Running Renaissance: One Skip Ahead of my Doom

[NYC_MW]

I’m still shocked by my shokz!

 

[GollyGadget]

Spring Training - Phase 1 - Week 11/13

I don’t even know anymore. I feel like it was a pretty good week but I didn’t do very well at sticking to the plan. Maybe I’ll just hide in the bushes for the next two weeks until race day

Wednesday - rest - We went to see the lion king. It was lovely. Highly recommend. The only problem was that I didn’t get home until 11 which is waaaaay past my bedtime. I also randomly woke up at 4a and couldn’t go back to sleep

Thursday - Easy 9.5 8.5 - I was taking advantage of the long weekend to go hiking with my mom so I had an evening flight to catch. I thought I’d have plenty of time after work but by the time we walked the dogs, I didn’t have nearly as much time as I expected. I was also exhausted from getting little sleep the night before. I literally could not keep my eyes open while sitting at my desk for work. This run did not look promising but I knew I had to do something. Once I made it out the door, things were okay. I kept the pace really easy and managed 8.5 in my allotted 1:40 which is way better than I expected.

Friday - Easy 6 - We didn’t arrive to our hotel until after 1a so it was another late night but I knew if I had any chance of getting in my run, I needed to get up and go before I talked myself out of it. I got myself hyped and ready only to discover the hotel gym was locked! There was really nowhere to run outside so I went for breakfast instead. After breakfast, we headed to Pinnacles National Park where we hiked over 7 miles and climbed the equivalent of 50 flights of stairs. Obviously not the same as running, but surely that counts for something?

Saturday - R 2x200 + T 2x1m + R 2x200 - We had moved to a new town and this one had enough space to run. It was 3/4 mile out and backs, but it was something. When I had mapped out the route, Google had promised it was mostly flat. It was not. At least not to this flat lander. My first two R reps were slow but also uphill. My T mile was downhill which I thought would be in my favor but I still couldn’t hit the pace. I knew the next one would be uphill and totally unmanageable so I decided to just skip to the cooldown. All in all, I managed 4.5 miles and 322 ft of ascent…not exactly flat. For reference, my 8.5 miler had about 25% of that and was nearly twice as long. It wasn’t the workout as prescribed, but it was definitely a workout. For good measure, I followed up the run with another 7 miles of hiking

Hello gorgeous half dome!

Sunday - Easy 6 - I was totally exhausted. I could not fathom running. My body was telling me it needed rest. I sort of listened. I didn’t run, but I did hike 3 miles uphill (700 ft ascent) just to see some tall trees. Of course, I also hiked back to my car but 3 miles downhill hardly seems worth mentioning


Monday - Easy 6 3.5 - I was still tired and leg muscles that I didn’t know existed were hurting. I obviously need to do more trail running or strength training. Anyway, I once again knew that I needed to do something. I set out with the goal of 4 but with all the hills, even with an easy pace, I was feeling this run and decided to wrap things up when I got back to the hotel half a mile early. No crazy hiking this day either. We both needed the rest and opted to mosey around an old gold mining town.

Tuesday - R 2x200 + 4x400 + 2x200 10 hill repeats - originally this was scheduled to be my second mile time trial but I had the foresight to realize that wasn’t a good idea last week and @DopeyBadger helped me adjust the schedule. However, I hadn’t anticipated the hills and that there wouldn’t be 100m of flat surface anywhere nearby. Knowing that hitting any sort of pace would be a disaster, I decided to try out hill repeats which is not something I have ever done in my adult life. 10 seemed like a good number so after a 1.5 mile warm up, that’s what I did. The hill took me roughly 30 seconds to climb and I was able to keep a similar pace on each rep. I was winded and tired but it felt manageable. My calves were really feeling it on the cooldown

So yeah…definitely not to plan but not horrible either. Deciding to go on this trip 2 weeks before my goal race probably wasn’t the best decision but I wouldn’t trade the memories with my mom .


Happy running y’all!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

excellent chalk art

New RAGBRAI goal is for us to recreate this. I’ll bring the chalk.

 

[GollyGadget]

New RAGBRAI goal is for us to recreate this. I’ll bring the chalk.

I can’t wait!! “Stay cool” takes on a whole new meaning in late July

 

[GollyGadget]

Spring Training - Phase 1 - Week 12/13

We made it folks! It’s race week!! True to form, there were a few missteps this week but I’m feeling confident. Hopefully the weather cooperates

Thursday - Easy 6 - For some reason I thought this was my mile time trial day and I spent most of the morning psyching myself up. It wasn’t until I started my run on my watch that I realized the mile wasn’t until Friday. Regardless, or maybe because, the run felt really good. It was a bit warm with highs in the 80s so I kept it nice and slow.

