Race Report: Virtual Peachtree Road Race

Previous PR: 47:53 (5/6/2017)

Goals: 55:00ish
Result: 49:37

Training:
Nope. None of that up in here. lol. I've been keeping 25-30mpw for awhile, with tempo Sundays, but no trackwork. I'm also halfway through an 8-week lifting program. My diet's been ho-hum, and I had a week of sickness less than two weeks ago. 

Pre-Race:
Kid birthday/Thanksgiving madness, and lots of wine the day before meant that I was just happy to be out running. My oldest had asked to accompany me for "Peachtree", so I knew I was going to be pushing about 80+ pounds of weight. Originally, I'd wanted to do the greenway, but the previous days' rain/storms meant there was a good chance I'd encounter down trees or flooding... so I opted for the river. 

I haven't raced with a stroller in... a very long time. I also hadn't, until this week, really thought about doing a real "race" Peachtree. Ultimately, I decided I wasn't going to race it, but just wanted to give it more effort than I would a normal run, to make it feel "more like a race". I figured somewhere around the 54-56min mark would be a good estimate, but definitely didn't have a goal in mind. 


Race:
I think this was the worst start to a race I've ever had. It was low 60s with 100% humidity, so I opted for a sports bra alone (well, and shorts, obv). Since I wanted my bib to be prominent, to feel a sense of camaraderie with any other virtual P-tree-ers we might see, this meant I was pretty darn cold to start. I got my stroller and kid ready, explaining "Mommy's racing today, so we're not stopping for snacks. You keep the snacks you brought in your stroller pocket and just feed yourself at our normal landmarks." 

Our normal parking spot didn't give me a good ONB route (it would've been about a mile short). I wanted an easy ONB, so I parked a little further down the path. I think I kind of thought about warming up for a mile, and then going into it... but then ended up just kind of taking off... from a dead, cold start. No stretching. No warm-up. No thought about drinking water, etc. Just GO. 

Then I realized within the first half mile that I was freaking flying. Sooo, guess we're racing right off the bat, eh? 

Mile 1: 7:55

Hot damn. I'm running sub-8s with a stroller. That'll be a great fast 5K, and then I can slow it down a bit.

Mile 2: 7:59

Oh, hey.. this is still feeling good? 

Mile 3: 8:05

Had to slow down a little along the boardwalk section, due to lots of people and lots of turns. Also, kid started talking to me here, so we had a bit of conversation.

5K mark: 24:59

Sooo, that's a sub-25 with the stroller. Do that again, and you've got yourself a sub-50 10K-- something you've only ever done twice, with some serious effort (Flying Pig, Sizzler). Guess that means I'm just close enough to not be able to give up...

Mile 4: 8:04

Had to open a pack of teething biscuits for the kid at the turn-around, but still felt pretty good. Thinking back, I actually feel like this race was really similar to my current 10K PR at Flying Pig. It was an effort to keep the pace, but not unsustainable.

Mile 5: 8:13

Things got a little harder here. I had to tell my kid "Mommy can't talk right now-- we'll discuss when I'm done with the race". Still, I knew in my head that I was just on the edge of a sub-50 with a stroller, and was not going to let that go gently.

Mile 6: 7:43

This entire mile was a mental game. If you can just keep yourself under 8, you've got it. Under 8:00? Of course I can do that. 

Kick: 6:53/mi

I finished in 49:37, and was SO freaking proud of myself. 

pace graph

Reflections:

• If I can do this with a stroller on a whim, what am I capable of with training and the right mindset? :D 
• Also, clearly, as multiple teammates have pointed out to me, I do best when I don't think about my race much ahead of time and don't psych myself out. Heh. 
• I did Peachtree with this munchkin in my belly several years ago, today in the stroller, and hope to do it again with him at my side when he ages in several years from now. That's really cool 

LIIFT4: Week 5/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

OMG, it feels amazing to not be sick anymore!!! 

Monday

Did: LIIFT4 (W4D4 and W5D1), 3.3mi @ 9:34/mi avg

I never got around to doing the 4th day of Week 4 last night... so I doubled up this morning. It felt really good to be able to execute the workouts without any of the "blergh" feeling of being sick that I'd had last week. Hooray for finally being well again! Hooray, health!!! 

I upped my weights on a lot of the chest/triceps, and am really proud of myself for sticking with the heavier dumbbells when it gets hard. When I'm dying on rep 8 of 10, I try to remember that's exactly how I'm supposed to feel instead of thinking "oh, this is hard, guess I should lighten up". 

