Run like the wind bulls eye!

[Katie Little]

Lynchburg 5k Plan

So the plan for this race is to keep it at my easy pace. The course is completely flat and one that I know very well. I think the most challenging part will be getting to the start line since it’s the weekend after my dad’s surgery. It’s early in the morning, so I should be able to get it in real fast and head straight to the hospital afterwards. The only drama that could pop up is if there are any complications or issues with his surgery. I don’t have a backup plan for that because I just can’t think about it. I’ve spent the last month thinking about that and I just pulled myself out of that dark spot - I don’t want to go back.

My A goal is to run every run on the calendar this week. I want this race to be a celebration for me. I want to finish and be happy that “I’m back.” I want to celebrate the success of my dad’s surgery and I want to know that I am strong enough to handle anything life throws at me and I’m going to handle it in a running skirt.

My B goal is to finish the race in less than 50 mins.

My C goal is to finish the race with a smile on my face!

 

[Katie Little]

So I've been reading through my past feeds like I do before every race and I realized something funny. you can directly tell how I'm feeling and how my training is going by the amount of emojis that I use!! LOL!!!! I used a lot in this weeks update, so hopefully that's a sign.

 

[Katie Little]

You guys!!! Tonight’s run was 3 miles at easy pace (17:17). I ran mostly easy and my pace was 15:34!! What do I mean by mostly? Well... you see the moon was pretty bright tonight and it happened to line up perfectly with one of the stretches of road.. I kept thinking it was a car that was slowly creeping behind me and I got a little spooked. So all 3 times that I ran that stretch of road... i was more or less running for my life... but the rest of it was easy!!! I’m sure that this is an enomily and I’ll be back in the high 16 mins on Wednesday.. but for now I feel great!!!


Also... I need a little extra accountability this week so I’m going to check in after every run. Tonight’s run almost didn’t happen and I had to give myself one hell of a pep talk just to get out of the door. I was so glad that I did.. I felt great within the first 2 mins.. but man getting out of that door was rough!!

 

[ZellyB]

Nice job on your run and getting it done. Funny about the moon spurring you to a faster pace. Hope your extra accountability plan works for you. I'll be reading.

 

[Katie Little]

I'll be reading.

Thank you!!! That's exactly what I needed

 

[Katie Little]

Today’s run is done. I went ahead and did Friday’s 5 miler today because I just needed the extra time away from the hospital. Dads been in surgery for a little over an hour now. I’ll keep y’all posted, but as of now, I’m really glad that I took the time to run today.

 

[Katie Little]

Surgery went well!!

 

[ZellyB]

Today’s run is done. I went ahead and did Friday’s 5 miler today because I just needed the extra time away from the hospital. Dads been in surgery for a little over an hour now. I’ll keep y’all posted, but as of now, I’m really glad that I took the time to run today.

Surgery went well!!

Great job getting your run done and happy to read that your dad's surgery went well.

 

[Katie Little]

Sorry for the late post but I got my run done today! Since I did 5 miles Wednesday I only did 3 tonight.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I’m just going to figure out how to cope and run at the same time.

Sometimes is it difficult to get out there when challenges in life have you worried. But sometimes getting out there can just help you better cope with those challenges.

Tonight’s run almost didn’t happen and I had to give myself one hell of a pep talk just to get out of the door. I was so glad that I did.. I felt great within the first 2 mins.. but man getting out of that door was rough!!

Often times when the work stress is high but a race looms on the horizon, I have to remind myself why I do this. And I don't know that I've ever regretted going out for a run even when that run was insanely difficult and leaves me exhausted. There's something different about exhaustion from exercise as opposed to exhaustion from stress.

Surgery went well!!

Wonderful! Glad to hear it.

 

[Katie Little]

Training Update Week 32!

Total miles ran – 14.2
Month to date – 14.2
Year to date –214.23
Purple shoes - 176.03
Blue shoes – 32.1

Planned work outs:
Monday - 3 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Wednesday - 3 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Friday - 5 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Saturday - Lynchburg 5k! Easy Pace

Missed workouts – NONE!!!!!!! I did it! I stuck to the plan!! I even ran on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat!! I didn’t even have to move my days around!!! I did do 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 on Friday but I’m not even mad about it!!

