Hi there! Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.3 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 71℉
Humidity: 62%
Gotta love a good 70+ degree day in late November! Dressing for warm running is just so. much. easier. Throw on shorts and a tank top and you are good to go.
I ran from home in the afternoon before picking up Ward from school and before picking up our CHRISTMAS TREE! In the past I’ve not gotten super into decorating and shopping for Christmas, but this year I am all. about. it!
Tuesday – 9.3 mile run (7:50 pace)
Temperature: 64℉
Humidity: 98%
I headed out for a sailboat loop Tuesday morning and finished the run up with 6 X 30 second strides.
I was freezing inside before I headed outside to run and as a result, I was way overdressed for this one!
Wednesday – 11.0 mile run (8:15 pace)
Temperature: 79℉
Humidity: N/A (indoors)
Wednesday’s workout was a two mile warm up, five miles at marathon pace, a five minute recovery, four by 200 hard with 200 recoveries and a two mile cool down.
We woke up to terrible storms Wednesday morning, so the treadmill was my best (i.e., only) option.
The idea was to ease back into speedwork with some marathon paced (MP) work. The goal pace for the MP miles was 6:20-6:25, which was based off of a 1:20 half marathon. Sub-1:20 is my big goal for the half marathons I have coming up! After the 10 mile race I ran a few weeks ago, I think this should be a fairly reasonable goal.
My splits for the MP miles (which I believe are a tad quicker than actual due to inevitable treadmill variances) were 6:21, 6:19, 6:17, 6:14 and 6:13. I felt smooth and controlled!
200s on the treadmill are quite tricky. I basically just cranked the treadmill up as fast as it would go and ran for 40 seconds. I did a minute and twenty seconds for the recoveries and started speeding back up to my pace after one minute each time so that the treadmill was up to full speed by the time the interval started.
Thursday – 8.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 57℉
Humidity: 34%
I got in another sailboat loop on Thursday afternoon. It’s nice when the traffic allows me to venture out passed our road. The back and forth can get a little bit monotonous.
Friday – 7.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 46℉
Humidity: 87%
I ran at the mall Friday morning. Again, very nice to vary the route up even a little bit. My legs felt nice and recovered from Wednesday’s workout. If I’m going to be sore post-workout, it usually hits me two days later instead of the day after.
Saturday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 65℉
Humidity: 92%
Saturday’s workout was a three mile warm up, 3 X 800, 4 X 400, 3 X 800 and a two mile cool down.
I hadn’t been to the track in a couple of weeks and I was happy to be back! The track always just seems to make me feel fast. I love it!
My goal pace for the 800s was 5:50-5:55 and my goal pace for the 400s was 5:25-5:30.
After running a bit quicker on the 400s, the second set of 800s felt so much easier!
Sunday – 6.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 71℉
Humidity: 80%
I ended up bumping my long run back a day. We were out late (for us!) Saturday night and my motivation to get up early and get a long run in just wasn’t there. Rebecca was sick too, so I decided to capitalize on the opportunity to sleep in (well … as much as you can with a 9 month old).
Weekly Total – 57.8 miles (7:45 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Last week was a cutback week as far as workouts are concerned. I was thinking about running a half marathon this weekend, but I’ve decided against that as I want to give my body some time to recover from the ten mile race before adding too much quality work or racing back into the mix. I’m still planning to do a half marathon at the beginning of January and now hoping to add one in at the beginning of February as well.
Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.0 mile run (8:40 pace)
Temperature: 62℉
Humidity: 27%
I got in a few hilly driveway miles on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 60℉
Humidity: 67%
I got in a few more hilly driveway miles on Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday – 9.5 mile run (8:15 pace)
Temperature: 53℉
Humidity: 95%
Wednesday morning I got out early (for me!) to run at the mall before meeting friends for coffee.
Thursday – 8.5 mile run (8:05 pace)
Temperature: 59℉
Humidity: 76%
I got in more hilly miles on Thursday by running from my in-laws house! The first mile is a 190 foot climb. Heavens!
Friday – 8.5 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 56℉
Humidity: 95%
Friday was basically the same route as Thursday. I think the only different was that it was raining! Nothing too exciting to note in the training log this week, unfortunately.
Saturday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 50℉
Humidity: 95%
Same song, slightly different verse on Saturday before heading back home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Sunday – 9.3 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 53℉
Humidity: 88%
I ran with Rebecca on Sunday. Yay! While neither of us had a super long run, we definitely enjoyed the miles that we got together.
Weekly Total – 57.9 miles (8:20 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Hi! Coming at you today with a recap of the Turkey 10 Mile race in Creola, Alabama.
This is a super low-key race and people tend to either love or hate it. I happen to fall in the love it camp! Low key is the way to be. It is a flat, out and back course with a couple turns to break up the monotony. I always enjoy out and back races because I love feeding off of the energy of other runners after the turnaround. Everyone encourages each other and it’s pretty much just the best thing ever!
