Category: Weekly Recap

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 04.16.18 – 04.22.18:

Monday AM – Easy: 4 miles (9:14 pace) + PM – Easy: 6 miles (8:07 pace)

Marathon Monday started off with an easy run on the treadmill. I wasn’t entirely sure what my work day would look like. The closer we get to the deadline, the more unpredictable the days get. I wasn’t able to watch the coverage of the race at work, but I was able to periodically check in with miscellaneous group chats for updates. I was STOKED for Desi (and Yuki for that matter)! Holy wow! We recorded the coverage and I was able to watch it after work. What an incredible race!

Several of us met after work to run. Monday evening is not a typical group run day, but everyone was riding the Boston high that day. Running with friends (several of whom will be going to Boston in 2019 (fingers crossed)) seemed like the right thing to do!

Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:37 pace)

Tuesday morning I went to the track and ran easy while the Daniels did a 6 X 800 workout. I entertained the idea of doing the workout with them for about half a second and decided that I didn’t feel like it (one of the perks of not following a training plan). It was a nice morning and I enjoyed my easy run while cheering them on as they ran by.

Wednesday AM – Quality (Tempo): 7 miles (7:24 pace) + PM – Easy 5 miles (8:49 pace)

Wednesday morning I decided to do a short workout on the treadmill. I did a 2 mile warm up, a 3 mile tempo and a 2 mile cool down. My splits for the tempo miles were 6:34, 6:27, 6:18. I didn’t really have any specific time goals going into that workout, but the effort was there and that’s all that matters.

Thursday – Easy: 9.75 miles (8:52 pace)

Thursday evening I (temporarily) joined the #motherrunner club and I took Savannah on a stroller run while Rebecca worked a track meet by our house. My arms were on FIRE about two miles in and I think I was breathing harder than I was on my workout Wednesday (okay, not really … but it was close). We did 5 miles and then stopped at the park to play for a little bit and then did a few more miles with the group. The group usually runs from the park on Thursday evenings, so that worked out quite well. I was happy to have some help with the stroller for a few miles! At one point, there were three of us pushing her uphill (and it still felt kind of difficult). I wish we had a picture of that.

Friday – Easy 5 miles (8:54 pace)

Friday evening I did a solo loop, listening to Ali’s interview with Sarah Sellers (2nd place female finisher at Boston).

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5 easy evening miles listening to @aliontherun1’s interview with Sarah Sellers. Such an incredible story! Brooks joined me for a stroll to the bay to catch the sunset 🌅 😍✌️#friyay #goldensofinstagram #ilovemygolden #runnersofinstagram #instarunners

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Apr 20, 2018 at 5:12pm PDT

Saturday – RACE: 10 miles (7:30 pace)

Sunday – Easy: 14 miles (8:49 pace)

Sunday was long run day with most of the usual suspects. The miles flew by! It seems like I’ve been counting down the miles on my longer runs recently, so this was a welcome feeling.

Total – 68.9 miles

That’s it for now! Have a great week!

Happy Marathon Monday! Woo!

Tax season is almost done! Woo X 2!

I’m slowly catching up on things that have fallen by the wayside during the last month or so. First up is some random training log updates, although I don’t even know if these qualify as “training logs” at this point. I’ve basically been following a non-training plan the last few weeks, so not a whole lot of exciting workouts have been happening. I wanted to write this post anyway though because not all weeks are amazing with great workouts. Sometimes it is really nice to just relax and run when you want to. Now that we’ve lead with that exciting intro …

Here is what my training looked like the week of 03.26.18 – 04.01.18:

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:36 pace)

I started the week off with three consecutive days of treadmill running. Daniel was getting over strep and not running too much, so I decided to take the easy option and run inside.

Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:12 pace)

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (9:10 pace)

Thursday – REST

Friday AM – Easy: 10 miles (8:21 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:52 pace)

Saturday – Quality (Threshold): 9 miles (7:08 pace)

I bailed on my typical Saturday morning group run, slept in, drank coffee, played with Brooks and enjoyed a leisurely morning. It was an absolutely beautiful out and I decided that it would be a good day to get some quality miles in. I did a 2 mile warm up, a 2 X 2 mile tempo w/ a 1 mile recovery in between the sets and a 2 mile cool down. My splits for the first set were 6:27 and 6:25 (6:26 avg.) and my splits for the second set were 6:24 and 6:19 (6:22 avg.). It was nice to just got out for a workout simply because I wanted to and not because I had a plan that told me to.

