Locomotive Half Training: 4 Weeks Out

Monday

Scheduled: 3-5 easy
Did: nada
After 13.1 hard, hilly miles on Saturday, Sunday in heels, and pretty much going nonstop all weekend, I decided I needed a break and bowed out of this run on Sunday night. I dreamt about rest day, woke up dreading having to run because I thought it was #10KTuesday, and was so so so so so happy to wake up to Jerry's 5:30am alarm knowing I just had to get up and get to work this morning. BEST DECISION EVER.

Though, I'll be honest, there's a part of me that worries I'm losing my motivation to run. I seem to be very all or nothing in so many areas of my life, and, if I'm not BTTW, I'm kind of drifting aimlessly... 

I think this sums up my feelings on running right now.

Tuesday
Scheduled: 8ONB
Did: 8.38 @ 9:17/mi avg
When you wake up at 4am to see "39 degrees" on your weather app, it is NOT an easy task to get out of a warm, cozy bed to go outside and run. Fortunately, I've found my motivation: training buddies. 

Brandi and I opted for a 2mi pre-run, and then added #10KTuesday with the crew for an 8ONB. It went really, really well. :)

Miles 5-7: How's THAT for consistentcy? :)
Slowed down intentionally for m8- left calf was getting cold and a little tight after waiting too long at the halfway point

Wednesday
Scheduled: rest easy 4
Did: 4.15 @ 9:31/mi
Swapped W/F due to Brandi's work schedule. This is the first run in a long time that felt easy, fast, and truly enjoyable. We didn't have a single though of "when's this gonna be over?/how much further?". Yaaaaaaay.


Thursday
Scheduled: 1WU, 2x2mi/800m, 1CD
Did:1WU @ 9:58, 2mi @ 7:46, 800 @ 10:08, 1mi 8:03, 800 @ 10:01, 1CD @ 9:19
I got this week's workouts by taking the Thanksgiving Half plan and pushing the goal race date to Locomotive. After over a month without so much as a 400m under an 8:15/mi pace, going from no speedwork to 2mi repeats was a bit of a reach. >_<

I didn't really have a pace in mind for the 2mi repeats, and just led Jody lead out, keeping her in sight as a way of pacing myself. We ended up right at what my 2mi pace should have been if I'd calculated based on m July 5K. Boom. 

On the tail end of the second mile, though, my left calf seemed a little tight (this is a common problem for me in the winter- def need to focus on stretching more). While I'm still not sure if it was real or just mental, I opted out of the second 2mi repeat and stuck with only 1 fast mile for the return, a little slower than I was capable of... and had no trouble. Phew. 

All in all, a great workout and return to speedwork. I'm really looking forward to YOT5K, though. Let's bring back the 200m and 400m repeats on the track!

Also, working from home = had some time to do strength training. I found a few things on Pinterest and worked through them. Better than nothing.

Round 1:

OMG. Box jumps are seriously exhausting. 

Also did 3x10 situps, push-ups, and tricep dips before bed.

Friday
Scheduled: 4 easy rest
Did: nothing
Stressed a little over some tight/sore spot in my left calf... Cold weather always makes me more susceptible to calf strains :/ Slept with compression sleeve. 
Saturday
Scheduled: 2WU, 7 with training = 9
Did: 10.51 @ 9:22/mi
Man, cold weather helps soooo much! 

Brandi and I started with a nice 5K warm-up, and then we led our pod through the last training run of the fall distance season. We had 54 degrees, light wind, and sun: perfect conditions for a mid-distance run. Also, my calf was totally fine. Phew! 


Sunday
Scheduled: 1WU, 5K hard, 1CD
Did: 1mi warm-up @ 9:12/mi, 5K race @ 7:36/mi
Well, I don't know how long the course was (since it wasn't certified), but I'm pretty sure I can count this as a new 5K PR, even if it's only by a couple seconds (23:34, down from Braves' 23:37). 

