Peachtree Training: Week 8/13

Monday
Scheduled: 40xt or 4 easy
Did: Mizuno Monday and another warm-up with the fasts (1.28mi @ 7:56/mi)
Warm-up with the fast crew felt soooo much easier to hold today :D 

Our normal start to bootcamp involves a lot of "cross-the-floors", where we'll do high knees, long jumps, etc. up and down the 50m track. Today, we changed it up and did all of those things from a stationary place. It was astounding to me how much harder it was to keep my focus when I had no "end goal" in sight. 

Today's workout was circuit-style: boats/russian twists, squat jumps, inchworms, forearm to full planks, side squat kickbacks, and sprint drills. I appreciated how much love my shoulders and arms got. ;) 

While I always opt in to the hardest level on the modifable exercises (and then scale back as I tire/lose form), I met my match today on our push-up set.


Level 3: blast-off clapping push-ups-- I knew I couldn't do these, so I didn't even try

Level 2: blast-off push-ups sans clap-- couldn't. even. do. ONE.

Level 1: blast-off push-ups on a wall-- after my attempt at L2, I came back to the wall and happily did the most angle I could against the wall while still keeping form

I'm definitely in the top 10% of the people who come to MM, but, man, that exercise was a nice "back to reality moment" for me. ;) 

Tuesday
Scheduled: 7 ONB
Did: 6.3 ONB @ 10:08 first half/9:10 second half , 4x400m relay @ , 800m @, and 1mi @ 
10KTuesday is growing! We had SEVEN (and a half ;) ) runners this morning. Weeee!

First half felt hard. My legs just did NOT want to move any faster than a 10, and that was fine with me; the slower the first half of an ONB, the slower the second half can be. Haha. Real talk, though: I had no pace goals at all on the 10K since I'm pushing at the track meet tonight. 

Wednesday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40xt
Did: nothing
I'd hoped to pick H up from daycare and do an easy 4 of stroller running today. Two things derailed that plan: 1) his feeding schedule and 2) a bit of residual soreness (mostly in my lower abdomen) from last night's meet. I think it's related to the whole postpartum thing since it's very similar to what I felt during pregnant running, and likely due to all the pushing I did on pace yesterday. Guess we'll just switch rest days this week...

Thursday
Scheduled: 2mi jog, 12x400/200, 1mi jog
Did: 1mi jog, 12x400/200, 1mi jog (I really need to talk to the crew about that extra mile warm-up we keep skipping... then again, I don't think I have TIME for one more mile in the mornings)
Ugh. Holden got me up at 2am today. He's been such a great sleeper lately that I can't remember the last time I had a true MOTN wake-up. Usually, he'll get up around 4am, and then I'll just start my day from there. Even though he went back down within 20min, it was really hard for me to fall back asleep... and even harder to get up at 4:20am with my Speedwork Thursday alarm.

Fortunately, I have an awesome accountability group in my #10KTuesday crew, and ALL of us were going to be at the track this morning for 400 repeats! 

I had a ROUGH recovery from the track meet on Tuesday- lots of PF, some hamstring soreness, and definite abdominal soreness on my right side between my hipbone and pubic bone. The abdominal stuff was very similar to the aches I got while running pregnant, so I'm certain it's related to weak/stretched out core muscles. I've felt it a few times since delivery, moreso at the beginning of this postpartum running thing. Pretty sure it just comes back when I ask a lot of my core-- like pushing really freaking hard at the meet. 

Anyways, even after taking Wednesday off, the abdominal stuff was still there a bit. I opted NOT to try for my indicator run target 1:29 splits, and just push on the 400s today. I did the first one in 1:38, but felt a pull in my abdomen, so I slowed the rest down dramatically. Splits were very consistent, around 1:50 for 10/12 splits, despite all sorts of mental games, like trying in-4/out-4 breathing instead of my usual in-2/out-2 for speedwork. 

