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Hey-o! Happy FALL! Or something like that …

Month Recap: August 2020

The Running

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:

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!

Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!

Monday – Easy: 6 miles (7:57 pace) + PM – Pilates!

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!

Total – 56.5 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

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.

Total – 66.1 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

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.

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

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!

Total – 63.3 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

I recently reconnected with one of my friends from college who is very involved in the Distinguished Young Women (formerly Junior Miss) program in my local area. She asked me to come speak to the contestants about my running story. Me being … well … me, I wrote out everything I planned to say. I’m pretty sure that some of it got lost in translation, as I was pretty nervous. Oh! And I forgot to put on deodorant beforehand. Lovely. Insert facepalm.

Now first … I’ve said this before but it is worth repeating, my dad once told me that I write better than I talk. There is definitely some truth to that. I actually told the girls this before I started and told them they were in for a real treat. I’m assuming Julie didn’t realize this before she asked me to come speak. Ha!

Opening

Fitness is defined not only as “the condition of being physically fit and healthy,” but also refers to “an organism’s ability to survive in a particular environment.” Running and fitness play a huge role in my life and have even given me the ability to call myself a “survivor.”

Before we get too far into this, I should probably tell that you that I actually participated in this program myself, back when it was Junior Miss. I was the second runner up in my (very small) county in 2003, but just to give you a full disclosure up front, I didn’t even place in the fitness portion of the program. Whomp. Whomp. I was an athlete and not a dancer, which doesn’t bode well for the scoring (not that I am still salty about it or anything).

Introduction

I want to share a little bit about myself and my fitness background. I work full-time as a certified public accountant (CPA), I am a runner, I am passionate about running and fitness, I have a blog where I write about my training, I got married in May and I live on a farm with chickens, ducks, goats and my adorable golden retriever, Brooks. 

I have been involved in sports my entire life. In high school, I played softball, tennis, volleyball, basketball and ran track. Running wasn’t exactly high on the list as far as my love for it or my ability to do it at that time though. I tried out for track in junior high and didn’t even make the team. This probably had something to do with the fact that I couldn’t even run the entire 800 meters, the event that I tried out for, without walking. It was highly embarrassing.

I got a lot more into running in college, after taking “jogging” as an elective. There were no more organized sports and I really missed that. Our bodies are made to move! Running helped me to realize that my body could do things that I didn’t think it could, like run a half marathon. Running also helped to realize that, in general, I am capable of so much more than I ever imagined. I fell in love with running.

However, almost just as quickly as I fell in love with running, something terrible happened. While I was out on a training run, I was attacked, kidnapped and raped. This event changed my life in more ways than I could’ve even imagined.

I am now 15 years removed from this “event” and it has certainly been a bumpy ride filled with highs and lows. There is not a one size fits all way to recover from or deal with hardships. For example, I struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and an eating disorder in the wake of this event. I was incredibly conflicted. I was extremely thankful to be alive and yet also scared to live. I was terrified that something else bad was going to happen and I wasted a lot of years being fearful.

There were even several years where I didn’t run at all. It took every single ounce of clarity that I could muster from my struggling mind, body and spirit to focus on my academics. After I finished college, I went to graduate school and eventually went on to sit for and pass the CPA exam. Once I got to this point in my professional career, I started to entertain the idea of running again. I met a group of local runners and started doing group runs and workouts with them. Prior to this running had always been a solo endeavor for me, but I really enjoyed the community aspect that this group provided.

Since then, I have gone on to win 4 marathons and in the last year and a half, I even placed in the top 50 of two national races. I now use the phrase “run to overcome” as a way to remember that what happened to me was not the end of my story, in fact it was only the beginning.

After I won the first marathon, I knew that I had to tell my “from victim to victory” story. I hoped that my story would resonate with people on many different levels (whether it be overcoming injury, illness or some other affliction) and that I could inspire people who were in the midst of their own struggles to keep fighting.

There are three main things that I hope you can takeaway from my story:

1.    Expect the unexpected.

Life is going to be full of unexpected events. We can plan for a lot of things, but a lot of things, if not most things, are completely out of our control. Take COVID-19 for example. One year ago, would any of us expected that this would be the situation we would be dealing with? Absolutely not.