Friday - Mile Time Trial - I was really looking forward to this run. Since the last one went so well, I wasn’t counting on beating my time but I wanted to focus on not starting too fast. Plus it was hot. Plus I got little sleep due to having too much fun at a party on Wednesday night. My rHR was 9 bpm higher than the day prior! Regardless of the conditions I wanted to focus on a consistent sustained pace over the mile.
Well, that didn’t really go to plan. I still started out too fast. About halfway through, I felt like I needed to vomit. I knew I wasn’t going to hit a better time and gave serious consideration to stopping. Instead I doubled down. I wanted the practice, not the time. I kept pushing. I hit the mile and still felt like I might get sick. In fact, I spent most of the cool down coughing and surprised the that nothing was coming up. It was a good lesson to not stay up too late drinking before an important run, even if it is only a mile. By some miracle, my time came in at 6:59.9 . That was a nice feeling to know that I could still barely squeak in sub 7 I’m not great conditions.


Saturday - Easy 6 - I was feeling much better and this was another good easy run. I changed up my route a bit and stopped to take a few photos. Sometimes it’s fun to be a tourist in your own town.


Fun building artwork


View from the state Capitol

Sunday - Easy 9.5 - what a change in the weather! At least a 60 degree drop plus wind and rain. I wanted to go outside but when the wind nearly tripped me up on my dog walk, I opted for the treadmill. It was a bit tough to get excited for 100+ minutes on the treadmill but nothing motivates like a bunch of Boston Instagram posts.

Monday - Easy 6 - lots of trees are starting to bloom so I took a detour to the local arboretum but those trees were not blooming yet. At least I haven’t missed them. Stay tuned and hopefully I’ll have some spring photos to post next week.

Tuesday - I + R + T + R - my pacing has not been great for any of my T or I so I wasn’t feeling really good about this but was ready to give it a go. After starting out too fast, I ended up 10 seconds off pace for the I interval. I feel like this was a focus thing more than anything. I’m not good at keeping my mind on task for more than a couple of minutes. Same thing happened with the first R and the T. All that was left was 2x200 @ R. Since, I’d been a bit slow on the others, I was nervous but I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I ended up with a 6:39 and 6:20 pace. Whoops! At last it was good for building my confidence for running R pace at the end of a workout which I will definitely use during my race on Tuesday.

Speaking of Tuesday, it’s hard to believe it’s almost here . I’m very excited about this race. The competitive runners will finish nearly 2 minutes before me but it will be fun to see what I can do in a race setting. Plus two of my favorite runners, Colleen Quigley & Nikki Hiltz, will be competing for the USATF 1 Mile Road Championship . They run after us locals so I’ll be sure to find a spot near the finish line to cheer for all the participants.

Happy running folks!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Good luck with your race! Sounds like a cool event!

 

[GollyGadget]

Good luck with your race! Sounds like a cool event!

Thank you! After spending the end of last week in 30mph winds, things are looking good for tomorrow

 

[jmasgat]

Good luck tomorrow. May any wind be at your back.

 

[NYC_MW]

Good luck tomorrow!!

 

[striker1064]

Good luck!!

 

[GollyGadget]

Good luck tomorrow. May any wind be at your back.

I really appreciate it! Especially the part about the wind

Good luck tomorrow!!

Thanks!

Good luck!!

Thank you!

 

[GollyGadget]

Spring Training - Phase 1 - Week 13/13

The transformation is complete. 13 weeks of work and I’m ready for the ball! Let’s hope that I don’t lose any shoes

Thursday - Easy 6 - Is it always this windy in the spring? I don’t remember this many days of 30 mph winds but maybe I’ve just blocked them out of my memory.

Friday - R 2x200 + T 2x1mi + R 2x200 - it was still windy but at least the sun was shining. I took a detour through the arboretum. We’re still not at peak bloom but the trees are starting to get some color


Since my T pacing hasn’t been great and the winds were still 30+mph I did not have high expectations. My first two R intervals were only a second too slow and into a headwind. Then came the real test of T which I really wanted to figure out because in addition to my one mile race, I’m looking for a new PR in the 10K in a couple of weeks. Anyway, first one was 7 seconds too slow but that’s possibly as close as I had been all season and it was INTO the wind. Being so close, I was determined to hit my goal on the next. I had to keep focused (not a strength of this daydreamer ). Somehow managed to go 7 seconds UNDER the pace. Woo! big confidence booster but still two R repeats to go and now I’m tired and my hr is elevated. First interval was 1 second too fast and the last was right on pace. Have I officially figured out what R should feel like? I guess we’ll see at my race

Idk if anyone’s done any real science but based on my experiment of 1, the wind consistently had a +/-7 second differential. Everyone’s always talking about GAP and T+D but where is the wind factor??

Saturday - Easy 6 - New day, same 30+ mph wind. With the windchill being in the 20s, there weren’t many others out. I think I counted 3? Definitely saw more deer than humans which is a rarity for me.


Sunday - 5K - Did I mention I had a 5K race recently? . I wasn’t sure if I was going to run it for fun or race it so it was flying under the radar. I’ll have a full recap soon.
I decided to race it

Monday - Easy 6 - Felt pretty good. No aches or pains, just a tad sore in my hamstrings and quads, particularly when running uphill. Arboretum is starting to fill in a bit more with flowers.


