avondale training journal, starting Dec. 2018 (comments welcome)

[avondale]

Week of June 17 - 23, 2019

Running

• Monday, June 17: 6EA, T+D 147, 4% correction, target pace 12:24, splits 12:14, 12:18, 12:28, 12:19, 12:24, 12:28. Route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north. Light rain at the end of this run.
• Tuesday, June 18: 2WU + 5 x 3min @I w/3 min RI + 2 x 2 min @I w/2 min RI + 0.5CD. T+D 148, 4.5% correction, target I pace 8:41. Splits for I-pace: 8:34, 8:45, 8:46, 8:35, 8:54, 8:31, 8:34. HS track. I am counting this as a success. The intervals are short enough that it's hard to zero in on the pace window. The 8:54 split was weird - suddenly in that interval I was 30-sec too slow and couldn't "fix" it; it felt the same as the others. It was SO HUMID. It started raining lightly during the CD and pouring once I got off the track.
• Friday, June 21: 5EA, T+D134, 2.5% correction, target pace 12:13, splits 12:08, 12:02, 12:07, 12:00, 12:04. Did this one a bit too fast. Route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north.
• Saturday (morning), June 22: 6EB, T+D 108, 0.5% correction, target pace 11:11, splits 11:08, 11:12, 11:11, 11:10, 11:09, 11:14. Route: Rock Creek Trail, going north.
• Sunday (morning), June 23: 7LR + 1HM-tempo, T+D 113, 1% correction, target paces 10:56 and 9:38. Splits 10:54, 10:51, 10:53, 10:48, 10:49, 10:57, 11:07, 9:36. Route: city running to Coyote Point Recreation Area, then the San Francisco Bay Trail! Beautiful views and a nice breeze along the bay! Pics below. Always fun to explore a new area while running.

We flew to California yesterday (June 22) for my brother-in-law's wedding - my husband's youngest brother. First, we are spending two nights at my husband's other brother's house (the middle brother). Then we are going to a resort for several nights for tennis and vacation. Then we are spending two nights at the wedding resort. We fly home June 30.


Other

• Monday morning: foam rolling and stretching
• Wednesday
  • morning: prehab routine like previous and foam rolling and stretching
  • evening: tennis doubles match - my partner and I won 6-1, 6-4, and our team won, too!
• Thursday evening: tennis mixed doubles match - my husband and I lost 6-4, 5-7, 1-0, and our team lost, too.
• Friday morning:
  • workout 3
    • hamstring curls on large ball: 3 x 8
    • shoulder press: 3 x 8 with 40 lbs
    • forward lunge: 3 x 8 ea with 40 lbs
    • upright row: 3 x 8 with 30 lbs
    • back extensions: 3 x 12
  • foam rolling and stretching

Health

• No news. The headache continues. I'm traveling this week and it's harder to remember to do my neck stretches with the disruption in my regular routine.

 

[avondale]

Week of June 24 - 30, 2019

I was in California for this week: San Mateo on Monday, then two different locations in Napa for Tuesday - Sunday. Unlike when I am at home, all of my runs were done in the morning. We're traveling home tomorrow (Sunday, June 30), so I'm anticipating a complete day off, which is kind of weird.

Running

The challenge with doing my runs this week was that Tue - Fri I had tennis scheduled at 10:30am, so I had to get my runs done earlier than that so I had time to recover and eat breakfast and get to tennis.

• Monday, June 24: 6EA, T+D 113, 1% correction, target pace 12:03, splits 11:50, 11:53, 11:59, 11:57, 11:56, 12:00. Route: San Francisco Bay Trail.
• Wednesday, June 26: 1WU + 4 x (0.5@T + 2 min @I + 0.5@T + 2 min @I + 4 min RI) + 0.5 CD. This run scared the spit out of me since I started looking at it seriously while planning this trip. We were in Napa by this time. Nothing in Napa is flat. The nearest HS track was a good distance away, so I'd have to get up way earlier than 6am to get this run done before tennis (predicted run time of approx 95 min). I found the Napa River Trail, which had a 1-mile segment near me. I was hoping it would be relatively flat and shaded and I could go back and forth on it. T+D 104, 0.5% correction, so my target T-pace was 9:14 and I-pace was 8:22. I did the first 0.5-mi T-pace in 9:09. I tried to increase for the I-pace and could not get anything to happen - the 2-min at I-pace came in at 9:37 and I finished that 1-mile segment of the River Trail (approx 0.3 mi) at 9:52 pace. I was having a really hard time with this. It felt like there was a lot more incline on the trail in the return direction than I was hoping for for this run. I called it quits for the T/I paces. I also realized that I was running out of time. I did an additional 6 miles at LR pace: target pace 10:53 and splits 10:54, 11:00, 11:05, 10:52, 10:56, 10:53. This gave me a total of 8 miles for the day. When I got home and checked out the elevation on the Garmin website, it was only 33 ft of elevation gain for the 1-mile leg, but it felt like a killer.
• Thursday, June 27: 6EB, T+D 101, 0.5% correction, target pace 11:11, splits 11:17, 11:12, 11:06, 11:02, 11:04, 11:13. Route: perimeter of Sliverado Resort. This was legit hilly - checking it via the Garmin website gave an elevation gain of 477 ft.
• Saturday, June 29: 6LR, T+D 104, 0.5% correction, target pace 10:53, splits 10:47, 10:49, 10:58, 10:54, 10:48, 10:51. Route: Napa Valley Vine Trail.