I didn't set out to PR this race, or even push very hard. I figured a solid 8min/mi (25:00) would be a good push for me without going crazy, and that's what I planned to do. But then we learned that there was no start line chip, so all AGs were based off of gun time... and then I felt good keeping up with Brandi for the first mile... and then I crossed the finish in less time than it took me to do Braves. Soooooo, yeah. 

perks of being a few years apart from your training partner:
you can BOTH win 1st place in your age group :D

It feels REALLY good to have just hit a PR without feeling like I exerted any sort of PR effort. I certainly pushed during the race, but it never felt like a PR sort of push. I didn't even kick at the end. Year of the 5K is going to be amazing :D CANNOT WAIT.

my first time on a podium!

Total Miles: 33.17
Total Annual Miles to Date: 1350.86
just passed my previous annual mileage goal (1346, from last year)


Strength Training Update
Also, it's happening. Brandi and I bought purchased a Groupon for two months of unlimited 5:30am classes at a Crossfit-esque gym she's been to before. Strength training is coming, and tentatively scheduled to begin on Monday, November 28. 

2017: The Game Plan #YearOfThe5K

As we near the end of the year, the #10KTuesday crew is already starting to talk about plans for next year. I always find it useful to look back before looking ahead, so here's a nice blast from the past of my running life:


A Brief History of Annual Goals
2011: track runs and workouts/actually start working out --> created the ultimate Google Sheet of ultimate destiny

2012: average one mile a day for the year --> ran 372.65

2013: break 30min in a 5K, run a 10K all the way through --> accomplished... and then ran three half marathons, and broke 2:00

2014: run a marathon, break 1000mi/year --> Flying Pig, 5:16:28; total mileage 1207

2015: break 25:00 in a 5K --> did NOT break 25 (came as close as 25:12), got pregnant, and ran over 1000 miles with #potato on board (new annual mileage record of 1346)


Goals for the Past Year (2016)
After having my first baby on Thanksgiving in 2015 (which prevented me from running the Thanksgiving Half Marathon I'd trained throughout my pregnancy for), 2016 was going to be a rebuilding year. I wanted to get myself back in shape gradually, and set these goals in order to accomplish that:

Results:

• Broke 30 at Shamrock 'n Roll (overall stroller champ) AND Women's 5K (3rd place stroller) while pushing a stroller
• PRed the 10K distance at Singleton (before Peachtree), and ran Peachtree with a 7mo pregnant friend for funsies
• Crushed the sub-25 5K goal with a 23:37 at Braves
• Nailed sub-4:30 with a 4:17:43 marathon time in Chicago, almost a one hour PR over Flying Pig

In other words... 

Goals for 2017
I worked really, really hard this year, and had an AMAZINGLY successful 2016. Not only did I crush every single goal I had set for myself, but I'm also even fitter than I was before getting pregnant. WIN. 

Going into next year, I need to take a step back from distance for a few reasons. First, what I've done this year is simply unsustainable, especially as baby boy grows up. Second, my husband has been A-MAZING this year, supporting me through my redemption marathon, and next year it's my turn to be amazing for him as he looks to shred his current marathon time (he's only done one) and get something a little more in line with his abilities. 

Enter: 

#YEAROFTHE5K 

(it's also a thing)

http://www.runnersworld.com/5k/10-reasons-the-5k-is-freaking-awesome

I don't want to give up working out or running, but I can't commit to the longer distances. What's a girl to do? Shorten that goal distance and focus on training for speed. I don't plan on completely giving up distance (#10KTuesday will still be a weekly thing, even if it's my longest run), but I will be dropping back a lot. This also gives me more time to spend on other things, like family/work/chorus, AND strength training. While I'm in pretty good shape, I really want to improve my body composition and tone-up, mostly for me, but also because I do plan on having another baby at some point, and it'd be great to set myself up as best I can to stay healthy/return to this body after #2 comes along. 

