No more #RWRUNSTREAK for me

The #RWRUNSTREAK is dead.

I killed it last night.

Here's the thing.

I am ok running in the dark.

I am ok running when it is kinda cold.  (My definition of kinda cold is temps in the teens, which I feel is generous.)

I am (mostly) ok running on snow as long as I have some traction.

Where it gets a little messy is when I have to run in the dark AND cold AND snow/ice.  That is where running is no longer enjoyable to me.

We are in the middle of an unseasonable spell of super cold weather.  Temps started to plummet on Tuesday.  That day I was still optimistic.  I dug in, layered a ton of clothes and wore a gaiter over my face and got 4.25 miles done that day.  Honestly, it wasn't bad.  But it was an afternoon run (SUN!), little wind, and lots of light so I could knowingly avoid slippery spots.  I left work early to get that run in.  (AKA This is NOT A long term, sustainable solution.)

My optimism came crumbling down yesterday.  The only time I had available to go for a run last night was after kids were in bed.  It was windy, felt like -13 degrees, and dark.  I called it.  This is dumb.

No more #RWRUNSTREAK.

The last few weeks I have been doing a lot of plotting and my spring goals are coming into alignment.  (I promise there is a post in the works on this!)  The short story is that I am considering the jump to Hanson's Marathon Method for a spring marathon which will require 6 days of running.  [I KNOW.  Huge jump for me.]

I have gotten through previous winters of marathon training by joining Planet Fitness (cancelling the membership once the weather warmed) and by having a plan that was based around 4 days of running, maybe getting 5 days in on a rare occasion.   This afforded me a lot of leeway with being able to schedule workouts on nicer weather days and when I didn't have stuff going on with the fam.  If I make the switch to try Hanson's, I will be greatly decreasing any of that flexibility.

I relied on treadmill A LOT last winter and it SUCKS to have to drive to the gym.  I realistically cannot picture myself getting six days of running in relying on myself to get to the gym.

Solution:  I convinced my husband that he could forgo buying me gifts for the next x number of years, for the x number of holidays if we could get a treadmill.  So now I am researching treadmills!

I may be romanticizing this a bit but I feel like having a treadmill in my house is going to take away a lot of my "when can I get a run in" angst.

AMR Stride Week 4 Recap

Well we have snow now!  And lots of it!

Last week I was in Boston for 2 days for business.  I am all ok running in the dark while running loops around my neighborhood, but I wasn't about to test it in an unfamiliar area so treadmill it was.  I can't even remember the last time I was on a treadmill - likely last winter for Boston training.  I still am not a fan of them, but was grateful my hotel had a good one so I could still get my runs in!

I kept up the run streak but it was a really challenging week!

Monday:  Plan called for 30-40 minute zen run.

32 minutes, 4 miles on the treadmill.  Listened to the first half of this ROO Podcast #218 with Rebecca Pachecho.  Liked the "relaxation is power" mantra that she talked about learning when she took up boxing.

Tuesday: Plan called for a stair circuit mixed in with squats, planks, tricep dips, pushups, lunges.

I was not about to run stairs in a hotel so I chose a hill workout preset on the treadmill instead.  Finished the aforementioned ROO Podcast.

15 minutes (1.74 miles) of hill workout on treadmill
10 squats
10 pushups
10 lunges
60 sec plank
10 tricep dips
15 minutes (1.76 miles) of hill workout on treadmill
10 squats
10 pushups
10 lunges
60 sec plank
10 tricep dips

Wednesday:  Plan called for Yoga + Running.

OMG.  I cannot even explain to you how sore I was from Tuesday's workout.  I only did the running part plus it was my turn in the pool for parent + child swim with my son.  I count that as a workout because lifting and swinging a 40 lb. kid in the pool is no joke.

3.1 miles, 23:49 (7:40 pace)

Thursday:  Plan called for an off day.

