Category: Marathon

Week of September 11 – September 17

Monday: 6 miles easy (77° w/ dew point of 72°)
Tuesday: 8 miles easy (74° w/ dew point of 69°) + 45 minutes of Pilates
Wednesday: 11.5 miles w/ quality (73° w/ dew point of 68°)
Thursday: 7 miles easy (72° w/ dew point of 70°)
Friday: 8 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 65°)
Saturday: 10 miles w/ quality (76° w/ dew point of 75°) + 3 mile stroller walk
Sunday: 16 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 72°) + 3 mile stroller walk + 30 minutes of strength later in the day

Wednesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 7 X 1 mile at threshold pace w/ 75 second walking recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. The goal pace for the miles was 6:10-6:15. I was SUPER intimidated by this workout beforehand. 7 X 1 mile just seemed like so much, but at least they were threshold miles and not all-out mile repeats! I ran 6:11, 6:14, 6:07, 6:14, 6:17, 6:13, 6:10. One of the hardest parts was deciding where to do the workout. I could’ve done track or road, but settled on the road. I was planning to just go out and back 7 times on a stretch that I knew was close to a mile, but after going back and forth a couple times it became a little too monotonous. I ended up running over to the mall during one of the reps and finished with three loops over there. Strava tells me that this was a “massive relative effort” and I definitely concur. I was probably working a little too hard at the end, but … I got it done. This one was as much of a mental victory and a physical victory! Both of which will be super important on race day.

Saturday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, a 6 mile progressive tempo and a 2 mile cool down. The progression was supposed to be 2 miles at marathon effort (6:30 pace), 2 miles at half marathon effort (6:15 pace) and 2 miles at threshold effort (6:10 pace). I had a hard time settling in to the marathon effort range. I purposefully slowed myself down during the first mile and ended up a little bit too slow. I picked it up a little too much from there, but all in all, the average paces were close at 6:31, 6:21, 6:10 (per mile splits were 6:45, 6:17, 6:19, 6:23, 6:07, 6:14).

Sunday was an easy long run of 2 hours and 10 minutes. I took Maurten gels at 30, 60 & 90 minutes. I had no issues at all with the gels. I like that they don’t have to be taken with water. I’m leaning towards using those in the marathon. However, they have a negligible amount of sodium, so I’d have to figure out another avenue to get my sodium in. I don’t love the idea of having to take two separate products (i.e., gels & salt tabs or gels and salty drink), so I guess the jury is still out on the fueling decision. Sunday afternoon I did my second strength training workout. It was very similar to the previous week’s workout in general, but each exercise was slightly different. So far, so good!

Total – 73 miles (67 miles of running and 6 miles of walking with the little man in the stroller)

Week of September 18 – September 24

Monday: 6 miles easy (68° w/ dew point of 62°)
Tuesday: 5.5 miles easy (69° w/ dew point of 60°)
Wednesday: 11 miles w/ quality (69° w/ dew point of 59°) + 30 minutes of strength + 30 minutes of Pilates
Thursday: 5 miles easy (73° w/ dew point of 64°)
Friday: 3.3 miles easy (70° w/ dew point of 63°)
Saturday: 8.8 miles w/ a 5k RACE (75° w/ dew point of 67°) + 3 mile stroller walk
Sunday: 17.7 miles easy (72° w/ dew point of 69°) + 30 minutes of strength later in the day

Wednesday’s workout was a fartlek on the roads. It was a 2 mile warm up, 4 sets of [3 minutes at threshold effort, 2 minute recovery, 2 minutes at critical velocity effort, 2 minute recovery, 1 minute at interval effort, 2 minute recovery] and a 2 mile cool down. I kept the 2 minute recoveries honest and ended up with 11 miles at a 7:20 pace. I didn’t look at the paces during the workout, as that is the point of the fartlek, but instead I tried to focus on effort. I think the effort was on point! Wednesday afternoon I did my first strength training & Pilates combo workout. Basically it’s just 30 minutes of strength followed by 30 minutes of Pilates. I used to do 45 minutes of Pilates, but we are shortening the Pilates a tad in order to increase the “strength” element of things. Wednesdays and Sundays will be super hard training days with either a workout or a long run followed by strength training in the afternoon. The rest of the days are “easy,” allowing for maximum recovery!

