New Jersey Marathon Training on Resurrection Sunday

It's been a looooong time since I posted anything about training. I don't use Runkeeper or any other programs like that regularly and when I do, I keep all the info private. I do not post eversinglefreakin workout on facebook. But I am honestly truly really training for the New Jersey Marathon. It's 28 days away.

I whittled my Philadelphia Marathon weight gain off. I'm sure some people know EXACTLY how easy it is to gain weight during marathon training and some think that the mere idea of weight gain while running so many miles is absurd. Remember that a pound is 3500 calories. Someone of my height and weight (5'3" and 128 lbs) burns about 100 calories per mile. So at 26.2 miles I don't even burn off a whole pound. As a parent of three kids who has a full time job and an active exciting ahemm... marriage not to mention this awesome blog with awesome things to give away and share, I will unabashedly do whatever I need to do post killer training run to make myself functional/comfortable again. I do not count calories when I'm severely fatigued. I don't allow training to become an excuse to submit to my every craving, but stuff I would normally never touch on a normal day is free game after a long run: chocolate milk, fried food, white carbs, sugar sugar sugar.

Today I ran fifteen miles at Manasquan Reservoir. It's a scenic five mile loop with enough hills to make you feel like you're working, but not so many hills that you feel defeated by them.

My husband ran the first loop with me and rode sixteen miles afterward.

He wore his Underdog tshirt. Oh the irony.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reveal this, but my husband is training for his first half marathon. The mere thought of this feels like Christmas morning to me. I wonder if anyone reading can relate. Seeing him persevere through varied weather and terrain is incredible. I am awestruck and overjoyed. I don't have any other words for it right now.

Back to my training- it's been good. Better than Philadelphia training, but not as spot-on as Lake Placid training. This is my second fifteen mile run and I have to say I felt strong through this one. It was a negative split. My pace was fairly consistent. I only walked for 35 seconds.

I am still beside myself over the fact that I sweat so much. I mean, it's to the point that it's disturbing. Today it was 60 degrees and windy. I was actually cold depending on where I was on that trail. Yet I still came away from that run with an abnormal amount of dried sweat on my face and neck and hair. Good thing this wasn't a first date.

If I lick this off of myself, will it prevent sodium depletion?

I like that I'm getting stronger about this endurance thing. That right now, fifteen miles seems totally manageable. Maybe by this time next year I'll feel the same way about 26.2 miles and I can stop shuddering at the idea of running an ultra.


I will be posting another giveaway AND something amazingly incredibly undoubtedly awesome this week. But right now, I need to babble about training. How is your training going?