Sigh. Last week started off really well. I was getting workouts done and feeling ok.
Monday, August 28
Plan says: Easy 5 miles
What I do: You may recall that I was coming off of family sick-fest last weekend so I didn't set a morning alarm. I also reworked my workouts a little bit so that I wasn't coming off sick-fest and doing speed. My daughter started school that morning so I was going to try to squeeze in a run between work and when she got off the bus. Due to school restructuring, she was going to be on the bus 10 extra minutes this year and I was going to use them! I ended up logging 4.4 miles. I still felt tired.
4.4 miles, 36:12 (8:09 average).
Tuesday, August 29
Plan says: Rest
What I do: Yes! I had FINALLY gotten back to having Tuesday as a rest day.
Wednesday, August 30
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 4 x 1.5 miles (0.5 miles jog in-between), 1.5 miles cool down
What I do: I woke up early, did this workout and slayed. Honestly, my goals for this were (1) to be around 6:30 pace; and (2) to ease into the workout. I accomplished both.
1.51 mile warm up, 12:45 (8:27 avg pace)
1.5 miles, 10:01 (6:40 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:25.7 (8:50 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:46.3 (6:30 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:21.4 (8:43 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:50.3 (6:33 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:23.1 (8:48 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:48.2 (6:32 pace)
1.1 mile cool down, 8:50 (8:02 avg pace)
Thursday, August 31
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: 6.2 miles easy. Two days in a row with the morning alarm!
6.2 miles, 51:19 (8:17 avg pace)
Friday, September 1
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 6 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: So tempo run. I haven't had a good tempo run in weeks. I decided that I was going to start over with these and work myself up physically and mentally rather than beat myself up over them. My goal was to do a 4 mile tempo, easing into it and negative splitting. It was still slower than what I wanted, but the progression of my miles was good.
1.5 mile warm up 12:53 (8:36)
4 miles, 27:33 (6:53 avg, mile splits = 7:03, 6:59, 6:45, 6:44)
1.5 mile cool down 11:44 (7:49)
AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE PLOT TWIST! (As I alluded to in my Instagram post this morning, I stole that from Devon Yanko's Leadville 100 race recap. It's a good one.)
I woke up Saturday morning at 1 AM with a throbbing, vice grip headache that was out of control. What the hell was going on?!?! I thought I was going to puke so I crawled (yes, crawled) into our bathroom. No puke but man I could not shake the jolts of pain going through my head. I thankfully fell asleep and then proceeded to rot in bed, in and out of sleep, for the remainder of the day, clutching my head. My husband thought I was on the verge of death. "I've never seen you like that!". (He wins some award because he did all of the cooking for my daughter's birthday party AND yard work AND house cleaning AND wrangled our monkeys that day.)
He was Googling symptoms and diagnosed me with a migraine. I was chugging ibuprofen and it was doing absolutely nothing so he went and got me some Excedrin migraine. That at least took some of the edge off but I was not able to be upright at all.
I felt better on Sunday - "better" meaning I was able to get up, shower, and stay upright while Maggie's party was going on. I wasn't feeling hungry (I hadn't eaten anything since Friday night outside of a small bowl of oatmeal) and still had a headache.
Yesterday I felt a bit better as well. I still had a headache, but no zingers. I didn't feel as though I was on the edge of vomiting. I ate some food, despite not really being hungry.
And here we are this morning. Still feeling "eh". Trying not to freak out that I missed two long run weeks in a row and, rather than being back up, like I was anticipating at the beginning of last week, my weekly mileage plummeted below 30 for the first time since the week of June 12. I have 5 weeks and 5 days until race day.
Plan Miles: 51
Total Weekly Miles: 27.75
Showing posts with label mindset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mindset. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Monday, August 21, 2017
Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 10 Recap
Spoiler alert: I did not hit the mileage goal for the week. In fact, I was not even close. I took an extra unplanned rest day and cut a few workouts short.
Mario Fraioli retweeted something by @jcissik : "You cannot out train a bad diet, lack of sleep, lack of studying, and a poor attitude." It was basically a sign from God. Like DUH. I have been complaining for weeks about the lack of sleep I have gotten. My diet has been terrible lately. I have skipped breakfast a ton. (SUPER BAD IDEA....just in case you were wondering.)
I tried to get more sleep over the weekend. There were some successes (nap on Sunday!) and some fails (daughter up several times last night because of bad dreams!). I definitely paid more attention to eating this weekend - as in I ate really amazing food and I ate very hearty breakfasts both days.
I'm going to keep on keeping on with my plan and *try* to not be so down on myself. It's always a work in progress for us type-A, overachiever types, right?
Here is my recap:
Monday, August 14
Plan says: Rest
What I do: Rest
Tuesday, August 15
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 12 x 400m at 5k/10k pace with 400 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: This was the last speed workout on the plan! (The remaining weeks focus on "strength" workouts which are longer repeats (1+ miles).) My kids had a rough night of sleep Monday night so I did not get up early. I left work to do these before piano lessons and managed to get the repeats done but had to skip out on the cool down. It was a nice sunny day, temperatures were in the upper 70s. I again did these in my neighborhood (0.25 mi) on a quasi hilly stretch. My goal was NOT to blow them out of the water - try to stay consistent and close to goal pace (1:33). I didn't want to kill my legs for the tempo run later this week like I did last week.
1.6 miles warm up, 12:43 (7:55 avg pace)
0.25 miles, 1:30.0 (5:57 avg pace) / 0.25 miles, 2:01.0 (7:59 avg pace)
0.25 miles, 1:28.7 (5:57) / 0.25 miles, 1:56.1 (7:46)
0.25 miles, 1:30.8 (6:07) / 0.25 miles, 1:57.2 (7:48)
0.25 miles, 1:30.8 (6:05) / 0.25 miles, 1:59.2 (7:45)
0.25 miles, 1:28.7 (5:54) / 0.25 miles, 2:05.3 (8:01)
0.25 miles, 1:30.6 (6:02) / 0.25 miles, 1:58.8 (7:57)
0.25 miles, 1:28.5 (5:58) / 0.25 miles, 2:01.4 (7:55)
0.25 miles, 1:30.6 (6:03) / 0.25 miles, 2:06.7 (8:17)
0.25 miles, 1:30.2 (5:56) / 0.25 miles, 2:02.3 (7:58)
0.25 miles, 1:28.6 (5:54) / 0.25 miles, 2:03.4 (8:08)
0.25 miles, 1:29.8 (6:01) / 0.25 miles, 2:04.5 (8:04)
0.25 miles, 1:28.5 (5:57) / 0.30 miles, 2:26.1 (8:07)
The last time I did 400s was during week 2 (6/20/17). I ran those on a track, and they were much faster.
1 - 1:24 / 1:55 (5:33 avg pace / 7:43 avg pace)
2 - 1:26 / 1:50 (5:36 / 7:23)
3 - 1:25 / 1:58 (5:40 / 7:53)
4 - 1:25 / 1:54 (5:31 / 7:39)
5 - 1:26 / 1:59 (5:38 / 7:59)
6 - 1:22 / 1:56 (5:22 / 7:47)
7 - 1:27 / 1:59 (5:39 / 8:03)
8 - 1:25 / 1:54 (5:27 / 7:36)
9 - 1:25 / 1:57 (5:31 / 7:43)
10 - 1:24 / 1:59 (5:23 / 7:49)
11 - 1:23 / 1:57 (5:20 / 7:45)
12 - 1:25 (5:33)
Wednesday, August 16
Plan says: 5 miles
What I do: I stayed up late on Tuesday night (10 pm) to read my book which made it hard to get up at 5 AM but I did eventually roll out of bed. These were easy paced miles, although I felt tired. It is always harder to have a hard afternoon workout and then an early morning workout the next day! I added some on to make up for reduced cool down the day before.
5.70 miles, 49:27 (8:41 avg pace)
Thursday, August 17
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: Nothing. Nada. I was spent and slept terribly because my husband and I were kid-free on Wednesday night so we went out to dinner and wine was had. I have noticed that whenever I have a DROP of wine, any sort, my sleep is awful. I had several million drops (ok, half a bottle) with dinner and thus, I was up all night long and did not get a workout in before work. The day sort of spiraled from there. I ended up having to leave work early to go get the kids and then we had back to school night and by the time all was said and done, there was no way I was running.
Friday, August 18
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: Tried to get the tempo run in. It was an epic fail, as I wrote about at the end of last week.
2.27 miles, 19:14 (8:29 avg pace)
1.35 miles, 9:23 (6:56 avg pace)
0.18 miles, 1:31 (8:38) and walk.
I felt like death and abandoned ship. 3.8 miles total.
Saturday, August 19
Plan says: 12 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)
What I do: I was up early so I decided to get a long run in. I was not in a good place mentally but thought, "Try to get to 6". Six came and it became, "Try to get an hour of running in". An hour came and then it was "Try to get 10 in" and then I hit 10! I had hit my max allowable run time (we had to get to an event that morning) so I stopped there.
10.06 miles, 1:20:28 (8:00 avg pace)
Sunday, August 20
Plan says: 5 miles easy
What I do: I inadvertently napped on Sunday after getting the BEST night of sleep ever on Saturday night. I slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT. Hallelujah. I laid down with my son to help him relax for his nap and ended up falling asleep myself! I did this run after the kids were in bed and the first two miles felt heavy. I switched off of podcast mode and fired up some music and voila. Hit some fast miles. Of course this was off plan, but it felt good after the crappy week to show myself that I could get some fast miles done.
5 miles, 36:42, (7:20 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 32.27
Mario Fraioli retweeted something by @jcissik : "You cannot out train a bad diet, lack of sleep, lack of studying, and a poor attitude." It was basically a sign from God. Like DUH. I have been complaining for weeks about the lack of sleep I have gotten. My diet has been terrible lately. I have skipped breakfast a ton. (SUPER BAD IDEA....just in case you were wondering.)
I tried to get more sleep over the weekend. There were some successes (nap on Sunday!) and some fails (daughter up several times last night because of bad dreams!). I definitely paid more attention to eating this weekend - as in I ate really amazing food and I ate very hearty breakfasts both days.
I'm going to keep on keeping on with my plan and *try* to not be so down on myself. It's always a work in progress for us type-A, overachiever types, right?
Here is my recap:
Monday, August 14
Plan says: Rest
What I do: Rest
Tuesday, August 15
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 12 x 400m at 5k/10k pace with 400 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: This was the last speed workout on the plan! (The remaining weeks focus on "strength" workouts which are longer repeats (1+ miles).) My kids had a rough night of sleep Monday night so I did not get up early. I left work to do these before piano lessons and managed to get the repeats done but had to skip out on the cool down. It was a nice sunny day, temperatures were in the upper 70s. I again did these in my neighborhood (0.25 mi) on a quasi hilly stretch. My goal was NOT to blow them out of the water - try to stay consistent and close to goal pace (1:33). I didn't want to kill my legs for the tempo run later this week like I did last week.
1.6 miles warm up, 12:43 (7:55 avg pace)
0.25 miles, 1:30.0 (5:57 avg pace) / 0.25 miles, 2:01.0 (7:59 avg pace)
0.25 miles, 1:28.7 (5:57) / 0.25 miles, 1:56.1 (7:46)
0.25 miles, 1:30.8 (6:07) / 0.25 miles, 1:57.2 (7:48)
0.25 miles, 1:30.8 (6:05) / 0.25 miles, 1:59.2 (7:45)
0.25 miles, 1:28.7 (5:54) / 0.25 miles, 2:05.3 (8:01)
0.25 miles, 1:30.6 (6:02) / 0.25 miles, 1:58.8 (7:57)
0.25 miles, 1:28.5 (5:58) / 0.25 miles, 2:01.4 (7:55)
0.25 miles, 1:30.6 (6:03) / 0.25 miles, 2:06.7 (8:17)
0.25 miles, 1:30.2 (5:56) / 0.25 miles, 2:02.3 (7:58)
0.25 miles, 1:28.6 (5:54) / 0.25 miles, 2:03.4 (8:08)
0.25 miles, 1:29.8 (6:01) / 0.25 miles, 2:04.5 (8:04)
0.25 miles, 1:28.5 (5:57) / 0.30 miles, 2:26.1 (8:07)
The last time I did 400s was during week 2 (6/20/17). I ran those on a track, and they were much faster.
1 - 1:24 / 1:55 (5:33 avg pace / 7:43 avg pace)
2 - 1:26 / 1:50 (5:36 / 7:23)
3 - 1:25 / 1:58 (5:40 / 7:53)
4 - 1:25 / 1:54 (5:31 / 7:39)
5 - 1:26 / 1:59 (5:38 / 7:59)
6 - 1:22 / 1:56 (5:22 / 7:47)
7 - 1:27 / 1:59 (5:39 / 8:03)
8 - 1:25 / 1:54 (5:27 / 7:36)
9 - 1:25 / 1:57 (5:31 / 7:43)
10 - 1:24 / 1:59 (5:23 / 7:49)
11 - 1:23 / 1:57 (5:20 / 7:45)
12 - 1:25 (5:33)
Wednesday, August 16
Plan says: 5 miles
What I do: I stayed up late on Tuesday night (10 pm) to read my book which made it hard to get up at 5 AM but I did eventually roll out of bed. These were easy paced miles, although I felt tired. It is always harder to have a hard afternoon workout and then an early morning workout the next day! I added some on to make up for reduced cool down the day before.
5.70 miles, 49:27 (8:41 avg pace)
Thursday, August 17
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: Nothing. Nada. I was spent and slept terribly because my husband and I were kid-free on Wednesday night so we went out to dinner and wine was had. I have noticed that whenever I have a DROP of wine, any sort, my sleep is awful. I had several million drops (ok, half a bottle) with dinner and thus, I was up all night long and did not get a workout in before work. The day sort of spiraled from there. I ended up having to leave work early to go get the kids and then we had back to school night and by the time all was said and done, there was no way I was running.
Friday, August 18
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: Tried to get the tempo run in. It was an epic fail, as I wrote about at the end of last week.
2.27 miles, 19:14 (8:29 avg pace)
1.35 miles, 9:23 (6:56 avg pace)
0.18 miles, 1:31 (8:38) and walk.
I felt like death and abandoned ship. 3.8 miles total.
Saturday, August 19
Plan says: 12 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)
What I do: I was up early so I decided to get a long run in. I was not in a good place mentally but thought, "Try to get to 6". Six came and it became, "Try to get an hour of running in". An hour came and then it was "Try to get 10 in" and then I hit 10! I had hit my max allowable run time (we had to get to an event that morning) so I stopped there.
10.06 miles, 1:20:28 (8:00 avg pace)
Sunday, August 20
Plan says: 5 miles easy
What I do: I inadvertently napped on Sunday after getting the BEST night of sleep ever on Saturday night. I slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT. Hallelujah. I laid down with my son to help him relax for his nap and ended up falling asleep myself! I did this run after the kids were in bed and the first two miles felt heavy. I switched off of podcast mode and fired up some music and voila. Hit some fast miles. Of course this was off plan, but it felt good after the crappy week to show myself that I could get some fast miles done.
5 miles, 36:42, (7:20 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 32.27
Monday, August 7, 2017
Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 8 Recap
Week 8 of half marathon training is in the books and after a few weeks of getting close, I finally crossed the 40 mile threshold, despite only logging 5 running days instead of 6. I still struggle with motivation. I also am dealing with a bit of fear that my goal pace is too much. I think a lot of my motivation struggles are really just being afraid of the goal I set and not knowing if I can do it, especially after I struggled to run a 10K at the pace I want to run a half-marathon at.
Monday, July 31
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 x 1km at 5k/10k pace with 600 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: I went to a concert with my mom on Sunday night and thus, went to bed late, slept like crap and did not plan to get up early to get this done in the morning. I started this workout at 3:30 in the afternoon, it was 81 degrees and sunny.
For the most part, the heat did not bother me. Put that in the win jar. I incorrectly thought that 1km =0.63 miles so I technically did a bit over the 1K so I was pleased that my paces were below my goal pace for this workout (3:48 / 6:07 avg pace).
1.5 miles warm up, 12:05 (8:03 avg pace)
0.64 miles, 3:51.6 (6:04 avg pace) / 0.37 miles, 3:07.9 (8:24 avg pace)
0.63 miles, 3:48.8 (6:01) / 0.36 miles, 2:58.2 (8:09)
0.63 miles, 3:43.9 (5:55) / 0.37 miles, 3:08.6 (8:25)
0.63 miles, 3:47.4 (5:59) / 0.37 miles, 3:20.1 (8:59)
0.64 miles, 3:49.7 (6:00)
1.75 miles cool down, 15:09 (8:39 avg pace)
One of the big differences with the Hanson's Advanced half marathon training plan compared to the beginner marathon training plan is that the amount of speed work is larger in the advanced plan. In the beginner marathon plan, I had 6 weeks of mileage building (re: NO speed work), followed by 6 weeks that included speed work, followed by 6 weeks of "strength" work (1, 1.5, 2, and 3 mi repeats). The speed work weeks started with 400m repeats and ended with mile repeats. In this advanced plan, I have 9 weeks of speed work followed by 7 weeks of strength, so the speed work is done like a ladder, from 400m repeats up to mile repeats and back down to 400 m repeats. Thus, I had to do 1Ks a few weeks ago, during week 5 of training. I would say my pace was more consistent this time around and I recall the first session of 1Ks being a struggle. I was pleased that I gained some consistency and this was not as difficult as the first time around AND I did them in much hotter weather this second time!
Tuesday, August 1
Plan says: 0 miles
What I do: Rest.
