Week 3- finished!!

I ran the required 9 miles this morning and my 3rd week of training is now done! Feels SO good to mark a big X over the completed days of training on my training schedule.  Each run gets me one step closer to 26.2 and even though I feel like it will be an eternity before it actually gets here, breaking it up into weeks makes it more manageable. 

This 9 mile run was really my first attempt at running in cooler weather. It was in the 40s when I hopped on the trail and my fingers were frozen! (Note to self: wear gloves on next cold run.) I really thought I was going to have a hard time running outside in the cold because the last time I ran in the cold my teeth really hurt from all the cold air passing through. You see, I'm a total mouth breather. I've tried breathing through just my nose but I just can't! It makes me feel like I'm just a couple minutes away from passing out. Maybe it's a deviated septum? I don't know. I just know that I can't. Anyhow, surprisingly, no hurt teeth. No tight lungs. Everything went just fine. I am thrilled because the weather in January in NV should be pretty similar so I'm feeling confident that the temperature won't be an issue for me that day.

The rest of the week went well, too. I did miss my Monday run, though. It was just the worst day of my now subsiding cold virus. But no worries. I'm already feeling faster compared to week 1! I owe that completely to the interval training days. As much as I love the long, easy runs I think my heart is in the shorter, faster runs. I love to push myself faster and faster during those short bursts. That's when running really feels like running to me. I look forward to setting new 5k and 10k goals after the marathon is over.

Well, that's about it for this week. Pluggin' along. Oh, and I lost 2 lbs this week!. Yay! 8 more to go before race day!