Brandi and I have talked this entire year about how we both need to strength train more, so we're holding each other accountable and going to have a plan by December 1 to do strength stuff at least twice a week. Together. (because we won't bail on each other like we'd bail on ourselves)

Goals for 2017:

• Need a SMART goal for strength training.... still working on that one
• Get a new 5K PR (23:36 or faster)
• Run a mile at or under 6:30 (current PR 6:33)
• PR at Peachtree (current 10K PR 54:09)

Race Calendar, as of now:

• 1/1 Resolution One Mile- Time Trial
• 1/21 Peachtree City 8K- 2mi WU, 3mi hard
• 3/19 Publix Half Marathon?
• 3/20 Water Drop 5K? 
• 4/15 Singleton 5K - Target Race?
• 5/5 Flying Pig 1 Mile - Target?
• 5/6 Flying Pig 5K/10K, pending mile results
• 6/6 All-Comers Track Meet
• 6/13 All-Comers Track Meet
• 6/17 Braves 5K - Target
• 7/4 Peachtree - The Ultimate #10KTuesday
• 7/15 Decatur 4M
• 8/19 Atlanta's Finest 5K?
• 9/23 Wingfoot XC
• 10/22 Atlanta 10 Miler- Cardiac Challenge Goal: sub-7:00mi
• 11/23 Thanksgiving Half?
• 12/2 Grand Prix Fun Run

Locomotive Half Training: 5 Weeks Out

I'm back on... for now.

I'm not as committed to Locomotive as I was for any of my previous races. I've given running a LOT this year, and other things have been compromised. My work is picking up (got promoted and put in charge of a sizeable project), so I'm having to give a LOT more to the office these days, which means priorities have shifted. I'm taking a step back from chorus until the end of the year, and wouldn't be surprised if running also takes a bit of a backseat. Still, I need running in my life for a bunch of reasons (stress relief being #1), so I'll tentatively proceed with a plan for Locomotive... which I may shorten to "Loco", because it amuses me.

Monday

Plan: 5 easy

Did: 4.15 @ 9:44/mi

Just didn't care enough to "go the extra mile" this morning. I'm totally starting this training plan out right... :P

Tuesday

Plan: 5 easy

Did: 6.30 w/5 striders- 9:15/mi avg
OK. This didn't feel "9:15" hard. That's good. Maybe my speed is coming back. 

This (the striders) was my first bit of "speedwork" since before Chicago, and it felt good... but also a bit foreign. Definitely going to need to work this stuff back into runs if I'm going to have any chance at a good time for Loco or other races.

#10KTuesday, lightin' it up!
"Disco Vests"- if you don't have one for you or your dog, order now!
Save 35% off the entire site with code "10KTuesday"

Wednesday

Plan: Rest
Walked about 2mi for client meetings/work, and, best thing ever: the headache of death is FINALLY gone.

Thursday

Plan: 1mi WU, 4mi tempo, 1mi CD

Did: 6.24 @ 8:56/mi avg
I was a little nervous going into this run. I calculated out what I need for a 1:55 half--- 8:50/mi. While that pace shouldn't scare me and isn't outside of my abilities, the idea of holding it for 13.1 miles really intimidates me for some reason. 

I haven't done speedwork since before Chicago and, while my run paces are no longer in the 10s, the idea of keeping sub-9 for four miles on a hilly course wasn't something I felt excessively confident about. I want to get back to the days when a 9:15 was my easy pace, and the only way to do that is to run faster more. :P 

elevation profile, each grid is 100' vertical
not hill-acious, but not tempo-friendly

So I got up, met Brandi, and we made it happen. When the tempo miles began, we didn't look at our watches for about a half mile, assuming we were too slow and not wanting to see how badly we were off-pace. Turns out, we were way fast. I made an effort to slow down, and found that we could easily keep our goal pace while chatting a little. 