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Slept in until after 8 this morning (can’t remember the last time that happened)! Enjoyed a lazy morning at home (i.e., I drank coffee and played with Brooks) and decided to hit the track mid-morning to tackle the threshold workout that I procrastinated all week. It was beautiful out! I did the workout (2 mile warm up, 2 X 2 mile tempo w/ 1 mile recovery, 2 mi. CD) and took some time to play around with getting an insta worthy picture for proof 😂😉 #howdopeopledothiseveryday #instarunner #tempo #saturdaymorning

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Mar 31, 2018 at 10:14am PDT

Sunday –  Easy: 13.7 miles (8:27 pace)

I finished the week out with a long (ish) run with Rebecca, Jessica & Lizzie. Rebecca ran 100 miles during the week as the peak week of training for her ultra. She needed 13.7 miles Sunday to make that happen and I decided to be done at 13.7 as well. Rebecca told me that she would finish up the last three tenths so that I could end on an even 14 if I wanted her to (which was a gesture of true friendship) and I told her that I didn’t want to make her run any extra and would stop on an odd distance (which was also a gesture of true friendship).

Total – 60.7 miles

Here is what my training looked like the week of 04.02.18 – 04.08.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:52 pace)

I ran with Jessica Monday morning and by the time I got to the end of the day Monday, I had come down with strep (or something similar). I didn’t go to the doctor since Daniel had just been treated for strep and we just followed the same treatment with me. It took several days to run its course, but thankfully I didn’t miss any work. I took several days off from running, but I truly had no desire to run (which is how you know I was definitely sick).

Tuesday – REST

Wednesday – REST

Thursday – REST 

Friday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:58 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (9:02 pace)

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First run since Monday! 😱 #happyfriday #iranfivemiles #soimholdingupfivefingers

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Apr 6, 2018 at 4:33am PDT

I felt like a human again by Friday (so all in all, I wasn’t out for long). I got in a few miles that morning and also met Rebecca and Jessica for an easy run after work. Woo!

Saturday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:56 pace) + PM – Easy: 5.25 miles (8:22 pace)

We woke up to a soggy morning Saturday and everyone bailed on the group run. I had to go to work for a little bit, so I decided to go ahead and do a few miles on the treadmill in case I wasn’t able to go later in the day. The weather cleared up and Daniel and I were able to do a loop Saturday afternoon after I got home.

Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:17 pace)

Sunday’s “long run” was tough. We went down to the gulf to run with Lizzie and I was counting down the number of miles remaining by the third or fourth mile of this run (which makes the run seem rather long). The company was great, but my endurance was shot. Apparently it took me a little bit longer than I thought to regain my strength.

Total – 40.2 miles

Here is what my training looked like the week of 04.09.18 – 04.15.18:

Monday – Easy: 6 miles (8:50 pace)

Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:48 pace)

Wednesday – Quality: 10 miles (7:52 pace)

Wednesday morning I decided to do an impromptu progression run in during the middle miles of my run. I did a 3 mile warm up, a 4 mile progression and a 3 mile cool down. Splits for the progression were 7:00, 6:48, 6:40, 6:35. It felt good to push a little, but not do anything too crazy.

Thursday – REST 

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:42 pace)

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Happy Friday (the 13th 😱)! 8 easy miles (8:42 pace) to kick off what will inevitably be a crazy day. Only 4 more days until tax season 2017 is in the books. Thank goodness! If your CPA calls you and tells you that you owe the government money, please be nice to them. Contrary to popular belief, we actually can’t wave a magic wand and make your taxes disappear! 🤦🏼‍♀️🧐🤯 #taxseason #instarunners #runchat #taxchat #myjobistaxing

A post shared by Sam Y (@mobilebayrunner) on Apr 13, 2018 at 4:57am PDT

Saturday – Easy: 14 miles (8:16 pace)

14 miles was my longest run since ( … checking … ) February 4th! It’s crazy how the definition of “long run” can change over time and as training cycles progress. During marathon training, 14 miles likely wouldn’t be classified as a long run, but right now, it certainly feels long.

Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:33 pace)

Total – 60.0 miles

I am so ecstatic that tax season is coming to a close that I am preparing myself to run all the miles (within reason (obviously)). I still have no idea what I am going to be training for exactly, but it’s about to get started! I’m leaning towards focusing on short stuff again for the remainder of the spring and throughout the summer and then maybe ramping things back up in the fall. Not going to lie, all of the hype about Boston has definitely got me thinking about 2019 …

Have a wonderful week!

Well hello, hello and happy Monday!

This little guy makes me smile. Everyone needs to smile on a Monday morning.

Here is what my training looked like the week of 03.19.18 – 03.25.18:

Monday – Easy: 5 miles (8:44 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Threshold): 9 miles (7:23 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 4 X 1 mile @ threshold pace w/ 1:00 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I woke up feeling rested and ready to tackle this one. This is not a typical tax season training state of existence for me, so that was a real nice surprise (Clark). Goal threshold pace was 6:26 pace. Actual splits were 6:26, 6:23, 6:24 and 6:18.

Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (8:34 pace) 

Thursday – Quality (Threshold): 7 miles (7:51 pace)

Thursday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles @ threshold pace and a 2 mile cool down. In another somewhat unusual turn of events, I did this workout Thursday evening after work. Goal threshold pace was 6:26 pace. Actual threshold miles during this run were 6:54, 6:59, 6:47. Those 6:50 miles felt like 6:20 miles. Goodness. I really dislike evening workouts. Even so, it was really nice out and I didn’t regret getting out there and doing the workout. The sunset made it worthwhile.

Friday – OFF

Saturday – RACE: 10.25 miles (7:25 pace)

Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:21 pace)

Total – 53.2 miles

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful week!

Well hello, hello and happy Monday!

I didn’t do much on the workout front last week. This is partly because I am racing every weekend and recovering during the week, but also partly because I just really haven’t felt like following a training plan. My training plan has workouts every Tuesday and Thursday, but I just can’t get motivated to actually do what the plan says. This is fine. I basically work hard and follow a plan 10 or 11 months out of the year, but during the time frame between March 1st and the end of tax season, I am really just running for stress relief. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed this time of year and I don’t want running to be an additional source of stress (I want it to be an outlet for stress). If the training plan feels overwhelming, I just don’t follow it. Easy enough.

Here is what my training looked like the week of 03.12.18 – 03.18.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:11 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Threshold): 8 miles (7:47 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was supposed to be 4 X 1200 w/ 400 recovery, but after last weekend’s back to back races, I wasn’t ready to do any fast repeats. I still went to the track with the Daniels, but I just did my own thing while they did some faster stuff. I did a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at some form of tempo pace (6:36, 6:35, 6:29) and a 3 mile cool down.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 10 miles (8:33 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (9:12 pace)

Thursday AM – Easy: 3 miles (8:54 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:34 pace)

Thursday’s workout was supposed to be 2 X 2 miles at threshold pace. The idea of this one wasn’t super stressful in and of itself, but I think I was just tired. I hit snooze several times and once push came to shove, I only had time for 3 miles before work. I told myself that I could still try the workout after work if I felt like it … (insert rolling on the floor laughing emoji here). The idea of doing a workout after work is basically laughable at this point, although I must say, the time change does make evening runs quite more enjoyable!

Friday – Easy: 5 miles (8:39 pace)

Saturday – RACE: 10.5 miles (7:23 pace)

Sunday – Easy: 12.25 miles (8:37 pace)

Total – 66.7 miles

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful week!

Well hello, hello and happy Monday! I hope the time change is treating you well!

I’m kind of torn about this whole time change thing. On one hand, it is definitely nice to have an extra hour in the evening, but on the other hand, I really miss the daylight in the morning and losing an hour of sleep?! Really. That’s just cruel.

I got a little behind in my weekly training log updates, so this post is a two-for-one. I know you are all thrilled about that (sarcasm). I’ve done several races in the last two weeks with not many workouts in between. It’s mostly been easy running over here, which is a nice change of pace (literally)!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 02.26.18 – 03.04.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:23 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Intervals): 8 miles (7:55 pace)

Tuesday morning’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 1 mile at threshold, 2 X 1000 at interval, 2 X 200 at repetition (see this post for an explanation of the paces) and a 2 mile cool down. My times were as follows:

1 mile (6:22)
2 X 1000 (3:44, 3:50)
2 X 200 (0:39, 0:39)

