Running Renaissance: Road to Paris 2024

[GollyGadget]

Is the 1-line "update" indicative of how training is going?

ETA: Ah....it filled in. And the answer looks like ....yes. Sorry it's rough right now. Hope that your body feels better soon.

My bad. Sometimes when I try to add a picture, it saves the post instead of inserting the picture. I’m sure this is user error but I’m also blaming the UI since it happens to me so frequently. Kind of like how my garmin likes to record treadmill runs when I’m outside

Or new shoes, or new mattress…

I actually have a very fancy mattress so that isn’t it. I do wonder about shoes. I’ve always been more of a minimalist. Unfortunately the max cushion shoes that are en vogue are too squishy for my feet and cause severe arch pain.

 

[GollyGadget]

Timely and relevant quote on my calendar today

 

[GollyGadget]

Had a BIG surprise in my email this morning.


So now I'm anxiously awaiting my husband to wake up so we can discuss if this is even feasible. We have a really big trip planned at the end of August so the timing couldn't be worse. Plus I fear flights & lodging will be insane. Buy would I be insane to pass up this opportunity?!?

 

[jmasgat]

Oh my god....How did you get in? I vaguely recall there was some fitness/activity contest associated with the Olympics, but don't remember anything else other than I didn't feel like giving them my data and honestly wasn't in a marathon frame of mind.

And I would cash out all my credit card points to do this. Do you have any? Hyatt hotels are a particularly good redemption, and Air France has transfer bonuses and some promotional fares. And given that it is at the very end of the Olympics, and time is getting closer, it appears you can find space that is not totally unreasonable.

 

[RuntheMouse]

So now I'm anxiously awaiting my husband to wake up so we can discuss if this is even feasible.

Wake him up!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

That would be so cool!! Really hope you guys can figure out a way to make it work

 

[GollyGadget]

Oh my god....How did you get in? I vaguely recall there was some fitness/activity contest associated with the Olympics, but don't remember anything else other than I didn't feel like giving them my data and honestly wasn't in a marathon frame of mind.

And I would cash out all my credit card points to do this. Do you have any? Hyatt hotels are a particularly good redemption, and Air France has transfer bonuses and some promotional fares. And given that it is at the very end of the Olympics, and time is getting closer, it appears you can find space that is not totally unreasonable.

There were numerous mini contests last year that you could complete in their app. The contests were usually things like x kms in y days. There were a few with time or elevation goals but it was mostly just consistent running. The app connected to my Garmin account so all I had to do was be diligent about checking the app to register for the new contests. No idea which "contest" I won. I actually thought they were going to notify winners by January so I had no idea this was still a possibility.

Wake him up!

That would not benefit me in my negotiations .

 

[azrivest]

I fear flights & lodging will be insane.

Yes. Most of my Parisian clients have decided to rent out their apartments for the Olympics period, as it will help them pay their rent for the next 2-3 months.

But so excited for you!!! Hope you can make it work if possible

 

[GollyGadget]

Good news y'all, I'm going to Paris!


It did take some discussion and negotiation but fortunately he loves to vacation. We've already booked our flights. Naturally it was cheaper to fly home on Wednesday which will be perfect for exploring DLP after the race

Guess I better start running again

 

[GollyGadget]

Road to Paris - Week 1/18

I'm going to Paris to run the Olympic marathon course! As noted here previously, I was notified that I won a bib on Friday, 5 April. So now what??

I reviewed the Hanson and Daniels books to examine their training plans. Neither really fit my needs/desires so I reached out to @DopeyBadger for a training plan. My big ask was being prepared for the two big hills on the course. I rarely run any hills so this is definitely a weakness of mine.

Elevation chart of the course:



There are no hills around here like that. However, there are a few hills and I expect to be well acquainted with them by August.

My plan officially starts next week but I figured I might as well do some easy running this week after taking last week off. I ran 25 miles over 6 runs. I even went to explore some of the hills on Friday and, wow, that was humbling.


I'm also going to be diligent about my strength training to lessen the load on my tight hips. I started a 6 week strength for runners program on YouTube last week. The first workout was deceptively difficult. It didn't seem hard in the moment but my legs struggled to climb the stairs out of the basement afterward . It went much better the second time. I completed week 2 this week and the soreness wasn't as noticable but I can definitely feel it in my glutes. I also did 10 regular pushups today! Wooo! Progress!

I'm really excited for this opportunity and don't want to let it go to waste. Next week starts the official training!

