October Recap

Hey-o! Happy Halloween!

Can you believe that the holiday season is upon us? Me either! It’s time to recap another month of running and randomness.

Month Recap: October 2017

The Running

Workouts: October continued the fundamental phase of marathon training. For the most part, each week had a mix of speed, tempo and endurance workouts. I have one more week of the fundamental phase and then we will move into the marathon-specific phase. I was having a very consistent month of training until a mild hamstring strain put me out of commission workout-wise the last week of the month. I jumped on it (not literally) fairly quickly and am hopeful that I will be able to get back into things without losing much.

2 mi. WU, 6 X 1200 (5:02, 4:52, 4:47, 4:46, 4:37, 4:34), 2 mi. CD

15 mile long run w/ a fast finish (6:59, 7:21 (big hill), 7:02, 6:45)

2.5 mi. WU, 3 X 2 miles (6:50/6:37 = 13:27, 6:31/6:29 = 13:00, 6:35/6:56 = 13:31), 2 mi. CD

10 miles w/ 10 X 30 second pickups 

18 mile long run w/ 10 mile “WU” (8:04) + 10K (6:40) + 2 mile “CD” (8:28)

2 mi. WU, 12 X 400 hill repeats (1:45 – 1:50), 2 mi. CD

8 miles w/ 10 X 30 second pickups

2 mi. WU, Half Marathon @ brisk (7:07 average), 2 mi. CD

8 mile brisk pace run (7:10 average)

Favorite workout: My favorite workout was the 1200 meter repeat workout. The temperature was nice and the workout was executed really well [pats self on the back]. Now if I could just execute my races the same way … ease into it and finish strong! I need to repeat that to myself 100 times before each race that I run.

Races: I ran two 5Ks, a 10K and a half marathon this month. I included my 10K and half marathon in the workout section as well, since they were technically races that I used as workouts.

Race Recap: Bras Across the CAUSEway 5K

Race Recap: Shrimp Fest 10K

Race Recap: Running for the Bay Half Marathon

Favorite Race: I don’t even have a recap for my favorite race of the month. That’s a bummer. I guess it’s never too late to add one in. I ran a local turkey trot with two of the Girls on the Run girls and I loved it so much. I think that I enjoy pacing equally as much as racing! It’s so much fun to run with someone, encourage them and watch them meet their goals.

Paces: Paces ranged from 6:01 (last mile of the BATC 5K) to 9:52.

Total miles: 284

Distances: Distances ranged from 3.5 miles to 18 miles. On the day of the half marathon, I technically ran 21.5 miles, but I don’t think that really counts since it wasn’t all continuous.

Strength work: Oh snap. I have NOT gotten my 10 minutes a day in. I have been icing, rolling and stretching though, so that’s at least something.

The Other Stuff

This portion of the post is just your typical A to Z list of random thing I am currently …

Anticipating: I have FIVE races that I want to do in November! November is my favorite month of racing!

Buying: We had a cold snap last weekend and I decided that I needed to buy a few winter sweaters. Of course, it likely won’t be cold again until 2018, but whenever it does cool down again … I’ll be ready!

Considering: that I’ve used the concept of “faking it until you make it” in the past and really wish that I had just been honest and transparent with what was going on. How many people are out there “faking it” because all they see is other people doing the exact same thing? Let’s make it a point to be open and honest with other people and not worry about whether or not they think we’ve “got it together” because … little secret … no one has it together. We’re all just doing our best to make sense of things and figure out our place in this life.

Discovering: joy in the journey.

Enjoying: the cooler air! It might not be here to stay, but we will take anything we can get at this point. It was even fire pit weather last weekend.

Feeling: confident. That’s a new one.

Going: to watch the sunset. Fall sunsets are the best!

Hoping: that we have some trick or treaters! Brooksy is ready! Rawr!

Inhaling: candy corn! I try to make sure that my candy corn quota gets met each year by Halloween so that we can move on to more nutritious things after that. Such sacrifice.

Loving: these Lululemon Train Times Shorts (<– affiliate link … NOT!). The waist is higher and the shorts are longer than your typical running spandex shorts and I love them. If you hear of a Lulu sponsorship out there, please let me know ASAP! I need to find a way to put Lulu to work for me.

Missing: 10% of Brooks. Do you remember when we took him to the vet and they told us that he needed to lose weight? Even though I thought he was beautiful just the way he was, we got right on that, because I didn’t want him to have health complications as a result of his weight. We cut back on his food and treats a little bit (nothing drastic) and he’s been running a mile or two here and there (again, nothing drastic). I took him to the vet for his yearly shots, etc. and he lost 10 pounds! Go Brooks! Since it was time for his yearly visit, that also means that we just celebrated his 6th birthday. WHAT?! Time slow down.

Noticing: that if we ever have a kid, I’m going to be so annoying.

Obsessing: about nothing? I honestly can’t think of anything for this category, which is quite rare.

Planning: to test out the hammy with a speed workout tomorrow morning.

Questioning: if coffee is making me sleepy. I know that energy drinks can cause you to crash, but can coffee do the same thing? Does anyone have answers for this? I typically have two cups in the morning and could immediately fall asleep (if I needed to, for research purposes only). The past two days, I haven’t had any coffee and I think I feel less sleepy. This confuses me.

Reading: Y’all. I’m going back to school! I am so excited to join the staff at University of Mobile as an adjunct accounting professor. I will start teaching in January and in the meantime, I will be digging into this textbook, Taxation of Individuals & Business Entities. I can’t wait to do the syllabus and make outlines of the materials, etc. My little nerd heart is so happy.

Saving: papers. I tend to be a saver, but not in a hoarder sense. I just hate emptying my shred box at work. They ask me every week if I have anything to get rid of and every week, I’m like “nope, nope, nope.” I hold on to that junk for a least a year in case because you never know what you might need down the road.

Thinking: about cooking dinner tonight. Like, cooking cooking. Please be impressed.

