Happy October! I don’t know how it feels where you live, but here in South Alabama, it is really feeling like fall. Granted, this will likely last for approximately two days, but still … I’m loving it while we’ve got it!
Month Recap: September 2020
I wouldn’t say that September was a stellar month of training, but it served it’s purpose. I’m in a bit of a rest and regroup phase right now. I did do a couple of workouts at the beginning of the month, but otherwise it was pretty much easy running with a few days off sprinkled here and there.
Workouts:
3 mi. WU, 8 X 400 (75), 3 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 3 X 2 miles (12:32, 11:49, 11:44), 2 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 2 X 2 miles (12:21, 12:22), 2 mi. CD 3 mi. WU, 4 X [2 min. (5:25), 1.5 min. (5:19), 1 min. (5:16)], 3 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 10 X 200 (36), 2 mi. CD 3 mi. WU, 10 X 200 (37), 3 mi. CD
Favorite workout: My favorite workout this month was the 400 meter repeats. I typically would’ve picked the 200 meter repeats, but since I’ve been doing those quite a bit recently, they don’t seem to be quite as exciting.
Races: I feel like I should just remove this category at this point, which is so sad. There are a couple races popping up here and there, but the majority of even our small local races are still being cancelled.
Paces: My paces ranged from 5:50 to 9:36.
Average Pace: My average pace for the month was 8:33.
Miles: My total mileage this month was 215 miles.
Elevation: I climbed 7,604 feet this month.
Longest run: My longest run was 13 miles.
Shortest run: My shortest run was 3 miles.
Rest days: 4 whole days off this month! That’s got to be some sort of record. I know rest days are good for you and necessary sometimes, but I’m personally not a big fan.
Pilates: I went to three Pilates classes this month.
Planks: I did 75 minutes of planking this month.
Not too much else to report at the moment. Life is a bit hectic, which is definitely not a bad thing. I hope to get back to a more regular posting schedule after this work deadline.
Hey friends! This is a bit of a nontraditional training log, as I haven’t been doing what I would typically consider to be “traditional” training.
I got the results of my blood-work back two weeks ago. After looking over the results, John said that he had a plan in mind and I was excited to hear what he was going to suggest. Little did I know that his plan was going to be delivered in two words that most athletes don’t want to hear together … “iron protocol.” Basically this means only short, easy runs and no strenuous workouts for approximately four weeks. The idea behind it is that your body can’t recover from any sort of deficiency while you continue to train high levels.
I’m going to do an in depth review of all of the results of my blood-work in another post, but it John’s opinion, the alarming thing about the results was the drop in ferritin, iron and iron saturation since the last time I had blood-work done in January. My ferritin dropped from 37 to 22 (ng/mL), my iron dropped from 228 to 96 (ug/dL) and my iron saturation dropped from 60 to 43.7 (%). All in all, my results were pretty good. The only bio-marker that was labeled as “at-risk” was my testosterone, which was too high. Like, what the heck?! I’m curious to see what the dietitian thinks the root of that is. In the meantime, I am primarily focused on eating all of iron rich foods that I possibly can (think red meat, beans, tofu, cashews, spinach and fortified cereal), while also cooling my jets a little bit on the workout front.
The decreased iron levels definitely explain why I have been feeling tired and why dragging myself out of bed in the mornings to go run had started to feel like a chore. I’m so relieved to know that there is a scientific reason to explain the way I have been feeling. I was kind of worried that my motivation was just gone and that maybe my running “career” was on the decline. While this may or may not be true, one thing we know for sure is that if I don’t get my iron levels up, I don’t have a fighting chance to perform my best.
As a side note, if I never run another race as fast as I have in the past, I will be just fine. I feel very satisfied and proud of what I have accomplished. Do I want to run faster? Sure. Am I less of a person if I don’t? Absolutely not. This is a little bit an odd place for me to be mentally. I can’t remember a time over the past few years (or the past decade even) where I haven’t been actively working to improve my times.
Week of 09.14.20 – 09.20.20 –
Monday: Rest Tuesday: 9 miles (7:33 pace) Wednesday: 5 miles (9:01 pace) Thursday: 8.25 miles (8:56 pace) Friday: 7.5 miles (9:01 pace) Saturday: 7.75 miles (8:56 pace) Sunday: 6 miles (7:58 pace)
Admittedly, I did a little bit more this week than I was “supposed” to do. I truly felt like I NEEDED any semblance of normalcy in a week where everything was completely chaotic. See previous post re: Hurricane Sally for more info about said chaos. The only workout that I am “allowed” to do currently is 200 meter repeats, which I did on Sunday. This is essentially the same thing as doing a few strides. My splits were 37, 36, 36, 36, 36, 34, 35, 36, 35, 34 (this averages out to 4:44 pace). I don’t know exactly how this happened, but I felt AMAZING! Perhaps the combination of rested legs and more iron throughout the week … light bulb moment!
Week of 09.21.20 – 09.27.20 –
Monday: 6 miles (8:10 pace) Tuesday: 4.5 miles (7:44 pace) + Pilates Wednesday: Rest Thursday: 8 miles (8:50 pace) Friday: 3 miles (8:48 pace) Saturday: 5 miles (8:56 pace) Sunday: 8.5 miles (8:26 pace)
This week looked a lot more like what my coach had in mind. I ended the week with 35 miles, which is a fairly significant decrease in my normal training volume. I did a few more 200 meter repeats on Thursday as well. My splits were 37, 37, 37, 37, 36, 37, 37, 37, 36, 37 (this averages out to 4:56 pace). My legs didn’t feel quite as good as they did the week prior. It was humid and rainy this week whereas it had been a bit cooler and drier the week before. I’m sure this had something to do with it!
That’s all I’ve got for now. Talk to you again soon!
