I might’ve jumped the boat a little bit, as my “official” marathon training block doesn’t start until the end of September. That part will be a super focused 8-10 week block. However, the training we are doing now is definitely laying the foundation for that and it looks and feels a whole lot like marathon training to me!
Week of August 28 – September 3
Monday: 7 miles easy (80° w/ dew point of 71°) Tuesday: 8 miles easy (74° w/ dew point of 69°) + 45 minutes of Pilates Wednesday: 9.5 miles w/ quality (74° w/ dew point of 69°) Thursday: 10 miles easy (76° w/ dew point of 69°) Friday: 3 mile stroller walk + 5 miles easy (81° w/ dew point of 78°) Saturday: 8 miles w/ quality (83° w/ dew point of 81°) Sunday: 15 miles easy (76° w/ dew point of 74°) + 3 mile stroller walk
Wednesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 8 X 1k at threshold pace w/ 1 minute walking recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. The goal pace for the intervals was 6:10 and I ended up averaging just under 6 minute pace (i.e., 5:59!). I found a neighborhood loop nearby that was almost exactly 1k out and 1k back, so that made it easy. I was really, really pleased with how this one went.
I ended up modifying Saturday’s workout that was supposed to be a 2 mile warm up, 12 X 200, 3 X 800 and a 2 mile cool down. It rained all morning and by the time I got to the track, it was really just too hot to be there. I felt like I was baking! I did the 200s and called it a day. I averaged 5:09 pace for the 200s, but I was cooked.
Total – 68 miles (62 miles running and 6 miles of walking with the little man in the stroller)
Week of September 4 – September 10
Monday: 7 miles easy (76° w/ dew point of 73°) Tuesday: 8 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 65°) + 45 minutes of Pilates Wednesday: 9 miles w/ quality (74° w/ dew point of 70°) Thursday: 11 miles easy (80° w/ dew point of 77°) Friday: 6.5 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 66°) Saturday: 9.5 miles w/ quality (74° w/ dew point of 66°) + 3 mile stroller walk Sunday: 16 miles w/ a slight push at the end (70° w/ dew point of 64°) + 3 mile stroller walk + 30 minutes of strength later in the day
Wednesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 5 miles at half marathon effort and a 2 mile cool down. My goal pace was 6:25 and I averaged 6:19. I even ran on some rolling hills (less than 200 feet off gain, but definitely noticeable at the time), so was pleased to be able to stay on pace with some rolling terrain.
Saturday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 16 X 300 w/ 200 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. Oddly enough, the workout portion of this run ended up also being 5 miles and I averaged 6:20 including the recoveries. My splits for the 300s were all between 61-64 seconds (goal was 63!). Thankfully I was way less gassed at the end of this one than after my 200s the week before!
The goal for Sunday’s long run was to run for 2 hours at an easy pace, but progressing down to just under 7:00 pace at the end. I am here to tell you that while I did it, it certainly didn’t feel like a walk in the park. Probably had something to do with the track workout the day before. Splits for the last 5 miles were 7:08, 7:02, 6:54, 6:55, 6:54. Done and done. I took 3 gels during this run (at 30, 60 and 90 minutes). I am taking this whole “gut training” thing very seriously during this training cycle. I actually don’t think I’ve ever taken more than 3 gels in an actual marathon, but I plan to this time around. I feel like fueling is probably the biggest missing piece of my marathon equation. I’ve done *okay* at it in a couple of my marathons, but I have never done a carb load leading in, nor have I ever taken in what I now know to be the recommended amount of fuel during. Excited to see how that plays out come race day!
Which leads me to one other piece that has also been missing from my marathon equation and that is strength training! I’m continuing with Pilates, which I also do consider to be “strength,” but this time I am adding in two sessions per week with a strength coach who works with runners. I did my first session with him Sunday and it went well. We’re easing into things gradually, so it wasn’t anything too crazy. We did some squats, pushups, jump rope, burpees, bear crawls, side shuffles, shoulder presses, bicep curls and some ab work. My core was on fire for a couple days!
Total – 73 miles (67 miles running and 6 miles of walking with the little man in the stroller)
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!