The race starts at 8:00 a.m. in Creola, Alabama, which is about a 45 minute drive for me. I got up at 5:30 a.m., had a cup of coffee, pumped (gotta love that #motherrunner life) and got dressed in time to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. I ate a banana and a bagel in the car on the way to the race. I still had to register for the race when I got there, so I cut it a little bit closer than I meant to. Thankfully I had time to register, go to the bathroom and get in a quick warm up. I only had time for a one mile warm up, but given that my training hasn’t really been endurance focused, I wasn’t really needing to do several miles before the race anyway.
The conditions on race day were pretty much perfect! It was 42℉ with 80% humidity. There was a slight wind, but nothing crazy.
The race plan was to start a bit conservatively and try to pick it up as I went. Pace wise, it looked like this:
Mile 1 – 4: I planned to ease into it and settle into a good rhythm during the first mile. The goal range was 6:20-6:25.
Miles 5 – 7: I planned to drop the pace down some with a goal range of 6:15-6:20.
Miles 8 – 10: I planned to drop the pace down a little bit more if I could. No specific ranges here! Just whatever was left in the tank!
This was my first race with double digit mileage in almost three years. I felt really good about the plan going into the race. I was actually planning to do a ten mile race in Louisiana six weeks ago, but then … life … happened and I wasn’t able to go. My pace plan for that race was going to be 6:30s, 6:20s, 6:10s for each third of that race. Over the course of the last six weeks I made some very tangible fitness improvements and it was cool to see that pre-race when talking through the race plan with my coach.
My paces for the first few miles were pretty much right within the goal range. The splits were 6:22, 6:18, 6:18, 6:20. I moved into second place overall (first female) during the second mile and stayed there the rest of the race. The first place male put about 20 seconds per mile on me in the first two miles, so while he was in sight, we were by no means working together. I tend to always find myself in no man’s land during races, but I’m used to it at this point, so it’s no big deal.
I was feeling super comfortable during the first four miles. On one hand, I knew that I could just keep it right there and have a good race, but on the other hand, I wanted to push myself and see what happened. I had to make a conscious decision to drop the pace down. I ran mile five in 6:11, which was a tad quicker than I meant to, but I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I still felt very comfortable after speeding up! This was definitely a good sign of things to come.
As I mentioned above, the best part of the race {in my opinion} is right after the turnaround. Not only are you halfway done, but also you start to meet the other runners head on. The energy is palpable! My pace dropped down fairly significantly in miles six through eight, which wasn’t specifically in the plan. I got and gave so many cheers. I was loving every minute! Miles six through eight were 6:04, 6:05, 6:02. Whew!
Around mile eight you make the final turn back towards the finish. I was still feeling great, so I decided to go with it and let it rip. Miles nine and ten were 5:57 and 5:42. Holy Moses. I was NOT expecting to see 5:anything at the end of this race! I had a pretty massive negative split. The first half was 31:29 and the second half was 29:50. I got an extra 26 seconds by not running the tangents well. That is always something I need to work on.
My overall time was 61:45, which is a lifetime PR (as opposed to a postpartum PR). I’ve heard that women can get faster in their late 30s and early 40s and also can get faster after childbirth, but there’s no way to know for sure if that will be the case. After today’s race, I am really starting to believe that my fastest days might be ahead of me. I’ve had a few glimmers of this in training, but being able to execute a good race seems to solidify the belief a bit more.
I really enjoy the 10 mile race distance and this race in particular. I am definitely digging the Thanksgiving vibes after this year’s Turkey 10 Mile! The bottom line is that I’m just thankful. Thankful to be healthy. Thankful to be alive. Thankful to run. Thankful for any of you who are taking time out of your day to read my ramblings.
I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving week!
Hey friends! Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.0 mile run (9:00 pace)
Temperature: 63℉
Humidity: 44%
We were finally back in town after several days away. We had a great trip to Kentucky to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 40th birthday, but being home is always the best. We stayed in a house with a lot of other people, which was a lot of fun, but was also fairly draining. Plus traveling always takes a lot out of me in general. The good news is that my legs felt great after a bit of a cutback week.
I went over to see my mom and dad in the late afternoon so that they could see the little man for a bit. I was able to run while he hung out with them. He changes so much week to week that they are always blown away when they see him. He got his first tooth and started crawling while we were away, so there was a lot to catch up on!
I love running from their house as this was my “home turf” for quite a few years as well. It’s so beautiful there.
They took Ward out for a stroll while I was running and I ran into them around mile 5. It was fun to get to see a few Ward smiles mid-run. There isn’t much in my book that tops a Ward smile!
Tuesday – 10.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 75℉
Humidity: N/A (indoors)
Tuesday was a workout day!