I wanna hide with you in the rain In the eye of a hurricane I wanna call it for what it is And give you everything I’ve got to give ‘Til there’s nothing left ‘Til there’s nothing left
Hey friends! Well … we made it!
Today’s post is all about preparing for and riding out Hurricane Sally. For those of you who aren’t local or may be new here (welcome!), I live in the Mobile Bay area (hence the blog name :)). Sally made a direct hit on our area last week. The storm wasn’t even really on our radar until a couple days before it made landfall. I don’t recall hearing about it until Sunday and it made landfall in the wee hours of Wednesday morning (i.e., Tuesday night).
There was another big factor at play in my life the week of the storm and that was the extended business tax deadline on Tuesday. Because a tax deadline and a hurricane aren’t stressful enough in their own right, let’s go ahead and combine them and see what happens. How lovely. Thank you for that, 2020.
So on Sunday, we learned that there was a slow moving tropical system in the Gulf named Sally. It was originally projected to make landfall in Louisiana and we were basically expecting it to be a large rain event. However, throughout the day on both Sunday and Monday, the track continually shifted further and further to the east. Before we knew it, it looked like Sally was coming right at us. While it was still a tropical storm at this point, it was forecasted to make landfall as a hurricane.
Monday was a LONG day! I was at work until close to 7 p.m. Deadlines are hectic as it is and when you throw a hurricane into the mix, things get really chaotic. We were frantically trying to tie up all of our loose ends on Monday before the deadline on Tuesday. A lot of people think that the process is over as soon as a tax return is finished being prepared, but in actuality there are still quite a few steps that have to take place before the process is complete. The return has to be billed, the customer has to pay their bill (we don’t like working for free), the customer has to sign their e-file forms, those forms have to be returned to us and then we submit the tax return. It’s a lot of steps, a lot of back and forth and a lot of … stress. By the time I got home from work, I was DONE.
Check out our sunset Monday night! The calm before the storm …
My brain was having a hard time comprehending what was about to happen. I went back and forth and back and forth some more about where I was going to stay during the storm. I begrudgingly packed a bag on Monday night just in case I couldn’t get back home on Tuesday after work. Richard was going to be at the fire station for the 24 hours leading up to and immediately after landfall.
I wanted to be at home, but I also wanted to be with my mom and dad. Their house is right on the Bay and with the path shifting more and more towards us, I didn’t feel comfortable with anyone staying there. The house is over 100 years old and needs major repairs as it is. The house definitely has good bones, but bones do break sometimes and I really didn’t want any of us to be there if they did. Ultimately Mom and Dad decided to go north and I decided to stay at home on the farm in the shop that Richard built this past spring. Our house is on “stilts,” which is very strange considering that we sit at an elevation of over 100 ft. with no chance of flooding, but either which way, the shop was my best option (especially because I knew that it was built really well :)).
Thankfully Richard was on it as far as the preparations go. He’s a coastal engineer and apparently those guys know a thing or two about hurricanes. He understood the uncertainty in the forecast all along and had a mindset of “prepare for the worst.” Here are a few things that he did to prepare:
He used ratchet straps to tie down any loose things that needed to secured to minimize damage.
He filled up enough containers with water to last us for 72 hours (based on an estimate of needing 15 gallons per day). We would be without water in the event that we lost power because we are on a well. We also probably need more water than most people because of the animals.
He got the generator out, tested it, hooked it up and made sure that we also had enough fuel to last us for 72 hours. Based on our location, we felt like would have access to fuel at that point.
He also put a tarp on our already leaky roof in order to hopefully minimize any further water damage.
Even though my brain couldn’t comprehend what was going on Monday night, it woke up before 3 a.m. Tuesday morning fully aware of what was happening. I knew there was no going back to sleep at this point, so I just went with it. I got up, made coffee, went for a run, showered and got to work by 6. The conditions were forecasted to deteriorate as the hours went by on Tuesday, so we planned to leave the office by mid-morning. As it turns out, Sally was a very slow moving storm (she slowed her Mustang WAY down (gotta love a good Sally pun at this point)) and we had a bit longer than anticipated.
Richard left for the station late Tuesday afternoon. As he left, I said, “This is it. It’s go time.” I was a tad nervous about riding this thing out alone, but I felt oddly at peace. I had Brooks with me and I was super thankful for his canine companionship. I checked the rain gauge a few times and watched the news, but otherwise there wasn’t really much I could do at that point. As a side note, you know you are married to an engineer when he asks you to take data measurements in the midst of a natural disaster and you know you are an accountant when your data loving heart is completely on board! I was actually thankful to have the rain gauge “task” as something to do. In a weird way, it gave me a purpose in a situation where you otherwise feel completely useless and helpless.
I went to bed fairly early (shocking, I know (insert sarcasm here)), but I only slept in spurts of a couple hours at a time. I woke up before midnight and realized that we didn’t have power. I got the generator running (thanks to my handy, dandy instructions) and turned the news back on. Sally hadn’t made landfall yet and it seemed like the storm was actually weakening. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. I decided to turn the generator back off because I didn’t want to waste any of the fuel.
I slept for another couple of hours and woke up right as the storm made landfall in Baldwin County. We are a little bit further north, so things weren’t nearly as bad here as they were right on the coast, but it was getting scarily close. I texted Richard and he said that they had over 100 active 911 calls! They responded to as many calls as they could throughout the night, but as the worst of the storm got to us, they had to suspend all emergency response throughout the entire county. He was back at the station and only a couple miles away at this point. I was happy that he was at least close by.
Somehow in the midst of all of this, I managed to fall back asleep. I don’t even know how I did this, but I felt safe and I was also completely exhausted. I woke up a couple hours later, after the brunt of the storm had passed. We had over 91 mm of rain during those couple of hours! The road between our house and the fire station was covered in downed trees and power lines. There were over 30 trees down along about a half mile stretch of the main road.