I walked the first ~50m or so of each recovery, and we took breaks every four for water/gatorade, which was a good time to regroup and remotivate each other. I doubt I would have done all of them had I just been solo, and I certainly wouldn't have pushed hard on the last one. Courtney, ever the coach, has made it a habit for us all to try to make our last repeat our best. This time, she did that with a "hey, let's all go sub-90" challenge. 

I let her set the pace and lead out for the first 200, ran side by side for the next 100, and then kicked for the last 100. I finished in 1:24, and she came in at 1:28. Nice as it is to say that I "beat her", I've got to keep it real and acknowledge that she was actually pushing on the previous 11 repeats, while I was sandbagging quite a bit. I know she could take me down anytime.

Oh, hey, my HR data actually looks legit today!!!

<3 these girls

EDIT: So, the night after this, I was talking to Jerry about my splits, and we realized I'd looked up HIS prescribed 400 time, not mine. LOL. I was supposed to hit 1:45s... NOT 1:29. This makes so much more sense now.

Friday
Scheduled: 6 easy + 4xhills
Did: 7.04 @ 9 46/mi (6+ and 4 hills)
I pushed myself to go longer and knock Saturday's workout out so that I could enjoy a little more down time with the family this weekend. The first part of the run was so miserable that, had Brandi not been with me, I'm not sure I wouldn't have turned around at the one mile mark and said "forget it". My legs were heavy from yesterday's speedwork. It was humid. Blergh.

The run must go on, though.

• Once we settled in (after about two miles), our pace got better, high-9s, at least. 
• I was still able to execute my hill repeats at decent speed (intervals 7-- part of,9,11,13)
• Green elevation chart shows pretty hill repeats at the end of the run (up Brandi's/my "THE HILL")
• HR monitor actually seems to be recording believable data lately! Very cool to see that!
• Probably harder effort than it should have been for the pace I pulled, but reasonable considering how many 6+ mile runs I've done this week (3)

Saturday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40xt
Did: 4.06 @ 9:24/mi avg

I'm spending the holiday weekend up with my parents at their lakehouse, which is awesome. What's not awesome: a sick kiddo who coughs all night long and keeps me awake. Poor guy. He slept just fine, but I don't think I got more than an hour straight, and more than about four hours total. Oof.

I'm really proud of myself for still getting up and out. I knew that if I didn't do it in the morning, it'd get really hot, really fast, and then I wouldn't get any miles in before my sister and I bummed around the pool all afternoon. ;) 

My parents' neighborhood is HILLY. I avoided the worst of them, but couldn't do more than half a mile without hitting SOME sort of crazy incline. Really proud of myself for continuing to push along. I didn't take any breaks, and even picked up my pace for a bit when I got to the park with the asphalt perimeter path. 

This is real life. 

...and then I got to come back to my mom cooking a huge breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Life is good.

Sunday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40xt
Did: 50min spin class
It's been a long time since I did something I was a total novice at. While I've ridden a bike before (and am pretty good at it), and even attempted the stationary bikes at the gym on occasion, I've never: 1) been to a spin class, 2) adjusted a bike, or 3) used clip-in pedals. (that's right, both my sprint tri and my 40mi bike to/from Stone Mountain in 2014 were in normal shoes on what my triathlete friends call an "absurdly heavy" bike)

Fortunately, this was a free class put on by CYCLEBAR, a new business in Dunwoody, that I had a ton of Atlanta Track Club friends attending. I had TWO other Run Leads sweetly help me figure out how to adjust a bike to my height, and patiently assist me as I struggled for far longer than appropriate to clip my shoes in. Thanks, guys.

I didn't quite know what to expect, but was really entertained by the whole class experience. We had a dark room with 40 stationary bikes in front of a "stage" where the instructor rode her bike next to what looked like a DJ booth. Lights and music played throughout the class as the instructor called out recommendations on RPM and gear. I had a few moments of panic where I didn't know where the bike's "ON" button or gear shift was (I found them), but, after that, was able to keep myself on the middle-to-high end of the recommendations, and had a great time. 

If I had free time or was looking for a new activity, I'd totally come back. 