Other

• Monday afternoon: 2-hr semi-private tennis lesson (husband + me)
• Tuesday morning:
  • 1-hr tennis clinic
  • 1.5-hr semi-private tennis lesson (husband + me)
  • evening: foam rolling
• Wednesday morning: 1.5-hr semi-private tennis lesson (husband + me)
• Thursday
  • morning: 1.5-hr private tennis lesson
  • afternoon: massage
  • evening: foam rolling
• Friday morning
  • 1-hr tennis clinic
  • 1.5-hr semi-private tennis lesson (husband + me)

Health

• Headache continues. Sadly the week away from my desk at work doesn't seem to have had any positive effect. Neither did the massage - and boy, was that a deep-tissue massage!
• I did get a lot of sleep this week. Still feel tired. Sigh. But it's been a nice change of pace. Loved all the tennis - I could do tennis drills all the time and never get tired of them.

 

[avondale]

Good and Bad

A mid-week post on a good thing and a bad thing.

First, the good.

I actually did a lot better today on the peak run of this HM training cycle than I thought I would. It was 4WU + 5 HM tempo + 1 T-pace + 0.5 5K-pace + 1 CD = 11.5 mi.

It was forecast to get very, very hot today, so I got up at 5am, ate something small, and got started at 6:15 am. T+D = 121 already. (Spoiler alert: it was 141 when I finished a little before 9am.) I had nearly 2L of low-concentration Tailwind, and I drank it all during the run.

The 4WU was fine, of course, except that with all the negative self-talk circling around in my head, it's amazing that I even tried the hard parts of the run. I knew it wasn't helping me, but I couldn't shake it. I don't feel like this training cycle has been going well.

With the T+D 121, the pace correction was 1.5%, so my HM tempo pace was 9:41. My 5 splits: 9:33, 9:37, 9:58, 9:41, 9:42. The middle mile had some hills that I couldn't make up for, so I feel like that was a hit.

My T-pace target with the 1.5% was 9:18. My split: 9:18. Now, we won't discuss how many breaks I ended up taking during this run, because I know that's sort of cheating. I will mention again that the T+D did go up 20 degrees during the course of the run...and I kind of feel like at this point I am glad I got these 6 miles done on target, no matter what it took.

By the end of the T-pace mile, I wasn't sure if I was going to puke or pass out. Fortunately neither of those occurred. Another not-to-be-mentioned break did occur, while I contemplated whether I was even going to try for the half-mile at 5K pace, which was 8:51 at a T+D of 121. I figured that it would actually be really nice if I could complete the whole blasted run, so I should at least try it. I managed to stay under a 9:00 pace for at least the first 0.2 mi until I had to screech to a stop at a crosswalk because I wasn't sure if a car was going to stop - it did, but it was too late, because I had lost all of my momentum, and my legs said that that was it. So did my CD pace for the rest of the half-mile and then went into the cool down mile.

So, I'm very happy that I hit as many of my splits as I did, because I did prior similar but shorter runs much worse. And now I can look forward to the taper!

And now the bad.

I was scheduled to get Botox injections tomorrow for my headache. From what I understand, this involves some 30 injections on the forehead, neck, shoulders, and back - fun! But it was supposed to really help with the pain. Well, my main insurance and my prescription insurance both agreed that I should get the treatment - but they disagreed over which of them should provide the injection medicine.

In the end, they didn't sort it out in time for the medicine to get to the doctor's office. I was notified yesterday that my appointment had to be rescheduled. The next available appointment? August freaking 21. The PA is that busy and she is also going on vacation. Sigh. There is some possibility that someone else will have to cancel and I can be moved into that spot, but I am not holding my breath. August 21 will be about 2 weeks before the 1-year anniversary of the onset of this headache. This is all really depressing. I'm going to try to talk to my neurologist about more adjustment of my meds, but so far I don't feel like they are doing much.

Oh, yes, and the temperature.

So, it hit 90 F by about 10am. As I write this at nearly 3pm, it's 93 F with a T+D of 160.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on the run! Too bad about the injections and hoping you get a sooner appointment you want.

