boo.

The bright side is that I am sooooo close to being done with UC Davis. My research poster looks AMAZING and it is over 50% done. Once I present on Friday (6 days!!!!!) I will pretty much be done with my Master's Degree. Sweet relief!

Next goal: run the Boston Marathon, no injuries, no walking breaks!

Donating Blood

via

One of my goals for the year is to donate blood (read my goals for 2011 here), and I am VERY excited to say I signed up for a blood drive on February 25th and plan of pumping out a pint. Not sure how this is going to play out for the rest of my day because I am donating in the middle of the school day, but I am hoping since I am more fit/healthy than last time I gave blood, I won't have the same experience. I am also going to be very conscious of what I eat before I go so hopefully I won't wake up on the floor surrounded by students.

Has anyone donated blood while training for a marathon? Not literally while training, but maybe on an easy run, cross train, or rest day? I am probably going to take it easy the day I donate (or take the day off from training entirely), but wanted to see what blogger land had to say. 

For many people, donating blood is not a big deal. But it is really hard for me to be in the same room where a needle is in someone's arm, so this is HUGE for me to go back and try this again. Sitting in the room with JF when he donated stem cells for the marrow donor program was extremely difficult. I had to get up and almost had to take a step outside. My mom was so proud of me for not letting my phobia trump my role as cheerleader/supporter. Here's hoping we can take the next step towards beating this irrational fear by becoming a regular blood donor!

(as far as Boston Training goes, today is an off day. Terrible migraine and to make sure I don't push it too far, I am going to have today be pure rest, tomorrow hill repeats on the elliptical, and Sunday the long run 10 miles. Let's keep those knees and feet happy for April 18th!)