FLM: Week 5 (RACE WEEK)

Hey-o! I’ve got a super short post today with my weekly workouts. Tomorrow is RACE DAY, so I wanted to go ahead and get this one knocked out.

Monday AM: 3 miles easy (8:06 pace)

Monday was a rainy day! Daniel and I were at his family’s house Monday morning and we attempted a run during a break in the rain, but that didn’t exactly work out for us. We got out there and Daniel said something to the effect of, “You checked the radar and it was clear, right?” and I responded with something like, “Well yeah, I checked it … it wasn’t exactly clear though.” My car was in the shop and we were waiting on a phone call from the repairman, so Daniel had his phone with him. Oops. Seeing as how rain and phones don’t really mix, this run got cut short (with a little bit of a pick up at the end too).

Monday PM: 2 mi. WU, 4 mi. brisk (6:49, 6:45, 6:40, 6:40), 1 mi. recovery, 6 X 30 seconds (6:00, 5:56, 5:52, 5:48, 5:44, 5:40), 2 mi. CD

Since it is RACE WEEK, I only had one “workout” this week. It was technically on my schedule for Tuesday, but Tuesday was a busy day and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it in. I decided to bump it up to Monday evening when we got home. Unfortunately, the weather was still extremely bleak and I was forced to take it to the treadmill (I likely would’ve done this anyway (who I am kidding)).

Lightning was popping all around while I was running and I was a little bit worried that the power might go out. Daniel had strict orders to come get me if there was a tornado coming! Ha. He said that he would and said that I would probably be fine, but just to be careful because if the power went out, I would get thrown into the front of the treadmill. Hmm. Definitely didn’t want that to happen!

The workout called for a few “brisk” miles followed by a few pickups. Brisk pace is slightly slower than aerobic threshold pace and slightly quicker than steady state pace. My brisk pace range was 6:40 to 6:50. The pickups were supposed to be done at a fast pace. The range for that was 5:40 to 6:00.

After a two mile warmup, I was able to settle into a nice rhythm on the brisk miles. The pace felt fairly effortless (which is a good sign). I got one mile to recover after the brisk miles and then it was time to do a few 30 second pickups. I was a little unsure how the pickups would go on the treadmill. Sometimes running faster than 6:00 pace feels a little bit out of control, but surprisingly I didn’t ever feel out of control at all and they went great! I did the first one at 10.0 mph and then I bumped the speed up by 0.1 each time. The last one was done at 10.5 mph (5:40 pace) … MOVIN’!

If the power had gone out during those pickups, I would’ve been out of luck for sure. Luckily I survived and no harm was done!

Tuesday: 3 mile run, 45 minute strength training, 3 mile run

Back to the gym Tuesday morning to get dem gainz …

Wednesday AM: 5 miles easy (9:09 pace)

Nothing much to note about this run. I ran a few easy miles on the treadmill before work and watched Netflix.

Wednesday PM: 5 miles easy (8:11 pace)

Daniel and I got to run Wednesday evening! It seems like it has been SO LONG since we have done our typical little “evening loop”and a quick perusing of Strava revealed that in fact, our last loop was on November 16th. We used to do an evening loop several times per week. Daniel hasn’t been running much, so we were long overdue for a date night run. I really enjoy getting a few miles in with him after work because it gives us time to chat and catch up on our day.

Thursday: 8 miles easy (8:26 pace)

Thursday started off on the right foot with an early o’clock run w/ Jessica and Rebecca.

Friday: OFF

Friday turned into an unplanned rest day. I wasn’t able to drag myself out of bed that morning and by the time I got home from work, I was just done. I had zero motivation to run. I also knew that it would be better to not overdo it if I wasn’t feeling it with the race just two days away.

With a break from the physical preparations, I actually did spend some time doing mental preparations Friday. My nerdiness got the best of me and I made a color coded course map with my planned paces. I think there is a lot to be said for visualization and mental preparation. I’m SO ready to pick it up on Dauphin Street and finish strong!

Saturday: 5 miles easy (8:01 pace)

We woke up to temperatures in the 20s! What?! Cue freak out in lower AL!

Daniel was meeting the guys to run so I decided to run a few miles with them. I wore all the clothes (i.e., tights w/ a tennis skirt over them (gives you two extra layers on bottom), a long sleeve shirt w/ a vest and a puffy jacket, gloves w/ mittens over them, ear warmers and a toboggan). Spoiler: it was TOO MUCH. I got toasty.

The good news is that I learned that lesson today and not tomorrow! The forecast is about the same tomorrow. Temperatures in the 20s (with feels like temps in the teens). Holy moly! I’m going to be layered for my warm tomorrow and I’m planning to get down to just a long sleeve top, tights (maybe capris), gloves and ear warmers or a toboggan (but not both) for the actual race. Luckily my relay team will be out on the course, so I can shed some clothes even after the start if I need to.

I just made a new half marathon playlist and I’m getting ready to roll!

Sunday: RACE (recap forthcoming)

That’s it for today! Talk to you soon!