 

[avondale]

Week of July 1 - 7, 2019

Running

• Monday, July 1 (morning); 8EB, T+D 117, 1% correction, target pace 11:14, splits 11:03, 11:06, 11:11, 11:17, 11:04, 11:04, 11:08, 11:06. Route: Rock Creek Trail, going north.
• Tuesday, July 2 (morning): 4WU + 5 HM Tempo + 1 T-pace + 0.5 5K pace + 1 CD: as described in this post
• Thursday, July 4 (morning): 4EB, T+D 142, 3.5% correction, target pace 11:31, splits 11:37, 11:26, 11:25, 11:32. Route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north.
• Friday, July 5 (morning, extra run): 4EA, T+D 137, 3% correction, target pace 12:17, splits 12:08, 12:10, 12:10, 12:18. Route: Justus Trail.
• Saturday, July 6 (morning): 5EB, T+D 138, 3% correction, target pace 11:27, splits 11:23, 11:17, 11:18, 11:22, 11:28. Route: Allegheny River Trail.
• Sunday, July 7: 5LR + 1 HM Tempo, T+D 156, 5.5% correction, LR target pace 11:26, HM tempo target pace 10:03, splits 11:13, 11:26, 11:22, 11:13, 11:16, 10:01; did some of my LR splits too fast. Route: Rock Creek Trail, going north.

The Monday and Tuesday runs were the end of my extended peak week, so I arranged to do those runs in the morning when it was cooler. I was visiting family July 4 - 6 and did my runs in the morning then. But returned July 7 and got back to my normal routine of runs in the late afternoon/early evening and got the T+D to pay for that!

Race next Sunday (July 14)!


Other

• Wednesday morning: foam rolling and stretching
• Saturday morning: tennis singles for fun against my husband; I won 1 game and he won all the rest that we played in over an hour...

Health

• Since I'm not getting the Botox injections for awhile and the current topiramate apparently isn't helping me, the neurologist is switching me to a different headache med to try. So I am ramping down on the topiramate and ramping up on divalproex sodium. It's only been 5 days, so hard to say whether it is helping or not. This past Thursday was really bad, but the weekend has been back to average bad.

 

[avondale]

Week of July 8 - 13, prior to my half-marathon race July 14

Running

• Monday, July 8: 5EA T+D 140, 3% correction, target pace 12:17, splits 12:17, 12:12, 12:14, 12:16, 12:06. Hit my splits for all miles except the last one. Route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north.
• Wednesday, July 10: 4EB, T+D 147, 4% correction, target pace 11:34, splits 11:56, 11:31, 11:32, 11:32. The first mile had a GPS screw-up; I hit this one. Route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north.
• Thursday, July 11: 3 EA. Due to severe thunderstorms right overhead and the fact that I couldn't delay the run, I actually did this on the treadmill at a 5mph speed. Blech.
• I had 2EB scheduled for Saturday, but skipped this because I had a 2-hour tennis practice.

I have been trying to purposely take it easy this week, when my tendency is to want to keep moving.

I have been trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night, although I haven't always been successful in that. The local water/sewer utility has been replacing sewer pipes, and lucky for us they have started on our street this week. Our street is too vital for traffic to close a lane during the day, so they are doing night work, 9pm - 5am. I have gotten ear plugs, which really do work pretty well. Fortunately they don't work on Friday and Saturday nights.


Other

• Monday morning: prehab routine like previous and foam rolling and stretching
• Tuesday evening: tennis mixed doubles match - my husband and I won 1-6, 6-4, 1-0, and our team won overall, too!
• Friday morning: foam rolling and stretching
• Saturday morning: 2-hour tennis practice

Health

• Unsurprisingly, the new meds don't seem to be any better than the other stuff for my headache.

My race is tomorrow (Sunday) at 7:30am - the Pocahontas Half-Marathon in Pocahontas State Park south of Richmond, VA. It is supposed to be quite warm, so I am going to try not to beat myself up over a bad performance. It will take me a little over 2 hours to get there, so I'll be getting up at 3:30am and leaving at 4:15am approximately. Fun stuff.

 

[avondale]

Pocahontas Half-Marathon, July 14, 2019

Well, I have always said that I do not race well in the heat. So what did I expect from this?

This race was held in Pocahontas State Park in Virginia, which is a little south of Richmond. There was also a 5K and a 10K; the half-marathon started at 7:30am.

This is a very small race, so only race-day bib pick-up. It was about a 2-hour drive for me, so I got up at 3:30am, had my normal breakfast, and left at about 4:25am. I drank about 1L of water prior to 5:15am - knowing the forecast high temperatures, I had drank about a gallon of fluids each of the two days prior.

Fortunately no problems finding the starting area in the state park. Had 200 mg caffeine about 6:30am and BCAAs 6:45am. Flush toilets! Started a very light warm-up with some brisk walking and very slow running. Even with 15 minutes of that, I was starting to drip sweat.

I had 2L filled with about 500 cal of Tailwind to carry with me. I had frozen this and taken it out of the freezer at about 3:45am and it was thawing nicely at race time - still nice and cold. I had also frozen a 0.7-L bottle with Tailwind, but I forgot the bottle thaws more slowly (more compact shape) and so I decided it wasn't worth carrying.

At about 7:25am, we had the "pre-race meeting" where a guy (seemed too young to be the race director, but what do I know, maybe he was) described the course: HM runners do a 0.35-mi out-and-back (0.7 mi total), and then we do the 10K course twice, which is itself an out-and-back. There were 61 runners in the HM.

