Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Race Report: Macklemore, Phlegm, Wind and a new PR

Disclaimer: I’m promoting Milwaukee Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Prep for this race was not what I wanted, and this was entirely my fault for saving too much of it for the night before.  I got the kids to bed and THEN started to think about all the stuff for the race.  I knew what my outfit was going to be, so I got that all squared away.  I made my Gen Ucan and Nuun bottles for the next morning, and pre-set the coffee maker.  I downloaded Macklemore onto my iPod for the car because I was obsessed with the Glorious song, which after yesterday, I am even more obsessed with.

And then I started freaking out about parking because I fell down the rabbit hole of social media.

I had planned on getting up at 5 and moved it back to 4:30AM after that.  The race start was 6:30.

I had wanted to go back through my running journal and do some of the mental exercises like I did for my marathon but I was tired.

I wanted to hydrate a lot more on Saturday but I didn't.

My legs felt tired Saturday night which also put me into a bit of a panic.  I realized that I didn't really ever sit down on Saturday because I was busy with the kids.  I foam rolled and used the R8 roller and did legs up the wall to Jasyoga's race day meditation.  They still didn't feel great.

So I took a shower and went to bed.

I was glad that I had a week of good sleep because Saturday night's sleep was not great.  My son woke up a bunch so when I fell back asleep it was that light, dream-filled sleep.  I had set two alarms for 4:30 because I was nervous about not hearing one, which translated to this horrible dream where I woke up at 6:10 and had to have my husband drive me to the start.

BUT.  I did wake up at my first alarm at 4:30.

I was tired.  And groggy.  And did not feel like running a race.

AT.ALL.

Like if I had had to do a workout that morning, I would have shut the alarm off, rolled over and went back to sleep.

But I had a race.  A GOAL RACE.  Suck it up buttercup.

I put my clothes on, my contacts in, brushed my teeth and started to french braid my hair.

I went downstairs and was grateful that I had at least set everything out on the table before I went to bed. I loaded my GUs in the back pocket of my shorts, packed a few plastic bags because it was raining, poured my coffee and grabbed a banana.  The wind was howling and it was pouring so I wrote my family a note:  "If the weather is still terrible please don't worry about coming to the race!" Then I went out to the car.  I hooked my iPod up and started listening to FloRida, which is usually my pump up song.

Then, only then was I like, "Let's do this."

As I was driving to the race, drinking my coffee and eating my banana, I started get super emotional, which has become a theme on races where I do well.  I took this as a very good sign.

Listened to Macklemore's Glorious a few times.  More tears to my eyes.  (Seriously.  You do not want to drive to races with me.)

After all my freaking out about the parking situation, I found a (free) street spot right near the start.  It was maybe 5:10 AM.  Race start was 6:30.  It was drizzly out so I stayed in my car for a bit and then I grabbed my umbrella and started walking over to the start area.  I had brought along a Picky Bar and an RX Bar for breakfast but I did not feel hungry at all.  

It was very dark out and they had some lighting available at the start and tons of porta potties.  I took advantage of the fact that NO ONE was there yet and used the porta potty.  I was checking my phone about meeting up with some of the Oiselle WI people and sat down on the curb.   I chugged my Gen U Can and started sipping on my Nuun.

I asked several people about the start line because it seemed odd that they finish tables were being set up in the start area.  I knew from the map and course description that the start and finish were at the same point but were they really going to have all of us line up with water tables, banana tables, etc?!  Yes.  Yes they were.  

I went to the bathroom again. 

Then I met up with Amanda, a Oiselle WI team member, who had planned on running the half but got sick and was there to support her husband who ran his first marathon!  We met up with our Oiselle WI leader, Sheila, and took a picture.  

I changed my shoes and socks and gear checked my stuff.  I left a long sleeve on as a throwaway with my crop top underneath and my shorts.  After some indecision, I decided to wear my Boco Gear BibRave visor because I do love it.  I also wrapped my BibRave Buff around my wrist to use as a snot rag if I had to because I was still dealing with snot and phlegm.  This is the first time I have tried doing this and it worked VERY well.

Anyways, back to the start.  I felt like I needed to use the bathroom again so Sheila and I got into the long line and used the bathroom again.  

It was 6:25 AM when I got out of the porta potty.

Thus, I started to snake my way through the starting area to try to get closer to the front but the narrow fencing and all of those finish chute tables were not making it easy.  I resigned myself to just starting in the back.  I was behind the 2:30 half marathon pacer group.

I never heard a starting gun or anything but I did see runners ahead of me starting to run.  It seemed to take forever and then finally I was at the start line and hit start on my watch.

I knew I would want to gun it around all of these people but I kept my wits about me and tried to run easy.  Luckily after the start line the streets widened so it was not difficult to stay to the edge and pass.  That is basically all I did for the first mile.  My first mile beeped in at 6:45.  I was pleased with this because it felt easy.

I passed the first water spot and grabbed a cup because I did feel thirsty.  Shortly past the first stop there was a brass band which also made me smile.

Then we made our way from streets to the paved trail through Veteran's Park.  I passed a man with a visual impairment who had a guide and the guide was providing these very rich descriptions of the scene for him.  They were beautiful.  It helped put the day in perspective for me.  How lucky we were to be running along beautiful Lake Michigan!

My watch beeped in again and I was a little fast.  6:40 for mile 2. I was hot in my LS so I took it off and carried it because it seemed weird to throw it in the middle of a park.  6:45 for mile 3.  I hocked the first of many lugies.  (I was cursing phlegm the whole race.)

At this point we were back onto the street and I knew I was going to see some Oiselle WI women around mile 4.  I was still carrying my shirt so I said "Can you guys take my shirt?!"  I was really excited to see them and their cowbells.

Mile 4 was 6:31.  