ATC does spin class

Weekly Totals
Miles Run: 28
Days Run: 5
Days XTrained: 2
Days Off: 1
Average Pace: 9:10ish (wait... I ran a HALF MARATHON faster than that before I got pregnant? Oof. That seems crazy...) 

Race Report: 4x400m relay, 800m and the mile at All-Comers

Overview
Being up since 4am for HoldenCare, an ONB 10KTuesday, and a full day of work did not do me any favors when it came to achieving lofty time goals. Also, for the first time ever, the little man was not the happiest of campers out in public. He was really fussy/needy the entire time, wanting to be held, and, even when held, was still pretty fussy. I mention this because I think that taking care of him at the meet had a huge impact on my performance. While we had a ton of runner friends who were instrumental in supporting us, even when someone else was holding him, I think Jerry and I were both in hyper vigilant parent-mode the whole time. 

#Potato with one of ATC's Elite Olympic hopefuls
Yeah, that's how we roll. 

4x400m
I didn't have any goals for this race, other than using it as a bit of a warm-up for the Grand Prix 800m later in the evening. The ATC Run Leaders and a few in-training participants formed two teams. It took forever to get things started because there were SO MANY 4x teams. I think we must've waited in the infield for about twenty minutes past the scheduled start. Blergh. 

I ran second for our team and finished somewhere in the low 1:20s (watch didn't take, but that's around 5:30/mi), which seems to be pretty typical for me on that distance.  

the handoff

800m
Seed Time: 3:10.5
Goal: Eh, I dunno. Honestly, I'm only doing this for the GP points. 
I hate 800s. They're short enough that you have to go for it, but long enough that you can't all out go for it. My only motivation for doing the 800 tonight was to get GP points, because, although I haven't tried at all this year, I'm sitting happily in 2nd place in my AG. Contrast that with last year, where I was trying sooooooo hard just to stay in the top three. Welcome to the 30-34 bracket, I guess, where everyone who used to run is having babies and taking time off. 

I did a half mile warm-up with some of the other women there, just under a 10 pace, to get my legs loosened up. It's really nice to know enough people to have a warm-up crew to run with-- such a huge change from just Jerry and me during our very first ATC race when we moved here four years ago. 

My heat had a ton of fasts in it, including the woman who is sitting in first place in our AG. Maybe I should've used that to my advantage and gone for it, knowing I really was racing her for something. I didn't, though. I knew I wanted to run the mile later, so I didn't go as fast as I could have. 

I finished in 3:08.03 (6:18/mi), which felt hard, but not all-out. I finished in the back quarter of the pack, but, considering I was one of the slower seed times, that's about where I should have been. I finished third in my AG, but earned second place in the Grand Prix series (since I age up before the end of the year, and the series is based on age at the END of the season). 

hanging with the In-Training crew

Mile
Previous PR: 6:33 (Won Mile at Resolution Run, 1/1/15)
90% Goal: 6:59 (comparable to my mile repeats a few weeks ago)
50% Goal: 6:45 (slightly faster than mile repeats)
10% Goal: 6:30 (new PR)

I knew before I stepped onto the track that I wasn't going to 6:30. It was 10:02pm. I'd already pushed out over 7 miles for the day, and had reached my "I'm done and I want to go home" point about two hours ago. Still, I'd said I wanted to do a track mile, so I might as well get it done.

Courtney wasn't feeling a mile herself, but she stayed later to pace me through the first two laps of my mile. So freaking awesome. She's the only one of the #10KTuesday crew with any formal running training, and has really been a bit of a coach to all of us. It's been wonderful to have her experience and knowledge to draw from, and she's also one of the most encouraging and supportive people ever. 

We'd calculated out how fast my laps (1:37) and 200m (0:48-- 0:50 max) splits needed to be. Oof. They sounded really fast. "They're not fast," Courtney told me. "You've got this."

cheering on the HS milers and getting nervous about my race

They staged the mile in three heats: sub-5:15, sub-6, and everyone else. Ugh. I was really hoping for a sub-7 and above-7 like last year. 