We made a few realizations this run:
1) Without a goal (or maybe because we spent SO much of this year hardcore training for goals), running is boring. Before mile 2, we were both wondering when we'd be done (this has been an in-run conversation almost EVERY run since Chicago)
2) We definitely do NOT run our best as often as we should. After the tempo miles, both of us felt like we could easily do another five miles... if it weren't so boring. 
3) Running new places is helpful, and North Point Parkway is a new favorite. 

splits 2 and 8 are "extra" between WU and tempo and CD and the cars
recall goal for splits 3,4,5,6 was 8:50.

Things to work on: CONSISTENCY. 

Friday

Plan: strength training

Did: 4.15 @ 9:26/mi
I really only ran today to see Brandi... and have her help me pick out outfits for our family photos this weekend. This was our first cold run of the year, 40 degrees. I wore 3/4 length tights, a long sleeve, and my puffy vest, which I knew would be hot on the run, but really, really wanted to start. I unzipped it and took my gloves off at the halfway point, and felt fine the rest of the way. 

Also, it feels so good to see that pace for a run that really did feel quite easy. :)

Saturday:

Plan: 11

Did: 13.1 @ 9:33/mi avg
Oh, hey there, OVER 60 MINUTE RUN. I've only done four (inclusive) of those since Chicago... and it kind of feels good. 

Today's run was more than I wanted, but, as a Run Leader, I'm somewhat obligated, and that ended up being a good thing today. I found many times where I was "over" the whole distance running thing, but, because I'm a RL, was smiling and chatting with participants and putting all of my focus on making this a good run for them. We ended up having our 9:00-9:55/mi pod stay together the whole time (a first!), and that was awesome. Lots of new people to talk to, lots of new stories to hear. 

I was really proud of myself that a hillacious course like what we had today didn't actually feel too hard, and that a 2:05 half is solidly in my comfort/easy zone. Maybe cutting it down by ten minutes won't feel as awful as I fear.

Sunday

Plan: 3-5

Did: 3.13 @ 9:53/mi avg
Stroller running with the running mamas crew :)

Total Mileage for the Week: 37
Wait, I thought I was on a break? hahaha

Addiction, and another half-baked week of running

Hi, my name is 'lina, and I'm addicted to training plans.

After a rigorous commitments to doing what my schedule told me to every day from January until October 9, you'd think I'd be grateful to have a little freedom. While I appreciate no longer having to be up and out the door in the 4-4:30am range, or running for 3+ hours on Saturdays, I feel really lost without my trusty Type-A plan of what to do each day and a real goal in the future to work towards. 

I have three "races" in the foreseeable future: 

1) a charity 5K on 11/20 that I signed up for because a group of the 20-something chorus girls are doing it

2) the Thanksgiving Half (tradition)

3) the Locomotive Half on 12/11 (originally thought an out of state friend might be doing it, heard good recs from Brandi + others, and kind of want a more PR-friendly half course to "use" my Chicago training on)

That's three races within 30 days, for anyone who can't math. Since you can't race that much effectively, I've decided to make Locomotive my goal race, treat Thanksgiving as a tune-up, and use the 5K for speedwork/funsies (with a goal of sub-25).

This means I should start some sort of focused training plan for Locomotive. Yet, when I took the Thanksgiving ATC plan, applied it to Locomotive's goal date, and backed out where I should be this week, I realized I didn't feel like getting up at 4:15am to do an 8ONB on Tuesday... nor did I want to go back to the track where we almost got attacked by a hellhound for SpeedworkThursday if it's only Brandi and me. Oh, and I felt like absolute death from about 3pm on Friday until 8pm Saturday. 

...so, another week gone, I suppose. 

Monday

4 @ 9:30/mi

ABC run today (Angelina, Brandi, and Courtney). Enjoyed the run, but it still felt a bit hard/too fast on occasion, so I pulled back from B&C's "comfortable pace" at times.