We had some workers at our house, so I took the kids to the greenway after school for a few miles. Gotta hit 31 for the week to stay on track to break my annual mileage from 2018! 

it's so empowering to be able to take both my potatoes out like this

(short commute = having time to do this, trusting older one to practice trail etiquette, being close enough to a facility like this, etc)

Life is GREAT.

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:34/mi avg, 2.5mi lunch walk

Brrr! It was brisk this morning, but felt great to get out and run :D 

Wednesday

Did: LIIFT4, 2.1mi lunch run @ 9:14/mi avg

Lifted in the AM, and then attempted to check out the AJC Peachtree Road Race app for tomorrow's virtual race. I did the suggested 2mi warm-up/shake-out run, but it was definitely a pain to track via phone... so I'll just use my watch tomorrow. 

Thursday

Did: (6.23mi @ 7:57/mi avg), 1.52mi walk, 1.86mi walk

Virtual Peachtree Road Race

Friday

Did: LIIFT4, 4.02mi run @ 9:32/mi avg, 8.58mi family bike ride

Lifting, early run with a friend, and then a nice family bike ride on the greenway in the afternoon. It's fun to be able to do the cycling thing all together now. :) 

Saturday

Did: LIIFT4, 7.29mi stroller run @ 9:34/mi avg, 2mi stroller walk, 1.04mi stroller run @ 10:04/mi avg, 0.57mi stroller walk

I made it through the lifting portion of my LIIFT4 workout this morning (whose structure was 20min lift/20min HIIT) before the baby woke up. Oh well. I never finished it out, but figured that doing a double digit run on the greenway, pushing a stroller, would be enough cardio to say "forget the HIIT" for the day.

Within the first three miles of my greenway run, I knew I shouldn't be running ten miles. Nothing hurt, but my quads were still sore from Thursday's virtual race, and I'd just done some leg day lifts. Still, I'd told my kid we were running ten miles, and that alone made me stubborn enough to stick it out. 

That was a terrible plan. Around the 7mi mark, my legs were beat, and I ended up walk/running the rest of the FOUR MILES back to the car... uggggh. This is the first run I can remember ever crapping out of, but I also know it was definitely for the best. After pushing through two previous runs this year where I shouldn't have been doing the distance I was, I paid for it big time with a week off afterwards. This one, I don't think, will put me in that situation, because I walked. 

Sunday

Did: 45min yoga, 2mi family walk

Enjoyed some stretchy, calming yoga... which culminated with my one year old falling onto me during the final savasana pose (i.e. laying on my back on the ground).... leaving three independent perfect tooth marks in my forehead. How's that for relaxation? :P 

Did a few miles of walking with my family, but took it really today after so much awesome effort earlier in the week. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 30.2

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Lesson learned: don't try to run long 1-2 days after a hard effort. It's dumb. 
• Over 1500mi for the year, and just over 100 to go before I hit a new total annual mileage high... weeeee 

LIIFT4: Week 4/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Blergh. Think I might be getting sick?

Monday

Did: LIIFT4

Felt blerghity this morning, but was alright enough to lift in the evening. Had a little helper with me, too. :)  Took zinc tablets and felt fine in the evening.

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:15/mi avg, lunch walk

Brr! First run in the 30s this season. Felt good, though. Ran out of Zinc tablets and didn't take them today.

Wednesday

Did: LIIFT4

Did my lifting, but started feeling blergh around 11am... 

Thursday

Did: nada

Took a sick day and laid on the couch all day feeling blergh. Bought more zinc and hope it helps me fight this off. 

Friday

Did: 10min yoga, lunch walk

Felt a little blergh in the morning, but took a friend's advice and did a little yoga stretching... then a walk at lunch. 

Saturday

Did: 5.05mi run @ 10:00/mi avg, LIIFT4, 3.71mi walk

Finally felt normal this morning. Met a friend for half of our usual 10mi run, went home, lifted with the munchkin, and then did a family walk.

...and then felt like I was losing my voice by 3pm. Uggggh

Sunday

Did: 4.34mi stroller run @ 9:58/mi avg, LIIFT4

Still don't have much voice, but lozenges are working their magic... 

