Hey friends! I officially signed up for a 5k race next weekend. I’m super excited to get out there and knock some rust off. Here is what the fourteenth week of postpartum training looked like!
Monday –
Plan: 8.0 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides
Actual: 8.25 mile run (8:40 pace) w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:30 pace)
I started the week of with my standard run + strides. This is a weekly staple at this point. Gotta get those leggies turning over before the Tuesday workout!
Tuesday –
Plan: 8.5 mile run w/ 6 X 800
Actual: 8.75 mile run (7:25 pace)
Tuesday’s workout was a two mile warm up, 6 X 800 w/ 400 recoveries and a two mile cool down. The goal was to run the 800s at current 5k pace, which we are estimating to be somewhere between 5:40 and 5:50 (so 2:50 to 2:55 per 800). My plan was to head to the track after I dropped Ward off at daycare, but by the time I got over there the football team was using the track and I didn’t feel like getting in the middle of all that. My backup plan was to head over to my “pandemic track” (i.e., the mall parking lot). This was not ideal, but was a solid backup for sure. There was actually more traffic than I was expecting, which was not great as far as the workout goes, but was great in the sense that the world isn’t shut down anymore. Yay!
I felt like I had to work really hard (harder than I was supposed to) in order to hit the prescribed paces. I ended up with splits of 2:50, 2:52, 2:54, 2:50, 2:52 and 2:51, which looks great “on paper,” but I was TOAST afterwards. I don’t know if that bodes well for next weekend’s race, but I do know that the paces likely would’ve felt a bit easier on the track. The track has a slight bounce that seems to make faster running feel better. At the end of the day, I’m happy I sucked it up and got the workout in when things didn’t go according to plan. Good race day mental prep for sure!
Wednesday –
Plan: 60 minute elliptical
Actual: 75 minutes (7.0 miles)
Technically Wednesday was supposed to be a 9 mile run and Thursday was supposed to be my elliptical day, but I had to switch those days up this week due to an extremely muddy driveway that was not runnable in any way, shape or form.
Thursday –
Plan: 9.0 mile run
Actual: 8.5 miles (8:25 pace)
As it turned out, the driveway was still not runnable on Thursday, so I went back over to the mall parking lot for my easy run. We had so. much. rain. this week. It was kinda ridiculous! The silver lining, however, is that all of our plants and flowers look amazing!
Friday –
Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 8 X 1:00 on/1:00 off
Actual: 7.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Friday’s “mini” workout was a 2.5 mile warm up, 8 X 1 minute hard (with no prescribed pace) with 1 minute easy recoveries and a 2.5 mile cool down. I ended up averaging exactly 5:30 for the minutes on. I was working hard, but definitely not killing myself. I got sprinkled on during the workout, which was a welcome reprieve from the oppressive heat and humidity.
Saturday –
Plan: 11.0-13.0 mile run
Actual: 12.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
We went to my in-laws’ house on the lake for the holiday weekend and I got my long run in Saturday morning from their house. There was 175 feet of elevation gain in the first mile! Oof. Based on how I felt during the first mile, I thought this run was going to be a struggle, but it actually turned out just fine. I did an out and back route that took me three miles down a dirt road (no traffic!). I can’t seem to get away from these dirt roads lately. Welcome to Alabama!
Sunday –
Plan: 7.0 mile run
Actual: 7.0 mile run (8:25 pace)
I finished the week up with another run from their house on the same route with an earlier turn around point. Sunday’s run was just an easy recovery type run, so I took it upon myself to walk to the top of the hill before starting my run. I typically don’t shy away from hills, but running straight uphill during the first mile of your run is definitely not pleasant and I wanted to have a pleasant run! Mission accomplished.
Totals –
Running: 52.0 miles
Elliptical: 7.0 (75 minutes)
I finished the week out with 52 miles. Y’all. I’m not gonna lie … I am loving the tangible week-to-week progress that is evident during this postpartum return to running. I know it won’t last forever, but I’m soaking it all in at the moment. I feel like a new runner who PRs every race they run for the first little bit after really getting into the sport and I’m totally okay with feeling like a newbie in that way!
Talk to you guys soon … hopefully with a RACE RECAP!