We started roughly on time. The T+D at the start was 72F + 70F = 142F = blech. Fortunately about 95% of the course was in the forest and shaded, but there was no breeze. I was hoping I might try for 2:07, for which I needed a 9:40 pace. I didn't think that was going to happen, but I thought I'd see how the first few miles went.

Well, the first few miles were bad: 9:59, 10:45, 10:51. And it turns out that those were the good miles. I tried to turn on the gas, but nothing happened. It turns out that partly why these miles went relatively well is that they were also downhill. My HR got way up above 165 BPM pretty quickly and I knew I was in trouble when I was just in mile 3.

Also, there were no mile-markers. From math, I knew that the first time I hit the 10K/HM turn-around, it had to be 3.8 mi, but my Garmin only read about 3.6 mi. Apparently the twists and turns in the trees was confusing my Garmin. The next few miles came in at 12:17, 12:13, 12:35. This part was mostly uphill and I walked a few of the steepest sections.

I had to yield the right-of-way to a horse at about 5.5 miles. And if you pass a horse, you know what you are going to pass soon after that...yup, another tenth of a mile or so was a fresh pile.

I hit the HM turn-around (back at the start, almost) at about 6.6-ish miles. The good thing about my GPS running short is that my pace was actually a bit faster than I thought, and the end was closer than I thought! If the HM was really only 2x the 10K, I really might have just stopped there. But...I did all the #$%# training in the @#$% heat, so I should finish the @#$@ race!

The second outbound leg was at least mostly downhill. The miles came in at 13:12, 13:39, 13:07. I walked some of the uphills. After 8 miles or so, I started wringing the sweat out of the bottom of my tank top.

The 10K/HM far turnaround point was just marked by a sign next to the trail - no volunteer with it. I found that kind of funny given the recent discussion of race cheating among runners in general. Did I go the whole way to that sign both times? Yep.

Sadly, the last leg of the course was generally uphill. I walked a lot of this, running some of the flatter and downhill sections. The miles came in at 16:19, 14:43, 15:35. My GPS total came to 12:59 miles, with the last 0.59 mi at 12:54.

My official time was 2:43:18. By the time I finished, the T+D was 86F + 68F = 154F. My Garmin Vivoactive 3 doesn't do elevation gain correctly on the watch, but checking the website and enabling corrections, the elevation gain was 631 ft.

There were 61 runners. I was 44th (72%) overall. There were 32 women, and I finished 19th (59%). There were only 4 women in the 40-49 age group, and I finished 2nd, ha ha. They only gave first-place awards.

I've run 9 half-marathons, including this one, and this one was the slowest by about 23 minutes. I will not be planning to run any summer races again unless I can travel to a cool locale. This was really just torture.

 

[michigandergirl]

Way to tackle the heat and hills. Congrats on your finish!!

 

[avondale]

Thanks! DopeyBadger and I are trying to unravel what happened, but maybe just a bad day + heat. Always good to finish, though.

 

[avondale]

The rest of July and some of August...

My half-marathon was on July 14, and I took the rest of the week off for recovery.

My husband and I departed the evening of July 19 for our 2-week trip to northern Italy to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We visited Venice, Florence, and Milan for multiple days and also had a few day trips. The first week had the same heatwave as the northeast US was getting... Florence hit 104 F one day! I had not planned to do any running while we were there, and I'm really glad that I didn't, given the temperature.

A few images:



(My husband doesn't really like to have his photo taken.)

At the end of the trip, we took a train from Tirano, Italy up over the Bernina pass in the Alps to Chur, Switzerland. Then we flew home from Zurich. It was quite a view going over the Alps! We returned on Aug. 4.

After that, I left the morning of Aug. 6 to go to San Diego for a conference. I return home on Saturday, this time to stay for awhile!

I've been doing some easy running this week, which I'll post about at the end of the week.

Oddly (or maybe not), after a few days away in Italy, my headache went away to almost nothing. Not sure if it was the different or lack of activity, lack of stress, different bed/pillow, or what. It ramped back up a bit a couple of days before we left, and now that I am back in the US, the pain is back. I haven't had a really horrible day yet, but that may be just luck.

 

[avondale]

Week of Aug. 5 - 11, 2019

I'm not currently on a training plan - I'm running easy just to get back in the groove. I returned from our Italy trip on Sunday, Aug. 4. I flew to San Diego for a conference on Aug. 6 and returned on Aug. 10.