After the fact, we know that Hurricane Sally made landfall in Gulf Shores, AL as a Category 2 Hurricane with winds of 105 mph. Our county has extensive structural damage because we were in the eyewall of a slow moving, yet STRONG Category 2 Hurricane for over 4 hours. The tremendous amount of rain combined with the high wind was quite disastrous.
Once it calmed down a little bit, Richard walked home from the fire station to check on me and to get his chainsaws and the tractor. The main priority at that point was to clear the roadways so other first responders and emergency vehicles to get through. While the worst of the storm had passed at this point, the conditions were still pretty bad. I was very emotional watching him ride away on the tractor. I was so proud very proud of him. Worried? Yes. Proud? One thousand times YES. I have a totally different understanding of the selflessness and sacrifice that first responders make on a daily basis after going through this experience.
After he left, I went out and checked on all the animals and did a quick damage assessment of the property. Thankfully all the animals were accounted for! It took me a while to find the ducks, but I honestly think they were having themselves a good little time in all that rain. We had several big limbs and debris, but only a couple trees down, which still seems quite miraculous. The damage and devastation around our county was extensive. Even now, a week later, I still am kind of at a loss for how to describe it.
One thing that definitely surprised me is how well we were able to eat throughout all of this. We had eggs most mornings and grilled out in the evenings. Nothing like a good storm to prompt you to clean out your fridge and freezer! We cooked steak, venison, chicken and I think a few other things I am forgetting at this point.
The rest of the week was primarily about cleanup. I picked up sticks and raked each day until my arms literally couldn’t rake anymore. Thankfully, Richard was able to cleanup the bigger stuff with the tractor. After about two days too many without cleaning ourselves up, we decided that we were going to have to figure out a way to bathe. Enter –> creek! Yep, we really did that.
On Friday, we were able to get a small window unit running, which was a huge blessing. It had started to get a little bit warm! We also got a pump hooked up to one of our water tanks so that we had “running water.” Granted, it wasn’t drinkable running water, but it sure beat manually filling the toilet up and washing your hands in a bucket. On Monday, we got a second generator, which enabled us to run the well pump. I was so ready to wash clothes and to take a warm shower! Basically each day we made a few small improvements to our situation. We were without power for over a week, but thankfully it was restored yesterday!
A week later, I still just feel super thankful that we made it through the storm with minimal damage. It’s been amazing seeing friends, neighbors and the community in general come together to help each other out as well. Everyone went through the same storm and is dealing with the same damage (whether emotional or physical), so it’s easy to empathize with what other people are feeling in the aftermath. It’s amazing how something so scary and devastating can make you stop and realize that you truly have all you ever needed and more.
I was sure by now, God you would have reached down And wiped our tears away, Stepped in and saved the day. But once again, I say amen That it’s still raining As the thunder rolls I barely hear your whisper through the rain I’m with you And as your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise The God who gives and takes away
And I’ll praise you in this storm And I will lift my hands That you are who you are No matter where I am And every tear I’ve cried You hold in your hand You never left my side And though my heart is torn I will praise you in this storm
Hey-o! Here is what last week’s training looked like:
Monday – Easy: 12 miles (8:30 pace)
I got in a Labor Day long run on Monday morning! The humidity was lower than normal, which was quite a treat. I left the house at dark o’clock and headed over to meet up with one of my friends. She had a workout, so we didn’t get to run together much at all, but it was nice to be out there together either way. Richard followed me out in the golf cart so that I wouldn’t fall on the driveway in the dark. So chivalrous!
Tuesday – Easy: 7 miles (8:39 pace)
I got in some easy driveway miles on Tuesday morning.
Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:54 pace)
Wednesday morning was more of the same. I really need to shake things up a bit, but I am enjoying running from home.
Thursday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 2 X 2 mi. @ MP w/ 1 mi. recovery, 2 mi. CD
I had a workout on tap for Thursday morning. Well … actually it was on tap for Wednesday morning, but I needed another day and moved it. The workout called for a two mile warm up, two miles at marathon pace, one mile easy, two miles at marathon pace and a two mile cool down. My goal pace for the marathon pace miles was 6:10 ish. After a workout that was 3 X 2 miles at threshold pace the weekend prior, 2 X 2 miles at marathon pace seemed very doable. I ran on a route that I wouldn’t describe as hilly, but that was definitely not flat (if that makes any sense). My splits were 6:17, 6:04 and 6:15, 6:07. The splits make sense given the terrain. I was pleased with this one. Nothing flashy, but some solid effort for sure.
Friday –Easy: 7 miles (8:39 pace)
I got in some more easy miles from home Friday morning.
Saturday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 4 X [2, 1.5, 1 min.], 3 mi. CD
Saturday morning’s workout called for a three mile warm up, four sets of two minutes, one and a half minutes and one minute hard with one minute recovery between each rep and a three mile cool down. This was supposed to be more of an effort-based, fartlek session rather than a specific track session. I wouldn’t say this workout was anything stellar, but I got it done and my paces progressed down as the workout went on. The first few reps were in the mid five minute pace range (5:30-5:35) and the last few were in the low five minute range (5:10-5:15).
Sunday – Easy: 13 miles (8:58 pace)
Sunday morning’s run was my favorite run in quite some time! Several of us got together to support one of our friends as she ran the Virtual Boston Marathon! This would’ve been her first time running Boston. She was originally on the fence about participating virtually, but ultimately I think she was glad that she did. She had a ton of support, which was amazing to see! Those of us that ran with her were so glad that she asked us to join her and really were just thankful to be able to along for the ride. After that run, I was so pumped! The running community is AWESOME!