Wednesday, August 2
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: Had to set the alarm for 4:45 for this one as I had an early morning meeting at the office. UGH. Even though this alarm is a mere 15 minutes earlier than my standard, why does it seem so much earlier?! My sleep was terrible. My son fell out of bed at 3 AM and I never fell back asleep after that so the good news was that I was ready to go for this run. I grabbed my knuckle lights and ran the warm up in my neighborhood as well as the first 2 miles. Then I ditched the lights and grabbed my water bottle to finish it out of my hood. My goal for this was to ease into the tempo run and not start out mile 1 of tempo at full on pace. It went well. It was so humid already that morning so even though my pace was a little slow, I was satisfied.
1.5 mi warm up, 12:55 (8:36 avg pace)
5.0 mi tempo, 34:00 (6:48 avg pace)
1.5 mi cool down, 12:24 (8:16 avg pace)
Thursday, August 3
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: We were lucky to have our friends from Calgary staying with us Wednesday night so I stayed up late talking my friend's ear off. My alarm went off at 5 and it was raining/storming so I shut it off and went back to sleep. I left work early to get this run done and on my way home, it started downpouring. So I thought, "I'll do it after the kids are in bed." Then the kids were in bed and again, it was raining. I was zonked by that time so I just threw in the towel.
Looking back, I'm annoyed that I just didn't hop on the treadmill. After all, this is why I got a treadmill!
0 miles
Friday, August 4
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: My husband has a weekend in Northern WI every year with his college buddies and this was the weekend he was going to be gone. SO I had planned on getting up super early and knocking my long run for the week out before he left. Except then 4:30 am came and I was like, ugh. I finally peeled myself out of bed at 5:15 which meant I wasn't doing 12 miles before work. I ended up with 6.4.
6.4 miles, 51:51, (8:06 avg pace)
Saturday, August 5
Plan says: 12 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)
What I do: I had big ideas that I might be able to get up before my kids and get on the treadmill. Unfortunately, Friday night was sort of a cluster getting them to bed. I might have fallen asleep before my son. They definitely woke me up in the morning so I stayed in bed snoozing in and out of consciousness while they watched TV.
I had big plans of taking them hiking a few times this summer and had yet to do anything about that so we loaded up and went to a nearby state park. They did better than I was expecting! We did lots of climbing. Being there actually made me want to do more trail running.
It came time for bed and again, it was a shit show. My son would not go the f*** to sleep. It was 8:30 and I was tired and I was about to just skip running but then I was just like, no. I let this bedtime situation infuriate me the night before, I was not going to do it again. I changed into my running clothes and jumped on the treadmill. It was slow and mentally so painful but I did it. I logged 6 miles. Best part was when I came back upstairs, everyone was asleep. I drank some Nuun mixed with LaCroix, read my book and crashed.
6 miles, 53:15 (8:52 avg)
Sunday, August 6
Plan says: 5 miles easy
What I do: My husband returned from his trip mid-afternoon so I was like, SEE YA! I went to run my long run and really had no motivation for it. I just kept saying one more mile and did a bunch of small loops (which mentally always helps me for some reason) and before I knew it, I had 12 miles in!
12 miles, 1:32:53 (7:44 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 40.31
Monday, July 31
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 x 1km at 5k/10k pace with 600 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: I went to a concert with my mom on Sunday night and thus, went to bed late, slept like crap and did not plan to get up early to get this done in the morning. I started this workout at 3:30 in the afternoon, it was 81 degrees and sunny.
For the most part, the heat did not bother me. Put that in the win jar. I incorrectly thought that 1km =0.63 miles so I technically did a bit over the 1K so I was pleased that my paces were below my goal pace for this workout (3:48 / 6:07 avg pace).
1.5 miles warm up, 12:05 (8:03 avg pace)
0.64 miles, 3:51.6 (6:04 avg pace) / 0.37 miles, 3:07.9 (8:24 avg pace)
0.63 miles, 3:48.8 (6:01) / 0.36 miles, 2:58.2 (8:09)
0.63 miles, 3:43.9 (5:55) / 0.37 miles, 3:08.6 (8:25)
0.63 miles, 3:47.4 (5:59) / 0.37 miles, 3:20.1 (8:59)
0.64 miles, 3:49.7 (6:00)
1.75 miles cool down, 15:09 (8:39 avg pace)
One of the big differences with the Hanson's Advanced half marathon training plan compared to the beginner marathon training plan is that the amount of speed work is larger in the advanced plan. In the beginner marathon plan, I had 6 weeks of mileage building (re: NO speed work), followed by 6 weeks that included speed work, followed by 6 weeks of "strength" work (1, 1.5, 2, and 3 mi repeats). The speed work weeks started with 400m repeats and ended with mile repeats. In this advanced plan, I have 9 weeks of speed work followed by 7 weeks of strength, so the speed work is done like a ladder, from 400m repeats up to mile repeats and back down to 400 m repeats. Thus, I had to do 1Ks a few weeks ago, during week 5 of training. I would say my pace was more consistent this time around and I recall the first session of 1Ks being a struggle. I was pleased that I gained some consistency and this was not as difficult as the first time around AND I did them in much hotter weather this second time!
Tuesday, August 1
Plan says: 0 miles
What I do: Rest.
Wednesday, August 2
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down
What I do: Had to set the alarm for 4:45 for this one as I had an early morning meeting at the office. UGH. Even though this alarm is a mere 15 minutes earlier than my standard, why does it seem so much earlier?! My sleep was terrible. My son fell out of bed at 3 AM and I never fell back asleep after that so the good news was that I was ready to go for this run. I grabbed my knuckle lights and ran the warm up in my neighborhood as well as the first 2 miles. Then I ditched the lights and grabbed my water bottle to finish it out of my hood. My goal for this was to ease into the tempo run and not start out mile 1 of tempo at full on pace. It went well. It was so humid already that morning so even though my pace was a little slow, I was satisfied.
1.5 mi warm up, 12:55 (8:36 avg pace)
5.0 mi tempo, 34:00 (6:48 avg pace)
1.5 mi cool down, 12:24 (8:16 avg pace)
Thursday, August 3
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: We were lucky to have our friends from Calgary staying with us Wednesday night so I stayed up late talking my friend's ear off. My alarm went off at 5 and it was raining/storming so I shut it off and went back to sleep. I left work early to get this run done and on my way home, it started downpouring. So I thought, "I'll do it after the kids are in bed." Then the kids were in bed and again, it was raining. I was zonked by that time so I just threw in the towel.
Looking back, I'm annoyed that I just didn't hop on the treadmill. After all, this is why I got a treadmill!
0 miles
Friday, August 4
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: My husband has a weekend in Northern WI every year with his college buddies and this was the weekend he was going to be gone. SO I had planned on getting up super early and knocking my long run for the week out before he left. Except then 4:30 am came and I was like, ugh. I finally peeled myself out of bed at 5:15 which meant I wasn't doing 12 miles before work. I ended up with 6.4.
6.4 miles, 51:51, (8:06 avg pace)
Saturday, August 5
Plan says: 12 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)
What I do: I had big ideas that I might be able to get up before my kids and get on the treadmill. Unfortunately, Friday night was sort of a cluster getting them to bed. I might have fallen asleep before my son. They definitely woke me up in the morning so I stayed in bed snoozing in and out of consciousness while they watched TV.
I had big plans of taking them hiking a few times this summer and had yet to do anything about that so we loaded up and went to a nearby state park. They did better than I was expecting! We did lots of climbing. Being there actually made me want to do more trail running.
It came time for bed and again, it was a shit show. My son would not go the f*** to sleep. It was 8:30 and I was tired and I was about to just skip running but then I was just like, no. I let this bedtime situation infuriate me the night before, I was not going to do it again. I changed into my running clothes and jumped on the treadmill. It was slow and mentally so painful but I did it. I logged 6 miles. Best part was when I came back upstairs, everyone was asleep. I drank some Nuun mixed with LaCroix, read my book and crashed.
6 miles, 53:15 (8:52 avg)
Sunday, August 6
Plan says: 5 miles easy
What I do: My husband returned from his trip mid-afternoon so I was like, SEE YA! I went to run my long run and really had no motivation for it. I just kept saying one more mile and did a bunch of small loops (which mentally always helps me for some reason) and before I knew it, I had 12 miles in!
12 miles, 1:32:53 (7:44 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 40.31
Monday, June 19, 2017
Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 1 Recap
I'm back on a training plan. Half-marathon training started last week and it was a tough week. I was not/am not mentally prepared to start a grueling training plan yet. I may have mentioned this before, but when I signed up for the 10/15/17 half marathon, it seemed so far away. It still does. After the marathon, I was so excited to kick ass at the half marathon. The Hanson's book mentions that working on your half marathon is a good way to lower your marathon time. My experience thus far has shown that to be true - I PRed in the half marathon last fall...then PRed in the marathon in spring.
I wanted to try doing the Hanson's Advanced half-marathon training program, which is 18 weeks in length and thus, needed to start last week. It is a strange thing doing a training program for the second time. I made the mistake of looking at all the workouts and freaked out. The speed workouts are the exact same as the marathon speed workouts. Now, I LOVED the speed workouts, but felt like, "Oh man! Don't I get a break on these - I'm only training for half the distance!". Then I looked at the long runs and there are several long runs that are over 13 miles. WTF. Finally, while the Hanson's beginner marathon plan featured 6 weeks of EASY running (therefore, only 12 of the 19 weeks were "hard"), this advanced half-marathon plan only gives you one week of easy running, and I have now done it. Time to shift into high gear. This is what it means to be "advanced" I guess. All in all - these thoughts are not helping me, I know.
Last week was the lone "easy" week in the plan and it felt hard. There were several things that I didn't do. While I had gotten better at running slower paces on easy runs during marathon training, I seemed to have forgotten that. Many of my runs last week were me pushing myself to beat the clock and telling myself that I wasn't in shape if I couldn't hit that for an easy run. NOT HELPFUL. I pulled my head out of my ass for yesterday's run and it was enjoyable. It is hell running in heat and humidity. This I know. However, this knowledge wasn't enough to pull me out of bed most mornings. I am having a really hard time getting to bed before 10 pm lately! During marathon training, I was a machine. Clock strikes 9 PM, I'm in bed.
Just typing this I realized how much I am comparing this half marathon training to my recent marathon training experience. Comparison is the thief of joy, or something like that, right? I have to stop.
While I work on that, here is my recap of last week:
Monday, June 12
Off
I slept through my alarm. There was no time to make up for the missed miles later in the day because my daughter had her cast removed, my son had an ENT appointment and I had a meeting a church in addition to work. Bleck.
Tuesday, Jun 13
Some late afternoon miles:
4 miles, 32:13 (8:00 avg pace)
Wednesday, June 14
First official day on the plan. I again moved the plan back a day so that I could do long runs on Saturdays instead of Sundays.
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: 4.65 miles, 36:44 (7:54 avg pace)
Thursday, June 15
Plan says: 4 miles easy
4 miles, 29:59 (7:29 avg pace)
Friday, June 16
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: 4.1 miles 32:26 (7:54 avg pace)
Saturday, June 17
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: HOLY HOTNESS. I avoided running early morning and instead went out mid-afternoon. It was a shit storm. I was relentless in trying to keep this at a 7:30 pace, regardless of the heat, humidity and how I was feeling. That was dumb. Then I had a sunscreen fail which turned into a contacts issue which lead to a detour to a Dairy Queen bathroom to fix my eye.
6.0 miles, 44:57 (7:29 avg pace)
Sunday, June 18
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: It was Father's Day so I was up early not to run but to make my husband's favorite breakfast. I ended up running after the kids were in bed and it was much cooler outside so it was fine.
4 miles, 32:30 (8.07 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 22
Total Weekly Miles: 26 miles
Sleep Data
Sense told me today that during the last 10 nights, I moved 43% less than the average person using Sense. About 6% of my sleep consists of agitated sleep. This is interesting because last week I had more agitated sleep than I typically do - I spent a few nights tossing and turning between the hours of 1 and 3 pm. Thus, the percentage of my "deep" sleep is lower than what it typically is, but apparently I am still getting better sleep than the average Sense user. One could argue that people with sleep issues are more likely to invest in a system like Sense.
My take on this is that I personally feel like I need a lot of quality sleep to feel good, no matter what other people need. In other words, it is not useful to me to compare myself to others (hmmm....I can reach this insight here but not always with running...hmmmm....) Yes, I get a lot of deep sleep and yes, I am hovering around the 7.5 hour range. But I still feel tired. I think the "magic" of a system like this is that it tracks things for you and allows you to see patterns. (Laura Vanderkam would be so proud of me right now.) I do not feel "tired" on days when I am closer to 8 hours of sleep, the majority of that being deep. Lucky for me, if I go to bed early, I can usually make this happen.
Average sleep score: 79 (out of 100)
Average sleep duration: 7.5 hours (7.4 hours weekday, 7.7 hours weekend)
Sleep quality: 4% light, 52% medium, 44% deep
I wanted to try doing the Hanson's Advanced half-marathon training program, which is 18 weeks in length and thus, needed to start last week. It is a strange thing doing a training program for the second time. I made the mistake of looking at all the workouts and freaked out. The speed workouts are the exact same as the marathon speed workouts. Now, I LOVED the speed workouts, but felt like, "Oh man! Don't I get a break on these - I'm only training for half the distance!". Then I looked at the long runs and there are several long runs that are over 13 miles. WTF. Finally, while the Hanson's beginner marathon plan featured 6 weeks of EASY running (therefore, only 12 of the 19 weeks were "hard"), this advanced half-marathon plan only gives you one week of easy running, and I have now done it. Time to shift into high gear. This is what it means to be "advanced" I guess. All in all - these thoughts are not helping me, I know.
Last week was the lone "easy" week in the plan and it felt hard. There were several things that I didn't do. While I had gotten better at running slower paces on easy runs during marathon training, I seemed to have forgotten that. Many of my runs last week were me pushing myself to beat the clock and telling myself that I wasn't in shape if I couldn't hit that for an easy run. NOT HELPFUL. I pulled my head out of my ass for yesterday's run and it was enjoyable. It is hell running in heat and humidity. This I know. However, this knowledge wasn't enough to pull me out of bed most mornings. I am having a really hard time getting to bed before 10 pm lately! During marathon training, I was a machine. Clock strikes 9 PM, I'm in bed.
Just typing this I realized how much I am comparing this half marathon training to my recent marathon training experience. Comparison is the thief of joy, or something like that, right? I have to stop.
While I work on that, here is my recap of last week:
Monday, June 12
Off
I slept through my alarm. There was no time to make up for the missed miles later in the day because my daughter had her cast removed, my son had an ENT appointment and I had a meeting a church in addition to work. Bleck.
Tuesday, Jun 13
Some late afternoon miles:
4 miles, 32:13 (8:00 avg pace)
Wednesday, June 14
First official day on the plan. I again moved the plan back a day so that I could do long runs on Saturdays instead of Sundays.
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: 4.65 miles, 36:44 (7:54 avg pace)
Thursday, June 15
Plan says: 4 miles easy
4 miles, 29:59 (7:29 avg pace)
Friday, June 16
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: 4.1 miles 32:26 (7:54 avg pace)
Saturday, June 17
Plan says: 6 miles easy
What I do: HOLY HOTNESS. I avoided running early morning and instead went out mid-afternoon. It was a shit storm. I was relentless in trying to keep this at a 7:30 pace, regardless of the heat, humidity and how I was feeling. That was dumb. Then I had a sunscreen fail which turned into a contacts issue which lead to a detour to a Dairy Queen bathroom to fix my eye.
6.0 miles, 44:57 (7:29 avg pace)
Sunday, June 18
Plan says: 4 miles easy
What I do: It was Father's Day so I was up early not to run but to make my husband's favorite breakfast. I ended up running after the kids were in bed and it was much cooler outside so it was fine.
4 miles, 32:30 (8.07 avg pace)
Plan Miles: 22
Total Weekly Miles: 26 miles
Sleep Data
Sense told me today that during the last 10 nights, I moved 43% less than the average person using Sense. About 6% of my sleep consists of agitated sleep. This is interesting because last week I had more agitated sleep than I typically do - I spent a few nights tossing and turning between the hours of 1 and 3 pm. Thus, the percentage of my "deep" sleep is lower than what it typically is, but apparently I am still getting better sleep than the average Sense user. One could argue that people with sleep issues are more likely to invest in a system like Sense.
My take on this is that I personally feel like I need a lot of quality sleep to feel good, no matter what other people need. In other words, it is not useful to me to compare myself to others (hmmm....I can reach this insight here but not always with running...hmmmm....) Yes, I get a lot of deep sleep and yes, I am hovering around the 7.5 hour range. But I still feel tired. I think the "magic" of a system like this is that it tracks things for you and allows you to see patterns. (Laura Vanderkam would be so proud of me right now.) I do not feel "tired" on days when I am closer to 8 hours of sleep, the majority of that being deep. Lucky for me, if I go to bed early, I can usually make this happen.
Average sleep score: 79 (out of 100)
Average sleep duration: 7.5 hours (7.4 hours weekday, 7.7 hours weekend)
Sleep quality: 4% light, 52% medium, 44% deep
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training: Week 17 Recap
A reminder that I switched up to go exactly by the plan for the remaining two weeks. Thus, my off day is now Wednesday, my speed day went from Monday to Tuesday and my tempo run went from Wednesday to Thursday.
I don't know if is just that fact that May has been sort of packed with stuff going on, if I'm getting sick of training, or some other factor, but I had a lot of moving things around this week!
This week I crossed over the 700 mile mark for my yearly mileage count. AHHH! That seems insane to me.
Monday May 8
Plan Says: 7 miles
What I Do: Sleep in. Skip running. I mentioned that the left side of my torso was sore after my brother's wedding. This impacted my sleep Sunday night and I really felt like crap so I opted to take my rest day today. Nothing sets you up for a good week like taking your rest day on Day 1, right?!
