Mobile Bay Runner

(*** Spoiler Alert ***)

In case the title didn’t give it away … we are having a BABY! Woo hoo!

Shortly after my I posted my last training log in June, we found out that we were pregnant! I had just started adding back some quality workouts and I planned to do weekly training log posts, but as soon as I found out, I immediately switched over to only easy running. There’s only so much to say about an easy run and since most of the people who are interested in those details follow along on Strava, I didn’t really see the need to continue the weekly posts. Also, we weren’t planning to “announce” the pregnancy until the second trimester and it would’ve been really difficult to write a post and not say anything!

I mentioned this previously, but in case you missed it, we experienced a pregnancy loss in February. It was far more devastating than I could’ve imagined. When we found out we were pregnant again, we were obviously super excited, but at the same time, we were a bit guarded. Right off the bat, things were looking a lot better. At 4 weeks and 2 days, my hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin (i.e., the pregnancy hormone)) was 3,589! As a reference, last time at 4 weeks and 2 days, my hCG was only 49. The high hCG level this time around was a REALLY good sign!

I got the hCG numbers back on a Tuesday. I had to do a double take when I opened the email with the results because it was so much higher than I expected. We were able to let our guard down ever so slightly when we got those results. As soon as we did that, on Friday of the same week, we had another scare. As a warning, some of these details might be TMI, so if you don’t care to read about baby stuff, feel free to skip this one! At 5:30 p.m. or so (of course these things don’t ever happen during regular business hours), I started bleeding. This time was different from last time, as it was a gush of blood with no pain, instead of light spotting with cramping. We went back and forth about what to do and ultimately decided to go to the hospital.

At the hospital they did bloodwork and an ultrasound. My hCG level was 11,273! What?! I was blown away. I thought for sure that it would be lower. The levels are supposed to double approximately every two days, which meant that I was still right on track. The ultrasound tech was able to find the baby and a very faint heartbeat. It was very, very faint (not measurable) and only visible if I held my breath, but that made sense given that I wasn’t even 6 weeks along yet. There wasn’t a good explanation for the blood, but otherwise everything seemed to be okay. Phew! They told me to take it really easy for a few days and to follow up with my OB first thing on Monday.

After a couple of days of nothing but rest, I was going stir crazy! Why does the idea of rest seem so appealing until you are forced to do it?! Thankfully, on Monday my doctor gave me the A-Okay to go about my business and carry on as usual. My hCG level at that point was 36,067. Another great sign!

At 8 weeks, we got to hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It was STRONG, clocking in at 170 bpm!

At 10 weeks, we did bloodwork to find out the gender! Richard’s sister and her kids were in town and we wouldn’t see them again until Thanksgiving, so we wanted to surprise them with the gender while they were here. As it turns out, we surprised not only them, but also our parents. They knew we weren’t supposed to find out for a few more weeks and at first everyone was super confused that we were trying to tell them that we already knew we were having a BOY!

At 12 weeks, we did more bloodwork. This time the test was to analyze the genetic information that was in my bloodstream from the placenta. It screens for certain chromosomal abnormalities that could affect the baby’s health and development, such as trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs, abnormal numbers of X or Y chromosomes). I’m super thankful to report that all of the results were within the normal, expected ranges. Praise the Lord! We’ve got a ways to go, but so far it seems like Baby Allen is very healthy and we couldn’t ask for anything more.

Baby and I have run 592 miles together so far! We’ve also walked 39 miles, done 10 hours and 15 minutes on the elliptical, done a decent amount of strength work and been to 5 Pilates classes. While I’m trying to stay as active as possible while I can, I am also trying to take it easy and not push myself too much. Pre-pregnancy I was running 60+ miles per week, so this is actually a decent cutback!

For those that are interested, here are the weekly deets:

Week 01: 51.5 miles
Week 02: 55.6 miles (coincides w/ Training Log – 06/06/21)
Week 03: 61.9 miles (coincides w/ Training Log – 06/13/21)
Week 04: 44.1 miles (coincides w/ Training Log – 06/20/21)
Week 05: 21.0 miles + 35 minutes elliptical + 45 minutes strength
Week 06: 38.2 miles
Week 07: 43.5 miles + 20 minutes elliptical + 30 minutes strength
Week 08: 32.8 miles + 140 minutes elliptical + 30 minutes strength + 75 minutes Pilates
Week 09: 40.5 miles + 125 minutes elliptical + 30 minutes strength + 75 minutes Pilates
Week 10: 53.8 miles + 30 minutes strength
Week 11: 45.8 miles + 30 minutes strength + 45 minutes Pilates
Week 12: 53.0 miles + 45 minutes Pilates
Week 13: 47.8 miles + 30 minutes elliptical + 45 minutes Pilates

Since I didn’t know I was pregnant until 4 weeks, the first few weeks were business as usual as far as regular training goes. I started adding more cross training in during the next few weeks. At one point, my plan was to alternate running w/ the elliptical during the work week. For example, I’d run on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and on the weekend days and I’d do the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursday. That plan worked well for several weeks, but unfortunately the COVID numbers in our area started really ramping back up and I felt like the best decision was to avoid crowded indoor spaces. We found a pretty nice elliptical on Marketplace last week, so I actually have that as an option at home now as well. I haven’t used it much yet, but I am glad to have it.

So far, running is going pretty well! My average “pregnancy pace” is around 8:50. I did run one sub-7 minute mile during week 12 (a 6:58!). I felt really good one morning and I surprised myself by running a sub-8 minute mile without consciously increasing my effort at all, which of course got me thinking and wondering if I could easily dip under 7 without too much effort. I was able to do it, but I was definitely working a bit. I don’t think I’ll make a habit of that by any means, but it was fun! I’ve been doing a “long run” of 10 miles pretty much every week. Last week I increased that a little bit to 12 miles. I’m tossing around the idea of doing 14 this weekend. It would be 14 miles for 14 weeks pregnant. You know I love a good play on numbers!

That’s it for now. Thanks for following along! There’s going to be quite a lot of changes over here in the months and years to come. I have a feeling this is going to be the biggest, best adventure of them all!

Hey friends!

Here is what training looked like the week of 06.14.21 – 06.20.21:

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:25 pace) 

I ran after work Monday and it was quite the struggle! It was hot, yes, but I think the main problem was that I was still not recovered from Saturday’s quality session. I managed to get 7 miles in, but it wasn’t super pleasant.

Tuesday – Easy: 6.3 miles (9:18 pace) + PM – Strength (30 minutes)

I was supposed to do a workout Tuesday morning, but given how bad my legs felt on Monday afternoon, I thought better of it. Until I get used to having quality miles sprinkled back into my weekly routine, I’m going to need more time in between the workout days. Typically 2-3 days would be fine, but for now it will probably be more like 3-4 or 4-5 days in between. I struggled again Tuesday just to run easy miles and several walk breaks were needed. Argh.

