Atlanta Marathon Training: Week 10/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Oh, running. Thank you for being there for me when the rest of life seemed FUBAR. 

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 8mi 

Did: 8.45mi @ 9:30/mi avg, Big 5

Well, for only getting about 4.5 hours of sleep thanks to stress/anxiety, this run went pretty well. 

Wednesday

Scheduled:4mi easy

Did:4.01mi @ 9:43/mi avg
No real commentary here. 

Thursday

Scheduled 1mi WU, 4-1600/400, 1mi CD

Did: as scheduled, total = 7.5mi @ 8:38/mi avg, Big 5
Heck. Yes. This run felt amazing. I wasn't sure what I could reasonably keep for the miles, but decided to try for my standard 8:00/mi pace that I've been going for on speedwork in the past few months.

7:44
7:44
7:44
7:43

Aww, yeah. Today's weather probably contributed to this (31, no wind = my new favorite speedwork weather), but I'm still insanely proud. The miles felt good- pushed in focus only, not pace. I could have totally gone faster by about 10-20s on most of them if that's what training called for, but was very happy with the current "just finish Publix feeling good" marathon training that I'm doing. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find the miles didn't feel long, and even doing four repeats didn't seem arduous. Instead, I was truly able to just enjoy each and every lap on the track. This is exactly what I wanted from this round of marathon training: to capture the same feeling I had while running last fall, extend it, and foster more of the same appreciation and gratitude for being able to do this, and the calming, happy sensations that running brings me. 

Friday

Scheduled: strength + yoga

Did: 20min strength +  10min yoga
I actually felt like lifting today, so I did 2/3 of a 30min YouTube dumbbell workout, and then followed that with some morning meditation yoga. 

3pm update: deadlifts were probably a bad idea... 

Saturday

Scheduled: 17mi easy

Did:17.13mi @ 9:43/mi avg, Big 5
Yesterday's deadlifts were definitely a bad idea. Holy hamstrings. We had a great group this morning for our 5am start; a few friends joined in for the first eight, and then three of us continued for the full 17. 

I intentionally ran us the opposite way we'd run the past few weeks to give us some nice downhills, though we still had a good bit of uphill as well. It was nice to have a small reprieve from hills. I had some of the typical "blergh, this is tough" feelings within the first couple of miles, but they went away by mile 6, and I had an enjoyable run overall. It was also really nice to run a few new patches of road that I'd never run before- who knew places like that still existed up near me? :) 

The best part of the run was the last half mile or so. One of my training partners had reached the "alright, I'm ready to be done" point, which, for her, meant we were picking up the pace to bring about the end sooner. I shrugged and followed suit, and we had a good surge for the last 800, around a low-8/high-7 pace. Being able to finish with such a strong kick on a 17mi run felt good. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 6mi easy

Did: 5mi @ 10:00/mi, Big 5
Ugh. Another crazy weather snap. We went from singlet and shorts weather yesterday to 30 degrees with 20mph winds for a "feels like" of 19. That sort of weather is too intense for little ones, so we canceled our Running Mamas morning outing. Though I had a friend volunteer to run with me if I really wanted, my aching hamstrings had me wondering: 1) if it were a good idea to run in the cold, and 2) how far I could realistically go. So, I opted for a treadmill run instead. 

...it was still a struggle. I kept the pace at a flat 6.0mph and just got through it, quarter mile at a time. I could've finished the full 6, but knew I'd done enough "extra" throughout the week to still be around 42mpw if I stopped at 5... so I did.

I'm grateful to have the 'mill as an option, but today showed me how much I really need to be outside with friends to enjoy running. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 42.1

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I've gotten my diet back under control and am feeling tons better. Dinners the past few nights have been bowls of roasted vegetables with a little meat, and they've been awesome. Hooray, mindfulness.
• I've currently logged 120mi for the month of January. I should finish the month with around 160. This isn't too much more than what I'd been doing for the better part of last year. 
• Eight more weeks! Only five more weeks of longer long runs, and then I'll start dropping back. Weeeee! I can do this. :D 

Race Report: Peachtree Road Race

Previous PR: 47:53 (5/6/17)
90% Goal: 1:00
50% Goal: 57:00
10% Goal: 55:00
Result: 52:02

I had zero ambition to race or put any effort or pressure into Peachtree 2018. It's always hot, and the course isn't ideal at all for a PR. Beyond that, I knew I was going to have the mile test within five days of July 4. 

