Weekly Summary
Miles: 53.93 (L2=46.5, L3=53.5)
Days Run: 5
XT: 1
Rest: 1
Intermittent Injuries: inside top of right quad pinches on longer strides, tight calves (self-inflicted via 4" heels), little sore hip (need to stretch and PT), right quad knot moved to outside and stayed there (didn't affect run too much)
Feelings: worried, apathetic, unprepared, "over it", unmotivated, tired, disappointed, weak, grateful, "over it"
Monday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 6.02 @ 10:10/mi avg
Felt really sluggish on this one until mile 5. No trouble during the run, but after we stopped and started walking, I had a mini cramp or something going on in my upper/inner right quad. Short strides were fine, but longer ones hurt... :/
Tuesday
Scheduled: 10
Did: 10.35 @ 9:37/mi avg
After a lot of 10MileTuesdays where we had a workout specified, either out-and-back or progression, it's pretty freeing to just have "10 miles". We decided to challenge ourselves anyways and op for a a slightly progressive back on an ONB.
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| Mission Accomplished. |
I had a small tight/sore/pingy spot on my top/inner right thigh around mile 5, and decided not to pick up the pace quite yet. After another mile-ish of relaxed pace, I felt better and pushed just slightly. We're in our highest mileage week of the program, and I'm definitely feeling it. It takes me 5-6 miles to warm-up these days. :P
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| ...and then I'm warm :) |
I spent some extra time stretching out and rolling a lacrosse ball over the spot in my quad/groin. Hopefully, between that and tomorrow's rest day, I'll be ready to go on Thursday for my 2mi repeats.
Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: 2mi walk through airport, 2 hours of dancing
I'm at the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations annual Summit for the rest of the week. Thinking I wouldn't get much exercise after arriving for my committee meeting and conference, I walked a few miles in the ATL airport before boarding. By the time I arrived at the hotel, I'd already logged over 10000 steps.
...and then we had a surprise dance party at the welcome reception, where I earned even more. What was supposed to be a rest day probably counts as cross-training.
On the bright side: I had zero trouble with my hip or that spot on my groin/quad.
Thursday
Scheduled: 1WU, 3x2mi/800, 1CD
Did: 6 @ 9:48/mi avg
Late night of dancing + travel + generally wanting extra sleep made it really hard for me to get up for a 9.5mi workout... on a treadmill. Without Brandi or my other running buddies meeting me at a predetermined time, I found myself really unmotivated. I tried bargaining with myself. "You can sleep in if you do the workout in the afternoon"; but then I'd have to run in the afternoon. Ugh.
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| The Disneyworld resort I'm at is sorely lacking in running facilities. They have a single "jogging path" that barely hits 1.0 miles, and has lots of awkward surfaces. No, thank you. |
Eventually, I decided that I could force myself up to slog through 5-6 easy miles on a treadmill today and save the longer, harder workout for a day when I'd be able to get more sleep the night before. I was excited to see the fitness center treadmills had the same VirtualActive software that my old office gym had, where you can do "virtual runs" through different areas. I ran through the north and south islands of New Zealand (a place I really want to go in-person someday.
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| What up, KiwiLand! |
Despite the welcome distractions on the screen, I had the hardest time getting through this workout. It was hot (I ended up in just a sports bra after a half mile-- who keeps their hotel fitness center at 74 degrees?!?!). I was alone. I was bored. It's times like these that I realize how resilient distance running has made my mind. I wasn't enjoying the run. I didn't want to be running. Yet, somehow, I "had to", and so I did.
Friday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 1WU, 3x2mi (16:44, 16:35, 16:46) /800, 1CD -- 9.56mi @ 9:12/mi avg
PLUS 30min beach volleyball
I dreaded this morning's workout so much that I woke up twice during the night with a pit in my stomach, and made several attempts to talk myself out of doing it once I finally woke up at 4:30. It's definitely peak week. I can feel the mental fortitude waning....
Thoughts that went through my head:
"9.5 miles on a treadmill... that sounds awful. I probably don't even have time for 9.5 miles. I didn't really finish my presentation last night, so I should probably cut the run and work on that. Maybe I can just get through six normal miles, that sounds better than 9.5 of speedwork. I haven't really missed any workouts yet, except that one I was sick for. Would it really be so bad to bail on ONE? I've worked hard, don't I deserve to take a break? I've got 22 on the schedule for Sunday, maybe I should take today easy and rest up for that... Oh, wait, I'm used to doing my LSD a day after speedwork. My schedule shifted a day, but nothing changed. I'll still have a rest day between workouts. Guess that nixes that idea..."