The big hill in the course was coming up.  There was a woman on the side who was providing this awesome narrative for me about crushing the hill.  "Girl you are showing that hill who is BOSS."  I mean I can't even begin to thank her for getting me up that thing because this was when the dark thoughts were coming in.

Mile 5 was 6:45.

At the top of the hill I saw my sister and her dogs.  She was confused because I had arrived there later than I told her I would be there because I hadn't anticipated starting in the way back.  I didn't feel great there so I barely talked to her but she ran on the sidewalk with her dogs for a bit and then said SEE YA!

Mile 6 was 6:48.

We then ran through the east side.  There were a few people out cheering which was fun.  I particularly remember a dad with his toddler-aged daughter who he was coaching to say "Go Runners!" So cute.

Mile 7 was 6:36.

We turned onto Brady street which is a good part of the course.  I remembered this part from last year and that really helped get me going.  We turned to go onto the pedestrian when I saw Amanda waiting for her husband! That was fun and a spectator I wasn't anticipating seeing.  At that point I was running with another woman.  We had to turn on this hairpin turn at the bottom of a hill and I passed her.  Given the fact that I started so far back, it was impossible to know where I was place-wise.  My focus was not at all on place - I was all about the time.

Mile 8 was 6:42.

We ran through downtown and on Old World Third.  I don't really remember these miles very well.  I know I was hurting and telling myself just keep going.

Mile 9 was 6:48.  

Mile 10 was 6:43.

And then we turned onto WI Ave.  We were dealing with windy spots all throughout the course but none compared to Wisconsin Avenue.  I was tired and almost crying because I felt like I was getting nowhere running into that wind.  Add onto that I was having a hard time getting rid of a ton of phlegm.  I am fairly certain that the guy in blue who I was running next to/behind thought I was vomiting.  I just tried staying behind him to block some of the wind.  I was very grateful to the racer in the wheelchair and the woman biking with him because she was a CHEERLEADER.  I was counting down to 16th street where I knew we would turn and get a break from the wind.  

Mile 11 was 7:01.  THE WIND SUCKED.

Then we were on 16th street and I was just trying to stay with the guy in blue.  I was bringing to mind all of those strength workouts - 3 x 2 miles in particular. 

Mile 12 was 6:31.

Ok.  At this point, I knew I was going to be close to 1:28 because of the time elapsed on my watch.  This was enough to keep me going, although I was checking my watch every 0.2 miles.  I was so tired.  I kept telling myself that I was not really tired - it was only my brain.  

Mile 13 was 6:36.

As I was rounding the corner to the finish, I heard "GO MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!".  I recognized that voice and began scanning the crowd when I saw my family!  They made it!!!  I gave my son a high five, turned the corner and joined all the 10K runners and tried to propel myself through the finish line.  I stopped my watch.

My watch read 1:28:37 for 13.25 miles. (6:41 pace)

The finish clock said 1:31:XX.  

I got my medal and worked my way through the finish chute.  

I was really cold as the temperature had plummeted during the race.  I saw my family and they were cold and wanting to bail.   They took my post-race snacks and then said they were going to get donuts and meet me at home.

Then I saw another Oiselle person, Rachel, and talked to her for a bit so that was fun.

Then I saw two people I worked with who ran the 10K!  More sweaty hugs.

I still was freezing and finally got to gear check to get my clothes.  

I got in the beer line and ended up being right behind Jonathan, another BibRave Pro who did the trail race that I ran earlier this summer.

I wanted confirmation of my PR so I stopped at the results tent.  "The half-marathon results will not be available until early afternoon."

WHAT?  I specifically remember there being printouts at the race last year with a variety of stats.  These were available immediately at the finish.  I was SO annoyed at this.

I started to work my way through the mud pit that was the finish area to my car when SURPRISE. They had that area blocked off.  I had to work my way back through the finish area around to the other side of the LONG finish chute and make my way through another giant mud field to get to my car.  So much for my amazing parking spot!  

I was freezing by the time I got to my car and caked with mud.  

So, I blasted the heat and Macklemore all the way home.  

"I feel glorious, glorious!"

Then began the process of clicking refresh on the "half marathon results" link on my phone for the next 4 hours.

Finally, in the Costco parking lot, I had my answer:

HOLY SHIT! I got second place (out of 723), an official time of 1:28:35 (6:46 pace) and a NEW HALF MARATHON PR!

Other stats:

I was 17th overall (combined genders) and first in my age group.

5 mile: 33:52 (6:46 pace)

10 mile: 1:08:53 (6:53 pace)

Last 5K: 19:43 (6:21 pace.  Also, 19:43?!  That is only 10 seconds slower than the only 5K I ran this year.) 

Here is my Strava chart of paces and elevation:

Overall, I am very pleased with this race.  Besides being a PR, I overcame some mental challenges.  However, as with every race, I am left with the fact that mental hurdles are something I still need work on.  I mean, I was definitely tired at the end but not all out spent.  My legs didn't even really hurt after I stopped running.  This is somewhat frustrating to me because in the moment of the race, I definitely felt physically spent. 

Oh.

And I entered my pace into a pace calculator for a marathon.  Yep.  Foreshadowing some 2018 goals here:

"The world is up for grabs.  I feel glorious glorious."

Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training Week 18: THE TAPER + Race Goals

Disclaimer: I’m promoting Milwaukee Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

Another Mother Runner just sent me an e-newsletter with "tips for the taper" or something to that nature, and I was happy to see that I have been following most of them for this taper.  My number one priority for the week was to get sleep.  I am happy to report that my sleep so far this week has been all "green circles" (best rating in the Sense sleep system) and that my average amount of sleep was over 8 hours.