Hey-o! I hope everyone had a happy, safe Labor Day! Here is what last week’s training looked like:
Monday – Easy: 6 miles (8:22 pace)
I was |thisclose| to taking a rest day on Monday as I was feeling fairly fatigued after the volume of the prior weekend’s quality work (marathon pace run on Saturday followed by a hilly long run on Sunday). I ended up doing an easy run after work Monday evening. Once I got going, my legs felt better than I thought they were going to and of course, I was glad that I got it in.
Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:50 pace)
I did another short (relative terminology of course) easy run on the driveway Tuesday morning. However, my legs felt way worse Tuesday than they did Monday. I wasn’t ready for more hills at that point I don’t think. It was a bit of a slog.
Wednesday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 8 X 400, 3 mi. CD
Wednesday morning I hit the track for some 400s! I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to respond to me asking them to run fast given how sluggish I felt the day before. The workout called for a three mile warm up, eight 400s with a two minute walking rest in between and a three mile cool down. The goal was to run them at 4:58 pace (74 seconds per 400). My actual splits were 76, 75, 76, 75, 74, 74, 74 and 74. Whew! I was pleasantly surprised with that one.
Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (9:09 pace) + PM – Easy: 7 miles (8:36 pace)
I got in a few easy driveway miles before work on Thursday. I also did an easy double after work. I only intended to do 4 or 5 miles … oops!
Friday –REST
I took a much-needed rest day on Friday. I got my bloodwork done with Inside Tracker and I’m really looking forward to getting those results.
Saturday – Easy: 8 miles (8:44 pace)
I was originally supposed to do a workout Saturday and a long run Sunday, but the Labor Day holiday on Monday gave me a bit of wiggle room and allowed me to shift it to Sunday and Monday. After a day off on Friday, I felt like I wanted to ease back in with an easy run and not jump back in with an intense workout. They nearly took all of my blood on Friday anyway, so I figured I’d give my body a chance to replenish itself.
I went over to see my mom and dad Saturday morning. My mom and I got a nice little five mile walk in and then I headed out to run afterwards. It was a beautiful morning, but by the time I got to the run, it was heating up rather quickly.
Sunday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 3 X 2 miles at threshold, 2 mi. CD
Sunday morning I ventured out to tackle my workout. The workout was originally written as a two mile warm up, 3 X 10 minutes at threshold with a two minute recovery and a two mile cool down. I extended the threshold intervals slightly to make it 3 X 2 miles instead, mainly because I didn’t want to fool with setting up a workout on my watch and thought it would be easier to just go by mileage. I don’t think this changed the intent or purpose of the workout in the slightest, but just made it a tad longer.
My goal pace was 5:50. I averaged 6:16 for the first set, which is close to 30 seconds over goal pace! Woof. So many thoughts went through my head at that point. Clearly my legs weren’t cooperating. Should I just stop? I decided that I shouldn’t atop and that if I averaged 6:16 for all 3 sets, then so be it, that would still be better than giving up. I don’t know if it was purely because I made my mind up not to quit or what exactly, but once I started the second set, I suddenly felt so much better. I averaged 5:54 for the second set and 5:52 for the last set. I am so glad that I fought my way back after a rough start. This was a huge victory in the mental category for me!
My biggest takeaway from this workout was, “Don’t judge a workout by the first set.” This is similar to “don’t judge a run by the first mile,” but with a little twist.
Welp. Things seem to be trucking right on along. I had some moments of pretty low motivation this month, but I think that is actually a fairly normal feeling for me to have in August. It seems that I start to feel run down at the end of the summer every year. For the majority of August it felt like I was either really excited about my workouts or almost dreading them. The feeling wasn’t dependent on what the workout was or whether I thought it was doable, but seemed to be more of an overarching feeling of “why am I doing this.”
I talked to my coach about how I was feeling and after we talked, I started to feel much better. Talking about whatever is on your mind can take the power out of the struggle sometimes. I’m still planning to get some blood work done just to make sure that everything looks good from a general health perspective. John also tries to stay on me to make sure I am eating and drinking enough to fuel my workouts, but I really don’t think that is the problem (always something good to be mindful of though). I ended the month with a really solid week of training!
Workouts:
3 mi. WU, 5 X 600 (5:20)/400 (5:05), 3 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 4 X 2k (5:54), 2 mi. CD 2.5 mi. WU, 16 X 400 (83), 2.5 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 3 X [4 min (5:58), 3 min (5:44), 2 min (5:19), 1 min (5:08)], 2 mi. CD 2.5 mi. WU, 16 X 45 sec hill repeats (6:56), 2.5 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 12 X 3 min @ threshold (5:45), 2 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 6 X 300/200/100, 2 mi. CD 3 mi. WU, 4 miles @ marathon (6:13), 3 mi. CD
Favorite workout: My favorite workout this month was the 3 X 4, 3, 2, 1 workout and a close second was the 6 X 300/200/100 workout. Apparently I am all about the ladder workouts this month! I enjoyed varying the times, paces and distances throughout both of these workouts.
Races: No races again in August … so sad.
Favorite race: I stand by my answer from last month … any race that I get to run in the future will definitely be my favorite!
Paces: My paces ranged from 5:40 (two of the mile splits in my 4 X 2k workout) to 10:03 (the first mile of an easy run at my in-laws’ house up the “mountain” (it’s a HUGE hill)).
Average Pace: My average pace for the month was 8:29.
Miles: 265 miles this month.
Longest run: My longest run was 12.5 miles. I did 12 miles four times this month, but have zero desire to do more than that. Actually, each 12 mile run that I did was supposed to be 14 or 15 miles according to my training plan. Oh well.
Shortest run: My shortest run was 5 miles.
Climbing: 12,238 feet this month!
Pilates: I went to three Pilates classes this month and did two sessions at home as well.
Planks: I did an hour and twenty minutes of planks in August in the form of 5 minutes here and there. Wowza. I had no idea it would add up to this much!