Things I learned this week –

I learned that I’ll never be able to show up on race day and run a race completely easy.. Too much adrenaline.

If I need a little extra accountability, all I have to do is ask for it. @ZellyB telling me that they’d be reading my updates really scared me into actually sticking to the plan! Thanks, Zelly!!!

Other Updates that seem important

Dad’s surgery went great! They thought they were going to have to do a triple bypass and maybe a quadruple (there was one artery behind his heart that they couldn’t see so they were going to check on it while they were in there). They ended up bypassing 5 places, though. They did the one behind his heart and then one of the blockages was so bad they had to bypass it twice. Other than that, he didn’t have any swelling at all (the doctor said he set a record) and his legs are more sore than his chest (They took veins from his leg for the bypass). He says he feels better than he did on Tuesday and they are sending him home today!


Days till next race – 49 days until the VA 10 Miler!!!

Plan for week 33:
Monday - 3 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Wednesday - 1.25 mile @ Easy + 1.25 mile @ 60/30 sec @ 13:30/18:00 paces + 1 mile @ Easy
Friday (practice race nutrition)- 1 mile @ Easy + 4 mile @ 90/30 sec @ 14:45/18:00 paces + 1 mile @ Easy
Saturday - 2.5 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces

 

[Katie Little]

Lynchburg 5k Recap.

Mile 1 - 14:04
Mile 2 - 14:17
Mile 3 - 15:25
.2 (started strava early and stopped it late) - 11:58
Official Chip Time - 46:56 overall pace 15:08 according to the chip timing (which is probably more accurate than strava who says my pace was 14:33)

Saturday morning, I wake up and I’m not feeling it. Whatever, I got out of bed and got dressed. I had to go downstairs to get my running clothes out of the dryer and that’s when I realized how stiff my legs and ankles were… great (no pain - just stiff). We get to the race an hour early.. (this is how you can tell I wasn’t feeling it. Usually my husband and I are the first ones there. Packet pickup started at 6am and the half marathon started at 7:30, 5k started at 8, in any other race I would have been there promptly at 5:59am.) The plus side of not feeling the best is that I wasn’t nervous about the race. I just wanted to get it over with.

The half marathon starts and they play the national anthem and that kind of gets me in the race day mood. Then my stupid husband goes “Hey - that’ll be you in a couple months!” So then I start freaking out that I’ll be running a half marathon in 3 months. Then I get nervous about the 5k that I’m about to run and then I started to get excited.

Air horn blows and we are off. I jog for a min or two before I start my 15/30 easy intervals and then I stuck to that for the most part. It’s a narrow trail so a couple times if I was passing someone, I’d run a longer than 15 secs just so that I didn’t pass them and then immediately start walking in front of them (how obnoxious would that be?). I was running a little harder than I should have been and I was speed walking most of my walk breaks, but it was still mostly easy. It was somewhere between race effort and easy pace.

There was this little old lady a head of me and I kept trying to catch up to her because it would be so embarrassing if she finished ahead of me.. It took me the first half of the race to pass her and then when I did, she caught up to me and started chatting. She was nice and I love making friends on race day - it makes the whole race go by faster. I slowed down to chat with her at the end of the 2nd mile and for most of the 3rd. She was run walking too so we actually stuck together, made pretty good time and it kind of forced me to go back down to a completely easy pace. We agreed to split up after the 3rd mile and basically do our own thing at the end of the race.

So if you follow me on strava, you may notice that this race is at a trail that I run all the time! But here’s the thing.. every time I do a race there I start sprinting way too fast and way too early. This race was no different. It’s because the start/finish line is in the parking lot and it’s actually a tenth of a mile away from the trail. So every time I get off the bridge I’m like “okay, I’m done” and I go soooo fast. Anyway, my fastest pace when I got off the trail was 8:14!!!!!!! So I guess you could say I finished strong lol!

A, B and C goals all met!

I also ran into my friend Amber in case you are wondering who the other girl in these pics is. She finished in 29:29 and was 2nd in our age group! One day, I’m going to run with her!