So, here's how it went down:

Lap 1
I missed my first 200m split (0:51). I made up the time and crossed lap 1 at 1:37.5. 

Lap 2
Courtney pulled away from me on the second lap, and I let her. I distinctly remember her looking back and telling me to stay with her, and my response being a dejected head shake indicating it wasn't happening tonight. 
I almost took out a 5-6 year old girl who sprinted from the infield DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME across to lane 4 or 5 of the track. WTF.
Crossed lap 2 at 3:17-- just over pace

Lap 3
Courtney didn't pull after lap 2 like she said she was going to. Instead, she kept up another half lap, doing her best to pull it out of me.
She pulled off at 2.5, calling "only 600m-- only a lap and a half"
I gave a little push when she left me, trying to show that I could keep myself going without a pacer

I had two more stutters along the way where I had to slow down for a child (some were doing the race, but would go from an all-out sprint to a walk instantaneously--ARGH). It was freaking HARD to get back up to speed after those. I'm sure I lost at least 3, maybe 5 seconds.

Lap 4
I heard the best cheer from one of the other run leaders: "It's gonna hurt." This might have been on lap 3, but I don't remember. All I recall is hearing that exclamation in my head until the last turn. That's right; if you're racing, it's supposed to hurt. You're supposed to feel that burn in your chest, in your legs, and all of that adrenaline just coursing through you.

I was not feeling that tonight, nor did I really have the drive to get myself there. It's true. If I were going all out, it would hurt. It would hurt so bad, but it would culminate in a glorious victory, knowing I'd pushed myself to the limit, that I'd left it all out on the track. Tonight just wasn't that night. I didn't want it to be.

I kept myself going, and tried to just push as much as I could, but stay relaxed on the last lap. Heading into the last turn, I heard Courtney, cheering from exactly where I told her needed her, saying exactly what I needed to hear: GO, GO, GO. LAY IT ALL OUT THERE. NOW!

I needed the "NOW!". Not later. Not after you've rounded the corner. Push now. Start that kick HERE. 

So, I did. You can see the spike down to a ~5:00 pace on the graph below. It was too late to hit my time goal, but just enough to give me a good push to the line. 

see all the times I had to slow down for kids? :P

I finished in 6:48. It's not what I wanted at the start of the day, but it's exactly what I wanted during the race. With the exception of the Resolution Won Mile, it's my fastest mile ever. Oh, and did I mention that I had a baby less than six months ago? BOO. YAH. 

race paces this year are sooooo fast thanks to all these short track distances... haha

Peachtree Training: Week 7/13

Summary
Miles Run: 30 (yayayayayay)
Days Run: 6, plus 1 strength
Average Pace: low-9
Nailed the training plan :) 




Monday
Scheduled: 40min XT or 4 easy
Did: 45min Mizuno Monday plus 1.3mi at 7:53/mi
After a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad night of sleep (i.e. H randomly crying out about every 2-3 hours, waking me up, but then being asleep again by the time I got up and over to his room, until I finally got up at 4:30 and fed/changed him), I half-heartedly considered skipping out on Mizuno Monday. What stopped me? Peer pressure. I didn't want anyone to know I'd opted out. ;)

I made it in time for the pre-workout run around the ATC office, and felt like a total BA getting ready to run when others were just pulling in. When I saw the group of runners, though, I got a bit nervous. Every single one of them was easily an 8min miler. Would I be able to keep up with them? :/

Part of me was excited to try, because running with people who are faster than you is the BEST way to get faster yourself. Part of me wanted to speak up at the beginning and say, "hey, I'm going to be a bit slow today", giving myself an easy out to just hang back at a 10. Ultimately, I decided to "man up" and just go for it, which was the right call. I hung with the group the entire loop (AND I WASN'T LAST... for part of it, at least). It felt sooooo good to show the guys that I was a "fast" too. Even if I couldn't stay conversational like they could, I was able to hang with them, and that's a huge victory. 