All in all, a really good training week in the books. I’m feeling confident about my race in 12 hours. The weather forecast looks decent, mid 50s with 10mph winds. Now I just need to figure out how to keep my mind on task today. How am I supposed to get any work done?!?

Happy running y’all!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Everyone’s always talking about GAP and T+D but where is the wind factor??

I was just thinking this on my run today! There's a huge difference in pace and effort with the wind vs. against it.

All in all, a really good training week in the books. I’m feeling confident about my race in 12 hours.

You got this!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Have fun! You can do hard things! Let your mind go, relax your body as much as you can, and breathe.

 

[DopeyBadger]

 

[GollyGadget]

Drake Road Races Recap
These races serve as the kick off to the Drake Relays. The relays are an annual track & field event which features elite, college, and high school athletes. It’s one of my favorite local events of the year. How many other times do you get to see Olympians compete?

The 10K and half marathon started at 7:30a with the 5K starting at 7:45a. 7:45 didn’t sound too early until I realized what time I would need to wake up in order to walk the dogs, eat breakfast, get ready, warm up, drive, and find parking. It was early enough that I instinctively snoozed my alarm when it went off. Luckily I quickly remembered it was race day and was quickly out of my bed.

Although I was physically awake, my brain was not. I couldn’t remember how to make toast . I also failed at doing clock math and thought I had a bit of extra time but in actuality had to cut my warm up from 20 min down to 10. After a short jog around the neighborhood, we hit the road.

It took a little longer to find parking than I expected and I was starting to get stressed. I was nervous that the 5K would start earlier than advertised. We were still on our way to the start line when the first group started
I decided to leave my partner behind at this point so I could jog to the start. He was not interested in running any extra .

Unbeknownst to me, there were two start groups for the half and 10K so those that I saw lined up were not for my race after all. The second group began and I tried to find my partner again because I forgot to wish him luck but he was nowhere to be seen .

It was now time to line up. I always have such internal debate about where to start. I decided to judge the runners based on their clothing. Those wearing fewer clothes were determined to be faster and those with more clothes were slower. It was just below freezing and those in pants and sweatshirts were vastly overdressed ️

By some miracle, my partner found me to wish me good luck . He quickly ducked back into the crowd and I was on my own again.

My goal for this race was to beat my 5K time of 23:39 from September (7:36/mile). My training paces included a 7:25 5K which seemed a bit ambitious to me but regardless my goal was to keep my first mile somewhere between the two. I have a real problem with starting too fast and have learned that I need to set realistic pace bounds.

Of course, I started out a bit quick but I was able to find my groove. It was tough though. Drake students were out in full force to cheer us on. This only added to the race excitement and the desire to go fast.

Just before mile 1, I passed a family out cheering and the girl kept shouting “I know you can do it!” Of course I’ve heard the “you can do it” before but something about this little girl KNOWING really inspired me. Mile 1 passed by in 7:24, this was pretty close to on target and I was pleased that it wasn’t wildly too fast.

Pretty soon after, I could hear footsteps quickly coming up from behind. Another runner flew past me and reminded me that I was in a race . I was in full daydream mode for a minute and thankful for the reminder. She was long gone but I started passing other runners who evidently had gone out waaaaay too fast.

Before I knew it, runners were heading my direction. I thought for sure these were 10K runners but then I realized I could see the turnaround. These were 5K runners! I hadn’t been counting, but I knew there weren’t a lot of females ahead of me. I might actually have a shot at an age group award.

All of a sudden we were at mile 2. I’ve never felt good at mile 2, but I still felt GREAT My pace was 7:22 and I realized that I was actually doing this. The little girl was still cheering that she KNEW I could.
I had a brief thought that I could maybe PR but then realized that I had no idea what my exact PR was . All I knew was somewhere between 22 & 23 minutes.

After this thought, all I could think about was to keep enjoying, keep going. Just look at this enjoyment, I’m almost smiling


Just before we turned into the stadium for the finish, I was passed by someone who I thought may be in my age group. I didn’t have the speed she had but still used her to keep my mind on track. Mile 3 was done in 7:09

I have mixed feelings about the finish on the track. It’s fun for the spectacle and knowing it’s the same track as the professionals but I’m always so nervous that I’ll trip on the inside rail. Fortunately, I made it without issue and crossed the finish line with a time of 22:47!!

That’s my 3rd fastest 5K ever and only 10 seconds off my PR. I also somehow managed to win my age group .

I was feeling really confident after this race. Have I finally figured out the 5K? My biggest regret was not getting a photo with the university’s real dog mascot so this photo with a statue will have to do.


Next up was the Grand Blue Mile just two days later. Would that be successful? Would I get a picture with the bulldog?

 

[jmasgat]

Congratulations. That is a fantastic effort!

 

[striker1064]

Congrats!! Awesome job!!!

 

[nancipants]

Congrats! The girl was right!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Great job! Congrats!