The workout had a 3 mile warm up and a 3 mile cool down with 23 minutes of a cutdown fartlek tempo that looked like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes “hard” with 2 minutes of easy running in between each set. The only goal was to try to drop the pace down as the intervals went down. Otherwise, it was just go by feel. I’ve been doing a lot of unstructured speedwork (i.e., fartlek workouts) and I’m really enjoying that. No pressure on pace, but just run what feels right!
We got a good bit of rain on Tuesday, so I took this one to the treadmill. If I’m going to run on the treadmill, I’d much rather it be a workout than an easy run. I can stay very focused and my mind is much more occupied during a workout than an easy run on the treadmill. I get a little bit bored on those easy days.
Average paces per interval were 5:59 for the 5 minutes, 5:47 for the 4 minutes, 5:31 for the 3 minutes, 5:20 for the 2 minutes and 5:07 for the 1 minute.
Doing this one on the treadmill felt a little bit like cheating because I had to choose the speed and I knew exactly what I was running, which is typically not the case for a fartlek.
Either which way, I was happy with how it went and felt like I accomplished the intent of the workout, which was to get a little bit of speed in without overdoing anything since I had a race coming up on Saturday!
Wednesday – 10.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 57℉
Humidity: 58%
I am sad to report that I’ve become a bit of a weeny when it comes to cold temperatures. Perhaps it’s a bit like summer running and I’m just not acclimated yet … we’ll go with that. I waited until mid-afternoon when the temperature was at its peak to get out the door. Gotta love a good work from home “lunch break” run!
I ran back and forth on our road and ended up with 800 feet of elevation gain.
It was super windy out. I’m pretty sure wind is my least favorite element to run in. Unless of course it is a point to point race and the wind is at your back the entire way.
This was my first mid-week double digit easy run since returning to running postpartum. My workouts go into the double digits every now and then, but the easy runs haven’t until now. A silly little milestone perhaps, but one that makes me happy nonetheless.
Thursday – 6.3 mile run (8:30 pace)
Temperature: 40℉
Humidity: 76%
I went to the office on Thursday, so I did have to get my little booty outside while it was still chilly. As long as you are dressed appropriately, it’s really not so bad.
Side note: There used to be a Runner’s World “Cold Running Calculator” that you could use to input all of your conditions and it told you what to wear. I tried and tried and tried some more to find that this week, but was unsuccessful. If anyone still uses that, please send a link!
I went with tights, long sleeves, gloves, a hat and an outer windproof light jacket. That seemed to work well for an easy run. I would’ve been overdressed for a workout or a race.
Friday – 4.0 mile run (8:25 pace)
Temperature: 59℉
Humidity: 25%
Friday’s run was a short little shakeout run before Saturday’s race. I tried to keep it nice and easy and felt pretty good.
Saturday – RACE: Turkey 10!
Sunday – 8.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 42℉
Humidity: 79%
I ran with Rebecca on Sunday! We didn’t get to run together the whole time Richard was away on deployment, so we had plenty of things to catch up on.
It’s always nice to wrap up the week with a run with a good friend!
Weekly Total – 58.5 miles (7:55 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Hey friends! Long time no see! Things got a little bit crazy over here.
I’m pretty sure everything, including kitchen sink, has been thrown at me in the last couple of months. I planned to write a detailed post about some of that stuff, I am mentally exhausted and am having trouble evening forming words. We’ve been dealing with a lot of sickness, work deadlines, work travel, depositions for a [completely unavoidable and slightly ridiculous] lawsuit over a driveway easement, testifying at a parole hearing and a few other little things that *seemed like a big deal at the time* but are slipping my mind at the moment. Combine all of that with my husband being out of town for a 30 day hurricane relief deployment and I have been in literal survival mode. I told Richard that my only goal while he was gone was to keep all the living things alive. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. We lost a couple chickens. However, a few baby chicks also hatched while he was gone, so I’m thinking we’ll just call it good. It’s the circle of life.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then A. THANK YOU! and B. you can probably guess what the parole hearing was about. This is the thing that I want to write more about, but don’t want to think more about. If only I could write without thinking! Ha.
This was news to me, but apparently most inmates are eligible for parole after they’ve completed one-third of their prison sentence or 10 years time, whichever is less. However, individuals who have been convicted of violent and severe Class Afelonies until they’ve served the lesser of 85% of their sentence of 15 years. Let that sink in for a minute. What in the world?! This is a United States Department of Justice rule and is not specific to the state of Alabama. The man who attacked me has been in jail for 15 years (less than his sentence) and per this rule became eligible for parole in October. I knew about the 85% rule, but I definitely didn’t understand the whole “lesser of” or the 15 year part of it.