Eventually, I convinced myself to just do it by thinking of the workout as "just two miles... a few times". I utilized the VIrtualActive software again, this time running through Germany, California, and a different part of New Zealand, and also brought my headphones so I could have some tunes going. Literally, I don't know how anyone can workout without distractions on a treadmill. It's so dreadfully boring, even when you're doing speedwork, but I didn't really have an outdoor running choice. The jogging path is "wibbly wibbly wobbly" (lots of stupid aesthetic curves that are far more conducive to a saunter than speedwork), full of bugs, and not very well lit... Also, I thought it might be more monotonous than a dreadmill.
I chipped away, little by little, at the 9..5 on my schedule. First, the warm-up. A 10:00 felt too fast, so I let myself slow it down to a 10:35. After all, it was a warm-up, and pace didn't matter. For the repeats, my goal pace should have been sub-8, but I was NOT feeling that. I did 8:27 for the first mi and 8:17 for the second. I tried to replicate SpeedworkThursday at the track by taking a short walk and getting some water at my first recovery interval, but it just wasn't the same on a 'mill.
I felt better on my second 2mi, hitting 8:24 and 8:15 splits, and then wanted to stop. Why? I dunno. Boredom, mostly. I was just "over it". I took a brief break to refill my water bottle, stretch, and recall that all of the #10KTuesday marathoners had probably moments like this during their solo workouts this week- moments they wanted to stop, but kept going because "that's what was on the training schedule". After a little peptalk from Courtney, I hopped back on for my last two mile repeat.
This one was hard. The 8:13/mi pace felt impossible, so I slowed to an 8:27... and then even slower. My first mile was an 8:33, almost a good minute slower than my mile split goal pace. Whatever. It was still a push. I played all sorts of mental games with myself to get through the last mile: counting down, holding the HR monitor bar every other tenth, focusing on my arms, pretending I was really running up the hills on the California trail on my screen... Whatever it took. I finished my last speed mile in 8:13, the fastest of the day, and then settled into a slowwwww recovery pace. I did the 800m recovery plus a 1/2mi cooldown, and then rewarded myself with the last 1/2mi outside.
It wasn't much of a reward, since I was eating bugs and dealing with some mental blocks I have about Disney resort lakes, but I was pleased to see how much faster I ran once I got off the treadmill. I was easily clocking around an 8:00 for the first bit, and had to remind myself this was my cool-down. This was certainly the hardest run I've had all season long, and I'm really proud of myself for getting through it. How do people do this solo?!?!
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| I just ran almost 10mi... When's breakfast? |
Also, played a game of pick-up beach volleyball later this evening. SO MUCH FUN. :D
Saturday
Scheduled: 30XT
Did: nada
I had planned on using the hotel gym to finally get some elliptical training in this season, but it didn't happen. Wearing 4" heels at last night's awards gala left my calves feeling a bit funny, I wanted all the sleep I could get, and, honestly, I figured a rest day would do me some good leading into tomorrow's 22.
Instead, I hopped on an earlier flight home to the family. I've missed them!
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what I look like with a pretty dress, hair and makeup done, and some 4" heels
totally worth it #livingthedream |
Sunday
Scheduled: 22
Did: 22.02 @ 10:12/mi avg
Since everyone else did their long run yesterday at training, I knew I wasn't going to have much luck asking if anyone wanted to run 22 with me on Sunday. Instead, I cribbed an idea another one of our ATCers had thought up a few months back and invited friends to "adopt a mile" for me.
I published a route, and created a corresponding GSheet with projected start/end locations and times for each mile where people could sign up to join me. I got more support and responses than I could have imagined. Most friends volunteered for more like 5+ miles, so I knew I'd have 3+ people with me for the bulk of the distance. So awesome!
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these are all the wonderful people who ran with me
runner<3 |
The run didn't go as well as I'd hoped. With all my previous LSDs, and the awesome training I've been having, I figured I'd be between a 9:30-10/mi pace, and used 9:45 to approximate my arrival times at each mile for my friends to meet me. After all, the one run where I felt like death, in the summer heat, up and down all of Enrique's awful hills was a 10:08, and I couldn't possibly be slower than that when I felt so good, right?