Saturday I had the privilege of running a 5k that supports the local fire department that my husband is part of.

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A post shared by Sam Yeager-Allen (@mobilebayrunner)

Total – 60.7 miles (57.7 miles of running and 3 miles of walking)

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)

Hey friends!

Life is a bit crazy and tax deadlines are a bit stressful. While I am a bit behind on my training log post this week, I am frankly just doing good to know what day of the week it is at this point (and I do know that it is Friday :))!

Last week will forever been remembered as the week of all the thousands!

Here is what training looked like the week of 10.01.18 – 10.07.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (9:29 pace)

Tuesday AM – Easy: 8 miles (9:21 pace) + PM – Pilates

I’m still going strong with the Pilates and still enjoying it very much!

Wednesday – Quality: 10.5 miles (8:02 pace)

Wednesday’s workout was a two mile warm up, 8 X 1000 @ threshold pace w/ one minute rest, 5 X 200 w/ 200 rest and a two mile cool down. We took the workout to the roads Wednesday, as threshold pace is more manageable than what would have otherwise needed to be taken care of on the track. I set the workout up on my watch the night before and tried to map out a good location on the road for the repeats.

In hindsight, doing this workout on the road (in the dark) was maybe not the best of ideas, but I knew that I was going to be doing more thousands at a quicker pace on Saturday and I just didn’t like the idea of running at the track for both workouts. I also think that it’s good to do some workouts on the roads too, since the marathon will be on the road and there will be gradual ups and downs in the terrain along the way. We found a stretch of road with minimal traffic and got it done!

My splits for the thousands were 3:52, 3:50, 3:47, 3:46, 3:52, 3:47, 3:48 and 3:46. My goal pace for these was actually 6:17 pace and I somehow ended up averaging 6:07 pace. I’m not entirely sure how that happened, but I just went with it.

My splits for the two hundreds were: 40, 42, 43, 41 and 42.  Doing the 200s on the road was definitely a bit tricky, but all in all, we managed to get this one taken care of, which is a victory in and of itself.

Thursday – Easy: 10 miles (9:47 pace)

My easy runs somehow seem to be getting slower and slower, but my coach has actually reassured me that this is perfectly acceptable. He’s even mentioned a couple of times that I am very good at taking it easy when needed. Don’t have to tell me twice!

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (9:29 pace) 

Saturday – Quality: 12.75 miles (8:47 pace) 

Saturday’s workout was a four mile warm up, 6 X 1000 @ 5K pace w/ two minutes rest and a four mile cool down. The thousands on Saturday were supposed to be done at 5K pace, which was made this workout a bit more challenging than Tuesday’s threshold workout. The four mile warm up and four mile cool down also made this workout a bit more challenging, but also made it a great marathon prep workout!

My splits for the thousands were 3:44, 3:38, 3:37, 3:37, 3:38, 3:37. My goal pace for these was 5:46 pace and I ended up averaging 5:51 pace. It’s still quite difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that this is my 5K pace! I was very pleased with the consistency of the last 5 repeats, which were all within 1 second of each other. I couldn’t do that again if I tried. While I was a bit slower than my goal pace, I felt in control the entire time. I even felt like I could have done another one or two repeats at that same pace. Granted, I didn’t want to do any more than I did, but if I had to, I think I could have.

I had a runner fail moment during the cool down, as I forgot to start my watch back when we started running and I didn’t realize it until it started to go into power save mode (half a mile later). I was temporarily devastated (slightly exaggerating for effect), but was quickly relieved to remember that Jessica could “tag” me in her run on Strava and I would get credit for all of my miles! Phew.