 

Bucket List Item: Run Peachtree in a Sports Bra
CHECK.

Pre-race, we had the normal awesome meet-ups with friends, as usual. There is always a huge group of ATC folks who volunteer with Corral C, so that's where the party ends up being. This works out well since I've always been within 1 corral of them. 

pre-race Corral C fun

Because 5:30am is our favorite time for a "date"

We camped out near the port-a-potties for awhile post-photo, and then one of my teammates and I went off for a short warm-up, just to get the lead out of our legs. Ugh, that felt slooooooooooooooow. Saw a few friends as we made our way to Corral B, where we met up with another teammate. B, B, and I had zero plans or ambition for the run, so we all figured we'd just start together and see what happened. 

The first time I looked at my watch was around the 0.7mi mark. I was hoping to see more distance on it. We were definitely going faster than I'd wanted to, but I was holding it, and didn't feel like it was so fast that I wanted to back off from my friends. We clocked the first mile in 8:35. 

Miles 2 and 3 are also primarily downhill. We kept the pace, and even got a bit faster, clocking 8:15 and 8:03. I remember joking "we're slowing down on Cardiac, riiiiight?" to the other girls, thinking that I wanted to get off this progression run train NOW. 

Weeeee, elevation madness

One of my teammates walked a bit as we hit the hill. The other and I continued up, and then circled back (yes, we ran extra distance during a race-- literally we ran over to the left sidewalk, ran down it for a bit, opposite the course, until we found our friend, and then rejoined her and continued running). This happened twice before she, ultimately, said she wasn't feeling it and that we should go ahead.

couple walk breaks.. and some crazy high cadence instances

And then there were two. 

I actually think all three of us may have been together for this picture, but the photog only got two... 

We stayed together for another mile or so, until she told me to go ahead and that she was going to slow up a bit. I was feeling GREAT by this point, and really wanted to keep going and finish strong... even if "finish strong" meant "run another two miles strong". So, I did. 

It was fun to push a bit. I wasn't pushing anywhere close to a race pace, was definitely at or around a tempo effort for where I was. I kept up the pace for the rest of the race, keeping effort steady. I had a few moments where I felt like slowing up, but those passed quickly (as soon as I reached the top of those little hills). 

When I finally turned on 10th, I reminded myself I still had a looooooong way to go. I saw another runner friend ahead of me and wondered if I could catch him without too much effort. Nope. I gave a solid push, but so did he. Could I have caught him? Eh, maybe... but it would have required more effort than I was willing to give. 

whoa, my HR monitor graph looks feasible for once!!!

zoomy zoom

I finished in 52:00 chip time, which is pretty awesome. That's my 2nd fastest 10K ever, and a huge Peachtree PR, so I'm quite pleased. Plus, I love how this race FELT. There was no pressure, and I performed really well, especially the back 5K, because of it. I'm also super grateful to my teammates for the fast start, because I wouldn't have ever gone out that fast on my own.  

check out that last LONG kick

After I crossed the finish, I waited for my teammates, which was my favorite. I loved getting to go through the chute with them, collecting t-shirts, taking pictures, etc. So much love for these women. 

#team

Post-Race Reflections:

• I am SO ready to turn this mile training into something more. Today fueled my fire for another race. I can't wait to see what I can do in a 5K or 10K this fall.
• I had EXACTLY even 5K splits this race. How crazy is that? 

• The Top 500 Female cutoff this year was 50:02. I'm a little bummed that I took it SO easy because that was completely in-range for me today, but, had I "gone for it", my race day would have been a lot more stressful and not nearly as fun. Plus, the mental pressure might've slowed me down so much that I wouldn't have gotten it at all. Who knows? 
• Yay, Peachtree.