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.

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 10/20

Weekly Summary
Miles: 40.08 (L2 34.25/L3 43.25)
Days Run: 5
XT: 1 (15min power walk, 3x5min strength)
Rest: 1
Injuries: sore hip (1/10), tight IT bands, awkward hips/abs on LSD
Feelings: tired, overwhelmed, excited, strong, capable, proud, happy, completely incapable, accomplished


Monday

Scheduled: 4 

Did: 4.14 @ 9:52/mi

-Took a little while to get into the groove, but finally felt warmed-up around mile 3
-Had some hip soreness/tightness during the day and took intentional 5min stretch breaks throughout the work day

Tuesday

Scheduled: 8ONB

Did: 8ONB @ 9:30/mi avg
-Felt really sluggish the first half, ran easy, and the pace showed. Oof. First half= low-10s
-Pushed the second half (goal was just to keep a steady push) and did pretty well: 8:40s for the first three, and then a solid "chase Courtney" at the end
-Finally starting to remember to switch my handheld to my right hand for half of these runs

funky start (thanks, GPS), but, otherwise, a good ONB split

I'm starting to feel the pressure of keeping paces, etc. and worrying about my ability to hold a 9 (even a high one) on LSDs even though my training log seems to say otherwise:

Training Log says: "You're good when you actually try. Maybe you should try more?"

I talked a lot with the other #10KTuesday marathoners, and got some really great advice on pace/freaking out. Here are the two that stuck with me the most:

"It's hot and humid out, we're all running a little slower OR at least having to work harder to keep pace." 

Good reminder. It will be cooler in Chicago. It will be cooler this fall. 

Hot. Humid. Oof.

"You had a baby less than a year ago and YOU.ARE.KILLIN.IT."

I really I don't give this one enough credit at all, and I need to. How many women do you know who pop out a kid and run a marathon before its first birthday? Yeah. Same here. 

So, lesson learned: don't be so hard on myself.

Wednesday

Scheduled: 30 XT

Did: 3x5min strength training PLUS 15min lunch walk
My arms were sore on Thursday, so it counts. Not ideal, but at least I've found a way to get something in until Mizuno Whatever-day comes back this fall. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 1WU, 6x1000/400, 1CD

Did: 1WU, 6x1000/400, 1CD
This is day four of only getting about 5-6 hours of sleep. It's not the baby's fault. I'm just in this funk where, no matter the reason, if I wake up at all in the middle of the night, I can't go back to sleep. This morning, I woke up at 2:30... and just laid there, futilely willing myself back to sleep, until I got up for the run at 4:15. 

While I was there, this run sucked. For the first time ever, I didn't hit a SINGLE split. My goal split was 4:27, and here's how they shook out: 

Normally, I'm at least on if not easily fast. During the workout, Brandi and I tried to pace each other, and we both fell miserably short. After four rounds of getting depressed by splits that were ~20s off, we decided to say "screw you" to our watches and just run "pushed" for the last two 1000s. 

I even had a little left in the tank to push the final lap of our last K.
...and the split was STILL 12s high

A few things worth noting:

• I've been sleeping terribly
• We didn't run in lane 1 the whole time due to some obstacles-- can running in Lane 2 really be blamed for being THAT far off though? 
• I'm still using my goal splits from my 5K race, which are really splits that correspond to a 3:41 marathon (hahahahahahaha). Even though my actual goal is, like, almost an hour slower than that, I figure it's still worth trying to push a bit during speedwork. Even if I can't keep the speed for endurance runs, it'll help me out next year when I back off of distance and just focus on being a fast 5K/10K mama for a bit so that J can train for his marathon. 
• Despite not hitting my splits, my watch gave me a new 10K PR for today's workout. Probably off on the GPS distance measurement, but I'll take it!

All smiles at the end of our workout!

Friday

Scheduled: 4-6

Did: 4.04 @ 9:32/mi avg AND YOGA!!!

• went to bed at 7:30pm last night and tried to catch up on sleep (kiddo woke me up a few times, but I think I got at least seven hours-- huge improvement)
• think I might be getting sick, though- little congested and think I've got what the baby has
• first solo run around ATL in quite awhile (didn't want to make plans I couldn't keep with anyone in case sleep was problematic again)
• went really, really well- pace easily in the mid-9s with an average HR of only 150bpm :D

Also did my first yoga class in over a year. It was a super-easy "chill" yoga, which I wanted to do to help me stretch. I've been feeling all kinds of tightness from marathon training and hoped a dedicated hour of stretching would assist. I think it helped my body and my mind a bit, but I'm not sure I'll be willing to keep it up once there's a price tag attached to it and my guest trial runs out. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 14-16

Did: 16.04 @ 9:58/mi
This run sucked. Maybe it's because I'm a bit sick. Maybe it's because I haven't slept well five of the past seven nights. Maybe it's because it's so d--mn hot out. I don't know, but it sucked.