Using: Pinterest for recipe ideas! So far, I’m at “recipe. dinner. easy. 5-ingredient. healthy.” I’ll let you know how that works out.

Visiting: Salty Running! I’m writing over at Salty Running some now, so go check out that site if you haven’t read it before.

Watching: Life Unexpected. We finally found a decent show to watch! Granted, it’s only two seasons, so we’ll probably be done with it in no time, but it’s nice to have something besides Impractical Jokers to watch every now and then.

Xeroxing: I made a copies of my college and graduate school transcripts this week! What?! Finally I have a good xeroxing moment. Those are the best.

Yearning: to take a nap. The struggle is SO VERY real.

Zeroing: Same as the last few months, it’s really hard to come up with an Z word, so … zeroing means “closing out” for purposes of this post and with that, we are done!

It’s your turn! Tell me something you are loving or thinking about!

H[a]mming & Hawing

Happy Monday friends! I hope your week is off to a great start!

Thanks to a cranky hamstring, my week of training didn’t go exactly as planned last week. I’m thankful that I was able to get in what I was though. I am hoping to resume training as normal next week and planning to continue rolling, icing and stretching like a champ.

Monday – Easy: 5 miles (8:56 pace)

My legs were a tad fatigued Monday morning after the half marathon long run combo that I did on Sunday. Daniel and I got up and got a loop in before work and it felt good to stretch out my legs some. I had an appointment with Dr. Ryan at Coastal Chiropractic Monday morning. I got a little bit off schedule with my weekly appointments (as in I went 3 weeks in between appointments instead of 1 week) and I could definitely tell a difference. My left glute, hamstring and IT band were screaming at me. This was foreshadowing of the rest of the week.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:56 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (9:12 pace)

Tuesday morning I ran easy on the treadmill … nothing fancy, just getting some easy miles in before work. At Girls on the Run Tuesday afternoon, we played a game that resembled freeze tag. The coaches had to chase the girls and if we caught them, they were frozen. While they were frozen, they had to think about how they would resolve a conflict with a friend, using scenarios that we gave them. Some of those little chickadees are FAST and I had to sprint to catch them. I don’t think I was properly warmed up (we do a warm up with the girls, but I think that maw-maw here likely needs a bit more of warm up than the girls do) and I tweaked my [already sensitive] hammy. I didn’t really realize this at the time, but looking back I’m fairly certain this is what happened.

Daniel and I ran a loop with Jessica Tuesday evening. I definitely knew that something was “off” with my hamstring at that point, but I figured it would loosen up as we went along. It wasn’t specifically bothering me to run easy, but I noticed that if I tried to pick the pace up at all (which meant lengthening out my stride), I was feeling a pull all the way down the back of my leg. No bueno.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:50 pace) + AlterG: 7 miles (8:34 pace)

Being the stubborn runner that I am, I got up and ran Wednesday morning. I was supposed to do a wave tempo workout and I was actually really looking forward to it. You alternate between two paces (i.e., half marathon pace and 10K pace) every half mile during the tempo, which was scheduled to be 5 miles. As soon as we started running, I realized that I was NOT going to be able to do the workout. I had to admit that something was actually wrong with my hamstring at this point.

I went back to see Ryan again Wednesday after work and he diagnosed a mild hamstring strain, which is definitely better than … well, anything worse. He recommended taking a day or two off from regular running, but gave me the option of running on the Anti-Gravity treadmill in the meantime. I decided to go ahead and test that out to see how it felt Wednesday evening. I did 7 miles alternating between 50 – 75% body weight. I also ran on an incline, as your stride naturally shortens when running uphill and shorter strides felt fine on my leg.

Thursday – OFF

I let my legs rest completely on Thursday. My hamstring felt fine, but of course, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. I had Girls on the Run Thursday afternoon, but didn’t run with the girls. Hashtag self restraint. Hashtag sarcasm.

Friday – AlterG: 5 miles (8:34 pace)

I ran on the anti-gravity treadmill Friday afternoon. I ran at 75% body weight the whole run and played around with the incline again (alternating between 3 – 6%).

Saturday – Easy: 3.5 miles (8:30 pace)

I was originally planning to race a local Turkey Trot (you thought it was still October … yes … earliest Turkey Trot ever) that takes place less than a mile from the house. Oddly enough, this is the same race where I injured myself last year. In case you are new or don’t remember, I fell during the warm up and busted my face and knee up. It wasn’t fun. Here we are one year later and I wasn’t exactly able to *race* this year either (apparently the week of Halloween is meant to be a down week in the life of Sam).

The silver lining this year, however, was that I still got to run the race! As a pacer! My favorite thing! I ran with two of the Girls on the Run girls. I had a blast and they both came away with PRs, which was great. I was just happy to be able to participate in the race, after missing it unexpectedly last year.

Sunday – Easy: 9 miles (8:42 pace)

My hammy felt fine after Saturday’s run, so I got in a little bit longer run on Sunday, but nothing too crazy. I got to run with Jessica and Rebecca, which is always lovely. Rebecca even taught me how to use Instagram stories, which obviously makes me super cool and hip now. It was 41 degrees (feels like 38!) and windy for our run. We skipped right on over fall and got some winter temps!

Total – 35 miles + 12 miles (AlterG)

Race Recap: Running for the Bay Half Marathon

Hey guys! I ran the Running for the Bay Half Marathon in Apalachicola, Florida on Sunday. I know that you are all dying to hear all of the painstaking details of how that went down, so let’s get to it.

I guess before we get into it for realz, we need to back up for a minute. My friend Rebecca is training for her second 50 mile race (check out the recap of her first 50 here). She needed to get a long run (like a 31 mile long run) in last weekend and so she did some searching and found this race in Apalachicola. She asked if I would be interested in tagging along and running one of the other various distances (there was a plethora to choose from … 5K, 10K, Half, Full & Ultra). It sounded fun to me, so I told her I was in! I decided to do the half as part of my long run for the week.