Tuesday May 9
Plan Says: 1 mi warm up, 6 x 1 mile (7:05 pace) with 400 recovery, 1 mile cool down
What I Do: 4:30 Alarm! It was really difficult getting up this early since I hadn't gotten up early to run since last Wednesday morning. Almost a whole week off of early wake up calls!
1 mi warm up: 8:18
1 mi 6:37 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:18 (9:01 pace)
1 mi 6:33 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:17 (9:09 pace)
1 mi 6:35 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:11 (8:48 pace)
1 mi 6:29 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:07 (8:31 pace)
1 mi 6:32 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:09 (8:38 pace)
1 mi 6:25
2 mi cool down: 16:10 (8:05 avg pace)
I felt fabulous during this. My mile splits were way too fast but I told myself not to pay attention to my watch and run by feel.
This was the last strength workout of the program! EEK!!!!
The last time I did this workout, on March 27, my mile splits were 6:51 / 6:50 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:36. It is fun to see improvement in just a few weeks!
Wednesday May 10
Plan Says: Off
What I Do: I again slept through my alarm. My ribs have not be hurting in the morning, but are fairly sore by the end of the day. Each day seems to be a little better. My goal was to get up early and do the miles I missed on Monday. Instead I got miles done after work.
I did a longer than usual cool down on Tuesday to take some of the miles away from this run so that I wouldn't feel so tired on Thursday. Throughout this plan I have had a rest day between my speed/strength day and my tempo day so throwing 7 miles in between the two wasn't going to be the greatest idea, particularly on the last "hard" week of work.
6 miles, 46:02 (7:40 avg pace)
Thursday May 11
Plan Says: 1 mile warm up, 10 miles tempo (pace: 7:15), 1 mile cool down
What I Do: The last tempo run of the plan! I was up at 4:30 to get out and get this done. I felt tired but knew that was making me mentally stronger. True to form, it also took me a few miles to feel like I was in a groove pace wise. I wanted to be pushing myself but not too hard and not be so obsessed with pace so I intentionally did not turn my watch to display pace. Thus, I knew what each mile came in at and that was it. I felt strong at the end. Once I finished the tempo portion, averaging 7:10 pace, I stopped and started crying. I was really really proud of myself for completing this plan. I still had 9 days of taper left but the hard work was over. DONE.
1 mile warm up, 8:18
10 miles tempo, 1:11:42 (7:10 average)
1 mile cool down, 7:59
Let the taper begin!
Friday May 12
Plan Says: 6 miles easy
What I Do: I came home from work Thursday to see a big box on my doorstep. I ripped it open and it was the new Adidas UltraBoost X running shoes that I was selected to test through BibRave. OOMG. While this is my 4th pair of shoes in the Adidas Boost family, they are significantly different from all of my other running shoes so I was nervous to take them for the full 6 miles of this run.
I ended up running 2.4 miles in the Adidas UltraBoost X and switching to my Asics GT shoes, which right now are the leading contender for the shoes I will wear during marathon. Except that they felt SO CLUNKY after running in the UItraBoosts. It is highly likely that deciding which shoes I will wear for the marathon will be something I continue to agonize over.
I do not run with my phone and often when I see something just so awesome, I wish I did. Today was one of those runs. With a beautiful sunrise in the backdrop, I was chugging along the path by the river and out of the corner of my eye something startled me. It was a blue heron in flight. Blue herons frequent the river, but I only ever see them standing near the water's edge. To see the wingspan was magical.
6.07 miles, 51:58 (8:34 avg pace)
Saturday May 13
Plan Says: 6 miles easy
What I Do: I did more shuffling and did 8 miles easy this day. We didn't have a lot going on for Mother's Day (Sunday) but I knew the kids wanted to make me breakfast in bed so I wasn't going to get a early morning run in then. My daughter also fractured her arm about mid-day Saturday so that was a bit of unexpected craziness! We got back from the urgent care center and she just wanted to chill and my son was napping so I took full advantage.
It was a hot day - almost 80 degrees. I was glad to be able to get another hot run in...race day is trending toward the warm side this year, but we are still a week out. I ran the entirety of this in my Asics shoes and they felt fine so I'm fairly certain those are going to be my race shoes.
8 miles, 1:01:42 (7:43 avg pace)
Sunday May 14
Plan Says: 8 miles easy
What I Do: I didn't get out to run until after the kids were in bed. It has been a while since I did an evening run! I wasn't really into this run which means it was good mental practice for me.
6.06 miles, 49:01 (8:05)
Weekly Mileage
Plan says: 48 miles
What I did: 48.4 miles
Sleep Data
I again lost 3 days of data because of not getting enough motion data. I never move the button on my pillow so I'm not sure why some nights it works and some it doesn't. I did not have this issue for the first 6 weeks of use of this device and now it is becoming a pattern.
Average amount of sleep: 8.0 hours
Average sleep score: 83
45% deep sleep, 47% medium, 8% light.
My deep sleep took a hit. I can only guess this is due to my son waking more than usual at night.
Podcasts
I listened Real Talk Radio Nicole Antoinette interview Lauren Fleshmen and herself (recalling her hike of a section of the PCT) and an old Running On Om interview with Kate Grace.
One week until race day.
ONE.
WEEK.
I don't know if is just that fact that May has been sort of packed with stuff going on, if I'm getting sick of training, or some other factor, but I had a lot of moving things around this week!
This week I crossed over the 700 mile mark for my yearly mileage count. AHHH! That seems insane to me.
Monday May 8
Plan Says: 7 miles
What I Do: Sleep in. Skip running. I mentioned that the left side of my torso was sore after my brother's wedding. This impacted my sleep Sunday night and I really felt like crap so I opted to take my rest day today. Nothing sets you up for a good week like taking your rest day on Day 1, right?!
Tuesday May 9
Plan Says: 1 mi warm up, 6 x 1 mile (7:05 pace) with 400 recovery, 1 mile cool down
What I Do: 4:30 Alarm! It was really difficult getting up this early since I hadn't gotten up early to run since last Wednesday morning. Almost a whole week off of early wake up calls!
1 mi warm up: 8:18
1 mi 6:37 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:18 (9:01 pace)
1 mi 6:33 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:17 (9:09 pace)
1 mi 6:35 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:11 (8:48 pace)
1 mi 6:29 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:07 (8:31 pace)
1 mi 6:32 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:09 (8:38 pace)
1 mi 6:25
2 mi cool down: 16:10 (8:05 avg pace)
I felt fabulous during this. My mile splits were way too fast but I told myself not to pay attention to my watch and run by feel.
This was the last strength workout of the program! EEK!!!!
The last time I did this workout, on March 27, my mile splits were 6:51 / 6:50 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:36. It is fun to see improvement in just a few weeks!
Wednesday May 10
Plan Says: Off
What I Do: I again slept through my alarm. My ribs have not be hurting in the morning, but are fairly sore by the end of the day. Each day seems to be a little better. My goal was to get up early and do the miles I missed on Monday. Instead I got miles done after work.
I did a longer than usual cool down on Tuesday to take some of the miles away from this run so that I wouldn't feel so tired on Thursday. Throughout this plan I have had a rest day between my speed/strength day and my tempo day so throwing 7 miles in between the two wasn't going to be the greatest idea, particularly on the last "hard" week of work.
6 miles, 46:02 (7:40 avg pace)
Thursday May 11
Plan Says: 1 mile warm up, 10 miles tempo (pace: 7:15), 1 mile cool down
What I Do: The last tempo run of the plan! I was up at 4:30 to get out and get this done. I felt tired but knew that was making me mentally stronger. True to form, it also took me a few miles to feel like I was in a groove pace wise. I wanted to be pushing myself but not too hard and not be so obsessed with pace so I intentionally did not turn my watch to display pace. Thus, I knew what each mile came in at and that was it. I felt strong at the end. Once I finished the tempo portion, averaging 7:10 pace, I stopped and started crying. I was really really proud of myself for completing this plan. I still had 9 days of taper left but the hard work was over. DONE.
1 mile warm up, 8:18
10 miles tempo, 1:11:42 (7:10 average)
1 mile cool down, 7:59
Let the taper begin!
Friday May 12
Plan Says: 6 miles easy
What I Do: I came home from work Thursday to see a big box on my doorstep. I ripped it open and it was the new Adidas UltraBoost X running shoes that I was selected to test through BibRave. OOMG. While this is my 4th pair of shoes in the Adidas Boost family, they are significantly different from all of my other running shoes so I was nervous to take them for the full 6 miles of this run.
I ended up running 2.4 miles in the Adidas UltraBoost X and switching to my Asics GT shoes, which right now are the leading contender for the shoes I will wear during marathon. Except that they felt SO CLUNKY after running in the UItraBoosts. It is highly likely that deciding which shoes I will wear for the marathon will be something I continue to agonize over.
I do not run with my phone and often when I see something just so awesome, I wish I did. Today was one of those runs. With a beautiful sunrise in the backdrop, I was chugging along the path by the river and out of the corner of my eye something startled me. It was a blue heron in flight. Blue herons frequent the river, but I only ever see them standing near the water's edge. To see the wingspan was magical.
6.07 miles, 51:58 (8:34 avg pace)
Saturday May 13
Plan Says: 6 miles easy
What I Do: I did more shuffling and did 8 miles easy this day. We didn't have a lot going on for Mother's Day (Sunday) but I knew the kids wanted to make me breakfast in bed so I wasn't going to get a early morning run in then. My daughter also fractured her arm about mid-day Saturday so that was a bit of unexpected craziness! We got back from the urgent care center and she just wanted to chill and my son was napping so I took full advantage.
It was a hot day - almost 80 degrees. I was glad to be able to get another hot run in...race day is trending toward the warm side this year, but we are still a week out. I ran the entirety of this in my Asics shoes and they felt fine so I'm fairly certain those are going to be my race shoes.
8 miles, 1:01:42 (7:43 avg pace)
Sunday May 14
Plan Says: 8 miles easy
What I Do: I didn't get out to run until after the kids were in bed. It has been a while since I did an evening run! I wasn't really into this run which means it was good mental practice for me.
6.06 miles, 49:01 (8:05)
Weekly Mileage
Plan says: 48 miles
What I did: 48.4 miles
Sleep Data
I again lost 3 days of data because of not getting enough motion data. I never move the button on my pillow so I'm not sure why some nights it works and some it doesn't. I did not have this issue for the first 6 weeks of use of this device and now it is becoming a pattern.
Average amount of sleep: 8.0 hours
Average sleep score: 83
45% deep sleep, 47% medium, 8% light.
My deep sleep took a hit. I can only guess this is due to my son waking more than usual at night.
Podcasts
I listened Real Talk Radio Nicole Antoinette interview Lauren Fleshmen and herself (recalling her hike of a section of the PCT) and an old Running On Om interview with Kate Grace.
One week until race day.
ONE.
WEEK.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training: Week 12 Recap
It was the tale of two stages this week.
At the beginning of the week, I was a zombie. If the definition of "cumulative fatigue" means you are walking around ready to nap at the drop of a hat, I thought I had entered that phase. I was so hungry and pretty tired. By the weekend thought, I felt like I had recovered a bit and wasn't feeling as tired. My Sense sleep system has indicated that I have not had a great week of sleep either so that could be the culprit!
I still had a good week of training. My hip and foot were not very cranky, but I did have two GI flare ups, which, while common in long distance runners, is unusual for me.
Monday Apr 3
At the beginning of the week, I was a zombie. If the definition of "cumulative fatigue" means you are walking around ready to nap at the drop of a hat, I thought I had entered that phase. I was so hungry and pretty tired. By the weekend thought, I felt like I had recovered a bit and wasn't feeling as tired. My Sense sleep system has indicated that I have not had a great week of sleep either so that could be the culprit!
I still had a good week of training. My hip and foot were not very cranky, but I did have two GI flare ups, which, while common in long distance runners, is unusual for me.
Monday Apr 3
It was not ideal to have this workout come the day after the 16 mile long run, however, you do what you have to do. I thought it better to stay on track than to start a chain of delayed workouts.
Plan Says: 4 x 1.5 mile at 7:05/mile pace with 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down and 800 recovery between splits.
What I did: 4:45 alarm clock win! It was supposed to be raining out, my iPhone weather app said it was raining...but it wasn't! Thank goodness! I headed outside.
1 mile warm up: 8:33
I was SO tired and felt a little out of it...which would explain why the first two repeats were only 1.4 miles in length! After the second set, I realized that I forgot to switch my watch over from the "pace" display to the "distance" display so I thought I was looking at distance ran when I really was looking at calories burned (i.e., 150 was the display - referring to the fact that I burned 150 calories - and my brain read it as 1.5 miles). I completely missed this on the first set and luckily noticed it on my second one so I ran a longer 3rd repeat to make up for it. Total DUH moment, but it is DARK in the mornings :)
1.38 miles, 9:33 (6:55 avg pace) / 0.28 miles, 2:37 (9:12 avg pace)* This cool down was shorter because I had to stop to remove my jacket and pick up my water bottle so I did a shorter cool down to make up for the stop.
1.39 miles, 9:25 (6:47 avg pace) / 0.50 at 4:23 (8:46 avg pace)
It started drizzling but was so light that I didn't really notice it.
1.62 miles, 11:06 (6:52 avg pace) / 0.50 at 4:18 (8:35 avg pace)
1.51 miles, 10:34 (7:01 avg pace)
1.54 miles cool down, 13:18 (8:38 avg pace)
Total: 9.73 miles
I was tired at the end of this. Real tired. But hot shower post rainy run? LOVED IT!
Tuesday Apr 4
Plan Says: Off
What I did: I considered whether it would be in my best interest to do the 5 miles that I skipped over the weekend. I was tired so decided that it was in my best interest to take the rest day and treat the missed 5 mile workout as water under the bridge.
Wednesday Apr 5
Plan Says: 9 mile tempo run at 7:15 pace, with 1 mile warm up and cool down.
What I did: Another 4:30 AM alarm. Sigh. I tried skipping and going back to sleep, but knew that we were supposed to get a rain/ice mix later in the day so I could either get out of bed and do this outside, or have to do it on the treadmill later in the day. That was enough to get me out of bed.
And....I RAN A WARM UP MILE BEFORE A TEMPO RUN FOR ONCE!
1 mile warm up, 8:36
It was then time to step it up. The whole point of running these tempo runs at marathon pace is to practice running marathon pace. I have been running these faster than that and wasn't really doing myself any favors, so my goal was truly to try to stick to running this at 7:15. I did okay with this goal; I was still a bit fast when all was said and done. I ran the first several miles as loops in my neighborhood, and ran the next several miles as loops in the adjacent neighborhood. My legs felt tired, but as I reminded myself frequently, that is the point.
We had made this yummy shrimp and broccoli stir fry for dinner the night before. I bring this up because I was having a lot of GI discomfort throughout this run and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. I have felt like this before on runs and every other time it really is nerves more than anything (see the recap of my week 9 tempo run). Once I get settled into the run, the feeling goes away and we are all good. Although I didn't feel nervous for this tempo, I kept running without making a pit stop figuring it would go away.
I ran the last mile of this tempo outside of the neighborhoods, which meant that I was going to have to run 1 mile to get back to my house. "Perfect cool down" was what I thought.
9 miles, 1:04:10 (7:07 avg pace)
Mile splits: 7:12 / 7:13 / 7:10 / 7:08 / 7:01 / 7:09 / 7:02 / 7:04 / 7:10
Phew. Tempo done! It was time to cool down. One more mile. I really struggled on the last mile. My legs were tired, and I increasingly felt like I needed a bathroom. Urgently. I pushed through mentally, recalling this post, and literally kept telling myself "You are not going to sh** your pants. You are not going to sh** your pants." I started and stopped a few times. I made it to my house and was only at 0.9 miles. I thought, "You have made it this far, you can make it 0.1 to close out the mile", so I kept going until I LITERALLY DIDN'T MAKE IT. Yes. You are reading between the lines correctly.
That is definitely the first time that has happened to me.
0.96 miles, 8:08 (8:28 avg pace).
I was really proud of myself for getting this done. Definitely pulling this one into memory when things get tough in the marathon. AND, I will not be eating shrimp and broccoli stir fry the night before a big run anymore!
Thursday Apr 6
Plan Says: easy 5 miles
What I did: Woohoo! I didn't have to get up until 5:00 AM to do this!
5 miles, 39:59 (7:59 avg pace)
Friday Apr 7
Plan Says: easy 8 miles
What I did: Another early morning! I was a little over 2 miles in to this run when I again felt like I needed to use the restroom. What is going on?! Luckily I was just doing neighborhood loops so I stopped, went back into my house, used the restroom and was good to go for the rest.
8 miles, 1:03:57 (7:59 avg pace)
Saturday Apr 8
Plan Says: 10 miles at long run pace - 7:54 for me
What I did: I did not get up early to do this, rather, I ran it in the early afternoon to take advantage of the sun and warmth. Unfortunately I did not think about the fact that while mid-60s is BEAUTIFUL, my body is definitely used to running in mid 30s. I went out too fast, and paid for it. I would like to say that I planned on running the first 5 fast, followed by a slower 5, but the truth is, I totally blew it. This is also a good illustration of why I should not run to music. I ran to music the first 5 and listened to a podcast the second five. I get way too caught up in the tempo of the music to do a good job with pacing.
10 miles, 1:12:54 (7:17 avg)
7:03 / 7:09 / 7:05 / 6:58 / 7:05 / 7:21 / 7:32 / 7:29 / 7:36 / 7:33
Sunday Apr 9
Plan says: Easy 7 miles
What I did: I am an idiot. Usually, my Sunday is an "easy 5 miles". I didn't even look at my plan and went out Sunday morning for an easy 5 miles.