Happy running y'all!

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Im excited to see how the marathon in Paris is! I follow Clayton and Connor on Instagram and they(one maybe both of them?) showed a reel of that big hill towards the end. It does look like a doozy.

 

[RuntheMouse]

So excited to follow along on your journey to Paris!

 

[GollyGadget]

Im excited to see how the marathon in Paris is! I follow Clayton and Connor on Instagram and they(one maybe both of them?) showed a reel of that big hill towards the end. It does look like a doozy.

Oooh. I'll have to try to find it. I follow the women on insta but not the men . Whoops.

 

[nancipants]

So exciting!!

That YouTube series looks promising and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. I've been looking for something similar to do over the summer (and would like to not have to pay for anything, haha).

 

[GollyGadget]

So exciting!!

That YouTube series looks promising and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. I've been looking for something similar to do over the summer (and would like to not have to pay for anything, haha).

The beginner series is 6 weeks long and then the same person has another set of videos that I haven't investigated much.

I encourage you to give it a try! Since it's free, the worst case is that you don't like it and need to find something else.

 

[accm]

What an amazing opportunity @GollyGadget!! I can't wait to follow along!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Had a BIG surprise in my email this morning.

View attachment 848323
So now I'm anxiously awaiting my husband to wake up so we can discuss if this is even feasible. We have a really big trip planned at the end of August so the timing couldn't be worse. Plus I fear flights & lodging will be insane. Buy would I be insane to pass up this opportunity?!?

Kudos! So we'll see you and the other marathoners finishing right before the closing ceremony?

 

[GollyGadget]

Kudos! So we'll see you and the other marathoners finishing right before the closing ceremony?

Maybe? I have no idea what the media coverage will be. All of my Girls on the Run team thinks they're going to see me on TV but I highly doubt it . Maybe a YouTube Livestream?

 

[GollyGadget]

Road to Paris - Week 2/18

First official training week is in the books and I’m feeling strong & excited for the possibilities. I’ve had a rough spring running wise so this has been a really good reason to switch focus and make a new goal. Let’s hope this good feeling continues for many weeks to come

Planned:
M - Off
Tu - Easy 4
W - M Tempo 4 + Strength
Th - Easy 4
F - Off
Sa - Easy 4
Su - Race 5K + Strength

Completed:
M - Off
Tu - Easy 4
W - Easy 4
Th - M Tempo 4 + Strength
F - Off
Sa - Easy 4
Su - Race 5K + Strength

Total miles: 23.64
Strength sessions: 1

As you can see, I postponed my M Tempo run by one day. We went to see AJR on Tuesday so I didn’t get home until 11PM and then I had to wake up at 3AM to buy Olympic tickets (10AM in Paris). The ticket buying was very similar to rD and I was randomly placed into a queue. When I realized that’s what was happening, I opened a second browser but my brain wasn’t fully functioning or I would have tried a couple incognito browsers as well. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t nearly as bad as rD and I was able to purchase tickets after 20 minutes. The one event I really wanted was Beach Volleyball and that was unavailable but everything else had options. Unlike rD you put the tickets in your cart and had 30 minutes to check out so once I had what I wanted there was no stress about if I could enter my info in time. My body was full of adrenaline after this escapade so I didn’t fall back sleep until 4:30 and then woke up again for the day around 5:30 .

Long story short, there was not a lot of sleep plus it was absurdly windy on Wednesday. I figured Thursday would still be enough time to recover before Sunday’s race.

I posted elsewhere about my M Tempo run but the gist is that I found some hills, they were tough, but I had a lot of fun. It was difficult to “make up time” on the downhills because of the grades but I’m hoping to get better at that with more practice. Going into this run, my main concern was the uphills but now I’ve been reminded that downhill running has its own challenges so it’s good that I’m getting practice at both.

After the tempo and dinner I did Week 3 strength from the program linked earlier and wowza, that was much tougher than week 2. Maybe it was the hill running right before?

My legs were still noticeably sore on Saturday which made me quite nervous about my race but thankfully things did settle down by Sunday and the race went well ( I’ll type up a quick recap soon). Due to the soreness, I’m going to skip the second strength session this week so that my legs are ready for the Grand Blue Mile on Tuesday.

Really happy with the return to marathon training and my return to hills. I pretty much haven’t ran hills since we moved here in 2020 but previously I lived in a rather hilly neighborhood and ran hills ALL THE TIME. I love the satisfying soreness after pushing myself.

Happy running y’all!