Also, I did allllllmost half a 5K at a sub-25min pace and felt okay at the end. I keep getting more and more excited/confident about Braves. :D 

Mizuno Monday was a challenge. I struggled a LOT more today than in the past, mostly because of the exercises we did. I still have a really hard time with push-ups/burpees (modified almost all of them after the first), mountain climbers on the wall (less a cardio thing and more an 'OMG-I'm-dripping-sweat-everywhere' thing---- B called me out on this, and I pushed a bit harder), lunge walks (I was good for about half the distance, then it hit me... lord, did it hit me) and repeated butt kick jumps during one of our agility circuits. I just felt like my muscles were giving out on me... which I suppose is a good thing, because then it means I'm working myself to failure and building new muscle. 

Wonder how tomorrow will feel... >_<


Tuesday
Scheduled: 6 PRO
Did: 6.3 PRO @ 9:12/mi avg

In-run struggles: staying slow enough the first few miles (totally back of the back), thinking I'm slower than I am (maybe I need to up my "easy pace" game?)

In-run successes: negative splits, amazing last two miles, enjoyed running in the rain, had one of yesterday's fast runners join us for his first time on the original #10KTuesday course


Wednesday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40 XT
Did: 3.83 @ 9:54/mi with stroller
Oof. This was hard. After about a year and a half of exclusively morning running (schedule/pregnancy-driven), I am really no longer an afternoon runner. Running with sunlight is a foreign concept to me. Running with sun streaming down on your entire body after a day of work and hour+ commute home to pick your son up from daycare and then pushing him in a stroller through humidity is just... well, "oof" seems to cover it nicely.

I tried to remind myself the entire run that I didn't have to go any particular pace. My goal was supposed to be "4 easy". If that was a 12min pace, that was okay, because: 1) it was supposed to be easy, and 2) I was pushing a stroller in atypical conditions for me. 

That didn't help. The entire run, I wanted to stop and walk. I tried going slower, but that just made me feel worse, because then it would take me longer to cover the distance. I finally ended up letting myself stop a little after 3.5, take a short walk break, and then picked it back up for another bit. I didn't hit my 4.0, but, really, I didn't care at that point.

So, this is clearly wrong. 1) My resting heart rate is NOT ~120bpm 2) I really doubt that I was up to 180 at this pace (possible? yes, but my watch ALWAYS has me up around there, regardless of if I'm doing an easy 3 or pushing mile repeats)

Was this an "easy" run? I don't know. HR data says absolutely not, but my heart rate data with the Forerunner 225 is NOT really reliable. I'm pretty much up in the 180bpm range on EVERY run, regardless of how I feel. I really need some sort of calibration test for it... :P Guess that's what I get for going with the wrist monitor instead of a chest strap.



Thursday
Scheduled: 2mi warm-up, 3mi tempo, 1 mi cool-down
Did: as scheduled (maybe with slightly less warm-up?)
I did NOT sleep well last night. Despite the potato sleeping soundly from 8:30 until after I left the house, I was up about every two hours, just tossing and turning. Ugh. When my 4:20am alarm went off, I really just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. 

Alas, peer pressure won out. The thoughts of having to text C&J to say "hey, I'm not coming", having to make up the workout later, and having to own up to bailing in this blog got my butt out of bed and down to the river. 

Things didn't start off too great. Despite my phone's weather app telling me there was a 0% chance of rain until like 11am, it was raining as soon as I pulled out of my driveway... and I was neither wearing my longer, rain shorts nor equipped with a visor, which is really my only rain run essential. 

For a tempo run, our head coach recommended we aim for our 10K pace. Since I rely on it for everything else, I turned to the ATC Indicator Run Processor to get this pace.

7:52 it is. To give myself a little "wiggle room", I set my watch workout to 7:50-8:00/mi.

What I failed to consider is this:
My 10K PR is an 8:42/mi pace.

That's almost a min/mi slower. So, either I'm sandbagging like mad on my race distances or there's something fishy about the indicator chart (I'm betting the former).