As the victim, I was able to protest his parole. Victims can protest in writing by sending a letter to the Bureau of Pardons & Paroles or in person by being physically present at the hearing. After a lot of careful consideration, I decided to do both. The whole experience was more painful than I expected. I’ve done so much work to move on with my life, but this process basically forces both the victims and their families to relive it all over again.
The letter was supposed to provide some context for how the crime has impacted my life. Deciding whether or not to write a letter was not a hard decision. Granted, the actual process of writing it was not fun. Deciding whether or not to attend the parole hearing was a much harder decision. I talked to a lot of people on the phone before the hearing, but I never felt like I had a very clear picture of what exactly was going to happen that day. As someone who likes to plan and know what to expect, this was really difficult. I hate to think how much mental energy went into this from my side. It was a lot.
I was also able to contact the state attorney general’s office to find out how many “disciplinaries” he has gotten while in prison (i.e., has he been a good inmate or not). It was several. This gave me a bit of hope. Surely if he hadn’t been on his best behavior, he wouldn’t be granted parole.
At the hearing two people from each “side” are allowed to speak for two minutes each. Basically you present your case of why the inmate should or should not be granted parole. I spoke on my own behalf and Richard also spoke on my behalf (more on that shortly). The inmates are not present at the hearing and the victims families are kept separate from the inmates families at all times. We didn’t know this ahead of time, but no one showed up to speak on behalf of the inmate in my case. It appears that the hearings go somewhat in the order of when you arrive the morning of, so if you ever find yourself in this scenario (and I pray that you don’t!), plan to get there early. I was one of the only “living” victims present … so yeah, most of the families were there to support their loved ones who were murdered. I can’t even imagine.
When it was my turn to speak, I was very matter of fact. I explained that there was no way I could summarize how this crime has impacted my life in two minutes. I referred them to the letter that I wrote, pleaded that they not release the inmate and begged that they would delay his next parole consideration for the full extent that the law will allow. When it was Richard’s turn to speak, he [unexpectedly] very emotional. He started with, “I didn’t know Sam when this happened to her” and then there was a very, very long pause. I was sitting there thinking, “Well … this is not going to be extremely helpful.” However, after he regained his composure he went on to give a very helpful and heartwarming speech. He told the parole board that I was supposed to be the one to cry, not him, which of course made everyone laugh.
Part of why I am writing this now is so that I can remember what to do next time. And yes, spoiler alert: parole was DENIED. Parole can denied for up to 5 years, so this process will repeat every 5 years until either parole is granted or his sentence is served in full. All of this happened shortly after Eliza Fletcher’s murder. She was on my mind constantly. I heard that the man that murdered her was out on parole (I didn’t fact check this). In my mind, I kept thinking, “this one’s for you Eliza.” I want to do my part to ensure that the man in my case is NEVER able to hurt another woman.
Now that we’ve got that stuff out of the way, let’s catch up on training! I’ve got a few races on the calendar, which makes me REALLY EXCITED. I’m planning to do a 10 mile race (this weekend!), a 5k next week (Turkey Trot!) and possibly two half marathons (either in early December and/or early January). At this point, I’d say that there is at least a 50% chance that any of these races will actually happen. Ha. Is it just me or does life seem completely unpredictable to anyone else at the moment?!
Hopefully a quick bird’s eye view summary will provide some context when I start updating my training logs weekly again …
Week of 09/04/22 – 66.5 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week, which I would say is fairly standard.
One workout was 12 X 1 minute on/1 minute off, which is such a sneaky little workout! I averaged 5:25 pace for the minutes on.
The other workout was two sets of 8 X 400 w/ 200 recoveries, so basically just 16 X 400. Splits were 86, 84, 84, 84, 84, 84, 82, 84, 81, 83, 83, 83, 84, 83, 81, 80.
Week of 09/11/22– 39.0 miles
The only notable run this week was the 8 mile run at 4:30 a.m. to “finish Eliza’s run.”
I got a horrible stomach bug that weekend and was worthless for a few days.
Week of 09/18/22– 44.1 miles
There were no workouts or long runs this week, but I did do a 5k on Saturday. I got a sinus infection and an ear infection after recovering from the stomach bug, but ran the 5k anyway because … #stubbornness.
While I didn’t run the time I would’ve wanted to if I had been completely well, I am glad that I participated. My husband is a volunteer firefighter and the race supported his department.
My splits were 5:42, 5:49 and 6:05. Ugh. I typically race much smarter than this, but it was tricky as I really had no idea what to expect given the sicknesses. I was done with my antibiotics at this point and I actually felt good for the first mile and a half or so, but I ran out of steam after that.
Tasty teething trophy!
Week of 09/25/22– 63.7 miles
Things seemed to be back to somewhat of a status quo state this week and I got two workouts in.
One workout was 6 X 800 at threshold pace with 70 second recoveries. I did this workout on the road and averaged 5:52 for the 800s.
