Week 8 of Half Marathon Training
Monday, August 25, 2014 - Sunday, August 31, 2014
17.75 miles completed
156.96 miles completed in half marathon training so far
516.66 miles completed in 2014 so far
100.8 miles completed in August (!!)
Monday, August 25: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 1) + Ab Burner
Not a great start to my Monday! I woke up at about 3:40 AM and had a lot of trouble falling back asleep. I was just thinking about the upcoming day/week and couldn't turn my brain off! Also, the dog was snoring (he sleeps in a crate in our room) so that was not helping at all!
Good thing he's such a cutie.
When I was getting ready this morning I was in a hurry and somehow managed to whack my upper lip hard enough that it actually swelled!
I'm sure it wasn't noticeable to anyone else, but to me it looked just off enough that it was weird. I ended up holding an ice pack up to may face during the drive in and I think that helped. Then I arrived at the gym and saw this sign posted up near the entrance to the locker room:
The hits just keep coming!
I had a decent workout this morning. I definitely enjoy CLX and feel like I'm benefitting from it, but at the same time I don't feel like I'm progressing a ton right now. Oh well. The main goal is to help my running and I definitely think CLX is doing that! I am a firm believer that strength training is really important for runners (specifically, in my case, to keep my knees healthy)! I managed to get some abs in as well and NOT scald myself in the shower afterward, so as time went on my morning definitely improved.
And then I added a day onto my Wine & Dine trip! Hooray for turning a potentially bad Monday around!
Tuesday, August 26: Run #1 (5 miles on the treadmill)
Last 5-miler on the treadmill until...uh...2 weeks from now! Yeehaw!
No complaints about this run. It was boring and warm, but all treadmill runs are. I just parked myself in front of a TV with SportsCenter going (and a fan!) and kind of zoned out. I did run 5 minutes/walk 1 minute intervals for this run and it took me 54:39 (10:56/mile pace).
**RAW THREADS RANT AHEAD**
In other news, someone posted on the RawThreads Resale Facebook group looking for small equilibrium tanks the other day...and that got me thinking about the ones I have. I mentioned last week (or the week before maybe? I forget) that I wore a RT equilibrium tank for both my 10-miler and 15K runs recently - both times I experienced armpit chafing, something I have never had before. For my 11-miler this past weekend I went back to my tried and true Nike dri-fit tank...zero armpit chafing.
There's no getting around it - the RT tanks are the problem.
Now that I know they make me chafe (and don't breathe super well) I barely even want to wear them. So I'm pretty sure Im going to start selling them, one by one.
Part of me thinks they still may work for shorter runs, but I'm just not sure.
Right now, I have 6 (!) of these "problem" tanks - a Love 48.6 tank (which I have been trying to sell for awhile - no takers), a Sea Witch tank, a pink Minnie Bow tank, and Elsa Bow tank, a Tiana Bow tank and a Rapunzel tank. I actually sold two of them today, to the person who posted on the RawThreads Resale Facebook group that she was looking for small equilibrium tanks. I told her what I had (originally leaving out the Sea Witch tank because that's my favorite one) and she was interested in the Rapunzel tank. I offered $30 and she was good with that...I paid $39 originally so that's pretty good.
Then I thought more about the Sea Witch tank and decided there was really no point in keeping it - I'll still have the same chafing problem so I won't want to wear it as much. So later when I put the rest of my shirts up for sale I included the Sea Witch tank, and the same person that wanted Rapunzel wanted Sea Witch, too. In my original post I indicated that I'd give a small price break if people bought multiple shirts ($30 for one, $58 for two, etc.) so I asked her for $28 for this second shirt. So now I'll have 2 of them gone but only have to go to the post office once. I also wised up and bought a 5-pack of shipping envelopes from Drug Mart yesterday for $4.50, so that should cut down on my shipping costs (since I'm such a frequent visitor to the post office lately I know their envelopes are more like $1.30 apiece). No takers on the other tanks yet. Fingers crossed!
The big conundrum is that I was planning on wearing the Tiana, Elsa and Sea Witch tanks for upcoming Disney races...but it seems stupid to keep them just for those races and then sell them afterward. I'm going to think about it a little more, but right now I am leaning toward trying to sell the tanks (I think I can get $30 for the ones that do sell since I've only worn each one once - ARRG I wish I would have figured out this chafing thing earlier, before buying so many!) and figure out something else for the races.