Yep.  I was still sore and really tired because I have been going to bed way late in an attempt to get Christmas stuff done.  SOOOOOOOOOOO  I shut off my morning run alarm.  Squeezed this run in between the office and waiting for my daughter to come home from the bus, which meant I left my son at daycare longer.  I'm not going to lie...I had some guilt.

2.42 miles, 17:33 (7:15 pace)

Friday: Plan called for 30-40 minute run.

Once again, I shut off my alarm, so I was forced to repeat the same scenario as Thursday.  Bus came a little earlier today, so didn't get quite as many minutes in!

2.1 miles, 14:25 (7:10 pace)

Saturday:  Plan called for 60-90 minute long run.

The big snow was supposed to start today.  I pushed it a bit by waiting for my son's nap to get out on the road.  I ended up running when it was sunny and beautiful and before any snow hit.  LOVED IT!  I had a great run - 9.01 miles, 1:01:31 (6:50 avg pace).  I was a little nervous when I saw my early miles that I was not going to be able to negative split my long run, but I dug down and made it happen.

Mile 1: 7:04
Mile 2: 6:59
Mile 3: 7:16
Mile 4: 6:51
Mile 5: 6:56
Mile 6: 6:44
Mile 7: 6:30
Mile 8: 6:31
Mile 9: 6:35

Sunday:  We woke up to a ton of snow!  It looked so pretty.  We had a busy day - church Christmas program + family Christmas party - so I ran in the late afternoon, amidst a lot of snow and slush.  Time to dig the yaktrax out!  I got my minimum 10 minutes in to keep the #RWRUNSTREAK alive.

10 minutes, 1.2 miles.

Total Miles: 25.33

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

End of November!

Total Miles Ran in November: 84.36
This is a 6.4% increase over November 2015 miles.  Just squeaked in with that one - even with a full week off of running this month after my half-marathon!

This leaves one month left in 2016.  I have already surpassed my 2015 mileage so I could theoretically run 0 miles in December and still come out ahead.

BUT, I'm not going to do that!

I need to run at least 1 mile per day in the month - which comes out to 31 miles.

BUT I'm likely not going to do that either.

I have a fun goal for the last month:  I would like to retire my pink Adidas energy boost 3 shoes to end out the year.  I started running in these shoes in March and wore them for the Boston Marathon.  Admittedly, I don't love these shoes.  The Energy Boost 2 was much better in my opinion.  But, I have 72.59 miles left on them.  (I generally retire shoes after 400 miles).  I also have other shoes in my rotation so it may be a challenge but that is my goal so I can bring on a new pair come Jan 1!

Social Media Plans Update
#RWRunStreak still going strong, 1 full week in.

I also finished the #RLYBALANCEYOURSTRIDE workouts this morning.  Keep your fingers crossed that I win one of the sweet prizes!

I am halfway through the #AMRSTRIDE plan.

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

Hashtag Collector

I just love social media running plans!  Really - no sarcasm intended.  I DO love them.  Maybe the lesson learned is that I should just give running plans hashtags?! :)  It has turned into winter here in Wisconsin so I will use all the help that I can get to get me out the door.

#RLYBALANCEYOURSTRIDE
I started a this plan today on Instagram which combines yoga and running from Nov 23-30.  Yoga moves are provided by @runnersloveyoga and running workouts are provided by @mollyhuddle .  I have followed @runnersloveyoga for a while but this is the first challenge I have participated in.   Today was a yoga move (pigeon pose) so I presume tomorrow will be a running workout.

#RWRUNSTREAK
Tomorrow I also am going to try tackling the Runner's World Run Streak for the second year in a row! To recap, this means that I will run, at least one mile, every day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.  Last year, I stuck with my running plan and then on the "off" days, I ran 1 mile.  I will be doing this again this year.

#AMRSTRIDE
I am continuing with the #AMRSTRIDE plan as my base running plan.  I may have to combine workouts from the #RLY plan for the Nov 24-30 time plan.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Thanks for reading!

Friday Links! RUN SLOW

FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-YAY!

Love it.