It has been a few weeks since I have done legs at the gym and I had a sneaking suspicion that Gabbi would have that in store for me this week … and I was right! How wonderful. Legs are already trashed? Seems like as good a time as any to make sure they truly felt like garbage. Ha! We did kettle bell squats, walking lunges with weights, a single leg kneeling to standing exercise (also with weights!), the hip abductor and adductor machine, the leg press machine and a couple other things that escape me at the moment. It was a good workout and oddly enough, I don’t think my legs were any worse for the wear afterwards.

Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (9:04 pace)

I met friends again Wednesday morning for some nice recovery miles. I think (at least I hope) this might a consistent staple in the weekly routine for the time being. Yay!

Thursday AM – Quality: 9 miles (7:14 pace) + PM – Strength (45 minutes)

I finally got my workout in Thursday morning! As an added bonus, it was COOL when I walked outside. Of course, cool is relative. It was 68° w/ a dew point of 62° and compared to what we’ve been dealing with, let me tell you that this was a real TREAT. My workout was a two mile warm up, 6 X 1k at threshold with 2 minute recoveries and a two mile cool down.

With the workout distance in kilometers, this one would’ve been well suited for the track, but I decided to program the distance into my watch and run on the road instead. For whatever reason, I have a really hard time getting out the door earlier than usual to drive to the track. I used to live within running distance of the track, which apparently spoiled me. Now that I don’t live within running distance of the track, it seems that I simply can’t be bothered to make it happen. Ha. Thankfully, there is a nice, flat stretch of road that has minimal traffic that is currently within running distance. That spot has definitely become my go-to spot for workouts. The plan was to aim for around 6:15 on these and either stay consistent or progressively get a tad faster. My splits were 6:23, 6:06, 6:07, 6:11, 6:02 and 5:55 pace. I’d say that the goal was accomplished!

After work I went to the gym for a 45 minute group strength training class. I got there a little bit early and did a few minutes on the elliptical to kill the time. For the class we did three sets of seven different exercises for one minute (pushups, planks, battle ropes, step ups, wall ball, wall sit and spin bike). It was a good workout and the time really flew by!

Friday – Easy: 4 miles (9:20 pace)

After a big day on Thursday, I wanted to make sure to take it really easy on Friday. I did a couple miles on the driveway before work and that was it. Overall, I was feeling pretty tired and run down, but I guess that is to be expected.

Saturday – Easy: Elliptical (40 minutes) + Strength (15 minutes)

Saturday was a total washout thanks to Tropical Storm Claudette. Not gonna lie, it was really nice to have a legit excuse to stay in pajamas for the majority of the day and alternate between reading and napping. I read an entire book and think I took three mini-naps! By late afternoon, however, I was a bit stir crazy and so I decided to go over to the gym for a few minutes for some light cross training. I didn’t really want to do too much, but I did want to do at least something … so that’s pretty much exactly what I did!

Sunday – Easy: 7.7 miles (8:25 pace)

I was supposed to do a quality session Sunday, but decided against it. My legs were finally feeling back to normal, which was nice, but I still didn’t want to really push it. I settled for a “sailboat loop” from home before going to church with my dad. I got in a short walk with my mom after church as well, so all in all, it was a solid day of family activities!

Totals – 
41 miles running
3 miles walking
70 minutes elliptical
90 minutes strength

Thanks for reading along! Talk to you guys soon.

Hey friends!

Here is what training looked like the week of 06.07.21 – 06.13.21:

Monday AM – Easy: 3.75 miles (9:04 pace) + PM – Easy: 5.35 miles (7:47 pace)

Monday started off with a somewhat literal bang! My tire blew out as I was on my way to meet friends to run. I was less than a mile away from where I was meeting them, which was both good and bad. Good that I was close, but bad because I just kept driving and destroyed the tire. Long story short, the run got cut a bit short because I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.

I did, however, manage to get in a few miles after work to make up for what I missed. Not that it would’ve been a big deal to miss out on those miles, but I felt good and wanted to get it in, so that’s what I did. I did a few twenty second strides after the evening portion of the run to prime my legs for a workout Tuesday morning.

Tuesday AM – Quality: 9 miles (7:26) + PM – Strength

Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 10 minute @ threshold w/ 3 minute recovery, 4 X 1 minute @ interval with 1 minute recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I certainly seemed to pick a heckuva week to add back some official quality miles to my schedule. Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. it was 75° w/ a dew point of 74° (rough for sure!). The two ten minute blocks were supposed to be at threshold pace (approximately 6:15) and the four one minute blocks were supposed to be at interval pace (approximately 5:45). With that being said, the goal wasn’t so much to nail a specific pace as it was supposed to be to run the appropriate effort. Theoretically that should always be the goal, but I think it’s even more important when coming back from an extended period of down time. I have been maintaining a really solid base level of running fitness, but I haven’t been doing any quality sessions, so I’m not as speedy as I once was and also my internal speedometer is a bit rusty.

I tried my best not to look at the paces at all during the workout. I glanced down a couple times on the threshold miles mainly to make sure I wasn’t taking it out too hot. I averaged 6:13 for the first set and 6:09 for the second set. I averaged 5:32 for the minutes on, which was definitely a bit too spicy, but the paces felt doable at the time. I will say that afterwards, I was cooked. My stomach also decided to revolt immediately after the workout, which is also likely a sign that I over-ran it a bit. Thankfully there was a bathroom really close by! Otherwise, that wouldn’t have ended well. It had been quite a while since I have pushed myself that hard. I had almost completely forgotten what those post-workout endorphins felt like! Ahh-mazing!

Thankfully, Tuesday’s strength session was chest and triceps. I don’t think I could’ve handled any sort of legs that day.

Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (8:56 pace)

I met friends again Wednesday morning for some nice recovery miles. I can’t believe that I went months without really running with anyone to speak of. I’ve missed this!

Thursday – Easy: 6 miles (8:44 pace) + Strength

I planned to get out before work Thursday morning, but right as I was about to run we had a little pop up shower. In hindsight, I totally should’ve gone ahead and run anyway, but in the moment, I decided to knock some chores out and enjoy extra coffee time at home with Richard before work. It was 87° with a feels like temp of 98° when I ran later that afternoon. Holy hotness! To say that run was a struggle would be a bit of an understatement.

After my run, I went to the gym for a 45 minute group strength training class. We typically do the class inside, but this week we were actually outside. It was actually shady with a nice breeze and felt so much cooler than it did when I was running. Thank goodness! I don’t know if I would’ve survived otherwise. This week’s class was a bit more cardio than strength focused (I think technically all the classes are high-intensity interval training (HIIT) style). We did 5 X 30 seconds of jumping jacks, push ups, high knees, mountain climbers, jump rope, sled pulls, kettlebell swings and battle ropes. The time flew by!

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (9:07 pace) 

I struggled again on my easy run Friday morning. I think it’s going to take me a little bit of time to get used to incorporating quality runs and strength training into my regular routine. I’ve done Pilates in conjunction with heavy training volume in the past, but never anything with weights.

