Run #32: 13 Miles through the city

Yesterday morning we managed to get out relatively early and start our run. We turned right out of the apartment and ran pretty much along the MARTA rail line until we hit 13 miles. Here's an idea of the path we took:

                                                                         

It was a lot of fun to be able to run without worrying about a turn-around. The beginning of the run is through a lot of neighborhoods and then hits some pretty killer hills around mile 6. 

This part heads up to Peachtree Road and definitely present a bit of a challenge. Once we got to the top of the hill though, we swung into the BP and grabbed a bottle of water and took the a couple GUs. (Side note: Do NOT get the Vanilla Orange flavor Roctane GU. It was disgusting.) 

After getting to Peachtree we turned down Piedmont and ran to the park. Parts of this were pretty awesome since I got to get a good look at what our new neighborhood is like. (35 Days! Cant wait!!) 

Heres the Garmin info: 

Once we hit about 11 miles, Mihkel started to have a little bit of a tough time with it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this is his second longest run ever. It gets in his head a bit I think and he starts to doubt his ability to cover the distance. But that is why we run together. I had trouble with a few of the hills towards the beginning so I tucked behind Mihkel and kept his pace and we killed them. 

After this marathon, our running goals diverge a little bit. I know we will still run together since this has been one of the biggest parts of our relationship, especially in the beginning stages. For now, though, I am really enjoying taking on the challenge with my boyfriend and best friend. He helps a lot when I feel tired to have someone to pick me up. I like to try to do the same for Mihkel. 

Here is us at the MARTA station after the run:

Mihkel wasn't quite sure if he smelled worse, or if the floor stunk. 

Yeah, I got no qualms puttin my paws on the nasty floor. 

So that was our day. Overall a great day and a pretty stellar run. Now, I have a whiskey and lemonade calling my name. 

Good runs, y'all!!

Melissa

Run #28 and Run #30: Double loops and busy times!

Hey hey everyone,

Mihkel here with an update after a while. Sorry for the delay, but Mel and I have barely had time to get our runs in, let alone blog about it.

But... we have an adorable new apartment! We have been wanting to move into town and finally found a great location and place. Hard wood floors, screened in porch, tons of character, and a walkability score of 88 to boot!

Only 38 more days till we get to move in.

Anyway, back to the runs.

Last saturday we had grand plans to run 12 miles, continuing out "we love public transportation" bit and just adding another train stop to the milage. But then we had the cute apartment to go see at 12! so we just did a 6 mile loop from the doorstep instead. It was fun, but long. Repeating loops can be rough. But we made great time and enjoyed our saturday morning together as always.

Here's the data:

Our regular tuesday run was replaced by lease signing, but we rocked our 6 today. We felt good hitting 5 miles/hour again and just did the previous weekends loop backwards. Let me tell you, left ways is the right ways! It was quick and fast. We were tired at the end, but glad we put in the effort.

And one more time, data:

Looking forward to this weekends 13 miles. I'm almost back to running further than I have ever run before and am excited.

See you all on the roads!

Mihkel

Ps. look for upcoming gear reviews: Mel finally found the shorts of her dreams, and I haven't been this excited about a fanny pack since 1991!

Run #24: Public Transportation Rocks; Final arrangements for Savannah

90% of our runs are out-and-back routes. It is the most convenient and doesn't require us to stage cars at different locations. This week we decided to switch it up a bit.

We have the good fortune to live at the north end of the MARTA route (Atlanta's rail transit system). Turns out, the Peachtree MARTA station is 7.09 miles from our doorstep. Perfect! I went online and added a fare to each of our Breeze passes Friday night. Saturday morning it was cool and gorgeous out.

Here is our route:


Coming through the neighborhoods when you pass into the city limits there were a couple BRUTAL hills. Some civil engineer had a great time planning a road up the steepest possible path. Once we got to about 6.2 we swung into the BP and grabbed a water and Gatorade for the train ride home. Then had an easy .8 to the train station.

I had some mild chafing issues that I'm hoping these new shorts I got will alleviate. Apparently I sweat way more than the makers of Body Glide ever imagined someone would and I sweat off all the BG I apply by about mile 4.

This upcoming weekend we have a 12 miler so we are running from the house to the Art Center Train station. Very excited!!

We also finally got around to making our condo reservations for the marathon. We've decided to stay on Tybee and just hope and pray for a shuttle route that makes it easy to get to the start line. Our rationale being: We really want to have some calm the night before. I tend to get a little bit neurotic and get obsessively organized around major events. By avoiding the hyped-up atmosphere around the race course, I might be able to mellow and focus. The night after the event I would really like to put my legs in some freezing ocean water and then have a bottle glass bottle of wine. Additionally, $89 a night is pretty choice for a place where we can cook our own dinner and breakfast. Very excited about plans coming together.

Overall our runs have been positive and fun. Both of our bodies are holding up well. Every week it seems we see more and more runners out. That's right! It's almost marathon season!!

Any thoughts on traveling for races? Suggestions? Anyone else staying on Tybee for Savannah?

Happy running y'all!!

Melissa

Run #22: 5 miles, personal record, and Mihkel gets comfused.

Mihkel here, with my confession for the day: I am BAD at running math. You all know what I'm talking about... pace changing on a sliding scale, goal time at different speeds, walk/run pace averages over a mile...

