CHRISTmas week

Week of December 19-25, 2016

Mileage:  60.3 (60s!!), with a really solid tempo run, a double, a set of strides, a fast finish long run, a bootcamp, some additional strength, and celebrating Jesus's birth!

Monday - Cross training Monday fell on a good day - the coldest morning of the week!  Bootcamp (with a 12 Days of Christmas set...you know, 1 burpee, 2 squat presses, 3 walk-outs, 4 rows with high pulls, 5 lunges, etc., building like the song) with an elliptical warm-up as usual.  I also ran 0.7+ in bootcamp as part of our HIIT intervals, around the indoor track (which is rarely a part of class)...and I'm counting it in my mileage since it puts me over 60!

Tuesday - 12 miles total:  3.2 warm-up, 6 tempo (6:09), 2.8 cool-down at lunch.  This tempo went very well and I couldn't decide if I was more pumped about running a lifetime best 6 mile tempo time or about my beautiful negative split (see below)!  I used to run my 6 mile tempos in about the same total time as I could race a 10K in, but there is no way I could run a 36:55 10K (hopefully a 37:55, though).

I love a good negative split!

My goal tempo pace was 6:15 (half goal pace), and my strategy for the run was to start at 6:20 pace and then run each mile slightly faster than the one before it, and I accomplished that.  I didn't realize that my overall pace was quite as fast as it was or I'd have probably kept going to 6.2 to run a nice 10K time!  Last time I ran a 6 mile tempo, I averaged 6:24 pace on this same course, so this was a significant drop and I hope it means good things for this training cycle.  I also took half a gel with a few sips of water between my warm-up and the tempo to practice running hard with gel on my stomach, and because I seem to need a little bit of something like that when I run a significant distance at noon, and it sat fine so that was also a victory.

When I showed Jon my splits from this run, he first said many complementary things that I want to give him credit for ("Wow, that's super fast", "That was a break through workout", "I'm happy for you"), then the conversation with Jon-isms continued like this:

Jon:  If you didn't have that bad first mile, your average would have been even faster.
Me:  I don't think a 6:19 mile is bad...my goal pace was 6:15 and I was supposed to start slower and work down.
Jon:  Well, it was 24 seconds slower than your last mile!
Me:  Oh.

However, I don't really think I could've gone any faster at the beginning even if I'd wanted to (it didn't help that I didn't do drills or strides beforehand, since I was in a hurry trying to run 12 miles on my lunch break...I went into work an hour early but still)!  It takes me a couple of miles to get going on tempos and in races no matter how many warm-up miles I run, and during those first 2-3 miles I never feel like I can get any faster or even sustain the pace for the whole distance.  I've run enough long tempos that went well by now that I bank on feeling stronger as the workout progresses and don't feel discouraged early on like I used to.  As usual, on this run I seriously had to push much harder for my splits on miles 1-2 than for miles 4-5!  What is wrong with me?!  I guess this is also why I can't race a 5K at a much faster pace than a 10K!

I packed these in my lunch I took to work on Tuesday!

Wednesday - 12.3 miles total with 8.1 a.m. (7:25) and 4.2 runch (7:48).  I connected with another running partner on my morning run, Danielle.  Missy knows her from triathlons, she lives in Branson but commutes to Springfield for work, she runs about our same base pace, and meeting us to run before work at 5:30 a.m. works perfectly for her.  Missy scheduled us all to run together, but she has a bit of an injury so she ended up riding her mountain bike with us instead of cancelling because she is that sweet!  It's been difficult to coordinate running schedules with Amy and Ashley recently, so I think God knew I needed another potential training partner to meet in the cold darkness as Missy takes some (hopefully very little!) time off!  Then it was in the 40s for my lunch run - yay x 100!

Thursday - 3.1 miles shake out (7:45).  I felt like I came down with a minor stomach flu overnight, and couldn't manage doing anything in the morning so this was at lunch (again with temperatures in the 40s!) after a lot of electrolytes.  I still felt weak/off, so did this short run only (it was scheduled for Friday), and skipped the core and arm strength I had planned.  I was feeling better by the end of the day but didn't manage to work the entire day or to eat much, as I had nausea and pain each time I tried.

Friday - 8.1 miles base pace with 6 strides in the last mile (7:19), with Danielle.  I was going to run my long run on Friday due to Christmas celebrations on Saturday, but after not being able to eat sufficiently on Thursday I thought it would be too hard on my body so I moved it back to Saturday when it was originally scheduled anyhow!  Based on how I felt at the end of 8, I could have done the 18 if I had to, but I think it would have really depleted me and my stomach wasn't quite right yet, plus I'd already worked it out to be able to do it on Saturday.  In case I needed further confirmation that I was making the correct decision, it started raining about 5 minutes after we finished this run (38 degrees and rain is awful)!  It was also insanely windy, and when I checked Saturday's forecast it showed 4 mph wind at the time I'd be running long (and that was exactly what happened on Saturday morning), so again I think I made the correct choice.  I also did a quick 10 minute core/arm workout (mainly plank variations).

Saturday (Christmas Eve) -18.1 miles: 14 steady, 4 fast finish, and 0.1 shuffling in.  My average pace for the whole shebang was 7:20, and my fast finish miles were 7:05, 6:59, 6:55, 6:44 (my training schedule said to drop 5-10 seconds each mile on these, which I did aside from dropping about 15 seconds on the first one, but I'd have liked my final mile to be 10-20 seconds faster than it was).  Every marathon training cycle has a bad or at least a "meh" long run, and I'll call this one "meh".  My 18 miler of my last cycle was also my "meh" run - I averaged 7:34 on it so at least this one was a faster "meh".  I just never felt great on this run, but fortunately I was able to stay in my goal pace range the entire way; it just never felt runner's high effortless, but instead was work the whole way.  I'll chalk it up to a combination of traveling for Christmas, running alone, being 23 degrees, feeling the stomach issue still, and running on dirt roads.  I ran from my parents' house in Kansas and did pretty much all of the country roads I ran in high school, so it was a nice run down memory lane.  I ran the hilliest route I could, including "Champion Hill" (named by my high school cross-country coach), which was much smaller now that I live in Missouri!  The hilliest route there was about equivalent to the flattest route I can run from our house in Ozark.  I was glad to get it done and to put on some Christmas compression socks and tights to enjoy family time afterward!

No holiday breaks from recovery!

My niece, nephew, & daughter pillaging stockings on Christmas Eve

My mom is the best grandma!

My loves!

So much cuteness!

Family photo fail

Sunday (Christmas Day) - 6 mile recovery run (8:16) in Cherryvale, Kansas from my in-laws' house.  I was dragging on this one, but it was over 60 degrees and I ran in a sports bra and shorts!  I got this in before everyone else woke up to celebrate Jesus's birthday.

"For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

We are certainly more flawed than we want to admit, but more loved than we could dream - on Christmas and always!  Wishing you love, joy, grace, and peace this holiday season and always.

Some improvement on the family holiday photo

Ibbetson cousins, minus the 2 youngest

Albani adores her cousin Samantha

This light up chainsaw was a huge hit (plus 2 littlest cousins pictured)!

Albani gave her cousins a bunch of her own toys, so sweet