Then, as I was updating my Believe journal for the week, I noticed that I was supposed to do an easy 7 miles. DUH. My daughter wanted to run so we ran a mile, with a lot of breaks. I knew I had about 0.25 to run to get to an even 50 miles, so I went for 0.35 miles after she stopped.
6.35 miles total
5 miles, 39:33 (7:54 avg pace)
1 mile, 10:45
0.35 miles, 8:18 avg pace
Weekly Total
Plan says: 51 miles
What I did: 50.1 miles
Another week down. I am still enjoying training, which is a good thing, right? I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left! I had a lot of spacey moments last week. I need to remember to go to bed before 9 PM during the week! I mentioned that my sleep was not great last week. What this means is: I averaged 7.1 hours of sleep during the week and 8 hours on the weekends and the quality of my sleep also was not great - 52% in "medium" sleep with 46% in "deep" sleep. Usually, my "deep" sleep is in the mid-upper 50s and my medium sleep is in the upper 40s.
Podcasts
1. I finished listening to the S-Town Podcast . Loved it. "I think trying to understand another person is a worthwhile thing to do."
2. I finished another ROO with Nic Antoinette: #202 and started another one #206.
Plan Says: 4 x 1.5 mile at 7:05/mile pace with 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down and 800 recovery between splits.
What I did: 4:45 alarm clock win! It was supposed to be raining out, my iPhone weather app said it was raining...but it wasn't! Thank goodness! I headed outside.
1 mile warm up: 8:33
I was SO tired and felt a little out of it...which would explain why the first two repeats were only 1.4 miles in length! After the second set, I realized that I forgot to switch my watch over from the "pace" display to the "distance" display so I thought I was looking at distance ran when I really was looking at calories burned (i.e., 150 was the display - referring to the fact that I burned 150 calories - and my brain read it as 1.5 miles). I completely missed this on the first set and luckily noticed it on my second one so I ran a longer 3rd repeat to make up for it. Total DUH moment, but it is DARK in the mornings :)
1.38 miles, 9:33 (6:55 avg pace) / 0.28 miles, 2:37 (9:12 avg pace)* This cool down was shorter because I had to stop to remove my jacket and pick up my water bottle so I did a shorter cool down to make up for the stop.
1.39 miles, 9:25 (6:47 avg pace) / 0.50 at 4:23 (8:46 avg pace)
It started drizzling but was so light that I didn't really notice it.
1.62 miles, 11:06 (6:52 avg pace) / 0.50 at 4:18 (8:35 avg pace)
1.51 miles, 10:34 (7:01 avg pace)
1.54 miles cool down, 13:18 (8:38 avg pace)
Total: 9.73 miles
I was tired at the end of this. Real tired. But hot shower post rainy run? LOVED IT!
Tuesday Apr 4
Plan Says: Off
What I did: I considered whether it would be in my best interest to do the 5 miles that I skipped over the weekend. I was tired so decided that it was in my best interest to take the rest day and treat the missed 5 mile workout as water under the bridge.
Wednesday Apr 5
Plan Says: 9 mile tempo run at 7:15 pace, with 1 mile warm up and cool down.
What I did: Another 4:30 AM alarm. Sigh. I tried skipping and going back to sleep, but knew that we were supposed to get a rain/ice mix later in the day so I could either get out of bed and do this outside, or have to do it on the treadmill later in the day. That was enough to get me out of bed.
And....I RAN A WARM UP MILE BEFORE A TEMPO RUN FOR ONCE!
1 mile warm up, 8:36
It was then time to step it up. The whole point of running these tempo runs at marathon pace is to practice running marathon pace. I have been running these faster than that and wasn't really doing myself any favors, so my goal was truly to try to stick to running this at 7:15. I did okay with this goal; I was still a bit fast when all was said and done. I ran the first several miles as loops in my neighborhood, and ran the next several miles as loops in the adjacent neighborhood. My legs felt tired, but as I reminded myself frequently, that is the point.
We had made this yummy shrimp and broccoli stir fry for dinner the night before. I bring this up because I was having a lot of GI discomfort throughout this run and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. I have felt like this before on runs and every other time it really is nerves more than anything (see the recap of my week 9 tempo run). Once I get settled into the run, the feeling goes away and we are all good. Although I didn't feel nervous for this tempo, I kept running without making a pit stop figuring it would go away.
I ran the last mile of this tempo outside of the neighborhoods, which meant that I was going to have to run 1 mile to get back to my house. "Perfect cool down" was what I thought.
9 miles, 1:04:10 (7:07 avg pace)
Mile splits: 7:12 / 7:13 / 7:10 / 7:08 / 7:01 / 7:09 / 7:02 / 7:04 / 7:10
Phew. Tempo done! It was time to cool down. One more mile. I really struggled on the last mile. My legs were tired, and I increasingly felt like I needed a bathroom. Urgently. I pushed through mentally, recalling this post, and literally kept telling myself "You are not going to sh** your pants. You are not going to sh** your pants." I started and stopped a few times. I made it to my house and was only at 0.9 miles. I thought, "You have made it this far, you can make it 0.1 to close out the mile", so I kept going until I LITERALLY DIDN'T MAKE IT. Yes. You are reading between the lines correctly.
That is definitely the first time that has happened to me.
0.96 miles, 8:08 (8:28 avg pace).
I was really proud of myself for getting this done. Definitely pulling this one into memory when things get tough in the marathon. AND, I will not be eating shrimp and broccoli stir fry the night before a big run anymore!
Thursday Apr 6
Plan Says: easy 5 miles
What I did: Woohoo! I didn't have to get up until 5:00 AM to do this!
5 miles, 39:59 (7:59 avg pace)
Friday Apr 7
Plan Says: easy 8 miles
What I did: Another early morning! I was a little over 2 miles in to this run when I again felt like I needed to use the restroom. What is going on?! Luckily I was just doing neighborhood loops so I stopped, went back into my house, used the restroom and was good to go for the rest.
8 miles, 1:03:57 (7:59 avg pace)
Saturday Apr 8
Plan Says: 10 miles at long run pace - 7:54 for me
What I did: I did not get up early to do this, rather, I ran it in the early afternoon to take advantage of the sun and warmth. Unfortunately I did not think about the fact that while mid-60s is BEAUTIFUL, my body is definitely used to running in mid 30s. I went out too fast, and paid for it. I would like to say that I planned on running the first 5 fast, followed by a slower 5, but the truth is, I totally blew it. This is also a good illustration of why I should not run to music. I ran to music the first 5 and listened to a podcast the second five. I get way too caught up in the tempo of the music to do a good job with pacing.
10 miles, 1:12:54 (7:17 avg)
7:03 / 7:09 / 7:05 / 6:58 / 7:05 / 7:21 / 7:32 / 7:29 / 7:36 / 7:33
Sunday Apr 9
Plan says: Easy 7 miles
What I did: I am an idiot. Usually, my Sunday is an "easy 5 miles". I didn't even look at my plan and went out Sunday morning for an easy 5 miles.
Then, as I was updating my Believe journal for the week, I noticed that I was supposed to do an easy 7 miles. DUH. My daughter wanted to run so we ran a mile, with a lot of breaks. I knew I had about 0.25 to run to get to an even 50 miles, so I went for 0.35 miles after she stopped.
6.35 miles total
5 miles, 39:33 (7:54 avg pace)
1 mile, 10:45
0.35 miles, 8:18 avg pace
Weekly Total
Plan says: 51 miles
What I did: 50.1 miles
Another week down. I am still enjoying training, which is a good thing, right? I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left! I had a lot of spacey moments last week. I need to remember to go to bed before 9 PM during the week! I mentioned that my sleep was not great last week. What this means is: I averaged 7.1 hours of sleep during the week and 8 hours on the weekends and the quality of my sleep also was not great - 52% in "medium" sleep with 46% in "deep" sleep. Usually, my "deep" sleep is in the mid-upper 50s and my medium sleep is in the upper 40s.
Podcasts
1. I finished listening to the S-Town Podcast . Loved it. "I think trying to understand another person is a worthwhile thing to do."
2. I finished another ROO with Nic Antoinette: #202 and started another one #206.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training Week 3 Recap
I recall feeling like death after the Icebreaker Marathon Relay, after I had taken a shower and my body remembered, "Oh yeah...you are sick" and thinking that I had hit the bottom and would start feeling better as the days progressed. How I wish that were the case! Week 3 was a slog fest and I ended up getting another virus of some sort, making my sickness venture into the 14 day zone. While my sore throat and laryngitis cleared up starting around last Monday, it transitioned into a lethargic beast with a sinus and head cold. Oh, and spread to two other members of my household, causing some breathing issues in my son. Oh what fun.
It is hard for me to strike a balance between the line of taking a day off to take care of yourself and pushing through things. I can very easily rationalize a day off as "self-care". If it were up to me....wait, it is up to me! ha ha ha The lazy side of me probably would have taken more than one day off last week so I am happy that I pushed myself in that way to get 5 days in.
Fingers crossed and knock on wood, today I feel a bit better than I have in the past 14 days. Perhaps week 4 will be a winner.
Monday Jan 30
Plan Says: Easy 4 miles
What I did: 0 miles
We had the burial for my husband's grandmother this day and since I thought I may be on the way out of this sickness thing, I took a day off hoping to jump start my recovery. Additionally, my legs, more specifically my hamstrings, were still spent from that relay.
Tuesday Jan 31
Plan Says: Off
What I did: 4.1 miles, 35:09 (8:34 pace) Treadmill Run
I started feeling worse on Tuesday. WHAT?! I had already used my off day for Monday so I forced myself to get on the treadmill after the kids were in bed. Hamstrings were still sore.
Wednesday Feb 1
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 4.0 miles, 33:49 (8:27 pace) Treadmill Run
Another slogfest on the treadmill. I was exhausted and my hamstrings were still sore.
Thursday Feb 2
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 4.0 miles, 34:00 (8:24 avg pace) Treadmill Run
3 treadmill runs in a row is basically torture for me, but I was sleeping through my alarms left and right. While I still felt crummy and my hamstrings were still sore, this mentally was TOUGH. I am proud of myself for getting through this one. I didn't get any sleep on Wednesday night because my son was up coughing and sick most of the night and my husband and I ended up tag teaming the PPL from work to get him to the doctor.
Friday Feb 3
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 0 miles.
I did not sleep at all on Thursday night for whatever reason. After several days of pushing myself when not feeling great, exhaustion won. My husband let me take a small nap when he got home after work and then I went to bed early.
Saturday Feb 4
Plan Says: easy 5 miles
What I did: 8.34 miles, unknown total time, OUTDOORS!
Even though I went to bed early on Friday night and slept through the night (yay), I woke up still tired. Usually my kids come into our bed in the morning and at that point I am awake and up. I still was in and out of sleep for the time they were in our bed on Saturday morning and it took me a lot of effort to get out of bed.
I wanted to get a long-ish run in since my last long-ish run was on January 14. I realized right as I was heading out the door that with all of my indoor running lately, I hadn't charged my Garmin. I headed out anyways figuring I would get data on some portion of the run.
This run was so difficult. My hamstrings were sore as hell, I felt like a slug. JUST KEEP GOING. My watch died at 6.07 miles at which point the time was 45:27 (7:29 avg pace). I realize that this is not as terrible as I am making it sound. However, my last long runs were around a 7:00 pace and felt easier than this one did. The rational part of my brain realizes that I was not feeling well for over 2 weeks and during that time was dealing with my whole house being sick, a death in the family and not getting sleep. I was still frustrated by this run.
I did some JasYoga and Roll Recovery for my hamstrings later that night which helped a bit. I again went to bed early.
Sunday Feb 5
Plan says: off
What I did: 6.07 miles, 44:52 (7:24 avg pace), Outdoors
Argh. This too felt hard. My hamstrings were still bothering me. They do not hurt but feel so so tight. I've never had hamstring issues before. You may recall that a few weeks ago, my calves were bothering me - same feeling, very tight muscles. My calves are not bothering me any more - the feeling has moved up! The tendon along the top ridge of my right foot is also very sore. It is not debilitating, just noticeable. All of this has been very frustrating, particularly because I haven't even had to ramp up mileage yet!
During the super bowl I worked on JasYoga sequences for hamstrings, hips and glutes. My hypothesis is that my weak hips and glutes are causing the calf/hamstring issues. My birthday is in 2 weeks - if this is a foreshadow of age 36, I don't want it!
Weekly Total
Plan says: 21 miles
What I did: 26.64 miles
This whole week was tough. Despite taking an extra rest day, I felt like a slug on every run. I have two more weeks of this 20ish miles base building weeks before shit gets real with the Hanson plan.
Weekly takeaways:
1. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.
2. Try to get into the habit of going to bed earlier. In a few weeks when mileage ramps up, I am going to need it.
3. Hydrate! My hydration has always always been subpar.
Podcasts:
Last winter, I linked to podcasts that I listened to so I will again do that.
1. Another Mother Runner #238 with Green Chef talking Cooking & Food
This had some good tips re: getting dinner on the table - including making more of things that you need, which isn't something that I am always doing. I feel like I am still trying to get over evil thoughts that doing Whole 30 put into my head re: "good" and "bad" foods so this was good to hear - mainly that eating full-fat dairy isn't going to kill me.
2. I'll Have Another with Lindsey Hein interview with Amelia Gapin
This is my first listen to this podcast. It was an interesting conversation that I have yet to finish. I will listen to more of these as I know they have a good reputation, but I wasn't blown away.
I miss the ROO podcasts!!
Plan Says: Easy 4 miles
What I did: 0 miles
We had the burial for my husband's grandmother this day and since I thought I may be on the way out of this sickness thing, I took a day off hoping to jump start my recovery. Additionally, my legs, more specifically my hamstrings, were still spent from that relay.
Tuesday Jan 31
Plan Says: Off
What I did: 4.1 miles, 35:09 (8:34 pace) Treadmill Run
I started feeling worse on Tuesday. WHAT?! I had already used my off day for Monday so I forced myself to get on the treadmill after the kids were in bed. Hamstrings were still sore.
Wednesday Feb 1
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 4.0 miles, 33:49 (8:27 pace) Treadmill Run
Another slogfest on the treadmill. I was exhausted and my hamstrings were still sore.
Thursday Feb 2
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 4.0 miles, 34:00 (8:24 avg pace) Treadmill Run
3 treadmill runs in a row is basically torture for me, but I was sleeping through my alarms left and right. While I still felt crummy and my hamstrings were still sore, this mentally was TOUGH. I am proud of myself for getting through this one. I didn't get any sleep on Wednesday night because my son was up coughing and sick most of the night and my husband and I ended up tag teaming the PPL from work to get him to the doctor.
Friday Feb 3
Plan Says: easy 4 miles
What I did: 0 miles.
I did not sleep at all on Thursday night for whatever reason. After several days of pushing myself when not feeling great, exhaustion won. My husband let me take a small nap when he got home after work and then I went to bed early.
Saturday Feb 4
Plan Says: easy 5 miles
What I did: 8.34 miles, unknown total time, OUTDOORS!
Even though I went to bed early on Friday night and slept through the night (yay), I woke up still tired. Usually my kids come into our bed in the morning and at that point I am awake and up. I still was in and out of sleep for the time they were in our bed on Saturday morning and it took me a lot of effort to get out of bed.
I wanted to get a long-ish run in since my last long-ish run was on January 14. I realized right as I was heading out the door that with all of my indoor running lately, I hadn't charged my Garmin. I headed out anyways figuring I would get data on some portion of the run.
This run was so difficult. My hamstrings were sore as hell, I felt like a slug. JUST KEEP GOING. My watch died at 6.07 miles at which point the time was 45:27 (7:29 avg pace). I realize that this is not as terrible as I am making it sound. However, my last long runs were around a 7:00 pace and felt easier than this one did. The rational part of my brain realizes that I was not feeling well for over 2 weeks and during that time was dealing with my whole house being sick, a death in the family and not getting sleep. I was still frustrated by this run.
I did some JasYoga and Roll Recovery for my hamstrings later that night which helped a bit. I again went to bed early.
Sunday Feb 5
Plan says: off
What I did: 6.07 miles, 44:52 (7:24 avg pace), Outdoors
Argh. This too felt hard. My hamstrings were still bothering me. They do not hurt but feel so so tight. I've never had hamstring issues before. You may recall that a few weeks ago, my calves were bothering me - same feeling, very tight muscles. My calves are not bothering me any more - the feeling has moved up! The tendon along the top ridge of my right foot is also very sore. It is not debilitating, just noticeable. All of this has been very frustrating, particularly because I haven't even had to ramp up mileage yet!
During the super bowl I worked on JasYoga sequences for hamstrings, hips and glutes. My hypothesis is that my weak hips and glutes are causing the calf/hamstring issues. My birthday is in 2 weeks - if this is a foreshadow of age 36, I don't want it!
Weekly Total
Plan says: 21 miles
What I did: 26.64 miles
This whole week was tough. Despite taking an extra rest day, I felt like a slug on every run. I have two more weeks of this 20ish miles base building weeks before shit gets real with the Hanson plan.
Weekly takeaways:
1. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.
2. Try to get into the habit of going to bed earlier. In a few weeks when mileage ramps up, I am going to need it.
3. Hydrate! My hydration has always always been subpar.
Podcasts:
Last winter, I linked to podcasts that I listened to so I will again do that.
1. Another Mother Runner #238 with Green Chef talking Cooking & Food
This had some good tips re: getting dinner on the table - including making more of things that you need, which isn't something that I am always doing. I feel like I am still trying to get over evil thoughts that doing Whole 30 put into my head re: "good" and "bad" foods so this was good to hear - mainly that eating full-fat dairy isn't going to kill me.
2. I'll Have Another with Lindsey Hein interview with Amelia Gapin
This is my first listen to this podcast. It was an interesting conversation that I have yet to finish. I will listen to more of these as I know they have a good reputation, but I wasn't blown away.