Saturday – Quality: 13 miles (7:45 pace)

Saturday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 X 2 miles at threshold pace with a half mile recovery and a 2 mile cool down. The plan was to drop the pace a bit on each set (goal paces were 6:30, 6:20 and 6:10). Thankfully Rebecca and Kara convinced me to start at 5 a.m., because if I had gone any later, it would’ve been ugly. It was 79° w/ a dew point of 72° when we started. I just thought Tuesday was rough. Nope! Saturday was brutal. I think it’s more of an insult because May was so nice. We typically ease into the intense heat gradually, but this year it’s like a bit ole slap in the face.

I honestly didn’t have high expectations for this run, especially after struggling through my easy runs on both Thursday and Friday. I also know that I probably should’ve adjusted the goal paces a bit beforehand, but I just told myself to get into it and see how I felt. I surprised myself on the first two sets, averaging 6:32 and 6:21. Even though those were doable, I was also getting really hot. I paused my watch for a minute or two after the second set, got some water and let the cold water fountain water run all over my face. It was glorious! I think that gave me just enough of the pick-me-up I needed to go forth and conquer the last set. I guess I got a bit overly zealous and I ran the first mile of the last set in 6:07. Granted, this was close to what I was supposed to do, but it also turned out to be a bit much. I made it halfway through the last mile of the workout (so close!) and stopped to walk. I walked a tenth of a mile before convincing myself that I could indeed finish this thing. I finished it up with a really solid half mile (but forgot to lap my watch at the end of it (fail!)).

All in all, I am definitely considering this one major victory. This was a BIG workout in BIG heat and I did the dang thing. That was also my longest run all year. WOW! Welcome back, eh?!

Sunday – Easy: 6.5 miles (8:31 pace)

I finished up the week with some easy miles. I also did 30 minutes of Pilates at home in the afternoon, which seems like a nice, relaxing way to wrap up the week!

Total – 58.6 miles of running + 1.75 hours of strength

Hey friends!

Here is what training looked like the week of 06.01.21 – 06.06.21:

Monday – Easy: 8.0 miles (8:13 pace)

We woke up to wonderful temps in the low-sixties on Memorial Day! It felt so good out. It was also so nice not to have to rush out of the door super early like I do on a regular work day. After lounging a bit and leisurely drinking my morning coffee, I did an easy 8 mile run from the house. We had plans to go out on the boat with my mom and dad mid-morning. I ended up water skiing 3 miles while we were out on the bay. Hopefully this will be the first of many ski sessions of the season!

I wasn’t oddly energized when we got back home mid-afternoon and I even ended up doing about 30-45 minutes of Pilates + random strength/stretching type stuff. Not gonna lie, I surprised myself by skipping a nap and getting that in!

Tuesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 4 mi. tempo (6:14 pace), 2 mi. CD

After over a month of zero quality sessions, I decided to dust myself off and give it a go on Tuesday morning. This was a bit of a spontaneous decision for sure! I went back and forth between doing a 5k time trial and doing a 4 mile tempo. The goal of both would be to get in a solid effort and give myself a better gauge of my current fitness level. The thought of a time trial was NOT appealing (special shout out to Spring of 2020 for that!), so I ultimately settled on the tempo effort. I made it a progressive tempo and was able to do 6:33, 6:16, 6:13 and 5:58. After an entire month of no “fast” running, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I’ve gotten some solid base building in during the last month or so and it seems like my fitness level stayed a bit higher than I expected.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 7.65 miles (8:46 pace) + PM – Strength

Wednesday was Global Running Day! I celebrated by running some miles with one of my very best running buddies, Rebecca. We haven’t gotten a chance to run together in quite some time (life is hard sometimes), so this was a treat. We’ve run thousands upon thousands of miles together over the last decade!

Wednesday evening I went to the gym and did some strength work. I started with a 300 meter row, did 30 minutes of strength work with Gabbi and ended it with 15 minutes on the elliptical.

Thursday – Moderate: 4.1 miles (7:04 pace) + Strength

I woke up to rain Thursday morning and decided to take advantage of a nice opportunity to sleep in a bit. I had a short window of time after work to run before going to the gym for a 45 minute group strength training class. I made the most of the 30 minutes that I did have and ran a bit quicker than normal. The group class was a lot of fun! We did 3 rounds of 8 different exercises with shrinking duration and shrinking rest. For example, the first time through we did each exercise for one minute w/ 30 seconds in between, the second time through we did each exercise for 40 seconds w/ 20 seconds in between and the last time around we did each exercise for 20 seconds w/ 10 seconds in between. It was a great workout! It’s nice to have some dedicated strength training time in my regular training mix.

Friday – Easy: 7.9 miles (8:18 pace) 

I ran from home before work Friday morning and kept it super easy because I was definitely feeling the strength work from the previous two days!

Saturday – Easy: 6.0 miles (8:19 pace)

We went to see Richard’s family for the weekend. After being up later than usual on Friday night, I slept in and got a later start Saturday morning. I think we might officially be to the point where this is no longer acceptable from a weather perspective. The heat and humidity zapped me and I struggled to get an easy six miles in.

Sunday – Easy: 10.5 miles (8:23 pace)

I wised up on Sunday and got out the door a bit earlier. It was actually raining for the majority of the run (just a light drizzle) and that felt really nice. I got in my “long run” for the week on a nice out and back stretch of country road (half paved and half dirt).

Total – 52.6 miles of running + 2.0 hours of strength

Hello friends! Long time no see. I have some really good news to share with you today … tax season is OFFICIALLY OVER! Thank. Good. Ness. Of all the seasons I’ve done thus far in my career (this was lucky #13 (which explains A LOT)), this one was was quite challenging for a lot of reasons, both professionally and personally. I know from past experience that there is always light after darkness. It’s time to bring on the light!

I’ll try to keep the work stuff brief, because I know you didn’t come to a running blog to read about tax law, nor do you likely find it interesting in the slightest. The main gist is that we had six MAJOR pieces of legislation with major tax implications passed within about a one-year time span. For those of you that care, it was the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act on 03-06-20, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) on 03-18-20, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) on 03-27-20, the Consolidated Appropriations Act on 12-27-20, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on 03-11-21 and most recently the American Families Plan on 04-28-21.

In a typical year, we might have one, maybe two pieces of legislation, but six is unheard of. It was very challenging to stay on top of the all of the changes. Things would be presented one way and then reversed in a later act or better yet, made effective retroactively. “Retroactive” is not a word that any CPA wants to hear as it applies to tax law. Oh! There was also the dreaded deadline change. I am totally fine with committing to a crazy work schedule for 3.5 months, but I have zero desire to commit to it for 7.5 months (last year) or even 4.5 months (this year). My firm basically took the position that the deadline was still April 15^th like normal and we got as many returns as possible wrapped up by that date. We still finalized several returns between April 15^th and the May 17^th deadline, but the last month wasn’t too bad.  

Anywho, that’s enough of that. Let’s chat about running, shall we?

My training has really lacked any semblance of structure so far this year and it’s been nice to just get out there and do whatever I feel like doing on the day. So many things in my life are VERY structured and running has always been one of the many structured things. It’s fun to run for pure enjoyment and love of the sport and not because I am hard-core chasing some sort of crazy goal.