This workout was short and sweet and definitely flew by! I am really enjoying the workouts that alternate the paces and distances of the repeats. We also had a nice, cool morning for this workout, which makes a difference in the enjoyment factor as well.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:29 pace)

Thursday – Quality (Intervals): 5 miles (7:39 pace)

Thursday’s workout was a 1 mile warm up, 6 X 400 with 400 recovery and a 1 mile cool down. Another short and sweet workout solely for the purpose of keeping the legs sharp during race week. I did this one on the treadmill. I don’t remember exactly why this was the case, but I’m assuming it had something to do with me procrastinating the workout after teaching late Wednesday evening and then having nobody to run with. Yep. I think that’s exactly how it went. I did the 400s at 6:00 pace and took the rest of the run very easy.

Friday – Easy: 5 miles (8:31 pace)

Saturday – RACE: 9.5 miles (7:15 pace)

Sunday –  Easy: 8 miles (7:58 pace)

Total – 51.6 miles

Here is what my training looked like the week of 03.05.18 – 03.11.18:

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:08 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Threshold): 7 miles (7:35 pace)

I don’t recall exactly what my workout was supposed to be on Tuesday, but I kind of did my own thing here. I did a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at “marathon” pace (6:59, 6:57, 6:58) and a 2 mile cool down. I wasn’t ready to do any fast repeats yet, but I wanted to push myself a little bit. This seemed like a good decision.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:14 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (9:12 pace)

Wednesday evening I got to take Savannah on a stroller run while Rebecca worked a track meet near our house. Holy moly. That was the toughest easy run that I’ve done in a while. Pushing that stroller is no joke. Shout out to all you moms out there making that happen on a regular basis!

Thursday – Easy: 5 miles (8:35 pace)

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:52 pace)

Saturday – RACE: 6.5 miles (7:27 pace)

Sunday – RACE: 12 miles (7:15 pace)

Total – 59.7 miles

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful week!

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

It’s race week! Ahh! I can’t believe it’s already here. I am running the Wine 10K in Birmingham this weekend. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve done a race in Birmingham. The level of competition there is much higher than it is here in LA (lower AL). I’m really excited to run against some fast girls and am hopeful that I can rise to their level of competition.

Here is what my training looked like the week of 02.19.18 – 02.25.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:22 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Intervals): 9.3 miles (7:42 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 1 mile, 2 X 1000, 2 X 400 and a 2 mile cool down. I really enjoyed this workout! Each set had a different goal pace and got shorter and faster as the workout went by. The miles were done at threshold pace, the 1000s were done at interval pace and the 400s were done at repetition pace. Splits are below:

6:20, 6:17
3:46, 3:50
1:23, 1:23

It was nice to start off with mile repeats at threshold pace. I’ve been doing longer intervals at threshold pace, so one mile didn’t seem bad at all. The 1000s were by far the toughest part of the workout (for me). I think if they had been 800s it would’ve seemed easier, but that extra 200 meters really got me. Ha. The good news was that by the time I got to the 400s, the idea of only doing one lap of work seemed very doable. I think those are my fastest 400s since last summer and I am very glad that I was able to finish the workout on a high note.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 10 miles (8:15 pace) + PM – Easy: 4 miles (8:35 pace)

Thursday – Easy: 5 miles (8:21 pace)

Friday AM – Quality: 9 miles (7:09 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:35 pace)

Friday’s workout was supposed to be a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 3 mile repeats w/ 3 minute recovery and a 2 mile cool down. Admittedly, I had a hard time motivating myself to get up and get this one done. My alarm went off and I reset it for 30 minutes later, which meant I was going to be cutting it really close if I still wanted to actually get this workout done (and I wasn’t sure that I even cared). I dragged myself out of bed eventually and decided to give it a whirl. I ended up doing all 6 miles consecutively (6:46, 6:30, 6:26, 6:22, 6:21, 6:17) and each mile got a tad bit faster. I was pleased with the results. I shortened the cool down to one mile and still made it to work on time (#winning).

Saturday – Easy: 8 miles (8:11 pace)

Sunday –  Quality: 12 miles (7:15 pace)

Sunday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at threshold, 1 mile easy, 2 miles at threshold, 1 mile easy, 2 miles at threshold and a 2 mile cool down. I was able to watch the coverage from the Tokyo Marathon as I ran, which definitely helped me to push myself to get this one done. Splits for the first set of threshold miles were 6:40, 6:28, 6:28, for the second set were 6:38, 6:29 and for the last set were 6:36, 6:24.

