Hello friends! Happy New Year!
The First Light Relay & Half Marathon is ONE WEEK from today! Woo hoo! I’m going to be running the first leg of the relay for Daniel’s team and then I’ll continue on to run the half. The first relay leg is 5 miles, so I’ll run that, pass the baton (or whatever they have us holding) to Daniel and just keep running. I’ll only have 8.1 more miles to go!
I think it’s going to be a nice way to break up the race and as long as I don’t blow up my pacing strategy by starting too fast, it should be fun. I’m getting really excited about the race. This one has a special place in my heart!
Sunday: 4 mile easy run (8:20 pace)
Christmas Day I hung around in my PJs drinking coffee, playing with Brooks and sitting by the fire (yes, it was 75+ degrees and no, that doesn’t deter fire making).
Daniel had to work Christmas morning (all weekend actually), which was a major bummer and on top of that, he was sick (all weekend), which was even more of a bummer. The point of all of that was just to say that I had to run by myself and by the time I went it was HOT. It was not really a very enjoyable run, but that’s okay. Not every run is fun and obviously there are way more important things on Christmas Day (like spending time with family).
Monday: 2 mile warm up, 5 X 600 repeats + 5 X 400 repeats, 1.5 mile cool down
This week started off with a little track session! My schedule called for 10 X 600 meter repeats (1 and a half laps around the track) at 5:40 to 5:50 pace (2:08 – 2:12 per 600).
Thankfully I had company at the track. Solo track workouts are really TOUGH. Everyone else was doing 400 meter repeats (hence the change mid-workout for me :)). After a two mile warm up, we were as ready as we were gonna get and we all lined up and got ready to G-O. I hit my first 5 600s in 2:09, 2:10, 2:09, 2:12 and 2:12. All of these were right within my range. Granted they were tough, but still … physically, I was doing just fine.
Mentally though, it was really tough for me to do 600s while everyone else did 400s. I don’t know if this counts as FOMO or not … likely not … but the point is, I switched to their workout half way through. Whenever I run at the track (actually I think the following statement is true of any workout that I do regardless of location), at some point during the run I start bargaining with myself (my brain vs. my legs). I won. Ha.
The 400s seemed so much easier and so much more fun! Even though I compromised my way out of my actual workout, I still finished strong. My 400s were 84, 87, 87, 88 and 88. Everyone else ran great too (and we even had an inaugural track workout #yakattack … welcome to 5K training Sasser :))!
Since Monday was a holiday for most people, we got in some quality post-run Coffee Loft hangs. Monday afternoon I asked my mom to come to my office with me and help me get all situated for tax season. I know I will be spending a lot more time at the office, so I wanted to do a little pre-busy season spruce so that my office feels nice and homey.
The feet propped up on the desk adds a nice touch. Don’t you think?
I wanted a little piece of Mobile Bay Runner as well, so I have my Mobile Bay map and “believe you can & you’re halfway there” quote with a medal hanger below it. I actually have some medals hanging there now, but forgot to get an updated pic. Blogger fail.
Tuesday AM: 3 mile run, 45 minute strength training, 3 mile run
Same song, different verse this Tuesday. 3 miles to the gym, followed by 45 minutes of strength training and 3 miles back home with Rebecca and Jessica. I am loving this routine!
Wednesday: 8 miles w/ Jessica & Rebecca (8:50 pace)
We are really making the most of the Christmas break and ran together just about every day this week!
I started coming down with a bit of a cold Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. I felt okay during the run Wednesday morning (or at least I thought I did), but afterwards I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Daniel has been really sick, so I was worried that I had gotten his bug. Thankfully I was able to rest it away (well … rest + antibiotics). I am a firm believer that sleep cures just about anything, but Daniel gives me major side-eye when I say that and he’s the one in the medical field. Maybe it was the rest. Maybe it was the antibiotics. I am just REALLY thankful I was able to kick the bug before it got me too badly! Daniel is also doing MUCH better now (finally!) as well.
Thursday: 5 mile run + 45 minute strength training
I was able to get a few miles in after work Thursday before our strength work. Greg told us to not plan to run after our workout (like we do in the mornings) because our legs might not be able to take it. Ha! He worked us pretty hard and luckily we were all able to walk across the street to our cars and drive home post-workout.
Friday: 2 mile warm up, 5 mi. wave tempo (6:27, 6:25, 6:27, 6:25, 6:27), 2 mile cool down
Given the little mini-sickness episode this week, I got off schedule with my workouts. I was supposed to do the wave tempo workout Thursday morning (so that it would be BEFORE our strength work), but I decided to give myself an extra day to recover and to try for Friday instead. I still wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to feel and I knew that if I didn’t feel good once I started the run, I was just going to just skip the workout altogether.
Once I got going, I felt really good! Thank goodness. I really enjoy wave tempo workouts because it seems like they absolutely fly by. I alternated the pace every half mile between 6:40 and 6:10-6:15 pace. You have to stay in the workout physically and mentally and it’s nice to be able to divide the workout up into somewhat manageable, half-mile segments.
Brooks got a bath Friday. He loves bath day! In case you haven’t noticed puppies + running are two of my favorite things.
Saturday: 12 miles w/ Running Wild (8:01 pace)
Saturday is typically my “moderate pace” long run day (I was supposed to do 16 at 7:20 to 7:40 pace), but since I got off schedule during the week, I had a bit of a mini-dilemma as to what to do about the LR. Saturday was likely by best chance weather and schedule wise, but my legs just weren’t having it. After weights Thursday night and a workout Friday morning, my legs were toast and I knew that pushing it wasn’t going to get me anywhere. We actually ended up running the 12 faster than I thought we would. The miles flew by (having good company will definitely do that!) and then, of course, it was time for coffee.
Sunday: 9 miles on the TM (8:33 pace)
It rained all night and we woke up to a monsoon! Actually I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. Boo … but Happy New Year! I decided to go ahead and get my run knocked out because we’ve got a busy day today. 9 easy miles on the treadmill before 6 a.m. Bring it 2017!
Did you do anything fun for NYE? I was alseep by 7:30 (maybe that has something to do with why I was wide awake by 3:30) …
Great week of training! It’s good that you didn’t get too sick, and you were smart about being flexible with your workout schedule. It was also great that you could switch to the 400’s and have a more satisfying workout! Happy New Year!
Great week of training! It’s good that you didn’t get too sick, and you were smart about being flexible with your workout schedule. It was also great that you could switch to the 400’s and have a more satisfying workout! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Ugh, I hate being sick. I was sick right before Christmas and stayed home for 3 days. Awesome week of training for you. I like 400s too more than other distances but cringed when my schedule had me do 12 of those. Yikes!
Hey, I like your running shoes in the picture above in your office. What are those?
Happy New Year! Ugh, I hate being sick. I was sick right before Christmas and stayed home for 3 days. Awesome week of training for you. I like 400s too more than other distances but cringed when my schedule had me do 12 of those. Yikes!
Hey, I like your running shoes in the picture above in your office. What are those?