I miss the ROO podcasts!!
Monday, January 16, 2017
Week in Review!
Happy Monday. Today officially kicks off marathon training! 18 weeks of lots of running ahead!
Last week was a great week for me. My goal for the week was to run my easy runs at an easy pace in preparation for marathon training. The Hanson pace chart has my "easy" pace at 8:13 - 8:49/mile so I was attempting to get closer to that. I did ok. The weather was moderate last week which was lucky for me. I again got in six running days!
Monday: 4 miles, 31:25 (7:51 avg pace)
Tuesday: 4.07 miles, 34:33 (8:29 avg pace)
Tuesday morning I woke up at 5 AM to run. I was greeted by a fresh blanket of white snow so I wore my yaktrax. The snow was so pretty and at times I felt like I was in a movie because I was running down the middle of a street with no tire tracks, footprints or anything and the air was very still. The snow was very clumpy though so every so often my yaktrax would get clumped up with snow which was annoying. This made it very easy to be in my "recovery" zone though! Check out that pace!
Wednesday: 5.01 miles, 35:23 (7:04 avg pace)
Thursday: 2.7 miles, 19:35 (7:15 avg pace)
This was fast because I was trying desperately to squeeze this in before the bus arrived and hit 3 miles minimum. Alas! I didn't make it.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Friday night we went out with my book club for our annual holiday gathering (which was pushed to January this year). We stayed up late (midnight bedtime) and I had two beers + a glass of sparkling rose. I am at the point in life where I can have one alcoholic drink and feel effects of it so it was no surprise when I woke up on Saturday feeling "meh". We were taking the kids to a college basketball game in the afternoon so I headed out for my run mid-morning. I knew I was dehydrated but I forced myself to go because how I was feeling was self-induced.
It was a long run of constant "just get to the next mile". While I don't recommended not getting enough sleep and having a few drinks the night before a long run, it was good practice for sticking it out when I don't feel perfect, something I need to work on.
All that positive self talk paid off. I hit 9 miles faster than last week, when I was feeling great! I had a burst of positive mindset in the 5-6 mile range, which is reflected in my per mile average pace. I had trouble holding on to that pace. I was going to quit at the one hour mark but I forced myself to get to 9. I knew that last week's 9 mile time was in the 1:03 range, and at the one hour mark, I was at 8.5/8.6 land so I just pushed hard to get a final mile split of 6:38. You can bet I spent the afternoon chugging Nuun.
Mile 1: 7:20
Mile 2: 7:24
Mile 3: 7:12
Mile 4: 7:05
Mile 5: 6:42
Mile 6: 6:38
Mile 7: 6:55
Mile 8: 6:59
Mile 9: 6:38
9.01 miles, 1:02:56 (6:59 avg pace)
Sunday: 4.34 miles, 32:48 (7:33 avg pace)
My legs were definitely sore for this. The pace was faster than I wanted to be at, given this should have been a "recovery" run.
Total Weekly Mileage: 29.13
Last week was a great week for me. My goal for the week was to run my easy runs at an easy pace in preparation for marathon training. The Hanson pace chart has my "easy" pace at 8:13 - 8:49/mile so I was attempting to get closer to that. I did ok. The weather was moderate last week which was lucky for me. I again got in six running days!
Monday: 4 miles, 31:25 (7:51 avg pace)
Tuesday: 4.07 miles, 34:33 (8:29 avg pace)
Tuesday morning I woke up at 5 AM to run. I was greeted by a fresh blanket of white snow so I wore my yaktrax. The snow was so pretty and at times I felt like I was in a movie because I was running down the middle of a street with no tire tracks, footprints or anything and the air was very still. The snow was very clumpy though so every so often my yaktrax would get clumped up with snow which was annoying. This made it very easy to be in my "recovery" zone though! Check out that pace!
Wednesday: 5.01 miles, 35:23 (7:04 avg pace)
Thursday: 2.7 miles, 19:35 (7:15 avg pace)
This was fast because I was trying desperately to squeeze this in before the bus arrived and hit 3 miles minimum. Alas! I didn't make it.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Friday night we went out with my book club for our annual holiday gathering (which was pushed to January this year). We stayed up late (midnight bedtime) and I had two beers + a glass of sparkling rose. I am at the point in life where I can have one alcoholic drink and feel effects of it so it was no surprise when I woke up on Saturday feeling "meh". We were taking the kids to a college basketball game in the afternoon so I headed out for my run mid-morning. I knew I was dehydrated but I forced myself to go because how I was feeling was self-induced.
It was a long run of constant "just get to the next mile". While I don't recommended not getting enough sleep and having a few drinks the night before a long run, it was good practice for sticking it out when I don't feel perfect, something I need to work on.
All that positive self talk paid off. I hit 9 miles faster than last week, when I was feeling great! I had a burst of positive mindset in the 5-6 mile range, which is reflected in my per mile average pace. I had trouble holding on to that pace. I was going to quit at the one hour mark but I forced myself to get to 9. I knew that last week's 9 mile time was in the 1:03 range, and at the one hour mark, I was at 8.5/8.6 land so I just pushed hard to get a final mile split of 6:38. You can bet I spent the afternoon chugging Nuun.
Mile 1: 7:20
Mile 2: 7:24
Mile 3: 7:12
Mile 4: 7:05
Mile 5: 6:42
Mile 6: 6:38
Mile 7: 6:55
Mile 8: 6:59
Mile 9: 6:38
9.01 miles, 1:02:56 (6:59 avg pace)
Sunday: 4.34 miles, 32:48 (7:33 avg pace)
My legs were definitely sore for this. The pace was faster than I wanted to be at, given this should have been a "recovery" run.
Total Weekly Mileage: 29.13
Friday, January 6, 2017
Friday Links: Happy New Year!
I am a sucker for New Year motivational quotes, posts, and articles. You have been warned.
My motivation lately has been more "meh" than "yay". Here are some reads and sees (videos) in case you ever find yourself in the same place.
1. Get on the treadmill, Bertha
2. A mantra for every runner
3. 5 Fun Challenges to Improve the Running Mind
I have started some of these this week, namely the "inappropriately dressed challenge" but not on purpose. We again have had crazy winds combined with low temperatures which has entered us into the negative zone. I went running two days in a row in negative temps and the first day I didn't layer enough on top; the second day, not enough on the bottom. It was an interesting exercise in mindset because I surpassed my expectation both days - logging 5 miles the first day and 3.7 the second (I was not even ready to be done, but alas! the bus came.) I look forward to trying more of these during marathon training.
4. Be a Girl Who Runs
5. Learning to Ask
6. Have you seen this Adidas commercial done by a German student? Brought tears to my eyes!
7. Start Off Strong
8. Athleta just launched four Power of She videos.
Happy New Year!
My motivation lately has been more "meh" than "yay". Here are some reads and sees (videos) in case you ever find yourself in the same place.
1. Get on the treadmill, Bertha
2. A mantra for every runner
3. 5 Fun Challenges to Improve the Running Mind
I have started some of these this week, namely the "inappropriately dressed challenge" but not on purpose. We again have had crazy winds combined with low temperatures which has entered us into the negative zone. I went running two days in a row in negative temps and the first day I didn't layer enough on top; the second day, not enough on the bottom. It was an interesting exercise in mindset because I surpassed my expectation both days - logging 5 miles the first day and 3.7 the second (I was not even ready to be done, but alas! the bus came.) I look forward to trying more of these during marathon training.
4. Be a Girl Who Runs
5. Learning to Ask
6. Have you seen this Adidas commercial done by a German student? Brought tears to my eyes!
7. Start Off Strong
8. Athleta just launched four Power of She videos.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 31, 2016
2016: Year in Review
2016 has come to a close and what an amazing running year it was for me! I set PRs in the 5K and Half-Marathon and did a lot of self-reflection and work on mindset which has helped in running and in life. Here is a recap of my year:
Goals
In January, my goals for 2016 were:
1. Run 3:15 in the Boston Marathon
2. Run a sub 19:00 5K
3. Incorporate core work 2x a week.
I poured everything into that first goal for the first 3.5 months of this year. When that was a flop, I revised my goal list:
1. Consistency
I am really proud of my consistency this year. Even with an injury that led to no running for a month, I logged more miles than 2015. I would like to continue to build on this in 2017. I also transitioned to becoming a morning runner for several months, which ended up gelling BEAUTIFULLY with my schedule. (Until ice and tons of snow messed it up this month!)
2. Strength training
Like core work, strength training is haphazard at best. Still have not incorporated either core/strength in a routine way, although have some momentum to build on from my participation in the #AMRStride plan
3. Break 19:00 in the 5K
CHECK! I ran 18:53 in the Run Tosa Run in May. Sadly, I did not run anymore sub 19 5Ks as I had a foot injury right before all my 5K races hit the calendar.
4. PR in the 8K
Womp Womp. My 8K time this year was 32:50, far off my 32:12 PR.
5. Do a half marathon and attempt a PR
CHECK and CHECK. My half marathon PR went from 1:33:23 to 1:29:14 !!!!
Races
I ran 10 races this year, which is 2 more races than 2015.
January: Icebreaker Marathon Relay
My team came in first place! This was my first Oiselle Volee meet up and it was so much fun that I signed up for it in 2017.
April: Boston Marathon
3:31:49
1,497 in my age group
1,899 female finisher
8,240 overall finisher
Read my recap here.
May: Run Tosa Run 5K
18:53 (NEW PR!)
1st female
1st age group
8th overall
Recap here
June: Silver Lining for Kids 5K
19:17
2nd female
2nd age group
13th overall
Recap here.
July: Acuity Health Challenge 5K
20:38
4th female
1st age group
13th overall
Recap here.
July: Race for the Bacon 5K
19:49
2nd female
2nd age group
15th overall
Recap here.
August: Hank Aaron State Trail 5K
19:58
1st female
1st age group
31st overall
Recap here
September: Briggs and Als 8K
32:50
5th female
1st age group
58th overall
Recap here
October: Pink Pumpkin Run 5K
19:20
1st female
1st age group
1st overall
Recap here
November: PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half Marathon
1:29:14 (NEW PR!)
7th female
1st age group
42nd overall
Recap here
Thank you to Athlinks for all of this data!
Mileage
Official 2016 mileage count: 1,206.37
I recognize that this is actually on the low end of annual mileage, but it is what it is. Mileage for 2016 was 15.7% higher than 2015 total mileage. I was happy with the amount, considering I had 5 weeks of 0 miles this year, four due to injury and one post-half-marathon.
Shoes
I retired 4 pairs of shoes this year! (This sounds like a lot because I carried 3 of those over from 2015 with varying amounts of mileage).
Brooks Glycerine
Mizuno Wave Rider
Adidas Boost 2s (Navy)
and finally, my pink Adidas Boost 3s (December 2016 goal acheived!)
I will be carrying 2 pairs of shoes into 2017 with me : Adidas Boost 2s (Magenta) and Mizuno Sayonara 3s. I really like both of these shoes and have just under 300 miles left on each!
I have a new pair of Saucony ISOs to start using and I won a pair of Asics running shoes in a local running contest. I have yet to pick those out.
Nutrition
2016 was also a year that I stepped up my nutrition game. I did a Whole 30 in May which helped form some new habits - namely eating more fats, eating eggs + veggies for breakfast, and decreasing sugar (which admittedly TOTALLY went out the window in December - hello Christmas cookies!). Another good habit that I picked up was eating something immediately after a run - either a Picky Bar or a Rx Bar. I am still trying to hydrate more. I don't know why this is so difficult for me!
I stuck with Nuun for the majority of my sports drink and did gu packs for my marathon. I switched to Gen UCan for my half marathon and had a lot of success with this so stockpiled for spring 2017 marathon training.
Clothing
I replaced the majority of my running wardrobe this year. I still had running clothes from early college! I also had a lot of running clothes that I didn't really love. I donated all of my shorts and bought several pairs of Oiselle Distance Shorts, which are my favorite. I also beefed up my winter running gear by buying several pairs of new tights and a few new lightweight jackets and long sleeve shirts.
2016 was the year I tried, and loved, compression sleeves/socks, trucker hats, and a gaiter! I do not know how I got through winter running last year without a gaiter!
Reading
I read A LOT about running during 2016. Yes, there are my Friday links, but I also read several running books:
Boston Bound
Running: A Love Story
Mile Markers
Hanson's Marathon Method
Ready to Run
The Runner's Brain
Ambassadorships
I renewed my Oiselle Volee team membership this year and participated in the Nuun and Momentum Jewelry ambassador programs. I also had fun helping out a friend by serving as the runner in some photos taken for his business, Serpentijn Art & Athletics.
Best Prizes
I won some fun race awards this year! Run Tosa Run always has an amazing prize pack full of gift cards to Wauwatosa businesses. I won a COOLER FULL OF BACON at the Race for the Bacon and a Bartolotta Restaurant gift card at the Hank Aaron State Trail race.
Best Contests
I enter a LOT of contests. As my friends like to point out, I also win a fair number of contests! This year I won some fun running items through contests:
Entrance to a 2017 race via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Asics running shoes via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Oiselle Flyte LS via #rungiving contest hosted by Oiselle
CEP Compression socks via IG contest hosted by CEP
Nuun + Nuun water bottle via Nuun Twitter contest
Nathan water bottle from@divasrunning on Instagram
Point being - ENTER THOSE CONTESTS! (My friend Erica hosts a lot of running/fitness related giveaways on her blog!)
Enjoy your New Year's Eve!
Goals
In January, my goals for 2016 were:
1. Run 3:15 in the Boston Marathon
2. Run a sub 19:00 5K
3. Incorporate core work 2x a week.
I poured everything into that first goal for the first 3.5 months of this year. When that was a flop, I revised my goal list:
1. Consistency
I am really proud of my consistency this year. Even with an injury that led to no running for a month, I logged more miles than 2015. I would like to continue to build on this in 2017. I also transitioned to becoming a morning runner for several months, which ended up gelling BEAUTIFULLY with my schedule. (Until ice and tons of snow messed it up this month!)
2. Strength training
Like core work, strength training is haphazard at best. Still have not incorporated either core/strength in a routine way, although have some momentum to build on from my participation in the #AMRStride plan
3. Break 19:00 in the 5K
CHECK! I ran 18:53 in the Run Tosa Run in May. Sadly, I did not run anymore sub 19 5Ks as I had a foot injury right before all my 5K races hit the calendar.
4. PR in the 8K
Womp Womp. My 8K time this year was 32:50, far off my 32:12 PR.
5. Do a half marathon and attempt a PR
CHECK and CHECK. My half marathon PR went from 1:33:23 to 1:29:14 !!!!
I ran 10 races this year, which is 2 more races than 2015.
January: Icebreaker Marathon Relay
My team came in first place! This was my first Oiselle Volee meet up and it was so much fun that I signed up for it in 2017.
April: Boston Marathon
3:31:49
1,497 in my age group
1,899 female finisher
8,240 overall finisher
Read my recap here.
May: Run Tosa Run 5K
18:53 (NEW PR!)
1st female
1st age group
8th overall
Recap here
June: Silver Lining for Kids 5K
19:17
2nd female
2nd age group
13th overall
Recap here.
July: Acuity Health Challenge 5K
20:38
4th female
1st age group
13th overall
Recap here.
July: Race for the Bacon 5K
19:49
2nd female
2nd age group
15th overall
Recap here.
August: Hank Aaron State Trail 5K
19:58
1st female
1st age group
31st overall
Recap here
September: Briggs and Als 8K
32:50
5th female
1st age group
58th overall
Recap here
October: Pink Pumpkin Run 5K
19:20
1st female
1st age group
1st overall
Recap here
November: PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half Marathon
1:29:14 (NEW PR!)
7th female
1st age group
42nd overall
Recap here
Thank you to Athlinks for all of this data!
Mileage
Official 2016 mileage count: 1,206.37
I recognize that this is actually on the low end of annual mileage, but it is what it is. Mileage for 2016 was 15.7% higher than 2015 total mileage. I was happy with the amount, considering I had 5 weeks of 0 miles this year, four due to injury and one post-half-marathon.
Shoes
I retired 4 pairs of shoes this year! (This sounds like a lot because I carried 3 of those over from 2015 with varying amounts of mileage).
Brooks Glycerine
Mizuno Wave Rider
Adidas Boost 2s (Navy)
and finally, my pink Adidas Boost 3s (December 2016 goal acheived!)
I will be carrying 2 pairs of shoes into 2017 with me : Adidas Boost 2s (Magenta) and Mizuno Sayonara 3s. I really like both of these shoes and have just under 300 miles left on each!
I have a new pair of Saucony ISOs to start using and I won a pair of Asics running shoes in a local running contest. I have yet to pick those out.
Nutrition
2016 was also a year that I stepped up my nutrition game. I did a Whole 30 in May which helped form some new habits - namely eating more fats, eating eggs + veggies for breakfast, and decreasing sugar (which admittedly TOTALLY went out the window in December - hello Christmas cookies!). Another good habit that I picked up was eating something immediately after a run - either a Picky Bar or a Rx Bar. I am still trying to hydrate more. I don't know why this is so difficult for me!
I stuck with Nuun for the majority of my sports drink and did gu packs for my marathon. I switched to Gen UCan for my half marathon and had a lot of success with this so stockpiled for spring 2017 marathon training.
Clothing
I replaced the majority of my running wardrobe this year. I still had running clothes from early college! I also had a lot of running clothes that I didn't really love. I donated all of my shorts and bought several pairs of Oiselle Distance Shorts, which are my favorite. I also beefed up my winter running gear by buying several pairs of new tights and a few new lightweight jackets and long sleeve shirts.