The other workout was within the long run and included a four mile warm up, a 2 X 3 mile tempo with a half mile recovery and a four mile cool down. Paces were 6:32, 6:33, 6:12 and 6:30, 6:27, 6:09.
Week of 10/02/22– 63.4 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week.
One workout was 6 miles of tempo effort alternating between 6:10 and 6:50 every half mile. Paces averaged out to 6:41, 6:23, 6:28, 6:36, 6:27, 6:38. I really enjoy any workout that has varying paces throughout!
The other workout was 10 X 200 (ish). I say “ish” because I did this one on the road instead of at the track.
I did 14 miles on Sunday with the last two being a “victory lap” for Victor, a beloved member of our local running community who we lost incredibly too soon.
Week of 10/09/22– 59.1 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was a fun little 5-4-3-2-1 [minutes] fartlek with 2 to 3 minutes of recovery in between the harder efforts.
The other workout was within the long run and included a three mile warm up, a 3 X 1.5 mile tempo with half mile recoveries and a three mile cool down. Paces were 6:10, 6:06 and 6:03.
Week of 10/16/22 – 60.5 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week. As I am recapping this, I am realizing that my training has been much more consistent than the rest of my life has been and I’m not quite sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing …
One workout was 10 X 1 minute on/1 minute off. How do the minutes on take twice as long as the minutes off?! Ha. I averaged 5:35 pace for the minutes on.
The other workout was 8 X 800 w/ 200 recoveries. Splits were 3:01, 3:02, 3:02, 2:59, 2:55, 2:54, 2:54 and 2:49. I also had the best cheer squad ever at the track! All of the grandparents were incredibly generous and helpful while Richard was gone. I truly couldn’t have done most of this without them!
Cheer crew!
Week of 10/23/22 – 63.1 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was a ladder fartlek of 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 [minutes] with 2 minutes of recovery in between the harder efforts.
The other workout was within the long run and included a three mile warm up, a 3 X 2 miles at half marathon effort with a half mile recoveries and a three mile cool down. Paces were 6:15, 6:14, 6:28, 6:33, 6:11 and 6:10. I was on some gentle rollers for this run and the splits are a very accurate portrayal of the terrain.
Week of 10/30/22 – 62.5 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was 6 miles at marathon effort. I had to run on the treadmill and am estimating my average pace to about 6:30-6:35. Average pace per my watch with the foot pod was 6:19, but that tends to be slightly aggressive.
The other workout was within the long run and included a four mile warm up, 4 X 2k with 400 meter recoveries and a three mile cool down.
Week of 11/06/22 – 66.6 miles
I got two workouts and a long run in this week.
One was a fartlek workout of 4 X [2:00, 1:00, 0:30].
The other workout was one of my favorites in recent memory! It was a track workout with 4 X “broken” miles followed by 4 X 200. The broken miles were run with the first 800 at 5k pace, 400 at marathon pace and the last 400 at 3k pace. The mile splits ended up being 6:01, 5:51, 5:45, 5:46! It’s wild to be able to run these splits with one of the laps at what feels like a fairly easy effort. My 200s were also really strong at 37, 37, 37, 36. These were my standard pre-pregnancy 200 splits, so I was ECSTATIC to be seeing those again!
Week of 11/13/22 – 53.3 miles
This week was a bit of a cutback week with one workout and no long run. The week was structured this way because 1) it had been a little while since I’ve had a cutback week and 2) we were traveling over the weekend.
The workout that I did have was a doozy! It was a two mile warm up, a three mile tempo with a half mile recovery, a two mile tempo with a half mile recovery, a one mile tempo and a two mile cool down. On the tempo portion, I averaged 6:14 for the three miles, 6:08 for the two miles and 5:58 for the one mile. The goal was to drop the pace down a little bit each set. Done and done!
Okay friends, we are officially caught up on the training front! Perhaps this will be the week where I get back on track with my weekly training logs and hopefully some race recaps too. Ward will be 9 months next week (how?!) and I really want to write a post about these first 9 months of postpartum training. It’s been a wild ride, but the human body can do some amazing things.
I ran much later in the day than I typically do. My legs felt very heavy!
It rained pretty much the entire run, but I was just happy to be out there regardless of the conditions. Every now and then, a good rainy run kinda feels soul cleansing.
Wednesday –10.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 80℉
Humidity: Indoors
Listened to: Music!
Wednesday’s workout was written as a two and a half mile warm up, 2 X 2 miles at half marathon pace with 4 minutes recovery between sets and a three mile cool down.
The goal pace for the first set was 6:20 and then if I felt good, the plan for the second set was to drop it down to 6:10.
We have had so. much. rain. It’s slightly ridiculous! Thursday morning was a treadmill run after dropping Ward off at school.
I really enjoyed this podcast episode. There were several things that Jonathan said that really resonated with me (so much so that I almost want to go back and listen again just to tell you what they were).