We left around noon on Saturday to head over to FL. It took us about 3.5 hours to get there, which wasn’t too bad. We saw a full moon at 3 in the afternoon on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere FL, but otherwise the trip over was fairly uneventful. We arrived at the “expo” (using that term loosely) and picked up our numbers and our tee shirts. This was definitely a bare bones, no frills race, which we were totally expecting and is totally fine. They did a great job putting on a million races at the same time.

After the expo we headed to find out “hotel” (also using that term loosely). We stayed on St. George Island at the Buccaneer Inn. We checked in and were handed an actual key (as opposed to an electronic card) from behind the desk. I’m pretty sure that the room furnishings used to be part of a diner somewhere. It was really quite comical! We had a good laugh about it at least. The room was clean, so really we were fine. We were in the room for less than 10 hours anyway. If you plan to stay longer than 10 hours, I’d likely explore other options! Ha.

We got dinner at the Blue Parrot (next door to our hotel) and hit up the local Piggly Wiggly to get some water and coffee supplies for the morning. We both crashed and it was lights out by 10 p.m. I think this actually might be the most sleep Rebecca has gotten in at least 3 years. The race started at 7:15, so we got up around 6 and got to the start by 6:45. We didn’t have any trouble finding parking and there were no lines for the bathrooms. I had planned to do a two mile warm up before the race. It was still fairly dark at this point and so I stayed pretty close to the race start and just ran up and down the same street several times.

The full and ultra marathoners started at 7:15 and the half marathoners started one minute later. I’m guessing the 10K and 5K started one minute after us, but I wasn’t there for that part, so I’m not entirely sure. It was 75 degrees, 99 percent humidity and 20 mile per hour winds at the start. Not exactly ideal running conditions. One of these days, I just know that we are going to have good weather for a race! I just know it. That day wasn’t Sunday. The first mile went up and over a fairly substantial bridge. The remainder of the half marathon was decently flat, except for the last mile, which went back up and over the same substantial bridge.

I had planned to start at around 6:55 to 7:00 pace for the first few miles and wanted to ease it down to 6:45 for the remainder of the race. I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to hit those paces and tried to just keep an honest, hard effort. I caught most of the full and ultra runners within the first mile (which makes sense … they were going 2 to 2.5 times farther than I was). After the first mile, I was pretty much on my own out there. I don’t always listen to music during races, but I am oh so glad that I decided to bring some tunes along for the ride on this one. I needed a distraction for sure.

My splits for the first 5 miles were 7:23, 7:03, 7:27, 7:30 and 7:25. That got me across the Apalachicola Bay bridge and there was little bit of a reprieve from the wind once we were directly off the water. My splits for the next 3 miles were 6:56, 7:05 and 6:50. I was feeling pretty good and was happy to see a splits under 7.

After that I was headed back across the bridge. Thankfully, the wind wasn’t as strong one you headed back. I definitely started feeling HOT on the way back. I guess the wind distracted me from the heat for a little while. My splits on the way back were 6:53, 6:53, 6:59, 7:11 and 7:07.

The finish line was fairly anticlimactic. The medal, however, is amazing! I don’t usually even care much about the medal, but this is definitely one of my favorites! I collected myself for a couple of minutes and then headed out to do my two cool down miles. When I use races as workouts, my coach usually reminds me to try to make the run as continuous as possible in order to get the benefits from a stamina and endurance perspective. It’d be pretty cool if you could choose a spot somewhere in the marathon and take a breather for a few minutes and not have it count towards your time.

After my cool down, I headed out to check on Rebecca. The ultra course ran across two bridges, so she had headwinds for over 10 miles during the first half of her race. Yikes. She was also running by herself for most of the race. By the time I got to her the first time, she was almost to mile 20. I ran a couple of miles with her in between 20 and 25 and then headed back to the finish and met her on the final bridge. She passed the first place ultra runner (male) around 25. When I met her on the last bridge, she was in first overall, but the second place girl wasn’t too far behind. Rebecca was determined not to let that girl catch her though. She busted out a sub 7 minute last mile to hold on to the WIN.

My legs were in a total state of confusion after running that last little bit with Rebecca. In fact, I’m fairly certain that they are still angry at me. She collected her medal and trophy and we somehow managed to accomplish things like walking, eating, putting on dry clothes and driving home. We drove through some bad weather on the way back, but luckily we made it home safely and avoided the worst of it.

I think this race is likely a one and done for us, but it was really fun and the course itself is very scenic. If you like running across water, you should definitely hit this one up.

Apalachicola is known as the Oyster Capital of the World. We decided to pass on the oysters at dinner Saturday night, as raw seafood pre-race seemed a little suspect. What are your thoughts on oysters? Think they are delicious? Think they are too slimy? Think it would only be worth it if you could find a pearl?

Run With It

Here is my training log for the week of 10.16.17 – 10.22.17!

Monday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:43 pace) + PM – Easy: 5.2 miles (8:10 pace)

I woke up to steady rain Monday morning and decided to hop on the treadmill for a few miles.

Fall finally made its much anticipated arrival Monday afternoon! Woo! Plans were made for an impromptu group run after work and I just couldn’t say no. It felt absolutely amazing out.

Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:34 pace)

I did an easy loop with Daniel early Tuesday morning. I was off work Tuesday (no more taxes!) and I had Girls on the Run Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday AM – Hills: 10 miles (8:18 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:49 pace)

Let me just say, I am not a fan of the hill repeats. I’ve done hill repeats outside and handful of times and have also tried them on the treadmill [check out this post for a “fun” treadmill hill workout idea]. This week’s workout was outside. I Strava-d a quarter-mile segment that climbed about 60 feet.

My schedule called for a 2 mile warm up, 12 X 400 repeats up a moderate hill (4 to 5 percent incline) with a jog down recovery and a 2 mile cool down. The goal was to run at a hard, but manageable effort up the hills. There were no set pace goals (thank goodness). Running up and down a hill 12 times is basically a challenge, regardless of pace. For what it’s worth, I did track my paces (because … data). My splits were all between 1:45 and 1:50, which is between 7:00 and 7:20 pace. I basically feel like I am running in quicksand when I try to run up a hill and my training buddies (Young Daniel and Sasser) left me in the dust! I know that hills will make me stronger and faster, but it certainly didn’t feel that way in the moment.

