One Week Down, Fifteen to Go

One week of Marine Corps Marathon training down, 15 to go.

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Here’s a snapshot of what I see in my Runner’s World Challenge training log. All of the workouts from my plan are pre-loaded into there, and I can then export them to my g-cal.

I can also just drag and drop a workout to change up y schedule a bit. For example, the plan has long runs on Sunday, but I usually run my long runs on Saturday so I can have the rest of the weekend free to have fun and have them over with. So, I just swapped Saturday and Sunday’s runs.

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Here’s a zoomed-in example of what I see (complete with my logged miles and notes.) Also, by “easy enough to run hills,” I mean somewhere relatively easy for me to get to. Since I’ve basically resigned myself to becoming a morning runner since I’m either working late or doing something else at night, I still want to get as much sleep as possible and run, so I don’t really want to take the subway to Central Park or somewhere else hilly to run.

This morning, I had big plans to go to the beach with Emily, but I woke up, looked outside and at weather.com and realized that today was not going to be a good beach day. It was overcast and humid, and thunderstorms were in the forecast. No thanks. Since I was up, I did some work, but then started feeling EXHAUSTED, like I’d taken Benadryl.

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I would like to introduce you to the culprit. I started taking these supplements a few years ago when working out with a trainer. He told me that the magnesium was good for athletes (and according to a study cited in the article, female runners have intakes as low as 59% of the recommended daily allowance) because it aided in muscle recovery. My muscles were feeling pretty achy last night, so I decided to take one of these babies. Whoa. I don’t remember this happening when I first started taking it, but I felt like I got hit by a truck this morning. I did some work and general screwing around on the Internets from about 7-10 and then had to go back to sleep, I felt so lethargic. Has this ever happened to any of you?

While the magnesium-induced lethargy was not so ideal, it did force me to just slow down for a few hours today. No catching up on work, Junior League work, blogging, working out, doing laundry, screwing around on the Internet. Just dog-snuggling and TV-watching.

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Yes, of course my dog has a banana toy.

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Eventually, I decided I needed to get in today’s run, a 4-mile easy run. My plan calls for 5 days, and on two of the days, it says I can substitute cross-training, but I’m trying to see if I can get adjusted to running 5 days a week. I’ll try it for a few weeks, and if anything starts hurting or it feels like too much, I’ll drop down to 4. I was really sore and tight, so I decided I needed some yoga, too.

I went to Yoga Vida (previous Yoga Vida review) for their flow class. Alec Baldwin’s wife is an instructor there, but was not my instructor, so there were no Jack Donaghy sightings.

I was looking for something that wouldn’t kick my ass, but wasn’t just lay-on-the-ground-and-do-a-few-stretches, and this class was perfect. It was a flow, but it never moved too quickly for my sore muscles. I ran one mile there, took the 65-minute class, and then ran 3 miles home to finish out my 4 miles for the day.

Today’s miles: 4 / Week miles: 27! Even though a few of the runs this week were less than awesome, I’m still happy with my first week of training.

Those of you who’ve just started training for something: how’s your training going?

Fellow runners, what kind of supplements, if any do you take?

Edited to add: Runner’s World gave me a comp entry into their RW Challenge program to blog about it. All opinions are my own.

21 comments on “One Week Down, Fifteen to Go

  1. Clarissa

    Thank you for sharing a snapshot of your Runners World training log. I was wondering what that one looked like. How long have you been using it?

    I don’t know the science at all but it seems like the vitamins aided in you muscle recovery by preventing you from using them for a set amount of time! Hope you feel better!

    Reply
    1. Theodora Post author

      @Clarissa: I just started this week. The user interface definitely isn’t as intuitive as DailyMile, but it seems pretty detailed.

      And…true šŸ™‚

      Reply
  2. Annie

    I just started training for my 1st Half Marathon…I was happy to read your last post about your hard run because my longest distance to date (8 mi) was yesterday and I struggled so much! It made me question if I could do 13. Reading your post made me realize there are bad run days and I can keep going and I will be able to do my 1/2! So thanks for that post! I am getting excited for the race šŸ™‚

    Reply
  3. Leah

    I am On week 3 oF my half marathon training schedule. This one is different from last time in that I only run four days a week (Tuesday- fartlek, thursday- recovery, Saturday – long run, Sunday – recovery run) compared to five last time which for me as a beginner was too much. I used to take CLA, a fat burner, C4 pre run. But now all I take is a multivitamin, green tea, and I drink aminos to help with muscle recovery

    Reply
    1. Theodora

      @Lauren: I used to take it more regularly and didn’t have that side effect, but I don’t remember that happening when I first started taking it.

      My stomach is a jerk, so I’m always REALLY careful about trying new supplements, because it upsetting my stomach is usually not worth the benefits to me.

      Reply
  4. Laura @ Mommy Run Fast

    Congrats on week one of training down! I’ve never heard that side effect of magnesium… did you take it on an empty stomach? Weird. Glad you could pinpoint what was causing it. Enjoy training with RW challenge, I thought about doing that one of these days, too.

    Reply
  5. Cindy

    I took magnesium for the longest time as it was supposed to help my headaches (it didn’t really). I don’t remember it making me tired or lethargic, but the headaches had that pretty covered already. Maybe try a half dose next time and see if the lethargy is similar?

    Right now I take a multi w/ probiotics and a ton of vitamin D, as I haven’t seen the sunshine since May.

    Reply
  6. Shannon

    Interesting about the magnesium… I never knew that. I don’t take any supplements but maybe I should! It’s just hard for me to justify the expense. (Of course I spent almost $300 on shoes last weekend so maybe I should re-adjust my priorities.)

    I just started training for NYCM (my first marathon, so scared!) and training is going OK. I started a little later than most because of the NYC Triathlon, but I’m not super worried. If I have a bad run (and who doesn’t every so often!), I just try to regroup and remind myself they happen. And they make the good runs so much better!

    Reply
  7. Meghan

    I take a probiotics tablet, a Vitamin B complex, Vitamin C, melatonin (only a few nights a week), and a magnesium drink called Natural Calm every once in awhile. I actually take it because they say that magnesium also helps with stress. It doesn’t make me lethargic, but I have noticed that a little bit of the magnesium drink makes me a tiny bit more chill, which I sometimes need!

    Reply
  8. Sarah @Blonde Bostonian

    I didn’t know that magnesium did that! I used to take it everyday but stopped because I wanted to lower my intake of synthetic vitamins. Now I just take a multi and fish oil. I start training for my second half-marathon today! I can’t wait to get started!

    Reply
  9. Katie

    I LOVE that you have ‘resigned yourself to morning runs!’ You were so against them and now you’re just doing it. Sometimes you just have to make it work and you are setting a great example šŸ™‚

    Reply
  10. Shauna@ Pleasure not Punishment

    Beginning week 8 of half marathon training. Hard to believe when I see that typed out. I’m up to 6.5 miles and having an amazing time!

    Reply
  11. Jen Correa @ Mom's Gotta Run

    Hey! I have been taking the Cal/Mag/Zinc for a year and never had that happen. Hmmm. My dr. told me it was good for muscle tightness and my calves are always tight. I started training this morning. I am using a diff plan, but I LOVE the options with the RW plan.

    Reply
  12. Meredith

    Hello! I recently got the opportunity to get a MCM bib from a coworker; still trying to decide if I can manage it in 14 weeks. The details for the RW training log look really helpful, especially for runners like me who want/need more guidance.

    Reply

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