Unintentional Yoga Hiatus

One of the good things about transitioning to a Garmin several years ago is that I now have tons of data to look at.  One of the bad things is that you can get into comparison mode BIG time with all that data.

I looked back at my training last summer to compare it to this summer and last summer I was definitely faster, and not doing speed work.  Last summer was more of a "go out and run 4-5 miles, over and over...occasionally throw in a long run" type of plan.

What gives?

There is one big difference between last summer and this summer and it wasn't to be found in spreadsheets of Garmin data.

Yoga.

I changed jobs at the end of March this year which overall was a great move for me EXCEPT that the power yoga class that I diligently took for 4 years every Tuesday at lunch was no more.  While yoga is still offered as an employee benefit at my new job, the time stinks - 5 PM on a Monday.  I mistakenly thought, "Oh I can do yoga at home to make up for it."  THAT did not happen.

It's high time to get back into regular yoga practice so I will be trying out the yoga studio in our suburb. They have a yogalaties class that I think looks good as well as a few other types.   I'm looking forward to it!

Three Races in September

September is a big month - I have signed up for THREE races.

September 12: TosaFest 5K
"An excellent course for a PR"
Let's hope so!  The top 3 women's times last year were 18:29, 18:59, 19:34.  I'm hoping being in a more competitive race and having a fast course will get me under 19!

September 19: Briggs and Al's Run for Children's Hospital 8K
We had a great time doing this race last year so this year I am captaining a team, mostly consisting of people from my office and some family members. My time last year was 32:12.9.  It will be nice to be able to compare this year's time to something.  I am hoping for the same cool weather we had last year.  Amy + cool weather = awesome

September 26: ???
My BFF & I planned on doing the harvest fest race in Sheboygan this day.  Our hotel rooms are booked, the families are coming along and now we just have to register.  I can't decide if I want to do the 10K or half-marathon.  And...I better decide because I will have to start beefing up my long run like yesterday.

This seems a little wacky and my primary goal is still to focus on the 5K and let the 8K be what it will.  I have done more speed work this summer than I did last summer, but so far, I feel like it is backfiring rather than helping!  Regardless of which distance I select for 9/26, I won't be racing racing it, and for that reason, I am leaning towards the half.  Am I crazy?

A disappointing 5K

19:52.20

My official time for last night's 5K.

I wasn't even close to 19:00 and I was disappointed.

My first mile was 6:04 and it felt terrible.  My 2nd mile was 6:20 and my third mile was 6:40 (estimated from my memory of my Garmin).  If I wanted to get sassy, I did win the race.  If I wanted to get sassier, I beat the cross country girl who got 2nd and was half my age.

I am still disappointed.

This time is only 8 seconds faster than my time on this course last year and 11 seconds SLOWER than the first 5K I did this year.  I have Shalane Flanagan's quote "Success is not linear" on my work computer and that definitely applies to my experience with the 5K this summer.  A huge womp womp.

 I have had very few runs this summer where I legitimately felt good.  Mostly my legs feel heavy and the run is more of a slog.  I am not overtraining - trust me.  I run 3-4 times a week and the longest run I have done in the past two months is 6 miles.

I need to work on pushing myself, especially if I am running by myself.  Yesterday I ran the first mile with a group of people, which had thinned out by mile marker 1.  I ran the rest of the race by myself, with the exception of the last .2 where a guy game from behind me.  At that moment, I was really dragging but my competitive nature fired up and I was able to really push and finish hard.  How do I tap into that competitive spirit when I am on my own?

Building on that, I really love my comfort zone.  I was not in my comfort zone last night, but every time it really hurt, I backed off...and still could finish strong and was fine when I stopped.  I don't like to hurt!  How weird is it that this was on the Runner's World Instagram feed last night:

So things to work on.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  Off to find another 5K to enter!

The one thing that was NOT disappointing is that Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (one of my favorite songs) was playing when the gun went off.  Cliche, but awesome.

5k THURSDAY!

I have come to the end of my 5K training via the 8 week Oiselle plan.  Generally I did pretty well with this plan, and found that I liked running by minutes versus miles, although I would have mileage goals for the time goals in my head.

The 5K I am running is Thursday!  I am really going to try to push myself to break 19:00 in this race.  Last year, I ran 20:00.28 on this course.  I enjoy the course - it reminds me of cross country courses from high school.  I will have to be ok with making it hurt more than I usually do though!

Another exciting development is that I got in on the Oiselle running team, Volee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They have made this available twice, and really if you can make it through the technology snafus that inevitably happen when lots of people attempt to get on the same web page, and pay $100, you're in.  I didn't make it through the first time so I was pumped to get through this time.  My jersey has shipped, but I don't know that it will be here in time for Thursday night's race.

5K Training

Apologies for the silence.

