Peachtree Training: Week 6/12 (29w pregnant)

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Vacation is the best. I need one of these every couple months. I haven't thought about anything other than enjoying my time with my family and life itself for the past few days. SO RELAXING.

Monday

Did: rest

Last day at the beach = chillaxing 

Tuesday

Did: 6.47mi @ 10:23/mi avg

Pinned a new location (Captiva Island, FL) for #10KTuesday this morning before we headed back home. The run was pleasant, and, after being here for four days, I finally found the resort's running trail. Win!

Wednesday

Did: 5.01mi @ 10:49/mi avg, Big 5

Had a nice greenway run with my husband this morning to help settle back into home life. I didn't need to walk at all (still can't believe how I've avoided that at 29w pregnant), and the run felt more-or-less good, despite the slower pace. It was a little weird to think 52 degrees was "cold", but I guess I acclimated to the high 80s and 90% + humidity of my Florida running over the past week. 

Thursday

Did: 1mi WU, 3xmile/400, 1mi CD = 6mi @ 9:36/mi avg, Big 2
Back to reality... That 4:10am alarm came pretty early today. While my body regularly wakes up around 4am (even on vacation), I'd gotten quite used to going back to sleep for another two hours over the past week. Oh well, gotta get back to makin' money to fund my next escape from life. 

Today's warm-up was HARD as usual, marked by a near 12min/mi pace for the climb up the YMCA hill. I didn't have much hope for getting my mile repeats anywhere near an 8:00 today, but aspired to keep them lower than a 9... or whatever my body was capable of today.

Splits: 8:32, 8:25, 8:14

SO pleased with those!!!

Track running still makes me feel "alive" and capable, despite being huge and slower than usual. It's nice to push myself a little bit. :) 

Friday

Did: nada
Wanted to get up and do yoga, but a 10:30pm wake-up with my kidling + 3am Charley horse in my calf + 4am potty break = nope

Saturday

Did: 2.14mi @ 11:05/mi avg + 4.01mi run/walk  w/stroller @ 13:50/mi avg + 7.01mi with stroller @ 11:36/mi avg = 13.16mi @ 12:12/mi avg, Big 5
I'm still stubbornly keeping a half marathon as my weekly LSD, until the negatives outweigh the positives, at least. I broke this one up into a few parts due to childcare scheduling, but still got it done.

I started off with a solo <25min run at 5am, where I felt comfortable, but averaged a very slow pace for myself. Then, after packaging up my little one, headed out to meet some training partners for whatever they could do. We got 4mi of run/walk in together, before I was left with the remaining 7mi to do on my own (well, plus the bump and the kid in the stroller). Thanks to a lot of mental tricks, I was able to make it through. I think my favorite parts of this run were: 1) listening to the kiddo sing "Mr. Sun" to the sun and 2) having cold chocolate milk in a cooler to chug once I made it back to the car. 

Sunday

Did: 5.61mi @ 10:54/mi avg + 1mi walk
Awesome family run morning on the greenway. I'm definitely struggling (mentally) with my slower pace these days. This has been the first weekend where I've had multiple miles that start with 11:XX (or more like 11:3X). I still feel good while I'm running (well, for the most part-- definitely dealing with the normal pregnant running fun of intermittent round ligament pain and the sensation of having to pee every 2mi); it's just comparing pregnant running times to non-pregnant (or earlier pregnant) times that's getting me. I'm still crazy fast and capable compared to this point in my last pregnancy (and a TON more comfortable), so I need to remember to focus on all of that. :)

Total Weekly Mileage: 36.26

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Wooo, over 1000 (1009) pregnant miles to date! I wound up with 1094 total in my first, and expect to be around 1200 this time around. 
• Pregnant running is definitely not as hard as last time. I attribute that to marathon training the first five months of this pregnancy setting me up better, and the weather being more mild since I've got an earlier due date. 
• Still love that a 36mi week feels more-or-less like "maintenance"

2 Weeks 'til Peachtree

Monday
Did: rest day :)
Mmmm, rest day.