Lynchburg 5k by Katie Little, on Flickr

30B67E3D-44FA-48E0-BB82-AB267A8556B7 by Katie Little, on Flickr

Lynchburg 5k by Katie Little, on Flickr

Lynchburg 5k by Katie Little, on Flickr

Lynchburg 5k by Katie Little, on Flickr

 

[Katie Little]

You guys... I effing skewed it all up again!!! I went for my run tonight and everything from my calves to my feet was in soo much pain. I thought I was just stiff but as I kept running it got more and more painful.. I think I’m just sore because I went from not being able to finish a week to sticking to the plan 100%. I think I pushed myself too hard last week and especially too hard Saturday. I’m just so mad that I couldn’t even finish 3 miles today... it’s like life threw me a curve ball. I wasn’t ready for that and I got knocked to the ground. Then I struggled to get back up. And when I was finally up and finally feeling good about my self I realized that nobody waited for me. Now I’m trying my best to catch up but every 2 steps I take forward I end up taking 1 and sometimes 2 steps back!!! I don’t feel like I’ve hit the wall, I feel like I’m spiraling out of control and I have no idea how to get back on track!!! I promise you guys that I am trying sooo hard and I know I can do this... I’m just so far behind I don’t know how. At least o got a mile in right? At least I gave it the old college try...but I also feel like there isn’t any room for mistakes because I’m soo far behind...Idk. I’m just so frustrated. I know I did the right thing tonight. If I got injured this late in the game it would be the end of my 10 miler dreams.. but I’m just frustrated and I wish I had had a little more foresight last week. I wish I would have tried a little harder to run easy.. I wish I had planned to only do 3 runs and ease my way into it... idk... I feel like this is rambly and incoherent so I’m just going to stop now... but wish me luck for the rest of the week.

 

[ZellyB]

First, deep breath!!

You are doing fine and you haven’t effed anything up! You had a great week and yes you pushed yourself so you may need to back off a bit for recovery. Just last week I had to back off on a run because the previous week had fatigued my legs more than I anticipated, so I walked most of a run and then pushed another run off for a day. That with some anti-inflammatory meds did the trick.

So, my advice? Take a rest day (or two if need be). Hit up some anti-inflammatory meds and maybe ice your feet and calves. Then head back out AND TAKE IT EASY and assess how you feel. It's really not uncommon after a big week of training or a race to have a lousy run where you feel bad. It happens to all of us. So give yourself a break. Take care of yourself. Rest. Then go back out there refreshed and ready to conquer the next challenge. I believe in you.

 

[Katie Little]

First, deep breath!!

You are doing fine and you haven’t effed anything up! You had a great week and yes you pushed yourself so you may need to back off a bit for recovery. Just last week I had to back off on a run because the previous week had fatigued my legs more than I anticipated, so I walked most of a run and then pushed another run off for a day. That with some anti-inflammatory meds did the trick.

So, my advice? Take a rest day (or two if need be). Hit up some anti-inflammatory meds and maybe ice your feet and calves. Then head back out AND TAKE IT EASY and assess how you feel. It's really not uncommon after a big week of training or a race to have a lousy run where you feel bad. It happens to all of us. So give yourself a break. Take care of yourself. Rest. Then go back out there refreshed and ready to conquer the next challenge. I believe in you.

Thank you!! I do already feel better from just typing it out. I think I’m just frustrated because I’m finally mentally ready to attack this plan and race but now my legs have decided they can’t keep up?! Lol I know I’ll get there and it really does help to know that it’s fairly normal to have a bad run after a strong week. Thank you for telling me that.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I went for my run tonight and everything from my calves to my feet was in soo much pain. I thought I was just stiff but as I kept running it got more and more painful.. I think I’m just sore because I went from not being able to finish a week to sticking to the plan 100%. I think I pushed myself too hard last week and especially too hard Saturday. I’m just so mad that I couldn’t even finish 3 miles today... it’s like life threw me a curve ball.

Like @ZellyB mentioned, you haven't ruined anything. In fact I would argue that you learned something. Just know that taking a slow day or two is not going to ruin your long term goals.

In 2017, I ran the Star Wars Rebel Challenge at Disneyland and then immediately switched over to the Dark Side training plan. I ran the 10K on Saturday, the Half on Sunday and my Tuesday run called for 30-45 minutes. It was very clear to me that shortly into that run, that my body was still feeling it. So I walked for 30 minutes and called it good. It wasn't until the next week that I felt fully ready to resume my normal training load.