Drills: I did drills and strides nine times this month. I’m curious how many runners do this? I’m embarrassed to say this is something that I’ve always just kinda disregarded in my training plans. I didn’t think it would really help me nor did I want to take the time to do it. I’m changing my tune on both of those things now.
The Other Stuff
Current activity: Boating! August was a fun-filled month with plenty of quality time on the water.
Current book: Gah. I knew my reading game wasn’t going to stay strong. No books this month.
Current confession: I enjoy wearing a mask in public, not only because it seems to be the responsible thing to do, but also because it significantly decreases the chances of me running into someone that I probably don’t want to talk to anyway. Side note: I like people, really I do. I just don’t like awkward small talk. Introverts unite!
Current drink: One of my favorite drinks currently is sprite with a splash of orange juice. It’s delicious and very refreshing.
Current excitement: Our ducks laid a bunch of eggs and we are going to try to hatch a few of them in the incubator! We left a few on the nest for Mama Duck to hatch as well, but she’s not sitting on the nest much at all. I’m not sure what exactly is going on there, but I’m sure she knows what she’s doing much better than we do.
Current fail: I forgot to wash my hair not once but twice in the last two weeks. I took a shower and got my hair wet and everything like normal and only realized later in the day when my hair looked very greasy that I forgot to use shampoo. What the heck?! I don’t recall every doing this before in my life (unless perhaps I just forgot (ha)).
Current goal: Survive the next tax deadline. This year has been so strange [in so many ways], but for me it’s basically been a never-ending tax season. The March 15th business deadline was business as usual but things went to hell in a hand-basket got weird real quick after that. The April 15th individual deadline was moved to July 15th. We stayed busy during those few months primarily assisting our business customers with PPP loans and dealing with the FFCRA and CARES Act (so many acronyms, so little time!). July got busy right at the deadline, of course, because people procrastinate by nature if given an option. Once we finally got past the July 15th deadline, we were staring in the face of the September 15th business extension deadline. Oy vey.
Current habit: I’ve gotten into a fairly good habit getting planks done every other day. I feel like this is more realistic than every day and so far it’s been very doable. I like that the planks a well-rounded strength building exercise (as opposed to just doing crunches or something like that). My arms usually give out before my core starts to hurt.
Current indulgence: On the weekends, I like to take a really long time getting ready even though I have no where to go. The fact that I have no where to be gives me the luxury of time and I like to take full advantage of that.
Current joke: Why don’t eggs tell jokes? They’d crack each other up.
Current knowledge: This struck me as a timely reminder. Some of the most beautiful chapters in the story of our lives won’t have titles (or make sense) until much later. I love that so much!
Current list: I’m currently keeping a running list of the things that we can purchase at Sam’s for cheaper than anywhere else on the planet. I’m geeking out over the cost per ounce, or per unit or per whatever of most of our staple items and then figuring out if they are cheaper at Sam’s, at Walmart or on Amazon.
Current motto: The only way you see results is if you stay consistent!
Current need: A solution for my electronics charging needs. I feel like I am constantly charging my devices. My phone, my watch, my runangel, my headphones, etc. It feels exhausting to me for some reason.
Current obsession: My Carhart pants. Yes, really. After getting spurred by a rooster on my shin last month, I asked for some “farm pants” for my birthday. I didn’t really have many pants that I could wear outside to get dirty and these are perfect. They are so dang comfortable that I wish I could wear them all the time.
Current procrastination: I’ve got dead batteries in both my car key and my Garmin footpod and for whatever reason I just keep on putting off figuring out a) what sort of battery I need and b) getting it changed. The footpod isn’t as big of a deal. I don’t think it’s worked nor have I really needed it for almost a year. But the car key thing? Super annoying. I can’t lock my car unless I want to set off the alarm when I get in it. I have no clue why I put this off for so long.
Current quote: ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.” We sang this at church last week and this particular line clicked with me in a way that it never had before. I didn’t realize how much of my life was consumed by fear until those fears were relieved. The process of getting from point A to point B looks like a whole lotta GRACE.
Current rave: I’m a Sarah Marie Design Studio ambassador! You can use this link and the code SAM10 to save 10% off of your SMDS orders. I adore all of her witty designs.
Current song: Forever to Go by Chase Rice.
Current time: It’s 1900 and my tummy is rumbling!
Current uncertainty: Let’s just say that nothing gets written in my planner in ink these days. Only penciled in plans are allowed and even then, there are very few plans.
Current vegetable: Still eating LOTS of cucumbers from our garden and sadly, not too many other vegetables. My diet largely revolves around convenience and seems to be lacking in the fresh fruits and veggies categories.
Current want: I want to run in a real race! I know some of you out there have been able to do this recently and I am super jelly.
Current yearning: To simplify.
Current zone: Quite satisfied!
Thank you so much for reading and following along. Who has raced? Tell me ALL the details!
I was on a mission Monday morning to get my run in outside before what was forecasted to be a super rainy week. The rain was supposed to start Monday morning, so time was of the essence. The imminent rain threat made for my fastest driveway run to date. Basically, it turned into a progressive easy run (splits were 8:44, 8:15, 8:11, 7:54, 7:29, 7:12). I don’t usually pay attention to all of my splits, but I knew I was picking it up as I went along and then it kind of just turned into a little game. Whatever it takes I suppose!
I got in a good Pilates session Monday evening. I am planning to do Pilates every other week going forward and to work with my form coach on the opposite weeks of Pilates. This makes my overall budget for whatever this category even is [I think I have it listed as “Running – Other”] stay the same. My nerdiness and responsibility get the better of me sometimes.