Tuesday
Did: ONB (30:26 out @ 9:38/mi avg, 25:59 back @ 8:13/mi avg) = 6.32 @ 8:56/mi avg, Big 5, 20min lunch yoga
It's gotten so humid this past week. We're all dripping before mile 2 these days... 

I wanted to have some sort of a plan for this run, so I opted for an ONB. Took the first half nice and easy, and pushed the back half. I always find it interesting that I can talk comfortably at the faster pace, but just don't feel as "easy" running it. 

Kind of pushed up the hill- not a true hill race, but a concerted effort to keep pace low up the incline for sure. 

Laps 1-4 = "out"
Laps 5-9 = "back"
Lap 9 = "the hill"

Wednesday
Did: 3 easy + bootcamp
When I saw "Next Alarm: 4:05am" before I went to bed last night, I thought I was good. Nope, that was for Thursday. I woke up too late to meet B for our pre-bootcamp miles (so now we're 1-1 on inadvertently standing the other one up... not bad for three years of running together). 

I was awake at 5:02am, and out the door by 5:08am, though, so not too shabby. Made it to bootcamp with a few minutes to spare. :P

1- enjoyed full push-ups for these :)

2- not a fan of either of these exercises :P

3- had a really hard time with mountain climbers during round 3-- not sure why; just felt like something was tired

4- plank was fun

5- chose heaviest weight available... unsure what it was, probably only like 20# over-the-shoulder pack?

6- chest-to-ground burpees are hard and suck the momentum out of life for me

Mixed in a few fence runs and 40 wipers on our instructor's callouts between rounds.

Thursday
Scheduled: 1mi WU, 4x1200/400, 1mi CD 
Did: 1mi WU @ 10:20, 3x800m @ 3:30ish, 3x800 @ 3:20ish, 1mi CD @ 10:11 = 6.85 @ 8:24mi/avg, followed up with LOTS of stretching throughout the day
Peachtree plan called for 1200s, but I wasn't up for doing such a long repeat distance after four months where my longest speedwork interval was 300s. C had 800s on her schedule, with the first half at about my pace, so I opted to join her instead. 

The last time I did 800s, my goal time was 3:36. This was based off my 5K PR at Braves last year. I know I'm faster than that (didn't look before, but indicator says 3:25 based on my Feb '17 5K PR), so when C said she was aiming for 3:30s for the first three, I figured that would be a good new goal to hit. I was right. The first lap of each of these was easy, to the point where I could carry on a reasonable level of conversation... before the second lap wore down. Between 400m and 600m was the hardest, and I was glad to have a partner going for the same splits. 

We took a brief water break between numbers 3 and 4 for "track math", where we figured out what our 200m splits needed to be for our goals, stretched, and regrouped for the harder half of the workout. C's goals for the second half were much more ambitious than mine, but it was nice to have someone just ahead of me to pace off of. I found myself consistently 1-3s slow at the 600m mark, but picking it up enough to come in 1-2s under my goal of 3:20 for the first couple.

The last one was hard. We had a couple friends stationed at the 200m and 100m marks, ready to jump in with us on our last push. This was huge. B helped me keep a strong kick to the end. I felt myself give several small pushes during the last 100, unconsciously hoping to "defeat" her enough to guarantee my "win" and just let me coast, but she wasn't having it. Every time I pushed a little, she kept right with me, forcing me to keep going and not let up... and pushing me to a wicked fast 3:13 for my last interval. Woo, teamwork!

I've started rewarding myself for hitting all my splits in a workout by walking up the big hill leading out of the track. That was really nice today :) 

Also, it was raining the entire workout today- just a light drizzle, and that was really nice. Hope we get similarly cool weather for Ptree in a few weeks. 



Friday
Did: 2 easy @ 9:14/mi + bootcamp
It's 1pm right now, and I don't even remember doing this workout this morning... It's been that kind of day. Run felt good, and then, evidently, we did a workout. 

Saturday
Did: 3.02 @ 10:34/mi with stroller
Lots of awesome stuff happened today. B opted to switch rest days, so I was on my own today. I'd heard about this #SportsBraSquad movement and found a local event for today's National Sports Bra Running Day (or something like that). It happened to be: 1) within a half hour's drive, 2) stroller-friendly, and 3) organized in part by the Decatur Chapter of Moms Run This Town. 

