Back on Track After My Wedding

Things got really crazy during the first half of 2017 — I moved into my own apartment, I got married, my mom visited me for a month, I got my Brazilian residence visa finally, I was working, doing an internship, and planning a wedding all at the same time. Since those things are over now, and I'm only working a few hours per week, I've been able to work out almost daily!

After a week of training, I was surprised at how fast I could jump back into a 5k after almost no running for the past four months (I do walk 5-10k per day though, just in my normal commuting... and live on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator... welcome to São Paulo). The downside of getting back into shape is feeling like I am out of shape and comparing myself with when I was running 8k on a daily basis. The upside of getting back into shape is watching how fast I make improvements.

For example, I did this 9-minute body weight workout from the NY Times. The first time I did it, I had to take long breaks between each set, and I was totally winded. The second time I did it, just a week and a few runs later, I could do the whole thing on 1' intervals of rest between sets and I did 20' of yoga as well. I love watching my body respond quickly to discipline.

I was feeling so inspired and full of health that I decided to sign up for the São Paulo Venus 15k. I was debating between the 10k and the 15k, because while I know I can run a 10k with inconsistent training, a 15k will take some disciplined work. A friend convinced me to choose the longer distance because "you've already conquered a 10k", and I decided she was right. So between now and September 3, I need to be running consistently, listening to my body, figure out how to keep my blood sugar levels up for that long of a distance, and keep up all around good health/strong runner habits.

Semana em Resumo

A minha malhação esta semana foi consistente e eu me senti forte... Forte no sentido "Eu posso fazer isso," mas não no sentido "Eu posso fazer qualquer coisa que eu quero," Sabe? Tenho bastante espaço para melhorias.

Segunda
Musculação

Terça
Andei para o Parque Villa Lobos com a minha amiga Lu. Esquecemos tirar fotos! Tomamos uma água de côco e alugamos bicicletas. Este parque tem uma ciclovia de 3.4km, e a gente completou 4 voltas = 13.6km

Quarta
5k @ 40' na esteira. Pensei que eu correria mais rápido... mas não rolou. Comecei as 10km/h, diminui para 8, voltei para 9.5, diminui de novo, etc etc. Me senti fraca, especialmente mentalmente.

Quinta
2.5k @ 17' na esteira. Não tinha muito tempo, mas decidi correr pelo menos um pouco! Corri entre 8.5 e 9.5 km/h.

Sexta
Fui pelo parque de novo com a Lu. Completamos mais 13.6km nas bicicletas.

Sábado
13 km @ 1:30. O tempo foi ótimo! Céus azuis, brisa fresca, ensolarado... Saí da casa cedo porque o parque fica super cheia depois as 10h. Mesmo assim, tinha bastante gente correndo lá. Eu poderia ter corrido mais, mas eu parei a corrida num ponto alto e voltei pra casa pra comer um monte de comida. Faz muito tempo que eu não senti tão bem numa corrida longa. Sempre tenho problemas com a temperatura, comida, açúcar no sangue, dor de cabeça, etc. Foi encorajador a correr sem problema nenhum e me motivou a correr mais na semana que vem!

Domingo
Dia de descanso! Estou com dor na coluna e o quadril e tô com medo a machucá-la mais por fazer ioga.

Fiz este suco várias vezes esta semana! Abacaxi, espinafre congelado, um gole de suco de laranja, água fria, e alguns blocos de gelo.

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Você tem uma mistura de suco favorita?

Aproveitou o tempo gostoso esta semana? O que você fez ao ar livre?

Planning for Hanson's Marathon Method

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm tentatively planning on running the Meia Maratona Internacional de São Paulo and the Maratona Internacional de São Paulo in February and April of 2017.

I've become extremely curious about Hanson's Marathon Method. Although I love the idea of plans and checking things off a list, my body is pretty temperamental and gets to dictate what I am doing for the day. A set plan has never worked out for me, though I've always been able to run the distances that I wanted without using a plan. Have I ever told you that it took me a full year to run a couch to 5k? I'll explain more about that in another post.

But anyways, I'm curious. Some bloggers/runners I admire are always quoting Hanson's, so today I read a little more about it and adjusted the Hanson's beginner marathon plan to be in kilometers.

The Hanson's plan is very technical and specific—you should not be running faster or slower than the given goal pace for every single run. Of course the pace is adjusted for where you are at (see this handy Hanson's pace calculator). The idea is that you will be tired all the time, but not overtraining. If you are running too fast, you'll end up overtraining, burning out, getting injured or sick, etc.

Here are my training times calculated at a marathon goal time of 4:00:00. I've never run a marathon or even a half before, but these times look doable for me. When I run easy, I run 6:30-6:50 per kilometer. The speed workouts also look right for where I am right now.

Marathon Training Paces
Goal Pace	05:41 /KM	10.5 kph
Strength Workouts	05:35 /KM	10.7 kph
Speed Workouts	05:00 - 05:13 /KM	11.5 - 12 kph
Easy Days	06:19 - 06:56 /KM	8.6 - 9.5 kph
Long Runs	06:00 - 06:56 /KM	8 - 10 kph

The most intimidating thing is the time commitment. 7-10 hours per week or more! I do have a lot of free time, but I will have to cut some of the things I do in order to make space for training.

The plan is 18 weeks, and it doesn't look tough until week 6 or 7. So in the meantime, I'm going to focus on lifting, core strength, and speed workouts (those really intimidate me and always have).

Have you ever trained for a marathon? Did you use a plan? If so, what worked and what didn't?