My goal for running was follow the plan and no run under 8:00 avg.  I did ok with this.  My throat has been feeling better with each passing day.  I'm still snot rockets and loogies, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue.

Here is my taper week in review:

Monday, October 9
Plan says: 5 miles

What I do:  Given that sleep was a priority for me this week, I had no qualms about shutting off my 5 AM alarm and getting this done after work before the bus arrived.  It was one of those taper runs where you feel so tired and your mind starts going, "How am I going to run 13 miles at a much faster pace than this in less than week?"  Luckily for me, I have at least one of these types of runs with every taper so I know better.

5 miles, 38:51 (7:46 avg pace)

Tuesday, October 10
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  Another day where I shut off the early morning alarm and then drove home from work in pouring rain.  Sometimes I will gut it out and get the run in, other times, I will take the break. I was really tired all day on Tuesday so I made the switch to make Tuesday my rest day.

0 miles.

Wednesday, October 11
Plan says: Rest

What I do:   Actually get out of bed with the 5 AM alarm.  I went to bed early on Tuesday night because I was so tired so it wasn't too difficult to get out of bed.  It was lightly raining but as I mentioned last week, if I don't run on Wednesday morning, I won't get the opportunity for the rest of the day.

5.07 miles, 41:07 (8:07 avg pace)

Thursday, October 12
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do:  My son woke up at 3:30.  So I tossed and turned for almost an hour and a half and fell back asleep right before my 5 AM alarm so I don't even remember shutting it off.   I ended up going for a run after the kids were in bed, which is something I have not done in a LOOOOOONG time.  It was actually really fun and I had to reign the pace in because I kept thinking that it was go time!  Getting excited!!!!

6.2 miles, 49:17 (7:57 avg)

Friday, October 13
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do: 5 miles in the rain (again).

5 miles, 38:05 (7:37 avg pace)

Saturday, October 14
Plan says: 3 miles easy

What I do:  3 miles, in the rain (again).

3 miles, 23:43 (7:53 average)

Plan Miles: 24
Total Weekly Miles: 24.27

I have logged 614.47 miles in the past 18 weeks. That is almost double what I ran last year in the 18 weeks leading up to my last half marathon, where I set a PR.  A PR that I am hoping to break on Sunday!  Though I am running the same event as last year, the race went through a makeover and new management since last year and while the course is largely the same, it is slightly different.  

The weather looks to be ok.  The temps look great - high 40s/low 50s.  The one thing we all will have to contend with is wind and probably more rain, but the course doesn't go in any one direction for too long so there will be breaks.

So goals.  If I am feeling good:

A goal: Ideally, I want to run in 1:28 land.

B goal:   PR.  I need to run faster than 1:29:22 to do this. 

C goal:  Break 1:30

I realize these goals leave the space wide open for disappointment because they are SO close together time-wise AND they are all times.  Ideally I would have a process goal in there...but I don't.

Plan
I plan on running the first one to three miles in the 6:50 zone to test it out and go from there.  I ran the first seven in the 6:50-7:00 range last year, kicked it into around 6:30s for the next 4 and then tried to hold on until the end.   I want to test out pace in the first few miles on the conservative side but don't want to get stuck there.

I plan on using Gen UCan before the race and then fueling with Gu on mile 5 and 10.  I used no Gu last year, but this is mostly mental for me as I did every 5 miles in my spring marathon and really liked that plan.

I am really tired while writing this. I was with my kids all day and we did a lot, which was dumb of me but I had them by myself so I wanted to wear them out so they would go to bed good and sleep through the night!  I am off to foam roll and hydrate!

August 2017 Recap

Happy end of August!

I ran this morning (that's two mornings in a row!) so I have officially logged all the miles I am going to log for the month.

Total August 2017 miles = 153.14

I am ok with this number.  I can't change it, obviously, but I also know that it should have been higher.  August was a rough month.

Focusing on the positives:

1. I logged at least 100 miles this month, making 8 months in a row of 100+ mile months.

2. I was only 4.22 miles short of the total mileage for July, so although I didn't increase, I maintained.

3. My August 2017 mileage was a 129.1% increase over August 2016 mileage.

My goal is still to PR the half in October.  I PRed the half (and broke 1:30) last fall after a less than stellar summer of mileage so while this training cycle hasn't been as tight as my marathon training cycle was, I still think it is an improvement upon last year and that my consistent mileage this year is a big benefit to the race.  I want to be in 1:28:xx land for the half.  Strava says my best half-marathon effort right now is 1:28:23.  I'll take it!

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

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

Friday Links

1.  New article about Alberto Salazar, the Oregon Project and doping in the NY Times

2.  I love the rise above challenge articles and this one about the first amputee to scale Everest is great.  Bonus - he's from Wisconsin!

3.  It's no secret that I am a Oiselle fan but their new collection is one of my all-time faves.  I need that Be Brave Get Ugly tank!  The story behind the designs resulted in my writing down the following motivational quote:

"Bravery is an entirely different notion of strength.  First, it is the willingness to push one’s mind and body to a place it may have never gone. To the edges of ability. To reach out and feel those edges, and even push them further afield."

4. If I knew teenage female runners, I would share this letter from Lauren Fleshman.

5.  More motivation for you - What does it mean to be "strong"?

6.  I really enjoyed following the journey of Ani Weiss and her attempt at the fastest known time to complete the Ice Age Trail via Brian Frian's blog.  Unfortunately she had to cut the attempt short but she will be back.

Marathon Time Goals

37 days until race weekend!

I still have a little less than 6 weeks of training left to go, but am starting to think about goals for the marathon.  Or should I say, re-think goals...

My initial goal for this marathon was to do what I did not do at Boston last year:  Run 3:15.
The per mile pace for a 3:15 finish time is 7:26.  When I picked 3:15 last year, it was based on nothing.  I had run a 3:25:50 (my PR) to qualify for Boston and even though I was thrilled to qualify by a big margin, I was disappointed in that performance.  My training was very haphazard.