I recently joined my local MRTT, and figured this would be a cool opportunity to:  

1. Run somewhere new
2. Run with other strollers and maybe make some new contacts
3. Run in a sports bra with other women in sports bras
4. See what MRTT was all about (I had brief knowledge from a previous race)

The run itself was pretty ho-hum. I ended up being the lead runner, but didn't want to run alone, so I altered my pack to stick with another woman and enjoyed some new conversation. We also saw the Decatur ATC group out and about, and got some "Potato!" cheers, which is always fun. 

After the run, I was talking with another woman. When I mentioned Roswell, she asked if I'd ever run the Alien 13.1. I said I had, and that it was actually there, on the eve of my first half marathon, that I found out about Moms Run This Town. There was a woman there who ran it around the start of her third trimester, and just seeing her joy crossing the finish line (under 2:45, I might add), inspired me to run it pregnant myself, two years later.

...that was the woman I was talking to!!!

Turns out, she's actually the founder of Moms Run This Town, and not the local chapter, like, the whole thing, nationally. SO. FREAKING. COOL. 

Sunday
Did: Practice Peachtree Run @ 8:28/mi avg
B and I met up with a couple other "B"s for a Peachtree course run at the crack of dawn. It's really empowering to have become one of those people who gets up and does stuff like this on a weekend morning. :)

start line and finish line

We had no real pace goals for today, just wanted to remember the course, identify places that might trip B up on her way to her goal, and have a good 10K run. The guys were a bit more aggressive with their runs, but we knew we'd meet up at the end. 

Weather was A-MAZING: 67 degrees, overcast, moderate humidity, with a sliiiiight breeze. If only we could get THAT for race day! B started off much faster than I wanted to go, but, since I was here for her, I sucked it up and kept with her. I didn't check pace at all during the run, but, at the end, I learned our first mile had been a sub-9. :P

It's all downhill from there...
Well, until mile 3 :P

The run went great. I felt really good going up both parts of cardiac, and really good in general. Again, I never looked at my watch at the mile splits. I wanted to run by feel, and not stress about anything. Mission accomplished. 

When we finally turned on tenth, I had to recollect that there was still a LONG way to go. Making the only turn on the course doesn't mean you're about to finish; it means you're less than a mile from the finish. 

We had a couple start/stops due to crosswalks/traffic in the last mile, but finished strong.

Really proud of this. It didn't feel like a walk in the park, but it wasn't a pushed pace.
We conversed the whole way.

While we definitely had a GREAT run (less than 30s/mi off of race day goal pace, and my personal second fastest 10K ever), the best part of this morning was, without a doubt, seeing the other Peachtree participants out on their own course runs. Beyond the standard runners and walkers, we saw a half dozen Shepard Center athletes. These guys were incredible. Watching them push themselves up and down the course's serious inclines was so inspirational (especially the guy doing hill REPEATS). I'm so proud to be a part of Peachtree, and can't wait for the Ultimate #10KTuesday. 

Weeeee, finish line!

Recovery Week of Sorts... Except For the Race :P

Monday
Planned: bootcamp
Did: got barely three hours of sleep, zombied through work, and crashed HARD at 6:45pm
Accomplishment of the day: I made coffee.

Tuesday
Did: 10KTuesday @ 9:19/mi avg, 20min yoga YouTube
Run started off slow and easy, but had a pretty fast back end. B was definitely the pace leader this morning, but I was feeling good enough to hang with her. 

even felt food enough to blitz up The Hill :) 

Wednesday
Did: bootcamp
This felt gooooood. I've been struggling with some body issues lately, and just getting a good, solid strength workout in is a huge help. I'm pretty proud to have made it through all the flutter kick intervals without stopping, but have a lot of work to do to get back to where I was a couple months ago when I was coming regularly. 

Another bonus: I killed the fence runs, with paces of 7:55 and 6:06/mi for the ~0.25mi runs. 


Thursday
Did: stroller hills with baby boy, 3.12 @ 8:47/mi average
Realizing that I haven't stroller run in a couple weeks AND I have a stroller race on Saturday with the Running Mamas, I decided it would be prudent to some something with baby boy this week. I opted for a run through the hillacious Newtown Park, thinking it would be a good challenge... and I could take baby boy to the playground afterwards. 