Running

• Monday, Aug. 6: 3EA
  • T+D 130, 2% correction
  • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:10
  • splits: 12:29 (GPS problem), 12:09, 12:11
  • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
• Tuesday, Aug. 7: 3EA
  • T+D 127, 2% correction
  • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:10
  • splits: 12:17, 12:08, 12:11
  • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
• Thursday, Aug. 8: 3 EA
  • T+D 128, 2% correction
  • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:10
  • splits: 12:01, 12:00, 12:00
  • route: San Diego Riverwalk
• Friday, Aug. 9: 4EA
  • T+D 126, 2% correction
  • target pace: 11:56; with correction 12:10
  • splits: 12:02, 12:00, 11:59, 12:09
  • route: San Diego Riverwalk
• Sunday, Aug. 11: 5EA
  • T+D 138, 3% correction
  • target pace: 11:56; with correction 12:17
  • splits: 12:07, 12:15, 12:09, 12:17, 11:51
  • route: Rock Creek Trail, going north

Other: nothing

Health:

• Now that I'm back home, the headache is back for sure. I haven't had a really, really bad day yet, but it's probably a matter of time. Fortunately my next attempt at the Botox injections is Aug. 21.

 

[michigandergirl]

Happy Anniversary!!

 

[avondale]

Happy Anniversary!!

Thank you! Hopefully many more! And in Italy!

 

[avondale]

Week of Aug. 12 - 18, 2019

This is the first week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1!

Monday, Aug. 12

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine and foam rolling and stretching. Prehab:
    • slow clamshells, 2 x 15 per side
    • hip strengtheners, 2 x 15 per side
    • straight-leg eccentric heel drop, 1 x 15 per leg
    • bent-knee eccentric heel drop, 1 x 15 per leg
    • rotator cuff lift with 5 lbs, 2 x 15
    • wrist curls with 3 lbs, 3 x 15
    • wrist reverse curls with 3 lbs, 3 x 15
    • wrist supination and pronation with 3 lbs, 3 x 15
• After work:
  • walk on treadmill

Tuesday, Aug. 13

• Morning:
  • Workout 1 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 1:
    • Squat: 3 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Pull-up: 3 x (2 unassisted, 6 assisted)
    • Bulgarian split-squat: 3 x 8 per side with 30 lbs
    • Bench press: 3 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Plank: 3 x 60 sec
• After work:
  • semi-private 1-hour tennis lesson

Wednesday, Aug. 14

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine and foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 4EA
    • T+D 155, 5.5% correction
    • target pace: 11:56; with correction 12:35
    • splits: 12:36, 12:26, 12:36, 12:30
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my target pace for all miles

Thursday, Aug. 15

• After work:
  • 4EA
    • T+D 146, 4% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:24
    • splits: 12:31, 12:22, 12:19, 12:18
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my target pace for all miles

Friday, Aug. 16

• Morning
  • Workout 2 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 2:
    • Romanian deadlift: 3 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Chin-up 3 x (2 unassisted, 6 assisted)
    • Reverse lunge: 3 x 8 per leg with 30 lbs
    • Decline push-up: 3 x 10
    • Starfish side plank: 3 x 30 sec per side

Saturday, Aug. 17

• Morning
  • 2-hour tennis practice
• Before dinner
  • 6EB
    • T+D 157, 5.5% correction
    • target pace: 11:08; with correction 11:44
    • splits: 11:40, 11:37, 11:31, 11:33, 11:35, 11:41
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: too fast on miles 3 and 4

Sunday, Aug. 18

• Before dinner
  • 7LR
    • T+D 160, 6% correction
    • target pace: 10:50; with correction 11:29
    • splits: 11:21, 11:29, 11:27, 11:30, 11:29, 11:16, 11:31
    • route: Rock Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: too fast on mile 6

The heat and humidity have been without a break this week. There is no end in sight on the forecast...whew.

 

[avondale]

Week of Aug. 19 - 25, 2019

This is the second week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1.

Monday, Aug. 19

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine (like described previously) and foam rolling and stretching.
• After work:
  • walk on treadmill

Tuesday, Aug. 20

• Morning:
  • Workout 3 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 3:
    • Hamstring curls on stability ball: 3 x 8
    • Shoulder press: 3 x 8 with 15 lbs each arm
    • Forward lunch: 3 x 8 per leg with 30 lbs
    • Upright row: 3 x 8 with 15 lbs each arm
    • Back extensions: 3 x 10
• After work:
  • walk on treadmill (wanted to play tennis, but we got thunderstorms)

Wednesday, Aug. 21

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine (like described previously) and foam rolling and stretching.
• After work:
  • 3EA on treadmill at 5.0mph. I HATE the treadmill, but there was too much lightning going on for me to run outside.

Thursday, Aug. 22

• Morning:
  • foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 3EA
    • T+D 154, 5.5% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:34
    • splits: 12:27, 12:31, 12:33
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my target pace for all miles

Friday, Aug. 23

• Morning:
  • Workout 1 (like described previously - same weights and reps) and foam rolling and stretching.

Friday evening we flew to Chicago for my husband's brother's wedding reception Saturday evening. This was the "big" reception for the small wedding we went to in Napa in June.

Saturday, Aug. 24

• Morning:
  • 4EB
    • T+D 128, 1.5% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:18
    • splits: 11:13, 11:20, 11:11, 11:02
    • route: Milwaukee Ave in Chicago
    • comments: my GPS had a LOT of problems even though I was just going in a straight line. In the last mile, it thought I was going too slowly, so I sped up and then ended up overshooting a bit.