He talked about the elite athlete mindset.
He talked about how the option in most circumstances is to either give up or keep going.
Friday –8.25 mile run (8:10 pace)w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:12 pace)
I ran at the mall Friday morning after dropping Ward off at school. I haven’t run at the mall since school started back in our area. I wanted to test it out and see what the traffic situation was like. It wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t great. It was better than running back and forth on a half mile stretch of the road we live on though!
I did a few strides in preparation for Saturday’s workout.
Saturday’s track session was written as a two mile warm up, 5 X 1k with 400 recoveries and a two mile cool down. The goal was to run the 1k repeats at close to 5k pace.
My splits were 3:34, 3:29, 3:31, 3:31 and 3:29. That ranges from 5:35 to 5:45 pace, which is a 17:25 to a 17:40 5k. I’ve got a 5k coming up in a few weeks, so I’m interested to see how well this workout translates over. I’d be thrilled if I ran somewhere in that range!
Sunday –13.0 mile run (8:45 pace)
Temperature: 73℉
Humidity: 95%
Got in another Sunday long run with Rebecca! I met her at her house this week.
Weekly Total – 61.80 miles (8:00 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
I ran later in the afternoon on Tuesday and given how hot it was, I decided to run on the treadmill.
The podcast helped to pass the time, but easy runs on the treadmill are not my favorite.
Wednesday –9.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 76℉
Humidity: Indoors
Listened to: Music!
I ran on the treadmill again, but this time because it poured rain all day long!
Wednesday was a lactate threshold workout. The workout was written as a two and a half mile warm up, 5 X 1200 meters at threshold pace (goal pace was 6:10) with 70 second jogging rest and a two mile cool down.
The idea was for the interval itself to be short enough that you are done before the lactic acid builds up too much and then the quick rest gets you going again before you are fully recovered.
My paces were 6:09, 6:07, 6:00, 5:54, 5:48. I was wearing my footpod, so the paces are probably slightly inflated. Based on effort, I’d say that they are fairly close to actual. I ran 0.1 mph faster on each interval.
The time seemed to pass by much more quickly on the workout day than it did on the easy run day!
I got sprinkled on briefly, which was fine. No complaints here. Thankfully I still had Rebecca’s visor that I rescued from the middle of the road in my car. I washed it for her afterwards!
Saturday –9.0 mile run (7:10 pace)
Temperature: 85℉
Humidity: 81%
I got lucky with some overcast skies and a slight breeze!
Saturday’s track session was written as a two mile warm up, 8 X 400 at 5k pace with a 200 recovery, 8 X 200 at 1 mile pace with a 200 recovery and a two mile cool down.
My goal 5k is currently somewhere between 17:30-17:45, which is close to 5:40 pace. The idea was to run the 400s at slightly faster than this pace (83-85 seconds per lap). My goal one mile time is somewhere around 5:15. The idea was to run the 200s as close to this as possible (39 ish seconds per 200).
My actual splits for the 400s were 83, 84, 83, 80, 82, 81, 81, 81. My actual splits for the 200s were 36, 38, 39, 39, 39, 38, 39, 37.
The last couple 400s were definitely tough. I got a little carried away after the first few repeats and paid for it slightly on the last few. I always feel like I can gut out some quick 200s at the end of a workout. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world, but I got the work done!
Sunday –13.1 mile run (8:50 pace)
Temperature: 74℉
Humidity: 97%
Got in another Sunday long run with Rebecca! She met me at the mall this week.
Weekly Total – 62.3 miles (8:00 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
My legs felt really good! I had an 8 a.m. work call, which put a little bit of extra pep in my step. My easy runs are typically a touch slower, but I had to get the run done and get back home asap.
Tuesday –9.0 mile run (8:10 pace)w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:25 pace)
My legs seemed to be a bit more tired today, which I think makes sense both given the volume and intensity of my training over the weekend and the fact that it usually hits me 48 hours later instead of the next day.
Wednesday–8.0 mile run (7:35 pace)
Temperature: 73℉
Humidity: 97%
Listened to: Nothing! No podcast, no music, no nothing. I was giving a work presentation at 8:30 (a three hour long presentation at that!), so I wanted to run with just my thoughts and not put too much other noise in my brain. I’m not sure if that is how that works or not, but it definitely seemed right in the moment.
I did a baby workout of 2 X [90, 60, 30] second repeats. I was supposed to do a three mile warm up before the intervals and a three mile cool down after the intervals, but somehow I misread that on my training plan and only did a two mile warm up. I knew the total run was supposed to be 8 miles and it didn’t hit me until I was partway through the intervals that I was only going to have 6 miles if I did a two mile warm up and a two mile cool down. I tacked the extra miles onto the cool down. No harm, no foul.