Basically, my theme this week was, “I’m free [from work]. Let’s say yes and run all the miles [within reason] when anyone else wants to run!” Jessica wanted to run Wednesday evening and so, duh! I did. The weather was still quite nice (this wouldn’t be the case later in the week) and we had a wonderful run!

Thursday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:35 pace) + PM – Easy: 5.6 miles (8:20 pace) 

Daniel and I did a loop Thursday morning. He had a work thing to go to Thursday evening. After Girls on the Run, I decided to head to the local group run and keep myself occupied for a little bit while he was gone.

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:00 pace)

Young Daniel, Sasser and I were back at it Friday morning for some 10 X 30 second pickups with 1 minute recoveries. This mini workout has made its way into my schedule several times recently and I’m loving it. Our pickups were faster this week than they have been. It was the perfect start to a Friday!

Saturday – Easy: 4 miles (9:29 pace)

I got in an easy run with Jessica Saturday morning before heading to Apalachicola for the Run for the Bay Half Marathon Sunday.

Sunday – Long Run: 21 miles (8:07 pace)

I will likely write a separate recap of this race in the next day or so, but basically my plan was to run a 2 mile warm up, run the half marathon at a brisk pace (close to my goal marathon pace) and to run a 2 mile cool down to get in a 17 mile quality long run. I wasn’t able to hit the pace that I wanted (6:45 to 6:55), but the conditions were far from favorable (75 degrees with a dew point of 73 and 20 mph winds at the start). Fall decided to take a few days off.

I averaged 7:21 for the first 5 miles of the half (on the bridge straight into the wind) and then was able to drop it down a tad. I averaged 6:59 for the last 8 miles of the half (off the bridge for a couple of miles and then 5 more miles back across the bridge). I got my two miles in afterwards and went out to cheer for Rebecca, who was running the ultra (31 miles). I ran a few more miles with her at various points along the way and ended up with about 4 more miles total, giving me 21 miles for the day.

Rebecca and I both came in first overall at our races, so that was really cool! To be fair, the race had so many distances (5K, 10K, Half, Full & Ultra) that there were less than 50 people per event (it seemed like). Haha. Whatever though … we’ll take it!

Long May You Run

Hi friends. Happy Monday! It’s *finally* October 16th! WOO to the HOO! Today is the official last day of second tax season and I’m pretty dang pumped about that (if you didn’t pick up on that already). An added bonus is that fall is coming. We’ve been tracking its arrival for quite some time now and it is scheduled to make an appearance early this week!

Here is my training log for the week of 10.09.17 – 10.15.17!

Monday – Easy Run: 5 miles (8:44 pace)

I ran an easy 5 with Daniel Monday morning before work. This week at work was bananas, thanks to the above-referenced tax deadline, and I actually had to be up and out the door earlier than normal. It’s worth mentioning that Daniel actually woke up at 3:50 to run with me (and that is not something he would voluntarily do on his own). Early morning quality run time is my love language. I was oh so appreciative of this gesture.

Tuesday – Tempo: 11 miles (7:48 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a tad brutal and not because of the workout specifically, but rather because of the dang weather. A temperature of 75 degrees combined with a dew point of 74 degrees = a misery index of 149. The air was so thick and muggy that it really felt like you could cut it with a knife. See pic above of foggy track … that’s what we were dealing with Tuesday a.m.

The workout was a 2 – 3 mile warm up, followed by 3 X 2 mile repeats w/ a quarter-mile recovery in between and a 2 – 3 mile cool down. The goal pace range was between 6:20 and 6:30, which is probably between my 10K and 10 mile race pace currently.

Actual paces per mile and times per 2 mile repeats were 6:50/6:37 = 13:27, 6:31/6:29 = 13:00, 6:35/6:56 = 13:31. While I didn’t specifically calculate a heat/humidity pace adjustment beforehand, looking back I kind of wish that I had. I think a fair adjustment would’ve put me in a 6:35 to 6:45 range. I was working too hard on the second repeat to hit the target paces and I definitely ran out of steam on the third repeat.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (9:15 pace)

All of my typical morning running buddies bailed Wednesday morning and so I ran on the treadmill. I listened to a podcast and the miles flew by. I love it when that happens!

Thursday – Easy: 5 miles (8:43 pace)

I was feeling kind of worn down Thursday morning, likely due to some lingering tiredness from Tuesday’s tempo workout and longer than normal days at work (or some combination of the two). I called it a day after 5 miles.

Friday – Easy: 10 miles (8:09 pace)

Friday morning’s run called for 10 X 30 second pickups with one minute recovery between each set. I did the pickups between miles 4 – 5 of the run. I’ve come to really enjoy these little 30 second pickups. Honestly, I used to just skip this entirely when it showed up on my schedule (sorry coach), because I thought to myself, “It’s only 5 minutes. Why even bother?”

It turns out that these quick repeats improve your stride power and train your body to get used to quicker paces and effort levels. The quick pickups make your regular pace seem easier by comparison. I usually end up running a little bit quicker than normal after the pickups, which is definitely what happened Friday morning.

Saturday – Long Run: 18 miles (7:38 pace)

I decided that this run-race combo deserved a post in and of itself and so feel free to check that out here. If you don’t feel like reading all of the details, the TL;DR version is that I made a last-minute decision to hop in a 10K for miles 10 through 16 of my 18 mile long run. I was actually |thisclose| to missing the start. I started chatting with a friend during the warm up miles and completely lost track of where we were and what time it was. We ended up having to basically run race pace for two miles to make it back to the start of the race, which we did (with about one minute to spare)!

My splits for the 10K were 6:49, 6:57, 6:33, 6:32, 6:33 and 6:39. I didn’t have any specific goals as far as the race went, as the main focus was getting the long run done. I was pleasantly surprised that my legs felt decent and I was able to maintain a respectable pace for the race. I finished it up with a two mile cool down and called it a day.