2016 was the year I tried, and loved, compression sleeves/socks, trucker hats, and a gaiter! I do not know how I got through winter running last year without a gaiter!
Reading
I read A LOT about running during 2016. Yes, there are my Friday links, but I also read several running books:
Boston Bound
Running: A Love Story
Mile Markers
Hanson's Marathon Method
Ready to Run
The Runner's Brain
Ambassadorships
I renewed my Oiselle Volee team membership this year and participated in the Nuun and Momentum Jewelry ambassador programs. I also had fun helping out a friend by serving as the runner in some photos taken for his business, Serpentijn Art & Athletics.
Best Prizes
I won some fun race awards this year! Run Tosa Run always has an amazing prize pack full of gift cards to Wauwatosa businesses. I won a COOLER FULL OF BACON at the Race for the Bacon and a Bartolotta Restaurant gift card at the Hank Aaron State Trail race.
Best Contests
I enter a LOT of contests. As my friends like to point out, I also win a fair number of contests! This year I won some fun running items through contests:
Entrance to a 2017 race via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Asics running shoes via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Oiselle Flyte LS via #rungiving contest hosted by Oiselle
CEP Compression socks via IG contest hosted by CEP
Nuun + Nuun water bottle via Nuun Twitter contest
Nathan water bottle from
Point being - ENTER THOSE CONTESTS! (My friend Erica hosts a lot of running/fitness related giveaways on her blog!)
Enjoy your New Year's Eve!
Friday, December 30, 2016
My Answers to Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before the New Year
This week's Friday Links pointed to the article outlining three questions to ask yourself before the new year. Here goes!
1. What were my three favorite athletic moments of 2016?
First, running the PNC Milwaukee Half Marathon. It was a textbook great race for me and culminated in shaving over 4 minutes off my half-marathon PR AND my first half under 1:30! Hands down my favorite race of 2016. I was proud of pushing through pain for the last few miles of this and not backing off the pace.
Second, FINALLY breaking 19:00 in the 5K at Run Tosa Run. I loved the competition of this race. Without the woman who finished second, I don't know that I would have ran this as fast as I did.
Third, my sometimes training partner Bettina and I had the most amazing 22 mile run leading up to the Boston Marathon. You can read about it at the end of this post.
2. What were my challenges this year?
Same challenge I always have - staying consistent. I think I made a lot of progress with this but December was a hot mess.
I also was challenged with a stress reaction in my metatarsal which threw off my 5K training for summer.
My biggest challenge that I started working on is mindset. The biggest example of this was the Boston Marathon where I physically felt off from the beginning and let my mind get sucked down as well. In several other races, I gave up or backed off when the onset of pain came.
3. What inspires me now? Write down three goals for 2017.
First, I want to PR in the marathon.
Second, I want to challenge myself with something new. To that end, I have signed up for a duathlon in July 2017. (Run 2 miles, bike 14.7 miles, run 2 miles.)
Third, I want to incorporate more yoga and meditation into my routine. I read A LOT about meditation in 2016. This started as a task for work. I was reading medical literature about health impact of meditation/mindfulness. That lead to a colleague and I taking a 6 week course in mindfulness, offered by my employer. That lead to me reading a few books on meditation:
10% Happier
Do Your Om Thing
I took a yoga for runners course earlier this year and played with some yoga out of the Hit Reset book. I took the plunge and subscribed to JasYoga (due to a free month code we were sent via Oiselle).
1. What were my three favorite athletic moments of 2016?
First, running the PNC Milwaukee Half Marathon. It was a textbook great race for me and culminated in shaving over 4 minutes off my half-marathon PR AND my first half under 1:30! Hands down my favorite race of 2016. I was proud of pushing through pain for the last few miles of this and not backing off the pace.
Second, FINALLY breaking 19:00 in the 5K at Run Tosa Run. I loved the competition of this race. Without the woman who finished second, I don't know that I would have ran this as fast as I did.
Third, my sometimes training partner Bettina and I had the most amazing 22 mile run leading up to the Boston Marathon. You can read about it at the end of this post.
2. What were my challenges this year?
Same challenge I always have - staying consistent. I think I made a lot of progress with this but December was a hot mess.
I also was challenged with a stress reaction in my metatarsal which threw off my 5K training for summer.
My biggest challenge that I started working on is mindset. The biggest example of this was the Boston Marathon where I physically felt off from the beginning and let my mind get sucked down as well. In several other races, I gave up or backed off when the onset of pain came.
3. What inspires me now? Write down three goals for 2017.
First, I want to PR in the marathon.
Second, I want to challenge myself with something new. To that end, I have signed up for a duathlon in July 2017. (Run 2 miles, bike 14.7 miles, run 2 miles.)
Third, I want to incorporate more yoga and meditation into my routine. I read A LOT about meditation in 2016. This started as a task for work. I was reading medical literature about health impact of meditation/mindfulness. That lead to a colleague and I taking a 6 week course in mindfulness, offered by my employer. That lead to me reading a few books on meditation:
10% Happier
Do Your Om Thing
I took a yoga for runners course earlier this year and played with some yoga out of the Hit Reset book. I took the plunge and subscribed to JasYoga (due to a free month code we were sent via Oiselle).
Thursday, December 8, 2016
AMR Stride Week 3 Recap
My recap is a little late as I was in Boston for business the first two days of this week!
As I mentioned last week was crazy. And still, I ran every day! Keeping the #RWRunStreak alive! To note, I upped the ante on the Run Streak. Previously I mentioned that the "rules" of the streak state that you need to have at least 1 mile of running to keep the streak alive. I changed this to 10 minutes of running, which lands me in the 1.3ish miles on "off" days.
Last week Wednesday was the end of the #RLYBalanceYourStride contest. Alas, I did not win any prizes, but it was a fun motivator regardless.
It was the 3rd week of the AMR Stride plan. (The #RLYBalanceYourStride running workouts took precedence over any of the AMR workouts until the contest was over.) I appreciate how this plan really has upped the amount from yoga and strength I am doing, going from, oh...zero of that stuff to some is huge!
Finally, I started another streak with my friend B: Do a plank after running every day in December to maintain the #plankstreak. I am starting with 60 second planks, which are doable but challenging for me.
Here we go!
Monday Nov 28: Needed to do at least 15 minute tempo run. I just aimed to hit the minimum with this one.
1.01 mile warm up 7:34
15 minute tempo = 2.24 miles (6:43 pace)
1.37 mile cool down, 10:27 (7:36 pace)
Tuesday: 10 minutes of running (1.38 miles) + reclining hero yoga workout
Wednesday: 4-6 hill repeats, focusing on glute activation
I ended up doing 6 hill repeats at the end of a 4.5 mile run so ended up with 5.41 miles, 40:39 (7:31 pace). This was a good mental workout for me because I specifically chose a hill that I struggle to get to the top of every day. And truly after this workout, this hill does not bother me as much! Luckily I did this in the morning dark so my neighbors couldn't hear me slightly chant "glutes, glutes, glutes" as I was working my way through some of the difficult parts.
Thursday: Strength Circuits + #plankstreak Day 1!
1.38 mile run, 10:04 (7:18 pace) followed by 2 rounds of the AMR Stride strength circuit which includes, burpees, russian twists, spiderman planks, jump rope, clamshells, glute bridges
followed by 1 minute plank.
Friday: 30-40 minute run
5.01 miles, 38:10 (7:37 pace) plus 1 minute plank
Saturday: 60-90 minute run
Somewhere in between Christmas choir show practice for kids, Breakfast with Santa, getting my son's birthday party food ready and attending my husband's office holiday party, I got out for AN HOUR RUN!!!!!!!!! HASHTAG CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
8.39 miles, 1:00:01 (7:09 pace) + 1 minute plank
Sunday: 1.26 miles to keep the streak alive in SLUSHY SNOW!!!! First snow run of the season! Both kids joined me for part of this one - apparently it is hard to run in snow pants and boots :) 10:51 (8:38 pace) + 1 minute plank IN THE SNOW!
Total miles: 24.2
As I mentioned last week was crazy. And still, I ran every day! Keeping the #RWRunStreak alive! To note, I upped the ante on the Run Streak. Previously I mentioned that the "rules" of the streak state that you need to have at least 1 mile of running to keep the streak alive. I changed this to 10 minutes of running, which lands me in the 1.3ish miles on "off" days.
Last week Wednesday was the end of the #RLYBalanceYourStride contest. Alas, I did not win any prizes, but it was a fun motivator regardless.
It was the 3rd week of the AMR Stride plan. (The #RLYBalanceYourStride running workouts took precedence over any of the AMR workouts until the contest was over.) I appreciate how this plan really has upped the amount from yoga and strength I am doing, going from, oh...zero of that stuff to some is huge!
Finally, I started another streak with my friend B: Do a plank after running every day in December to maintain the #plankstreak. I am starting with 60 second planks, which are doable but challenging for me.
Here we go!
Monday Nov 28: Needed to do at least 15 minute tempo run. I just aimed to hit the minimum with this one.
1.01 mile warm up 7:34
15 minute tempo = 2.24 miles (6:43 pace)
1.37 mile cool down, 10:27 (7:36 pace)
Tuesday: 10 minutes of running (1.38 miles) + reclining hero yoga workout
Wednesday: 4-6 hill repeats, focusing on glute activation
I ended up doing 6 hill repeats at the end of a 4.5 mile run so ended up with 5.41 miles, 40:39 (7:31 pace). This was a good mental workout for me because I specifically chose a hill that I struggle to get to the top of every day. And truly after this workout, this hill does not bother me as much! Luckily I did this in the morning dark so my neighbors couldn't hear me slightly chant "glutes, glutes, glutes" as I was working my way through some of the difficult parts.
Thursday: Strength Circuits + #plankstreak Day 1!
1.38 mile run, 10:04 (7:18 pace) followed by 2 rounds of the AMR Stride strength circuit which includes, burpees, russian twists, spiderman planks, jump rope, clamshells, glute bridges
followed by 1 minute plank.
Friday: 30-40 minute run
5.01 miles, 38:10 (7:37 pace) plus 1 minute plank
Saturday: 60-90 minute run
Somewhere in between Christmas choir show practice for kids, Breakfast with Santa, getting my son's birthday party food ready and attending my husband's office holiday party, I got out for AN HOUR RUN!!!!!!!!! HASHTAG CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
8.39 miles, 1:00:01 (7:09 pace) + 1 minute plank
Sunday: 1.26 miles to keep the streak alive in SLUSHY SNOW!!!! First snow run of the season! Both kids joined me for part of this one - apparently it is hard to run in snow pants and boots :) 10:51 (8:38 pace) + 1 minute plank IN THE SNOW!
Total miles: 24.2
Friday, December 2, 2016
Friday Links...On Self-Doubt
Woohoo!!! It's Friday. IT HAS BEEN A WEEK. And it will be another few days. I will be able to breathe again on Tuesday. Just get to Tuesday...Just get to Tuesday.
Here are some links. Crush that Self-Doubt!!
We Have to Believe - Tina Muir
Kyleanne's Guide to Speaking Out
How a Triathlon Helped America Ferrera Defy Her Inner Critic
On Disappointment and Trust in Running and in Life
California International Marathon is this weekend! Good luck to all who are running. Including Steph Bruce.
Here are some links. Crush that Self-Doubt!!
We Have to Believe - Tina Muir
Kyleanne's Guide to Speaking Out
How a Triathlon Helped America Ferrera Defy Her Inner Critic
On Disappointment and Trust in Running and in Life
California International Marathon is this weekend! Good luck to all who are running. Including Steph Bruce.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Last week in Review: Low Mileage, But Lots of Other Stuff!
Moving onto week 3 of the AMR Stride plan! And My #RWRunStreak is going strong at 5 days...even though I REALLY wanted to stay in bed this morning.
Last week was a short mileage week. I just barely cleared 20 miles for the weekly total but I did a track workout, a lot more yoga that usual, and a strength circuit (twice). At this point, since I am not training for anything specific, I think the tradeoff in miles to gain diversity in workout was worth it. My daughter also came out on a run and made it a mile (with a few stop breaks). I was super excited about that.
Another thing I am trying to do more at work is use the standing desk options. We all know sitting all day is terrible. But it is easy for me :) I gained a renewed motivation for interrupting my sitting ways after reading this book: Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally I actually have colleagues remind me to go use the standing desk and peer pressure works. :) (For reference, we work in an open concept "Google" type office where we can rotate work stations throughout the day.)
One crazy thing I was able to participate in over the weekend was being a running model for a local organization, Serpentijn Art & Athletics. (Yes! A model! Not gonna lie - it was super fun!) The organization was founded by a friend's husband to bring art and athletics together to support organizations that benefit kids. They collaborate with artists to design products, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the products benefits one of two organizations: Dreaming Zebra and Milwaukee MTB Kids Mountain Bike Team.
Their newest product is a beautiful gaiter designed by Emily Balsley. I spent my Saturday wearing it running by Lake Michigan, running through Lake Park and running with Mags. I also spent a lot of time wearing it while running errands, decorating our house for Christmas, playing spies with my kids. If you are so inclined, you can check it out here (including some photos of me wearing it). I am already anticipating that it will be one of my winter running staples.
Full disclosure - I will probably overshare more of the amazing photos taken by Darren Hauck on my Instagram account (@amyschlott) because they are AMAZEBALLS. And how often do you get AMAZEBALLS photos taken of yourself?!
Here was my last week:
Monday: 30 minute Zen Run followed by Legs Up the Wall.
Zen Run = Basically trying to practice mindfulness while running. Holy shitballs. It is difficult, but rewarding. I'm glad these are a weekly staple of the AMR Stride plan. 4.03 miles
Tuesday: off. This was an unintentional day off, but looking back, it was appropriate since I technically will not have any off days until 2017!
Wednesday: Negative split run followed by Pigeon Yoga
First block: 2 miles, 15:39, 7:48 pace
Next block: 2.2 miles, 16:00, 7:20 pace
Thursday: Track workout!
1.78 mi warm up (run to track)
4 x 400 (1:24, 1:25, 1:26, 1:28) with jogging 400s in between (1:53, 1:54, 1:50)
1.83 mi cool down (run home)
Friday: 4 mile easy run, 30:53/7:38 pace followed by Lizard Yoga
Saturday: 1 mile run with Mags, 11:30 pace (plus "running" for photo shoot)
Sunday: 20 minute run, followed by 2 x BAMR Strength Circuit followed by Hamstring Yoga
Last week was a short mileage week. I just barely cleared 20 miles for the weekly total but I did a track workout, a lot more yoga that usual, and a strength circuit (twice). At this point, since I am not training for anything specific, I think the tradeoff in miles to gain diversity in workout was worth it. My daughter also came out on a run and made it a mile (with a few stop breaks). I was super excited about that.
Another thing I am trying to do more at work is use the standing desk options. We all know sitting all day is terrible. But it is easy for me :) I gained a renewed motivation for interrupting my sitting ways after reading this book: Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally I actually have colleagues remind me to go use the standing desk and peer pressure works. :) (For reference, we work in an open concept "Google" type office where we can rotate work stations throughout the day.)
One crazy thing I was able to participate in over the weekend was being a running model for a local organization, Serpentijn Art & Athletics. (Yes! A model! Not gonna lie - it was super fun!) The organization was founded by a friend's husband to bring art and athletics together to support organizations that benefit kids. They collaborate with artists to design products, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the products benefits one of two organizations: Dreaming Zebra and Milwaukee MTB Kids Mountain Bike Team.
Their newest product is a beautiful gaiter designed by Emily Balsley. I spent my Saturday wearing it running by Lake Michigan, running through Lake Park and running with Mags. I also spent a lot of time wearing it while running errands, decorating our house for Christmas, playing spies with my kids. If you are so inclined, you can check it out here (including some photos of me wearing it). I am already anticipating that it will be one of my winter running staples.
Full disclosure - I will probably overshare more of the amazing photos taken by Darren Hauck on my Instagram account (@amyschlott) because they are AMAZEBALLS. And how often do you get AMAZEBALLS photos taken of yourself?!
Here was my last week:
Monday: 30 minute Zen Run followed by Legs Up the Wall.
Zen Run = Basically trying to practice mindfulness while running. Holy shitballs. It is difficult, but rewarding. I'm glad these are a weekly staple of the AMR Stride plan. 4.03 miles
Tuesday: off. This was an unintentional day off, but looking back, it was appropriate since I technically will not have any off days until 2017!
Wednesday: Negative split run followed by Pigeon Yoga
First block: 2 miles, 15:39, 7:48 pace
Next block: 2.2 miles, 16:00, 7:20 pace
Thursday: Track workout!
1.78 mi warm up (run to track)
4 x 400 (1:24, 1:25, 1:26, 1:28) with jogging 400s in between (1:53, 1:54, 1:50)
1.83 mi cool down (run home)
Friday: 4 mile easy run, 30:53/7:38 pace followed by Lizard Yoga
Saturday: 1 mile run with Mags, 11:30 pace (plus "running" for photo shoot)
Sunday: 20 minute run, followed by 2 x BAMR Strength Circuit followed by Hamstring Yoga
Monday, November 7, 2016
The PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half-Marathon Race Recap
omg. Omg. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buckle your seat belts, this is going to be a LONG post. It was a day where every.single.thing went so right and hairy scary goals were achieved!!
To refresh - my goals for the race:
1. Time goals
A goal: Run 7:00 avg pace. Finish in 1:31 zone.
B goal: PR - Run faster than 1:33:23
2. Master the Discomfort. Embrace the intensity at the end of the race. No backing down when things get tough.
3. Negative split the race.
Someone on the Oiselle Facebook page asked us all to write down our "hairy scary goals" (Shalene Flanagan verbage). I hesitated, then typed "Run a sub-1:30 half-marathon".
Now. Let's recap!