This week kicks off my “official” summer of speed training block! I am going to be focusing on some shorter distance training over the next few months and then planning to shift to marathon specific work in the fall. I’ve got my sights set on the California International Marathon in December, but (obviously) that’s over 6 months away so we’ll see how it all plays out (i.e., it feels like I can’t plan my life more than about 24 hours in advance at this point, so anything 6 months away is totally up in the air).
We’ve changed up my training schedule a tad to have workouts on Tuesdays and Fridays instead of Wednesdays and Saturdays. All of the other days are easy, including the long run on Sunday.
Here is what training looked like the week of 05/29/23 to 06/04/23:
Monday AM – Easy: 8.5 miles (8:15 pace)+ PM – Stroller Walk: 3 miles
Tuesday – Quality: 2.5 mile WU + 8 X 400 w/ 200 float + 2.5 mile CD
400s were 86, 86, 85, 85, 85, 85, 86, 85 (goal was 85) 200s were 49, 50, 52, 52, 55, 58, 61, 65 (goal was 55)
Wednesday AM – Easy: 6.0 miles (8:20 pace)+ PM – 45 minutes of Pilates
Thursday – Easy: 8.5 miles (8:25 pace)
Friday – Quality: 2 mile WU + 2 X 1.5 mile tempo + 2 X 1:30 + 2 mile CD
Tempo miles averaged 6:15 (goal was 6:05-6:10) 90 second intervals averaged 6:00 (there was no pace goal assigned to these)
Saturday AM – Easy: 8.5 miles (8:34 pace) + PM – Stroller Walk: 3 miles
Sunday AM – Easy: 11 miles (8:59 pace) + PM – Stroller Walk: 3 miles
Total – 60 miles running, 9 miles walking + 45 minutes of Pilates
I registered for a marathon! I was trying to give that a Garth Brooks, “blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots,” sort of vibe, but I don’t think it worked. Oh well. You win some, you lose some!
I sat down to write a post about how I’m ready to go ALL IN for a season and see what happens. I want to do all of the elusive things that you are supposed to do and yet somehow those things seem to never quite materialize. And then it hit me! I’ve written this post before. It was the summer of 1969 2018 and I was about to embark on a similar journey.
The destination deviated wildly that year and yet here I am 5 years later wanting to do basically the same exact thing. I don’t know whether to be comforted or troubled by this realization. What have I been doing for the last 5 years?! There is definitely not a simple answer to that question and a lot of LIFE happened, but running … well, running had to take the backseat for a couple of years.
Why now you ask? I think the better question is why not now? We are all one swift kick of the vacuum cleaner away from being sidelined for 6 weeks, or for 6 months or for even longer … so training starts now! I’m going to spend the summer focused on speedwork and turnover and then gradually build into a marathon specific training block in the early fall.
I’ve got several races picked out to do along the way. I’d like to add another 5k & a 10k in the fall, but for now a tentative schedule looks like this:
06/17/23: Hot Trot 5k 07/04/23: Shark Run (4 Mile) 08/12/23: Satsuma 2 Miler 10/08/23: Northshore 10 Miler 11/19/23: Battleship 12k 12/03/23: CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL MARATHON!
I wanted to pop in and say happy deadline day. Perhaps you guys aren’t quite as thrilled about this day as I am. Regardless of whether you celebrate it (with a refund!) or not (with a payment!), the day is here! For me this day has a New Year’s Day vibe to it. My mind is swirling with the possibility of things to come. I will finally have a little bit of free time to tackle things that I don’t have capacity to manage during the season … things like pilates! and blogging! and sleeping!
This was my 15th tax season as a human (14th if we don’t count last year when I was out on maternity leave (and definitely not feeling like a human!)), but my 1st tax season as a mother. The whole working mother gig is no joke. I had no idea how challenging it would be until I experienced it for myself. I feel like I owe all of my working mom friends an apology (or perhaps a congratulations!). I had no idea how tough it is and how tough you are. If you are out there doing the things … running the miles, working the jobs, momming the children … I see you and you are AMAZING!
While I haven’t posted about it, I’ve been running! I know you are SHOCKED! Ha. I haven’t raced since the half marathon I ran in January. I had plans to do another half in February, but that didn’t work out. I honestly don’t even remember exactly what happened (there was sickness involved (gotta love the daycare crud)), but it just didn’t make sense at the time. Eventually I will learn not to try to plan my life more than 24 hours in advance. For whatever reason racing also just doesn’t quite have the allure that it used to. I still thoroughly enjoy the training, but I’m being super selective with racing these days. I don’t even know what I am training for exactly at this point. Maybe a short race over the summer?! Only time will tell.