Wrong. By mile 4, I was already 12min behind schedule. It took a lot for me to let go of pace thoughts and just run, especially when I knew I was woefully behind my target. I felt like I wasn't just letting myself down, but I was inconveniencing everyone who'd come out to run with me by: 1) being so far behind schedule and 2) running so much slower than they'd signed up for.
The whole motivation for doing this marathon after Flying Pig has been to get a time that reflects my abilities, and seeing splits of 10:30+ on my watch when I felt like I was trying was truly demoralizing. If I hadn't had so many great people running with and around me, talking to me, distracting me, this would be been a much harder run to get through.
I finished grateful and proud for doing the 22mi, despite being disappointed with the time. Upon further reflection, I can think of a LOT of reasons why this run didn't go as smoothly as I'd like:
1. Fueling. Flying home the day before meant my fueling was not "as usual". On Saturday, I ate one Starbucks breakfast sandwich, one slice of banana bread, one cookie, two slices of pizza, five chicken wings, six saltines, half a beer, and a bowl of spaghetti with ground turkey (the only thing on this list that I regularly eat the day before a long run).
2. Fatigue This is not only peak week from a training standpoint, but it's also been a crazy week in other areas of my life. I've pretty much been going nonstop since #10MileTuesday, with quartet coaching and chorus that night, then an early flight, conference stuff, flight home, etc. I don't think I gave enough credit to how much of a toll that can take. All I want is a day to sit on my bum and watch Netflix...
3. Legs I haven't been giving my hip the attention it needs, and it's been lightly sore all week. I also had that awkward knot in my quad. I'm sure wearing heels at the conference for three days in a row AND the 4" heels for the gala evening didn't help this. Also, I can't remember the last time I spent even five minutes foam rolling or stretching beyond my dynamic warm-up and big five. I'm pretty really grateful to have "escaped" any injuries so far, but it's no surprise that my legs were the limiting factor on this run. I was more than conversational until the end, but my legs were pretty tired the whole time.
4. Rain I didn't even LOOK at the weather this week. Imagine my surprise when, before mile 3, it started raining. I didn't have a visor. I didn't have a plastic bag for my phone. I also wasn't wearing my usual longer rain shorts. Oh, and did I mention that miles 17 through 20 were in absolute torrential downpour? Thankfully, Jerry gave me his hat when we met up for a brief moment at the sprayground.
5. Course I didn't want to run flats the entire 22 miles. I made the course, and I have no one to blame but myself. Still, I don't think I remembered the Six Branches loop of Martin's Landing being quite so hillacious. Tired legs made it even more difficult than usual. We ended up walking several hills. Did I need to? No. But, when the rest of the crew opted to walk them, I realized there was no point to pushing through and potentially turning the quad knot into something else via hills. My marathon is flat. This is just mileage. And, so, I walked them.
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| Only six miles were within my target pace range, but HR stayed pretty mellow (legs were definitely the limiting factor), and, hey, a worst mile of 10:39 when I did a good bit of walking isn't too bad |
After the run, I had a couple bagels (thanks, Jerry!), a protein shake, and some scrambled eggs with triscuits and bacon. I got about an hour nap while the baby slept, and then it was off to quartet rehearsal (we'll be competing at the International contest about ten days after Chicago). This is where it got bad. I brought some food, but, clearly I did not eat enough. About an hour into it, I was over everything. I didn't feel like singing, or trying. I had a raging headache and just wanted to go home and sleep, or eat, or anything.
I ended up not leaving there until 7pm, picking up some Chinese takeout for Jerry and myself, and eating pretty much ALL of it. Still had an awful headache by the time I went to bed, and decided to bail on Monday morning's run with Brandi.
On the bright side:
- I'm through the "worst of it". Peak week is over, and it's "all downhill from here".
- I'm not injured.
- My husband, who's been single-parenting for the last week (and, honestly, pretty much since July) still loves me and talks to me. I'm beyond grateful that he's a marathoner himself and understands all this "hey, you can watch the kid while I go run for four hours, right? and then, when I finally get back, can you make me breakfast?"
- Last marathon training, my legs felt like this on my first 16mi run ever, and I remember wondering how the heck I was supposed to do THAT again every weekend between then and the marathon. It took me until 22mi, with a lot of extenuating circumstances, to feel that way this time.
- Even on the slowest of LSD days, this pace would still have gotten me my 4:30 goal.
- This is my highest mileage week EVER, and I did it while preparing for international contest with TWO groups, presenting at a national conference, networking like a boss, and traveling.