We did a little less than two mi of warm-up (because the sidewalk ended), and then began the tempo miles. All of us were gunning for about 30s/mi apart, with me bringing up the rear. We started on a downhill, hence the crazy pace spike at the start of the tempo miles. While the bulk of the run was relatively flat, I found it really hard to keep my speed up. Despite feeling like a total BA running in the pouring rain before sunrise, I was constantly hearing my watch's "you're too slow" beeping. I did stop for a brief moment after the second tempo mile to ditch my handheld, and really struggled getting back up to pace. In a race situation, I think I'd've had the mental stamina to stick with it. 

results

So, I failed to make my 7:52 split on every single mile, but:

1) I did fall within my range on the first two miles

2) This is "most straight running" 5K PR

3) The 7:52 may have been a bit ambitious since it's faster than my 5K race pace

4) I haven't slept well all week

5) C&J kept my COOL-DOWN pace in the low-9s, which is faster than most of my casual runs. Clearly, this speedwork stuff works, because that felt like a high-9/low-10 to me.

Friday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40 XT
Did: 4.09 @ 9:38/mi avg
Splits: 10:00/9:31/9:34/9:28
Felt sluggish, but clearly I'm keeping a much better "easy pace" than I was a little while ago. 


The best thing about running at 4:30am is that you're done by 5:15 and actually have time to blow-dry your hair before your day begins. 

Saturday
Scheduled: 6 easy + 4x hills
Did: 2 @ 9:07/mi AND 6 easy + 4x hills with the ITFP trainees @ 11:09/mi avg (oof!)
I finally got to come to ITFP training! Jerry and I arrived early to get some extra miles in before coaching. It was really nice to run with him for a change. We had a 9:30ish mile and then an 8:40ish mile, both of which felt good.

Training was different than past years. Unlike past years, we had an abundance of run leaders and a very minimal number of participants... nearly a 1:1 ratio. While I definitely talked to about ten different participants during the session, I felt 97% superfluous as a run leader since, in almost all cases, I was within earshot of another RL. Also, running as slowly as I had to to keep pace with our trainees took a huge toll on my body. I came home feeling like I'd just done an 18 mile run: PF, sore/tight legs, and fatigued all over. Oof. 

such an awkward pace graph...
Peaks: 1mi @ 9:05 when I was running backwards around the lollipop to find people
...and a sprint up one of our hill repeats racing another RL

stretching in formation :)

Sunday
Scheduled: off
Did: off
When you wake up an hour before the group run at the river, and it's a beautifully cool 56 degrees, it is really hard to remember that today is your rest day. Fortunately, a quick look ahead two weeks reminded me that marathon training is right around the corner. I will happily enjoy my rest day while I can! 

Peachtree Training: Week 6/13

Monday
Scheduled: 40min XT, 4 easy or off
Did: 0.8mi run @ 8:53/mi, 45min Mizuno Monday
Well, I'd planned on getting to ATC early (5:45) to meet some other MMers for a warm-up lap around Armour, but HBall had other plans. He slept TERRIBLY last night. Went down at 7:30pm, up at 10:30pm, up at 2:30am, and then up again at 4:30am. Oof. I got halfway through caring for him at 4:30 and then had to pass him off to Jerry to leave. 

I could see runners in the distance when I parked, so I decided to go the opposite way around the loop and just meet them. Ended up with 0.8mi (instead of the full 1.33), but I hung with the fast crew for the last half mile, clocking sub 8. Whooooosh!

Pros from the workout:

• felt easy, for the most part
• enjoyed pushing myself and engaging in sprint contests with Brad and Adrian
• feel like a badass

Cons:

• push-ups are still hard, as are mountain climbers-- not sure what the weak link in my body is, but it no longer feels like my core
• partnering up with sweaty people for ab throwdowns is a TERRIBLE plan- you will get their sweat flung into your eyes and onto your face EVERY SINGLE TIME. Barf.