I’m coming at you to day with a smorgasbord of a post. We’ve got a training update, a race recap and lots of ramblings in between! Last weekend I ran the Mobile Half Marathon as a tune-up race for the Mercedes-Benz Half Marathon that is coming up in Birmingham next month.
The plan was to tackle this one as somewhat of a workout with the first half (ish) at current half marathon PR pace (6:20 ish) and the second half (ish) at goal half marathon pace (6:10 ish).
My nerded-out, color-coded pace plan!
I haven’t raced a half marathon since the fall of 2018. Life got a little squirrelly at that point … you know … getting divorced, remarried and then having a baby all in the middle of pandemic. Fun times! Bottom line is that it had been a hot minute since I raced a half and I felt like I probably had a shot at an *official* half marathon PR. I technically ran a faster half marathon split in the Indy Monumental Marathon than my actual half marathon PR, but I don’t think that really counts. Either which way, I thought I could run faster than both of those times. I was also in contention for a state record for my age and a course record at this race. So yeah … I had lots of goals to work towards!
I fell back off the weekly training log bandwagon somewhere in the beginning of December, so I’ll do a bit of an update here. Side note: I don’t really think the weekly posts are necessary or helpful. I do think a bigger picture training update post could potentially be beneficial and helpful. Maybe I’ll work on that in my free time [sarcasm]. Heck … I really don’t even have time to be writing this post right now, but you know what, sometimes I just really *need* to write. It’s cathartic even when I’m not sharing something super profound.
After running the Turkey 10 Mile race in November, I shifted my focus towards the half and started a twelve week training block with Mercedes as the goal race. The half in Mobile fell seven weeks into that training block. My weekly mileage averaged out to 60 miles per week of running and 10 miles per week of walking with the stroller. The stroller walks are quickly becoming one of my favorite things. Ward loves it, so of course I love it too! There is something special about those slower paced “nature” walks. They are definitely beneficial from a mental health perspective, but I think they might actually be beneficial from an overall training perspective as well!
Most weeks have four easy run days, two workout days and one long run day. Of course it doesn’t always work out exactly as planned (especially now that there is a baby in the mix!), but that’s the general idea. I had two weeks of no workouts (the week after Turkey 10 and the week after Christmas (thanks to COVID)), but otherwise things went smoothly. My “long run” has stayed in the 12-14 mile range.
Strava links to workouts are below (basically if you are interested in this stuff, follow along on Strava … that’s where all the juicy details are found):
This was my 12th time running First Light (while that is technically not the name anymore, it will always be First Light in my heart). This race tops my list of most run races over the years (with Spring Fever coming in a close second).
Past results (in case you are interested!) are as follows:
2008: Half marathon 2:00:43 (a personal worst) 2009: Half marathon 1:41:39 2010: Half marathon 1:42:07 2011: Full marathon 3:24:12 (my first marathon) 2012: Relay! 2:57:17 (female champs and a course record) 2013: Full marathon 3:23:26 2014: Relay! (female champs) 2015: Relay! (female champs) 2016: Relay! 2:54:52 (female champs and a course record) 2017: Half marathon 1:24:44 2018: Full marathon 3:14:12
I used the Featherstone Nutrition carb load calculator to determine that I needed 400 grams of carbohydrates the day before the race. Side note: Richard asked if I was sure it didn’t mean 400 calories of carbohydrates. Ha! I can’t speak highly enough about Meghann Featherstun! She helped me nail down my nutrition needs for training while breastfeeding and I’ve learned SO MUCH about fueling from her bi-weekly podcast Fuel for the Sole. The basic gist is that I under fueled for performance for the first two decades of my running career. I’m eating between 3k and 4k calories per day at this point (and yes … I know it sounds like a lot!) and I’ve never felt better on the run. I am also still breastfeeding, so that’s where a good bit of extra caloric needs are coming into play. 400 grams of carbohydrates sounded intimidating at first, but once I started doing it, I discovered that it was actually not much more carbohydrates than my typical daily intake at this point. Apparently my entire life is a carb load! Who knew?!