In any given situation, the only thing you can control is your reaction. What you do after a setback is what defines you, not the setback itself.

I certainly didn’t expect what happened to me to happen. It was completely out of my control. We are all going to experience hardship, obstacles and other unexpected events in the course of our lives. We have to view each obstacle as an opportunity for growth and learning in order to truly overcome the circumstance.

2.    To find strength, you have to be vulnerable.

I am a big believer in therapy and, in general, sharing your struggles with someone, whether that be a pastor, a therapist, a friend, a family member, random strangers on the internet, etc. Openly talking about something removes power from the situation and promotes healing. There is a quote that says a “shared joy is a double joy” and a “shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” In my experience, this has definitely been the case.

Do not … I repeat … do not try to stuff your struggles away and think that they will go away on their own. While that might seem to work in the short-term, you are only setting yourself up for long-term failure. Being broken in one area of life will undoubtedly lead to brokenness in other unrelated areas. You can’t compartmentalize hurt or pain and you will become “septic.” You have to face your struggles head on and deal with them in order to truly move on with your life.

It’s easy in this Social Media dominated world that we live in to assume that everyone else has it together and if you don’t, you feel isolated and alone. I promise you that this is most definitely NOT the case. No one truly has it together and the people that appear to are likely struggling just as much if not more than the next person. It’s not easy to be vulnerable, but once you open up, I think you’ll be amazed at how many people will say #metoo.

3.    Everything in life that is worth having is worth working for.

The thing about running (and life in general) is that you will never master it. You will never be perfect at it. You challenge yourself every time you lace up your shoes. Some days everything clicks and you might feel like you were born to do this and other days it may feel like a struggle, but every day is an opportunity to give it your best, to see what you can accomplish and to improve.

Training for and running a marathon is hard work. It often means early morning wake up calls to get runs and workouts in before work. It means going to bed early to make sure that you get enough sleep to allow your body to recover and be ready for the next workout. It means fueling yourself properly with nourishing food so that you can perform your best. None of those things are “easy” to do, but they are without a doubt worth it. The joy and satisfaction that comes from setting a goal and working hard to achieve it is unlike anything else that I have ever experienced.

All of you have been given talents. You wouldn’t be in this competition is you weren’t talented, smart, athletic, etc. You’ve all got goals that you have set for yourself. Work hard to achieve those goals. When you do, celebrate and then set bigger goals and get back to work.

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

Closing

In closing, I want to touch on the Be Your Best Self portion of the program. The program has really evolved since I was in it, but it’s so cool to see how the different parts of my life align with the principles of the Be Your Best Self program (even after all. these. years.)!

1. Being healthy – Of course this is right up my alley. We’ve definitely talked about my running at this point, but I also make other healthy habits, such as getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water and nourishing my body with good food a priority. And really, being healthy means more than just being physically fit, it also means being healthy mentally and emotionally as well. You can’t neglect any of these areas if you want to be truly healthy.

2. Being involved – Running has opened so many doors for me to be involved in the local community. I have coached training programs at local running stores and have coached for Girls on the Run (GOTR), an organization created to inspire and motivate girls, encourage lifelong health and fitness, and build confidence through running.

3. Being studious – My mom instilled amazing study habits in my from a very young age and my school work and grades always reflected that. Being the overachiever that I am, I even graduated from high school and college with a 4.0 GPA. And I’m here to tell you that isn’t because I am just *that* smart, it’s because I studied A LOT. Some people will tell you that “grades don’t matter,” and there is some truth to that, but only later in your career once you have actual work experience. At that point work experience is more valuable than test scores. Having good grades in college and graduate school shows potential employers that you are willing to put in the work. After college I went on to get a masters in tax accounting and then sat for and passed the CPA exam. Even now, I try to continually learn new things.

4. Being responsible – Growing up and being an adult certainly comes with responsibility. Being responsible isn’t always the “fun” thing to do, but honestly, there’s not really any other option. I try my best to balance my career with my passions and my social life and my responsibilities on the farm. There are times when I have to sacrifice doing something “fun” or spending time with friends because something else takes priority and has to be done.

5. Being ambitious – I still have some really big goals, both professionally and personally that I want to achieve. With running specifically, the biggest goal that I have set for myself is to qualify for to run in the Olympic Trials marathon. I will have to wait four years to go for this one again, but I will keep showing up because everything worth achieving is worth working for!

