Miles: 38.6 (L2 39, L3 50)
Days Run: 4
XT: eh... no
Rest: 1 day full rest
Injuries: two days sick with sore throat and ugh feeling; weird pain/soreness on top inside of right foot, near ankle early in the week; ab weakness/core instability on 19mi and after
Feelings: checked out, autopilot mode, capable, excited
Monday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 5.13 @ 9:59/mi avg
I have seven more weeks of this? Oof. Today was a bit of a mental challenge. I've crested one hill of training and am starting up the next one: accepting that, for the next seven weeks, my life revolves around training.
I got home from retreat yesterday, and, instead of staying up and watching the Olympics/cuddling/hanging out with my husband, I went to bed after dinner, because I needed to get up at 4:30 for miles. Instead of helping my baby wake up then getting him ready for the day, I was pounding the pavement, then hurrying to get showered, dressed, packed, and out the door for work. This is my life five days a week for the next two months. I chose it. I'm owning it. I love what I'm going to get out of it, but, man, I will be really happy when it's late October and I have a few days a week where I get some more time with my family.
Run went well. Even though it had been just over 48 hours since my last run, it felt like forever. I guess that's because so much happened between my Saturday run at Unicoi and this morning. *shrug*
B and I ran our typical unintentional progression style M/F. My L2 program has stepped up from 4mi to 5mi on these days, so we went a little further than usual. All in all, a great way to start the day.
Tuesday
Scheduled: 2WU, 5 tempo @ 9:00, 2CD
Did: 2.25WU, 5 tempo @ <9:00, 1.75CD (9.03 @ 9:17/mi avg)
I felt really good about this run. After being fit-shamed by an acquaintance yesterday, it was really great to be around people who always build each other up instead of tearing one another down... in all facets of our lives.
Brandi and I started at 4:30, did an easy warm-up, then met up with the rest of the gang for our tempo miles. We ended up out in front with Brad, one of the much faster runners I used to run with before MizunoMondays last training cycle. It was really nice to have someone else running our pace with us, and I'm certain his presence helped us get through it.
My goal for the tempo miles was a 9:00, faster than a 4:00 marathon pace.
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| Goal for Laps 4-8= 9:00 Oops... way too fast |
I suffered from a lot of the "faster you run, faster you're done" mentality on this run. Why run a 9:00 when it would just "prolong the suffering"? If I could run a little faster, we'd be through with it sooner. Whelp, because that doesn't train your body to run your goal pace or be able to hold a pace. >_<
The fact that I could carry that pace for five miles proves that I can run that fast ALL the time on #10KTuesdays. I wasn't ever out of breath, so running that pace for me is 100% mental. Again, this was a good reminder that I do belong in the 9min group for ATC Training, and a confidence booster.
I felt amazing on our last mile, and had to make a conscious effort NOT to push hard to the end, because that's not what this workout was supposed to be. That said, as soon as my watch beeped the end of the fifth tempo mile, I checked out. Brandi and Brad continued up around a 9:30 (maybe faster?) for their cool-down, and I chilled back closer to a 10. I'd put in my time, and now I was done.
Also, inspired by yesterday's body composition test, I did 15min of weight lifting during my lunch break and 30 push-ups, 15 jackknives, and 3min (not all at once!) of planking at chorus rehearsal.
Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: 2mi power-walk to/from PT, 25 modified push-ups, 25 wall/tricep push-ups
PT went well. My pelvis was aligned properly, and I got told not to come back for two weeks.
Bad news: I'm sick. I had a dry, sore-ish throat and some stuffy ears early in the day, and it just got worse as the afternoon wore on. Probably going to have to bail out on speedwork tomorrow morning.
Thursday
Scheduled: 1WU, 2x2mi/800m, 1CD
Did: Nope.
By Wednesday night, I knew I was definitely sick. It was really hard to accept that and trust that skipping my 4:15am alarm was the right thing to do. I figured that, if I felt better, I could do the workout later in the day, maybe on a treadmill, or at least half of it.
Nope. By the time I finished my essential tasks for my work deadline, it was 2pm. I didn't wake up from my nap until 4:30, and then had to get baby boy from daycare. Instead of trying to force it into my day, I let it go. After I allowed myself to be okay missing a workout (first time it's happened pretty much all year), it felt really good to just relax and not pressured to do anything.
Makes me look forward to being done with Chicago and getting to spend more time with my family :)
Friday
Scheduled: 5-6 easy
Did: 5.34 @ 9:28/mi avg plus 50 modified (knee) push-ups and 50 wall/tricep pushups
I felt well enough last night to plan on running with Brandi this morning. We started a bit later than usual so I could get more sleep, and also, for the first time ever, I drove up to run near her place. I figured a new course might motivate me more, and it did.
It felt really strange to put on running clothes this morning. Even though it's only been two days since my last run (and only one of those was a truly missed workout), it seemed like FOREVER.
Saturday
Scheduled: 19.
Did: 19.09 @ 9:38/mi
Oh, lawd. We did it.
