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!