3:15 was my A Goal.  My B Goal was going to be to PR in the marathon.  (sub 3:25:50)

Realizing none of these goals last year, I was just recycling them for this year's attempt.  (For newer readers, I have only attempted one marathon/year for the last 3 years.)

I came to the realization last week that I messed up my pacing for the marathon training plan I am using.  I have been training with 7:15 as my marathon pace, not 7:26.  Hansons Marathon Method is very specific on paces.  The book is full of pace charts for all the different workouts.  The overall pace chart below is what I based all of my pacing on.  (This photo is from the book, which I found on the Cowgirl Runs Blog.)

That is where my paces of 7:15 for tempo runs and  7:05 goal for strength workouts is from.  These, according to the chart, lead to a 3:10 marathon, not a 3:15 marathon.

This is where I suffer from delusions of grandeur.  I have thought that I had been under-performing in the marathon for a while. I made gains in the 5K and half-marathon last year.  I have really felt good during this training cycle and nailing all my paces, and in some cases, running a bit faster than prescribed pace.  Is 3:10 really crazy to think about?

I did what any normal person would do.  I went to Google. (cue laughing) The Internet is FULL of various calculators to see what you should be able to run based on recent performances.  I know these can be flawed.  But I looked anyways.  Curiosity killed the cat.

To use these calculators, you are encouraged to use a recent race time.  The most recent "race" time I have is from the 5K fun run I did in the Bahamas in early March (week 7 of marathon training).  My time was 19:25 (6:15 pace), and truly was not an all out effort, but it is the most recent race I have done.  Before that, I did a half marathon in early November where I PRed with 1:29:14 (6:48 pace).

First, I consulted the race equivalency chart on Hanson's website.  Interestingly, this indicates that I should be doing my marathon tempos at 7:06 and my strength workouts at 6:56 (which is along the lines of what I have been doing in practice, even though my targets are 7:15 and 7:05).  This corresponds to a marathon of 3:06:09.  I would shit my pants if I ran a 3:06.  Oh wait.  I already did that.  ha ha ha.  A 3:06 is about a 9% improvement based on the Hanson's improvement chart which, by their caption, seems a little delusional to expect:  "The faster your times are, the more difficult it is to shave an additional 5 minutes off your time. Sometimes using a percentage to plan improvement is more useful. Highly trained athletes should look for improvements in the 2-4% range, while newer runners can often expect slightly higher rates of initial improvements."  
Of note, a 2-4% improvement for me would be in the 3:20-3:16 range.

Then I went to the Runner's World Race Time Predictor with my 19:25 5K.  This calculator also allows you to put in a second race result, so I entered my half marathon time from November.  It also has you enter average weekly miles.  The result?  A 3:15:05.

Then, I went to the McMillan Running Calculator with my 19:25 5K.  Their result was a marathon time of 3:09:12.

The Internet gave me a range of 3:20 - 3:06.  That is quite a range!!!

Right now, I am not changing anything about my goals or my training.  But a little bit of crazy, hairy scary may have entered my brain.

Do any of you have experience with these calculators?

Week in Review: Great Start to 2017!

Last week was COLD.  Our temperatures started to plummet on Wednesday into single digit temps. Then the wind came and the "feels like negative" temperatures arrived.  I had zero choice but to make it work (still no home treadmill, still no gym membership here) and it was one of the most fun weeks of running that I have had in a while.

Previously I considered anything below the teens in temperature to be a call to move it indoors.  Last week I wanted to challenge myself to see I could still continue outdoors.  Partly this was because I follow a ton of runners on Instagram and seeing other people make it work was motivational.  Mostly this was because if I didn't continue, my mileage would tank.

You likely have read that the key to running in extreme cold is layers.  This is true.  I have experimented with various combos and have found that for me, the following is clutch:

Fleece lined tights - these Athleta ones are my favorite
Knee-high compression socks
Short sleeved shirt (top layer 1)
Long sleeved shirt (top layer 2)
Wind resistant pullover (top layer 3) - love the Sugoi Firewall line
Winter running jacket (top layer 4)
Running gloves (layer 1)
Sweater mittens (layer 2)
Winter Hat - cast those "running hats" aside.  The warmest hat I have is a Green Bay Packers fleece lined pom pom hat.  Likely designed for fans watching football at the frozen tundra.
Gaiter
Sunglasses - great wind blockers!
Aquaphor all over exposed skin on the face

Running in extreme cold is definitely a mind over matter situation.  Last Tuesday it was so windy and there were moments where I could not imagine being any colder.  To combat this, I intentionally ran neighborhood loops so that I was not going in one direction for too long.  Just when I could not take the wind in my face, it was time to change direction for a reprieve.

The nice thing about extreme cold last week is that the ground was clear.  The warm week + no precipitation we had at the end of December made all of the sidewalks and roads much clearer.

My goal last week was to get at least 4 running days in, including a long run of one hour on the weekend. I ran 6 days.  Woohoo!

Monday January 2: 2.12 miles, 16:33 (7:49 avg pace)

This was a rough run for me.  I felt tired and blech.  I ran at night after spending the entire day cleaning out our house to accommodate a large remodeling project we are starting.  I should not have saved my run for night!

Tuesday January 3: 4.59 miles, 34:25 (7:30 avg pace)

Wednesday, January 4: 5.01 miles, 37:50 (7:33 avg pace)

Wednesday I have aftercare services so I don't have to worry about being home at a certain time for kids.