Total – 70.3 miles

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful week!

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 02.12.18 – 02.18.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:50 pace)

Tuesday – Quality (Intervals): 8.2 miles (7:48 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 4 X 1200 w/ 400 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I was hopeful that this week’s workout would go smoothly like last week’s workout, but it was definitely more of a struggle this week.  Splits (w/ paces) are listed below.

4:31 (6:00)
4:34 (6:05)
4:39 (6:10)
4:51 (6:25)

My goal time for the intervals was 4:25. I never hit that time and I got progressively slower as the workout went on (definitely not the preferred way to tackle track intervals). I don’t think my legs were fully recovered from Sunday’s 5K time trial.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 8 miles (8:35 pace) + PM – Easy: 3.5 miles (9:05 pace)

Thursday – Rest

Friday – Quality: 11 miles (7:13 pace)

Friday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 X 2 mile repeats w/ 3 minute recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I went to the YMCA to do this workout because I wanted to compare my effort on a different treadmill. It was insane! I think I’ll write a separate post about that little experiment. Ha. My splits were 12:43 (6:22, 6:21), 12:38 (6:20, 6:18) and 12:32 (6:17, 6:15). I’m really digging these threshold workouts! They push me to an uncomfortable place, but not uncomfortable enough to make me miserable. The post-workout endorphins are also pretty amazing!

Saturday AM – Easy: 13 miles (8:28 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:11 pace)

Sunday –  Easy: 13.5 miles (8:12 pace)

I was supposed to do a workout Sunday during my long run. The workout was 16 miles with 2 miles at threshold pace and 3 miles at marathon pace sprinkled in the middle. After attempting the 2 miles at threshold pace, I decided to bag the rest of the workout and just run easy. I did those 2 miles at 6:42 and 6:38 (goal pace was 6:26). It was 75* and 99% humidity, which didn’t make for pleasant workout conditions. I know that at some point, I will have to suck it up and get used to the heat and humidity, but I’m not ready to commit to that quite yet.

I  don’t think that missing a few marathon pace miles in a long run is going to hurt my 10K training. Hopefully now I’ll be all rested up and ready for my track workout next week!

Total – 70.2 miles

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful week!

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 02.05.18 – 02.11.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:48 pace)

Daniel and I ran Monday evening after work. We ran up to meet a couple of friends, ran a loop with them and ran back home.

Tuesday – Quality (Intervals): 8.25 miles (7:34 pace) + Easy: 4.75 miles (9:07 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 5 X 1K w/ 400 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I finally felt like my legs had some pep in them and I was able (for the most part) to hit the prescribed paces for this workout. Thank goodness! I’ve always heard that a general rule of thumb is that it can take your legs the same amount of days as miles that you race to truly recover. My last race was 26.2 miles and this workout was 24 days later, so perhaps there is some truth to that general rule.

My goal time for the thousands was 3:41, so just under 5:50 pace. Splits (w/ paces) are listed below.

3:42 (5:50)
3:40 (5:47)
3:42 (5:50)
3:45 (5:55)
3:49 (6:01)

The first three went really well! I basically just chased the Daniels around the track. I faded a little on four and five, but I also had to make an emergency pit stop in between three and four (it happens). The stop meant that I was no longer running with the Daniels and instead, I was left to pace my own intervals. That wasn’t quite as easy, but the times were still respectable, so I’m happy with it.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:09 pace)

I ran on the treadmill Wednesday morning.

Thursday – Quality (Threshold): 11 miles (7:21 pace)

Thursday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles @ threshold pace, 3 minutes easy, 2 miles @ threshold pace, 2 minutes easy, 1 mile @ threshold pace and a 2 mile cool down. I am really loving these threshold workouts … this one especially! Once you do the first 3 mile set, the last 2 mile and 1 mile sets feel like nothing (or at least that’s how it went down for me).

My goal pace for the threshold miles was 6:26.  I ran this one on the treadmill at home (yet again). We had SO MUCH rain last week. It was unreal. Splits are below.

6:39, 6:21, 6:19
6:23, 6:20
6:14

My next experiment is going to be to attempt some threshold work both outside and on a third-party treadmill (likely at the YMCA) and try to get a feel for if the effort level is consistent across all three. I don’t think that the calibration on my treadmill at home is totally accurate, which is why I wear the foot pod and use the indoor run setting on my watch.

