5K Training: Week 3/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Totally gonna enjoy these last two weeks of maternity leave/family time. :)

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: XT= at-home bootcamp

Opted to swap Monday with Wednesday so that I could rest on Christmas. It was actually really fun to parent both kiddos solo this morning and try to get my workout in (no, for real, it was genuinely fun). My oldest enjoyed doing my workout alongside me for a bit, and then ran around doing laps while I finished. The youngest sat happily in the sit-me-up chair and laughed while I tickled toes and made silly faces. Win. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 6mi hills

Did: 6.29mi (1mi WU, 4mi PRO, 1mi CD) @ 9:22/mi avg, Big 2, ~1mi greenway walk

Looking ahead, next week looked a little more strenuous than this one, so I swapped my Tuesdays to better prepare myself for a fast 1mi on New Year's Day at Resolution Run. 

10:32, 9:40, 9:05, 8:49, 8:02, 9:52

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT rest

Did: 3.11mi easy on treadmill @ 9:19/mi avg, 1.5mi walk

Didn't plan on running, but was up early with a baby who didn't want to sleep... Hoped that being in the swing + listening to footfall would fix that problem, but nope. At least I got a nice 5K in? 

Thursday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 4x800m(3:28)/400m, 1mi CD

Did: 1mi WU, 4x800 (3:27, 3:23, 3:27, 3:22), 1mi CD = 5.4mi @ 9:00/mi avg, Big 5

Ugh. Did NOT feel like getting up for this workout. Super glad I kept my first few weeks as "you only have to do four of these" for speedwork, and always super grateful for my teammate meeting me. 

Checked my watch every 100-200m for the first one, just to make sure I could latch onto the pace.

DIdn't check my watch at all for the first lap of 800 #2, and was 4s slow... had to fight to make that up on the second lap, and then ended up overshooting.

Watched my watch for 800 #3, and it showed. 

Let myself go a little faster on #4 and focused on engaging my core to stop twisting. 

Friday

Scheduled: 3mi easy rest

Did: 3.27mi stroller run @ 9:51/mi avg, Big 5

Couldn't help myself this morning... Took the littlest out for some calming miles. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 7mi PRO + 2mi

Did: as scheduled, 9.51mi @ 9:48/mi avg

For at least half of my Saturday long runs this year, we've met at the same place and run around the same streets. I decided I wanted something a little different today, and ended up making a route that took us up some of the largest hills we run. Fortunately, the hills were in the first few miles of the progression run, which made my overall pace a bit slower than last week, but gave our legs a different workout.

10:53
10:28
10:27 (barely made this progression, but it was also the largest elev gain)
10:12
9:38
9:08
8:38

Bonus: I was able to come home, shower, eat breakfast (made by my awesome husband), and then go nap for ~two hours. SUCH a treat.

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-5mi easy stroller run

Did: 4.01mi @ 9:36/mi avg with husband :)

Stayed up waaaaaaay too late (~1am) watching my Clemson Tigers advance to the natty = slept in and did an easy run with my husband mid-morning. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 31.61

Week-ending Thoughts:

Hrm. No rest day this week. Oops? 

Atlanta Marathon Training: Week 7/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

My calves were super sore after Saturday's 14mi. This is the second week that's happened. Guess that means I'm marathon training for realz? 

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 7mi hill repeats

Did: 7.29mi @ 9:37/mi avg, Big 5

It was a very merry #10KTuesday today as we celebrated Christmas together with 5x hill repeats and our traditional 10K route. Hooray, running friends. Had a bit of tightness in my left calf, just north of my Achilles when I finished, but nothing major.

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4mi easy

Did: 4mi @ 9:37/mi avg
Uh-oh. There's something wrong with my calf. That tightness from yesterday turned into discomfort  a bit after mile 3, and was a solid block of concrete in my ankle by the time I finished. Stretching it didn't hurt, but didn't seem to be productive either. Definitely not happy about this... 

Thursday

Scheduled 1mi WU, 6-8x800/400, 1mi CD

Did: 10min yoga for tight calves
It wasn't easy to bail on a workout, but I knew last night that I should not be running on my tight calf (especially not if the plan were speedwork). "It's one run," I kept reminding myself, but I definitely saw how missing one run and worrying about not being physically capable of doing something I wanted to do affected my mental state for the rest of the day. I scheduled a sports massage for tomorrow, and don't plan on running Friday either. 

Friday

Scheduled: strength + yoga

Did: nada, sports massage
I'd planned on doing a strength workout, but being up from 3-5am with my kiddo killed any ambition I had for that. Instead, I let my body sleep, and recover. Sports massage worked wonders, and I felt a TON better by how much the sore/painful/tight spot moved around while the masseuse was manipulating the muscles-- decidedly just a tight bit, and not a strain. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 14-15mi easy

Did: 14.04mi @ 9:57/mi avg, Big 5
Slept in calf sleeves the night before, heated before my run, and was STILL incredibly nervous about running today. So much so that I'd requested our training group do 4x5K loops for our long run instead of a longer distance course, just in case I felt something and needed to bail out. Running 5K loops wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, and I found my confidence restored by the end of the run, since I hadn't felt any signs of issues in my calf. Hooray! 

Sunday

Scheduled: 6mi easy

Did: 6.14mi @ 9:22/mi avg with stroller, Big 5
All of our normal stroller-friendly routes are totally flooded, so the Running Mamas headed in-town today for some easy mileage on the Atlanta Beltline. No calf issues + flat course = happy marathon training mama

river + greenway = inundated 

Hello, Atlanta! 

some of my fastest miles all week

yay, return of confidence in my health!

 

Total Weekly Mileage: 31.48mi

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Grateful to have recovered so quickly/easily from the calf tightness
• Looking forward to finally hitting marathon training mileages next week, with my first 15 miler since Chicago! 
• 11 weeks to go, and I'm totally believing that I can and I will do this. What a great feeling!