Thursday, January 5: 3.34 miles, 24:24 (7:18 avg pace)

Tuesday and Thursday were runs done after work before my daughter gets off the bus. You can see the wide variability of when the bus drop off occurs.  A good illustration of why when I have actual mileage goals for these days, this is NOT a good time to plan on running!

Friday, January 6: Off

Saturday, January 7: 9.01 miles, 1:03:40 (7:04 avg pace)

It was still super cold on Saturday but the sun was shining which gave the appearance that it was a nice day.  This was my second run in my Saucony ISO and I really like these shoes.  This was a great run.

Mile 1:  7:14
Mile 2:  7:14
Mile 3:  7:19
Mile 4:  7:13
Mile 5:  7:10
Mile 6:  6:46
Mile 7:  6:52
Mile 8:  6:55
Mile 9:  6:55

Still rocking those negative splits!

Sunday, January 8: 4.5 miles, 34:08 (7:35 avg pace)

Traditionally, I have always taken the day after a long run off.  I will be attempting the Hanson's Marathon Method for my spring marathon, which has you running the day after long runs.  This will be a big change for me so I wanted to try it to get a sense of what it would feel like.  Although my legs were tired, I felt much better than I was expecting to.  However, today (Monday) I am WIPED out.  I need to start being more disciplined about when I go to bed, particularly because my son still wakes up at least once a night most nights.  #allIwantforChristmasisonenightofuninterruptedsleep #shitChristmasisover

Total Weekly Mileage: 28.57

The week ahead is my final week before my marathon training plan starts!

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).

Week 8 Half-Marathon Training Recap

Week 8 featured the longest run in the 10-week plan and it's done!   Overall it was a good training week.

Monday: 4.2 miles 33:23 (8:08 avg pace) + 8 strides

I was pleased with the pace of this recovery run!

Tuesday: 5.04 miles, 39:05 (7:46 avg pace)

Wednesday:  Unfortunately I had another child-sleep related incident on Wednesday and I ended up trying some Hyland's Calms Forte to get back to sleep after tossing and turning for an hour.  YIKES.  I not only slept through the alarm, but I felt pretty groggy the entire next day.  I ended up leaving work to do this run by my office.  I was supposed to do 1 mile warm up, 4 miles cutdown, 1 mile cool down but I ended up starting fast so I just went with it.  My cutdown was supposed to be 7:20/7:10/7:00/6:50.  I cut down a little farther than that and finished with a 2 mile cool down.

4 miles, 27:00 (6:44 avg pace) 7:14/6:44/6:38/6:13
2 miles, 14:46 (7:21 avg pace)

This was faster than it should have been, I think because I was nervous I wouldn't get back in time to get my kids picked up.

Thursday: 5.5 miles, 43:48 (7:58 avg pace)

Flew out to Boston, then drove to Falmouth to meet up with some girlfriends from graduate school!

Friday:  off

Saturday:  I woke up and it was misting rain.  I brought along a pack of Gen UCan to try for the first time so, prior to heading out for my run, I drank about 8 oz of the 16 oz I made.  I brought the remaining 8 oz along in my hand-held bottle.  I didn't have any expectations for this run.  I didn't really know where I was going - I had some loose directions from my friend.  I ran along the ocean for the first few miles and then turned onto a wooded bike path and turned around at Woods Hole.  I thought about continuing through Woods Hole and attempting to return to the house but got nervous that I would get lost so just double backed the way I came.  I finished the rest of my Gen UCan by the 8 mile mark.  At 10 miles, I went back to the house and ran in to get my phone to run back to the harbor for a picture.  Overall it was a decent run.  I felt tired.  I do always struggle with new food, new environment so that may have contributed to feeling a bit off.

11.01 miles, 1:21:13 (7:23 avg pace)
Splits:
7:44
7:38
7:30
7:39
7:31
7:08
7:05
7:18
7:17
7:18
7:04

The Gen UCan went down well - I had no distress from drinking that.  It was a little chalkier than I expected, particularly the first half.  The second 8 oz was mixed a lot better from sloshing around during my run.  The taste was nice and light though.

Sunday: off

Total Week 8 miles: 31.64

The most exciting thing is that I broke the 1,000 mile mark for 2016 last week!  I didn't break the 1,000 mile mark until December last year.  I also have cleared 100 miles for October, which is my first 100 mile month since May (I just missed it for September).

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.

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!

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 :)

In Running and In Life...

I tend to silo my running into something I do for roughly 30-60 minutes each outing and that is it. Check it off the list.  Move onto the next thing.  Of course my ability to go for a run often depends on several things, mainly that my children are cared for by someone that isn't me for that period of time.  Over the last few years, I have worked hard to limit that list of dependencies (some might call them excuses) and make running more of a priority.

One excuse that I am working on getting rid of is, "I'm skipping this morning run because I didn't get a full night of sleep last night."

Despite the fact that my children are 2 and 6, we still deal with one (or both) waking in the middle of the night once in a while...or in the case of a few weeks ago, every.single.night for a week.  Anyhoo, I noticed that if my kids did not sleep through the night, and hence, I would not sleep through the night, I took full license to shut off my early morning alarm and skip running in the morning which would consequently throw off my whole day because I would have this underlying anxiety of "when am I going to get my run in".  And, because I have a really difficult time falling back asleep once I wake up, It wasn't like that extra hour was always affording me an extra hour of sleep.

At about 1:30 this morning, my son woke up.  My husband went to figure out what he needed and I stayed in bed.  Unfortunately I didn't fall back asleep right away but eventually I did and thus when my 5:00 alarm went off, I was SO TEMPTED to shut it off and stay in bed.  I willed myself out of that bed...stumbled into the bathroom and almost went to the bathroom without removing articles of clothing first.  Thankfully, I did rise out of my stupor enough to get dressed and out the door.

My plan called for a speed workout today...and I debated actually doing that workout and getting an easy run in instead.