However, I don’t think I was quite warmed up when I started the workout, so the extra mile might’ve helped me. My average pace for the first set was 5:54 and my average pace for the second set was 5:18. So yeah … not quite warmed up for that first set!
I ran a little bit quicker overall than I typically would as well due to the above-referenced presentation. This was basically the equivalent of my 8 a.m. call on Monday because I actually had to be showered and presentable by 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It is kinda sad how infrequently I get presentable these days, although this week was certainly an anomaly.
I ran back and forth on the paved portion of our road 14 times! Sheesh. Not the most fun route by any means. The traffic is absolutely insane in the mornings if I try to drive anywhere else and the non-paved portion of our road was too muddy to run on, so back and forth and back and forth some more is what I did.
I was actually supposed to run 8 miles, but thought of another out and back just really seemed like too much. Ha!
Friday –5.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 75℉
Humidity: 95%
Listened to: Nothing!
More back and forth on the paved portion of our road.
Saturday –RACE
Temperature: 73℉
Humidity: 100%
I did a two mile warm up, ran a two mile race and did a three mile cool down.
I hadn’t raced hard in almost two full years!
The two mile state record for my age was 12:10, so I definitely wanted to go for that.
The plan was to start out at close to 5:40 pace and then pick it up in the second mile. My main concern was not going out too quickly. I really didn’t want to crash and burn in a two mile race!
I ended up running splits of 5:40 and 5:32. The [certified] course had several turns and I apparently didn’t run the tangents all that well because I ended up with an extra 8-10 seconds tacked on at the end!
My official time was 11:22! Well under the previous state record. I was super pumped!
I am able to see my splits per 800 on Strava and they were 2:54, 2:52, 2:49, 2:37. Was definitely booking it at the end.
Oddly enough my heart rate on the warm up (running an 8:15 pace) was higher than during the race! Not sure how accurate that is, but I definitely had some pre-race nerves that I think must’ve contributed to that metric.
Sunday –13.0 mile run (8:40 pace)
Temperature: 73℉
Humidity: 100%
Got in another Sunday long run with Rebecca! I met her at her house and she mapped out a great route for us.
Random story of the day is that we had a dog follow us for almost 5 miles and across a very busy highway! Neither of us had our phones to call the owner when he first started tagging along. At some point, we decided that it would likely be best if he followed us all the way back to her house so that we could give him some water and try to locate the owner. Thankfully we were able to call the owner and he was able to come and get him, but that little guy was quite a long way away from home! The owner said that he had gotten calls about his dog being out “several times” that week, which was baffling to me. I would be a wreck if Brooks ran away once, much less several times.
This run was a shakeout run for a 5k that I planned to do on Tuesday evening.
My legs felt good and ready to roll! Also for whatever it is worth, Garmin said that my training status was “peaking,” which we will take as a good sign.
Tuesday –10.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 82℉
Humidity: I was indoors, but I feel like it was probably still 100% humidity!
Listened to: Music! I need to share my playlist at some point.
It rained all. day. long. on Tuesday. I was in Mobile most of the day and the streets were completely flooded. I think they ultimately still had the race, but I had zero desire to drive back across the bay to go run in the rain through flooded streets. Thankfully (and unlike last time), I did not register for this one in advance!
I decided to do a progressive tempo instead. I am typically really strong on short intervals and not so much on the middle distance threshold type of work, so I am really trying to focus on that. It’s so easy to do the stuff that you are good at and skip the stuff that is outside of your comfort zone, so I am really trying to be cognizant of that.
I started out a 6.0 mph on the treadmill (10:00 pace) and worked my way up by 0.2 mph every two minutes for the first three miles of the run before starting the tempo portion. According to Garmin my splits were 6:32, 6:19, 6:09 and 6:04. I don’t know how accurate the footpod actually is, but I think it’s fairly close. The paces were very similar to what I ran on a similar workout outside last week and the effort level felt the same.
I ran at the mall after dropping Ward off at school. This routine definitely seems to be working at the moment, so I’m hopeful that I can stick with it.
They are doing some road construction on the road around the mall, which makes it a bit more challenging to there and get parked. Once I am actually there and running, the traffic is much less than it would otherwise be. I’d say the benefits of the construction outweigh the inconveniences of it at the moment!
My legs were a little bit tired today. It’s typically two days post workout when my legs feel the most fatigued.
Friday –9.0 mile run (8:05 pace) w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:20 pace)
I ran after dropping Ward off at school, but varied my route a little bit. There’s only so many mall loops a girl can do! The driveway was a no go this week though, so I’m happy to have an alternative route that is close by.
My legs felt much better today.
Got some strides done at the end of the run in preparation for a track workout tomorrow!
The workout was written as a 2 mile warm up, 8 X 600 and a 2 mile cool down. I was supposed to push the pace on the last 200 of every other repeat. On the odd repeats, I kept the pace as is on the last 200 and on the even ones I picked up the pace by about 20 seconds per mile or so.
