Taper Deja Vu

Week of October 24-October 30, 2016

Mileage: 50, with a tempo workout, a set of strides, an impromptu double, a crazy speed workout, a bootcamp, some core work...and two birthdays!

My department is the best - and hilarious!  "Real runners don't age."

Monday - Business as usual with bootcamp (45 min.) + elliptical warm-up (25 min.).  The day before this I'd been zonked from running 3 times in under 24 hours (Saturday 8:00 a.m. shake-out, Saturday 5:00 p.m. 5K, and Sunday 5:30 a.m. 16 miler - see Sunday's notes here), so I decided that if I woke up still feeling exhausted I was going to skip bootcamp, but I woke up feeling great so the extra rest I had on Sunday was just what I needed!  This was my last chance to go to bootcamp before the Bass Pro marathon, so I'm glad it aligned for me to go, and I was also proud of myself for being open to not going if I needed an easier day (e.g., being less obsessive).

Tuesday - 7 base pace (7:20), with Missy and Ashley!  We are deciding on a name for our group - I named the group text "Competitive Women's Group", but Missy suggested "Slow Old Women's Group", which seems more fitting for me this week due to turning another year older.  Missy brought me an early birthday gift, including an amazing Underarmour winter running top, because she is the sweetest.

Wednesday - Happy birthday tempo workout to me!  The workout was 2 miles warm-up, 3 x 2 mile tempos with 0.5 mile recovery jogs between, and 1 mile cool-down.  Missy ran a tempo at the same time as me, although not the same workout, so we weren't together on the repeats, but it was nice to have someone else on the roads with me and we warmed up together and such.  This ended up being a confidence-inspiring workouts, as my 2 mile splits were 12:22 (6:11.5, 6:11.3), 12:11 (6:03.6, 6:07.5), and 12:08 (6:08.1, 5:59.99), and my average pace for all 10 miles even with the 4 miles of easy warm-up, recoveries, and cool-down mixed in was 6:39.  I was supposed to run the tempos at 6:15, and on the first rep that was what I was aiming for, and it felt so easy...well, maybe not easy, but a controlled faster pace, like half marathon pace.

Then the workout just flowed from there!  Towards the end I started thinking that maybe I could close with a sub-6:00 final mile, and I managed to do so by the tiniest of margins (I should have started the push for it a little earlier, because I was going up an incline when I decided to go for it)!  This was my final big tempo push before Bass Pro, and I felt really good about it.  It was brisk but not extremely hard.  It also made me want to race a half and a 10K so badly!  The workout made me feel like I could run 6:20ish pace for a flat half in cool temperatures, and I think I can run a 10K better than my last at 6:14 pace, since that was run at 70 degrees on a hilly course (e.g., conditions that I wasn't going to try for a PR in). 

So I asked my coach about racing the White River half on November 19 if I felt up for it.  I was sure that he'd say it was a bad idea, but he said that if I feel up for it then to go for it, provided that I don't do any more long races until the end of January, per our plan (but a 10K isn't a long race, so I'm thinking I could add one of those, bahahaha!).  So, I might get a go at a half in 2016 after all!  Or I might not even want to or feel like I have it in me after Bass Pro, which is totally okay too.  I am also (kind of) learning patience, and I believe that since my coach got me to this fitness level now, he can do it again in spring 2017 and I can go for a half PR then.  A couple of the ladies I've been training with are doing White River, so might as well ride down with them and go for it if I feel healthy after Bass Pro!

I also did a short core workout at lunch on Wednesday...would that be "Crunch"??  My medal from winning my age group at the Waddell and Reed half came in the mail on my birthday too.  I won my age group in 2015 there as well, and still find it humorous that I ran it as a base run this year and managed to place better overall (details here).

Splits

Because, for some reason Garmin Connect rounded this up, hahaha!

My birthday mail

Thursday - 11.1 total:  7.5 miles with 6 strides in mile 7 (7:31), with Missy and Ashley in the morning.  Happy birthday to Missy run!  We are almost birthday twins!  All three of us had hard Wednesday workouts, so it was nice to get in a relaxed conversational run.  AND it was sports bra running weather again, at least for me!  It's become a running (pun intended) joke that sports bra weather for me is long sleeve weather for Ashley, and on this run that was the case (it was 59 degrees and humid); I wore a shirt driving to meet, but then realized I definitely didn't want it when I got out of my car.

The day was SO beautiful that I did an easy second run in the evening, 3.6 miles (7:52).  This one wasn't on my schedule (sorry coach!!), but I wanted to soak up what will likely be my last chance for an after work run in daylight for a few months (!!!).  I am definitely going to need to schedule some lunch runs over the winter to get more daylight in my life!  

Friday -3.3 mile threasy (7:38) and a 25 minute strength workout focused on upper body and core.  No more leg strength until after Bass Pro!

Saturday - Crazy town 400s again; true deja vu to this taper week Sunday before Prairie Fire.  12 miles total with 2.1 warm-up, 20 x 400 m on the track, 2.2 cool-down. The 400s were run in 5 sets of 4 reps each, with 200 m recovery between reps and 400 m recovery between sets. The goal splits got faster each set, as the purpose of this workout is to generate leg-turn over without getting overly fatigued, and I assume also to practice negative splitting.   

My splits for each set were (I didn't do tenths of a second on each rep, but this is close):

Set 1 (goal 1:30, but I changed it to 1:29): 1:28, 1:28, 1:28, 1:28 - average 1:28

Set 2 (goal 1:28):  1:26, 1:27, 1:27, 1:27 - average 1:26.75

Set 3 (goal 1:27): 1:27, 1:27, 1:26, 1:26 - average 1:26.5

Set 4 (goal 1:26):  1:25, 1:25, 1:26, 1:25 - average 1:25.25

Set 5 (goal 1:25): 1:25, 1:24, 1:25, 1:23 - average 1:24.25
Average for all 20 was 1:26.15

 

For reference, last time I ran this workout, 4 weeks ago, I did (again, didn't do tenths of a second):

Set 1 (goal 1:30): 1:28, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31 - average 1:29.75

Set 2 (goal 1:28): 1:27, 1:28, 1:27, 1:28 - average 1:27.5

Set 3 (goal 1:27): 1:27, 1:26, 1:25, 1:26 - average 1:26

Set 4 (goal 1:26): 1:25, 1:26, 1:25, 1:26 - average 1:25.5

Set 5 (goal 1:25): 1:23, 1:25, 1:24, 1:23 - average 1:23.75
Average for all 20 was 1:26.5

Missy ran the first set beside me, and then rotated in and out of some of the others a few seconds behind me.  This was not her workout day, so it was really sweet of her to come out and help me on this one!  My main take-away is that 200 m recoveries are really short (about 1:00)!  Also I was really pleased to run a little faster than I did this workout 4 weeks ago; I felt that the workout 4 weeks ago was very solid for me, and today I paced all 20 myself (last time Casey led 8 of them) and it was 60 degrees (last time was 45).  I was also nice to check this one off!  I shouldn't have it again until February now!

Sunday - 6.5 miles shake out (7:24 ).  I only had 5 scheduled, but realized that 6.5 would get me to 50 miles for the week, so how could I not?  It was a gorgeous morning!

T-minus 7 days!  I don't think I'll have any taper madness this time (although I know I'll miss the mileage, as I don't run a whole lot next week), because I think this is just all bonus and even if I run a horrible race I'll be glad I tried and again thankful for the journey (and learn something for next time).  Marathon day is important, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that the training block along the way is even better.  I've made so many memories and I know that I'm exactly where God wants me to be.  Did you know that His plans are better than anything we can dream up on our own?!