Today was the first day of group training for the ATC Fall Distance program. We had 10 miles on the schedule, but I needed a bonus 4-6, so I met up with a group of other Chi/early marathoners to get our extra done ahead of time. I tried to keep myself on the mid-to-slow 9 side, knowing I'd have to run that pace for another TEN with the group afterwards. 

5:45am Crew

Splits shook out at:
9:41/ 9:34/ 9:55/ 9:53/ 9:32/ 9:45
with an average HR of 147 (seems a little low, but I did stop for water every two laps). When we finished, I felt great, if a bit hot and sweaty. I had some stingers, a thing of G2, and made my way over to the 9min pod for our group run.

I'm the marathon sweep for our group, which means I run with the last participant, whether they're a 9:30 or a 9:55. When we took off, EVERYONE except TWO participants stuck with the front of our pack. Holy stromboli was I grateful for the two who stuck back.  
The first three miles of the run weren't bad (avg pace: 9:55/mi), but then it got rough, in a way I haven't felt before. I was beyond grateful to have an opportunity to wait for restocking supplies at the last water station and send my participant off with another RL so that I could wait for the 10s to come in and run them home. 

My cardio was fine. My legs were fine. My pelvis/hips, however, were not fine. The muscles around there felt all kinds of "wonky": sore, tired, I dunno. That was definitely my limiting factor. At times it was almost like the entire band around my hip bones was asleep and just being carried by the rest of my body. Other times, it felt like those muscles were just super sore/tired and didn't want to work. Regardless of what it was, I've decided to see if I can get it fixed and am going to see another sports PT for their opinion/help this week. 

I finished up the run with the mid-high 10s, and those miles felt sooooo much better. I'm not sure if it was the pace or having about ten minutes of stretching while I waited for the water station supplies, though. Either way, I came home feeling really defeated about today's run and my ability to do any sort of distance consistently in the 9s. 

Splits: 9:38/10:20 (traffic light)/10:01 /9:38/ 9:51/ 9:56/ 9:48/ 10:12/ 10:54/ 10:38
Avg HR: 156


Reasons I shouldn't let this get me down:

• I felt GREAT when I finished. Didn't need to stop or sit down immediately, or feel like "oh thank god that's over i couldn't go another step", like I have on past LSDs
• My average pace still started with a 9 on a day where I felt like complete s--t
• After existing for the better part of the afternoon, I can now say with certainty that I have what the baby has and am definitely sick
• It was d-mn hot outside
• I was able to go grocery shopping after training without too many "oof"s
• I refueled better than last week and have been feeling pretty recovered from the run all day
• Zero residual soreness post-run
• A LOT of other people commented on the heat affecting them today
• I had a baby 8 months ago, and I'm training for a freaking marathon. I just ran 16 miles today. 

Sunday

Scheduled: rest

Did: easy 2mi stroll with H, lots of housework/organizing, stretching :D
Woke up feeling MUCH better. Hooray for Jerry being SuperDad so I could get two nights of rest and get over this cold faster. 

hanging out riverside with my baby

Mommy-Baby coffee date after our walk <3

Peachtree Training: Week 9/13

Monday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40XT
Did: 7.04 @ 9:08/mi PLUS one mile stroller walk to preview the hills for tomorrow's 10KTuesday course

I only had four on my schedule, but I couldn't pass up a chance to run long on a holiday morning, with two of my best runner friends, in pretty awesome weather. Oops.

Happy Memorial Day!

I was a liiiittle nervous about running with both Shelly and Brandi, since they're normally 9flat milers, but figured I could hold them to 9:30s. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Halfway through, we realized we were going prettttty fast, and decided to make it a "back and out" run, with the first half being faster than the second. That didn't last long. Soon enough, we'd picked the pace right back up. I think we all noticed, but never actually felt like we were going too fast. I think I even joked at one point that, "well, so much for that second-half-slower bit, but, really, we're not going to get a sub-9 mile here". See Exhibit Lap 7, above. 

Oh, and I also sprinted the last bit to avoid racing the hill tomorrow. 