Tuesday
Scheduled: 6 ONB, 4x400m relay, 200m dash
Did: (1) #10KTuesday ONB (-3:30 on back half-- 9:14/mi avg overall)
Today's out-and-back worked out pretty well. I felt like a total slug for the first bit, but that was totally in-line with the plan. Haha. 
Average pace for the first half: 9:50/mi. Average pace for the second half: 8:46/mi. Win.

Race report from track meet: here

Wednesday
Scheduled: off
Did: off
I wanted to do a stroller run tonight with Holden, but didn't have time before quartet practice. :( 


Thursday
Scheduled: 2mi warm-up, 3x1600/400, 1mi cool-down
Did: 0.9mi warm-up, 3x1600/400, 1mi cool-down
So, we forgot that this morning's speedworkout was supposed to have a 2mi warm-up and just did our normal YMCA-->track warm-up. Oops. 

This was me last year. Now, I freaking love mile repeat day.

Over the past few seasons, I've fallen in love with mile repeats. They're pretty much my favorite workout. They're long enough that I get a bit of a reprieve pace-wise, still short enough that I can go zoomzoomzoom, and can be distinctly broken into four smaller, "bite-size" laps. Oh, and because they're long, I have to do less of them in a given workout. ;)

I'd set up a workout on Garmin to keep me in the 7:35-7:45/mi range (goal: 7:42), but, for some reason, it didn't actually sync to my watch. Fortunately, 1600/400 is really easy to count/do on a track. I mentally figured that I'd need to be around a 1:54/lap to hit my target pace, and decided to just use the manual lap button to track myself for the workout.

I was absurdly consistent. Splits varied by 6s max over the entire workout, which is pretty baller for a recreational runner. Generally, my first two laps were slower than the last two, and my last lap of each mile was my fastest. I think this goes hand-in-hand with my mental state for the workout. Lap 1 is always about staying steady and starting off right. Lap 2 is about maintaing. Lap 3 starts to get hard, but reminding myself that I'm halfway through usually gives me a push. Lap 4 is a push- there's only one lap left, and I don't want to finish with too much in the tank. 

After my first mile, I was able to continue a jog around the track until the water table. After two and three, I needed a bit of a walk immediately after crossing the line. It felt really good to know that I'd pushed so well. I really tried to focus on leaning forward, using my glutes, and engaging my arms during this workout. I'm pretty sure I did so, because my arms were really tired by the end of it.

I'm still not sure whether I should use the track for distance or my GPS watch. Either way, I nailed the 7:42 goal, though. Since I tend to base all of my records off of my GPS watch, I'm going to take the time to celebrate the fact that I was basically running 7ish minute miles this morning by that count. It was pretty awesome to have my watch tell me I also got a new 5K PR (23:47) this morning... that makes THREE WEEKS in a row of speedwork where I've gotten a 5K PR during the workout, including my recovery intervals. 

As a result of these rocking speedwork results, I'm starting to think about future goals. First, I think my sub-25 at Braves is 100% within my abilities, which is REALLY FREAKING EXCITING. Second, I'm wondering how fast I can run a straight mile and am starting to consider doing the mile at the track meet on the 24th... 

Friday
Scheduled: 4 easy
Did: 4.17 @ 9:47/mi
As usual, this ended up being an unintentional progression run from a 10:10 down to a 9:10. We took a brief intermission at the halfway point to stop and stretch my sore quads/hamstrings from all this killer speedwork :) 

Saturday
Scheduled: 5 + 4 hills
Did: 5.11 @ 9:52/mi with the stroller
This was a mentally challenging run. Despite perfect (high 40s, partly cloudy) weather, I think I spent the entire run wanting to stop, or walk, or run/walk, or anything but keep running with the stroller. Pretty proud that I kept with it. I think the best thing that running has taught me is how to keep my focus on a longterm goal instead of reaching for instant gratification. I was able to tell myself "think of how good it'll feel to be able to check off your training" and "if you run 5 today, you only have to do 4 tomorrow" to get through.

That said, I didn't get the hill repeats done, but that was more a function of the greenway's flatness than a lack of desire. 

