Sunday, November 11, 2018

Thanksgiving Half: Week 9/11

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Hrm. Considering I've been labeling the past nine weeks of entries as "Thanksgiving Half: Week X/X", I guess I'm technically training for the Thanksgiving Half... Cool. 


Monday
Scheduled: rest
Did: rest
Had tentative plans of doing an easy 3 today, but felt kind of sick last night and this morning. Definitely a good rest day.


Tuesday
Scheduled: 8mi ONB
Did: 6.38mi @ 9:26/mi avg, Big 5
SUCH a nice recovery run. Today was our first "cold" run of the year (47 degrees), so I enjoyed wearing a light long sleeve tee with my shorts. Run felt good and easy... if a bit long since it took us over 10min to hit the first mile marker. 


Wednesday
Scheduled: 5mi easy
Did: 5mi @ 9:21/mi avg, Big 5
I'm back singing with my chorus, Song of Atlanta, for the holiday season. This means I'm at rehearsal until 10:30pm every Tuesday, which makes for about 5 hours of sleep before my 4:10am Wednesday alarm goes off. Needless to say, I'm glad to have accountability partners for my Wednesday runs.


I'm also grateful Wednesdays are always easy mileage. Today, I only had company for the first two, but it was enough to get me out, and, once I was out and running, I figured I might as well finish. 



Thursday
Scheduled: 1mi WU, 4xmile/400m, 1mi CD
Did: 7mi @ 9:09/mi avg, Big 5

This week is tough all over. I didn't get home until 8pm, and didn't get to bed until closer to 10. So much for any thoughts of making up last night's lack of sleep. With a need to be home 6am today to make a 730am meeting and having to leave work early today due my kiddo's swim lesson, I opted against a track workout (only one teammate was going to be running work me anyways, and she only really wanted one easy mile to keep her streak alive) and planned a solo treadmill workout.

That sounded well and good when I went to bed, but getting out of a warm, sleepy state to go run in my basement, with zero accountability was NOT easy this morning. Whenever I have a solo run, I really acknowledge how much my teammates' presence helps the rest of the time...

1mi WU, 4xmile/400m, 1mi CD on the schedule. Ugh. That's a lot of miles.... And at a fast speed.

I bargained with myself a few times, saying I only had to do 3 or 2 repeats, and letting myself drop the pace. After all, I did just PR a 5K on Sunday. That hadn't been in the plan, so I deserved a bit of a reprieve. 

I don't know what my mile pace ought to have been, but I know I was slower than prescribed. I just wanted to pickup the pace a bit, not treat them like true speedwork, though.

Mile 1: 9:05 (yeah, what can I say, I slacked)
Mile 2: 8:34
Mile 3: 8:07
Mile 4: 7:58

Yeah... this is a pretty pathetic workout. But, on the bright side, I got it done solo on my treadmill with limited sleep and time. So.... success? 


Friday
Scheduled: strength
Did: strength
3x1min: clean press, squat with OH press, Russian dead lift, rows, push-ups
Totally unmotivated, but needed to check the "strength training" box for the day.


Saturday
Scheduled: 14mi
Did: 13.11 @ 8:37/mi avg, Big 5
This was our longest run of the seasons at In-Training, and we did about half of the course as part of our run (though in different orders and directions). I ended up thinking that I was taking the pace easy (because a group of runners left me in the dust), but my participant and I ended up with a super respectable average. Weather was rough-- 34 degrees with 12mph winds and a "feels like" of 26.

I'd planned on 14mi, but felt a tight cramp-like sensation in my right calf around mile 11 at our water stop. A lot of stop/starts in freezing weather = bad news. I had tightness in my calf for the last mile, and opted to cut my run short... until I realized I was going to hit a half marathon PR if I just finished. So I kept running and broke my old half marathon PR by over three minutes. 

I had zero problems stretching it, but definitely continued having tightness issues for the next few hours, so I think it was some sort of dehydration-related cramp. I'll probably take tomorrow as an extra rest day to give myself time to heal up and see what I can do Tuesday. 

I'm actually totally at peace with the idea of resting until my 5K next Sunday, though, if that's what needs to be done. 


Sunday
Scheduled: 5mi easy
Did: rest
Calf felt fine this morning, but it's not worth chancing it. I'll take today as a bonus rest day, rest on Monday, and trust that I'll be good enough by Tuesday. 


Total Weekly Mileage: 33.13 (I feel like such a slacker despite respectable mileage)

Week-ending Thoughts:
My calf can't possibly be too bad if I haven't noticed it since 1pm on Saturday, and I was able to continue running that well on Saturday. I feel confident about it.

Looking forward to a 5K stroller race next weekend, and then getting an official sub-1:55 time on the Thankgiving Half course the week after. Maybe I should shoot for 1:45...  


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