I want to leave you with one final story about an olive. Hear me out for one more minute. Where light is needed, oil is needed and oil comes from an olive. In order to get oil from an olive, the olive has to be pressed and crushed. Doesn’t sound fun does it? However, the pressing and crushing is what allows the oil to emerge. The oil is considered to be the most valuable part of the olive and it wouldn’t even exist without the “hardship” that the olive has to endure. The oil can then be used to create glorious light! The olive’s greatest hardship turns into its greatest purpose and the same can be true for us.

I truly hope that something that I have said has resonated with you on some level. Life will be filled with unexpected moments and highs and lows. If you keep working hard and striving to be your best self, some of your biggest struggles might just turn into some of your greatest moments.

Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:41 pace)

I did my standard easy run after work on Monday afternoon. I definitely had some remnants of the prior weekend’s back to back workout and long run combination. It’s been a while since I’ve had two big days back to back. Granted, the long run was at easy pace, but it was still the longest run I had done in a while.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 7 miles (8:50 pace) + PM – Easy: 3 miles (8:39 pace)

Tuesday morning I ran from home. There wasn’t really anything major to report from this run. I enjoy doing this route though, because my “Strava art” looks like a sailboat!

Tuesday evening I went over to my mom and dad’s house to visit and did a short run. It started to sprinkle almost immediately once I started running, but it wasn’t a hard rain and it felt quite lovely. Of course the sprinkle turned into a downpour once I got to the farthest point away from the house that I could possibly get on my normal loop. I don’t know how it always happens this way, but it really does! I was planning to do 5 miles, but decided to just turn around and head straight back to the house at that point.

Once I got back to the neighborhood, I heard a mysterious high pitched ringing. I guess no one else was outside to hear it (given that it was pouring rain, this made sense), but it was driving me crazy and I wanted to figure out where it was coming from. About thirty minutes later, a transformer blew right outside the window. I saw a big blue “explosion” and then another yellow “explosion.” This was quite a lot of excitement for a Tuesday evening!

Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 2 mi. @ threshold, 5 mi. CD

I had a workout on tap Wednesday morning and it ended up being a total flop. The workout was supposed to be a 2 mile warm up, 5 X 1 mile at threshold with decreasing recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. I don’t know why I attempted this one on the treadmill, but at the time it seemed like a good option (#regrets). Basically I didn’t want to get up any earlier than I had to and drive anywhere to do it, so … it seems that I am getting in my own way with laziness at this point. Usually I am pretty pumped about and look forward to workout days, but I didn’t have those feelings towards this workout at all. Since half (or more) of the battle is mental, this was definitely not a good sign of things to come.

My goal pace for the threshold miles was in the 5:45-5:50 range. The first mile (according to the treadmill) was 6:12 and I. was. dying. I’m not even being dramatic (okay, okay … maybe just a little). I felt like I had run a 5:12 mile and not a 6:12 mile. I tried to regroup, but the next mile was 6:20 and I knew at that point that something was majorly wrong. I know that the treadmill calibration is off some and that is definitely part of the problem, but I also think that perhaps my body was just not recovered from the weekend before. Either way, the workout didn’t go well, but that is part of the process. Can’t win them all!

Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (9:02 pace) + PM – Pilates!

Thursday morning I did a few driveway miles before work. My legs were still fairly tired and I was very content to take it easy pace-wise.

Friday – Easy: 7.5 miles (8:42 pace)

Friday morning I did another sailboat loop! See pic above (which is actually from Friday’s run anyway).

Saturday – Quality: 9 miles (3 mi. WU, 5 X 600/400, 2 mi. CD) 

I was a little bit apprehensive heading into the workout Saturday morning. It’s funny how one bad workout can really mess with your head sometimes. I wasn’t sure if that was just a fluke or if I had lost every single bit of fitness I had ever gained and was washed up forever. If you’ve been there, you understand. I’m happy to report that Saturday’s workout went really well, so I’m considering Wednesday’s flop to be a fluke … a fluke flop if you will.

This workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 5 sets of alternating 600 meter repeats and 400 meter repeats and a 2 mile cool down. The 600s were run at close to 5k pace and the 400s were run at close to 1 mile effort and thankfully there was plenty of recovery (1:30 after the 600s and 2:30 after the 400s). My pacing ended up being very consistent and I ran between 2:01-2:02 for each 600 (5:20 ish pace) and between 1:16-1:17 for each 400 (5:05 ish pace). What a relief to know that I still have it! Ha.

Sunday AM – Easy: 9 miles (8:55 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:45 pace)

I had 14 miles on the schedule Sunday. I’m pretty sure that the intent was that I would do it consecutively, but I had a presentation to give Sunday afternoon that I procrastinated preparing for until Sunday morning. In my mind, this made sense so that I would only be stressed about it for one day instead of worrying about it for several days.

I got up really early Sunday morning, but I didn’t actually get out the door to start running until about 9:30 when I finally hit a mental block on the presentation prep and needed to get out and clear my head. At that point, I didn’t have time to run for 2+ hours, finish up what I needed to do, get ready and still make it to the meeting on time, so I decided to split the run up and do the second part after the meeting. It was really nice to get out again that evening after everything was done to just relax a little bit.

Total – 62.5 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

Y’all. Is it really AUGUST?!

Back in the day, I used to like to try to write a blog post at the end of each month with a monthly training summary as well as an A to Z list of that were currently on my mind. I’m bringing that back this month. Hold on to your seat!

Month Recap: July 2020

The Running

Workouts: I got in a couple good quality workouts this month and I also had a few flops. After some downtime following the final McKirdy Mile, things started to slowly ramp back up the second week of July. I found myself a tad rusty and also not remembering very clearly what certain efforts should feel like.

Favorite workout: My favorite workout this month was definitely the 16 X 200 w/ 200 float recovery workout. Call me crazy, but I have always been a huge fan of 200s. I thought this one was really fun because the hard 200s were run at closer to 5k pace (as opposed to an all out sprint) and then the recoveries were run at faster than a typical easy pace. It took some control to master this one and I was very happy with my effort and patience.

Races: No races in July … whomp, whomp. This was actually the first month of 2020 that I haven’t done some sort of race or time trial. I ran a marathon in January, a 5k in February and a 10k in March before things switched to virtual. After that, I did a 5k in March, a 10k in April, two one mile races in May and two one mile races in June. I don’t currently have any races (real or virtual) on the calendar, but I’m hopeful that we will at least get to have a few small, local races this fall. Fingers crossed!

Favorite race: Any race that I get to run in the future will definitely be my favorite!

Paces: My paces ranged from 5:42 (the first (way. too. fast!) mile of a tempo workout) to 9:32 (the second mile of a post-workout cool down).

Average Pace: My average pace for the month was 8:35.

Miles: 239 miles this month. Lower than normal, but given the mini down week in there, it makes sense.

Climbing: I got 8,536 feet of climbing in this month and most of that was on my driveway! Ha.

Breakdown: I ran on the treadmill 7 times, from home 13 times, from somewhere other than home 12 times and with friends 3 times. It’s crazy to me how much things have changed as far as running in group goes. I used to hardly ever run by myself and now I hardly ever run with anyone else. There is a season for everything I suppose.

Longest run: My longest run was 13 miles.

Shortest run: My shortest run was 3 miles.

Pilates: I went to four Pilates classes this month. I got a Pilates reformer as an early birthday present, so I also got in two sessions at home as well. It’s not commercial grade or anything super fancy, but I love having it!

The Other Stuff

Current activity: Blogging! We back!

Current book: Well, well, well. What do you know? I’m actually reading some books. Currently, I am reading, “The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home,” “The Owner-Builder Book,” “Raising Goats for Dummies” and “Influencer, Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media.”

The first two are fairly self-explanatory (as to why I am reading them, not the actual content of the books which is doing me a bit of a bamboozle). I mentioned this in a previous post, but Richard and I are planning to build a house at some point in the not-too-distant future. The goat book is unfortunately a necessary read at this point, as we just lost one of our goats and realized that there is a heck of a lot that we don’t know about raising goats. The influencer book is something that is marinating in the back of my mind. I would absolutely use this blog and various other social media platforms as a means to earn a little bit of extra money. I don’t know if that will happen, but it surely isn’t going to hurt to try. I enjoy writing regardless, so any extra money would just be a bonus at this point.

