2 Weeks 'til Peachtree

Monday
Did: rest day :)
Mmmm, rest day.


Tuesday
Did: ONB (30:26 out @ 9:38/mi avg, 25:59 back @ 8:13/mi avg) = 6.32 @ 8:56/mi avg, Big 5, 20min lunch yoga
It's gotten so humid this past week. We're all dripping before mile 2 these days... 

I wanted to have some sort of a plan for this run, so I opted for an ONB. Took the first half nice and easy, and pushed the back half. I always find it interesting that I can talk comfortably at the faster pace, but just don't feel as "easy" running it. 

Kind of pushed up the hill- not a true hill race, but a concerted effort to keep pace low up the incline for sure. 

Laps 1-4 = "out"
Laps 5-9 = "back"
Lap 9 = "the hill"

Wednesday
Did: 3 easy + bootcamp
When I saw "Next Alarm: 4:05am" before I went to bed last night, I thought I was good. Nope, that was for Thursday. I woke up too late to meet B for our pre-bootcamp miles (so now we're 1-1 on inadvertently standing the other one up... not bad for three years of running together). 

I was awake at 5:02am, and out the door by 5:08am, though, so not too shabby. Made it to bootcamp with a few minutes to spare. :P

1- enjoyed full push-ups for these :)

2- not a fan of either of these exercises :P

3- had a really hard time with mountain climbers during round 3-- not sure why; just felt like something was tired

4- plank was fun

5- chose heaviest weight available... unsure what it was, probably only like 20# over-the-shoulder pack?

6- chest-to-ground burpees are hard and suck the momentum out of life for me

Mixed in a few fence runs and 40 wipers on our instructor's callouts between rounds.

Thursday
Scheduled: 1mi WU, 4x1200/400, 1mi CD 
Did: 1mi WU @ 10:20, 3x800m @ 3:30ish, 3x800 @ 3:20ish, 1mi CD @ 10:11 = 6.85 @ 8:24mi/avg, followed up with LOTS of stretching throughout the day
Peachtree plan called for 1200s, but I wasn't up for doing such a long repeat distance after four months where my longest speedwork interval was 300s. C had 800s on her schedule, with the first half at about my pace, so I opted to join her instead. 

The last time I did 800s, my goal time was 3:36. This was based off my 5K PR at Braves last year. I know I'm faster than that (didn't look before, but indicator says 3:25 based on my Feb '17 5K PR), so when C said she was aiming for 3:30s for the first three, I figured that would be a good new goal to hit. I was right. The first lap of each of these was easy, to the point where I could carry on a reasonable level of conversation... before the second lap wore down. Between 400m and 600m was the hardest, and I was glad to have a partner going for the same splits. 

We took a brief water break between numbers 3 and 4 for "track math", where we figured out what our 200m splits needed to be for our goals, stretched, and regrouped for the harder half of the workout. C's goals for the second half were much more ambitious than mine, but it was nice to have someone just ahead of me to pace off of. I found myself consistently 1-3s slow at the 600m mark, but picking it up enough to come in 1-2s under my goal of 3:20 for the first couple.

The last one was hard. We had a couple friends stationed at the 200m and 100m marks, ready to jump in with us on our last push. This was huge. B helped me keep a strong kick to the end. I felt myself give several small pushes during the last 100, unconsciously hoping to "defeat" her enough to guarantee my "win" and just let me coast, but she wasn't having it. Every time I pushed a little, she kept right with me, forcing me to keep going and not let up... and pushing me to a wicked fast 3:13 for my last interval. Woo, teamwork!

I've started rewarding myself for hitting all my splits in a workout by walking up the big hill leading out of the track. That was really nice today :) 

Also, it was raining the entire workout today- just a light drizzle, and that was really nice. Hope we get similarly cool weather for Ptree in a few weeks. 



Friday
Did: 2 easy @ 9:14/mi + bootcamp
It's 1pm right now, and I don't even remember doing this workout this morning... It's been that kind of day. Run felt good, and then, evidently, we did a workout. 

Saturday
Did: 3.02 @ 10:34/mi with stroller
Lots of awesome stuff happened today. B opted to switch rest days, so I was on my own today. I'd heard about this #SportsBraSquad movement and found a local event for today's National Sports Bra Running Day (or something like that). It happened to be: 1) within a half hour's drive, 2) stroller-friendly, and 3) organized in part by the Decatur Chapter of Moms Run This Town. 

I recently joined my local MRTT, and figured this would be a cool opportunity to:  

1. Run somewhere new
2. Run with other strollers and maybe make some new contacts
3. Run in a sports bra with other women in sports bras
4. See what MRTT was all about (I had brief knowledge from a previous race)

The run itself was pretty ho-hum. I ended up being the lead runner, but didn't want to run alone, so I altered my pack to stick with another woman and enjoyed some new conversation. We also saw the Decatur ATC group out and about, and got some "Potato!" cheers, which is always fun. 

After the run, I was talking with another woman. When I mentioned Roswell, she asked if I'd ever run the Alien 13.1. I said I had, and that it was actually there, on the eve of my first half marathon, that I found out about Moms Run This Town. There was a woman there who ran it around the start of her third trimester, and just seeing her joy crossing the finish line (under 2:45, I might add), inspired me to run it pregnant myself, two years later.

...that was the woman I was talking to!!!

Turns out, she's actually the founder of Moms Run This Town, and not the local chapter, like, the whole thing, nationally. SO. FREAKING. COOL. 

Sunday
Did: Practice Peachtree Run @ 8:28/mi avg
B and I met up with a couple other "B"s for a Peachtree course run at the crack of dawn. It's really empowering to have become one of those people who gets up and does stuff like this on a weekend morning. :)

start line and finish line

We had no real pace goals for today, just wanted to remember the course, identify places that might trip B up on her way to her goal, and have a good 10K run. The guys were a bit more aggressive with their runs, but we knew we'd meet up at the end. 

Weather was A-MAZING: 67 degrees, overcast, moderate humidity, with a sliiiiight breeze. If only we could get THAT for race day! B started off much faster than I wanted to go, but, since I was here for her, I sucked it up and kept with her. I didn't check pace at all during the run, but, at the end, I learned our first mile had been a sub-9. :P

It's all downhill from there...
Well, until mile 3 :P

The run went great. I felt really good going up both parts of cardiac, and really good in general. Again, I never looked at my watch at the mile splits. I wanted to run by feel, and not stress about anything. Mission accomplished. 

When we finally turned on tenth, I had to recollect that there was still a LONG way to go. Making the only turn on the course doesn't mean you're about to finish; it means you're less than a mile from the finish. 

We had a couple start/stops due to crosswalks/traffic in the last mile, but finished strong.

Really proud of this. It didn't feel like a walk in the park, but it wasn't a pushed pace.
We conversed the whole way.

While we definitely had a GREAT run (less than 30s/mi off of race day goal pace, and my personal second fastest 10K ever), the best part of this morning was, without a doubt, seeing the other Peachtree participants out on their own course runs. Beyond the standard runners and walkers, we saw a half dozen Shepard Center athletes. These guys were incredible. Watching them push themselves up and down the course's serious inclines was so inspirational (especially the guy doing hill REPEATS). I'm so proud to be a part of Peachtree, and can't wait for the Ultimate #10KTuesday. 

Weeeee, finish line!