I will admit that it does feel a little bit strange to not feel like I am trying to be the best runner I can be, but at the same time, it also just feels right. I have no doubt that running made me a better person over the years. The process of setting, working towards and meeting big goals on the roads has given me the confidence to set, work towards and meet big goals off the roads as well. There was a time when working towards those goals on the roads was paramount to my growth as a person outside of running, but now I don’t feel like I need the running piece of it in order to be my “best self.” Does that make sense? Just go with it.

Oddly enough, I ran 1,040 miles during the first 20 weeks of this year. Form 1040 is the standard individual tax return form number, so it’s cool (in a super nerdy way) that my year-to-date mileage throughout this tax season was exactly that! Without any major goals or races coming up, I decided that a fun challenge for tax season would be to run more miles per week than the number of hours that I worked each week with a caveat of “as long as nothing crazy happens.” In my mind, I wanted this to be a weekly goal and not a cumulative goal (so the hours weren’t supposed to carry over from week to week), but I made an executive decision mid-season tweak to the rules. I won’t bore you with the weekly mileage and weekly hours worked (not until the very end of the post anyway :)), but the key takeaways are that 1) something crazy did happen and 2) I ran more miles during the season than total hours worked.

Most of the miles that I have run in 2021 to date have been purely easy miles, but there have been a few workouts sprinkled in as well (those details are also at the very end of this post for those of you who are interested in the specifics). My easy pace has dropped a little bit, which was unexpected, but makes sense given the lack of quality work. Less quality sessions = less recovery needed. My easy pace has typically been somewhere around 8:15-8:45, but I’d say that currently my easy pace is somewhere around 7:45-8:15.

I tentatively set my sights on a 5k at the end of February. I was only even halfway considering this because my husband’s volunteer fire department was working traffic control at the race. Our hobbies very rarely overlap, so this was an interesting opportunity. Right around the middle of February those “big life changes” that I referred to earlier popped up when we found out that we were pregnant! Cue all the feels! It shouldn’t have been a big surprise and yet, I was shocked. In the back of my mind, I figured that we’d have to do some sort of fertility treatments to get there. I even went and got a COVID test because I wasn’t feeling well. As it turned out, I tested positive, but not for COVID! Ha.  

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I immediately shut down any sort of hard running and I only did short, easy miles. From the limited research that I did (i.e., asking Google), it seems that the heart rate guidelines have changed a bit and that it might be okay to push it a little bit more than what was once was thought to be “acceptable” during pregnancy. Regardless, I knew that for me, the best decision was to cool the jets a bit and to take it easy. My mom had two miscarriages (and yes, this is where the story is headed) and in the back of my mind, I’ve always known that was going to be a potential issue for me as well.

I guess you could say that I was cautiously optimistic, while also trying to be realistic about the fact that 1 in 5 pregnancies result in a loss. Even so, I was not prepared for the immense grief and sadness that I experienced in the weeks immediately after the miscarriage. I was only 6 weeks pregnant when we lost the baby. I can only imagine how much more intense those feelings would be if you were further along. I feel fairly certain that this is the most emotional I have ever been in my entire life. My grandmother also passed away a couple weeks later as well, which only fueled the emotional fire. It seems as if all I did for weeks was cry. I’m not looking for sympathy at all, but rather I hope to normalize talking about grief and loss. I also hope that my someone may be able to learn from my experience or know that they are not alone if they feel this way.

I took 3 days off from any sort of activity at all in the days immediately after. My first few runs back felt great! Like really, really amazing, especially compared to how I had felt the few weeks before (heavy and bloated). After a week or so of consistent, good runs, I all of a sudden started to feel horrible. There were several days where I had to take 5-6 walk breaks in a 5-6 mile run. It basically happened at least every other day, if not every day for about two weeks. To put it in perspective, when I got pregnant, I was consistently running 55-60 miles per week with a 10-12 mile long run as no big deal. Stopping to walk during a run is not something that I have ever had to do before, except for maybe in a really dire circumstance (i.e., a bathroom emergency!).

I really don’t know if anyone else has experienced anything like this or not, but it was so confusing to me. I was like, I’m not pregnant anymore, shouldn’t I feel perfectly fine? Apparently, it takes a little while for those hormones to level back out (for me it took a little bit over 6 weeks). I’m sure the excessive crying didn’t help at all either. I was probably at a very dehydrated state the majority of the time during those weeks. Throw the most stressful tax season of my career into that mix and I was a hot, hot mess. 

I felt angry that running wasn’t there for me when I needed it and I felt angry that my body wasn’t a suitable home for a baby.

But of course, as things always do, the hardest times passed and things have gotten much better. In fact, I still remember the exact day that I started to feel “like myself” again. It was Saturday, April 17! I was planning to do 7 or 8 miles, but once I got going I actually felt good for the first time in about 7 weeks. Praise. The. Lord! In hindsight, I guess this really isn’t all that long, but in the middle of it, it felt like ages. I honestly didn’t know if I would ever be able to run like I “used to.” I’m sure that sounds really silly, but it was very real in the moment.

I have no idea what is next (no one really ever does), but I know that I am cautiously optimistic that it’ll be something really good! Thanks for reading. Talk to you guys again soon!

For those of you who are interested in the actual miles and hours breakdown, here you go:

Week 01 (01/04/21 to 01/10/21): 56.3 miles + 51.5 hours
Week 02 (01/11/21 to 01/17/21): 58.0 miles + 53.2 hours
Week 03 (01/18/21 to 01/24/21): 59.0 miles + 47.1 hours
Week 04 (01/25/21 to 01/31/21): 52.0 miles + 50.2 hours
Week 05 (02/01/21 to 02/07/21): 56.6 miles + 51.8 hours
Week 06 (02/08/21 to 02/14/21): 50.1 miles + 40.0 hours
Week 07 (02/15/21 to 02/21/21): 56.1 miles + 54.0 hours
Week 08 (02/22/21 to 02/28/21): 53.3 miles + 52.5 hours
Week 09 (03/01/21 to 03/07/21): 39.5 miles + 40.5 hours
Week 10 (03/08/21 to 03/14/21): 53.7 miles + 53.1 hours
Week 11 (03/15/21 to 03/21/21): 44.0 miles + 50.3 hours
Week 12 (03/22/21 to 03/28/21): 42.2 miles + 55.0 hours
Week 13 (03/29/21 to 04/04/21): 45.5 miles + 49.8 hours
Week 14 (04/05/21 to 04/11/21): 49.4 miles + 47.0 hours
Week 15 (04/12/21 to 04/18/21): 41.8 miles + 44.5 hours
Week 16 (04/19/21 to 04/25/21): 54.1 miles + 40.0 hours
Week 17 (04/26/21 to 05/02/21): 59.3 miles + 40.0 hours
Week 18 (05/03/21 to 05/09/21): 52.6 miles + 40.0 hours
Week 19 (05/10/21 to 05/16/21): 50.3 miles + 40.0 hours
Week 20 (05/17/21 to 05/23/21): 61.0 miles + 40.0 hours