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:16 pace)
I ran on the treadmill Tuesday evening. I’ve been meaning to replace the battery in my Garmin foot pod for quite some time. I’m pretty sure it’s been dead for all of 2020 at this point. Good news is … it hasn’t missed much. Ha. I was messing with my watch, my phone, my headphones and all the paraphernalia necessary for an enjoyable treadmill run and I managed to forget to actually start my watch. Of course, I didn’t realize this until it started beeping to alert me that it was going into power save mode. Such a bummer. I want credit for every mile, especially on the treadmill! After I got everything up and going, I had a good run. When I run on the treadmill, I like to vary the pace every couple of minutes to keep things interesting.
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 6 X 300/200/100, 2 mi. CD
Wednesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, and six sets of a 300, 200, 100 meter ladder and a 2 mile cool down. Not to brag, but I am super proud of myself for getting up and getting to the track early enough to get this in before work. This is something that I used to do without a second thought, but has been a major struggle for me recently. I even got to go back to my regular track for the first time since March. They kept the track closed all spring and summer because of COVID, which totally makes sense. I was just super thankful to be back. It’s funny how much appreciation we can have during this time for things that used to feel completely mundane and ordinary.
The workout went really, really well! Basically the goal was to run FAST for all the reps. The pace was essentially supposed to be the same for each distance. I got a 2 minute walking rest after the 300s, 1:30 after the 200s and 1 minute after the 100s. Embarrassingly enough, I managed to run a little bit over 300 meters on the 300s and a little under 100 meters on the 100s because it was dark when I started and my early morning, pre-coffee brain couldn’t figure out where the 300 meter mark was on the track. Either way, I kept it consistent the whole time so each rep was the same distance, even if it was the wrong distance.
My averages were 56 for the 300s, 36 for the 200s and 16 for the 100s (basically somewhere just at or under 4:50 pace for all of them). John said that he thinks I am ready to go for another fast one-mile time at this point. I just might be ready to go for it sooner rather than later. We were originally thinking that we would wait until it cooled off some, but who knows … there’s no time like the present!
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles (8:15 pace)
I decided to give my legs 12 extra hours of recovery and not run until Thursday evening. Either that or I just wanted to sleep in … but let’s go with the former. I went over to my parents’ house after work and did an easy 6 miles from there. The temperature was 84 with a feels like temperature of 97! Mercy! Despite the heat, I felt fine. I feel like my easy pace this week has naturally started to drop down some. I don’t know if this means anything at all, but I’m going to pretend like it’s a good sign.
Friday –Easy: 8 miles (8:21 pace)
I did a sailboat loop Friday morning and ended up with an extra mile because I ran back and forth trying to get a dog that was following me to go back to his house. Secretly, I just wanted him to run with me the whole time, but I figured his owner might not be too thrilled with that … or maybe he would be fine with it! I need to ask. Once I retire from public accounting, I want to be a professional dog runner. I’m sure people would pay me to run with their dogs, right?!
Saturday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 4 miles at marathon pace, 3 mi. CD
Saturday’s workout called for a three mile warm up, four miles at marathon pace and a three mile cool down. Just to be clear, I am NOT training for a marathon, nor do I think I could run 26.2 miles at the pace that my coach prescribed for this workout. Since it was on my calendar, I just went with it! I got started right at 8 a.m., which is pretty typical for me on the weekends these days. I’m still loving my sleep!
I did the warm up at a bit of a faster pace than I typically do my easy runs and I went straight into the workout afterwards without any sort of break. I wouldn’t do this before a track workout, but I like doing a progressive warm up and working my way down before marathon pace efforts. I don’t think this changes the overall intent of the workout itself, which is the most important thing.
My goal pace for the marathon miles was 6:10 and my splits were 6:16, 6:11, 6:17 and 6:10. There was a massive downpour during mile three of the marathon pace miles. I was slightly annoyed for like two seconds and then quickly realized that the rain felt AMAZING. That’s gotta be the coolest temperature I have run in in quite some time. I was drenched from head to toe from a combination of sweat and rain at the end of the run, but man that run felt good! Once I got back home, I realized that my shirt was inside out the whole time. I swear this happens to me more often than I feel like it should. Most of my running shirts are very thin and they obviously look the same to me both ways. Does anyone else have this problem?!
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:28 pace)
Sunday afternoon (or perhaps evening would be more accurate), I ran 12 miles on the driveway. I ran out and back 4 times and got 990 feet of climbing in the process. I’m kinda glad that I waited until later in the day to run because my legs needed some extra recovery after Saturday’s workout. I had to go in to work for a little bit in the morning anyway, so that worked out nicely. My schedule is so weird right now. I know so many of you can relate! We are all just doing the best we can, day in and day out. Gotta keep on keepin on!
Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!
Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:39 pace)
I actually got myself up and out the door to run before work on Monday this week! Finally. My motivation to run on Monday mornings seems to be directly correlated to the amount of rest (or lack thereof) that I get over the weekend. In years past, I did a pretty good job of catching up on rest on the weekends, but that hasn’t been the case as much over the last year. I’m not complaining about that by any means, but it is also very nice to wake up on Monday morning feeling ready to tackle the week.
Tuesday AM – Easy: 8 miles (8:43 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (9:14 pace)
I did a “sailboat loop” on Tuesday morning. I’ve been a bit later getting out the door the last few weeks and traffic has usually picked up too much for it to make sense for me to even attempt this route, but not on Tuesday! The route actually works out nicely with the traffic flow. I’m usually running the same direction as the majority of the traffic is going, but since I am running against traffic, I don’t have to bail out onto the grass too often.
Tuesday evening, I did an easy double. I planned this run around a couple of errands that I needed to get done (“errands” primarily being picking up groceries and working around the available pickup slots). I got some drills and strides in after my run as well, in hopes that I would be ready to rock and roll for my workout the next day.
Wednesday – Quality: Hills!