Saturday
I ran a 2 mile shakeout run. Maggie decided to accompany me for the first 1/3 mile which was fun. I had to pick up my race packet at the Harley Davidson Museum. My family decided to accompany me. (After the Boston Marathon Race Expo, they are all about them :) I had to let them know that it was highly unlikely to be as large as the Boston Expo!)
The race expo was packed and I stood in line to get my packet. I got my number and we tooled around the expo for a bit. I entered a few contests. My kids did some cool bike pedal thing which created painted spirograph-looking posters. We decided to leave.
We were in the car, ready to leave when I pulled out my race number and saw "BILL". WTF. I ran back to the expo, stood in line again, and exchanged my number. PHEW. I was fuming the entire time I stood in line, and then realized that I should have looked at the number when I was initially handed it.
That night my husband went out with his brother and the kids were driving me slightly insane so I had a beer with dinner. The kids went to bed early, I set all the clocks back, cleaned up the kitchen and folded some laundry. I got all of my stuff ready to go. I had read something on a Facebook thread about making the Gen UCan the night before so I prepped that in a blender bottle. I was in bed, no joke, at 7:40pm. (It was really 8:40pm). I tried reading my book but I was zonked.
Sunday
Imagine my surprise when my alarm was what woke me up at 5 AM. After months and weeks of waking up all night long with one or both children, magically both of them slept through the entire night. THANK YOU GOD. I woke up feeling AWESOME.
I got dressed, went downstairs, made coffee and shoved my stuff into my gear check bag. I had a multi-grain muffin (Runners World cookbook recipe) with cashew butter and blended my coffee with coconut oil, per usual. I was set! I left my house at 5:30 AM.
I was in the car, blaring some radio station. I was belting out Aerosmith..."Tell me what it takes to let you go..." and then Katy Perry's Roar came on and I seriously started tearing up. I was so excited to run. At this point, I started having a minor panic attack. I had to take a different route than I usually take downtown due to construction and I wasn't sure that the way I was going was correct. Added on to that, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet and had no money for parking. Then I had convinced myself that I was going to get pulled over speeding and not have a license on me. After a few deep breaths, I realized that I had left early enough that I would likely find a street spot and if not, I thought there might have been enough change in the car to scrape up a parking fee if need be. By this time, I realized that I had taken the right route. Beyonce came on the radio. Things were looking up.
I exited the freeway and no joke, there was a street spot waiting for me. THANK YOU GOD. It was a bit away from the start line but I took it. I started walking to the start line, drinking my Gen UCan. I made bathroom pit stop #1. It was a beautiful morning. I walked over to the spot where Oiselle Volee were to meet and talked to some people. It is so weird when you meet people you follow on Instagram in real life. Like, I know you, but not really. ha ha ha
A group of us made pit stop #2. We took a group picture and then dispersed. I gear checked my stuff and was in shorts, a tank and a throwaway long sleeve. I decided against wearing my calf sleeves because I hadn't been training in them and was worried I would get hot.
I had to go to the bathroom AGAIN. By this point, the lines were really long and the marathon was about to start. The half-marathon was scheduled to start 15 minutes later. I took my chances and remained in line. Of course all the lines EXCEPT for the one I was in were moving. I finally went to the bathroom. I was very glad I waited. I was a little concerned that I was having so many bathroom trips but pushed those thoughts out of my mind. It was time to get in the corral!
I made my way to near the front, threw off my long sleeve and it was time to go!
One of my goals was to be in each mile and I did so well with this during the race. It made for a really enjoyable race! It is also going to make for a long recap. :)
Mile 1
Run relaxed. Run relaxed. Run relaxed. I felt really good. I felt like I was running slow, but i knew based on my position in the crowd that I was not running slow. There were some crowds and I remember a dog that was barking and it sounded like he was cheering. It made me start laughing. I approached a Team Triumph pack near the mile marker and they were playing the Try Everything song from Zootopia, which my daughter loves and again, my eyes started tearing up.
Mile 1: 6:45
Mile 2
I was feeling good and we were approaching the big hill in the course. I literally felt like I floated up that hill. It did not feel like I was running up a hill - it was the weirdest feeling. I passed a few people on the hill and appreciated the guy with the monster cowbell at the top. Once I reached the top I knew I was going to see my sister soon. I was approaching the intersection where she was going to meet me and I was thinking, "Is that her? Where are the dogs? That can't be her." Then I heard her yell, "Geez. Why are you running so slow?!" It made me laugh. She rode her bike a block or two next to me. It was so fun! At the mile marker she turned around and went back home.
Mile 2: 7:04
Mile 3
At this point, I was running in a pack of 2 men and 2 other women. One of the guys was named Steve and he was getting a lot of cheers. I jokingly said I was going to pretend my name was Steve. One woman said, "Are either of you (referring to me and the 3rd woman) 40 years old?" and I said, "Nope 35". The other woman also said, "Yes, I'm 35". The 40 year old said, "Alright then" and I said, "Yeah you're good but you on the other hand (looking to the 35 year old), are going down." Oh the jokes at mile 3. Seriously I still felt like I was barely moving but knew that it was too early to go crazy. I also thought it was a little early to be planning age group awards but it was fun to have some conversation.
Mile 3: 6:54
Mile 4
I was really enjoying the course so far. We ran over a cool bridge, along some beautiful flag poles. This was a fun mile because it was lots of turns, and seemed to go by quickly.
Mile 4: 6:53
Mile 5
At this point, I was running by myself. I hadn't stopped at any of the water/gatorade points and began the slow grind up Wisconsin Ave. There were a few people watching but not many cheering. This part of the course I thought of my family because we had passed it on the way to packet pick up and it is the reverse of the Briggs & Al's run route.
Mile 5: 6:55
Mile 6
I began to see the half-marathon leaders as they were running back along the opposite side of the course. I could not believe how many women were ahead of me. FAST. I reached the turn around and was relieved that the wind was finally at my back. The Wisconsin Ave climb seemed to take a long time. I started to have thoughts that I wasn't doing very well based on my place. I told myself over and over again that I was not running for place - I was running for time. I saw two Oiselle birds on my way back down Wisconsin Ave and exchanged cheers with them. That was awesome. I still felt really strong.
Mile 6: 6:51
Mile 7
I had a new pack that I was running with - a man and a woman. There was no talking though. I just tried to stick with them as I liked their pace. I felt like they came out of nowhere. I liked running down 16th street, except for the bridge. The grates hurt my feet a bit.
Mile 7: 6:47
Mile 8
I was still with my pack and it felt like they had picked it up a bit. I was still feeling good so I stuck with them. At this point, I started thinking that I could break 1:30 if I really kept at it.
Mile 8: 6:28
Mile 9
The mile 8 split freaked me out a bit. Did I start running too fast? I don't think so. I called to mind my recent 8 mile run where I ran a bunch of miles in the 6:30s. I liked this part of the course - we were on a bike trail or something. I saw the mile marker clock and thought, HOLY SHIT. I really could break 1:30 today. Today is going to be a hairy scary goal day!
Mile 9: 6:29
Mile 10
Just keep with this guy. Just keep with this guy. My legs were feeling tired. We had made it back to the lake. You will master discomfort. You can master discomfort. You got this. I still hadn't needed a water stop.
Mile 10: 6:33
Mile 11
At this point I had passed the man and woman that I had been packed up with and started passing various guys. I had this single vision of breaking 1:30. My legs hurt but I just kept thinking of previous workouts where I only had 2 mile tempos. I had never thought of previous workouts in a race before but it was really working for me mentally.
Mile 11: 6:31
Mile 12
I was slightly confused at this point because we were staying along the lake but my memory of the race map had us circling the lagoon. I was thinking, "There is no way we can be going around the lagoon and have a mile left."
Mile 12: 6:39
Mile 13 - 13.1
I was tired. I just tried to keep my legs moving. I knew I was probably slowing down but I could not make my legs go faster. I saw my family right at the start of the finish and started waving frantically. I tried to sprint. I know I was not sprinting and I do not want to see video of myself at the finish because I am sure it was ugly. I saw that the clock had just turned to 1:29 and I started freaking out. "yes, yes yes!!!"
Mile 13: 6:50
Finish: 1:29:14.65 (chip) 1:29:22.42 (gun)
I can't wait to see the finish line photos. In my head, I have this glorious race photo because I had lifted my arms above my head and was basically smiling unicorns. I.WAS.PUMPED.
So many goals achieved with this race.
1. I broke my half-marathon PR by 4 minutes and 9 seconds. I broke my hairy scary goal of 1:30!
2. I mastered the discomfort. I maintained positive self-talk throughout the race.
3. I negative split the race! My 10K split stats were:
7:01 min/mile pace
2nd in my age group
13th woman
70th overall.
I finished with 6:49 min/mile pace
1st age group
7th woman
40th overall
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buckle your seat belts, this is going to be a LONG post. It was a day where every.single.thing went so right and hairy scary goals were achieved!!
To refresh - my goals for the race:
1. Time goals
A goal: Run 7:00 avg pace. Finish in 1:31 zone.
B goal: PR - Run faster than 1:33:23
2. Master the Discomfort. Embrace the intensity at the end of the race. No backing down when things get tough.
3. Negative split the race.
Someone on the Oiselle Facebook page asked us all to write down our "hairy scary goals" (Shalene Flanagan verbage). I hesitated, then typed "Run a sub-1:30 half-marathon".
Now. Let's recap!
Saturday
I ran a 2 mile shakeout run. Maggie decided to accompany me for the first 1/3 mile which was fun. I had to pick up my race packet at the Harley Davidson Museum. My family decided to accompany me. (After the Boston Marathon Race Expo, they are all about them :) I had to let them know that it was highly unlikely to be as large as the Boston Expo!)
The race expo was packed and I stood in line to get my packet. I got my number and we tooled around the expo for a bit. I entered a few contests. My kids did some cool bike pedal thing which created painted spirograph-looking posters. We decided to leave.
We were in the car, ready to leave when I pulled out my race number and saw "BILL". WTF. I ran back to the expo, stood in line again, and exchanged my number. PHEW. I was fuming the entire time I stood in line, and then realized that I should have looked at the number when I was initially handed it.
That night my husband went out with his brother and the kids were driving me slightly insane so I had a beer with dinner. The kids went to bed early, I set all the clocks back, cleaned up the kitchen and folded some laundry. I got all of my stuff ready to go. I had read something on a Facebook thread about making the Gen UCan the night before so I prepped that in a blender bottle. I was in bed, no joke, at 7:40pm. (It was really 8:40pm). I tried reading my book but I was zonked.
Sunday
Imagine my surprise when my alarm was what woke me up at 5 AM. After months and weeks of waking up all night long with one or both children, magically both of them slept through the entire night. THANK YOU GOD. I woke up feeling AWESOME.
I got dressed, went downstairs, made coffee and shoved my stuff into my gear check bag. I had a multi-grain muffin (Runners World cookbook recipe) with cashew butter and blended my coffee with coconut oil, per usual. I was set! I left my house at 5:30 AM.
I was in the car, blaring some radio station. I was belting out Aerosmith..."Tell me what it takes to let you go..." and then Katy Perry's Roar came on and I seriously started tearing up. I was so excited to run. At this point, I started having a minor panic attack. I had to take a different route than I usually take downtown due to construction and I wasn't sure that the way I was going was correct. Added on to that, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet and had no money for parking. Then I had convinced myself that I was going to get pulled over speeding and not have a license on me. After a few deep breaths, I realized that I had left early enough that I would likely find a street spot and if not, I thought there might have been enough change in the car to scrape up a parking fee if need be. By this time, I realized that I had taken the right route. Beyonce came on the radio. Things were looking up.
I exited the freeway and no joke, there was a street spot waiting for me. THANK YOU GOD. It was a bit away from the start line but I took it. I started walking to the start line, drinking my Gen UCan. I made bathroom pit stop #1. It was a beautiful morning. I walked over to the spot where Oiselle Volee were to meet and talked to some people. It is so weird when you meet people you follow on Instagram in real life. Like, I know you, but not really. ha ha ha
A group of us made pit stop #2. We took a group picture and then dispersed. I gear checked my stuff and was in shorts, a tank and a throwaway long sleeve. I decided against wearing my calf sleeves because I hadn't been training in them and was worried I would get hot.
I had to go to the bathroom AGAIN. By this point, the lines were really long and the marathon was about to start. The half-marathon was scheduled to start 15 minutes later. I took my chances and remained in line. Of course all the lines EXCEPT for the one I was in were moving. I finally went to the bathroom. I was very glad I waited. I was a little concerned that I was having so many bathroom trips but pushed those thoughts out of my mind. It was time to get in the corral!
I made my way to near the front, threw off my long sleeve and it was time to go!
One of my goals was to be in each mile and I did so well with this during the race. It made for a really enjoyable race! It is also going to make for a long recap. :)
Mile 1
Run relaxed. Run relaxed. Run relaxed. I felt really good. I felt like I was running slow, but i knew based on my position in the crowd that I was not running slow. There were some crowds and I remember a dog that was barking and it sounded like he was cheering. It made me start laughing. I approached a Team Triumph pack near the mile marker and they were playing the Try Everything song from Zootopia, which my daughter loves and again, my eyes started tearing up.
Mile 1: 6:45
Mile 2
I was feeling good and we were approaching the big hill in the course. I literally felt like I floated up that hill. It did not feel like I was running up a hill - it was the weirdest feeling. I passed a few people on the hill and appreciated the guy with the monster cowbell at the top. Once I reached the top I knew I was going to see my sister soon. I was approaching the intersection where she was going to meet me and I was thinking, "Is that her? Where are the dogs? That can't be her." Then I heard her yell, "Geez. Why are you running so slow?!" It made me laugh. She rode her bike a block or two next to me. It was so fun! At the mile marker she turned around and went back home.
Mile 2: 7:04
Mile 3
At this point, I was running in a pack of 2 men and 2 other women. One of the guys was named Steve and he was getting a lot of cheers. I jokingly said I was going to pretend my name was Steve. One woman said, "Are either of you (referring to me and the 3rd woman) 40 years old?" and I said, "Nope 35". The other woman also said, "Yes, I'm 35". The 40 year old said, "Alright then" and I said, "Yeah you're good but you on the other hand (looking to the 35 year old), are going down." Oh the jokes at mile 3. Seriously I still felt like I was barely moving but knew that it was too early to go crazy. I also thought it was a little early to be planning age group awards but it was fun to have some conversation.
Mile 3: 6:54
Mile 4
I was really enjoying the course so far. We ran over a cool bridge, along some beautiful flag poles. This was a fun mile because it was lots of turns, and seemed to go by quickly.
Mile 4: 6:53
Mile 5
At this point, I was running by myself. I hadn't stopped at any of the water/gatorade points and began the slow grind up Wisconsin Ave. There were a few people watching but not many cheering. This part of the course I thought of my family because we had passed it on the way to packet pick up and it is the reverse of the Briggs & Al's run route.
Mile 5: 6:55
Mile 6
I began to see the half-marathon leaders as they were running back along the opposite side of the course. I could not believe how many women were ahead of me. FAST. I reached the turn around and was relieved that the wind was finally at my back. The Wisconsin Ave climb seemed to take a long time. I started to have thoughts that I wasn't doing very well based on my place. I told myself over and over again that I was not running for place - I was running for time. I saw two Oiselle birds on my way back down Wisconsin Ave and exchanged cheers with them. That was awesome. I still felt really strong.
Mile 6: 6:51
Mile 7
I had a new pack that I was running with - a man and a woman. There was no talking though. I just tried to stick with them as I liked their pace. I felt like they came out of nowhere. I liked running down 16th street, except for the bridge. The grates hurt my feet a bit.
Mile 7: 6:47
Mile 8
I was still with my pack and it felt like they had picked it up a bit. I was still feeling good so I stuck with them. At this point, I started thinking that I could break 1:30 if I really kept at it.
Mile 8: 6:28
Mile 9
The mile 8 split freaked me out a bit. Did I start running too fast? I don't think so. I called to mind my recent 8 mile run where I ran a bunch of miles in the 6:30s. I liked this part of the course - we were on a bike trail or something. I saw the mile marker clock and thought, HOLY SHIT. I really could break 1:30 today. Today is going to be a hairy scary goal day!
Mile 9: 6:29
Mile 10
Just keep with this guy. Just keep with this guy. My legs were feeling tired. We had made it back to the lake. You will master discomfort. You can master discomfort. You got this. I still hadn't needed a water stop.
Mile 10: 6:33
Mile 11
At this point I had passed the man and woman that I had been packed up with and started passing various guys. I had this single vision of breaking 1:30. My legs hurt but I just kept thinking of previous workouts where I only had 2 mile tempos. I had never thought of previous workouts in a race before but it was really working for me mentally.
Mile 11: 6:31
Mile 12
I was slightly confused at this point because we were staying along the lake but my memory of the race map had us circling the lagoon. I was thinking, "There is no way we can be going around the lagoon and have a mile left."
Mile 12: 6:39
Mile 13 - 13.1
I was tired. I just tried to keep my legs moving. I knew I was probably slowing down but I could not make my legs go faster. I saw my family right at the start of the finish and started waving frantically. I tried to sprint. I know I was not sprinting and I do not want to see video of myself at the finish because I am sure it was ugly. I saw that the clock had just turned to 1:29 and I started freaking out. "yes, yes yes!!!"
Mile 13: 6:50
Finish: 1:29:14.65 (chip) 1:29:22.42 (gun)
I can't wait to see the finish line photos. In my head, I have this glorious race photo because I had lifted my arms above my head and was basically smiling unicorns. I.WAS.PUMPED.
So many goals achieved with this race.
1. I broke my half-marathon PR by 4 minutes and 9 seconds. I broke my hairy scary goal of 1:30!
2. I mastered the discomfort. I maintained positive self-talk throughout the race.
3. I negative split the race! My 10K split stats were:
7:01 min/mile pace
2nd in my age group
13th woman
70th overall.