"I can do the speed work tomorrow.  I am sooo tired today."

I set off for my first few steps and settled into the first mile and you know what, I felt pretty good!  At  the point that my Garmin beeped, I had a sudden change of heart and was like, "Let's do this!"

The speed workout was named the "pace checker workout" in my plan.  It is defined as, "8x800m at goal half marathon pace with 1 minute rest.  This workout should get you comfortable with your race pace.  This is a good check-in point with your half goal.  If this workout is not doable as written, consider altering your half goal."

The different (time-based)* levels of my half goal are

A: Run 7:00 mile average pace.  Which leaves me in 1:31 land.

B.  PR in this event, which leaves me running faster than a 1:33:23 or 7:07 pace.

A 7:00 pace translates to a 3:30 800.  This seems really slow to me as the last time I was doing 800s, they were at 3:15-3:20 pace for marathon training.  Trust the process though, right? 

My first 800 was a 3:28.  It felt good - not too fast.  I wanted to maintain that for the next several.  Do not run faster...do not run faster. 

It started drizzling at some point during the dark morning, which felt pretty good. 

[I should mention that because it was still dark, I was doing these on a 1/2 mi course in the adjacent neighborhood, not on the track, which doesn't open until dawn.] 

A bunch of dogs started barking at me, scaring the crap out of me, during #5.

I finished number 8 feeling strong and still relaxed at a 3:18.  

During this workout, with every 800 that I crossed off the list, I was more and more confident in my half marathon goal but also with my upcoming day.  I had a big presentation this morning that I was going through in my head.  Yesterday, I made it through a practice round, "murder-board" style, which was a confidence boost.  But you know what was the biggest confidence boost?  Finishing those 800s slightly below my goal pace, feeling awesome.  Crushing that workout just set up my day in such a positive light.  I thought, "Aha! THIS is why people do morning workouts."

And now...I need coffee.  STAT.

Week 4 Half Marathon Training Recap

4 weeks of half-marathon training down!

Last week was still difficult in terms of figuring out when to get my weekday runs in because my body was not firing to get up in the early part of the week.  Monday did not happen because I shut off my alarm and stayed in bed a minute too long and fell back asleep.  Tuesday I also slept through my alarm but was able to squeeze in a 5 mile tempo run in during the work day.  I used shower wipes for the first time before going back to the office.  I don't think that I smelled but I didn't really feel fresh and clean!  I really like the "runch" but the shower situation is not ideal.

Wednesday I woke up on time but it was lightning outside.  I opted to try to get my workout in at night...when you guessed it - still lightning.  Perhaps I was being overly cautious about this?

Thursday and Friday I rebounded nicely getting 5 mile runs in at 5 AM both days.

The real winner of the week was my 8 mile long run on Saturday morning.  My goal for this run was to negative split.  Do not start fast!  I felt in control and a little squeaky for the first few miles and then magic happened.  I felt amazing for the second half and my last mile was faster than 3 of my 8K miles in my race last weekend.

Mile splits:
7:22
7:28
7:34
7:24
7:13
7:18
7:13
6:30

Huge smile on my face after that run.

I had one more 5 miler to get in for the week...and I skipped it.  The hubs and I did a staycation to celebrate our anniversary and while I did bring running stuff along, I opted to lounge in our amazing suite with coffee rather than running.

Bring on Week 5!

Passing On the "Boston" part of the "Boston Marathon"

I posted in July about my growing conundrum about whether or not I was going to register for Boston 2017.  After posting about it, I didn't really give it much thought until a few weeks ago when the Instagram posts started counting down to this week, registration week.  At that point, I had ALMOST made up my mind that I was NOT going to do it.  There was a blip earlier this week where I thought "Maybe????" when last year's training partner Facebook message harassed me about joining her :)

But I'm sticking with my original decision which is NOT running Boston in 2017.

WHAAAAAAAAAA?

Reason 1: My heart is not in it
At first blush, this may seem crazy, but this is not the first time where I have qualified for, and subsequently passed on, running the Boston Marathon.  Of the 7 marathons I have run, 5 were BQs. The first time I qualified for Boston, I ran it.  That first BQ was a major goal of mine after moving to a new city (Chicago) in my 20s and wanting to get back into running after a long on again, off again relationship with it through college and grad school.

I toyed with the marathon after Boston 2007 and gave that distance up for several years because I would under train and be dissatisfied with my performance.

Then, after my second child was born, I was in my mid-30s and dying to do it again.  Could I do it? YES I COULD! My 4th BQ led to running my 2nd Boston Marathon last year - two major goals of mine from the last two years checked off the list.

To me, qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon has been a challenge that I have given myself during some points of transition in my life.  I don't really have a big transition that I'm facing right now, and maybe that is why the Boston Marathon just isn't making my heart sing this year.  Last year I was in full countdown mode for registration, I was planning my life around this marathon.  This year...meh.

The Boston Marathon is amazing.  In so many ways. I don't know if this will make sense but I sort of want to save it for times when I really NEED it.

Reason 2: Time
Guess what.  It takes a ton of freakin' time to train for a marathon. For this reason, I only really can mentally handle about one marathon a year at this point in my life.  My husband can really only mentally handle about one marathon a year, and he is a critical key to getting training in with two kids.  Would I like to be one of those runners that is tackling marathons all the time? Sometimes.  But that is not my current life.  So if I am going to do one marathon next year (which is still a goal of mine), I want it to be a new one.  A new course.  A new experience.  Who knows how long I will be running marathons?  I might as well tackle some other ones on my to-run list while I can.  Also, I have to be cognizant of my PPL bank at work, which unfortunately for me, is not endless :(

Reason 3: Expense
Boston is really expensive, particularly when you take your family. Of course, plenty of other marathons that I want to run are still expensive so if I'm going to drop a lot of dough, I'd rather go to a new destination.