This run was amazing. We had to work around a 5K race and hostessing a baby shower this afternoon...at my house, but Brandi and I still got 19+ miles in by breaking it down. Normally, when you split miles, you should add extra ones, but, since 19mi (I dropped a mile off this week's 20mi L3 workout) is already well beyond the L2 mileage, and I really fit more with the L2 plan, I didn't care.
How it went down:
1) 4:15am We ran our typical #10KTuesday route for 6.3 @ 9:39/mi. The air felt stagnant, and we were both definitely ready to be done when we returned to my house. After a quick clothing change, and glass of chocolate milk for me, we were off.
2) 6:15am After getting our race bibs, we met up with Brad, who accompanied us on our 6mi out and back up Peachtree @ 9:27/mi. It was great to have another runner with us, both for safety reasons and motivation. We were definitely going faster than my predicted 10:00/mi that I'd used for scheduling purposes. On the return trip, I had my first bit of trouble- some soreness/tiredness in my RIGHT hip flexor (it's been the left one that's sent me to PT). Brandi pointed out that I was shuffling, and I corrected myself. We finished early and even had time to go back to my car to stash lights and refill water bottles.
3) 7:30am Atlanta's Finest 5K @ 9:24/mi average. I had plans of just slogging through these miles, but then I saw one of my W5K trainees in our corral. She had wanted to break 30 back this spring, but being sick the week before the race + rain at the race + a very PR-unfriendly course meant that didn't happen. So, I asked her if she wanted to break 30 today. Not only would pacing her make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but it would also give me something else to focus on besides the fact that I would be running miles 12.5-15.5 during the race. It went sooooooo well. She broke 29.
I felt awesome after this race... but we stayed still a little too long (Brandi had some tummy trouble). When we resumed, everything hurt. So stiff. So sore. So "OOF".
4) 8:18am Last bit of 3.66mi @ 10:09/mi. Can you tell how miserable this was from the change in pace? Yeah. We started out with plans of running the course backwards, which worked out well... until less than a mile in when we hit the sag wagon, who was picking up all the cones. Brad, Brandi, nor I knew the course without cones marking the way, but we knew that there wasn't sidewalk the whole way, which mean we needed a new, impromptu route. Fortunately, I've run in this area from my office before. I led us up through GT's campus and then back down Peachtree. The whole time, I was calling up to Brandi how much further we had to go, doing mental math to determine EXACTLY how far we had to go to make sure we hit our 19. "Six more 800s", "one more mile", "0.3 to go; we'll need to add bonus miles past the parking garage so prepare yourself", etc. It wasn't pretty, but we finished, and I'd never been more grateful for training partners.
Great things about this run:
-sub 9:40/mi pace, even with the "breaks" between mileage, this is a confidence-booster for Chicago
-average HR was under 160 (and the graphs look believable)
-Jerry made me a delicious omelet when I came home and poured me a glass of chocolate milk :)
-great time with Brandi
Recovery went well enough. I was exhausted after the baby shower and appreciated my parents still having the baby so I could sleep as long as my body wanted (7pm to 5:30am). Legs felt fine on Sunday, but were definitely tight/fragile on Saturday. I spent most of the afternoon in compression sleeves, moving gingerly due to fear of straining a muscle (probably unwarranted, but I'm a little paranoid). Apart from that, my only issue is still my lower abs/hip flexors. They were sore during the run and felt super weak Saturday night, trying to sit up after laying on the couch. The longer the run, the more I seem to feel that. Guess I should start trying to work them now so the 26.2 isn't OMGAwful. ;)
Sunday
Scheduled: 30XT
Did: 1mi walk, 50 modified push-ups, 50 tricep/wall push-ups, hip PT
Thought about making up Thursday's run, then decided against it. One sick day isn't going to derail my training, and, after a long yesterday, it seemed like a good idea to keep today as an XT day. I had tentative plans to bike, but, without a real plan, it didn't happen. Baby boy was still sick when he came home from Grandma and Grandpa's, so I spent most of the day trying to comfort him instead of getting out for a ride. It's days like this that I wish I had an elliptical or means of mounting my bike and turning it into a stationary trainer; if I had that, I know I would've used it.
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| learning to fuel/recover better: I made myself an omelet |
Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: 2mi power-walk to/from PT, 25 modified push-ups, 25 wall/tricep push-ups
PT went well. My pelvis was aligned properly, and I got told not to come back for two weeks.
Bad news: I'm sick. I had a dry, sore-ish throat and some stuffy ears early in the day, and it just got worse as the afternoon wore on. Probably going to have to bail out on speedwork tomorrow morning.
Thursday
Scheduled: 1WU, 2x2mi/800m, 1CD
Did: Nope.
By Wednesday night, I knew I was definitely sick. It was really hard to accept that and trust that skipping my 4:15am alarm was the right thing to do. I figured that, if I felt better, I could do the workout later in the day, maybe on a treadmill, or at least half of it.
Nope. By the time I finished my essential tasks for my work deadline, it was 2pm. I didn't wake up from my nap until 4:30, and then had to get baby boy from daycare. Instead of trying to force it into my day, I let it go. After I allowed myself to be okay missing a workout (first time it's happened pretty much all year), it felt really good to just relax and not pressured to do anything.