Wednesday’s workout was a 3 mile warm up, 16 X 45 second hill repeats with 1:30 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. While I have several very nice, yet also hellacious hills on my driveway, it isn’t always practical to do hill repeats out there. Especially if it is dark! The road is mixture of sand, packed clay (or mud depending on the day), shells and rocks. I’ve tried doing hill repeats on the driveway before and I was too worried about breaking myself to be able to concentrate on the workout. All that is really just to say that I found a nice paved road in a proper neighborhood with some good hills and I did my workout there.
I got a question on Instagram about the ideal elevation grade for hill repeats. It is a good question and I think a good general rule of thumb is to find a hill that is about 5-6% grade. If you are outside, then obviously the terrain is varied and the percentage grade changes over the course of the hill itself as well. For example, the grade of the hill I ran varied from 3.5% to 10%, whereas the driveway hills vary from 6% to 15%. I’m pretty sure 15% is too steep to really be productive in the first place. I wrote a post several years ago about hill repeats. You can read that here.
Thursday – Easy: 6.5 miles (9:06 pace)
Thursday’s run was a bit weird and admittedly, it was self-induced weirdness. I ran a few miles after work before meeting with my form coach and then continued my run after we did 30 minutes of drills. When I type it up, it doesn’t actually sound as weird as it felt. I guess what made it seem weird was that I was in three different locations for each thing. Either which way, I got it done!
Friday –Easy: 6 miles (9:15 pace)
Friday morning, I did a few easy driveway miles while I listened to Emily Halnon describe her adventures across Oregon on the Ali on the Run podcast. My takeaway is that I have a lot of respect for ultra-runners, but have zero desire to be one myself.
Saturday– Easy:12 miles (8:25 pace)
I was supposed to do a workout Saturday morning and a long run Sunday morning, but I pulled a little switcheroo and did it the other way. For whatever reason, I didn’t feel ready to tackle the workout on Saturday morning. I felt fine and was happy to run a longer than normal run, but I really just wanted to run easy and not fool with the workout.
I listened to Lindsey’s interview with Tianna Bartoletta. This was by far one of my favorite episodes. Sometimes I find the interviews with professional athletes to be unrelatable, but so much of what Tianna said made me say out loud, “Yes!” I love those moments when someone expresses something that is spot on with your own feelings. That happened multiple times throughout this interview for me, but mainly when she talked about her divorce.
Sunday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 12 X 3 minutes at threshold, 2 mi. CD
I got a really good night’s sleep Saturday night and woke up ready to do the workout. This workout was likely meant to be done on the road, but I decided to do it at the track for simplicity’s sake. It’s nice not to have to figure out and route or deal with traffic and to be able to just get out there and run. The workout was a 2 mile warm up, 12 X 3 minutes at threshold pace with 1 minute walking recoveries and a 2 mile cool down.
My goal threshold pace was 5:50 and based on some quick calculations, my actual average pace was 5:45. Since the GPS isn’t totally accurate on the track, I think the pace was probably closer to 5:50. Regardless of what the “official” pace was, I’m happy with it. This was a LONG workout and I stayed engaged mentally and finished strong.
As a side note, I have really been struggling with my motivation more than usual. For whatever reason, I just can’t get excited about training right now like I usually can. While I think this is a totally normal feeling, I am trying to pay attention to it and reevaluate why I am feeling this way and what exactly I am trying to accomplish (you know … both in life in general and in running :)).
I know that my motivation will come back and when it does, if I have continued to work hard and be disciplined in my training, that everything will come together when the timing is right and all the stars will align. I’m starting to realize that it’s probably okay and healthy even to not be completely motivated all the time.
After reflecting on this a little bit, I have also realized that I seem to feel this exact same way every year around the middle to end of August. The accumulation of all of the hot summer miles and workouts adds up and really starts to really wear me down. With that being said, I am planning to get some blood-work done in the near future just to make sure that everything looks good from that perspective.
Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!
Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:58 pace)
Monday was my birthday! For several years, I had a birthday tradition of running my age in miles on my birthday. I did this for 26, 30, 31, 32, and 33. Last year, I finally wised up and started a new tradition of running the number of miles that my age adds up to. Last year was 7 miles for 34 and this year I ran 8 miles for 35. Such a better idea! This whole older and wiser thing is really nice.
Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (9:14 pace)
I got up and trudged through six driveway miles Tuesday morning. I was definitely feeling a bit more run down than usual and by the end of the day, I realized it was because I was coming down with a cold. It’s a little bit unnerving to come down with the sniffles in the midst of this pandemic because every single symptom seemingly points to corona. Thankfully, I never got a fever or anything like that.
Wednesday – REST DAY!
In the spirit of being older and wiser, I decided to take a day completely off from running on Wednesday to give my body time to recover. I typically would’ve powered through since I only had a minor cold, but with no races on the calendar and no other good reason to attempt to power though, I decided that rest would be the best thing I could do for myself.
Thursday – Easy: 6.5 miles (9:06 pace)
The day off definitely did me some good and I felt much better on Thursday. I ended up missing one of my quality days this week. My coach told me to not worry about trying to make that up in any sort of way and to just run an hour easy on Thursday and Friday. That’s exactly what I did! I wanted to make sure that I didn’t overdo it.
Friday –Easy: 6.5 miles (9:02 pace)
Friday’s run was almost an exact repeat of Thursday, but just a few seconds per mile faster.
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 3 X [4, 3, 2, 1 min.], 2 mi. CD
I had a big workout scheduled for Saturday morning. I had every intention of bagging it if I got into it and didn’t feel good. Thankfully I felt good and was able to complete the workout as prescribed. The workout called for a two mile warm up, three sets of four minutes at marathon pace, three minutes at threshold pace, two minutes at interval pace and one minute at repetition pace and a two mile cool down. There was two minutes of rest in between the four minutes, three minutes, two minutes and one minute intervals as well.