Sunday – Easy: 7 miles (9:52 pace)

After Saturday’s shenanigans, I wanted to take it easy and get in a true recovery effort. I was able to run with Jessica and we did the usual post-run breakfast + coffee thing, which was wonderful!

I hope everyone has a great week! Talk to you soon! 

Race Recap: Shrimp Fest 10K

Howdy!

I ran the Shrimp Festival 10K yesterday morning. The race was a very last-minute decision (as in, I decided Friday evening that I was going to run it). I had 18 miles on my schedule this week and so I concocted this master plan of running before the race, running the race and then running some more after the race. So yeah, basically my plan was to run, keep running and run some more. Genius! I needed to be at work around 10 or so Saturday morning and so I ended up doing the majority of the miles before the race so that I could leave and get back at a decent time.

I sipped on coffee and UCAN on the way to the race (about a 45 minute drive), got to the race around 6:30, registered and hit the [paved] trails! Daniel came with me to the race and rode his bike while I was running. The sun had just come up and I felt completely comfortable running on the trails by myself. I took my phone with me and listened to a podcast while I ran. I don’t wear headphones, I just let it play out loud. I would never do this in a race (as that can be quite annoying), but when I am by myself, I’d rather listen out loud (softly) than wear headphones. I saw some rabbits, a few deer and some other wildlife that I think I’m forgetting. It was very peaceful.

I met up with my friend, Jill, at about five and a half miles or so into my warm up. She wanted to do a three mile warm up and so we tried to coordinate our schedules so that we could run three miles together before the race. We haven’t seen each other in a while and I guess we were just extra chatty and also not paying attention to what we were doing, but before we knew it, we realized that we were actually about two and half miles away from the start … and it was 7:40! EEK. We had to really book it to make it back in time and we weren’t sure that we even would.

We threw down a 7:18 and a 7:14 mile in our best attempt to actually make it to the start of the race on time without completely exhausting ourselves. I hadn’t even pinned my number on my shirt yet and so we were definitely scrambling. Daniel called me asking what in the world we were doing and I explained that we just lost track of time and were currently hauling it to make it back. The race had chip timing, so we had decided that even if we had to start late, it would be okay, we would just have to do a lot of weaving around folks on a very narrow trail. There was also a 5K that started about 15 minutes after the 10K. We heavily contemplated that as well.

Ultimately, we made to the start of the race by the skin of our teeth with about 1 minute to spare. Whew! The good news is that we didn’t have to worry about getting nervous standing around waiting for the race to start and also that I definitely got the “continuous” feel of my long run in. There were no breaks between the warm up and the race!

The race starts and finishes at the Orange Beach Sportsplex and runs on the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail (a trail system with over fifteen miles of trails throughout Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and the Gulf State Park). The trails are all paved and it’s a great location for a race (or just to run if you are ever in the area)! The only minor drawback is that the GPS satellites are a little wonky in there and you can’t really rely on your watch for accurate mid-race data. I am trying to get away from Garmin stalking anyway, so this actually worked out.

Jill and I ran the first two miles together (6:49, 6:57). This wasn’t a goal race per say for either one of us and we talked about trying to keep it under seven minute pace with maybe a negative split if we felt good.

I kind of did a quick assessment at mile two and decided that I wanted to try to pick the pace up a little bit and get close to 6:30 if possible. I was feeling pretty good and managed to hit 6:33, 6:32, 6:33 and 6:39 for the last four miles of the race. I didn’t think to restart my watch after the “warm up” to have accurate times and splits for the race, so my mile markers were a little bit off the whole time and I wasn’t even sure what my total race time was until I got to the finish line (it was 41:37). I think I was fifth overall and first female, so I can’t really complain about that!

I didn’t have any real expectations for what I was going to feel like running a 10K already being 10 miles into the run. I was pleasantly surprised! I was also very thankful that I had already done ten miles before the race because that meant I only had to do two miles afterwards to get my eighteen in. My legs were definitely toast at that point, but I got it done. Daniel’s family was in town staying at the Gulf and they came out to the race, which was wonderful. It’s always great to have a little bit of extra moral support out there.

We weren’t able to hang out very long after the race since I had to get back to go to work. Only 1 more day until “second” tax season is over! Praise the Lord! I hated to miss the awards, but sometimes you just do what you gotta do. I’m glad that I made the last-minute decision to run this race. It’s definitely a good one. Hopefully I’ll be able to run it again next year and perhaps not have to come and go in such a mad dash!

Always on the Run

Hey guys! Here is my training log for the week of 10.02.17 to 10.18.17!

Monday – Easy Run: 5.5 miles (9:02 pace)

I started the week off with a short recovery run with Daniel. This is pretty typical, as the weekends are usually filled with higher mileage and/or races and I need a day (or sometimes two) to recover. Last weekend was filled with lots of running shenanigans and I definitely needed a couple of easy days this week.

Tuesday – Easy Run: 8 miles (8:40 pace)

My legs were starting to feel better by Tuesday and I did 8 miles with the Daniels that morning.

Wednesday – Speed: 10 miles (7:30 pace) + Easy Run: 5 miles (8:21 pace)

Young Daniel and I hit track bright and early (well … actually very dark and early) for some 1200 meter repeats Wednesday morning. The workout was a 2 mile warm up, 6 X 1200 w/ 400 recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. There was a gorgeous harvest moon over the track for the majority of the workout.

My goal pace range for the 1200s was 6:10 to 6:20, which is probably somewhere between 5K and 10K pace currently. It took us a couple of repeats to ease into the pace, but once we got there, the pace felt manageable. My splits for the 1200s were 6:35, 6:27, 6:13, 6:14, 6:04 and 6:00. This workout was a great reminder that easing into the pace and nailing the last few repeats (or miles of a race) is definitely the way to go.

I did a double Wednesday and my legs were toast by the end of the day.