One possible solution is to try the "street v" Raw Threads shirts - these are basically v-neck t-shirts. I have 3 of those right now - the Reindeer Bow (Anna-inspired), Mermaid and Beer Run. All 3 of the tanks I was planning on wearing for Disney races - Tiana, Elsa and Sea Witch - come in the street v style, so I'm thinking when it starts to cool off a bit I'll try a few longer runs in one of the street v shirts I already own. If I dont chafe, then I'll probably order the street v version of Tiana, Elsa and Sea Witch (or grab them from the RT booth at the Wine & Dine expo). If I do chafe then I'll STOP buying RT stuff for running and just stick with the Nike dri-fit tops.
This is definitely frustrating, but it's also part of training to figure out what does and does not work...and these tanks are not working for me. And I am SO glad that I can possibly sell some of them on Facebook so that it's not a total loss!
Wednesday, August 27: Run #2 (10 x 400 @ 5K pace
5.25 miles completed)
A couple of weeks ago I thought I would be sad to see speed work go, but after today...NOPE. See ya later, speedwork!!
I just really, really wasn't feeling it today. Early this morning, before I got to the gym, I took a look at my last speedwork workout (9x400 @ 5K pace from 2 weeks ago) and saw that it took me about 55 minutes to do. That meant I'd be on the treadmill for at least an hour today.
Ugghhhh. I just was not looking forward to such a long treadmill session!
A little voice in the back of my mind was saying, "It's okay to cut the workout short if you want to"...but really I would have had no good reason to do so. I'm not injured or anything...just whiny.
In the end, I ended up sort of checking in with myself after every other interval to see how I felt and continue to make the decision to keep going. The first few were tough but I finally felt warmed up by the 4th or 5th interval. I think in my mind I didn't believe I was actually going to finish the workout as scheduled until the very end of the 10th interval. Total time for the workout was a little over an hour.
Today on Instagram one of my friends had a post about how she was dreading her run this morning, but her son said to her, "Mom, keep in mind that you aren't doing this because you have to. You want to. There's a difference." Smart kid! I didn't HAVE to finish this workout...but I wanted to because I knew it would make me stronger and (hopefully) faster.
That's something I'll have to keep in mind over the next few months.
Packet pick-up started for the half marathon yesterday - so early! I'm a little disappointed in the race shirt...it's just kind of blah. But I'm still looking forward to the race itself.
In other news, I have those two Raw Threads tops packed up and ready to ship on my way home from work today. There is seemingly zero interest in the other tanks so far. :Sad:
Thursday, August 28: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 2)
**WW UPDATE**
With my recent increase in mileage, I have definitely been feeling hungrier than normal, so I've been having lots of snacks. I think normally this would be okay, except that I really haven't been doing a great job of keeping track of said snacks. So I was relieved to weigh in this morning and see no change in my weight this week. I definitely think this is going to become more of a challenge when Dopey training starts.
ChaLEAN was fine this morning (it was the one where there are a lot of little shoulder exercises) and I'm bagging it until after next weekend's half. For my last few races I've done strength training earlier in the week but still found that my legs were tired by race day, so this time I'm not taking any chances. I want that sub-2:10!!!
After this my day pretty much went to crap. There's been some drama with a friend of mine (nothing that I am directly involved in, but I'm still pretty stressed out about it) and today at work I found out I need to work on something that is due on SATURDAY.
And no one told me about this until noon today. Ummm, thanks?! Rough afternoon over here.
Friday, August 29: Run #3 (3 miles at goal race pace)
Weather: 64 degrees and sunny, 68% humidity
Happy Friday!
The work stuff continues over here, but it's much less stressful. After letting it ruin my afternoon yesterday today Ive just decided to not let it have that much power over me. I'll do what I can during work hours, and that's it (unlike the person that is charge of the project, who sent me emails at 9PM last night. Nope, that's zoning-out-on-the-couch time in this household!). It's about noon and the emails have tapered off, so hopefully my part is done or almost done.