Ok - First Link: Five Bad Running Habits and How To Break Them.

I'm trying to work on improving with #4 on this list: Trying to Get Faster Every Day.  I am very tuned into what pace I am running at all times.  If I have a bad mile, I often start to panic, "Oh I am so out of shape." "What is wrong with me" yadda yadda.  Even though I try to run at a recovery pace...sometimes...I don't always follow through with it.  I would see the 8 on the pace at the mile beep and sometimes freak out.

Then I read this: Are You Running Too Many Workouts in Marathon Training

Ok, I am not training for a marathon, but I do regularly read Tina Muir's blog.  The part that stood out to me in this post was her statement,

"I still run 8-9 minute pace on my easy days, and my race pace will hopefully be 5:50-6:00 per mile ish"

WOAH.  I have always thought that 7:30/7:45ish on a recovery day is slow enough for me because it doesn't feel hard (most of the time).  AND I AM NOT RUNNING A 5:50-6:00 PER MILE PACE IN A MARATHON.

Realization:  I NEED TO SLOW the EFF down.

(Her post also linked to an earlier post: 3 Ways to Make Sure You are Running Easy on your Recovery Day)

This honestly was a turning point for me.  I have been really working to be relaxed and slow on my recovery days over the past week.  Which for me means not looking at the pace, except to help me SLOW down.  

I don't know why this message finally hit home.  "Go easy on easy days" is most certainly not a NEW concept.

And because sometimes I think my computer is spying on me, look what my Runner's World Quote of the Day was today:

DUH.

HMR Week 3 Review and The #RWRUNSTREAK is officially over!

The third week of my HMR plan felt more manageable, likely because I wasn't also battling a cold. ALSO, the end of my RW Run Streak was in sight.

Tough workout 1 was 1.6 mi warm up, 4 x 1200 @ 4:50 pace followed by 1.6 mi cool down.  I ended up having to do this workout on a treadmill at the gym because of the condition of the streets post-snowstorm.  It was my first treadmill workout in over 9 months so I survived.

Tough workout 2 was 3 miles out and 3 miles back with the 3 miles back at my tempo pace (6:50-7:15).  This one was fine, although I thought I had re-started my watch on the 3 miles back leg and then looked down .75 miles in and realized I hadn't.  GAH! I hate when that happens!

Tough workout 3 was a one hour, 45 minute run at easy pace followed by 6 strides.  True to form, I was nervous about this, but my youngest went down for a nap so it was go time.  I had my ipod loaded with episode 3 of Serial and I attempted a "double tab" of Nuun (tri-berry + lemonade) in my water bottle.  The roads and sidewalks were hit or miss so I ended up meandering through neighborhoods for this run since most of the park trails were not cleared of snow/ice.  Was glad to get this one done!

Total Miles Last Week: 31.7  (Plan Goal: 30.25 miles)

The #RWRunStreak challenge officially ended on New Year's Day.  I made it one more day beyond the "official" challenge time period and ran 38 days in a row.  I took a much needed rest day yesterday and ran 0 miles!  Streak is broken.  Hallelujah.

I am glad to have participated, and be done with, the RW Run Streak challenge.  It was very motivating to me and got me through a month where historically I blow off running.  I also got into a habit of running more mornings than I had previously, which I hope to continue through my Boston training.  Having a pre-defined "end time" also helped motivate me.  I knew I could do it because I had an end goal in mind.

HOWEVER, running every day was also stressful.  There were a lot of days where we had a lot going on and I had to squeeze a run in at weird times, mostly because I try very hard to fit running in around my family's schedule, versus the other way around.

I am grateful that I only  had to use a treadmill one day - I think if I had to rely on going to the gym more often (as I would have in previous winters) there is no way I would have finished the challenge.

15 weeks until Boston!

2015 Running Year in Review

It is the last day of 2015!

2015 was a great running year for me.  I ran 1,042.59 miles, which is almost double what I ran last year (566.59 miles).  (To be fair, I didn't have a newborn, nor was I nursing a child this year!)