Current confession: It will probably take me until 2025 to finish those books!

Current drink: Gah. I’m loving so many drinks right now. My hydration needs are very high. I start my day with coffee (duh!) and my current flavor of choice is toasted graham. It’s delicious! Before Nuun (I couldn’t resist), I switch over to Nuun and my current flavor of choice is cherry limeade. I also sip on Bolthouse Farms protein shakes throughout the day (usually have some right when I get to the office, with lunch and as an afternoon snack). If I feeling really feisty, I will crack open an Abita Purple Haze or Andygator after work on a Friday. PAR-TAY!

Current excitement: We are going to be spending time with family that we don’t get to see often in the next two weeks. I’m really looking forward to that!

Current fail: I am having a really hard time getting pictures to upload to this post. The internet is not being my friend. Boo!

Current goal: My current goal is to incorporate drills and more strength training into my weekly routine. I’m working with a local running form coach to correct my (apparently horrible, terrible, no good, very bad) running form. I’m really curious to see how much this will help me. I’ve never been super motivated to actually work on this too much because I just told myself that what I was doing was working for me. While this may be true, what if proper form would allow me to do even more?!

Current habit: Wearing toe spacers. The things we do for our running! My big toes tend to bother me from time to time and the toe spacers are supposed to strengthen, not only your toes, but also your feet in general. I usually just wear them when I am sitting at my desk or something like that. It’s a super easy thing to do that could possibly help me in the long run (pun intended), so I’m all about it.

Current indulgence: Sleeping in. Y’all. I’ve been an EARLY morning riser for years and years, but I am thoroughly enjoying sleeping in these days. Sleeping in means getting up at 5:30 instead of 4. It is glorious!

Current joke: What do you call a magic dog? A Labracadabrador. 

Current knowledge: Life can only be understood looking backwards, but it must be lived looking forwards. I don’t know if anything has ever resonated more with me than this sentiment.

Current list: We’ve got a decent list of tasks that need to be done around the house (aka “the farm”) and they need to be done asap because Richard’s family will be here next week. Yay!

Current motto: Trust the timing of your life.

Current need: I need to figure out what’s for dinner. Ideas?!

Current obsession: My planner!

Current procrastination: Getting my oil changed. Yes. I know this is horrible. I typically stay on top of it, but somehow I found myself well overdue for an oil change and I have not done anything to remedy the situation.

Current quote: This one is really speaking to me right now. “One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will be someone else’s survival guide.”

Current rave: We got a Sam’s Club membership! I’ve always wanted to be a member of Sam’s Club and I can finally cross this one off my bucket list. Ha!

Current song: A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega by Ashley McBryde! But really, it is anything and everything by Ashley McBryde. I can’t get enough.

Current time: It’s just after 1330 on Saturday. Me thinks it may be time for a little snoozle.

Current uncertainty: Hmm. Is anything in life certain right now?! Ha.

Current vegetable: Cucumbers from our garden! I’m fairly certain I have eaten five entire cucumbers in the last week. I slice them up and put them in apple cider vinegar. They are so good!

Current want: I want to have more time at home. I know that a lot of people have had a whole lot of time at home recently and probably think this sounds crazy, but it is what I really wish I had more of. This is probably one of those things where it just seems like the grass is greener on the other side. I’m trying my best to happy with my own grass and remember that the grass on the other side is probably only greener because it is AstroTurf.

Current yearning: To make an impact. I am speaking to the local participants in the Distinguished Young Women program tomorrow afternoon and I truly hope that I can have a positive impact on them.

Current zone: Relaxed …

Thank you so much for reading and following along. Please tell me something you are currently loving or looking forward to!

Hey friends! It seems as if my weekly training log posts are the only consistent posts I can get done at this point, but hey, it’s better than nothing. I’m just easing back in and finding my rhythm with blogging (or something like that). Anyway, here is what this week’s training looked like!

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:55 pace)

It seems as if Monday has become the day of the evening run. I’ve really been enjoying sleeping in lately. I feel like life in general has slowed down a little bit for everyone and I’m not sad about it. Without any races on the calendar, I don’t feel any need to get up and get the miles in before work. I have plenty of time after work to get it done, so it really works out quite nicely.