Also for those that may be interested in an quality sessions (i.e., workouts), here you go:

Week 01 –
2 mi. WU, 2 mi. tempo (5:50, 5:15) + 3 X 2 min. (5:39, 5:28. 5:25), 2 mi. CD

Week 02 –
2 mi. WU, 3 X [3, 2, 1 min.), 2 mi. CD
2 mi. WU, 2 X 200 (38, 38), 4 X 400 (77, 77, 76, 77), 2 X 200 (38, 37), 5 mi. CD

Week 03 –
2 mi. WU, 3 mi. progressive tempo (6:06, 5:58, 5:50), 3 mi. CD

Week 04 –
3 mi. WU, 1.5 mi. tempo (5:49 pace), 3.5 mi. easy, 4 X 200 (38, 38, 37, 38), 3 mi. CD

Week 05 –
2 mi. WU, 6 mi. @ marathon-ish effort (6:40 avg.), 2 mi. CD
2 mi. WU, 2 X 800 (2:45, 2:42), 4 X 400 (78, 78, 79, 78), 8 X 200 (36, 37, 38, 37, 38, 37, 38, 37), 2 mi. CD

Week 06 –
3.5 mi. WU, 4 X 1 mile @ threshold (6:16, 6:00, 5:56, 6:09), 3.5 mi. CD

Week 07 – 08: ZERO workouts

Week 09 –
1.5 mi. WU, 2 X 1 mile (5:53, 5:52), 1.5 mi. CD

Week 10 –
2 mi. WU, 6 X 1:00 on/off, 6 X 0:30 on/off, 3 mi. CD

Week 11 – 16: ZERO workouts

Week 17 –
2 mi. WU, 4 mi. @ marathon-ish effort (6:58 avg.), 2 mi. CD
5 mi. WU, 6 X 400 (85, 85, 83, 84, 83, 82), 2 mi. CD

Week 18 – 20: ZERO workouts

Hello friends! Buckle up. I have a feeling this post is going to be a bit of a brain dump. I’ve got a lot of things swirling around clogging up space in my head and it’s time to get some of them out. Let’s start with a December training update, then we’ll take a look back at some year-in-review items and we’ll wrap up by looking ahead at some year-in-preview items.

I know I did *some* decent training in December, but I honestly can’t think of a single workout that I did off the top of my head. Let me consult Mr. Strava. Ahh yes … I did some hill repeats (15 X 0:30), a couple workouts at the track and a couple workouts that were likely better suited for the track, but I opted to do them on the road instead. It’s SO DARK out, not only in the mornings, but also in the evenings. It’s really putting a cramp in my style. I have zero motivation to get up any earlier than I already have to drive to the track for a workout.

The first track workout I did was a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 1k, 8 X 400, 2 X 1k, 4 X 200 and a 2 mile cool down. The workout went really well! I hit the first 2 X 1k in 3:37, 3:35, went 79, 80, 80, 79, 78, 80, 79, 79 for the 400s, hit the second 2 X 1k in 3:30, 3:32 and finished up with 36, 36, 35, 36 for the 200s. At this point, it feels like this workout was years ago. Heck, it actually WAS last year. Ha! I can’t even remember what my mindset was at the time that I did this workout, but I think I there was a 5k time trial in the works. Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen.

The second track workout that I did was a 4 mile warm up, 12 X 200 and a 4 mile cool down. I don’t think this was the workout that was scheduled for me, but it’s what I felt like doing, so I did it. I hit the 200s in 37, 36, 36, 36, 35, 35, 35, 35, 35, 35, 35, 36, so I was at least super consistent. I don’t know what it is about 200s, but I really just plain LOVE them! This was a solid day at the oval office for sure, with a longer warm up and cool down for a bit of an added challenge.

The first workout that likely would’ve been better suited for the track was a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 2k, 4 X 400 and a 2 mile cool down. This was also not the workout that was scheduled for me on the day, but again, it’s what I felt like doing, so I did it. At just over a mile of effort, the 2ks were totally fine on the road. I did 5:58 pace for the first one and 5:46 pace for the second one. The 400s were 79, 79, 77, 79. The workout was supposed to be quite a bit longer, but I am not willing to do what it takes to run a ton of miles before work at the moment.

Over the course of the last month or two, I had some very honest conversations with my coach about where I was at mentally and my lack of motivation. We both decided that it makes sense for me to do my own thing for a while. I really enjoyed working with John and I hope to work with him again in the future when I am ready to get back into it. He helped me get to a level of running that I could not have really even imagined. He believed in me (still does) and supported me every step of the way. He even helped me to get a legit “elite” entry into a couple of races. I can assure you that I never dreamed of being in that position. I am truly grateful for his guidance and have nothing but fond memories of the [literal] times that I had.

I know enough about running to “coach myself” if I want to and that’s the approach I am taking at the moment. I don’t have any goals in mind, but I do still enjoy pushing myself. I will probably continue to do a few workouts here and there if I feel like it, but if I don’t, I won’t. It’s so simple. I don’t know why it seemed so complicated in the past.

I’ve done mostly easy running since embarking on my self-coaching adventure, but there have been a few workouts sprinkled in as well. One workout that was really fun was a short ladder workout of 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200, 100 with jogging recoveries equal to the interval distance. I also did a progressive tempo (5:58, 5:48, 5:37) one day and a tempo + some timed intervals on the treadmill one morning when it was raining outside.

I’m really happy with doing my own thing and right now I don’t even plan the workouts out ahead of time. I typically know which two days I am more likely to get a quality session in, but otherwise, I make it up on the fly. Obviously if I had a specific goal I was training towards, I would schedule things out differently, but this is working for me currently. I’ve been chasing PRs for over a decade and I’m mentally and physically just kind of over it. My heart isn’t in it like it used to be. It’s weird to even say this, but I have zero interest in being a better runner at the moment. I’m perfectly content with where I am and sure, I’d like to maintain some sort of basic level of fitness, but I want to focus on running for the pure enjoyment of it.

Speaking of the last decade of running, several months ago (with Richard’s help), I made a chart of my 5k times over the years. I thought it was super interesting to see all the ups and downs within each year and even between years, but the trend really does still stand out as continual improvement. Looking back at this now makes me want to go back in and do more with this data. It’s so cool to have 67 5k times over the course of 13 years to analyze.

I’ve also decided to take a break from my Pilates class at the moment as well. Again, the plan is to “coach myself” and still continue to do some of the exercises on my own. I’m saving A LOT of money by doing it this way. Saving money is actually one of the goals that I am most excited about right now. We’ve got plans to add on to our house and to pay for it upfront.

I’d say we are officially caught up on the training front. Before we talk about a few of my other random “goals” for the new year, let’s take a brief look back at 2020. If hindsight is 20/20, then 2020 was the year of “hindsight” and it only seems appropriate to take a few minutes to reflect back on the year. One of my favorite sentiments is that life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our stories won’t have titles (or even make sense) until much later. Basically, we have to trust the timing of our lives and know that in times of uncertainty and struggle, clarity and peace is just around the corner. And that, my friends, is really good news!