OOF. This was the hardest thing I've done in a looooong time. I HATE stroller running on hills. It is ZERO fun... apart from the sense of accomplishment you get when you pass the same people and they give you that "OMG, you're pushing a stroller, up these hils, and RUNNING while doing it?!!? You craaaaaaaay" look. 

My goal was to average a 9:15/mi pace, pushing hard on the uphills (which are hard enough to walk without a stroller), and taking advantage of the downhills. I clocked an 8:59 the first mile, and treated myself to about a minute or rest masquerading as me being a good mom and retrieving baby boy's water bottle for him. 

Brutal. Absolutely BRUTAL.

After each mile, I had to stop and give myself a bit of a break. Partially, this was because I did a crappy job warming up. Baby boy does GREAT in the stroller... when we're moving. I told myself I'd do a brisk walk and a like jog for a mile and then start the hill repeats on m2 to give myself a warm-up. That didn't happen, and my calves were definitely displeased about it. Between each mile, I did a bit of dynamic stretching to mitigate the effects of not warming up before a hard workout. 

Other things I played around with:

• Wheel Lock: I've been running with the wheel free to rotate about its z-axis for the past few months and found it MUCH easier (less friction to overcome). However, I haven't been going fast. I tried locking the wheel for the first two laps to remind myself of how it felt. It was hard, but I think the idea of potentially hitting a pothole and dumping the potato scares me enough to run with it. 
• Single Arm Running: I've been doing a LOT of this when the front wheel is free, and it's been great. With the wheel locked, though, it puts a lot of pressure on my supporting arm/shoulder to keep the stroller on course. Probably won't do much of this on Saturday. 
• Hands/Water Position: With the wheel lock on and single-arm running difficult, I need to remember to have my right hand in the wrist strap, serving as primary control for the stroller, and my water bottle in the LEFT side of my caddy. This is a change from usual, where my water bottle is on the right. 
• Getting Under the Stroller: I made an effort to get "under" the stroller when going up hills, which means extending my upper body and arms and engaging more of my hams and glutes. Seemed to help, even if I looked ridiculous. 
• Downhills: Without the stroller, my preferred stride for downhills is a gallop. Literally, I look like I'm doing the ol' cross-the-floor lead gallop from elementary school gym class. This is much harder to do with a stroller, so I tended to just quick step as fast as I could to let the stroller's momentum take me down. 

I was SO happy to be done with this workout.

Friday
Did: bootcamp + 2 @ 9:53/mi 
I can tell I was bad about stretching yesterday. Calves and hams were tight, and I had mad PF when I woke up. Fortunately, a shakeout run and bootcamp were just what I needed to work those kinks out. I kept Brandi to a slow run this morning, reminding myself that this was nothing more than a shakeout, and that it truly needed to be a recovery run. If I didn't think I was going too slowly, then I wasn't going slowly enough. 

You can tell where I decided to slow down :P 

Bootcamp, as usual, was wonderful. I had a hard time with a lot of the exercises today, but love that they always challenge me. Victories today included: rocking the wall balls and executing the KB swings with good form. Struggles included: having to do the easiest mod of the modified pull-ups and slowing down the straight leg raises. Love feeling strong. :) Plus, B and I got some bonus stretching time in before and after class. 



Saturday
Planned: 1Wu, 5K race, 1CD
Did: 0.1WU (yeah, that's right), <5K race, 0.5mi CD
Race Report: Pound the Pavement for Peter 


Sunday
Did: 4.38 @ 9:50/mi with the stroller
This didn't even feel like a workout at all. :) 

Race Report: Publix Half Marathon

Previous PR: 1:58:17 (Thanksgiving 2016)

Goal: fun run

Result: PR- 1:56:02

Pre-Race

By the time I hopped into B’s car to ride down to the race, I still had no idea what I was going to wear to run. Our four combined weather apps all had temps around 41, with 8mph winds. This is right on my thermal break, especially when combined with the fact that I wasn’t planning on racing. I know that you're supposed to be cold at the start of a race. If you're not cold for the first mile, you're overdressed. I ended up dressing myself in capris, a short-sleeve shirt, and arm sleeves, bringing shorts, a singlet, gloves, and a earband to add/subtract as necessary, and wearing a throwaway recovery jacket on both my top and bottom halves for pre-race wanderings.

