Rolling through Training, Foam Rolling, and Rolling Back Time

Where are we in training??
According to our marathon training plan we have reached the end of week 6 of 18!  YAY!!  Is it all downhill from here?  I am very proud of Jer and I for sticking to the plan day by day for the last 41 days so far..:-)

Making break time at work productive

My dear friend introduced me to something I had not used nor seen before: a Foam Roller.  Is this common?  How had I missed this?  Anyway, as she introduced this tool to me complete with an excellent demonstration, she proceeded to say how much it, "hurt so good".  Now, with that description, I was a bit skeptical what to expect..Have no fear, the more you use it the better it feels, or so she says.  Being the good sport I make the effort to be, I agreed to give it a try during a break at work...

Here is VTB looking all innocent before she said anything about pain

Turns out, rolling out my hamstrings were the most tolerable :-)

Well, she was right, it did hurt..but compared it to getting a deep tissue massage.  Let's just take a moment think about getting a massage.. ::::::::::::moment of peace::::::::::::::.....

OK we're back! Well, I didn't "roll" very long because I still had a 5 mile run that evening and was afraid my quads or t-bands would tear into pieces, so I stuck with the hamstrings..which DID feel good :-)
Speaking of massage though...I haven't had a professional massage in a couple years and being an "elite athlete" and all, technically, I am supposed to have them frequently...right??

Pace adjustments..another form of feeling good about training 

After these weeks of training, I looked back at the history saved in my Garmin (which I LOVE and HIGHLY recommend) to see how my avg pace has changed from before training began, beginning of training, and after 6 weeks of diligent running.  Wow, this was really neat and made me feel like the training program is really working! Currently, I am running about 10:30+/- min/miles when going anywhere from 3 miles all the way up to 9 miles consistently (exceeding 9 miles the time was slightly higher).  Towards the beginning of training I did about 11 min/miles and months ago before training began, I avgd at 11:30-12:00ish min/miles.  It was SO COOL to see that although my distances are increasing, my time has been decreasing! This was hugely motivating and really gave the mental part of the training (just as important as the physical part) the boost I needed to continually give the extra effort each time I put my running shoes on.

Watch out Savannah Rock N Roll speed racers!  Here I come!