Ridin' the Wagon

End-of-Month Annual Goal Check-in:

Run a Mile Under 6:33: Accomplished 1/1/17
(2) - 30min strength sessions per week: 7 out of 9 weeks so far-- yep, if I don't have a class, this one won't happen. Resuming our original bootcamp with Matthew next Monday :P 
Break 23:00 in a 5K: Accomplished 2/4/17
Run a race in just a sports bra and shorts and feel good doing it

Monday
Did: rest


Tuesday
Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:19/mi avg
Felt really weird to get up this morning and put on running clothes... Had a moment where I wondered if I'd been "out of the game" for too long and would even make it six miles. Funny thought considering I ran a marathon less than five months ago.

Run felt great. I even chased Brad up the hill, something I haven't done in forever. 

weeeee, kick!

Wednesday
Did: rest



Thursday
Did: 1.16WU @ 9:55/mi, 4x~400m hill @  8:08-8:50/mi and  ~480m tempo @ 7:16-8:12/mi, 1.14mi CD @ 9:40/mi
I've been out of the game just long enough that it's hard to get back into it. I found myself thinking this morning about how, if I didn't have the other girls to meet up with, I'd totally bag on this morning's workout. Heck, I'm already bagging on strength training. One week of sickness = missed one strength session = let's just tumble down the rest of this slippery slope and say, "yeah, clearly it's not that important to you, so that's cool... just don't bother". That's a story for another day, though. 

B & I didn't have any training plan, so we deferred to other B and just followed her workout. For lack of better terrain, we met at our usual YMCA for speedwork and then all agreed to do the hill repeats on the beast of a hill we're usually just relegated to run as part of our warm-up to the track. 

It felt pretty BA to voluntarily run up that hill four times, with some pushed tempo paces in between. I didn't have any pace goals for this workout, just wanted to feel pushed during the hill and tempo, and I did. Success. 

Friday
Did: 3.19 @ 9:23/mi avg
Pretty cool to get up at 4:10am, do an easy 5K with B, shower, go back to bed, and then wake up around 5:45 for work, knowing that I'd ALREADY DONE MY RUN FOR THE DAY.


Saturday
Did: 13.23 @ 9:16/mi avg
I had planned on meeting B&B for ~12mi at 6:30am in order to get downtown for a professional event by 9:30am... then, on Friday, we got the official call time of 9am. When you have to be DONE with your run by 8:30am, but you've got 12+ miles on your training plan, it's easy to say "eh, I guess I'll just do my run later" or "I suppose I don't NEED more than 8mi". 

I have the most incredible training partners. When I told them of my plight and suggested they just meet me 4mi because I had to start at 5:45, I got responses of: "I'll start anytime after 4:59am" and "How about we start at 5:30 so you can have more time to shower?"

<3 <3 <3

This is the longest run I've done since Thanksgiving, and the longest STRAIGHT run over 8mi since then too. Still, I wasn't worried about it. The route I planned was easily segmented in my mind: four down to the park, four flat along the river, and another four back up to home. I had plenty of time (2:15) to do twelve miles, and some great company. 

The run was beautiful. We started in the dark, as usual, as if it were just another 10KTuesday, and enjoyed the sweet serenity of empty roads and crisp night air befitting a 30-degree Saturday morning before dawn. It was still pitch black when we made it to the river, so we opted NOT to take the gravel path through the woods... and ended up missing a turnaround... which gave us the 13.2 total instead of the 12.3 miles I'd originally planned. 

A few fun things we talked about/learned on the run:

• There are such things as "seasonal GUs". While I enjoy Strawberry Banana in the summer, it is absolutely wretched in cold temps. In contrast, Chocolate tastes like delicious brownie batter in 30 degrees, while it's a repulsive syrup imitation in the heat. 
• Running through sunrise makes you feel like you've been running all night, and it's amazing.
• Martin's Landing can be beaten. 
• Marathon training has made me incredibly strong. One of our last miles was a sub-9, and it felt EASY
• I just ran an "easy" ~2:00 half marathon. Publix might not be so slow after all... :D 

route elevation

splits

Biggest win: recovering well enough to survive the day, because here's what my schedule was like: 

5am up

5:30-7:45 run a half marathon

7:45-8:15 shower, refuel, dress, hop in car

8:15-9:00 drive downtown

9:00-2:15pm on feet, teaching kids about structural engineering

(feet hurt, but, other than that, I was good)

2:15-3pm return home

3-4pm eat, pack bag, change clothes

4-5 drive up to parents' house

5-9 hang out with family

9-11pm sleep

11pm-2am up with baby

2-4am sleep with baby on chest

4am up with baby

5-6am sleep with baby in bed

6am up with baby for the day



Sunday
Did: 3.12 @ 8:16/mi avg
Skipped out on running mamas this morning because I was up with my family. Good call, too, considering how the night went :P 

We took a family trip to the park this afternoon and the boys enjoyed some playground time while I logged miles. It was really weird to pull up to the park and see the parking lot TOTALLY FULL. At first, I wondered if we shouldn't turn around because there was some event going on... and then I realized it was 3pm on a spring day and this was just usual park traffic. Hahahaha. 

The paths were crowded with families and walkers and runners alike, but I had a great run. Started off "slow", and then, after a sub-9 first mile, decided to turn the workout into a progression run. 

pretty progression run :) 

Best part: seeing J and baby boy walking towards me as I finished :D