Sunday – Easy: 8.4 miles (10:01 pace)

Total – 65.4 miles

Have a great weekend!

Happy Sunday Wednesday! Better late than never I suppose.

I ran lots of easy miles and two quality workouts last week! Here is what my training looked like the week of 09.24.18 – 09.30.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (9:20 pace)

Tuesday – Quality: 10.35 miles (7:47 pace) 

My workout Tuesday was a two mile warm up, 4 X 200, 4 mile tempo, 4 X 200 and a two mile cool down. We had a good little group that met for this one! Always nice. We did the warm up and the first set of 200s on the track and then took it the road for the tempo portion. Daniel made a 4 mile loop that started and ended at the track, so that we were able to hop back onto the track for the final set of 200s after the tempo. Those final 200s were tough!

The goal pace for the 200s was 43 seconds (5:46 pace) and the goal pace for the tempo was 6:20 to 6:30 pace. Splits were as follows:

200s: 41, 44, 42, 42
Tempo: 6:33, 6:31, 6:39, 6:23
200s: 42, 42, 44, 43

The first set of 200s felt great! The tempo portion definitely felt harder than I was expecting. I struggled in the third mile, but somehow managed to rally a bit and finished with a solid final mile. It started raining on us halfway through the tempo miles, which perhaps wasn’t ideal, but felt quite nice. It was lightning and thundering a little during the final 200s and the cool down, but thankfully we were able to finish up the workout before we had to deal with any sort of major storms.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 8 miles (9:15 pace) + PM – Pilates

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles (9:12 pace)

Friday – Easy: 6.5 miles (9:22 pace) 

Saturday – Quality: 12.4 miles (8:18 pace) 

Saturday’s workout was a four mile warm up, 7 X 800 and a four mile cool down. Jessica came over and ran this workout with me! We used our same four mile route from Tuesday’s workout for our warm up and cool down miles. The 800s were done at 5K pace, which was definitely challenging. My coach texted me Friday asking if I was ready for the “big dawg” workout the next day. I knew it was going to be tough, but I hadn’t really thought about the fact that my “new” 5K pace was much quicker than I have ever run for 800 repeats. My goal pace for the 800s was 5:46! Eek.

My actual splits were 2:56, 2:50, 2:51, 2:49, 2:53, 2:56, 2:53, which averages to 2:52 and exactly 5:46 per mile! The first few 800s felt super easy and relaxed. I was shocked! Then all of a sudden, on the second lap of the fifth repeat … things got real. The last two repeats were very challenging. My pace faded a bit, but nothing too crazy. For a hot minute there at the end, I thought that the four mile cool down was going to be the hardest part of the entire workout, but once we got moving, we settled into a good groove and got it knocked out.

Sunday – Easy: 10 miles (8:58 pace)

Total – 63.3 miles

Have a great week!

Happy Monday!

Lots of easy miles, one good quality workout and a long run this week!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 09.17.18 – 09.23.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (9:24 pace)

Tuesday AM – Quality: 11 miles (7:32 pace) + PM – Pilates

My workout Tuesday was a one mile warm up, 8 X 800 at threshold (goal pace was 6:20 – 6:30) with 800 recoveries (goal pace was 8:00 – 8:10) and one mile cool down. My coach told me not to go too fast on the first few repeats. He said even just a few seconds too fast in the beginning and my workout would be shortened quickly. I took his advice to heart and made this workout a test of patience.

I thought about the first and second half of my race as I ran and how I really want to have the patience to hold back in the first half so that I feel good during the second half. Patience is NOT one of my virtues and I have never been able to pull off a negative in the marathon distance. The goal at CIM will definitely be to negative split (with the second half faster than the first half).