We visited the Shedd Aquarium in the morning and the Adler Planetarium in the afternoon. Then we walked around the lakeshore and back to our hotel. Between the run and all that walking, I got over 34,000 steps for the day.

The first photo is me at the Buckingham Fountain. Then a photo of my husband and me at the wedding receptions.


Sunday, Aug. 25

• Morning:
  • 5LR
    • T+D 121, 1.5% correction
    • target pace 10:50; with correction 11:00
    • splits: 10:51, 10:59, 11:03, 10:56, 10:55
    • route: Milwaukee Ave in Chicago
    • comments: hit my target pace for all miles

Health

I finally got the Botox treatment for my headache on Wednesday. It consisted of 2 to 3 dozen small injections along my hairline on my forehead and the side of my face, along the nape of my neck, along the traps, and so on. They hurt, especially the ones around the hairline in various places - it feels like someone is trying to press thumbtacks into you.
Sadly, any relief is not immediate. It's possible that my headache will gradually fade away, or it could not do much until I get another treatment (in 3 months!). It might not even work at all. For the rest of this week, I certainly can't say I've felt any improvement.

 

[avondale]

Week of Aug. 26 - Sep. 1, 2019

This is the third week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1.

Monday, Aug. 26

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine (like described previously) and foam rolling and stretching.
• After work:
  • 2-hour tennis doubles practice

Tuesday, Aug. 27

• Morning:
  • foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 5EA
    • T+D 137, 3% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:17
    • splits: 12:17, 12:08, 12:14, 12:19, 12:22
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my pace target window for all miles

Wednesday, Aug. 28

• Morning:
  • Workout 2 (like previous) and foam rolling and stretching.
• After work:
  • 1WU + 7 x (3 min @CV w/1 min RI) + 4 x (200 m @R w/ 200 m RI) + 0.5CD
    • T+D 133, 2.5% correction
    • target CV pace 9:00; with correction 9:14
    • target R split 58 sec
    • CV splits: 9:17, 9:04, 9:14, 9:15, 9:13, 9:17, 9:10
    • CV comments: I did the second interval a little too fast.
    • R-pace splits: 54.7 sec, 52.6 sec, 52.0 sec, 60.8 sec - after the last interval, I couldn't get the manual lap to trigger, so this was 3 - 5 sec too long.
    • R-pace comments: I split this workout into two parts. I programmed the CV intervals into my Garmin as a repeat workout. Then I stopped that workout and started a second run with manual laps to do the R-pace. I used the markings on the HS track to get the distance for the 200-m intervals. I did take a bit of a longer break in between the CV and R intervals.
    • Total distance and time: 4.39 mi, 61 min 2 sec

Thursday, Aug. 29

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine (like previous) and foam rolling and stretching.

Friday, Aug. 30

• Morning:
  • Workout 3 (like previous)

Saturday, Aug. 31

• Morning:
  • 2-hour tennis practice, mostly doubles
• Late afternoon:
  • 6.5EB
    • T+D 148, 4.5% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:37
    • splits: 11:30, 11:32, 11:30, 11:28, 11:34, 11:29, 11:31
    • route: Rock Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my pace target window for all miles

Sunday, Sep. 1

• Morning:
  • 2-hour tennis doubles practice. My right shoulder is getting pretty sore from all the serving - I had so much time off and now a lot of serving close together.
• Late afternoon:
  • 8.5 LR
    • T+D 142, 3.5% correction
    • target pace 10:50; with correction 11:13
    • splits: 11:09, 11:06, 11:06, 11:28, 11:16, 11:06, 11:04, 11:15, 11:14
    • route: Rock Creek Trail going north
    • comments:
      • Mile 4 was too slow - there was a short steep hill in the last 0.05 mi that wreck my pace - I was right on pace until then.
      • My legs were pretty tired going into this run because it's been such a busy weekend. For the first couple of miles, my right glute, hamstring, and back of knee were all pretty sore and complaining. I wasn't sure how the run would go. I stopped at about 2.25 mi and did a brief stretch of them and then they were much better for the rest of the run.

Health

Unfortunately I am not feeling any improvements in my headache. I had a couple of really bad days Friday and Saturday.

 

[avondale]

Week of Sep. 2 - 8, 2019

This is the fourth week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1.

I'm posting this update a day late because I spent a lot of time yesterday watching the men's final of the US Open: Rafael Nadal won an amazing match in 5 sets! I was thinking about how they played for about as long as it took me to finish my last marathon (about 4:50), but they were still sprinting corner to corner and hitting 120-mph serves at the end, while I was barely running. Some amazing fitness levels.


Monday, Sep. 2 (Labor Day)

• Morning:
  • 2-hour tennis doubles practice
  • comments: this was my third morning in a row of playing 2 hours of tennis, plus I had run 15 miles in the previous two days. I was really toast by the end of this.