Richard and I got engaged on 02/02/2020 (a palindrome date!) and got married a few months later (in the midst of the pandemic) on 05/10/2020 (5 + 5 = 10 and 10 + 10 = 20!). Yes. I’m a numbers nerd. We kept it really simple with just our parents and Brooks in attendance. It was really so “us” and I can’t imagine having it any other way. We are enjoying married life on the farm with all of our animals.

I got to run a marathon in January (before things were shut down and races were cancelled). It’s hard to believe that the Louisiana Marathon was even in 2020, as it seems like a lifetime ago! It was a bit of a gamble, but I gave myself one more shot (10 weeks after Indy) to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. I came away with my 2nd fastest marathon and the overall female win! I’m so glad that I gave it one last shot. In the process, I definitely built a lot of character and re-learned that running is about so much more than finish lines and finish times. This was a timely reminder seeing as how there were not many finish lines to cross for the remainder of the year.

I focused on shorter stuff the rest of the year, with the BIG goals being to break 5 minutes in the mile (I ran 5:02) and to break 17 minutes in the 5k (I ran 17:19). Even though I didn’t quite get there, I’m really proud of the work that I put in. I ran faster and got stronger than I ever have before. The process itself was more rewarding than the individual outcomes. I guess you could say that I shot for the moon and even though I didn’t quite get there, I got to see some stars along the way. So cheesy! I know.

I enjoyed participating in a number of “virtual” races over the spring and summer. I learned that I am actually way more competitive with MYSELF than I am with other runners. I was able to come away with some of my best race times in races where I was the only participant. Looking back now, I am especially thankful for these virtual races. They gave me a goal to focus on for several months when a lot of other things were very uncertain. It was great to have normalcy in the midst of chaos.

While a lot of things are still very uncertain, I don’t feel like I *need* running as the primary constant of my life right now (if that makes any sense). My family, my relationship and my career are my primary focus going into the new year. I don’t think anyone will be shocked by this, but Richard and I REALLY want to start a family. Apparently it is harder than it looks! I won’t use the word infertility as part of our story quite yet, but it’s been an emotional rollercoaster for sure. I’ve always been someone who sets a goal and then does whatever it takes to accomplish said goal. As many of you know all too well, this doesn’t really work that way. I truly believe that it will happen when it is supposed to happen and I’m trying to have patience in the meantime.

So yeah, that’s the focus right now! I have some other less serious goals slash resolutions slash intentions slash whatever you want to call them as well. I have a tendency to get caught up in black or white, all or nothing thinking and I have really tried to be cognizant of that as I set these “intentions:”

1. More personal connection and less social media! I have deleted the Instagram and Facebook apps from my phone. I am not deleting my accounts, but I don’t want to mindlessly scroll through them in what little free time I do have only to end up feeling frustrated and annoyed with people. It’s draining.
2. Eat more whole foods and less processed foods. A few years ago, I embarked on the intuitive eating “journey.” This was revolutionary for me, but as it turns out, I intuitively want a lot of sweets and other foods that are devoid of many nutrients. I think I am to the point now where I can make a bit of a conscious switch back to focusing more on nutrients as opposed to just whatever I may be “craving” at the moment. Let’s face it, there’s only so much fudge that one person can consume.
3. Drink more water and less artificially sweetened carbonated beverages.
4. Track my shoe mileage. This one is silly, but I am so bad about not tracking my mileage per shoe. I track SO MANY things in my life, but shoe mileage has never been something that I have kept up with. As a result, I end up putting WAY too many miles on my shoes. I’m not sure whether to be embarrassed or proud of this, but I have a pair of Nike Vaporflys that have to have close to 500 miles on them (insert facepalm). I’ve been using them for the majority of my workouts for over 2 years. I have newer pairs, but I “save” those for races. I started the year with 4 new pairs of shoes (yes that was a bit of an upfront investment, but all of my shoes were dead), so I know exactly how many miles are on them. Here’s to hoping I can keep it up!
5. This one is a fun one that may or may not hold up, depending on any big life changes that come my way, but I want to run more miles per week than hours that I work. It will get a little bit more challenging as tax season progresses, but I’m pretty sure that it is doable. It’ll be a fun challenge anyway!

I also jotted down several words or “themes” for the upcoming year. Oddly enough, we did something similar to this at work this week as well. I was unknowingly super prepared for that meeting. Ha! My words for the year are focus, strive, awareness, stillness, nature, nurture, peace, hope, persevere, freedom, love, confidence, humility, surrender, strength and patience. It was really cool to be able to use some of the words that I picked out more on a personal level as part of a professional discussion as well. Here is the product of our work white board brain storming session.

The last couple years of my life have seen a lot of change and a lot of ups and downs, but like running, my job has been one of the constants and I am incredibly thankful for that.

I’ll wrap this up by sharing a couple quotes that are also resonating with me as we go into the new year.

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
– Paulo Coelho.

Run the mile you are in.
– Ryan Hall

We can do no great things; only small things with great love.
– Mother Teresa

Whew. There you have it. If you made it this far, THANK YOU for reading! Maybe if I posted a bit more frequently, I wouldn’t have to write an entire novel every time. Maybe that’s another goal to add to the list!

Hey friends!

I am coming at you today with an unconventional training log of sorts. I want to zoom out a bit and do more of a bigger picture training log than what the weekly posts typically address. I feel like it’s easy to get lost in the weeds a bit on the weekly training logs and I really don’t think I need to tell you guys that I run every day (most days, you know what I mean). I can sum up 75% of my training by saying, “I ran “X amount” of easy peasy lemon squeezy miles on the driveway this morning and there was nothing exciting to note.” If you are here for the daily deets, please follow along on Strava! It’s all there. In painstaking detail!

With that being said, let’s look at what November has looked like from a broader perspective! Side note: this actually picks up where my last training log left off, so that worked out quite nicely if I do say so myself.

Here is the mileage by week:

Week 1: 56 miles
Week 2: 57 miles
Week 3: 62 miles

My coach and I are trying out a new thing where I have a little bit more say in what my workouts are. For instance, he will say, “Let’s do a cruise interval with a fast finish. What are you thinking?” From there, I throw out some suggestions and see what sticks. I like having a little bit more control over what I am doing and in a time when a lot of most things in life are outside of our control, this is oddly comforting. 

The first week, I did two workouts. The first workout was a fartlek. The workout called for a 2 mile warm up, then three sets of 3 minutes at threshold (~ 10k pace) w/ a 2 minute jog, 2 minutes at interval (~ 5k pace) w/ a 2 minute jog, 1 minute at faster than 5k pace w/ a 1 minute jog and a 2 mile cool down. I decided to do this one on the roads on a hiller than typical workout route (you know, for an added challenge) and I was really regretting that by the last set. Those hills ate my lunch! But given the terrain, my splits made sense. Paces were 5:49, 5:46, 6:14 for the 3 minute reps, 5:37, 5:43, 5:58 for the 2 minute reps and 5:24, 5:16, 5:43 for the 1 minute reps. I ended up with 9 miles on the day and the workout FLEW by!