John (my coach) actually called while I was out running Monday evening, which was great. We chatted for over half an hour, which was also over half of my run. I figured if I couldn’t carry on a conversation while I was running, then I wasn’t doing my easy run easy enough (not that this is typically a problem for me at all). We talked about the workouts that I have coming up and kinda what the general plan would be for the rest of the summer and early fall.

We are going to build up my mileage some over the next six weeks, while still focusing on speed. I might do another one mile time trial and maybe a 5k time trial on the track at end of the six weeks, but nothing before that. After that, the plan is to move into more of a “specific” phase of training shifting the focus to threshold and half marathon work. If I can find a half marathon to race at the end of the year, that would be great! If not, it’s no big deal either as I’d probably choose to just do a time trial for that as well if it comes down to it.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 6 miles (8:58 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:53 pace)

Tuesday morning I got out and got 6 driveway miles in. Richard has been working really hard on the driveway and while the purpose of that is not to make it better for my running, that has been a nice unintended benefit. The road is much smoother now and the grade is more gradual. Obviously I still have to climb the same amount, but now the hills are just a little bit longer and less steep. I’m totally cool with that!

I did an easy double on the treadmill Tuesday evening. I get really excited when new episodes of the Up + Running Podcast drop on Tuesdays and I sometimes find myself wanting to run again just so that I can listen to the podcast. Tuesday also happens to be the day in my schedule that most easily allows for a double run anyway, so I guess it’s just meant to be.

I also got back into my core routine and did 5 minutes of planks and some stretching after my run. The next step is going to be to incorporate “drills” into my routine. I’ve never done drills before (even though just about every coach I’ve ever worked with has suggested them (insert facepalm)). It’s an area that I can definitely improve upon.

Wednesday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 16 X 200 w/ 200 float, 3 mi. CD

I did a decent job of getting up and getting out the door early enough on Wednesday morning to get my track workout in. I likely should’ve gone a tad earlier, given that my workout overlapped with the high school cross county practice a little bit. By the time they showed up, I only had 2 more repeats to go and I was totally in the zone, so I just went with it.

The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 16 X 200 meters at close to 5k pace with a 200 meter float recovery at “slower than marathon pace but faster than easy pace” and a 3 mile cool down. My goal for the 200s “on” was 40 seconds (5:22 pace) and my goal for the 200s “off” was 52-55 seconds (6:45 to 7:30 pace). I honestly don’t think I could do this again if I tried, but my first 12 repeats were all 40-41 seconds (the last 4 were slightly faster, but at that point I knew I had executed the workout properly and I had the ability to pick it up) and all of my floats were between 50-55 seconds.

I am really dang pleased with and proud of this workout, especially since my last workout before this one was such a flop. I was smooth and in control of the pace the entire time. I also had patience in the first few repeats to keep it in the prescribed range. Patience is not one of my virtues, so this was a big deal. In fact, I should probably mark it on my calendar as the day that I had patience and it paid off. Ha!

Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (8:47 pace) + PM – Pilates!

Thursday morning I got in some quiet driveway miles. I usually listen to a podcast or music when I run, but sometimes I like to just be alone with my thoughts. It was definitely a very peaceful way to start the day. I continued with my planks as well and got 6 minutes of planking done after my run.

Friday – Easy: 6 miles (8:52 pace)

Sometimes we get off work a tad early on a summer Friday. Granted this year has been a little wacky with the tax deadline in July … but that’s neither here nor there at this point. I got off early enough to get several errands knocked off of my list, to get 6 easy miles in and to get back home not too much later than I would’ve on a normal day. Sweet!

Saturday – Quality: 10 miles (3 mi. WU, 4 miles @ MP, 8 X 200, 2 mi. CD) 

Saturday’s workout ended up being a bit of a “fly by the seat of my pants” sort of thing. I was supposed to have a track workout of alternating 600 and 400 meter repeats and I was actually really looking forward to it. Against my better judgement, I went to a different track than where I have been going recently and it ended up not working out for me to run there. Such a bummer!

I checked my training plan and found a workout two weeks out that was going to be on the road, so I made the executive decision to switch the workouts. The better decision, according to my coach after-the-fact, would’ve been to just do the workout that was scheduled based on time instead of distance. I really want to do that one on the track though, so I am still okay with my decision (as was he). If I had a big goal race coming up, I would not have switched the workouts like that, but during this phase of “base” or “fundamental” training, it’s not really a big deal.