I enjoyed this workout a lot. It felt very easy in the beginning. I had to make a conscious effort to not go to fast and to keep it controlled even though I felt good. I told myself over and over again to save it for the second half and that’s exactly what I did! By the end of the workout, I was definitely working hard. Even with the 800 “recoveries,” I averaged just under 7:00 pace for the 8 miles of work! Actual splits for each 800 were: 3:20, 3:51, 3:18, 3:47, 3:18, 3:49, 3:14, 3:53, 3:14, 3:50, 3:10, 4:00, 3:11, 3:50, 3:08, 3:52.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (9:16 pace)

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles (9:29 pace)

Friday – Easy: 6 miles (9:35 pace) 

Saturday – Long Run: 15.5 miles (7:45 pace) 

Saturday was a two hour long run. Daniel and I were at the beach for the weekend and the change of scenery was really nice for the long run! We ran up and down 30A from Seagrove Beach to Seaside to Grayton Beach and back. I practiced my marathon fueling during this run as well. I had UCAN and coffee pre-run and then took a gel around mile 6 of the run. I actually forgot to take the fuel with me (because I never practice this and don’t ever even think about it … no bueno), so we had to stop at a bike shop in Pensacola on the way to find some UCAN.

This was supposed to be just an easy long run. There weren’t any specific pace miles or anything like that, but since I had only done one quality workout during the week, I decided to at least keep it on the low end of my “easy” range. Side note: running at the low end of my easy range for two hours was NOT easy! All in all, I am really pleased with how this run went. Our splits were very consistent. My stomach seemed to handle the gel just fine. I didn’t run out of steam at the end of the run. It was everything you can hope for as far as execution of a long run early in the training cycle.

I even got an “ice bath” in the Gulf post-run. The water wasn’t really all that cold, but it still felt good and I like to think that it did something beneficial for my legs.

Sunday – Easy: 5 miles (10:11 pace)

Sunday morning I ran five very easy miles on the beach at sunrise. It was amazing. Beach running is so peaceful. I absolutely love being out there by the water. Oh, and I saw a golden retriever, so … good day!

Total – 61.5 miles

Have a great week!

Happy Sunday!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 09.10.18 – 09.16.18:

Monday – Cross Train

I started the week off with a rest day from running. Cross training was an option if I wanted it, so I decided to go with it. I wanted to move my legs around a little bit without taxing them too much, so I did an easy hour of spinning on the elliptical. I can probably count the number of times that I’ve been to the gym for cross training over the last 5 years on two hands. It’s just not something that I typically do, but I actually enjoyed my time on the elliptical Monday morning. Sometimes my legs feel worse if I just do nothing, so a gentle cross training day seemed like a good option!

Tuesday – Quality: 11 miles (7:22 pace) 

Tuesday morning was my first big marathon pace workout. The workout was a one mile warm up, eight miles at marathon pace and a one mile cool down. I was a tad intimidated by this workout, mostly because eight miles seemed like a really long workout. I’m still trying not to think about the fact that I will ultimately have to do 18 more miles at that pace! Ha.

I ended up doing a two mile warm up, just because I can’t really get myself into “go mode” very quickly in the mornings. Daniel joined me for the majority of this workout, which was certainly nice and very helpful. In fact, I think he felt better than I did. He was having no problem carrying on a conversation, but I was in survival mode the zone and could only muster up a couple of sentences and a few one to two word responses to his.

My goal pace was 6:45 to 6:50. My splits were 6:57, 6:54, 6:42, 6:47, 6:55, 6:39, 6:47 and 6:48, which ended up being a 6:48 average for the eight miles. I was working to hit the paces, but for my first big marathon pace workout, I’ll definitely take it!

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First big marathon pace workout on the #road2cim is in the books! I did a 2 mile WU, 8 miles at marathon pace and a 1 mile CD. Goal pace for the MP miles was 6:45 – 6:50 and I averaged 6:48! @dgardner56 ran 5 of the MP miles with me and then I finished it up by myself (with @myrunangel). It was 73° with a DP of 73° as well, so a bit cooler, but still super humid. I’m proud of this effort! Of course, I always need some good puppy cuddles after a tough run! 🐶 Also, in one of these pics I am texting @jpcowart who did the same workout this morning and CRUSHED it. Like averaged 20 to 30 seconds faster than we thought! 🙌🏽 #marathontraining #mckirdytrained #road2cim #runitfast #likeagirl #runlove #puppylove