Later that week I did a “fast and quick” track workout. The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 12 X 300 at repetition pace (~ 1 mile race pace (i.e., all out)) with a 105 second walking recovery and a 3 mile cool down. In my mind, instead of seeing 105 seconds on the training plan, I saw 1:05, so I ended up shorting myself on the recoveries by 40 seconds! Ha. Thankfully, I felt GOOD that day and didn’t need the extra recovery to begin with. Seriously, this was one of the best workouts that I have had in quite some time. My splits for the 300s were 56, 54, 55, 54, 55, 54, 55, 54, 53, 54, 54, 54 (4:50 pace!). After this workout, John texted me and said that he thought I was definitely ready to go sub-5 in the mile. Stay tuned, because that is still one of my BIG goals!

The second week, I only ended up doing one workout. I was scheduled to do two, but I was having some serious stomach pain early that week, which caused me to scrap the first workout. We all know that stress does weird things to the body and it really puts my stomach in knots sometimes. I even went to the doctor because it was hurting so bad. In hindsight this seems a bit silly since I knew exactly what she was going to tell me, but it was nice to get some reassurance that it wasn’t anything major. It’s as easy as just eliminating stress from my life! Easy as pie. Speaking of pie, that actually might help! Right?!

I was feeling much better by the end of the week, which was a good thing because I had a doozy of a workout. I ran a short warm up, paced my friend Jessica in the McKirdy Trained Virtual 10k race, went straight into a 4 mile tempo and then did a short cool down. We had a great time with the 10k! I also paced her in the McKirdy Trained Virtual 5k a few weeks back and we were able to make some tweaks and adjustments to the pacing strategy that worked out really well. She ran a great race, averaging exactly 7:00 pace, and came away with a nice little negative split (the second 5k was slightly faster than the first 5k). My tempo miles immediately after were quite challenging! Oh. My. Goodness. I ran 6:06, 6:05, 5:59 and 5:58, but that was absolutely all I could muster. I ended up with 13.2 miles, making that my longest run since … MAY! I didn’t realize that until just now. Wowza!

The third week (last week), I did two workouts. The first workout was interval repeats. The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 10 X 1:30 @ interval pace (goal was 5:22 pace) with a 1:30 walk recovery and a 3 mile cool down. I did this workout at the outdoor mall that was my go-to “quarantine” workout spot when the tracks were closed. The mall has actually turned out to be a nice workout option even in more normal times too! I felt okay for this one, but not stellar by any means. I averaged close to 5:35 for the intervals, which was slower that intended, but the effort was appropriate. Ultimately, that’s all that matters!

Later that week I did a threshold workout with some fast intervals to finish. I know I mentioned earlier that most of my runs are very bland, but there was some spice to this one. The workout itself was fine. It was a 3 mile warm up, 3 miles @ threshold pace (goal was 5:50 pace), followed by 8 X 40 seconds @ interval pace (goal was 5:22 pace) and a 3 mile cool down. I’ve got a good route for workouts that allows me to run from home, so that’s what I did. I debated meeting the group to run, but 1) I would’ve needed to wake up much earlier, 2) I would’ve had to drive 30 minutes each way and 3) I would’ve ended up doing the workout by myself anyway, so it just made sense 4) me to run from home. Get it? I’m a dork.

There was a high school kid missing in our area. He hadn’t made it home from school Friday and no one remembered seeing him on the bus. Admittedly, I was not as up on this news story as I likely should’ve been. Sure enough, two miles into my warm up, I passed someone walking on the side of the road in jeans and a hoodie, carrying a backpack. I thought to myself that this was very strange and I debated for a second about whether or not to call Richard to come check it out.

I decided to just keep on trucking on my route. I was about to start my workout and I knew that the person would have to really book it to catch me. Side note: the person who attacked me back in the day was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, so I was having a slight flashback. I honestly didn’t even think that it could me the missing kid, but was more concerned that it was someone up to no good. I hate that this is where my mind immediately goes, but it is what it is. I even decided to alter my route to avoid crossing paths with this person again (a decision that I should’ve made 15 years ago that would’ve changed things).

I put all this behind me and did the workout, averaging 5:56 for the 3 mile threshold and 5:17 for the 40 second pickups. I would’ve placed money on the fact that my legs were toast after that threshold, but sure enough the turnover was still there. After I finished up my workout and started the cool down, a dog started running with me. He (or she … no idea) ran almost 2 miles with me! I don’t know who it belonged to, but it was a beautiful little Australian Shepard mix and I really wanted to take it home with me. Since we all know that we don’t need any more animals, I had to be smart and not let it follow me home.

It wasn’t until I got back to the house and finished telling Richard all about my dog encounter that he asked if I had seen the missing kid. I told him about the person that I saw (who looked much more like a man than a kid from behind). He started giving a physical description of the boy and I finished his sentence by saying that he had a blue backpack. Someone else had already identified him at that point as well and he was unharmed, so all is well there. And, good news! I saw a dog today!

It’s almost Buddy the Elf season! 

It should be noted that this was my first week of all morning runs in way too long! I don’t mind an evening run here or there, but over the course of the last six months, it was definitely becoming a regular thing. It was nice to get back into more of a routine this week. The time change will definitely help me stay on this schedule, as there will be no daylight once I get home from work in the evening. Daylight savings aside, I think my motivation levels are coming back up in conjunction with my iron levels!

Here is what last week’s training looked like:

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:27 pace)

I started the week off with a few easy treadmill miles. We got some rain on Sunday night and the driveway was not runnable on Monday morning. I could’ve driven somewhere else to run, but the convenience of being able to run at home is too hard to pass up sometimes.

Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:32 pace)

I got in a few easy peasy lemon squeezy driveway miles on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday – Quality: 2.5 mi. WU, 4 X 400, 4 X 300, 6 X 200, 4 X 100, 2.5 mi. CD

I hit the track Wednesday morning for a fun ladder workout. The workout called for a two mile warm up, four 400s, four 300s, six 200s, four 100s and a two mile cool down. I don’t know why there were six 200s and four of everything else, but I definitely spent way too much mental energy thinking about that during the workout. I was |thisclose| to changing it mid-workout to make all the sets even. I’m happy to report that I didn’t let my OCD get the best of me (not this time at least :)).

The 400s had “moderate” jogging recovery, which made them a bit more challenging than they would’ve otherwise been. My body seems to have really gotten used to standing recoveries and I was working a bit harder than I would’ve liked by that last 400. My splits were 82, 81, 82, 80. The 300s were also supposed to have a “moderate” jogging recovery as well, but I altered that on the fly. In hindsight, I should’ve just slowed my roll down to a regular jogging recovery, but instead I decided to go with a standing recovery. My splits were 56, 57, 55, 56. Side note: I am not entirely sure where the 300 mark is on the track. Obviously I have a general idea, but I never can seem to find the exact mark.