My new and improved workout called for 4 miles at marathon pace followed by 8 X 200 meter repeats. My splits for the “marathon pace” miles were 6:13, 6:19, 6:05 and 6:06. The first two miles had some uphills, the third mile was pancake flat and the last mile had a decent downhill stretch. I’m thinking this is actually somewhere between marathon pace and threshold effort. I know that there is no way I could’ve run that pace for 22 more miles in those conditions (76 degrees and 95 percent humidity). I’m also not training for a marathon right now (or possibly ever again (I kid … kinda)), so obviously I shouldn’t be able to run 22 more miles at that pace. Duh! I do think I could’ve held that pace for at least an hour, but that would’ve probably still been a bit challenging. Either way, it was a solid four miles.

The 8 X 200 meter repeat portion of the workout was definitely far from perfect. I found a flat portion of road with minimal traffic that seemed to be about 200 meters and just went with it. I basically ran 40 second repeats each time and I’m not exactly sure what the distance was in meters. I did still have some turnover in my legs, which was a nice surprise (a real nice surprise!). I averaged 5:26 pace for those repeats, but the actual paces varied from 5:08 (the last one) to 5:58 (the first one). One thing is for sure and that is my legs were TOAST on the cool down. I basically shuffled 2 miles and called it a day.

Sunday – Easy: 13 miles (8:43 pace)

After my workout Saturday morning, John asked if I would be up for a run of close to 2 hours on Sunday. I told him that I could definitely try. I did one of those things where I do the opposite of what I should do and I started my run at 10:30 a.m. I mean, I did really enjoy sleeping in and piddling around the house before I started, but this was a bit excessive. If I’m being honest, the run really wasn’t as terrible as it likely should’ve could’ve been. It was 84 degrees, but the humidity was *only* 75 percent. My unprofessional opinion at this point is that if it is super hot, you are likely okay to do an easy run, but I would not recommend attempting any sort of quality session.

Total – 64 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

Hey friends! Coming at you today with the latest and greatest installment of the weekly training log posts.

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:39 pace)

Monday was the Monday-est of all Mondays. We had a major storm blow through late Sunday evening that messed the driveway up again (after Richard worked ALL weekend to get it back into good shape nonetheless). We woke up Monday morning to a leaking roof, a live power line down in the yard and a four-wheeler that wouldn’t crank. Yikes. I found myself, yet again, unsure of how exactly I would be able to get to work. Needless to say, I didn’t get a run in before work, but thankfully the driveway held up much better than expected and I was actually able to get my car out without too much difficulty (shout out to all-wheel drive!).

In this weird year we are living in, this week was the tax deadline week and work was quite hectic. I was more than ready to get out and run a few miles after wrapping it up for the day. I’ve got a nice little route that I can run from work that is all either on sidewalks or in neighborhoods. It’s really nice to just be able to change real quick and head straight out the door.

Tuesday AM – Quality: 9 miles (3 mi. WU, 10 X 1:00, 3 mi. CD) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:42 pace)

I had a workout on the schedule Tuesday morning and I started out feeling a bit sluggish. I’m sure this had something to do with only having a 12 hour turnaround between runs. That’s one thing that can get a bit tricky with running in the evenings on some days and in the mornings on other days. Once I actually started the pickups, I felt fine though, so maybe I just needed to get warmed up.

The pickups were supposed to be done at marathon pace, but I found it really hard to settle in to marathon pace for one minute at a time. Typically in a marathon pace workout you gradually work down to the pace and then you sustain it for a long period of time. I ran the first interval close to what my goal pace was and then I ended up being closer to threshold pace for the remainder of the intervals, averaging 5:45 for the 10 intervals. Similar to last week’s 10 X 30 second workout, I ran in my regular trainers and I didn’t seek out a flat route, so I was definitely happy with how this one went down all things considered.

