4 Weeks Until the Fargo Marathon

Four weeks until the Fargo Marathon and another unique week of training to recap.

I’ll just dive right in…

Monday: 7.2 miles before work, 9 min/mile average. 5 with friends, 2 with Ruth at the end. A few Peloton strength classes after work (30 minute Strength for Runners with Matt Wilpers and a 10 minute core class)

Tuesday: Workout Tuesday in the middle of a TERRIBLE storm. Not my smartest move.

I was meeting my friends Christie and Sarah; it was storming when my alarm went off, but my weather app looked like there was a break, so I headed out the door at 6:15, only to get caught in some pretty torrential rains and winds (and LIGHTNING- intense and scary.) I guess perhaps Sarah and Christie and I enable each other as we decided to just stick it out.

Not my best workout, but for the conditions, I’ll take it: 3 miles easy, 2x(4-3-2-1 with 90 second recovery in between each set, getting faster with each), 1 mile recovery for 8 miles total, 9:15 min/mile average. I walked some of the recovery 90 seconds to try to ensure I hit the paces on the fast parts.

Tuesday evening, I attended one of the first in-person Oiselle Volee Flyte Club get-togethers since Covid. I was going to say “first Flyte club post-pandemic” but we are definitely not post-pandemic yet, are we? Yet meeting up in a small group outside for a run followed by a pint outside at Pryes Brewery with other vaccinated ladies seemed okay. We did an easy 3-mile jog and then connected with some of the new joiners over a beer.

Wednesday: This was supposed to be a rest day, but I ended up taking a ‘stress’ break over lunch with Ruth, 4 miles, 8:30 min/mile average. Much needed.

Bocce after work. It’s getting darker so much earlier now; our game starts at 7:30 and we were playing in the dark by the end!

Thursday: Early morning 4 miler with Christie and Julie, 9:30 min/mile average, followed by a flight from MSP to PDX for Hood to Coast!

We were supposed to race Hood to Coast in 2020, and of course, it was cancelled. The pandemic situation has definitely changed since we decided to join this year, but I took comfort in the Portland mask mandate and the fact that our entire team was vaccinated.

We arrived around lunchtime, grabbed lunch with a few members of the team at The Deck right on the river. My salmon tacos were so good!

We had a lot of planning to do before the race on Friday; pick up vans, groceries, etc. We had rented a VRBO in Beaverton, Oregon. Plenty of space for the 12-person team.

Friday: Friday morning, Dustin and I walked about 2 miles to get some coffee and breakfast. Since we were in van 2, our van wouldn’t even start until Friday night; our team is speedy, i.e. an estimated average pace of 7 min/mile flat, so van 1 didn’t even start running at Mount Hood until 1:45 pm.

(pic of our team starting at Mount Hood!)

So anyways, we had time to kill, so Dustin and I did an easy 2.5 mile shakeout near the VRBO just to make sure our legs were ready.

Van 2- ready to race!

My first leg- leg 10- started around 8 pm, right as the sun was setting, along a bike trail through Portland. 5.6 miles, 7:27 min/mile average. That was a fast pace for me; definitely a solid tempo effort, but the adrenaline was pumping and I was excited to be running!

Saturday: Technically my second leg was Saturday morning at 3:30 am. The first two miles were straight up a mountain before mostly downhill. My average pace for the 6.9 mile leg was 8:11 min/mile.

You can see that the two first miles up the mountain were slow!

But look at that elevation!

My 3rd and final leg started around 11 am in the heat of the Portland August day, 4.2 miles, 7:45 min/mile pace. On little sleep and tired legs, I was happy with that effort.

Our team finished around 1 pm in Seaside, Oregon:

Our finish time was 23:25, or just at our expected average of 7:04 min/mile. 199 miles- done!

By the time we ate some real food (much needed), drove back to our VRBO in Portland took an amazing shower, I was pretty beat. Over the duration of the race, I think I might have had maybe 2 hours of sleep, and that’s being generous. If you know me, you know that I love my sleep, so while the rest of the team partied at the VRBO, I slept. What can I say, I’m an old woman and can’t keep up with the young ones anymore! (Not sure I ever could.)

Sunday: With a solid night of sleep, I felt great and was up at 7 am to run 5 easy recovery miles on a path near our VRBO. Lots of elevation but it felt great to run.

Summary: About 51 miles of running, some Peloton strength training.

As part of Hood to Coast, I raced 17 miles, which I essentially consider my long run for Fargo, even though it was broken up. I really enjoyed the 5 other people in my van; it was a great group, though I don’t know if relays are totally my cup of tea! Ask me again in a few weeks, ha!

Way to go Woo Crew!

I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner as part of their Weekly Rundown. Check it out!