Tuesday, Sep. 3

• After work
  • 5EA
    • T+D 142, 3.5% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:20
    • splits: 12:23, 12:22, 12:19, 12:22, 12:24
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my pace target window for all miles

Wednesday, Sep. 4

• Morning
  • Prehab (like previous) and foam rolling and stretching
• After work
  • Walk outside: 1.66 miles
  • comments: scouting out a new neighborhood route to run when it gets dark early in another month

Thursday, Sep. 5

• Morning
  • Workout 1 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 1 updated:
    • Squat: 1 x 8 with 60 lbs, 2 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Pull-up: 3 x (2 unassisted, 6 assisted)
    • Bulgarian split-squat: 1 x 8 per side with 40 lbs, 2 x 8 per side with 30 lbs
    • Bench press: 1 x 8 with 60 lbs, 2 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Plank: 1 x 65 sec, 2 x 60 sec
• After work
  • 1WU + 6 x (4 min @CV w/1.5 min RI) + 4 x (200 m @R w/ 200 m RI) + 0.5CD
    • T+D 132, 2.5% correction
    • target CV pace 9:00; with correction 9:14
    • target R split 58 sec
    • CV splits: 9:15, 9:15, 9:20, 9:16, 9:17, 9:12
    • CV comments: I coasted at the end of the 3rd interval and didn't realize that I had coasted a bit too much - 1 sec out of my target window. After the 4th interval, I was really wiped and didn't think I was going to get the last two.
    • R-pace splits: 55.0 sec, 52.5 sec, 53.0 sec, 54.7 sec - for both the first and last interval, it took me an extra 1 - 2 sec to get the lap to trigger, so these are a tad long. These splits are slightly faster than last week's.
    • R-pace comments: I split this workout into two parts. I programmed the CV intervals into my Garmin as a repeat workout. Then I stopped that workout and started a second run with manual laps to do the R-pace. I used the markings on the HS track to get the distance for the 200-m intervals. I did take a bit of a longer break in between the CV and R intervals.
    • Overall comments: I'm very happy to have completed this workout and hit all my pace targets. I had to stay a little late at work, so I got started late on this. When things got hard in the CV, I thought about cutting it short so I wouldn't be out so late. Didn't get dinner until about 8:30pm, which is almost into my "start heading for bed time".
    • Total distance and time: 5.89 mi, 69 min 54 sec

Friday, Sep. 6

• Morning
  • foam rolling and stretching

Saturday, Sep. 7

• Morning
  • 2-hour tennis doubles practice
• Late afternoon
  • 5EB
    • T+D 129, 2% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:21
    • splits: 11:13, 11:24, 11:21, 11:18, 11:26
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my pace target window for all miles

Sunday, Sep. 8

• Late afternoon
  • 6LR
    • T+D 137, 3% correction
    • target pace 10:50; with correction 11:09
    • splits: 11:06, 11:13, 11:08, 11:00, 11:08, 11:04
    • route: Rock Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: hit my pace target window for all miles

Health

The headache continues. It had a birthday this week. I'm feeling pretty blah and kind of tired, but I am hitting my paces without a problem. Pretty much all of my headache meds have side-effects of fatigue and depression, so probably no surprise. I think I might be trending toward anemic again, so I'm going to start taking more of my iron supplement for awhile.

 

[michigandergirl]

I watched quite a bit of the US Open too. I was totally amazed by their athleticism and endurance! I, however, am the world's worst tennis player.

 

[avondale]

Week of Sep. 9 - 15, 2019

This is the fifth week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1.

On Thursday evening, I drove up to western PA to visit my mom, sister, and her son for the weekend - I returned home on Sunday afternoon. I did an extra run (the first one of this training cycle) Friday morning because otherwise I knew I'd be just sitting around all day.

Monday, Sep. 9

• Morning:
  • foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 1-hr private tennis lesson

Tuesday, Sep. 10

• Morning:
  • Workout 2 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 2 with some new reps/weights:
    • Romanian deadlift: 1 x 8 with 60 lbs, 2 x 8 with 50 lbs
    • Chin-up 3 x (2 unassisted, 6 assisted)
    • Reverse lunge: 1 x 8 per leg with 40 lbs, 2 x 8 per leg with 30 lbs
    • Decline push-up: 3 x 11
    • Starfish side plank: 1 x 35 sec per side, 2 x 30 sec per side
• After work:
  • 1WU + 5 x (5 min @CV w/1.75 min RI) + 4 x (200 m @R w/ 200 m RI) + 0.5CD
    • T+D 141, 3.5% correction
    • target CV pace 9:00; with correction 9:19
    • target R split 58 sec
    • CV splits: 9:15, 9:16, 9:15, 9:09, 9:07
    • CV comments: I did these relatively easily compared to the ones the week before, and went a bit too fast on the last 2 intervals.
    • R-pace splits: 49.4 s, 50.7 s, 51.6 s, 51.9 s. These splits are significantly faster than last week's, and I couldn't believe when I saw the first one come in!
    • R-pace comments: I split this workout into two parts. I programmed the CV intervals into my Garmin as a repeat workout. Then I stopped that workout and started a second run with manual laps to do the R-pace. I used the markings on the HS track to get the distance for the 200-m intervals. I did take a bit of a longer break in between the CV and R intervals.
    • Overall comments: I feel like a really crushed this workout! I was a little worried since I moved the workout considerably earlier in the week than planned, but the next day was supposed to be mid-90s F (10 deg hotter), and then I would be traveling.
    • Total distance and time: 6.16 mi, 1 h 12 min 18 sec