The best thing about races is the pre/post-race social time. We had an enjoyable reunion with some of our in-training friends at the track club tent, but didn't end up meeting up with any of the people we'd wanted to start the race with. Fortunately, we'd had a back-up plan: "meet at the front of Corral C". That was NOT a good plan. The corrals were HUGE, and most of our group is pretty short. Next time, we need to say "meet in the front left (or right) corner". 

Against most odds, we DID meet up with Birgit, Shelly, and Mark before the gun went off, though. :) So glad to see them!


Miles 1-4
Brandi planned to run with Birgit no matter what. I planned on running "easy" no matter what, at least for the first 8-9 miles, and then I wanted to try to push a bit for the last 5K. Shelly and Mark had no real pace goals, but were going to run whatever they felt. Within the first mile, B&B were ahead of the 2:00 half/4:00 full pace groups, and I had zero interest in sticking with them. I called a "good luck, see you at the finish" and settled in for a more comfortable pace. Fortunately, Shelly and Mark were closer to that pace, so I had some good company. 

There's a pretty good incline from 2.5 to 4, but it felt easy. This was a sign of awesome things to come. 


Miles 5-9
While I felt GREAT going through the first few miles of hills, it was rough when the mob of 2:00/4:00 we were caught in would ebb on the uphills. Shelly and I decided we needed to get ahead of them, and I made a break for it on the next downhill. While my gallop stride took me ahead of her, she quickly caught up. After about a mile, she passed me, and I didn't try to keep up. This wasn't a race; it was a fun run.

Mile 6: The Vortex is an iconic Atlanta burger joint. It smelled SO GOOD, even at 8am.

I had no idea what my pace was at this point. I wasn't looking at my watch, but had started checking the timing signs at each mile. I'd started six minutes later than the gun, so it was starting to become fun to see how far off of a 10:00 (because easy math) gun pace I was. I remember being +2:00 at one point, +1:00 at another, and wondering exactly how fast I was going, because I was definitely gaining time... a LOT of time.

At mile 7, I knew the hills were coming. I'd started checking my splits at each mile beep and realized I was going WAY faster (mid-8s) than I'd thought (low-9s) and WAY faster than I'd planned (mid-9s). I started wondering if I'd exhausted myself too much and if I'd have much left in me to actually push the hills when they started coming hard after mile 8.

Mile 9-12

"It's all uphill from here"

I wish I'd looked closer at the elevation profile before the race. All I knew was that the last 5K was pretty gnarly, and encompassed the worst of midtown running: 10th Street, Juniper, and some pretty bogus hill within Georgia Tech's campus that I never see coming. To my surprise, 10th Street was the only one of those that felt hard. As soon as I exited the park, I felt myself slow. I didn't know what pace I was going, but it felt slog-tastically slow. I considered walking for a minute, and then I saw something that shook that thought right out of my head:

On the ground in front of me was my shadow, and the shadow of a pace flag behind me. The only pace flag that could possibly be was the 2:00 group.

HOW THE HECK WERE THEY RIGHT BEHIND ME?!?!

All thoughts of "I don't have a goal" and "this is just a fun run" and "I'll walk if I want to because I don't care about my time" flew out of my head the second I thought about being the only one in our group to finish over 2:00. I'm faster that I used to be, and, honestly, I feel a LOT of pressure to be able to easily break 2:00... or at least not get passed by the pacer going up a hill when my only goal for the race had been to push up the last 5K's worth of hills. 

I considered, for a moment, just hanging out with the pace team 'til the end and letting them bring me in. After all, hadn't I told Jerry I'd be behind the 2:00 pace team for sure, and that I was planning a 2:05ish finish? Then again, I know myself and my pacing. If I were to fall in with them, the rest of the race would seem like work. Work to maintain pace. Work to stay with them. I'd rather push myself than have someone running with me.