Friday – Easy: 10 miles (8:43 pace)

I got to run with Rebecca and Jessica Friday morning! The 3:30 a.m. alarm was totally worth it for 10 miles of quality friend time.

Saturday – Easy: 7 miles (8:40 pace)

It rained all. day. long. Saturday. We had a small window around 4 p.m. where the radar was clear and so Jessica and I met and took advantage of the window.

Sunday –  Quality (5K): 11 miles (7:51 pace)

Sunday morning I was planning to run the Joe Cain Classic 5K in Mobile. It was pouring rain (yet again) Sunday morning and because it had rained a good bit throughout the week as well, a majority of the course was flooded. It take too much rain to flood that course and we had a good bit of rain, so it was very flooded. Ultimately, they changed the course and made the race 2.5 miles. Several of us drove over, but decided to pass on paying money to run a short course in the rain. We decided to go to breakfast instead!

We still wanted to get in a quality run for the day, so while we were at breakfast, we concocted a plan to run a 5K later that afternoon. On Sunday, our small window of dryness was around 1 p.m. We met at the track, did a 3 mile warm up, ran a 5K time trial and did a 5 mile cool down. It was 75 degrees and insanely humid, which made for some tough conditions at the track. It was also harder to push yourself, seeing as how it wasn’t a true race and it was just a workout.

I wanted to start out around 6:10 pace and try to either hold it there or drop it slightly. That would’ve put me close to right at or just under 19:00. That was my tentative plan for the race, so I figured I’d just try to do the same thing on the track. A 5K on the track is 12.5 laps. We started at the 200 on our first lap and then finished at the “finish line” on our last lap. My splits were 6:04, 6:14 and 6:29. Definitely respectable (especially given the conditions), but not where I wanted to be. The good thing about a time trial is that now I have a good idea of where I am and what I need to work on!

Total – 68.0 miles

Have a wonderful week!

Hey friends!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 01.29.18 – 02.04.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:13 pace) + Easy: 5 miles (8:59 pace)

I ran on the treadmill Monday morning. Daniel wanted to do a loop Monday evening so I went with it.

Tuesday – Quality (Intervals): 8.5 miles (7:42 pace)

Track Tuesday is back in full force. This week’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 6 X 800 w/ 400 recovery and a 2 mile cool down. My goal pace for the 800s was just under 3:00 (so just under 6:00 pace per mile), but for whatever reason my legs are not cooperating for the faster stuff quite yet. I don’t know if it is still lingering post-marathon fatigue or perhaps because I haven’t really trained to run at these faster paces since last summer. It’s likely some combination of the two. My splits were 3:02, 3:03, 3:02, 3:04, 3:08 and 3:09. Not terrible, but definitely not where I want them to be either.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:37 pace)

I ran outside with Daniel and Young Daniel Wednesday! Just like old times!

Thursday – Off

I definitely needed a break on Thursday! Wednesday was a tax work deadline + teaching night, which meant that I left the house at 7:00 a.m. and didn’t get home until 9:00 p.m. I slept in Thursday morning and then decided to forgo doing my workout after work as well. I told myself that I might do it after work, but really, there was a 0.5% chance of this actually happening. Ha. This was not a scheduled rest day, but I prefer to not have them scheduled and to just take them when I need them.

Friday – Quality (Threshold): 11 miles (7:19 pace) + Easy: 5 miles (8:31 pace)

I did Thursday’s workout Friday morning. The workout was a 3 mile warm up, 2 miles @ threshold pace, a 5 minute recovery, 2 miles @ threshold pace, a 3 minute recovery, 1 mile @ threshold pace and a 2 mile cool down. I am enjoying these longer workouts with varied paces. It’s nice to know that there is always a change of pace up ahead. The first two threshold miles were 12:40 (6:20 avg.), the second two were 12:28 (6:14 avg.) and the last one was 6:11. I did this workout on the treadmill though and I’m wondering what my equivalent effort outside would’ve been. Likely a good bit slower.

Saturday – Easy: 8 miles (8:33 pace)

I got in a fun easy run with Rebecca and Jessica Saturday morning. The run was followed by coffee and conversation over breakfast, which is the very best way to spend a Saturday morning.