Tuesday

10KTuesday @ 9:19/mi

Intended to do an ONB, but didn't really make any conscious pace decisions in-run. Ended up with a really consistent, fast run after a one mile warm-up. Clocked near 9-flats for most of it, and didn't feel like it was too hard; I was "just keeping up with everyone else for conversation". 

Wazzup, 9-min miles

Wednesday

rest

This worked out well in my schedule, since I had some food poisoning symptoms... :P 

Thursday

strength and cross-training
15min strength training with freeweights-- I really need a routine or something to motivate me on this.... Like, really.

Brandi and I had tossed around the idea of joining CrossFit together, since there are some locations with 5:00am classes between our homes, but then we looked at the price. Eek! $100/mo? No thanks. 

Friday

easy 4.1 @ 9:36/mi
Not much to say about this one. Good run :)

Saturday

11 with ATC 
Nothing
And, by "nothing", I literally mean nothing. I got a grand total of 978 steps in thanks to a debilitating tension headache that made even turning my head in bed almost unbearable. 

Sunday

3.56mi stroller run @ 10:13/mi avg
PLUS 2.05mi @ 8:29/mi avg
Today's Running Mamas meetup was exactly what I needed. Birgit, Shelly, and I enjoyed a little under four easy, progression miles with our babies. I had a bit of a headache lingering for the first half mile and some residual back tension, but I still felt the best I'd felt all weekend while I was running. 

Running is so much of a stress-reliever for me that I decided to go for a second run solo this afternoon. I haven't run by myself in... I don't even know. It was beautiful. No pace expectations, no conversation, absolutely nothing but me, myself, and I. I ended up being a lot faster than I thought, too. 

Another week without a plan :)

After a couple weeks off, I'm getting back into the groove of regular running. I've also decided what my next goal will be. I originally thought about trying for a half PR at Thanksgiving, but then a friend suggested the Locomotive half, and that sounded really appealing. I figure I'll run Thanksgiving as a bit of a run fun and a bit of a tempo run, and then put all my PR eggs in the Locomotive basket. 

Total Mileage: 29.5 (not bad for a plan-less week)



Monday
4mi @ 9:06/mi-- "snap back to reality"
A nice, short 4mi at 5:15am with Courtney and Brandi was the perfect way to resume "real life" after a week in Vegas for SAI Convention. My goal was to push the pace just a bit more than I usually would, and the 46 degree temperature made that pretty easy to do. I think I even led the pack for most of the run, which felt good (but, really, both of them did a HARD, hilly 10mi race yesterday, so my legs were the freshest). 

Tuesday
#10KTuesday @ 8:45/mi avg, with a hill race 
It was cold this morning, and by "cold", I mean 49 degrees; I was slightly uncomfortable in my singlet and shorts until we got going. Hooray, for the month of Run-tober. ;)

This was another day where I wanted to push my pace a bit- not a tempo run per say, just a "hey, let's go for a run instead of lollygagging" sort of push. Fortunately, I had Jody and Brandi to lead the way. All I had to do was stick with them. 

First mile felt harder than I'd expected, especially when the split was only a 9:41 The pace quickened from there, though. We paused briefly at the halfway turnaround to wait for the rest of the crew, and then set back out for the return. The entire time, I was comfortably conversational, but mentally wondering if it would be so bad to take a slow and easy 5K return trip, or maybe just give myself a mile cool-down at the end, or to just stop when I got to 6.0 miles and "jog". Why? Probably because I'm not used to "trying" when I run. Goal for this next cycle: don't let all my non-workout miles be crap for pace. Learn to run at what I'm capable of running and get my "easy/casual" pace back down to a 9, or thereabouts.

Weeeee, fast miles!

As we turned into my neighborhood, I realized that we had four of us together, and that a hill race would be a pretty great finale to today's run. Brandi and Jody opted out, leaving just Brad and me. There was a time where I thought I might've had him, when I kicked into my final gear; this is usually where I pass Brandi, but Brad also had another gear to kick into and beat me by about a second or so. Still, it was amazing to run that fast and to push myself to really stretch my legs and just go for it this morning. 