Feeling really strong today, and excited for marathon season. :) 

Tuesday
Scheduled: 7PRO
Did: #10KTuesday, hilly version-- 6.25 @ 9:46/mi
Eek. I've deviated from my training plan for the second day in a row... You can't very well to a progression run when you have hills like this:

well, you CAN, but I didn't want to

Despite the elevation madness, I actually really enjoyed this run. We modified our normal 10KTuesday route to include hills on the backside of my neighborhood (outbound and inbound, which meant we had an excruciating hill in the last quarter mile--- see that really, really steep last peek? YEAH. THAT.) as well as the Hills of Haynes Bridge (#itsathing). 

As much as I hate the reasons some of my 10KTuesday comrades weren't 100% and were slower than usual or opted out of the last ~mile of hills, being one of two people to run the whole course as designed was pretty motivating for me. I felt a need to perform better, and knowing I wasn't "last" really helped with that. 

lots of little breaks to wait for friends/traffic lights, but, with the exception of the super fast first downhill and awful "I have to go back up THAT?!?" ending hill, this was a decently progressive run

without the hills, I think this would have been a progression run for sure-- last mile under 9?!?! I was definitely drafting off of #BradStrong 

Even if my pace didn't, my effort certainly progressed throughout the run, so I'll call this a "kind of followed my training plan" kind of day. 


Wednesday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40XT
Did: 2mi on the treadmill, a few hours apart @ 9:46 and 9:29/mi, respectively
Strikes Against:
1) Rough day at the office... and I wasn't even IN the office
2) Slept poorly night before: home from chorus at 11pm, in bed by midnight, up at 3 with H, even though J was taking care of him, I woke up, then up with H at 5:30, and right into the day
3) Started with one deadline at COB, and, by 11am, had THREE deadlines by COB

I knew by 10am that I wasn't going to get to do my stroller run with H after work, so I "got dressed" in running clothes and decided to give myself a few ten minute breaks on the 'mill. No pace goal- just a much-needed refocusing time during a stressful day.

Treadmill, you've earned your keep yet again.

Thursday
Scheduled: 2mi jog, 8x800/200, 1mi jog
Did: 1mi jog, 8x800/200, 1mi jog
You know what really motivates me? The idea that something's "hard". I think I enjoy running so much because it sets me apart from the non-runners in my life because they think it's crazy to get up at 4:30am to go run seven miles before work. 

Yesterday, while doing his own speedwork on the 'mill, Jerry commented that anyone who could do the workout as prescribed (8x800 at target pace) would be amazing. All of my running crew has been talking about this workout all week- the madness of EIGHT 800m repeats instead of the usual six, and the fact that we only get 1/4 of the hard distance to recover; none of us has ever done anything with only a 200m recovery beyond the 400m. 

When even C opted for 6x800/400, I wondered if I shouldn't do the same thing. Jerry's comment kept me on the original path, though; I figured I could always increase the recovery or bail out early if I wasn't able to hit my times.

Oh, but I did.

I felt like such a badass on this workout. Part of it was knowing I was challenging myself. Part of it was the fact that I was OWNING it. I usually walked about half the recovery and slow-jogged the rest, but I did it. I hit all but one of my splits, and I killed the rest of them by so much that I don't care I was 2s slow on ONE interval, especially since I wasn't in Lane 1 the entire time, which means I'm sure I have 2s in those two laps somewhere. 

TOTAL BOSS. 

When we finished our cool-down, the #10KTuesday crew had a good talk about pushing ourselves, inspired by the fact that I got TWO new distance PRs during today's workout.

5K: 23:33  (race PR: 25:10)
10K: 51:52 (race PR: 54:09)

We talked a lot about how we're all capable of more than we believe we are, and that a race effort should hurt. This doesn't mean you should push yourself to pain or injury, but that, in the moment, you should feel your lungs burn a bit, your legs ache, and let that surge of adrenaline take over. Train in the discomfort zone. 

I love that I'm still new to this sport. Being new means I still have so much untapped potential that I haven't trained up to. It means I haven't hit my natural ability plateau. When I got pregnant last year, I'd just started training, truly training, with speedwork and tempo runs, where every workout had a purpose. It was working (I mean, I won a race, right?). Then I had to take about a year off from progress to grow a potato. ;) 

Now I'm back, and I'm stronger, and it's so much fun to be able to put in this work and reap these rewards. One more week until Braves. One more month until Peachtree. One more season until Chicago. Let's go crush some PRs. 


Friday
Scheduled: off
Did: survived, also walked about a mile for car repair stuff :P
On my way out of town for a professional organization thing, I ran my car off the road and blew out some tires. Bright side: the deer that jumped out in front of me is totally fine.