Sunday
Scheduled: 4 easy
Did: 5.77mi @ 9:39/mi
SundayRunday had TWO strollers and seven runners today (plus an extra three or four from the earlier, 7am, shift); another running couple from our training program brought their 15mo old-- so much fun! Jerry pushed H for the first four miles, so I was able to just "take it easy" and run alongside the other stroller family, who was stroller running with their son for the first time... except they were bookin' it! We clocked mid-to-low nines for the first part of the run, and I was super-grateful NOT to have a stroller, because I don't think I could have kept up. :P

Around the 4mi mark, we switched things up. The guys stopped and stayed at the park with the 15mo old while Shelly and I, pushing H, continued on for another ~2 miles. My pace slowed quite a bit once I was pushing the stroller again, but it was still a sub-10. 



Summary
Much improved this week! Still not quite to the 30mpw I'm looking for, but I'm sticking to the training program; by the end of the season, I'll be back closer to 30, and then it'll be up up up from there for marathon training. Guess I should enjoy the "easy" weeks while they last! 

Total Miles: 28.4
Days: 5 run, 1 strength
Average Pace: 9 w/o stroller, sub-10 w/stroller

Race Report: 4x400m relay and 200m at All-Comers

So, every year, the Atlanta Track Club has about a month of All-Comers track meets, where they open up the track at a local university and encourage the community and membership alike to come out and try their hand (or feet?) at all sorts of track and field events. I hit this event up for the first time last year (first meet, second meet), because it was part of the Grand Prix Series.

This week was the first meet with a Grand Prix event for this year, the 200m. It seemed silly to come all the way down for a race that would take less than a minute, so I decided to put together another relay team too. Running for a total of two minutes validated the 1.5 hours of extra drive time. :)


4x400m relay, lead leg @ 5:40/mi (ish)
We couldn't get the whole crew down to Emory for the Atlanta Track Club All-Comers meet, but we were able to field a team of 2 regulars, 1 occasional, and 1 honorary #10KTuesday-er. This was great fun; we had two other teams of Run Leads/In-Training Participants "racing" with us. I love being part of this awesome community. 

I had no real goal for this race other than pushing "comfortably hard". Last year's race 400m time was 1:27 (at ~3mo pregnant). My goal split for track repeats is 1:45. I figured I'd probably be around a 1:30 doing a "comfortable push". When I got going, I felt like molasses. I'd warmed up, but not nearly enough. It felt like I was literally slugging the entire time, desperately trying to chase down the other RL in lane 4. Oof.

Turns out, I wasn't as slow as I thought. I forgot to stop my watch when I passed the baton, but clicked it off several seconds after I finished at 1:28. The guys doing some "unofficial" timing said I came in around the low 1:20s!!! WIN.

Oh, good. I"m not leaning BACKWARDS like I did in the 4x400m last year

200m Grand Prix in ~35.13s (@ 4:43/mi)
How do you prepare for a race that's over in less than a minute? How do you even estimate how long it'll take you to run half a loop around the track? No idea. I'm still learning this whole track thing. :P 

I had a seed time of 45.19, which I got by taking a few seconds off my ATC Indicator 200m repeat goal of 52s. I was put in the fifth heat, lane 4, right next to a friend of mine. Hooray! Unlike the 400m, when the gun went off, I felt GOOD.  I'd had a conversation this morning with Courtney during #10KTuesday about my form (how I tend to lean back), and she gave me some tips about how to lean forward throughout a run (not just uphills) and how to engage my arms. I thought about those things during the brief 200m race, and also an old tip Jerry had given me about toe-heeling my entire foot along the surface to really engage my glutes and push off. 

Not only did I beat my expected time (which, honestly, probably isn't THAT big of an accomplishment since I didn't estimate it correctly/appropriately), but I had the pleasure of winning my heat (again, probably a bit of a given, since I seeded myself wrong, but it was still awesome) with a time around 35.13s. WOW! Can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that my pace for that run started with a 4?!?! Hot damn. 

<3 track meets-- such a confidence booster!!!

Family Fun Evening at the Track