I finished with 6:49 min/mile pace
1st age group
7th woman
40th overall
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, October 21, 2016
Friday Links!
It's FRI-YAY! Extra YAY as I am with some girlfriends in Cape Cod (well, I wrote this yesterday in anticipation that I would be in Cape Cod). Looking forward to running my long run on part of the Falmouth Road Race course tomorrow!
Here are this week's links:
Secrets to Success: Dynamic Warm Up
Do you do anything like this? I would like to start.
Fertility and False Choices
I am a big Laura Vanderkam fan, particularly of her blog, although I have read her books. I can always gain some insight/wisdom of how to make time for things from reading her work. Her comments about "work/life balance" in this post resonated with me.
New Season, New Goals
"When I was training for Twin Cities last year, I learned there is an unbelievable amount of magic in utter belief, and when training for the Trials I learned that you can do everything perfectly for 4 months, and it might not matter. Even though that sounds like a crappy lesson to have learned, it's actually kind of liberating."
When I read that, I thought of my Boston 2016. She's totally right. It is a crappy lesson and all these months later, I do feel liberated by it. I don't need to put all this pressure on myself to have good races!
What Do You Like About Yourself?
I like that I keep showing up, dark morning after dark morning. I like that this year, I have consistently reflected on running and have grown from that practice. I like that I can run fast when I am not afraid.
Here are this week's links:
Secrets to Success: Dynamic Warm Up
Do you do anything like this? I would like to start.
Fertility and False Choices
I am a big Laura Vanderkam fan, particularly of her blog, although I have read her books. I can always gain some insight/wisdom of how to make time for things from reading her work. Her comments about "work/life balance" in this post resonated with me.
New Season, New Goals
"When I was training for Twin Cities last year, I learned there is an unbelievable amount of magic in utter belief, and when training for the Trials I learned that you can do everything perfectly for 4 months, and it might not matter. Even though that sounds like a crappy lesson to have learned, it's actually kind of liberating."
When I read that, I thought of my Boston 2016. She's totally right. It is a crappy lesson and all these months later, I do feel liberated by it. I don't need to put all this pressure on myself to have good races!
What Do You Like About Yourself?
I like that I keep showing up, dark morning after dark morning. I like that this year, I have consistently reflected on running and have grown from that practice. I like that I can run fast when I am not afraid.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Half Marathon Training Week 7 Recap
After two weeks of increasing mileage, week 7 was a welcome cut back week. My focus for the week was to run the hard workouts (speed + long run) hard, but dial back the effort on the three recovery runs. I previously mentioned aiming for an 8:00 pace for my easy runs because there is no removing my Garmin from my wrist. My goal is to recover and train my brain to be okay with a slower pace. I would say that based on this goal, I had a successful week!
This was also a week where I wanted to try to get back on the plan of having Friday and Sunday off, which required me to run a LOT of days in a row (continuing from week 6). I definitely could feel how tired my legs were on Monday (which was my 5th day in a row running), so the pace was not really that hard to come by!
Monday: 3.12 miles, 26:36 (avg pace 8:31) + 8 strides
Tuesday: 5 miles, 40:19 (avg pace 8:03)
Wednesday: "The Burner". I was anxious about this because the description of this workout begins with, 'This will be a hard workout!".
Instructions: Hard mile 20-30 sec under goal pace (6:30-6:40 for me). 3 minute rest. 15 minute tempo 10 sec over goal pace (7:10 for me). 2-3 minute rest. Hard 800m.
1 mile warm up: 8:11 avg pace
1 mile hard: 6:22 avg pace
2.13 miles, 15:02 (7:04 avg pace).
0.5 miles, 2:56 (5:50 avg pace).
1.07 mi cool down: 7:52 avg pace
I really loved this workout. My legs felt like jelly starting the tempo portion so it really allowed me to mentally work at sticking it out because as I got into the rhythm, it felt easy. There wasn't a lot of direction for the 800 so my goal was to ride the pain train. No backing down, as I am wont to do. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast it was after the faster mile and tempo. Perhaps the "go easy on easy days" paid off! I also was pleased with how this workout went knowing it was my 7th day in a row running.
Thursday: I was supposed to run this morning but my son ran interference with that plan and I ended up deciding to skip it. My legs were happy for the off day. BUT...
Friday: Because I skipped Thursday, I had to run Friday, which really was no better for me in the sleep department as my son was up at 430 AND I had 2.5 beers on Thursday night with a girlfriend which also caused me to go to bed later than usual (10:30 pm). Yeah. SHOULD HAVE RAN THURSDAY. BUT. I did it. I got my quasi-hungover ass out of bed and did 5 miles 38:52 (7:46 avg pace).
Saturday: As I mentioned this was a cut back week so my "long" run was only 7 miles. I got this in before breakfast on Saturday and as with all my long runs, negative splitting was my goal.
7 miles/50:08 (7:10 avg pace)
7:36
7:38
7:44
7:03
6:45
6:43
6:38
It was another slow start for me - felt like a slug. I need to research half marathon warm ups because although I am inclined to NOT do a warm up prior to the race and use the early race miles for my warm up, my long runs seem to indicate the need for a pretty slow warm up.
Sunday: My daughter and son asked me to run with them. We ended up maybe running 3-4 blocks with My Little Ponys in hand. My daughter had concocted some story about how the ponies gave us powers, yadda yadda. I really wanted my husband to take a picture of all 3 of us running through our neighborhood with a pony in each hand, but alas - the Packers game was on! A fun way to spend an "off" day.
Total Week 7 Mileage: 25.85
Race Day Countdown: 19 days!
This was also a week where I wanted to try to get back on the plan of having Friday and Sunday off, which required me to run a LOT of days in a row (continuing from week 6). I definitely could feel how tired my legs were on Monday (which was my 5th day in a row running), so the pace was not really that hard to come by!
Monday: 3.12 miles, 26:36 (avg pace 8:31) + 8 strides
Tuesday: 5 miles, 40:19 (avg pace 8:03)
Wednesday: "The Burner". I was anxious about this because the description of this workout begins with, 'This will be a hard workout!".
Instructions: Hard mile 20-30 sec under goal pace (6:30-6:40 for me). 3 minute rest. 15 minute tempo 10 sec over goal pace (7:10 for me). 2-3 minute rest. Hard 800m.
1 mile warm up: 8:11 avg pace
1 mile hard: 6:22 avg pace
2.13 miles, 15:02 (7:04 avg pace).
0.5 miles, 2:56 (5:50 avg pace).
1.07 mi cool down: 7:52 avg pace
I really loved this workout. My legs felt like jelly starting the tempo portion so it really allowed me to mentally work at sticking it out because as I got into the rhythm, it felt easy. There wasn't a lot of direction for the 800 so my goal was to ride the pain train. No backing down, as I am wont to do. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast it was after the faster mile and tempo. Perhaps the "go easy on easy days" paid off! I also was pleased with how this workout went knowing it was my 7th day in a row running.
Thursday: I was supposed to run this morning but my son ran interference with that plan and I ended up deciding to skip it. My legs were happy for the off day. BUT...
Friday: Because I skipped Thursday, I had to run Friday, which really was no better for me in the sleep department as my son was up at 430 AND I had 2.5 beers on Thursday night with a girlfriend which also caused me to go to bed later than usual (10:30 pm). Yeah. SHOULD HAVE RAN THURSDAY. BUT. I did it. I got my quasi-hungover ass out of bed and did 5 miles 38:52 (7:46 avg pace).
Saturday: As I mentioned this was a cut back week so my "long" run was only 7 miles. I got this in before breakfast on Saturday and as with all my long runs, negative splitting was my goal.
7 miles/50:08 (7:10 avg pace)
7:36
7:38
7:44
7:03
6:45
6:43
6:38
It was another slow start for me - felt like a slug. I need to research half marathon warm ups because although I am inclined to NOT do a warm up prior to the race and use the early race miles for my warm up, my long runs seem to indicate the need for a pretty slow warm up.
Sunday: My daughter and son asked me to run with them. We ended up maybe running 3-4 blocks with My Little Ponys in hand. My daughter had concocted some story about how the ponies gave us powers, yadda yadda. I really wanted my husband to take a picture of all 3 of us running through our neighborhood with a pony in each hand, but alas - the Packers game was on! A fun way to spend an "off" day.
Total Week 7 Mileage: 25.85
Race Day Countdown: 19 days!
Monday, October 10, 2016
Week 6 Half Marathon Training Recap
I'm having a ton of fun training for this race! I've decided that half-marathon training is ideal for my regular schedule (provided I wake up at 5 AM). I feel like I am pushing myself, but not overloading like marathon training. I don't feel like I am sacrificing a ton of my "regular" life to do this. NOW - I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I have made a total switch of getting my runs done first thing in the morning whereas my Boston marathon training was all done in the evening.
Week 6 was a good training week. I got all five days in - yay! I woke up at all my alarms! I did a fairly good job of taking my recovery runs easier (aiming for 8:00 pace). I had a good long run of ten miles where my only goal was to negative split and I did it.
According to my plan, Friday and Sunday are supposed to be my off days - with long run on Saturday. I got off this track several weeks ago and the end result is that I have a lot of running days in a row - including both of my hard workouts. Week 7 will give me a chance to readjust so that I have more rest before and after my long runs.
Monday - off
Tuesday - 4.26 miles 33:34 (7:53 avg pace) + 8 strides
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 1.09 mi warm up 8:44 (7:59 avg pace)
Switchblade!
[2 miles continuous with first mile goal of ten seconds over goal pace (7:10 for me) and 2nd mile 10 seconds under goal pace (6:50 for me). 2-3 min rest, repeat.]
1st switchblade: 13:53 (6:55 average pace) - 7:06 first mile, 6:44 second
2nd switchblade: 13:42 (6:50 average pace) - 7:02 first mile, 6:37 second
1.09 mi cool down 8:15 (7:34 avg pace)
Friday - 5 miles, 39:13 (7:50 avg pace)
Saturday - 10 miles
My goal for this was to negative split while running by feel. As typical, my first miles were slow as I settled in.
Here are my splits
7:46
7:38
7:37
7:29
7:24
6:54
7:00
6:53
6:45
6:36
Goal achieved. 1:12:04 (7:12 avg pace)
Sunday - 5 miles 38:31 (7:42 avg pace)
Week Total: 30.48 miles
<4 weeks until Race Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Week 6 was a good training week. I got all five days in - yay! I woke up at all my alarms! I did a fairly good job of taking my recovery runs easier (aiming for 8:00 pace). I had a good long run of ten miles where my only goal was to negative split and I did it.
According to my plan, Friday and Sunday are supposed to be my off days - with long run on Saturday. I got off this track several weeks ago and the end result is that I have a lot of running days in a row - including both of my hard workouts. Week 7 will give me a chance to readjust so that I have more rest before and after my long runs.
Monday - off
Tuesday - 4.26 miles 33:34 (7:53 avg pace) + 8 strides
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 1.09 mi warm up 8:44 (7:59 avg pace)
Switchblade!
[2 miles continuous with first mile goal of ten seconds over goal pace (7:10 for me) and 2nd mile 10 seconds under goal pace (6:50 for me). 2-3 min rest, repeat.]
1st switchblade: 13:53 (6:55 average pace) - 7:06 first mile, 6:44 second
2nd switchblade: 13:42 (6:50 average pace) - 7:02 first mile, 6:37 second
1.09 mi cool down 8:15 (7:34 avg pace)
Friday - 5 miles, 39:13 (7:50 avg pace)
Saturday - 10 miles
My goal for this was to negative split while running by feel. As typical, my first miles were slow as I settled in.
Here are my splits
7:46
7:38
7:37
7:29
7:24
6:54
7:00
6:53
6:45
6:36
Goal achieved. 1:12:04 (7:12 avg pace)
Sunday - 5 miles 38:31 (7:42 avg pace)
Week Total: 30.48 miles
<4 weeks until Race Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 3, 2016
Week 5 Half Marathon Training Recap + A 5K!
Last week was a good training week - I ended up running 6 of the 7 days! Things were a little off plan as I had signed up to do a 5K in my husband's hometown to support a fundraiser that friends of his were trying to develop. It was the second year of the race, and they still are working some things out. Because of that, I did not get ANY warm up in. (I know - bad.) The course was not chip-timed (in fact, it was timed by someone's cell phone) but still provided an opportunity to race on a new course, which I really enjoyed. It also was fun to have so many people cheering for me (all of my husband's family).
My goal for the race was to try to run the 3rd mile faster than the previous two. My first mile passed in 6:12 which felt comfortable, but then they always do! Mile two was over in 6:22. My third mile was 6:09!!!!!! Success! I ended up running the entire race by myself. I was in 2nd overall and the man in front of me ended up taking a wrong turn right after mile 1 so I won the whole race. My Garmin time was 19:19. I was super happy with this not only for meeting my goal, but also because I feel if I had really pushed it, I MIGHT have been close to breaking 19 again! Woo-hoo for returned fitness!
My kids each were able to participate in the kids race, even my 2 year old. Holy cow that was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time - he was so determined and ran the WHOLE way (maybe 1 city block.) My daughter ended up winning her age group (5-7 year olds)!
Due to the race being Saturday morning, I did not get my long run in that morning per my training plan. SO, that left Sunday morning. I woke up at 6 and got dressed.
I went out the door and it was drizzling rain. UGH.
I went back in the house to check the forecast. According to my iPhone weather app, it was supposed to rain at 7 briefly.
I went back out. "Maybe I should do this later in the day."
Went back in the house.
Consulted weather app again and realized that the sun sets at 6:30. WHAT?! Ok. I had to do this right now or it was not going to get done. Grabbed my Boston 2016 jacket for rain protection and my knuckle lights and headed out. Third time's a charm.
My plan was to run laps around my neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhood (which is what I always do when it is dark outside) until the sun came up. First mile was 8:08. I was TIRED. Second mile was 7:49. Mid third mile, I paused my watch and just let out a breath. This sucked. I was tired, my legs were not feeling it and it was raining.
Just.Keep.Going.
One non-time related goal I have for this training cycle is to push through these moments when I can think of pretty good excuses to stop. This was one such instance. The sun was up. I took off my knuckle lights and my extra long sleeve, dropped them off at my house on my run past and exited the neighborhood.
I struggled within each mile but it gave me a chance to practice working my way out of the negative mindset. With the first three miles done in 8:08, 7:49, 7:49, I wanted to try to stay in the 7:40s for the next 3 miles and push the final 3.
My legs got used to the motion probably halfway through the run. Miles 4, 5, and 6 were 7:41, 7:43, and 7:43. It was still raining but I started having a "I am awesome" moment as I moved into the final third of the run. My legs still felt tired but it didn't seem so awful as the first third. Miles 7, 8, and 9 were 7:26, 7:18, and 7:08. I had shaved a minute off my starting pace!
This was a FANTASTIC run for me, not so much for the pace but for the mental practice of working through fatigue and negativity. WOO-HOO!
Week 5 Mileage Total: 30.6 miles
I am excited that today (Monday) is a rest day :)
My goal for the race was to try to run the 3rd mile faster than the previous two. My first mile passed in 6:12 which felt comfortable, but then they always do! Mile two was over in 6:22. My third mile was 6:09!!!!!! Success! I ended up running the entire race by myself. I was in 2nd overall and the man in front of me ended up taking a wrong turn right after mile 1 so I won the whole race. My Garmin time was 19:19. I was super happy with this not only for meeting my goal, but also because I feel if I had really pushed it, I MIGHT have been close to breaking 19 again! Woo-hoo for returned fitness!
My kids each were able to participate in the kids race, even my 2 year old. Holy cow that was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time - he was so determined and ran the WHOLE way (maybe 1 city block.) My daughter ended up winning her age group (5-7 year olds)!
Due to the race being Saturday morning, I did not get my long run in that morning per my training plan. SO, that left Sunday morning. I woke up at 6 and got dressed.
I went out the door and it was drizzling rain. UGH.
I went back in the house to check the forecast. According to my iPhone weather app, it was supposed to rain at 7 briefly.
I went back out. "Maybe I should do this later in the day."
Went back in the house.
Consulted weather app again and realized that the sun sets at 6:30. WHAT?! Ok. I had to do this right now or it was not going to get done. Grabbed my Boston 2016 jacket for rain protection and my knuckle lights and headed out. Third time's a charm.
My plan was to run laps around my neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhood (which is what I always do when it is dark outside) until the sun came up. First mile was 8:08. I was TIRED. Second mile was 7:49. Mid third mile, I paused my watch and just let out a breath. This sucked. I was tired, my legs were not feeling it and it was raining.
Just.Keep.Going.
One non-time related goal I have for this training cycle is to push through these moments when I can think of pretty good excuses to stop. This was one such instance. The sun was up. I took off my knuckle lights and my extra long sleeve, dropped them off at my house on my run past and exited the neighborhood.
I struggled within each mile but it gave me a chance to practice working my way out of the negative mindset. With the first three miles done in 8:08, 7:49, 7:49, I wanted to try to stay in the 7:40s for the next 3 miles and push the final 3.
My legs got used to the motion probably halfway through the run. Miles 4, 5, and 6 were 7:41, 7:43, and 7:43. It was still raining but I started having a "I am awesome" moment as I moved into the final third of the run. My legs still felt tired but it didn't seem so awful as the first third. Miles 7, 8, and 9 were 7:26, 7:18, and 7:08. I had shaved a minute off my starting pace!
This was a FANTASTIC run for me, not so much for the pace but for the mental practice of working through fatigue and negativity. WOO-HOO!
Week 5 Mileage Total: 30.6 miles
I am excited that today (Monday) is a rest day :)
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