What if I want a 4 hour marathon?

I've posted a few things on here about wanting to run a 4 hour marathon. During the program we have had two 10k time trials. I'm not any good at them! Both of them came in at close to 58 minutes... not even close to what I'm capable of. My half marathon pace is faster than that! Ugh. I just could not find my high gear during those runs. I was afraid that getting any faster was a pipe dream. I'd need to run a 9:09 for 26.2 miles to come in under 4 and I couldn't run that for 6.2.

Last nights speed work was well work. We left from a different spot and used the available light as a guide for running time not miles. Coach Paul and Alan wanted us marathon group to run hills. We would do a mile warm up then the rest of the time at marathon speed. Am I supposed to run at the speed I want to run for CIM or the speed according to my really crappy 10k time? The run took us up into upper park (the trip up was lots of uphill on uneven surfaces) 37 minutes including our easy first mile then turn around how ever far you are and make it a negative split back (mostly down hill except for one long up hill before the lake) for 33 minutes. I got back to the parking lot at the perfect time 1 hour 10 minutes. I looked at my times, deducted the first mile and the remaining 6.5 miles was at 9:11 pace. Really darn close to the pace I was hoping for. If I did run EXACTLY 9:11 pace at the marathon that would put me at 4 hours and 36 seconds or so.

Part of my running regimen has been to incorporate a stronger core by spending an astronomical amount of money for a 6 month membership to KOR fitness. Lots of kettlebells and stretching there to make me more efficient, stronger and faster (I hope). I'm going to miss it come November when my membership is up. I'm not sure I want to give that up. My hands are all tore up today. I probably won't be able to lift my arms up to wash my hair after those clean and presses or the 6 minutes of snatches that K.C. told me not to worry about counting since I was using the 26lb bell. I can feel myself getting stronger after every single class. That will be hard to give up.

So do you train for the time you want... or by how fast you actually are now? The run felt comfortably hard once I got a good breathing pattern down, not sure if it will last 4 hours though. I guess that's why I have coaches and 11 more weeks of training to figure that out.

Its Greek to me

I made meself a Mediterranean pasta dish tonight with spinach pasta from Trader Joe's with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes. Since the hearts were in oil I just put those in the pasta first with some pepper and tossed them so the pasta was coated then added the rest. Super yummy dinner. I had a spinach salad with fresh peaches and yummy poppy seed dressing around 6:30 before I made the pasta. Apparently the kiddo's didn't like it though so more for me tomorrow. I like that it can be eaten hot or cold, perfect for lunch or post long run meal.

I ran 5 miles with Cindi this morning. Same old trail just a little bit farther.I'm happy with my speed though. I wasn't pushing it and came out at 49:08 so it was about 9:50/mile without even trying and wrestling with the dog and a water break. I'm thinking of taking her to start higher up the creek next week and going back behind the creek and past the golf course. I'm not sure how she'll be on the trails tied to the leash but its worth a try.

I have 13 miles on tap for tomorrow (hence the pasta I don't normally eat) and with no Liz to run with I'm going to have to find a different running partner this weekend. So glad the sitter texted and said she could watch the kids. I was NOT looking forward to moving the schedule around and running 6 on the treadmill this morning before the kiddos got up then 7 more on the trail.

Glad the hubby will be home this week. Fire's in the LA area seem to be more contained, at least enough to let some of the boys go. We were thinking he was going to go down to be relief for them but they should be home and no plans to send them back out. Of course the $ would have been nice.

Super sonic then platonic

Speed work: Last night was a speed session. We jogged over to CHS and did almost two miles of warm up. Coach Paul had us do 40 minutes of 3/4 mile @LT and 1/4 mile recovery for the whole time. Vicki isn't running with us and Liz is fighting a bit o' plantar fasciitis so she did an easy jog tonight. I thought I felt so good I would push it and ran with Bill. Bill's goal is a bit more lofty than mine. He wants to finish in UNDER 4 hours and I'm looking somewhere between 4 hours and 4hours 10min. I didn't care out on the track though. My hope is that my speed workouts will work themselves into normalcy and my body will catch up. Almost all our 3/4 splits were at 8min-8:10min/mile pace. Far faster than my regular speed workout speed. Then we had a cool down run back to the shop. I've had 2 weeks in a row of good Tuesday night workouts. I'm working hard to get all my time and miles in too.
Recovery run: Today I ran with Good Neighbor and the pooch. We did 4 miles and brought it in at 45 minutes of easy pace to stay with her. I will never complain of running with someone slower than me. I need that recovery time on my feet so I don't over train which I have a tendency to do when I'm by myself. She is running 4 days a week now and will be in fine shape for the 5k in November! It did feel good to run easy today and work out the soreness from last night. Running with my friends is truly the best part of running for me (and my legs are looking pretty hot too!).

For the Love of New Shoes

OMG! I love me a pair of new sneakers. Speedy Kristina (her hubby is Coach Paul, winner of the Women's Nike Marathon 2008 because is wife thought it would be funny and signed him up) bought a pair of these super cute Saucony Kilkenny XC racing flats and I could not stand it so I went and bought some last night while I was at speed group. The main premise for this purchase is my Kettlebell instructor has an issue with the padding in my regular running shoes and enlightens me, with much urgency, to running flat and more gracefully during my sprints. Mostly though, they will look so stinkin' cute with Jeans! Goodness, its amazing how a pair of super cute shoes can make your week! Actually I am looking forward to a new pair of super cute running shoes too. Mine are worn to the max.

Bucket List: Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point posted her fitness Bucket list and I thought I would follow. I do not have a cute cork board in which to post mine (on my to-do list) but I will list them here for you all. Please post yours and link back so I can see them!!!

1: Break a 4 hour marathon

2: Strong core, actually see some muscle in my mid section then hold onto it!!!

3: Learn to swim properly (with my face in the water and everything).

4: Run Mad Patty's crazy Monkey Hill without stopping (if you're looking for hills in Chico I know where to find them)

5: Run a 5K with my son.

6: Learn to ride a bike without falling off and being able to shift properly (ugh... never mastered that).

7: Master Bikram Yoga after Kettlebell/X-fit class is over in November.

8: Do a sprint tri (meaning learning how to swim with my face in the water and ride a bike without crashing!)

9: Getting over my fear of water and mastering Kayaking.

10: Goofy Challenge 1/2 marathon one day, full marathon the next day in Disneyworld!.

11: Run a marathon for charity.

12: Backpack the entire John Muir Trail.

A Dove of a Tuesday

*September 1st folks. Dove season has opened for business which means I am officially a hunters widow for the next 4 months. I am taking a hunter safety course with Wyatt Sept 12th. Not sure if that means I'll ever hunt or not though*

I haven't been to KB in three weeks. I planned on going today but my wrist hurts like crazy. Maybe I'll go try anyway. Not sure.
I have the "dreadmill" from my mom in the garage. Not sure when I'm going to use it. Maybe Thursday. Its really for those mornings I just can't seem to make it out to the trail on my own. I love that its cooling down so I WANT to run outside and it will be great for those windy days I refuse to go run in (it makes my ears hurt).

Speed work tonight. Last week was great. I pushed it those last two miles of the speed portion and it felt good although I had no gas left at the end.

Food wise... yea, lacking. I have been horrible. Today I'm going to have sweet potato with my turkey and avocado sammy. Yummy hu? Not sure whats for dinner. The boys will be out hunting dove this evening. Darn hunting season.