I should probably summarize the last few weeks!
August 4: Strength - upper body with dumbbells.
August 5: Strength - full body kettlebell video.
August 6: Tempo run. 10 min warm up, 1 mile 30/30 intervals, 1 mile 45/30 intervals, 10 minute cool down. The first interval was 12:22 and the second was 11:50. I have a 10k at the end of September and my goal is to run HM pace (which is currently 12:30), so I've been using these race rehearsals to dial in my intervals.
August 7: Took this as a rest day since it was the first day of school!
August 8: Drill workout. This was the second day of school for my son and we dropped him off the first two days, so I did this early and only did the drills so I'd finish in time. It was fine. Acceleration gliders are getting easier and that 5 minute interval was 12:36 overall.
August 9: Rest day. Went to Hollywood Studios.
August 10: 4 x 800s. My first round of 800s. I will eventually get to 14 of them in this training block, but I'm trying not to think about that yet.
Since I don't have access to a track, I programmed my workout for half mile repeats with quarter mile recovery walk. My goal was to run 5:50 intervals using 60/30 intervals. My first interval was 20 seconds too fast, but the others were closer to the goal pace. The last interval felt really hard, probably because of the heat, but also because I was going uphill most of the way.
1 - 5:30
2 - 5:44
3 - 5:39
4 - 5:49
August 11: Treadmill progression walk. Strength - legs and arms with dumbbells.
This was also the first day my son took the bus. I usually take a short break to walk my dog in the afternoon, so now I take her to the bus stop and she's become a rock star.
August 12: Had to take my mom to the doctor, so I took another rest day.
August 13: Tempo run. 10 min warm up, 2 miles at 30/30 intervals, 10 min cool down.
1 - 12:07
2 - 12:10
Proud of myself for keeping that pace steady even though I took a few extra walk breaks in the second mile. I had developed a super annoying side and collarbone stitch. Hopefully those will go away with more stretching.
August 14: Strength - abs. 2 mile progression walk. This was a new workout that Chris Twiggs from Customized put on my schedule. He usually has people do 4 miles, increasing pace each mile, but because I don't have time to do 4 miles during the week, he had me speed up every half mile. I really liked this workout and will keep doing it on my cross training days. My walking speed during runs is around 18 min/mile and I'd like to get faster - or at least not slow down when I get tired.
August 15: Hills and drills. 5 min cadence drill, 5 min acceleration gliders, then 4 hill repeats. This was fine.
August 16: Rest day. Went to Animal Kingdom.
August 17: 14 mile long run.
Whew! This was hot. I woke up and Garmin told me I slept poorly and my readiness was low, plus I had a headache. But I had 14 miles on the schedule, so I popped some acetaminophen and got ready.
The sun was just rising when I started, and there was a high cloud cover so I didn't feel ridiculously hot. The first half of the run went pretty well. I ran down the main road outside my house, stopped at a Publix (grocery store) about 2.5 miles away to refill water and cool off, then went down another street to get to another Publix about 3-4 miles from there. I filled up water again, and started the loop back to my house.
At that time the run started to feel much harder and I realized all the clouds had gone away. The sun was beating down on me with no shade and I was so close to calling the run. Except, I was still 5-6 miles away from my house and my husband had taken my son to swim lessons so I had no way to get back home. I slowed down and told myself to just make it back to the first Publix, then I could cool off for a bit, and wait there if I needed him to come get me.
Thankfully, once I turned back on the main road, there was a noise wall that blocked the sun for me and it was such a relief. I made it to the Publix and stayed there for at least 15 minutes drinking water, using the bathroom, and running water on my wrists/face. The water from the fountain was SO cold, and it felt soooo good.
When I finally started the run again, I felt so much better and was able to keep up my intervals back home. I did slow down a bit, but it was around 85 degrees by then, so I don't feel bad about it.
While I like running along different routes, I realized that when it's this hot, I have to run along the main road that has noise walls and trees to block the sun. The heat sucks, but the sun is really what takes it out of me during a run.
Thankfully, I felt pretty good physically during this run. My legs didn't have any niggles. My feet, however, started hurting early on. I think I need more cushion for these longer runs. The Adrenalines were fine for runs up to a half marathon, but they bothered me during the marathon and same yesterday. I ordered a pair of Glycerin 21 GTS to see how the extra cushion feels. If they work, they'll become my long run/marathon shoe. (This, by the way, is one of the reasons I appreciate doing these longer runs. I can figure out what bothers me after 4+ hours on the road.)
My nutrition was thankfully on point. I used my new handheld 20 oz Amphipod and flipbelt with an 11 oz bottle. I filled the handheld with three scoops of Tailwind to start, and added 2 more scoops halfway, just sipping to thirst. I'm trying to work my way up to 4 scoops per bottle, that way I won't have to refill during a half, and only once during a full. The flipbelt bottle was for plain water, and I took about 2-3 ounces every 1.25 miles. I also had an applesauce pouch at the hour 1 and hour 3, and m&ms at hour 2. My energy felt great throughout despite the heat, and to my surprise, I didn't get a headache after the run.
August 18: 2 mile progression walk. This was nice recovery.
This week I'm back to my Tuesday/Thursday run schedule and will be doing strength on Wednesday/Friday. This weekend I have 6 x 800s, which will feel like a cutback after this week.