Thursday – Easy: 5 miles (9:47 pace)

I stuck to the treadmill Thursday morning and my legs were definitely feeling the effects from Wednesday’s runs. I had a hard time settling into a comfortable rhythm and overall this run was just kind of blah.

Friday – Easy: 7 miles (9:22 pace)

I ran 5 miles with Daniel and 2 miles with Brooks Friday morning.

Saturday – Endurance: 15 miles (7:48 pace)

I had a fast finish long run on tap this week. I was planning to jump into a local 5K Saturday morning for the fast finish portion, but the race was cancelled courtesy of Hurricane Nate. I like using races in my training, especially for something like a fast finish long run, as I find that having a race makes me exponentially more motivated to actually pick it up at the end of the run. That didn’t exactly workout for me this time around, but I did manage to complete the run sans race.

My goal pace range for the last four miles of the run was 6:45 to 7:00, which is goal marathon pace range (eek … I try not to think about that too much). The first 10 to 11 miles of this run felt so long. The anticipation of knowing that you have a workout to do, but not being able to just get it over with is really tough. Our splits for the last four miles were 6:59, 7:21 (big hill (i.e., 100+ ft. of elevation gain)), 7:02 and 6:45. Having a buddy gut it out with you at the end is really nice … thanks Sasser! I was just outside of the goal pace range on those miles, but I’m still really happy with it. I think some workouts count as mental victories and this was one of those for me.

Sunday – Easy: 9.5 miles (8:39 pace)

Sunday morning was a bit of a wash out due to Hurricane Nate, but thankfully it never got too bad here. I got to run with Rebecca and Jessica Sunday afternoon, which was so nice! We’ve not been able to run together as much recently, but I guess that makes us even more thankful for the times when it does workout.

I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Profesh

Hey guys!

Hurricane Nate blew through our area last night. It’s early Sunday morning and I am currently without internet access (writing in a word document), sipping some coffee in my PJs. I was really hoping to watch the coverage of the storm and of the Chicago marathon this morning, but our TV is through the internet and so, I can’t do either of those things. Daniel had to go to work this morning (apparently people don’t stop being sick because there is a storm … go figure). I was worried that he would have trouble getting to the hospital, but thankfully he made it there safely. Brooksy and I have been out to play fetch and he’s settled in for his morning nap. I figured this would be a good chance to catch up on life!

Edited to add: if you are reading this, we are back in business! Haha.

Work has been a little bit crazy lately. I haven’t gotten too much into the details of all of that on the blog. I really want to be completely transparent and able to share the things that are going on in my life, but at the same time, these things affect more people than just myself and it’s not always fair to share the details. Honestly this frustrates me, because when I first started the blog, I wanted it to be as much about the ups and downs of real life as possible and now I feel like I can’t really write about some of the things that I want to and so I basically just stick to running. Not that I am complaining about that! I can talk about running A LOT, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.

Where does that leave us? Oh yes … work. Over the last several years, I have been struggling with the idea of my career choice. I’m sure you know, but in case there is anyone new, I am a CPA and I work in public accounting. Basically I prepare business and personal tax returns. I don’t dislike what I do, but at the same time, I’m not passionate about what I do. I’ve never actually met anyone who is passionate about taxes, so I don’t guess I am alone in this feeling. When I started out in this profession, I kind of just assumed that my goal would be to work my way up and make partner. I don’t even think I gave it much thought, that was just the path that most people took and it sounded respectable, so why not?

Ugh. I wish that I could go back and talk some sense into my twenty year old self. I guess that’s the funny thing about life something though. I don’t think my twenty year old self would’ve listened. I’m a completely different person than I was then and there is no way that I could’ve known what I know now. After several years in public accounting, it became very apparent to be that I didn’t want to be a partner at a firm. I saw lots of unhappy people working tons of hours, but not truly enjoying life. I didn’t want to be one of those people and I knew that I could’ve EASILY have become one of those people. My personality is wired to throw myself 100% into something at the expense of … well, basically everything else in my life. I didn’t (and still don’t) want that for my life.

I do think that I have been able to establish a tiny semblance of balance in my professional life at this point. I have learned to set boundaries and to speak up for myself when I am in a situation that isn’t right. I’m not saying that I have this completely dialed in by any means, but I am much more confident in myself in general and in my professional abilities than I used to be. Some of this just came naturally with time. When you’ve been doing something for 9+ years, you have more leverage than someone fresh out of school. I have basically been able to say, I will work X number of hours, but nothing more. This has helped me tremendously. You can’t work 70 hours per week (doing something that you aren’t passionate about) and have a happy life.

I started a new job this summer and right off the bat, I was hit smack in the face with the number of hours I was willing to do and what my boss expected me to do (which in my defense, was not communicated to me in my interview). We worked through this and for the most part I have held my ground. I feel torn sometimes because I hate feeling like I am not doing what is expected of or needed from me. There are certain situations where I am still willing to work extra, especially if we are up against a deadline (as we are currently).

The point I was originally trying to get to was that I *may* have an opportunity to switch out of public accounting altogether (finally!) and try something new … teaching! This is something that I have (in the back of my mind) thought about for years. I am planning to pursue it on a very part-time basis (i.e., teaching one class) over the next year and then, I guess we’ll see. I’m excited and nervous about it at the same time, but I think that is completely normal. I’ve said this before, but growth occurs outside of our comfort zones. This will definitely be a period of growth and I’m excited to see how it works out.

Let’s talk about Girls on the Run! I am currently coaching a GOTR group at a local elementary school. We meet for an hour and a half Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Not to bring work up again, but my boss was very understanding and totally cool with me leaving to go do this (I have to make the time up, but still) … hopefully he’ll be equally as understanding and cool with me leaving to go teach. Fingers crossed. Maybe he’ll find this blog and it’ll tell him for me. Ha. Each week at GOTR, the girls have a snack, we discuss our lesson for the day, we do a warm up activity and then they set a lap goal for themselves and RUN. They absolutely love it, which makes my runner heart want to explode a little bit. On Tuesday we talked about our emotions, both comfortable and uncomfortable (as opposed to good or bad … because there are no “bad” emotions). I feel like I am learning so much from these lessons. Perhaps that means I am on a fifth grade level emotionally? Things that make you go, “Hmm.” LOL!