You had a great week and yes you pushed yourself so you may need to back off a bit for recovery. Just last week I had to back off on a run because the previous week had fatigued my legs more than I anticipated, so I walked most of a run and then pushed another run off for a day. That with some anti-inflammatory meds did the trick.

I love this. Listening to our bodies will work wonders to help us improve. And sometimes that means slowing down even when the brain says push it.

I think I’m just frustrated because I’m finally mentally ready to attack this plan and race but now my legs have decided they can’t keep up?! Lol I know I’ll get there and it really does help to know that it’s fairly normal to have a bad run after a strong week.

Speaking for myself, sometimes I have found that when I should train for a set number of minutes, slowing down allows me to get the minutes in whereas maintaining a pace that isn't working that day will result in having to cut a run short. Going slower than you want doesn't equate to failure. And in fact may result in a personal victory down the road. Obsessive pursuit of a goal that leads to injury does no good whereas slowing down can help keep you on the path to achieve your goal.

 

[Katie Little]

@Sleepless Knight - Thank you!! That helps a lot!

 

[Katie Little]

Training Update Week 33!

Total miles ran – 1
Month to date – 15.2
Year to date –215.23
Purple shoes - 177.03
Blue shoes – 32.1

Planned work outs:
Monday - 3 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Wednesday - 1.25 mile @ Easy + 1.25 mile @ 60/30 sec @ 13:30/18:00 paces + 1 mile @ Easy
Friday (practice race nutrition)- 1 mile @ Easy + 4 mile @ 90/30 sec @ 14:45/18:00 paces + 1 mile @ Easy
Saturday - 2.5 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces

Missed workouts – all of them.. Well technically I didn’t skip Monday, I just cut it short. I think I over did it on week 32 so I was sore. Here’s the thing. If I had skipped Monday’s run I probably could have ran the rest of the week. I didn’t do that. So I had to take an extra rest day on Wednesday. Was going to do 2 miles on Friday; however, I was at my parent’s house all day taking care of my dad and I didn’t.

Things I learned this week –

I had a big mental shift this week. I realized that I can’t make up for July. It’s done and it’s over. The only thing I can do is move forward and do the best I can. From now on I’ve forbid myself from referring to how much I’ve struggled recently. I’m simply moving on- it’s easier said than done; however, I cannot keep beating myself up about it. I realized I’ve been letting my recent misses have too much impact on my runs. I talked about this in my race recap for the Yorktown 10k, but there is a football movie where the team is losing and the coach gives this big inspiring speech. After half time the team sets out a new score board that’s just for the second half. They still lose the game but they win the second half and they celebrate like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t know why that scene has stuck with me, but I’m glad it has because this is the second time I’ve needed that metaphor this year. (Does anyone know what movie that’s from? I don’t watch a lot of football movies so it’s either “remember the titans,” or “Water Boy.” Actually, it may be an episode of Friday Night Lights now that I think about it? Don’t you just love Connie Britton?)

Other Updates that seem important

Coach Billy (@DopeyBadger ) is having me go back to the week of July 2nd. When I asked how that would affect the plan his response was “There’s plenty of time between now and November.” Assuring me that the half is still Doable YAY!!

When I asked about the 10 miler his response was a little more ominous he simply suggested that we “play that by ear”. My heart is in my throat just typing that out and realizing that it may not happen. I did it to myself though. All I can do is move forward and see what happens. As a plan B, I’m pretty sure that I can shift my race down to the 4 miler, but I haven’t really done that research yet (just heard it from a friend). I’m not ready to fully accept that the 10 miler may not happen yet.

Days till next race – 42 days until the VA 10 Miler!!! <- I chose Dumbo for this race because me doing the 10 miler is equal on the amazing things scale with seeing an elephant fly. Last week it was a light hearted joke... This week the irony is not lost on me.

Plan for week 34:

Monday - 2.5 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Wednesday - 2 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18:00 paces
Friday - 4 miles @ 15/30 sec @ 16:00/18

 

[ZellyB]

Sometimes we absolutely just have to regroup and start fresh. That's a great mindset and I have great confidence you'll continue to do well going forward. My favorite Edna Mode quote.

 

[Katie Little]

Sometimes we absolutely just have to regroup and start fresh. That's a great mindset and I have great confidence you'll continue to do well going forward. My favorite Edna Mode quote.

I LOVE this!!!