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Sep 11, 2018 at 5:04am PDT

Wednesday AM – Easy: 8.4 miles (9:04 pace) + PM – Pilates

Wednesday morning I had a seventy minute easy run. My left foot was bothering me a good bit Wednesday morning. It was sore on the ball of the foot and also along the outside edge. I think that the shoes I ran in Tuesday might have contributed to the “issue,” which has thankfully turned out to be a non-issue at this point. I have a pair of Altra Torins that I have been running in periodically for about a year. They are well past their expiration date as far as mileage goes and I am officially done with those shoes.

I was a little bit nervous that I might not be able to do Pilates Wednesday evening if my foot had still been hurting, but I iced my foot pretty much all day at work Wednesday and that seemed to take care of whatever was going on. I told the instructor that my foot had been bothering me some and we modified a few of the exercises slightly just to avoid further aggravation.

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles (9:12 pace)

I was going to play it by ear Thursday morning, depending on how my foot felt. I had another seventy minute easy run scheduled, but wasn’t sure if that would happen or not. The foot was a tad tender for about a mile, but then it felt totally fine. I iced it pretty much all day at work again Thursday just for good measure.

Friday – Easy: 7.2 miles (9:21 pace) 

I had a one hour easy run on Friday. I didn’t notice my foot during the run at all, which was a huge relief!

Saturday – Long Run: 14.1 miles (8:28 pace) 

Saturday’s long run was just an easy, time on feet run. There was no hard effort involved. It was all about just getting out there and getting used to running for a bit longer than usual. I was a bit more tired than I expected to be, but otherwise this was a good run! I honestly feel like I am not doing enough to train for CIM at this point, but I feel fairly certain that things will ramp up soon. I’m used to having two to three workouts per week, but I’ve just had one workout the last few weeks. Technically a long run counts as a workout, even if there are no hard miles in it, but still … it doesn’t feel like a workout.

Sunday – Easy: 7.15 miles (8:30 pace)

Sunday morning was a one hour easy run with friends and was a nice way to end the week.

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Long run day for some of the crew and an easy recovery day for others. Thankful for these girls! #marathontraining #runningfriends

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Sep 16, 2018 at 6:30am PDT

Total – 56 miles

I don’t know how I managed to end up with an even amount of mileage because I have completely given up on trying to end my runs at an even distance. Somehow it worked out this week though. I like it.

Have a great week!

Happy Monday!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 09.03.18 – 09.09.18:

Monday – Easy: 6.65 miles (9:07 pace)

I started the week with an sixty minute easy run with friends (thanks to Labor Day)! It was so nice to have that long weekend. I definitely wish we had more of those!  We met at Coffee Loft in Fairhope and did just under seven miles. We did the post-run coffee conversation thing and hung out for quite a while afterwards. It had been entirely too long since I have had coffee from Coffee Loft. They have the best coffee around, hands down.

Tuesday – Quality: 8.2 miles (8:34 pace) 

Tuesday morning I had a fun little track workout. It was a two mile warm up, 5 X 1000 w/ a one minute recovery, 5 X 200 w/ a 200 recovery and a two mile cool down. Thankfully, the 1000s were done at threshold pace instead of at V02 max pace. Otherwise, I would not have referred to this as a fun little workout. It would’ve been more like a big deadly workout. Ha!

I had some good company at the track, which always makes for a much more pleasant workout experience. Jessica did the workout with me and Daniel ran the 1000s with us. Mollie was also out there doing her thing as well! My goal pace for the 1000s was 6:25. Actual paces were 6:25, 6:16, 6:12, 6:15 and 6:07. I am so used to running 1000s all out that it was a bit of a challenge to hold back. I got a little carried away on those, but I felt relaxed and I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself too hard.