On Thursday we talked about how to express our emotions, using the four phrases 1) I feel, 2) when you, 3) because and 4) I would like for you to. It has taken me many years to learn the importance of expressing emotions, rather than keeping them inside. Heck, a lot of the time I still struggle with this! Expressing your emotions clearly helps others to understand how you are feeling and how they can help you. Each of the four phrases has a purpose. “I feel” lets the other person know exactly how you feel, “when you” tells the other person the exact behavior that makes you feel a certain way, “because” gives the other person a better understanding of why you feel that way and “I would like for you to” explains to the other person what you would like for them to continue to do or to do differently.

Just for funsies, I will do a comfortable and uncomfortable workplace example. I might say to a coworker, “I feel hopeful when we discuss our ideas for making our processes more efficient because I can tell that we are on the same page and care about the direction of the firm. I would like for you to always come to me with any ideas that you may have so that we can work together to make everyone’s job easier.” I might say to my boss, “I feel frustrated when you don’t clearly communicate what is expected of me because I don’t work well in an environment without clearly defined expectations and assumptions. I would like for you be upfront with your expectations.” See how it works?! I just think these are such amazing life lessons for these girls to be learning. The GOTR curriculum is amazing!

Despite what it may seem like I was saying earlier, I actually feel way more fulfilled in my career at the moment than I have in a while and I think that GOTR is playing a part in that. I read an article recently called “The Millennial Woman’s Quest for Career Purpose: A Response to the Ambition Collision,” and it was ON POINT. Women enter the workplace filled with ambition and optimism and then, by 30 or so, we start to feel “stuck,” yearning for something “more.” We shouldn’t ditch our professional responsibilities out of indifference, but instead we can’t always look to work as the answer to the big questions that we have about life. We need to establish ourselves in such a way that we do not have only one source of validation. If you put equal emphasis on your life outside of work, you get further ahead and are more satisfied at work as well. Of course it’s all about finding that balance!

When I took my two month career hiatus a few years ago and started this blog, that’s exactly what I was doing. I had let my work become my life and at the time, the only way I saw out was to leave the job altogether (obviously that is exactly what this article advises you not to do). I was searching for purpose. In some ways, the blog has been a part of that journey to discover my purpose. I thought about leaving public accounting altogether at that point, but realized fairly quickly that a girl’s gotta eat. Here I am now, two years later, pondering some of the same thoughts. I guess the difference now is that I can recognize that work isn’t my life and I have found passion in several areas outside of work.

I still struggle with the idea of spending any of my time doing a job that I am not truly passionate about, but at the same time, I know that it’s okay, normal even, to feel this way. My job allows me to have a decent amount of flexibility, which is very nice and it allows me to make enough to pay the bills and enjoy my hobbies. I am still planning to pursue the teaching thing, I’m just not sure exactly to what extent. I am going to be teaching an undergraduate corporate tax class this spring … I mean, talk about passion! Ha. In all seriousness though, if I can continue to do some work in accounting, some teaching and have time to volunteer at things like GOTR, I will be living the dream.

Sorry for the long ramble of a post. It’s been a while since I have gotten a chance to do that. I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on this topic. How do you find balance and passion in your life?

Race Recap: Bras Across the CAUSEway 5K

Sunday evening I ran in the inaugural Bras across the CAUSEway 5K. As you might have deduced, this is an event that supports breast cancer awareness and the benefits actually support LOCAL breast cancer patients! For those of you who aren’t local to the Mobile Area, the Causeway is the term used for the approximately 7 mile stretch of road connecting US 90 and US 98 across Mobile Bay. The road is also known as Battleship Parkway as it is home to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.

I knew this event was coming up, but didn’t realize that it was on Sunday evening. Rebecca mentioned that it might be fun to run and of course, it didn’t take too much convincing before I was in! She ran 21 miles that morning and I ran 11 miles, so we weren’t really planning to race this thing, but mainly just wanted to show up and support a great cause.

As I drove across the bay, I saw hundreds of bras strung along the side of the road, which was really cool! The race started at 5:15 p.m. I got there sometime around 4:45 and got registered. I thought about doing a couple of warm up miles, but really just didn’t feel like it … so I didn’t (for the record, I don’t really recommend this). The course was an out and back and it was windy! Goodness gracious. I took my visor off and ran with it in my hand for over half of the race.

My main goal for the race was to get a negative split (each mile faster than the one before it). I know that starting out conservatively and negative splitting is usually the best way for me to race and *sometimes* I do a decent job of keeping the pace even to slightly negative, but in the last several 5Ks that I have done, I have ended up doing quite the opposite. I’ve started out too fast and crashed hard, which is never a fun way to run.

I was the lead female from the gun, so there isn’t too much to tell as far as that goes. I did end up catching two guys that were ahead of me for maybe the first half to three quarters of a mile, but after that I kept the same position for the remainder of the race (second overall). I could see Brandon out ahead and I just focused on trying to steadily reel him in, which didn’t really happen, but it gave me something to at least think about. The first mile was pretty much directly into the wind and also ran across a slight bridge. I wanted to give you the incline of said slight bridge, but I guess Garmin doesn’t recognize bridges. Does this sound correct? Someone help me out here!

We crested the top of the bridge right at mile one and I glanced down to see a 6:36 mile split. I honestly had no expectations going in, so I didn’t really feel good or bad at the sight of the split. I just figured that it is what it is and let’s keep rolling. The first half of the second mile was slightly down the other side of the bridge and once we got to the turnaround, the wind was a little bit more at our backs. Of course, it didn’t really *feel* this way. If you are running and it is windy out, it always feels like a headwind! Ha. Once you got to the turnaround you also got to see all of the other runners, which is always great! I tend to really enjoy out and back courses because I love the feedback.