Enjoyed an easy stroller run with my training partner, and plan on doing my 4th and final LIIFT4 session for the week sometime this evening. If I don't do it today, though, I'll knock it out tomorrow alongside the Week 5/Workout 1 one. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 15.7 (pitiful...)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I eat like craaaaaaaaaaaap when I'm sick. :(
• Being sick is no fun, especially when you're just sick enough to be useless, but not sick enough that you're beyond doubting if you're actually sick
• I hate losing my voice after illness
• It's weird to be Thanksgiving week and not have a race on the horizon. 
• I realized this week that if I continue to average just over 30mpw for the remainder of the year (3.5mi a day), I can beat my total cumulative annual mileage (from 2018). New goal. ;) 

LIIFT4: Week 3/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Meh, idk? 

Monday

Did: LIIFT4

Definitely maxed out on weight for these first few exercises. It feels good to really be pushing myself here. 

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:21/mi avg, 1.5mi walk

Baby was up at 2:51. I really shouldn't have bothered trying to get back to sleep at 3:05am. With only about an hour before my alarm, I should have just gotten up and been productive. Instead, I attempted to go back to sleep in my bed... and was disturbed by occasional coughs, meows, scratching, and kitties treating their litter box like a sandbox play area. I went down to the basement bedroom at 3:25... and still heard muffled versions of all of these things. I probably got to sleep around 3:55... just in time for my 4:05am alarm.

I should've just gotten up and done my LIIFT4 workout, prepped smoothies, or done any number of things I needed to do for the day.  Enjoyed the run, but wished I'd used my morning hour more wisely. I should know by now that I won't actually get back to sleep with less than an hour... 

Wednesday

Did: LIIFT4

Pure lifting workout today... I need to look into intentionally pairing these workouts with my run days and leaving the lift+cardio for no-run days.

Thursday

Did: 5mi run @ 8:58/mi avg, LIIFT4

OMG, it's mid-November and my run was in 68 degrees with 100% humidity. I should not have worn a shirt.

Friday

Did: LIIFT4, 1mi walk

Nothing to comment on here... 

Saturday

Did: 10.2mi run @ 8:51/mi avg, 4.78mi bike ride @ 6.8mph avg

Great pre-dawn run with a teammate- faster than expected, maybe due to cool weather? Also did a family bike ride in the afternoon, though I don't know that I'd call it exercise. Even pulling a bike trailer, 6.8mph isn't really a workout.

Sunday

Did: 5.63mi with stroller @ 8:55/mi avg

15min warm-up, 10min tempo (@7:04/mi), cooldown. Enjoyed running with the littlest, seeing some friends, and getting out and about this morning. Felt a little bit of a sore spot in my left outer calf, but remedied it enough with calf sleeves... still felt it a bit during the afternoon, so it's probably good that tomorrow is a rest day (from running). 

Total Weekly Mileage: 27.2

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I've been sore every day after lifting. :) I'm really proud of myself for upping my weights and making these workouts count. 
• I like making Sundays tempo days, even without having something I'm actively training for. 

LIIFT4: Week 2/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Hrm... what's the plan, Stan? I don't know, bro.

I'm hoping to settling into LIIFT4 this week and let it take me through mid-December. I feel like I've gained back, like, 5lbs these past few months (most of it could be hormonal, monthly bloating, but idk), and am hoping that, whatever the scale says, focusing on lifting and eating healthier will make me feel physically better going into the holiday season. 

I'll keep running throughout, hoping to average 25-30mi a week for a bit, with some lunch walks, easy mileage, long runs, tempo Sundays, and maybe occasional hill repeats or track intervals. I'd like to give the mile another go before the end of the year, but don't know when that'll fit in yet. I'm also hopeful that I might be able to do something fun for Peachtree (virtual race on Thanksgiving) and maybe find a festive race for December.  

Monday

Did: LIIFT4

Awww, yeah. I'm soooore and loving it. It took awhile to get through this morning's workout with the baby struggling to adjust to daylight savings time, but it got done. 

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:18/mi avg

Legs are super sore today from Sunday's LIIFT4, but the run felt nice. Grateful to be able to be out enjoying some pre-dawn time with friends. It was our first cold run (36 degrees) of the season, and easy paces reflected the cooler temps for sure!

Wednesday

Did: LIIFT4, 4mi treadmill run

Morning back and biceps lifting, followed by a run while virtually attending my annual structural engineering conference. 

Thursday

Did: LIIFT4, 5mi @ 8:54/mi avg

4am lifting, followed by a nice and easy (but fast-- thanks cooler temps) run with a teammate. 