My goal pace of the 200s was 5:30. Actual paces were 4:57, 5:18, 5:00, 4:54 and 5:04! I LOVE me some 200s! I even switched out my shoes mid-workout for the 200s because I wanted to test out my new Nike Vaporfly 4% shoes. I’ve never taken two pairs of shoes to the track with me before, but I think this is actually pretty common for folks to warm up and cool down in their trainers and workout in their “speed” shoes. I mainly wanted to test the shoes because I was planning to wear them for my race this weekend and I figured that it might be a good idea to at least run in them a little bit before then. They made me feel very fast!

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I got sucked in by all the hype about these Nike Vaporfly 4% shoes! I got them a few weeks ago, but hadn’t run in them until today. I have walked around the house in them a little bit and I kid you not, I was walking SO fast! 😂😆 Today I had a fun little track workout and I got to finally test these guys out for realz. The workout was a two mile warm up, 5 X 1000 at threshold pace, followed by 5 X 200 and a two mile cool down. I put the Vaporflys on for the 200s and ran a 37 second 200 on my first rep! 😳😱 I don’t know if it was a placebo effect or what, but these things make me feel FAST! #nikevaporfly #runitfast #track #marathontraining #mckirdytrained

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Sep 4, 2018 at 6:07am PDT

Wednesday – Easy: 7.85 miles (8:56 pace) 

Tropical Storm Gordon graced us with its presence late Tuesday evening and into the wee hours of Wednesday morning. I had a seventy minute run scheduled. Since the weather was iffy out, I conceded to the treadmill. Not that I mind the treadmill at all. I’m actually very thankful that I have it. I listened to Lindsey’s interview with Todd Williams, a two-time Olympian and founder of Run Safer. I enjoyed this episode a lot and I’m glad that so many people are having important conversations about safety.

Thursday – Easy: 7.5 miles (8:41 pace)

Thursday morning I had a one hour easy run. Daniel and I ended up running just over an hour (sixty-five minutes). We know most of the routes by distance and not by time, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment to try to figure out how to shorten the route to not go too far over the allotted time. The temperature and dew point were both 75 Thursday, which made for an exceptionally humid, muggy run. I could actually see the air it was so thick. I don’t like it when I can see the air.

Friday – Easy: 5.25 miles (9:19 pace) + PM – Pilates

Friday morning I had a forty-five minute easy run. Daniel, Bowie and I got in just over five miles. Nothing super noteworthy to report there. I wanted to make sure that we kept it very easy, which we did, since I had a race the next day! I went to Pilates Friday evening. I typically go on Wednesday, but school was cancelled and everyone’s schedules were a bit off this week with the storm. I was a bit concerned that doing Pilates the evening before my race might not be the best idea, but it seemed to workout just fine.

Saturday – RACE: 11.7 miles (7:50 pace) 

All the details you could ever possibly care to read about have been successfully documented in my race recap post. I did just over 3 miles as a warm up, raced a 5K, did just over 4 miles as a cool down and did 1 mile with Brooks when I got home. It was a smorgasbord of mileage that added up to what I might even consider a “long run.”

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Well guys, I’m almost at a loss for words. I just ran a 5K PR! 18:12! It’s my first 5K PR in over 3 years. Splits were 5:51, 5:47, 5:53, 0:41. Oh, and it’s 83 degrees with a dew point of 75 😱😆 #micdrop #mckirdytrained #marathontraining #hurricanerun5k

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Sep 8, 2018 at 6:51am PDT

Sunday – Easy: 7.75 miles (9:00 pace)

Sunday morning I had a sixty minute recovery run. I ended up with seventy minutes, but the pace was on point. Our regular route at Warehouse takes us just over seven and a half miles, so I just went with that. My legs felt surprisingly good! Hooray! Although, my coach has warned me that I might be changing my tune by tomorrow. Delayed onset muscle soreness is a real thing. I’ve got an off day from running planned tomorrow just in case those DOMS try to get me. 

Totals – 55.7 miles 

That’s it for now! Have a great week!