My goals for 2015 were to:

1.  Qualify for the Boston Marathon:
This was the focus of the first 4 months of 2015 and I did it!  I ran the Wisconsin Marathon in 3:25:50 on May 2.  I received confirmation of my acceptance into Boston 7 weeks ago and our hotel and one leg of our trip are booked!

2.  Incorporate more core work:
This is a poorly worded goal and maybe that is why I didn't really nail this one.  Certainly I had periods of time where I was doing great with my core work, but nothing consistent.

3.  Break 19:00 in the 5K:
Alas.  I was 20 seconds from this.  I gave up on this after my 4th try in September.  Will this reappear on my 2016 list? You bet.

Other Fun Facts
A.  I ran 8 races in 2015.

1.  Wisconsin Marathon 3:25:50 (May)
11th female, 4th age group (AG), 63rd overall
PERSONAL BEST TIME!

2.  Run Tosa Run 5K 19:41 (May)
1st place female, 7th overall

3.  Silver Linings 5K 19:51 (May)
2nd place female, 2nd place AG, 18th overall

4. Walleye Run 2 mile 12:13 (June)
2nd place female, 2nd place AG, 12th overall

5. Not Just A Walk in the Park 5K 19:52 (August)
1st place female, 13th overall

6. TosaFest 5K 19:20 (September)
 4th place female, 2nd place AG, 27th overall

7.  Briggs and Als Run 8K 32:17 (September)
9th female, 2nd place AG,  87th overall

8. Harvest Fest Half Marathon 1:33:23 (September)
1st female, 4th overall
PERSONAL BEST TIME!

(Thank goodness for Athlinks!)

B.  I also joined Oiselle Volee this year, which has been a fun opportunity.  Word is they are opening up the program in 2016 again!  (Sign up for their email list on their website if you are interested.)

C.  I was accepted as a Nuun Ambassador for 2016!

D.  I ran 17 miles on a treadmill on Valentine's Day.  Seriously.  I don't know that I will ever forget this!

E.  I started a running streak on Thanksgiving that to date has lasted 36 days! (#RWRUNSTREAK)

F.  I used 5 pairs of shoes.  To be fair only 2 of these are no longer in my rotation.

Thanks for reading!  I am looking forward to 2016!

Week #2 of HMR....RWRunStreak CONTINUES!

The second week of my HMR plan was a beast...and I survived.  I started the week with a cold AND it was a holiday week so when I saw three tough workouts on the plan, I felt my anxiety ramp up big time.

Tough workout 1 was 1.6 mi warm up, 6 x 800 @ 3:15 pace followed by 1.6 mi cool down.  It was 5 AM and drizzly when I did this workout and each 800 (0.5 miles, really) began and ended with some phlegm spitting and snot rockets.   I was tempted to skip the cool down, but some small part of me continued on.

Tough workout 2 was 2 mi warm up, 3.5 miles tempo (~7:00 pace) and 800 m cool down.  This was a turning point in the week and felt great.  My average tempo pace was 6:50 despite have some W-I-N-D-Y conditions!  I did this the morning of Christmas eve and in my new Oiselle Juno tights (Christmas gift to myself!).

Probably the hardest workout of last week was 4 miles easy.  I SLOGGED through this.  My legs were so tired!

Tough workout 3 was 12 miles, the day after Christmas.  Long runs always freak me out.  Luckily I was on a tight timeline because we had a Christmas celebration to get through so I could not procrastinate as I tend to.  I even forced myself to do an out and back course.  I also get very anxious about out and back courses because I think that I am not going to be able to get back - it is all very mental for me!  I did not have a new Serial to listen to so I put the new Adele album (Christmas gift from Nate's cousin) on my iPod and took off.  That got me through the first hour (that and lemonade Nuun) and it was smooth sailing the way home...until it started raining.  Avg pace was 7:32 for this.  I also had to do 6 stride outs after this workout and I felt like I was running REALLY fast during the stride outs.  My neighbors, who already think I'm crazy,  probably thought I was REAL crazy watching those.