Friday

Did:LIIFT4, 2.6mi @ 8:51/mi avg, 2.4mi treadmill walk, 2.5mi treadmill walk, 3.97mi actual walk, 0.62mi treadmill walk

HIIT day in the morning, with an emphasis on legs, followed by a beautifully cool and crisp sunrise run between drop-off and work. Then a bunch of treadmill walking during my virtual conference, a literal walk at lunch, and some more treadmill conference walking later. 

Saturday

Did: 11.17mi @ 9:24/mi avg, chorus choreo rehearsal 

Only planned on ten, but ended up with a route that was longer than expected. Oops. Even with a bit of walking at the end, it was well over 11mi. I struggled on the hills at bit, but still had a good overall pace. 

Sunday

Did: 15mi WU, 10min tempo, extended CD with the single stroller = 5.02mi @ 8:58/mi avg

Felt like doing some tempo this week, so I did. Averaged just over 7:30/mi, but I think that was because I was also running on the curvy boardwalk with a stroller and had to slow my pace a bit to safetly navigate around others. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 34.2 run + like another 10ish walking

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I like lifting again. Makes me feel strong. 
• This felt like a good week of activity and diet. 
• ...but I really cannot make laraballs and have them in the house. I will eat them all.
• Cooler temps = faster speeds. Weeeee. 

Recovery Week

 Week-beginning Thoughts:

Calves are soooo sore. 

I think I'm gonna go back to focusing on my nutrition and strength for awhile. Maybe I'll do the whole LIFT4 program again (8 weeks). Maybe I'll just go through a week or two. Maybe I'll just do today's workout and then focus on something else... 

Monday

Did: 2mi lunch walk

Calves = sooooo sore. Did lunch walk and felt nice. Planned on going home and doing LIFT4, but didn't think my legs could take it. 

Tuesday

Did: 5mi run/walk

Strapped my calves into compression socks and went out for a 10KTuesday walk/run this morning. Legs are soooo sore. Got a little jogging in, but wasn't comfortable doing much more than that. Finished the 10K with another walk at lunch. 

Again, my motivation to get lifting is tied to how my legs feel... Guess I'm not as into returning to lifting as I thought this week. :P 

Wednesday

Did: LIIFT4 W1D1

Enjoyed a little bit of lifting this morning. I think I'm going to try to re-commit to this program, and actually use the right (read: heaviest I can handle with good form) weights this time, instead of doing what feels comfortable. Not sure if I'm interested in doing nutrition too, but at least this gives me something to focus on since I'm struggling to run due to my calves this week.

Thursday

Did: LIIFT4 W1D2, 5Kish double stroller walk (with a little run thrown in)

Lifted in the AM. We lost power before I could start, but I was able to get the exercises (all lifting, no HIIT today) off a website and make it happen. Took the kids out in the afternoon for a walk, but ended up running a little (like, about two minutes) towards the end due to kid needs. My ankles and feet felt really wonky, but I blame running in non-running shoes for that. 

Friday

Did: LIIFT 4 W1D3

I want to run. :( My right calf still has a little bit of a sore/tender patch (only noticeable when I push on it), though, so I'll wait... 

Saturday

Did: 3.74mi stroller run @ 8:56/mi avg, 1.25mi stroller walk , plus 2mi of trick-or-treating :) 

Went out for an easy walk/run this morning, part of which I joined up with a friend running his first full and walked alongside him. Calves felt fine, so I guess this means I can kind of go back to easy running. 

Road Runner and Coyote :D

Sunday

Did: 4mi stroller run, LIIFT4 W1D4

Enjoyed finishing out my first week back at LIIFT4 with leg day. Oof. Then headed out to the river with the single stroller for a nice easy run. I'm confident that my legs are healed up after last weekend's beating and looking forward to committing to another week of easy running combined with the second week of LIIFT4. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 10.9... that's... odd. (but, bonus: I hit 1400mi for the year!)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I've kind of tried to do nutrition along with LIIFT4. It's haaaaaard to eat less carbs and more vegetables. I'm finally good on fruits and protein, though, in my default eating habits. 
• I'm really enjoying weight lifting again and feeling strong. 
• I'm not ready to launch into another running training plan yet, but think I'll try to at least do a tempo run this week with my easy mileage, and look at making that a regular thing for myself. 
• I do want to do the miler method plan again and try for that elusive sub-6... just not quite yet