I have been chugging along using the Oiselle First or Fastest 5K plan as a guide for training for a sub 19:00 5K.  Here is a sample from week 4 (current week):

They also include a speed workout.  Here it is for Week 4:

I do the speed workout as written.  The other days, I use the total times as the goal to run and ignore the run/walk subtext (which is designed for a first 5K plan).  So for example, in the plan above, Monday is 25 minutes total so that day I run at least 25 minutes.  There are 3 supplement workouts that appear every week as well:  Dirty Dozen, 5 Step Circuit and the Dynamic Warm-Up.

I am halfway through this plan and it is the first time that I have followed a plan by time rather than mileage.  It took me a bit to get used to this, but i am enjoying it.  In doing so, I am running a bit farther than the other 5K plan I was considering by mileage.  

I am NOT so good about doing those supplemental workouts.  I am supposed to do Dirty Dozen 2x/week.  I have done it exactly two times.  Ever.  

I am loving the speed workouts, especially after most of 2015 was marathon training and the speed workouts were more like tempo runs versus track work.

I did the above speed workout last night.  It was a bit of a chore to get out the door and I convinced myself to skip it no less than 6 times.  I had wine with dinner and a few handfuls of chocolate chips.  But then I was reading a Runner's World and saw a picture of Desi Linden wearing the same shoes as me and that was it.  I was lacing up and out the door.

The deets:

10 minute warm up:  1.35 miles at 7:27 pace.  The first mile is always the hardest.

Set 1

2:00 at Current 5K Pace, which is 6:23.  I did 6:03.  

1:00 rest (8:26 pace)

1:00 at Goal 5K Pace, which is 6:04.  I did 5:48.

2:30 rest (8:10 pace)

Set 2

2:00 at Current 5K Pace.  I did 6:19.  (That's better!)

1:00 rest (8:05 pace)

1:00 at Goal 5K Pace.  I did 5:38.

2:30 rest (8:09 pace)

Set 3

2:00 at Current 5K Pace.  I did 6:02.  

1:00 rest (9:13 pace)*

1:00 at Goal 5K Pace.  I did 5:31.

2:30 rest (8:09 pace)

*I was running and heard someone from behind and turned around and there was a guy RIGHT THERE and I jumped!  He apologized for creepin'.

Set 4

2:00 at Current 5K Pace.  I did 5:54.  

1:00 rest (8:55 pace)

1:00 at Goal 5K Pace.  I did 5:39.

12:30 Cool Down, 1.66 miles, 7:31 pace

I was happy with this effort, and am always surprised at generally how consistent pacing is.  My current/goal 5K paces were faster than they should have been.  A 5:31 5K would  be 17:08. It's much easier to run that for a minute than it would be to keep it up for 17! 

Here is a link to the entire Oiselle First or Fastest 5K Week 4 plan, from which the above images were taken.

Next 5K is Thursday August 6!

Race Report: 2 Miles!

12:13

Another race in the books for me.  I ran the Walleye Run 2 mile race on Saturday.  I would have loved to run the 5 mile race but the start time and time to travel was not in the cards for us.  

I was nervous about a 2 mile race given that I haven't run a 2 mile since high school track and I haven't had too many speed workouts in the past month.  Switching from marathon training mindset to 5K training mindset has been interesting!

I am not really pushy about my start line position, although I probably should start closer to the front than I usually do.  I ended up getting boxed in by a kid and his dad because I started really far right of the starting line.  As I got to the 1 mile mark, I was the 4th female and my Garmin posted a 6:03 mile split.  

I caught one woman about 1.5 miles in and as I saw the finish, I kicked it in to pass one more.  I was 9 seconds away from the first place woman.  While I felt like I was pushing it during the race, I had a lot left in the end so my pacing for a 2 mile needs some work.  However, if I could figure out how to run a 6:06 pace for a 5K, I would break my 19:00 goal!

The woman who finished right behind me gave me a hug and thanked me for pushing the pace at the end.  I later saw her on the playground at the festival with her 3 kids and we chatted about how finding time to run with kids is difficult. 

My next race isn't until August 6.  Plenty of time to get some more 400s in on the track...if I can survive the humidity.

Another 5K For the Books

19:51

That was my time in the 5K I ran this morning.  I felt like I was dragging and had to fight for that time, even though it is 10 seconds slower than my 5K 2 weeks ago.

I wanted to win the race.  But there was a woman, in my age group, who put the hammer down and ran a 18:42. I was happy with 2nd place and the engraved rock that I took home to add to my rock from last year (where I took 2nd in my age group).  Last year I ran this race in 21:16 and took 2nd in my age group, was 26th overall and was 3rd female.  The winning female time last year was 20:45.  It was more competitive this year - I was still 2nd in my age group, 2nd female, and 17th overall even though I ran 1:24 faster.  

The most exciting thing about today was the my 4 year old daughter decided last minute to do the kids run and had a blast!  She spent the rest of the day playing road race.  (For real - she made all of us run laps around the house.  The kid crashed at 6:50 PM for bed.)  We immediately signed up for another race:  We'll see you at the Walleye Run in 2 weeks!  She will be doing the 1/3 mile kids run and I will be doing the 2 mile road race.  

Tomorrow is June 1.  Time to get with the running program.  My month of lollygagging is over!