Tuesday evening I did an easy double, mainly just trying to kill a little bit of time after work before my grocery pickup slot. I found myself going back to some older Patreon episodes of Lindsey’s podcast that I hadn’t listened to and oddly enough, in one of the monthly catch up chats, she and Lauren actually talked about me. So random. They were talking about how much I have improved as a runner since I was on the show (little do they know about all the ways I’ve improved as a person as well :)), but Lindsey described me as “the girl with the tragic story,” which was not my favorite thing to hear. I see my story as more triumphant than tragic and I was disappointed to hear her describe it as such. Otherwise, they were complimentary, so I guess I shouldn’t focus on the one negative thing.

Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:53 pace)

Wednesday morning I did an easy run from home. When I run from home I get a decent amount of climbing in (decent for Alabama anyway!). This run was just over 500 feet of climbing in 6 miles. I feel like all of the hill running that I have done in the last year has really helped me become a stronger runner. I changed so many variables in a seemingly short period of time that it’s really hard to know exactly what has actually been productive and what has potentially been pointless. Either way, I’m going to keep on keeping on as long as the results keep coming.

Thursday AM – Easy: 3 miles (9:06 pace) + PM – Pilates!

I did a very short, very easy run on the treadmill Thursday morning to give my legs a little break before the doozy of a workout that I had on tap for Friday.

Speaking of strength, there is no doubt in my mind that Pilates has played a vital role in the strength gaining process. I’m coming up on my two year Pilateversary (don’t even try to tell me that’s not a real thing), meaning that I’ve been doing Pilates once a week for two years now. Obviously I have missed a few weeks here and there, but for the most part I have been very consistent with it. I have a feeling that my Pilates budget might be on the chopping block once we get into this whole house building process, but I’m going to soak it all in while I can.

Friday – Quality: 8 miles (3 mi. WU, 2 miles @ threshold, 3 mi. CD) 

I was off work Friday and I waited ENTIRELY too late to start the workout. I wanted to spend a little bit of time with Richard that morning, while I knew I was going to suffer once I finally got out there, I convinced myself that it would be worth it. It definitely was not. Ha!

My workout was supposed to be a 2 mile warm up, 5k at threshold pace and a 2 mile cool down. The goal pace for the threshold miles was 5:50 and the workout notes simply said to ease into it. I decided to ease into it by working my way down into the low 7 minute range on the warm up. I felt good, but was definitely feeling the heat. The actual temperature was 81 with a feels like temperature of 89 degrees at this point and there was little to no shade on my route.

I honestly have no idea how this happened, but I ran a 5:42 first mile. I felt smooth and in control, but apparently was not quite ready to sustain that for two more miles. My next mile was 6:00 and I was working way too hard for threshold effort. I don’t know how the first mile felt so effortless and the second one felt so labored, but it is what it is. I decided that 2 miles at threshold was plenty and skipped the last quality mile. I rarely do this, but given the heat, I think it was the right decision. Not all workouts go as planned, but you definitely learn more from the ones that don’t go as planned.

I needed a reality check on both my pacing and my procrastinating. Lessons learned.

Saturday – Easy: 10 miles (9:10 pace) 

Saturday’s run was a very special one! I got to run with several of my best running buddies on our bachelorette weekend. We had one bride to be and one bride “after the fact” (me!). Our trip was originally planned for mid-April, but we rescheduled because of the virus. I don’t know that things are actually any better at this point, but we took as many precautions as we possibly could to minimize interaction with the outside world. I pretty much live a hermit lifestyle as it is, so this entire “quarantine” hasn’t looked that much different than regular life for me. Work went on as it always has and that’s pretty much the only place I go.

I have been doing the majority of my runs solo these days, which not only is a huge change from years past, but also makes each run where I get to be with friends even sweeter. 10 miles is the longest run I have done in over a month and I was feeling both the previous day’s workout and the rooster incident. It was nice to get a double digit run in and then even nicer to have the rest of the day to relax. We spent some time on the beach and I got in a glorious little snoozle. I was a happy camper!

Sunday – Easy: 7 miles (11:02 pace)

Sunday morning a few of us ventured out for another “vacation” run before we headed home. I even managed to trick convince Rebecca to join me for a few miles on the beach. Beach running on the Gulf Coast is HARD. The sand, while beautiful, is super soft and not very conducive to running. We had a few small mishaps (one that closely resembled a game of dominoes), but otherwise we had a blast!

Total – 55 miles

Have a great week!