As I was wrapping up my log of the week, I felt joy looking back on it.  It was a lot of suffering in the dark and cold and it made me a stronger runner.  Great post on the value of suffering by Kristin Armstrong here.)

Total Miles Last Week: 31.4  (Plan Goal: 28.25 miles)

I continued the #RWRunStreak challenge by running 1.1 miles on my "off days".  I have now run 33 days in a row!

HMR week 1 and the #RWRunStreak Continues!

My first week of the HMR plan went well, although I have a cold - consistently mostly of a hacking cough.  My daughter has the same cough and is up all night coughing, which interferes with everyone's sleep.  AHHHHH!

Regardless, I logged 29.2 miles last week AND continued the #RWRunStreak!

I had a tempo run of 2 mi warm up, 3 miles at 6:55-7:15 pace followed by 1 mi cooldown.  I ended up doing my tempo a bit faster (6:50) despite strict instructions to NOT do that.  Oops! Sorry, coach.

My long run was to be an easy 11 miles.  I was planning on doing it Saturday afternoon.  After a warmer than usual December in Wisconsin, it ended up being 15 degrees or some crazy cold day on Saturday.  That and the fact that I wasn't feeling the greatest, made me decide to push off the long run to Sunday.  It ended up being a good decision - it was 40+ degrees on Sunday!

The long run was not easy though.  I ended up eating chili for lunch which was a bad decision.  Of course all restrooms are closed for the winter along my usual route so I ended up ducking into a Dairy Queen (has happened before ....THIS SAME WEEK LAST YEAR!).  I made it through 11.43 miles because my foggy brain couldn't do math accurately.  My pace was 7:50 average, which typically is a bit slow for me but felt hard.

My two maintenance workouts were 4 miles each.

At this timepoint, I was much faster last year compared to this year.  I'm not exactly sure why.

Total Miles Last Week: 29.2  (Plan Goal: 25 miles)

I continued the #RWRunStreak challenge by running 1.1 miles on the other 3 days of last week.

As I am writing this, I have completed 25 days of consecutive running.

Last week I also found out that I was accepted as a Nuun ambassador for 2016! I really like Nuun products, which is why I applied for their program.  Fun times!

The final week of the BAA Plan and the #RWRUNSTREAK is still going!

The BAA Plan Week 4 has come to a close and once again I finished all four prescribed workouts, and did a better job of trying to run within the target paces.

Workout 1:  1-2 mi warm up, 4 x 1/2 mi at half marathon pace (7:00-7:15) with 2 minutes of jogging in between, 1-2 mi cool down

1 mi warm up @ 7:26
8 x 1/4 mi (6:51, 6:42, 6:42, 6:41 pace each, recovery jogs at 7:45-8:30 pace each)
1.2 mi cool down @ 7:37

Workout 2: 4-5 mi easy run (8:15 - 8:50)

4 mi @ 8:05

Workout 3: 4-5 mi aerobic run (7:50-8:10)

4.5 mi @ 7:35

Workout 4: Long Run: 10-11 mi easy (8:15-8:50)

9.3 mi @ 7:37 (*This was all over the place as I overdressed and stopped to remove a layer and forgot to start my watch again for almost a mile so time is inaccurate!)

Total Miles Last Week: 26.2

I continued the #RWRunStreak challenge by running 1.1 miles on the other 3 days of last week.

As I am writing this, I have completed 19 days of consecutive running...and I still don't like it, but I have surpassed the halfway mark!  I have been really lucky that we have experienced a VERY mild Wisconsin winter thus far.

In bigger news, I got the first few weeks of my custom marathon training plan from High Miles Running last night!  I will start this plan tonight (Tuesday) and so am done with my BAA Training Plan which served me well the past 4 weeks.

AND our flight to Boston is BOOKED!  We arrive late afternoon Thursday April 14!  We haven't gotten our return flight yet because they are still pretty expensive, but hoping to come home Tuesday or Wednesday.