When it came down to it, I think the only reason I wanted to run it was to join in the hullabaloo of this week on social media.  Which is a dumb freakin' reason.

So, no Boston for me next year.  HOWEVER, I have goals people.  And the 3:15 (or faster) marathon is at the top of that list.  Stay tuned.

Half-Marathon Training Week 2: NAILED IT

If you follow me on Instagram (@amyschlott) you know that last week, the second week of half-marathon training, I ran FIVE days.  Well, I have an important update: I actually ran SIX days and crossed off all of the workouts on my plan.

Monday: Labor Day

I had a beautiful 5 mile run along Big Cedar Lake in the early morning hours.  I love running along the lake when we are there with family.  36:47.8 (7:21 avg pace).

Tuesday

3.25 easy morning miles (24:30, 7:32 avg pace) with 6 strides after.

Wednesday

Off

Thursday

1 mi warm up, followed by 3 mile repeats, followed by 1 mile cool down, again in the morning.  The goal pace for my mile repeats was to be half-marathon goal pace plus 10-20 seconds. I am working with the half-marathon goal pace of 7:00 miles. I ran these mile repeats way too fast: 6:48, 6:43, 6:31.

Friday

4.03 easy morning miles, 30:41 (7:37 avg pace)

Saturday

6.24 miles, 43:31.7 (6:59 avg pace).

Sunday

Was supposed to be off, but my six-year old daughter asked me to go on a run with her.  We did 1.5 miles of a run/walk AND then our family did a 6 mile bike ride.

Total Miles (excludes Sunday): 23.65

Four of these runs were done in the morning - three of them in the DARK.  I am finding that 5 AM runs are almost becoming essential with our schedule, and I am not minding.  It does take a lot of mental convincing to get out of bed when my alarm first goes off though!  Bring on Week 3!

Two Years of 5K Data Review!

I am a data nerd so I combed through two years of 5K race data to look at my average pace at each mile mark.

The pace in the Mile 1-4 columns is the "Average Pace" data from my Garmin for the race while the Finish Time is the finish time per the official race results.  Most of the time my Garmin is off by a few tenths of a mile in distance and a few seconds in finish time compared to the official race results.

2015 was injury free for me.  I injured my foot between the Silver Lining and Acuity Health races in 2016.

My Takeaways

1. I.ALWAYS.START.TOO.FAST...
What was I doing starting Acuity, the first run I had in a month, at the same pace as the race I set my 5K PR in?!  Similar thoughts for Hank Aaron.   The go-out-fast-approach does have some research behind it.  My homegirl Lauren Fleshman suggests this:

"Try this next time: Run the first mile with your head, the second mile with your focus, and the third mile with your heart. In the first mile, you can’t let any emotion or excitement in at all. Start with a pace you are confident you can maintain and then relax a little bit more. Until you see that one mile marker, all you are allowed to think about is running smart. From 1-2 miles, focus on maintaining your form and start to look around you, taking a survey of which runners around you probably went out too hard, and which ones you should make your prey in the third mile. You are taking some time to strategize for the big battle, and you aren’t allowed to draw your sword until you pass the 2mile marker! The last mile, start to pick off your victims, and allow your mind to feel gratitude for how powerful and strong your body is. As soon as you can see that finish line, pretend you are Meb running down Boylston St in front of all of America and run with passion, tall and proud!"

This strategy advocates for even pace.

This article has different strategies for different runner types.  For an experienced competitive runner the "strong start, middle float, strong finish" is recommended.  I would say some of my 5Ks follow this.  Annnnnddddd some do not.

2. ...and then my second mile is slow.  Sometimes I can pull off a faster 3rd mile.  Sometimes.  (Definitely not post-injury this year!)

3. The second mile of Silver Lining SUCKS.  I recall thinking this during the actual race this year.  Hills and turns.  Hills and turns.

4. Run Tosa Run 2016 was such a good race.  I loved it during and I loved if after and I love it now.

I think this will help me set some goals for my next 5K race.

What about you - What pacing strategy do YOU follow for a 5K? Have you looked at your race data in a similar way?

Friday Links: On Pain

Hurt so bad

More than I expected that it would

Worse than that

It seems to be lasting just a little 

Longer than it should

~Morning Song, Avett Brothers

I am afraid of pain.

Thus, I try to avoid it if I can.  Sometimes, I get really pumped up and can lean into it while running, but mostly once it starts to hurt, I back off a bit.  

I had an "Aha!" moment earlier this week while reading the quote below from an interview with Kate Grace:  

"Also, I guess realizing that it doesn't get easier.  Training, I mean.  Normal runs do feel good if you're in shape.  But a hard workout or a fast run, that will always hurt.  I used to think that at one point a switch would flip, and I'd feel smooth and great on everything.  Feel how Dibaba looks...effortless.  I learned that if I was feeling that way in workouts, it probably meant that I wasn't trying hard enough. Improvement comes when it hurts.  I've learned to chase after that feeling.  Even if it can be a bit scary in the moment."  ~Kate Grace via this interview.

This really resonated with me.  YES!  I have been waiting for that same switch to flip.  In a run where I am feeling good and everything is perfectly aligned, I can roll with a little hurt.  (See Run Tosa Run 5K - 18:53).  But during a run where things aren't exactly perfect, I struggle so much with the hurt.  (Exhibit B: Sunday's 19:17 5K).

Why leave the comfort zone, right?

Wrong.