Makes me look forward to being done with Chicago and getting to spend more time with my family :)
Friday
Scheduled: 5-6 easy
Did: 5.34 @ 9:28/mi avg plus 50 modified (knee) push-ups and 50 wall/tricep pushups
I felt well enough last night to plan on running with Brandi this morning. We started a bit later than usual so I could get more sleep, and also, for the first time ever, I drove up to run near her place. I figured a new course might motivate me more, and it did.
It felt really strange to put on running clothes this morning. Even though it's only been two days since my last run (and only one of those was a truly missed workout), it seemed like FOREVER.
Saturday
Scheduled: 19.
Did: 19.09 @ 9:38/mi
Oh, lawd. We did it.
This run was amazing. We had to work around a 5K race and hostessing a baby shower this afternoon...at my house, but Brandi and I still got 19+ miles in by breaking it down. Normally, when you split miles, you should add extra ones, but, since 19mi (I dropped a mile off this week's 20mi L3 workout) is already well beyond the L2 mileage, and I really fit more with the L2 plan, I didn't care.
How it went down:
1) 4:15am We ran our typical #10KTuesday route for 6.3 @ 9:39/mi. The air felt stagnant, and we were both definitely ready to be done when we returned to my house. After a quick clothing change, and glass of chocolate milk for me, we were off.
2) 6:15am After getting our race bibs, we met up with Brad, who accompanied us on our 6mi out and back up Peachtree @ 9:27/mi. It was great to have another runner with us, both for safety reasons and motivation. We were definitely going faster than my predicted 10:00/mi that I'd used for scheduling purposes. On the return trip, I had my first bit of trouble- some soreness/tiredness in my RIGHT hip flexor (it's been the left one that's sent me to PT). Brandi pointed out that I was shuffling, and I corrected myself. We finished early and even had time to go back to my car to stash lights and refill water bottles.
3) 7:30am Atlanta's Finest 5K @ 9:24/mi average. I had plans of just slogging through these miles, but then I saw one of my W5K trainees in our corral. She had wanted to break 30 back this spring, but being sick the week before the race + rain at the race + a very PR-unfriendly course meant that didn't happen. So, I asked her if she wanted to break 30 today. Not only would pacing her make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but it would also give me something else to focus on besides the fact that I would be running miles 12.5-15.5 during the race. It went sooooooo well. She broke 29.
I felt awesome after this race... but we stayed still a little too long (Brandi had some tummy trouble). When we resumed, everything hurt. So stiff. So sore. So "OOF".
4) 8:18am Last bit of 3.66mi @ 10:09/mi. Can you tell how miserable this was from the change in pace? Yeah. We started out with plans of running the course backwards, which worked out well... until less than a mile in when we hit the sag wagon, who was picking up all the cones. Brad, Brandi, nor I knew the course without cones marking the way, but we knew that there wasn't sidewalk the whole way, which mean we needed a new, impromptu route. Fortunately, I've run in this area from my office before. I led us up through GT's campus and then back down Peachtree. The whole time, I was calling up to Brandi how much further we had to go, doing mental math to determine EXACTLY how far we had to go to make sure we hit our 19. "Six more 800s", "one more mile", "0.3 to go; we'll need to add bonus miles past the parking garage so prepare yourself", etc. It wasn't pretty, but we finished, and I'd never been more grateful for training partners.
Great things about this run:
-sub 9:40/mi pace, even with the "breaks" between mileage, this is a confidence-booster for Chicago
-average HR was under 160 (and the graphs look believable)
-Jerry made me a delicious omelet when I came home and poured me a glass of chocolate milk :)
-great time with Brandi
Recovery went well enough. I was exhausted after the baby shower and appreciated my parents still having the baby so I could sleep as long as my body wanted (7pm to 5:30am). Legs felt fine on Sunday, but were definitely tight/fragile on Saturday. I spent most of the afternoon in compression sleeves, moving gingerly due to fear of straining a muscle (probably unwarranted, but I'm a little paranoid). Apart from that, my only issue is still my lower abs/hip flexors. They were sore during the run and felt super weak Saturday night, trying to sit up after laying on the couch. The longer the run, the more I seem to feel that. Guess I should start trying to work them now so the 26.2 isn't OMGAwful. ;)
Sunday
Scheduled: 30XT
Did: 1mi walk, 50 modified push-ups, 50 tricep/wall push-ups, hip PT
Thought about making up Thursday's run, then decided against it. One sick day isn't going to derail my training, and, after a long yesterday, it seemed like a good idea to keep today as an XT day. I had tentative plans to bike, but, without a real plan, it didn't happen. Baby boy was still sick when he came home from Grandma and Grandpa's, so I spent most of the day trying to comfort him instead of getting out for a ride. It's days like this that I wish I had an elliptical or means of mounting my bike and turning it into a stationary trainer; if I had that, I know I would've used it.
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| (I didn't leave him. Jerry was taking the pic) |