BAA Plan Week 3 and continuing #RWRunStreak

The BAA Plan Week 3 has come to a close and once again I finished all four prescribed workouts, and did a better job of trying to run within the target paces.  I was on the low end of the mileage ranges because it was A WEEK.  My daughter had surgery to fix an umbilical hernia (everything went great!), my son turned 2 and we had a birthday party for him, presentation to CEO at work, book club meeting, volunteer event, there was a Santa breakfast at my daughter's school, and the usual appointments/schedule that already make for a busy week.  I truly was squeezing running in whenever possible!  On top of that, I did not get a ton of sleep because I was anxious about the surgery.

Workout 1:  1-2 mi warm up, 8 x 1/4 mi at half marathon pace (7:00-7:15) with 60 seconds of jogging in between, 1-2 mi cool down

1 mi warm up @ 8:07
8 x 1/4 mi (6:36-6:53 pace each, recovery jogs at 8:00-9:00 pace each)
1 mi cool down @ 7:46

Workout 2: 4-5 mi easy run (8:15 - 8:50)

4.1 mi @ 7:55

Workout 3: 4-5 mi aerobic run (7:50-8:10)

4.1 mi @ 7:24

Workout 4: Long Run: 8-10 mi aerobic (7:50-8:10)

8 mi @ 7:28

I continued the #RWRunStreak challenge by running 1.1 miles on the other 3 days of last week.  1.1 miles is the distance of one entire loop of my neighborhood.

As I am writing this, I have completed 12 days of consecutive running...and I don't like it.  It seems silly that I am stressing out to get out to run a mile just to say I ran that day and not break the streak.  It feels like I am running to do the streak, rather than really enjoying it.  I think it is also contributing to me feeling "meh" about gearing up for another marathon.  My book club unfortunately got an ear full of negativity and as I listed to myself whining to them, I was thinking, "Boy, I do not sound like someone who is in love with running right now."

On the positive side, the BAA plan has helped me log 3 great running weeks in a row (24.6 miles, 24.2 miles, 24.4 miles).

In bigger news, I had a great running conversation with a friend and running coach last night which made me excited about training.  He is serving up a running plan in the next couple of weeks and then I will officially stop this BAA plan and use his. His philosophy about running really resonated with me.  I was slightly nervous to talk to him because I REALLY do not want to be running more than 4 days a week...and let's be honest, with working full time outside the house and wanting to see my kids, I can't really commit to more than 4 days.  To my surprise and relief, he was down with it.  PHEW!  I am a little afraid of his "two big workouts" though after he promised that they would be hard.

Now I am off to try to find a half marathon in the next month or two!

BAA Plan Week 2 & #RWRunStreak

The BAA Plan Week 2 has come to a close and once again I finished all four prescribed workouts, albeit still too fast for my target paces.

Workout 1:  1-2 mi warm up, 8 x 1/4 mi at half marathon pace (7:00-7:15) with 90 seconds of jogging in between, 1-2 mi cool down

1 mi warm up @ 7:48
8 x 1/4 mi (5:58-6:40 each, recovery jogs at 7:30-8:20 each)
1.3 mi cool down @ 7:38

Workout 2: 3-4 mi easy run (8:15 - 8:50)

4 mi @ 7:31

Workout 3: 4-5 mi aerobic run (7:50-8:10)

5 mi @ 7:00

Workout 4: Long Run: 7-9 mi easy (8:15 - 8:50)

10 mi @ 7:46

Thanksgiving day also started the #RWRunStreak challenge.  RW stands for Runner's World (magazine) and the challenge is to run at least one mile every.single.day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.  37 days of consecutive running.

This will be a challenge for me because I already feel that 4 days of running per week is a challenge to fit in so my plan is to do the BAA plan workouts on 4 of the days and run 1 mile the other 3 days of the week.  This will make it more doable for me mentally and physically.  Wish me luck!