August 2023 – Mobile Bay Runner

Marathon training is officially underway! While the “summer of speed” was decidedly less speedy than originally anticipated, I gained at least *some* fitness and laid a solid foundation upon which to begin the marathon build. Ultimately that was the goal!

Week of August 14 – August 20

Monday: 6 miles easy (86° w/ dew point of 81°)
Tuesday: 7 miles easy (84° w/ dew point of 81°)
Wednesday: 9 miles w/ quality (72° w/ dew point of 69°)
Thursday: 10 miles easy (69° w/ dew point of 60°) + 45 minutes of Pilates
Friday: 8 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 64°)
Saturday: 8 miles easy (78° w/ dew point of 72°) + 3 mile stroller walk
Sunday: 14 miles w/ quality (77° w/ dew point of 72°) + 3 mile stroller walk

Wednesday’s workout was a 3 mile warm up, 12 X 1:00 at threshold pace w/ 1:00 recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. This one was meant to be a simple way of easing back into things with some work a threshold pace. The goal was between 6:00-6:10 for the intervals and 7:30-7:40 for the recoveries. I averaged 5:58 & 7:20, respectively. I got super lucky weather wise, as we got some rain and a “cool front” came though! The temperature + dew point combo of 141 felt like fall compared to the previous days of 165+!

Sunday’s workout was a 4 mile warm up, 6 miles at marathon pace and a 4 mile cool down. The goal marathon pace for this one was 6:50-7:00. I averaged 6:47! I practiced fueling by taking a Huma gel at mile four and mile eight.

Total – 69 miles (63 miles running and 6 miles of walking with the little man in the stroller)

Week of August 21 – August 27

Monday: 7 miles easy (80° w/ dew point of 73°)
Tuesday: 8 miles easy (75° w/ dew point of 68°)
Wednesday: 7.5 miles easy (90° w/ dew point of 75°) + 45 minutes of Pilates
Thursday: 9 miles w/ quality (78° w/ dew point of 70°)
Friday: 10 miles easy (74° w/ dew point of 72°)
Saturday: 8 miles easy (81° w/ dew point of 76°) + 3 mile stroller walk
Sunday: 15 miles w/ quality (78° w/ dew point of 74°) + 3 mile stroller walk

Wednesday’s workout was a 3 mile warm up, 10 X 1:30 at 5k pace w/ 1:15 recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. The goal pace for the intervals was 5:40 and I ended up averaging 5:47. This one looked a tad bit intimidating on paper, so I eased into the intervals and ended up feeling GREAT! The average pace for the first 5 was 5:54 and the average pace for the last 5 was exactly 5:40. Good pacing practice for sure.

Sunday’s workout was an “up-tempo” long run. I ran on a decently hilly route (as I know CIM has some rollers) and practiced fueling by taking a Maurten gel at mile four and mile eight. Oddly enough, my goal pace was 7:20 and I averaged exactly 7:20! The splits were all over the place, but somehow the average was right on point.

Total – 71 miles (65 miles running and 6 miles of walking with the little man in the stroller)

Last weekend I ran the Satsuma 2 Miler with a goal of breaking the two mile Alabama state record for 38 year old females! I’ve got my eye on several state records this year!

I feel like I’ve gotten a little rusty on race day logistics as I’ve not been racing nearly as much as I used to. Racing is definitely a skill that must be used in order to stay sharp! A two mile race was a nice way to ease back into things. I got to the race about 45 minutes before the start in order to register, go to the bathroom, do a quick warm up, change clothes and (hopefully!) make it to the start line on time. I cut it a little closer than I meant to!

I warmed up in a different top and different shoes than I planned to race in. My plan was to wear my heaviest trainers (looking at you Brooks Glycerin!) for the warm up and then to switch to my “fast shoes” (the Saucony Endorphin Pros in this case) for the race. With temperatures in the mid eighties and a dew point in the mid seventies, it was … sticky! I took a gel approximately 30 minutes out from the start and headed out for a two mile warm up. Afterwards, I changed into my crop top and ate some crushed ice as I walked over to the start line. Nothing cools me down more than chewing on some ice, so this seemed like a reasonable pre-race cooling strategy. I also put a couple handfuls into my sports bra as well. I think I’ll likely do this again if I run another race on the face of the sun. Seriously?! This is bananas.

I lined up at the very front of the corral. I planned to go out close to 5:40 pace and hoped that I’d be able to sustain that. I definitely did not want to not crash and burn in a two mile race. There were several high-school runners in the race, so the pace started out a bit hotter than I wanted it to. I knew this would probably happen and I tried to hold myself back in the first half mile and have some patience (which is so hard for me (both in running and in life in general)).

My splits per 800 were 2:52, 2:49, 2:56, 2:49, so I ended up with a slight positive split, but not a crash and burn by any means. I was in about 15th place or so at half a mile in. I steadily reeled in a few runners I’ve the next half mile and was in the top 10 for sure as we came to the turnaround. I tried to pick it up slightly (which in hindsight didn’t actually happen) and told myself that I had less than 6 minutes to go! I find it really helpful to think in terms of only a certain amount of time or only a certain distance left to go. With half a mile to go, I made a more conscious decision to pick it up. At this point, I was hurting and just wanted this thing to be done!

I finished in 11:34 as fifth overall and first female! I got the state record by about 30 seconds, so … mission accomplished! For whatever it is worth, the “dewme” app on Strava says that my adjusted pace was 5:22 per mile. Granted, I don’t think I’ll ever race in “perfect conditions,” but I do like to think that my fitness is at that point. If you haven’t used that app, I’d highly recommend it! If nothing else, it’s a nice little confidence boost and reminder that you don’t *actually* suck. Ha!

Talk to you guys soon. Maybe!

Mobile Bay Runner

Month: August 2023

CIM Training Log – Weeks 1 & 2!

Race Recap: Satsuma 2 Miler