Sunday – Quality (Threshold): 14.7 miles (7:34 pace)

Sunday’s workout was kind of similar to Friday’s workout, but a tad longer and a little slower. The workout was a 3 mile warm up, 2 miles @ threshold pace, 3 miles @ easy pace, 2 miles @ marathon pace, a 4 minute recovery, 2 miles @ marathon pace and a 2 mile cool down. The threshold miles were 12:48 (6:24 avg.) and my marathon pace miles were 13:24 (6:42 avg.) and 13:24 (6:42 avg.). Again, I did this on the treadmill and I’m wondering what would’ve been if I had run outside. I do feel like I got in an appropriate effort to accomplish the goal of the workout though and I guess that’s what really counts.

Total – 68.2 miles

That’s it for now! See you soon!

Hey friends!

I am back at it after a little bit of down time post-marathon. I’m gearing up for the Wine 10K in Birmingham on 03.03.18. That only gives me 5 weeks to get ready, but I am hopeful that my marathon fitness will carry me through and that I can just sharpen up my speed some over the next few weeks.

Here is what my training looked like the week of 01.22.18 – 01.28.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:32 pace)

All of my easy runs during the week went down on the treadmill. I couldn’t find the foot pod that I typically wear, so my Garmin data is a tad inaccurate for a couple of the runs. I took the foot pod off of my shoe the morning of my marathon because I didn’t want to carry any extra weight with me on race day (it probably weighs < 1 oz.) and then I misplaced it. Serves me right … silly rabbit.

Tuesday – Quality (Repetition): 2 mi. WU, 10 X 400 w/ 400 recovery, 2 mi. CD

Daniel is gearing up for another tri and so he’s starting to do some brick workouts. Tuesday morning he did a 20 minute bike workout while I did my warm up miles and then we went to the track together for some speed work. Daniel did 800s and I did 400s. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done 400 meter repeats. My splits were 85, 89, 88, 89, 89, 91, 90, 90, 92 and 89. Ideally, I would like to get these down around 85 per lap, but that wasn’t happening yet. Perhaps I need to get my little legs together and go sit and reflect (a quote from CRAM Ram).

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:22 pace)

Another podcast. Another (inaccurate) treadmill run.

Thursday – Quality (Threshold): 3 mi. WU, 2 X 2 mi. w/ 5 min. recovery, 3 mi. CD

Thursday morning Daniel did another brick workout. He did a 30 minute bike workout while I did my warm up miles and then we hit the track again. We both did 2 X 2 miles. My splits were 12:44 (6:22 avg.) and 12:52 (6:26 avg.). I was very pleased with this one. My goal pace was 6:26, so I was right on track (pun intended).

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (7:39 pace)

Another podcast. Another (more accurate) treadmill run. I found my foot pod!

Saturday – Quality (Threshold): 3 mi. WU, 2 mi. @ threshold, 2 mi. @ marathon, 2 mi. @ threshold, 3 mi. CD

Saturday’s workout was a bit of a doozy. I had some quality miles as the middle 6 miles of a 12 mile run. The pace alternated every two miles from threshold pace, to marathon pace and back to threshold pace (well, that’s how it was supposed to be done anyway). My splits for the workout portion  were 6:27, 6:27, 6:48, 6:50, 6:40 and 6:51. The first four miles were right on pace with what I was supposed to do, but it was really tough to change gears back down to threshold pace after the marathon pace miles. I put some good work in and that’s really all that matters at this point.

Sunday – Easy: 10.8 miles (8:27 pace)

Sunday morning we went down to the Gulf for the Big Beach Half and Full Marathon. Several of my friends ran and I wanted to be there to cheer! Also, Rebecca and I had discussed the possibility of me jumping in and taking over her pacing duties. She paced the 3:40 group for the third year in a row, but she knew that she might not be able to stay on pace this year, as she is still healing up from a rib fracture. She handed her watch and the pacer sign over to me around mile 16 and I took it from there.

It was a little hectic for a little bit because I had on two watches and they never were showing the same pace per mile. Which one was right?! It was making me crazy! I finally decided that I just needed to go with Rebecca’s watch and so I flipped mine over and didn’t look at it anymore. I ended up crossing right at 3:40 (technically just over, but still under 3:41). I thought I was going to finish right at 3:39, but my math was off. It’s hard to run and do math sometimes. Sigh.

Total – 66.7 miles

That’s it for now! See you soon!