The One without a Race Recap

Hey guys!

How is it time for another week-end recap post already? I guess one good thing about tax season is that time really starts to fly by (which I’ll admit, can definitely be both a good and bad thing depending on how you are looking at it). Let’s catch up on the non-work related stuff that happened this week (which will be somewhat minimal).

We are one week away from the New Orleans Rock ‘N’ Roll half! I’m really excited to go back to New Orleans and to only be racing the half this year. This will be my first race running with an “elite” bib. I’m pretty excited about that! Thank you to Rock ‘N’ Roll for the sponsored entry!

This week was a cut-back week in training for me. I took a day off and I didn’t run any doubles. I’m hoping that the cut-back will payoff next Sunday in the form of fresh(er) legs. I saw Dr. Justin again this week and I definitely feel like we are making some good progress on the feet issues, which is very encouraging.

This was also the first week in several weeks that I haven’t had a race. Instead, I got in a good, quality mid-week workout. My schedule called for 6 X 1 mile repeats at 6:05 to 6:15 pace with a 400 (0.25 mile) recovery. I hit the treadmill early Thursday morning and here is what I did …

2 mile warm up: starting at 6.6 mph for 2 minutes and increase the speed by .2 every 2 minutes

Mile 1: 6:15 (9.6 mph)

Mile 2: 6:11 (9.7 mph)

Mile 3: 6:07 (9.8 mph)

Mile 4: 6:03 (9.9 mph – this felt too fast)

Mile 5: 6:10 (I was originally trying to negative split each mile, but I had to re-evaluate and re-group during mile 5 – I ended up with a “blended” pace of 9.6, 9.7, 9.8 and 9.9 mph for a quarter mile each during this mile)

Mile 6: 6:03 (after backing it off, I was able to comfortably pick it back up to 9.9 mph)

1.5 mile cool down: 7.0 mph

Daniel and I got in a solid 10 mile run Saturday morning. We averaged 8:02 pace for the run, which is a little bit faster than our normal, everyday pace. We both felt good, so we just went with it!

My mom and dad were in town this weekend and Mom and I got in two good walks. Our fire hydrant friend is ready for St. Patty’s Day!

I had a tennis match Saturday morning. I am playing on the same 4.5 USTA team that I played on last summer and we each have to play two qualifying matches to be eligible to play at state in June. This was the first time that I have played singles in quite some time (possibly since state last summer) and I was definitely rusty! I’ve been playing doubles on a semi-regular basis, but haven’t been playing singles at all. I typically prefer singles, but I have to say, I’ve gotten quite used to and comfortable with doubles.

I felt so alone out there on the court during my singles match. It was like I was missing my security blanket or something. I’m really baffled by this phenomenon, as I tend to prefer singles and individual sports in general (um hello … running). Maybe things are changing and I am growing up?! Whatever it is, we’re going to just pretend assume that it is a positive thing.

Rebecca and I ran 16 miles Sunday morning with our usual Sunday morning group. Thanks to our friend Larry’s coercing, we ended up with a slight variation in the normal route. This variation involved lots of bugs, a lake, hopping a barbed-wire fence, and some cross country running. We like to keep things interesting (or something like that)!

Sunday afternoon we had our first “official” team meeting for Ragnar Tennessee. I haven’t told y’all about this yet I don’t think, but … we have a group of 12 local runners (i.e., our friends) and we will be conquering an approximately 200 mile journey between Chattanooga and Nashville in May. I have done two of these relays in the past and I am so excited about this race and the group we have going! We met at the Warehouse Bakery Sunday afternoon to talk race details and logistics.

If you aren’t familiar with a Ragnar Relay … You and 11 of your craziest, most-awesome friends pile into two vans and tag team running 200 miles, day and night, relay-style. Only one runner hits the road at a time. Each person runs three times. Each leg ranges between 3-8 miles and varies in difficulty.

Daniel and I did Ragnar Del Sol in Phoenix, Arizona in February 2011 (less than 6 months after we got married). I remember a friend telling us that if we could survive a 24 hour relay race together, our marriage would be one that would last. We definitely survived and both had a blast!

I also ran Ragnar Northwest Passage in Seattle in July 2014. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn’t able to go on this trip, because of school and work (you know silly, adult-type stuff).

This time around, Daniel is taking charge and he and his buddy, Kenny, are organizing the trip! He even has a spreadsheet of all of the estimated costs, etc. My kind of man!

Country Music, Honky Tonk Row and a course designed for ultimate adventure await us this year. We will start in Chattanooga and run along the Tennessee River, heading northwest towards Nashville. We will run, day and night, across the rolling hills of middle Tennessee. The race will finish up at the Country Music Hall of Fame, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Woo hoo! I’m pumped! Have you ever done a relay race?