Saturday
Scheduled: 7 easy + 4 hills
Did: 7 easy WITH THE STROLLER @ 9:54/mi, one hill repeat @ 6:45/mi, two bonus miles at 9:37/mi with a Level 3 trainee 
Awww, yeah. Today turned out to be so much better than I'd thought it would!

7 on the Greenway
I've never run more than five miles with the stroller, and that was a bear of a task, so seven was really daunting. I parked at the greenway entrance close to the Peachtree Training site so I could swing by afterwards, and purposely planned a route that took me out and back for three miles one way, passed the car, and then out and back for another four. I knew I wouldn't stop after just three, and that, mentally, it would help me to break the run up like that.

such a beautiful sight

This was baby boy's first run in the stroller without the infant carseat. While I appreciated the lighter load, I really missed getting to see him during the run. When I took him for runs with the carseat, he faced me, and I always felt really connected to him. Today, I had a little mom guilt, feeling like I was just strapping him in and making him come along for the ride because I wanted to run. He was totally fine- looked around for a bit, fell asleep, and then looked around some more, but I still don't like running with him facing outward very much.

I swear, he looked like this the whole run.
so. bored. 

The run itself went pretty well. As with any "long" distance, I had times where I felt great, and times where I felt awful. I considered stopping after 5mi, but remembered I'd told a friend (Shelly) I was planning on 7 this morning-- a friend I was going to see at training afterwards, who was surely going to ask how my run went. I wanted to be able to tell her that I, too, had done seven this morning, as scheduled, so I continued. 

I think stroller running messes with my form a bit. I felt my calves tighten up A LOT in-run, and wished I had some compression gear to put on afterwards. I took a few breaks to check in on the potato, including one to refill my water bottle (so glad the greenway has pitstop locations every ~2mi), and realized about halfway through my run that I hadn't had breakfast. Smart. >_< I downed my bag of honey stingers, but found myself absolutely starving after the run. Fortunately, I was heading to training and could grab a granola bar there. 

ITFP Training
When we got to training, I checked in at home base, then headed out with a blanket and some food, planning on having a "picnic" at the top of the hill repeats near the end of the course. I arrived just as the first groups of runners were coming through, and got asked by Shelly (who's also a participant) to run her last hill repeat with her. That felt awesome. Someone wanted ME to help THEM! Especially awesome is that this is the runner who paced me through my current 10K PR about a month ago. Now, I got a chance to pay a little of that back. :D :D :D

We jogged down to the base of the hill, chatting about our kids and such, and then turned around and headed up the hill. To my surprise, it felt easy to me. After seven miles with the stroller, less than 1000ft without it was a breeze. I was able to encourage her the whole time, and help her hit her fastest hill repeat of the day by 20s. If you would have asked me what pace we were running, I would have guessed high-7. Nope. Try 6:45/mi. BOOM.

After that, I figured I'd be parked on the hill with the potato, cheering for the rest of the runners. Nope. One of the Level 3 (longer distance) participants was looking for someone to run his bonus two with him. Neither of the other Run Leads there was particularly excited about it, so I swapped places with Jerry and let him watch the baby while I led the L3 participant up and back for two miles. Fortunately, he was "only" looking for about a 10min/mi. I could keep that, and it felt great to be able to be a run leader again. I've missed it a lot! 

...and that's how I hit my longest mileage day in... um... a really long time. :)

if only H had been looking up, this picture would have been adorable

Sunday
Scheduled: 4 easy or 40XT
Did: 4 easy @ 9:11/mi (!?!?!)
I slept in this morning instead of heading down to the river for SundayRunday... and regretted it when I realized I'd have to interrupt the rest of my day to make time for a run. With thunderstorms in the forecast (that NEVER came), Jer and I opted not to take H out and instead played relay with our runs, with one of us staying home while the other did our traditional 4mi route. 

When I finally got out, it was after 11. Oof. I'm not a fan of mid-day runs, even if it's overcast, drizzly, and not too warm. I told myself to take it easy, and even changed my watch display to HR only, so I couldn't see how fast I was going or how far I'd run. I kept myself under 170 the whole time, and was really excited that, when I finally checked my pace at the end of the run, it was low-9. So cool! :D

Weekly Totals
Miles: 35.63 (first time over 30 since before baby-- starting to look more like I'm in-training for a marathon!!!)
Days Run: 6
Cross-training: none (did 2x last week)
Days Off: 1