Happy Labor Day!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 08.27.18 – 09.02.18:

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:34 pace)

Monday morning I had a sixty minute easy run on tap. I ran two miles on the treadmill while Daniel biked on the trainer and then we did five miles outside together. A lot of my runs are going to be based on time this training cycle. I’ve never trained by time before, so it’s a nice change of pace. My coach basically explained to me that our body doesn’t understand miles specifically, but it understands time and intensity of effort.

Tuesday – Easy: 8.2 miles (8:34 pace) 

Tuesday morning I had a seventy minute easy run. I accidentally typed seventy miles at first … this time thing will take some getting used to. Haha! Within the first mile of this run, an owl swooped down and almost picked me up by the ponytail! It was nuts. We saw his shadow as he came up behind us. I even commented to Daniel at how close the shadow appeared. Turns out it appeared to be close because the owl was about three or four feet from my head! Yikes. Daniel screamed at it and started flailing his arms, which worked momentarily. He came back down on us one more time though and Daniel successfully defended me again. Most of our easy runs are fairly uneventful, but this one was a bit of a hoot (lame).

Wednesday AM – Quality: 8 miles (8:13 pace) + PM – Pilates

My main workout this week was a two mile warm up, 10 X 2:00 hard with 1:00 recovery and a two mile cool down. The two minute intervals were supposed to be done at between 5K and 8K pace. On the one hand, I knew this workout would be a little bit tough since it was twenty minutes of effort at a fast pace. On the other hand, I wasn’t expecting it to be nearly as tough as it actually was. Goodness.

My coach wanted me to do this workout on the roads so that there would be some rolling hills. I was also instructed to adjust the effort based on humidity, which I definitely had to do seeing as how it was 77 degrees with a dew point of 77 at 4:45 a.m. It took me a while to settle into a good rhythm during the first few repeats (even after a little big longer warm up), but once I got going, I was fairly consistent and about where I expected to be pace wise. I got stopped by traffic with about 10 seconds to go on my next to last repeat, which was a bit of a bummer. It’s always best to refrain from running out into oncoming traffic though!

I wasn’t looking at my pace at all during this workout. I tried to focus on keeping the effort at the appropriate level. Once I got home and checked out the data, I was pleasantly surprised at the paces that I ran!

I went to Pilates Wednesday evening. I wouldn’t recommend doing Pilates the day before a hard workout, but going the evening of the workout seems to work pretty well. I got some good stretching and strengthening in and slept like a rock.

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles (8:51 pace)

Thursday morning I had another seventy minute easy run. My legs were definitely feeling the effects of Wednesday’s workout + Pilates combo, so I took it extra easy. There wasn’t anything eventful to report about this run.

Friday – Easy: 5 miles (8:56 pace)

Friday morning I had a forty-five minute easy run. Daniel and I got in five easy, uneventful miles. My legs were still pretty tired, but nothing was sore or anything like that … just a little fatigued.

Saturday – Easy: 14 miles (8:17 pace) 

My long run for the week was supposed to be an hour and forty-five minutes. I actually ended up going a bit over that (not by much). The weather was a bit iffy before the run, but being the stubborn runners that we are, several of us decided to give it a go anyway. We made it through one mile without any rain, but during the second mile the skies opened up and we got absolutely drenched! At that point we were already out there and committed to the run, so it didn’t really matter. I don’t know about you, but I am totally okay with running in the rain if it starts while I am already out there, but I don’t really care for starting a run in the rain.

We altered our route a bit to stay closer to the car than normal, just in case the rain turned into something more substantial. Thankfully it didn’t. The rain even cleared out for the majority of the run. It started raining on us again during the last few miles, but at that point it was actually welcomed and felt quite nice.

Running in the rain can be quite therapeutic. The only downside is that your shirt will potentially turn into a dress.

Sunday – Easy: 6.5 miles (8:51 pace)

Sunday morning I had a sixty minute easy run and I was able to run with some of my best running friends! Love these girls so much!

Totals – 57 miles 

That’s it for now! Have a great week!