After taking care of some of that stuff I did manage to head out and get my run done. It was...okay. The weather definitely helped. I did the first mile a little too quickly, the second mile about perfect, and struggled for the third. I felt like I was all-out sprinting toward to try to hit that goal pace, and I did end up getting there...but I really cannot see keeping that up for 10.1 more miles. Eek!
Splits:
Mile 1: 9:39
Mile 2: 9:45
Mile 3: 9:48
Total time: 29:14, 9:44/mile pace
I think a challenge I'm having with these goal race pace runs (and I never thought I'd say this) is how short they are. In the half I'm planning on using the first few miles as my warm-up before settling in to my pace, but with these shorter runs I can't really afford to do that. Oh well. At least I don't have to do any more of these!
Saturday, August 30: Run #4 (12-mile run scheduled, 4.5 miles completed)
Weather: 77 degrees and sunny, 65% humidity
Uhh....yeah. Clearly this did not go well.
First, what happened before the run - I stopped at D-I-C-K's Sporting Goods to buy a couple of the Nike tank tops I like so much. I haven't bought any in a few years, but I know my size so I just grabbed 2. Before the run yesterday I ripped the tag off of one before putting it on (foreshadowing...) and...PROBLEM. Apparently Nike has change the way they make their tanks. The thing was huuuuge on me. I was so mad! Luckily I was able to return it later with no questions asked. Crises averted! But a good thing happened - my Elsa bow RT tank sold! Woohoo! Just 3 more to go.
So...the run. The weather I always add to these outdoor running posts are what Garmin has on the Garmin Connect website, but when I went out to run it my phone indicated temperatures were already in the mid-80s, and it felt like it. It was hot and the sun was beating down on me and giving me a headache.
I was so over it from the beginning. I was looking for excuses to stop...and eventually I just did.
I made it a little over 4 miles before calling my husband to come get me (who sounded relieved - he was drenched in sweat just after running the dog outside), and while I waited I walked/jogged a big until I made it to 4.5 miles.
Normally when I cut a run short I feel pretty guilty about it, but not this one. It was just too hot out - if I'd kept going I'm pretty sure I would have been sick and miserable. And to be honest...as embarrassed as I am to say this...I just didn't want to do it.
I think a lot of that is knowing that Dopey training is coming up, and if I'd done this run I would have had my long runs from the last few weeks (9 miles, 10 miles, 15K, 11 miles, 12 miles, the half marathon, and then the first Dopey long run of 13 miles) all right in a row, and that just overwhelmed me. So I'm giving myself a break this week and hope to do better later.
Sunday, August 31: Rest Day
Lazy day. Happy weekend!
Continued in Next Post
. I bought the "Castle to Castle" Street V to wear during both of my Coast to Coast runs. I finally got around to testing out the shirt during my last long run before the marathon and thank goodness I did! I was dying in that thing. I was running in a hot gym, so simulating the Florida weather, and the shirt just felt so heavy on me. It really soaks up the sweat, too. I ended up wearing it for the 10k portion of Dumbo this past weekend, and it wasn't bad for that. I also recently ordered the "Red Queen" tank to wear during the 10k of Dopey. I am a redhead 
The Facebook group for those shirts is practically dead (compared to the SS resale groups where skirts sell in less than 30 minutes) so I'm still stuck with 3 tanks. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them because I'd hate to totally lose my money. I might try eBay.
Along with this one, which is supposed to be Lilo-inspired, I guess:
Thank you so much for checking, I really appreciate it!
I took the tags off of one and used it for my run today, and it held up. So far so good. I'm keeping the tags on the other two until I do a long run in the one I wore this morning (that’s called LEARNING from one's mistakes...i.e. what I did not do with the RawThreads tops 
). If that goes well that I'll keep all of them - if not, at least I can return two.
So I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for this! Now if only I could convince someone else to join me for it...hmmm…
Apparently the best way to combat this is to run near the top of the road, where it's flatter, but I'd been focusing more on running the tangents...meaning I'd been running on a slope almost the entire time.
Thats strange about the 'joint' piece not being something that actually can work together unless you specially mount it or something. 
I also worry about the mid-week runs and how I'm going to fit them in. I have childcare at the gym, but then I'd have to do them on the dreadmill, which I don't think I could handle. 
I guess we'll see how it goes. Good luck with your training!!!