By the time I got to the 200s, I was feeling good and warmed up and I was ready to zoom. My time for every single 200 was 37 seconds, which coincidentally was exactly what the goal time was. I don’t think I could do that again if I tried! Similar to the above-referenced issue with the 300 mark, it also appears that I don’t know exactly where the 100 mark is either. My splits were 19, 15, 16, 19. I’m assuming the first and last one were long and the middle two were short. Who knows. The point was to do a few fast bursts and I did just that.

Hurricane Zeta made its presence known on Wednesday evening. We got the generator back out and hunkered down again, but thankfully (for the most part) the damage in our area was minimal compared to Hurricane Sally.

Thursday – REST

There was no running on Thursday. The only thing slightly active that I did was pick up a bunch of sticks in the yard before going to work.

Friday – Easy: 9.75 miles (8:20 pace)

I went to a nearby neighborhood to get some miles in on Friday morning before work. My legs felt better than expected and the run was very enjoyable!

Saturday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 2 mi. @ MP, 2 X 800, 4 X 30 sec., 2 mi. CD

Saturday morning’s workout called for a three mile warm up, two miles up-tempo, two 800s, four thirty second intervals and a two mile cool down. The two miles were actually prescribed as marathon pace, but there is a 0% chance that I could currently run a marathon at my VDOT “marathon” pace, so I’m just calling it a tempo-ish effort. I met up with some of the old gang for the warm up miles and then I did my own thing for the workout. My two up-tempo miles were 6:10 and 6:05. Both miles were a tad hilly, so I am very pleased with those paces.

Ideally I was planning to get to the track for the 800s, but that didn’t workout based on the route we ran (and I am more than okay with that). My splits for the two 800s were 2:38 and 2:42. The goal was 2:40, so the average was spot on! I didn’t have a whole lot of motivation (or energy) left for the four thirty second pickups, but I got them done. This was the longest workout in total that I’ve done in a while and it felt great to get it in and to feel good in the process.

Sunday – Easy: 10.25 miles (8:08 pace)

I got in another long (ish) run from home on Sunday morning to cap off a really solid week of training.

Total – 52 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

Happy November! Whew. I don’t know exactly where this year has gone, but it certainly seems to be going somewhere. Some days it feels like we are headed to hell in a handbasket, but other days it feels like things are looking up. I’m definitely feeling very nervous about the election tomorrow. It feels like a lose, lose situation, but maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised. Fingers crossed!

Month Recap: October 2020

Workouts: I got in a few solid workouts during the month of October.

3 mi. WU, 12 X 200 (37), 3 mi. CD 2 mi. WU, 8 X 200 (35), 2 mi. CD 3 mi. WU, 8 X 200/400 (39/79), 2 mi. CD 2.5 mi. WU, 4 X 400 (80), 4 X 300 (55), 6 X 200 (36), 4 X 100 (17), 2.5 mi. CD 3 mi. WU, 2 miles (6:10, 6:04), 2 X 800 (2:38, 2:42), 2 mi. CD

Favorite workout: My favorite workout this month was probably the 400, 300, 200, 100 ladder workout. I always seem to enjoy workouts with varying distance intervals.

Races: I RAN A RACE this month. WOO to the HOO! Can you tell I enjoyed it?! This was my first “real” race since mid-March. It’s still so weird that we are living in a world where we even need to clarify whether a race was real or not. Ha.

Paces: My paces ranged from 5:41 to 9:42.

Average Pace: My average pace for the month was 8:18. This is a bit quicker than my typical average pace, but my overall mileage was a bit lower as well. I’m guessing the two are positively correlated.

Miles: My total mileage this month was 206.75. Unless something crazy happens (which seems like a constant possibility these days), October will be my lowest mileage month of the year.

Elevation: I climbed 7,146 feet this month. I haven’t been running on the driveway quite as much recently it seems, but most “regular” routes have at least a little bit of climbing in them.

Longest run: My longest run was 12 miles. I don’t technically think I was supposed to do 12 miles on the day that I did this, but I was feeling good and I just went with it.

Shortest run: My shortest run was 3 miles. I think this was a morning that I procrastinated a bit too long (waiting until the sun came up) and once I got out there, I basically didn’t have time to run. Oh well.

Rest days: I took three entire days off this month! I’ve not been a big rest day person in the past, but I have definitely enjoyed taking a few days off here and there (and especially when there wasn’t much of anything to train for).

Pilates: I also went to three Pilates classes this month. I’m still loving my Pilates! I can see myself getting really into this in the future if I am not running quite as much as I am currently. I could also see myself getting back into tennis at some point, which is really neither here nor there, but I just felt like mentioning it for whatever reason.

That’s it for now. Keeping it short and sweet today! Thank you so much for reading and following along!

Okay, okay. I got behind on these again, but the good news is that you didn’t miss much. I still haven’t been doing a ton of exciting workouts, but I’m happy to report that I am in the process of gradually building back up. I’ve been taking an iron supplement and eating WAY more red meat and iron rich foods than before, so hopefully my iron levels are on the up swing. Fingers crossed.

Week of 10.12.20 – 10.18.20 –

Monday – Easy: 6 miles (8:47 pace)
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (7:28 pace)
Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:45 pace)
Thursday – Rest
Friday – Easy: 6 miles (8:41 pace) + Pilates
Saturday – RACE!
Sunday – Easy: 10 miles (8:29 pace)

The highlight of this week was definitely the 5k race! You can read all about that in the recap that I wrote (linked above).

Week of 10.19.20 – 10.25.20 –

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:46 pace)
Tuesday – Easy: 6 miles (8:27 pace)
Wednesday – Quality: 6 miles w/ 8 X 200/400
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles (8:46 pace)
Friday – Rest (w/ Pilates)
Saturday – Easy: 7 miles (8:12 pace)
Sunday – Quality: 7 miles (Virtual 5k w/ Jessica)

Two highlights from this week were the workout on Wednesday and running a “virtual” 5k with Jessica on Sunday.

Wednesday’s workout was the first workout more than 200 meter repeats that I have done since September 12. What?! That’s bananas. I would almost say that the best thing about the entire morning was how much I was looking forward to the workout beforehand. I haven’t been feeling super jazzed about running in general, but the 5k the weekend before seems to have rejuvenated me a bit!

As far as the actual workout itself goes, the 200s were a bit slower than goal pace and the 400s were a bit faster than goal pace. Basically, I’m going to call it even! The 200s were supposed to be at repetition pace and the 400s were supposed to be at interval pace. Goal pace for the 200s was 4:57 (37 seconds per rep) and goal pace for the 400s was 5:22 (80 seconds per rep). I basically ran the same pace for the entire workout, averaging 39 for the 200s and 79 for the 400s. I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the post-workout endorphins that came as a result of my morning track sesh.

I met Jessica at dark:thirty on Sunday morning to run the McKirdy Trained Virtual 5k with her. Per usual, it was just really darn nice to run with a buddy. I have still been doing the majority of my runs solo and this was a great reminder that running with friends is always better!

I hope you all have a great weekend!