On race morning, I had a cup of coffee, some water with Nuun, a banana and a bagel on the way to the race. Otherwise, I didn’t take any gels or other fuel out on the course. I was fully stocked up at that point!
The race started at 7:30 in downtown Mobile. I got in a one mile warm up before the race. We had perfect weather! It was around 50℉ at the start and warmed up to about 60℉ by the finish. The humidity was about 75%, while perhaps not ideal, is certainly not bad for the Gulf Coast.
After the initial start line chaos sorted itself out, I found myself in no man’s land (of course!) behind a lead pack of 10 or so men. In the moment I was very torn about whether I should try to stay with them or let them go. It’s not very often that I have other runners to work with during a race, so part of me really wanted to go with them and see what happened. Fortunately, the logical part of my brain triumphed over the impulsive part of my brain (for maybe the first time ever?!) and I stuck with the initial plan. I reminded myself that I would most likely catch some of them in the later miles.
My plan was to negative split this thing and I had a feeling that some of the guys in the pack might be in a bit over their heads (as I would’ve been had I gone with them).
Start line chaos! Why you guys all gotta sprint off the line?!
After the first mile, two of the guys had dropped back from that initial pack and I focused on them. I didn’t necessarily want to catch up to them immediately, but I wanted to at least stay an equal distance back from them. I didn’t look at a single split on my watch from mile 2 to mile 10. I had a feeling that I was running a tad faster than planned. However, if I looked down and saw that I was running slower than planned, I would’ve felt defeated and if I looked down and saw that I was indeed running faster than planned, I would’ve felt scared. It seemed like a lose, lose situation, so I decided to run purely by feel.
Happy as a little clam in no man’s land!
I passed one of the two guys that I had been chasing in the third mile and caught up to the other one in the next mile. I ran with him for a few miles, which was nice! As it turns out, he is also running Mercedes next month. At one point my curiosity got the best of me and I asked him what his goal was so that I could try to gauge if I was running close to the pace I was supposed to be. I don’t remember exactly what he told me his goal was, but he did tell me that he thought I was “close” to where I needed to be pace-wise. I was really set on not checking my pace, splits or overall time at that point.
We eventually parted ways (i.e., I sped up a little bit) and I continued to reel in other runners. Granted, it wasn’t *that many* runners because there were only about 10 or so ahead of me to begin with. I would say I passed one person every mile and a half or two miles. I loved having some people to chase down. I lost count of how many people I passed, but I had a feeling I was going to end up near the top 5!
One of the best parts of the entire race was seeing my wonderful support crew along the way! I saw Mom, Dad, Richard and Ward out on the course three or four times (five or six time if you count the start and the finish). My dad hopped in and started running next to me with the stroller several times. Ward was grinning ear to ear and my heart was so happy! I really wish I had been able to capture one of those moments with a photograph from my viewpoint. It was truly one of the most special things I have ever experienced. And, my dad was running FAST! I had to yell out to him to slow down at one point because I was having to sprint to catch up to them. Ha!
I did finally look at my watch when it beeped for the mile 10 split. At that point, whatever the watch told me was going to be fine as I felt really strong and I knew I was about to make the final turn onto Dauphin Street and head for home! The mile split was 6:10 and my elapsed time was right at 62 minutes. 6:10 was right where I was supposed to be and 62 minutes also seemed about right. At that point I made a conscious decision to pick up the pace ever so slightly. My last three miles were the fastest of the day at 6:00, 6:01 and 5:56! Whew. And yes, I looked at each of those splits as they happened. After I looked once, I couldn’t *not* look!
So where does that leave us?! Oh yes! The finish line. I crossed in 1:21:10, which was a personal best, a course record and a state record for 37-year-old females. I was also the first female and fourth overall! Woo! It was a good day to have a good day.
And since I didn’t give you a play by play of the splits as I went (I didn’t know them!), here’s the full breakdown:
I took at bit of a down week with just one short workout after the race to let my body recover. Now we are just four weeks out from Mercedes! I am definitely feeling very nostalgic about running Mercedes, as it was my first *ever* half marathon in 2005. This is also the last year of the race, which is sad. I haven’t done it since 2006 (a casual 17 year ago … when did I get so … old?!). I’ve been ruminating on a post about how much *LIFE* has happened in the 18 years since that first half marathon. 19-year-old Sam had quite a lot coming for her!
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!