Pace up the hill: 4:59/mi. I think the fastest I've been in the past with Brandi is maybe a 6:00? Craaaaaaaaaaaazy! :D 


Wednesday
rest day


Thursday
strength day
Heyheyhey, guess who's sick... AGAIN. 

One of the worst parts about Sweet Adelines International Contest is that, literally every time, the chorus is a little sick leading into it, and then crap gets spread around all week, and about 75% of us come back with the crap our risermates (or other convention-goers) brought with them. Fortunately, this is more of a standard cold.  Still, it means no cross-training or strength training today because I feel like blergh.


Friday
4.16 @ 9:25/mi avg
Planned on an easy run, but ended up trying to stick with Brandi and running faster than I wanted to. 

...but I was conversational the whole time, even if it felt like more of a struggle. 


Saturday
10.04 @ 9:36/mi avg
What an awesome run with the ATC training group! I was a little concerned about doing double digits after two weeks "off", but it felt GREAT. I ran out with the low-9s, feeling SO good, saw some 10s that I hadn't talked to in awhile at the turnaround, and ended up running back with them. Pretty excited that I had a mid-9 average for a run I didn't really feel like I had any conscious pace effort on. 

Costume Day

Family Photo
Road Runner, Wile E Coyote and his ACME rocket 

Sunday
stroller runs and walks and yardwork 
3.87mi stroller run @ 9:31/mi with Shelly
1.00 stroller run @ 10:33/mi with Birgit and Shelly
1.00 stroller walk 
chasing kid around playground
2 hours of raking and blowing leaves

I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED. Four of us from the Atlanta Track Club training programs all have kids under 2. We've already been doing a lot of FB chatting and messaging since I was pregnant, and decided to start meeting up once a week for a stroller run and playground time with the kiddos. Christina had a rough night her baby boy and couldn't make it this week, but I've pretty much decided this running mamas group is the best thing ever. 

Shelly and I have the older kids, so we met up for some mileage before. We went into it thinking we'd be around a 10:20/mi. Ended up at a 9:31 average... with a sub-9 mile in there. Oops. lol. So cool that we were able to run that WITH strollers and not feel like we were really working. Now, can I please feel like that on my non-stroller runs? 

Birgit and her one month old met up with us after and we did an easy mile as a threesome (sixsome?), then I was feeling done so we walked a mile back along the river. It's a bit difficult to run with three strollers, but we were all able to keep together enough to talk. The hardest parts were having to go single file (I remembered why I hate stroller racing-- it's hard to keep your front wheel in a safe place when there are people ahead of you) when other people came up and navigating some of the bumps. 

Mommy-Baby selfies

I didn't see the trash can when I was setting up the auto timer... 

After the run, we spent about an hour at the playground with the kiddos, which was the BEST thing ever. More on that to come in the baby blog, though, because this is a running blog. When we got home, Jerry and I spent baby boy's two hour naptime tackling all the yardwork we've neglected for the past few months ever. My Garmin says I logged another 1.5mi raking the front and back yards  and doing all the leaf bagging. Winning! 

Vegas Week

This is another week without a training plan. I'm in Las Vegas for the international chorus and quartet contest that my groups are competing in. 

Monday
Planned: 5mi
Did: 7mi @ 10:01/mi
Brandi and I planned to run five easy miles, and decided to meet up on NP to avoid running the same routes we've run every week for the past ever. While route planning, however, B wasn't aware there was a bridge out and under construction... so our 5mi route turned into 7. Oops.

Running this sucked. So often we felt like we were flying, only to have a 10+ split show on our watches. We chalked it up to being worn out from marathon training, hills and elevation galore (which was actually really nice), and my not sleeping for the past few nights (baby boy = sick). 




Tuesday
Planned: #10KTuesday
Did: 6.34 @ 10:19/mi plus carrying 4 gallons of water for 0.75mi
I didn't want to run this morning, but #10KTuesday HAD to happen, especially since we had 3-4 crews doing it at home. 