My split for mile two was 6:14. Woo! I hardly even noticed that we had to go back up and over the slight bridge and I knew that my pace was on the right track for the negative split (assuming that I could keep my effort level about where it was).

My split for miles three was 6:01, which I was ecstatic about and I crossed in 19:42. To be honest, I likely wouldn’t have been happy with this time in most circumstances, but since my only goal was to negative split … I was happy! Sometimes it is nice to set goals that aren’t solely based on your overall time. I think we are more likely to be pleasantly surprised with the outcome when we set smaller, more attainable goals. Once you get to a certain point, you can’t expect a PR at every race, but you can still set other goals and push yourself.

In the spirit of just rolling with it, I decided to forgo the typical cool down as well (also not recommended), but I did get in a half a mile or so, which I guess is better than nothing. We hung out for a little while after the race and chatted with friends. Jessica came and brought Miss Olivia to spectate, which was awesome! Savannah got a snow cone and was perfectly happy. The overall and age group winners got pink arm warmers as our awards. I thought this was very unique and I like them a lot! I really love the idea of arm warmers, but I have never actually run in them (and I have three pairs now … insert facepalm). Maybe this winter will be the year that I finally get up the courage to wear them (#goals).

This was a really fun run and I’d love to do it again next year!

09/25/17 – 10/01/17

Hey again! Two days in a row. I’m on a roll!

Here is what went down last week, training wise:

Monday: 5 miles (8:21 pace)

We got home from Augusta around 3 p.m. or so Monday afternoon. I was able to meet up with some of the usual suspects for an impromptu group run after every one else got off work. We did a loop and it felt good to stretch my legs a little bit after driving all day.

Tuesday: 8 miles w/ 4 miles @ tempo (6:39 pace)

This week’s schedule called for Tempo Tuesday! Young Daniel did the workout as well and Husband Daniel rode his mountain bike with us. We did a 2.75 mile warm up (basically to get us over the biggest hills) and then it was time to tempo. The goal pace for the tempo miles was 6:20 to 6:30. It took us a good mile and a half or so to settle into the pace. The first two miles were 6:56 and 6:39. The 6:56 was a little disheartening because it definitely felt like we were working hard, but we didn’t let it get to us too much. The temperature and dew point were both in the 70s and so we knew that the goal pace range would actually be slower if we had adjusted it. I don’t always like to adjust it beforehand because I think I tend to use that as a crutch, when I’d rather just gut out the workout knowing that I did my best and check the adjustment after the fact to make myself feel better. Ha. Whatever it takes, right?

After the first two tempo miles we were cruising! I hit the last two in 6:31 and 6:32 and Young Daniel finished ahead of me. My tempo miles averaged out to just under 6:40 pace, which I think is very respectable given the conditions. We were definitely glad to have that one behind us.

Wednesday: 8 miles (8:42 pace)

Wednesday’s run was nice and easy to recover from the previous day’s stress workout. I did a loop with Young Daniel and then headed out for 3 more solo miles.

Thursday: 10 miles (8:08 pace) 

The training plan called for 10 miles with 10 X 30 second pickups with a 1:00 recovery jog on Thursday. I typically use the workout feature on my Garmin for timed intervals, but decided not to for this one. I didn’t really have a set pace that I was trying to hit on the pickups and I didn’t specifically need to have the post-workout feedback, so we just ran by feel and used the overall running time to know when to start and stop the pickups and the recoveries.

We did the pickups during miles 5 and 6 of the run. The 30 seconds flew by and I definitely enjoyed this workout. Having the pickups gave us something to focus on and the pace naturally gets a little quicker during the recoveries and after the pickups after your body wakes up and your legs start turning over.

Friday: 6 miles (8:14 pace)

I hit up the treadmill Friday morning for a few easy miles. I listened to The Ali on the Run Show. She interviewed Danielle from The T-Rex Runner, whose blog I have read off and on for years. I thoroughly enjoyed the podcast and the miles flew by!

Side note: I decided to wear these lovely Nike spandex shorts that I want so badly to like. They are so darn cute, but about 10 steps into the run they are not where they are supposed to be and it stresses me out. Oh well, I tried. The treadmill is a really good place to experiment with clothing options (well … maybe not if you are on a public treadmill).

Saturday: 17 miles (7:58 pace)

Saturday was long run day! I had 17 miles to tackle. Several of us got started at 5 a.m., which was actually quite nice. We had 7 miles in the books by the time a few others joined in at 6 a.m. and somehow I always seem to almost “forget” about those super early miles. I guess my body is still half asleep or something … I can’t really explain it. Basically it felt like I only ran 10 miles, when I actually did 17, which I guess is a good thing! I didn’t quite get my pace down into the “moderate” range that I was supposed to, but I’m not super concerned with that at this point. The 17th mile was the fastest mile of the day at 7:00 flat, which helped to bring my overall average just under 8:00 pace. Whew!

Sunday: 11 miles (8:18 pace) + 3.15 miles (6:17 pace)

Sunday morning I got some much-needed girl time! I was originally planning to meet Rebecca for the second half of her long run. We also got to run some with Lizzie, Jill and Jessica, which was so great! We haven’t all gotten together for a run in several months.

Funny story … as we were finishing up the run, Rebecca came up with the grand idea that we should run a 5K that evening. The inaugural “Bras Across the CAUSEway” event was taking place that evening and of course at the time (i.e., riding those post-run endorphin waves), it seemed like a wonderful idea! I told her that I was in. I texted my coach to keep him in the loop and we planned to meet back up at the race that evening.

I’ll recap the race in a separate post, but the short version is that I ran a major negative split (6:40, 6:14, 6:01), which is likely due to the major headwind we were running into during the first half of the race and probably also somehow related to the fact that I didn’t do a pre-race warm up … I wasn’t planning to run this thing all out, so I just kind of went with it. It was a great event all-around and I’m really glad that we did it.

That wraps up last week’s runs. I’ll talk to you guys soon!