Wednesday, Sep. 11

• Morning:
  • Prehab routine (like previous) and foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 5EA, blind
    • T+D 147, 4% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:24
    • splits: 12:43, 12:13, 12:29, 12:14, 12:17
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: obviously I didn't hit my pace target quite so well running blind, but I don't think I did awfully. Also, I shorted this to 4.55 mi to make it half of 9.11 mi as a tribute to 9/11/2001 on the 18th anniversary.

Thursday, Sep. 12

• Morning:
  • foam rolling and stretching

Friday, Sep. 13

• Morning:
  • 3EA (extra run)
    • T+D 121, 1.5% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:06
    • splits: 12:07, 12:03, 12:02
    • route: Allegheny River Trail, going west
    • comments: 99% humidity!

Saturday, Sep. 14

• Morning:
  • 7EB
    • T+D 126, 2% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:21
    • splits: 11:19, 11:15, 11:24, 11:28, 11:15, 11:17, 11:21
    • route: Justus Trail, going west
    • comments: 99% humidity! I hit my pace target for all miles. I brought water in my hydration vest.

Sunday, Sep. 15

• Morning:
  • 10LR
    • T+D 103, 0.5% correction
    • target pace 10:50; with correction 10:53
    • splits: 10:59, 10:50, 10:54, 10:51, 10:57, 10:56, 10:50, 10:54, 10:58, 10:54
    • route: Allegheny River Trail, going east
    • comments: 99% humidity! I hit my pace target for all miles. I brought about 300 cal of Tailwind in 1.5 L in my hydration vest and drank it all. It was SO NICE to run in such cool weather. My average HR was 140 BPM and pretty constant the whole time - this is actually in the EB zone for me - in fact, my 7EB run the day before had an average HR of 140 BPM. My 6LR from last Sunday at a T+D of 137 even with the correction had an average HR of 149 BPM.

Health

Yeah, still more headache. Lots of driving doesn't help it.

 

[avondale]

Week of Sep. 16 - 22, 2019

This is the sixth week of my DopeyBadger training plan for the Space Coast Marathon on Dec. 1.

Monday, Sep. 16

• Morning:
  • prehab routine like previous and foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • walk around the neighborhood - I am trying to scout out alternate routes that I can run close to home when it gets dark early. I get tired of doing the same route over and over. But this route was too short and didn't have enough sidewalks.

Tuesday, Sep. 17

• Morning:
  • Workout 3 and foam rolling and stretching. Workout 3:
    • Hamstring curls on stability ball: 3 x 8
    • Shoulder press: 1 x 8 with 20 lbs each arm, 2 x 8 with 15 lbs each arm
    • Forward lunge: 1 x 8 per leg with 40 lbs, 2 x 8 per leg with 30 lbs
    • Upright row: 1 x 8 with 20 lbs each arm, 2 x 8 with 15 lbs each arm
    • Back extensions: 3 x 11
• After work:
  • 5EA
    • T+D 130, 2% correction
    • target pace 11:56; with correction 12:10
    • splits: 12:13, 12:03, 12:16, 12:21, 12:07
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: I hit my pace target for all miles except the 4th.

Wednesday, Sep. 18

• Morning:
  • prehab routine like previous and foam rolling and stretching
• After work:
  • 5EB
    • T+D 120, 1% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:14
    • splits: 11:21, 11:13, 11:06, 11:17, 11:20
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: I hit my pace target for all miles!

Thursday, Sep. 19

• Morning:
  • Workout 1 like previous
• Evening:
  • 1-hr tennis lesson

Friday, Sep. 20

• Morning:
  • foam rolling and stretching

Saturday, Sep. 21

• Morning:
  • 2-hr tennis practice
• Late afternoon:
  • 5EB
    • T+D 142, 3.5% correction
    • target pace 11:08; with correction 11:31
    • splits: 11:25, 11:33, 11:27, 11:31, 11:33
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: I hit my pace target for all miles!

Sunday, Sep. 22

• Morning:
  • 5LR, blind
    • T+D 126, 2% correction
    • target pace 10:50; with correction 11:03
    • splits: 11:18, 10:37, 10:57, 10:58, 11:01
    • route: Rock Creek Trail, going north
    • comments: It took me 2 miles to zero in on my LR pace. Also, the T+D went up about 15 degrees during my run. Phew!

Health

The headache continues. Blah.