I dug in and cranked up that hill, and then up Juniper (another nemesis for most of the Atlanta running community). The shadow of the flag was nowhere in sight. Phew. I relaxed for a minute, and then saw a red singlet over my shoulder.

THE PACER WAS RIGHT NEXT TO ME!?!?! WHAT. THE. WHAT.

I motored up and across on fifth, telling myself the pacer HAD to be way head of target. I mean, I knew I'd slowed up a little, but I couldn't have been THAT far behind, right? Right?

Spoiler Alert: They were DEFINITELY ahead of pace.

I continued along at a comfortable, yet strong and quick, pace for the next few miles, counting them down. I decided when I hit mile 12, I'd gun it and see how fast I could do that final mile in, hoping it wasn't too uphill.

The Last Mile

Mile 12 came QUICK. I picked up the pace, and thought of how awesome it was going to be to see Jerry and baby boy standing on the sidelines, cheering me on at the 12.5ish mile point. Even since before I was pregnant, I've loved the idea of having my child on the sidelines of a race with a poster for me. Today was finally the day that was going to happen, and I wanted to look strong as I went by him. That wouldn't be a problem. I was feeling AWESOME.  

I saw Shelly in the distance. Whoa. I must have made up a LOT of time. I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up before continuing on. 

A little later, I heard a familiar voice say, "Go, Angelina". I turned over my shoulder and was shocked to see B&B. I definitely made up a lot of time. 

A quick check of my watch confirmed that, no matter what, I was going to PR the course. Cool. This wasn't my race though, and, weird as it might sound, I didn't care about my time in that moment. 

I slowed up and crossed over to my running buddies, chatted a bit, and then realized that, if I wanted to cross the finish line with them, I had plenty of time to stop and see my baby. I told them I'd catch them again before the finish line, but wanted to run ahead and see my potato.

The potato, unfortunately, was a bit further away than I'd thought, and I ended up running by myself for a lot longer than I'd planned. I started worrying if I was TOO far ahead of pace and if Jerry and baby boy would even be out there when I passed. Fortunately, they were. I stopped off to the side, and spent what felt like awhile with them. Jerry was definitely confused that I had stopped and was reaching to hug baby boy. "Go!" he said. 

"Gonna wait for B&B," I told him, giving baby boy a hug. That may not have been the best call, because I had to give him back to Jerry when B&B came through, and he may or may not have cried for the next few minutes because I "left him". :(

"Mommy, I want to run like you when I grow up!"
D'awwwwwwwwwwww

The last quarter mile was wonderful. There's something magical about getting to cross the finish line with your training buddies, and having enough stamina to talk the whole time, cheering them on, especially when one of them was going to CRUSH her goal... at not even six months postpartum. :)

It's not quite as good as Braves, but still love this pic <3 

#10KTuesday representing

Partial 10KTuesday + Partial Running Mamas

Reflections

• Having such an awesome half and seeing people running a full makes me want to do another one. :P (maaaaaybe I should just try racing a half first, though) 
• I have a half marathon whose pace begins with an 8.This is a first <3 
• I negative split Publix. This race strategy is totally my jam. I love love love starting off easy and speeding up, no matter the course. It just works for me. Kind of cool that B&B just paced evenly and we all ended up at the finish together. :) 
• I stopped for about a minute to hang out with baby boy, and had more in me at the finish. If I can get over my mental block of having to try/focus for ~2 hours, I should really race a half marathon sometime and see what I can do. Maybe I'm not as far behind the rest of the group in a distance race as a I think I am. 
• I got to cross the line with two of my best friends. This was so powerful. It reminded me of when people did that for me at Braves, Singleton, and Hearts and Soles, and when I got to do it for pregnant Birgit at last year's Peachtree. Running isn't just about time, it's about sharing experiences with others, and celebrating victories together, especially when they're not your own. 

One "stuck behind people and can't move"
Two "waterbottle refills"
and
One "hi, sweet baby boy, how are you?"

dem hills, tho

...and I felt like I could have easily gone faster that last mile

Bonus
Baby Boy did his SECOND 50m dash after my race and nailed it! 
So so so so so amazing to get to share this running thing with him and Jerry. 

Mommy & Me: Medals