The goal was to run these at close to 5k pace, which translated into about 86-87 seconds per lap. This meant that on the odd repeats the final 200 would be close to 43 seconds and on the even repeats, he wanted me closer to 40 seconds. The idea was to work on closing strong and pushing a little bit harder when you are already tired so that in a race setting those things feels like the norm.
The recovery was supposed to be half of the interval (300 meters), but I have a really hard time finding the 100 and 300 marks on the track, so I just went with a 200 meter recovery instead to keep it nice and even (and easy for my brain).
I split the 400s so that I’d have the data to see the execution of the 200s. Splits were as follows:
85/44
86/40
84/43
83/40
85/43
85/40
84/43
84/40
Things got really tough around the sixth rep, but I stuck it out.
I really liked the way this workout was structured. Having the 200 to focus on every other time was nice, especially since I like 200s! It was a fun challenge. I also think taking splits at the 400 made it feel like I was only doing 400 meter repeats instead of 600 meter repeats. For whatever reason, mentally it seemed less challenging.
Sunday –12.0 mile run (8:30 pace)
Temperature: 75℉
Humidity: 97%
I got to run with Rebecca for the first 9 miles!
Learned some very valuable information in regards to where you can and can not apply body glide. The secret is that you can apply it everywhere and that there is no where you can’t apply it! I’ve got several pair of spandex shorts that are a dreadful combination of slightly too old and slightly too big and there has been chafing in … let’s just say … some unfortunate areas. But now I know!
I got in three more miles on my own afterwards and was able to rescue Rebecca’s visor from the middle of the road. She drove off with it on the hood of her car. I told her it was a true test of friendship, as the visor was very sweaty. Ha!
Totals – Running: 60.0 miles Elliptical: NONE!
This was my first 60 mile week since November of 2020! Wowza. I can’t believe it has been that long, but I guess it makes sense given the life events that have transpired! Thanks for following along.
Mile 6 of the run was 6 X 30 second strides. I did these on the pavement before I get back to the dirt portion of the driveway. I sprint for 30 seconds, then turn around, walk for 15-20 seconds and slowly jog back to the starting point & repeat 5 more times.
I was so excited to listen to this episode! I did a consult with Meghann a month or so ago. Other mothers probably get this, but breastfeeding is no joke on the nutrition front. When you combine that with training, the mother runner is a rare caloric monster! If you told me that I’d be eating 3k calories per day for maintenance, I’d have thought you were crazy. Just for reference, here is what she told me I need to be taking in currently:
I was originally supposed to do a track workout Tuesday morning, but we changed this up a bit. I am trying to be a lot more intentional with my schedule (now that Ward is a little bit older, it’s becoming a tad easier to create routine!). I have been all over the place, mentally, physically and emotionally. I thrive on consistency and routine and both of those things have been severely lacking in my life for the past few months.
Wednesday–9.0 mile run (7:00 pace)
Temperature: 77℉
Humidity: 100%
Listened to: Music!
Pre-run I had a scoop of athletic greens w/ 12 oz. of water, 6 oz. of coffee and a bagel. I didn’t hit the wall or ever start feeling fatigued during this run!
The workout was written as a 2.5 mile warm up, a 4 mile progressive tempo and a 2.5 mile cool down.
The plan was to start at around 6:40 pace and then to dial it down each mile (at my own discretion).
I ended up with splits of 6:35, 6:25, 6:19, 6:04.
The third tempo mile had a small hill in it, so I was fairly consistent with picking it up about 10 seconds each mile. According to Strava, the grade adjusted pace for the third mile was 6:15 on the dot!
I got bloodwork done Thursday morning with InsideTracker. It’ll be interesting to get those results and to see how breastfeeding is impacting my biomarkers.
Workout was written as a 2 mile warm up, 3 X [4 X 400 w/ 100 recovery] and a 2 mile cool down.
Goal pace was 5:40-5:45 (85-86 seconds per lap). This is supposed to be close to 5k pace.
Actual splits were 83, 84, 85, 84 | 83, 83, 84, 84 | 84, 83, 85, 82.
100 meters of “recovery” is SO. SHORT. It’s basically nothing. Holy smokes.
This workout was a huge confidence boost for me. I told my coach that I think the mental boost was more important than any actual physical training adaptations that I got.
One of the football coaches was out working on the infield area while I was running (which was 100 times better than having the entire football team out there!). Afterwards he asked me who I compete for. I was kinda like … uhh … myself? Ha! He then told me that my workout was impressive as sh*t, which pretty much made my day!
Ran at home by myself before meeting up with friends for Lizzie’s 40th birthday BRUNCH! Time with friends is so special and certainly hits differently at this stage of life.
Totals – Running: 51.4 miles Elliptical: 1275miles