If you aren’t familiar with the VDOT paces (marathon, threshold, interval and repetition), basically this was four minutes at marathon pace, three minutes at 10k pace, two minutes at 5k pace and one minute a one mile pace. I can’t recall a workout that I have done in the past with this many different paces. I really, really enjoyed this one! The marathon and threshold minutes were not super challenging, but I was definitely working on the interval and repetition minutes.
The idea was to increase the effort as I worked down the ladder. My goal paces were 6:09 for the minutes at marathon, 5:50 for the minutes at threshold, 5:22 for the minutes at interval and 5:10 for the minutes at repetition. The first set was 6:01, 5:46, 5:22, 5:10. The second set was 6:01, 5:45, 5:17, 5:09. The third set was 5:53, 5:43, 5:20, 5:05. I was super duper pleased with how this went, because I was able to dial the paces in consistently across a wide range of paces. Woo to the hoo!
Sunday – Easy: 10 miles (9:33 pace)
I did an easy ten miles on Sunday morning. This run was originally supposed to be a tad longer, but my workout the day before was over twelve miles in total. Ten miles on Sunday seemed like plenty to me (and such a nice round number to boot :)). I felt fine, but had no desire to run any further than I did.
Total – 49.5 miles
Side note: If I had known how close I was going to be to 50 miles for the week, I likely would’ve run another half mile to even that out, but oh well … so close!
In other non-running specific, yet beneficial to running news, I managed to get in 20 minutes of planking and 75 minutes of Pilates throughout the week and I got drills and strides done twice as well.
Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!
Monday – Easy: 7.75 miles (8:35 pace)
I started the week off with an easy run after work Monday afternoon. I listed to Kate Landau’s conversation with Sarah Crouch on the Running for Real Podcast. I got super invested in Kate’s story and the miles flew by. I met Kate when I did the Gate River Run 15k in Jacksonville, FL in 2019. I’ve listened to her on several different podcasts since then because she is someone whose story I can just relate to so very much. I appreciate her honestly and vulnerability in talking about hard topics and it’s amazing to see how far she has come!
At the end of the run I threw in a few strides and then I even did some drills as well. It’s not fun, but I’m determined to fit these in and improve my form.
Tuesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 4 X 2k w/ 3 minute recovery, 2 mi. CD
Tuesday’s workout called for a two mile warm up, four by two thousand kilometers (i.e., a mile and a quarter or five laps around the track) and a two mile cool down. This was a fairly long workout with 5 miles of quality effort. The 2ks were supposed to be done at threshold pace, which is somewhere in the 5:45 – 5:50 range for me currently.
My plan was to get to the track as close to sunrise as possible. For whatever reason, I don’t really feel comfortable or enjoy being at the track in the dark. I don’t mind running in the dark in some places, but the track isn’t one of those places. I wanted to get started early though, not only because I had to go to work (that pesky job is always getting in the way of bigger and better things (ha)), but also because I didn’t want to still be doing my workout when the football and cross country teams were showing up for their workouts. One week I finished my workout with what felt like 200 sets of eyeballs on me and I did not like that whatsoever.
As it turned out, none of the sports teams had morning practice (likely due to the teachers going back to work), but of course I didn’t realize that beforehand. Oh well. Just the idea of running into them got me up and out the door on time, so I guess that worked out for the best! I even had time to do my drills and strides in between the warm up and workout.
My times were 7:24, 7:18, 7:19 and 7:18 (which is between 5:52 and 5:57 pace per mile). I was a hair over goal pace, but I was really pleased with this one. The week before I was supposed to do a 5 X 1 mile workout (so the same distance as this) at the same pace and I couldn’t even hold the pace for two repeats. I started out a bit more conservatively than I probably would have otherwise because of the prior week’s workout. John told me ahead of time that if I couldn’t hit the paces that I needed to try to keep fighting through it to practice working on a “damage control” situation that might come up in a race. This would come in handy later in the week.
Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:30 pace)
Wednesday morning’s run was just some easy driveway miles … err … as easy as driveway miles can be considering that you climb 100 feet per mile.
Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (8:41 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:52 pace)
Thursday it was more easy driveway miles before work. After work I went to Pilates and got in an easy double with some drills and strides in afterwards. I’m on a roll I tell ya!
Friday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 16 X 400 w/ 75 second recovery, 2 mi. CD
Friday morning I had a doozy of a workout with sixteen 400s. The workout was supposed to be a 3 mile warm up, 16 X 400 with 75 second recoveries and a 3 mile cool down. The plan was to get this done on the track, which is best for something like 400 meter repeats (seeing as how the track itself is 400 meters :)). Unfortunately, I wasn’t as lucky on Friday as I was on Tuesday as far as track availability goes. When I arrived at the track, there were tons of high school athletes there as well.
I had to make a game-time decision of what to do and I opted to head to the mall for what I like to call my “quarantine track.” During the months when everything was closed, I did almost all of my workouts in the empty mall parking lot. There are several good loops that can be done and it usually worked out really well. The mall isn’t closed anymore, but there was minimal traffic out while I was doing the workout. I think the workout probably would’ve gone better at the track, but I did it and sometimes that’s all that really matters.
My splits weren’t entirely on point. I averaged 83 seconds for the sixteen 400s, which is 5:32 pace. However, I split 89 for one of them, which is slower than my threshold pace and I also had to make an emergency bathroom stop mid-workout. No bueno. In the moment, it felt like I was really struggling on this workout, but in hindsight I’m just happy that I stuck with it and got it done.
Saturday – Easy: 7 miles (9:03 pace)
We went to visit Richard’s family over the weekend. It was really nice to get away for a few days and also really nice to run in a different location!
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:34 pace)
I got in a long-ish run on Sunday morning and felt absolutely amazing in the process. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done a long run and felt like I could keep on going for longer than what the plan tells me to run. That run was a really nice way to wrap up the week. Woo to the hoo!