I remember when training for our half, as I ran further and further distances, I would feel my brain shift. Not gears, but it felt as if my brain moved through space and time... like a bad b-movie special effect. It was there, but not there.
This just leads to bad things: Mainly not being able to figure out pace and goals for a run, which when you question, leads to doubt. Am I over training, am i under training?
Bad maths these are.
Its much like measuring something with your hands apart, then moving across the room and comparing it to something else. We have all done it, more often than we will ever admit. But its very similar. Once you get to the other side of the room, you have to ask yourself, just how right are you, and that then leads to doubt.
I need to get back to training my brain to keep it with me through runs.

I love running, I love the great conversations Mel and I have, the plethora of subjects on my mind, but I need to strengthen it on the long runs. I have found it too easy to just get dumb and happy and keep putting one foot in front of the other until the Garmin says stop.

I learned today that I shouldn't doubt anything about what Mel and I are doing together. We are amazing. She is amazing. And if it wasn't for her, I would still be on the couch.


Today we had our mid week run. 5 miles, at a long run effort. We kicked it up a notch and Mel set a goal of 5 miles in under an hour. It felt great. We weren't racing each other, but ourselves. Sure we dug deep, but man did we fly. It was like being a kid again and tearing down a hill. A little scary, but totally exhilarating.

Here are our stats, as always:


Happy running!
Mihkel

Run #21: Multi-tasking

Tonight we got in a quick and easy 3 miles. I needed to pick up a Rx from the Target Pharmacy but the traffic between our house and Target gets obnoxious in the evenings. So......MULTI-TASKING RUN!!



Turns out it is almost exactly 1.5 miles to Target from our house. There are two MAJOR hills on this path but we ran then both without slowing down or stopping. It felt great. Mihkel has a little bit of shin pain so he's going to ice it (or eat the Otter Pops he's supposed to be icing with...but it all works out). Other than that, it was a good start to the cutback week.

We got home and I made this for dinner. Fan-freaking-tastic. Now for some Always Sunny in Philadelphia and puttin' the feet up.

Happy running y'all.

Run #20: Double Digits and Chief Dan George

Saturday morning Mihkel and I got in a run in the Great White North of Gwinnett County. This is a complete exaggeration as we were actually only about 15 miles north of the Perimeter...but hey, it was a pretty big scene change.

We went to the Suwanee Creek Greenway with the intention of running 5 miles out and then coming back to get in our 10. A couple of minor problems popped up. First, the cloud cover that made temperatures infinitely more bearable also impeded satellite reception on my 110 and Mihkel's 410. We really had no idea what pace we were going for a while and ended up just having to run by feel.

Chief Dan George was the shiiiiiiiit!

Those of you who know me know that I like when things happen the way they should. I hate when things go wrong out of my control and it has a tendency to get in my head and really screw with me. At this point I started to attempt to channel Chief Dan George from the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales and "Endeavor to persevere".

On a personal note, if you haven't seen this movie, do so as soon as humanly possible. Even if you aren't like me and obsessed with Westerns and know every word in Tombstone....watch it!!

Okay, back to running!

About 3.5 miles in I was just about over the Garmin issue and we were running based on the 1/2 mile markers when we saw a sign letting us know the trail was closed ahead due to bridge repair...GAH! That meant we would not only have to go out and back once, but we'd have to find a way to get in those extra 3 miles.

I know, it doesn't sound like a huge deal. But I like when our runs go smoothly and I like being able to focus on the million of other things in my head during a long run (pace, GU, chafing, perceived effort, training progress, chafing...) and this irritated me to no end. But we needed to "endeavor to persevere" and get our run knocked out. So we ran to 3.5, then back to the 2 mile marker, then back to the 3.5 marker, then back to the car.



Around the final turn around Mihkel's Garmin had finally found satellites, but he had manually set laps for a bit, so, as you can see, our splits and all are weird. But-- we got in the 10, felt good physically and are ready to enjoy this cutback week (LR is 7 miles, with only 18mpw this week).

Overall, a great run and an even more valuable lesson.

Happy running y'all!
Melissa

Run #19: So THATS a recovery pace....

So I admit, I'm a stubborn jerk and my need to push to 100% on every run has led to Mihkel getting the beginning signs of shin splints and my Achilles pain coming back. (But on a different note, I did buy Mihkel the Runner's World Complete Book of Running, so it isn't my fault he didn't know about recovery runs and the recommended pace of MP + 60s.) But today I managed to reel in my insecurities and we got in a recovery run.



For some reason I have this innate fear that if I don't always go to the max of my effort I'll immediately lose all fitness and base mileage and I'll instantly gain about 85 lbs.

Ridiculous, I know. And recovery is completely necessary to allow your body to adapt to the changes and efforts that you put it through. Plus, I'm not training to run a fast 5K....I'm training to run 26.2 miles and be smiling at the end.

Today was a perfect recovery. I'm going to ice and rest for a couple days and be ready for a solid effort on Saturday's long run. Next week is a cut back week so I'm looking forward to a few easy miles before we get back to pushing....but pushing smarter.....

Anyone else have trouble slowing down when you know you need to?

Happy Running,

Melissa