Just like a year ago, I ran the strip, figuring it was the safest place for a single female to run solo at 5am. While it was nice to see other runners out and about, I still hated pretty much everything about this run. 

strip running

Things I hate about Vegas:

• Smoke EVERYWHERE (horrible for a singing contest)
• Incredibly dry air (horrible for a singing contest)
• Nowhere to spend time outside in nature
• $$$ food everywhere
• Abundance of drunks, urine, and pictures of boobs (also, saw a naked, passed out man near a fountain... WTF?)
• I can't drink the tap water without digestive trouble... so I had to go walk 3/4mi from my room to the nearest Walgreens and carry 4 gallons of water back to my hotel room. (horrible for a singing contest)

Wednesday

Quartet Semifinals 
Did: 30min strength/abs + 10min elliptical, and about 10,000 steps
Found the hotel gym in the afternoon, did a 10min warm-up on the elliptical, and then about 20min of weights (upper back, chest, arms) and 10min of ab work. 

Oh, hey. I also sang on the International stage with my quartet.
video

Thursday
Chorus Semifinals Day
Did: 5K run @ 9:05/mi avg, and a total of about 23,000 steps for the day
I'm doing my best to stay kinda-sorta on EST while I'm out here, which means I'm up between 4 and 5am local time (7am and 8am EST) while pretty much everyone else sleeps. I enjoyed a short (and faaaaaaaast) run along the strip this morning. If you take out the stair climbs and descents (almost every intersection here has pedestrian bridges to facilitate traffic flow), I was totally flying: 8:03, 8:21 for a few miles. 

Part of that was just "feeling it", and part was getting away from all the creepwads and losers who occupied the strip at that hour. Seriously, a bunch of drunk guys who stay up until 5am drinking/dancing/gambling/whatever-ing and then catcall runners on the strip is just pathetic. 

Also, chorus ROCKED out, and made the top ten, which means we advance to the finals and get to sing again on Saturday! Weeeeeeeeee.

video

Friday
30min yoga and stretching with my Boss. bass, 20k steps, poolside chillax-ing

Saturday
Chorus Finals
No physical activity. About 15K steps for the day.

Oh, and we finished SEVENTH IN THE WORLD. 

video

Sunday
5k steps, and sleep

Recovery Week

I thought I'd be happy to be done training. 

I am happy to be done training. I've enjoyed sleeping in more, spending additional time with my family, and not constantly thinking about my next run... but life feels really empty without a training plan or any real goals. A lot of my friends are still in-training for their races, and it's really, really weird to not have anything on the horizon. Oh, I have plenty of events coming up, but nothing to strive towards. 

After past hard efforts (Won Mile Race, 5K PR, first marathon, etc.), my body's always been super taxed. If I don't watch out, I end up injuring myself in the days immediately after. This time, 

Monday
Scheduled: nada
Did: traveled home, walked over 10k steps
Tuesday
Scheduled: nothing
Did: 5K run @ 10:22/mi, 5K walk with Birgit and baby 

Wednesday
Scheduled: nothing
Did: 5mi walk

Thursday
Scheduled: nothing
Did: 30min strength training, loosely based on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9PXg7NeVP0

Friday
Scheduled: nothing
Did: 4.15 @ 9:48/mi avg
For how this run felt,  expected a faster pace. Oh well. 

Saturday
Scheduled: nothing
Did: 6ish @ 9:38/mi avg
Didn't plan on running today, but baby boy wasn't feeling well, so I went to training prepped to run whatever my body wanted (i.e. attended NOT as a run lead). Ran out at the back of the 9s for three, and then Brandi turned around and joined me on the backside. Felt good.

Sunday
Scheduled/Did: nada
Had tentative plans to do a stroller run, but baby boy's sickness sent us to the urgent care instead (he's on the mend now).