I feel like I can really drive down my 5K time but am inhibited by this fear of pain.  A 5K shouldn't be an easy run, although I often treat it as such.  I need to start practicing leaning into the hurt a bit more.  Thus, my goal for my hard workouts is to embrace the pain "...to keep going as if the pain of the race is an uninvited guest at my birthday party" ~Alexi Pappas via this interview I love this visualization because if you know me, I LOVE my birthday.  And if someone showed up at my birthday party, I would be pumped - the more the merrier.  

In the weird way that sometimes happen, embrace the pain was a mantra that frequently appeared in my extracurricular reading this week.  In addition to the two interviews linked above, the Mile Markers post was "On Suffering".  I finished Boston Bound by Elizabeth Clor in which I identified a lot with her type-A personality and how my mental side wimps out a lot. 

And I registered for my next 5K race - The Race for the Bacon.  I'm going to make it hurt and then I'm going to eat all the bacon. :)

(Thanks for indulging my love for the Avett Brothers.  Going to see them in concert tonight!!)

"She Believed She Could Do It, And So She Did"

Last week, I got another motivate wrap from Momentum Jewelry with this mantra: "She believed she could do it, and so she did."  I was excited to wear it for my first 5K of 2016 held on Saturday.

After a spring marathon last year, I did 4 5Ks, each with the goal of breaking 19 minutes.  I was not successful:

May 16, 2015: 19:41

May 31, 2015: 19:51

August 6, 2015: 19:52

September 12, 2015: 19:20

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  I was so frustrated.  Always finished those races feeling like I had no gas in the tank. But also, not really training FOR the 5K. I don't recall doing any consistent track workouts last summer, so I don't really know what I was expecting to happen.  Divine intervention?!

After Boston last month, I again took up the cause of the sub-19 5K.  The last few weeks, I have done 400s.  I have done 800s. I have been on the track at 5 AM with a renewed purpose:  2016 was going to be the year I was breaking 19 if I had to run a 5K every weekend to do it.

I had a 5K lined up for last Saturday - May 14.  It was the same race as the 19:41 race last year, which I won, by nearly 2.5 minutes, with that time.  It is a small neighborhood race but the prize pack is great and I really wanted to win the race again to get the prize pack.  After a series of great track workouts, I felt like I could get close, if not break, 19 as well.

I was REALLY tired the night before.  Normally, when my kids get up, I am up for the day.  However on Saturday morning, I fell back asleep and my husband let me sleep an extra hour.  AN EXTRA HOUR!  I had my Whole30 approved breakfast (omelet with turkey and green beans), coconut oil-blended coffee.  The race wasn't until 9 AM so I had time to lounge for a bit.

I wanted to leave my house around 8:15 so that I could get there early to do my warm-up.  Warm up? Que? I had not done a warm up before a race before (outside of cross country and track in high school) but my plan from EH was specific:  2 mile warm up with 2x2:00 moderate sections.  I knew this would be good for me because a) The first mile sucks, right!? and b) I have found that my aging body needs the warm up :)  [Side note: EH was appalled that I hadn't been doing warm-ups prior to 5Ks when I disclosed this post-race!]

I got to the start around 8:30 am, parked and set off for my 2 mile warm up.  I definitely was nervous, but also excited.  My legs felt good and loose by the time I was done.  I peeled off my pants and left them in the car and then ventured to the start in my Oiselle singlet, my stride shorts, and a long sleeve.  I had about ten minutes until the start.  

It was COLD.  At one minute to go, I peeled off my long sleeve and ditched it in a bush near the start. Everyone else was wearing long sleeves and pants.  I knew I would get hot though and was already warm so I stuck with the tank and shorts.

At the start.  I never want to start ON the starting line.  I know I should be a little more confident about this.  I lined up behind a woman who was on the starting line and she was wearing a jersey from a local running store's team. I hypothesized that she was likely fast.  I also saw a woman who beat me at my last 5K attempt, in September.  This made me excited.  Competition! Bring it!

The gun went off and I started running at a fast pace, but not all out.  I ended up in one of the lead packs of men.  I had no idea where other women were for most of the first mile.  At around the first mile mark, the running store lady passed me.  My watch beeped: 6:07.  I knew I had to run 6:06 miles or better to break 19.  I was happy with that first mile - it didn't feel too fast, but was still on pace.  

For most of the second mile, I just stayed with the first place lady.  She had a (male) friend that was cheering her on like "you got this"...which I just pretended that he was cheering for me.  I didn't know what our 2nd mile was during the race (it was 6:01) but we lost him by that point and then it was just the two of us.  

Then I started getting nervous.  I felt good, but didn't want to pass her and then run out of steam. Decisions, decisions.  I decided to stay with her.  Then we came to a small hill.  This was like my personal version of Heartbreak Hill.  I totally fell apart on the real Heartbreak hill last month and I was NOT doing that again.  I passed her on the uphill and then just kept running.  I had no idea how far behind me she was (not very) and I rounded a corner at mile 3 (didn't hear my split).  I saw the finish line and the finish clock - It was still in the 18s!!!!  I ran fast and crossed the finish.  My watch said 18:54.  I congratulated the second place woman and thanked her for pushing me, relaying that I had been trying to break 19 for a year and a half!  

I walked over to the results tent because I wanted to be sure it was official before I really celebrated.  I looked up my bib number and there it was.  18:53 OFFICIAL RESULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Second place was 18:58).  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!  

yes Yes YES!  I set off to do my mile cool down and came back to claim the prize pack.

My friend (and EH's wife) said via text: "Redemption".  I was excited about it but don't really feel redeemed.  It's hard for a neighborhood 5K to redeem the hole that is the Boston Marathon. I would trade never breaking 19 in the 5K for a 3:15 at Boston.  Yep.  That one still hurts.

Back to the 5K, so I'm trying to think of a new goal in that distance to work on for the summer.  Maybe 18:35 which would be sub-6:00 miles.  A huge jump, but I think I could do it.