Making my final workouts of 2016 count!

Week of December 26, 2016 through January 1, 2017!

Mileage:  57.1 with a mile repeat workout (eek!), a double, a set of strides, a cut-back long run, a strength workout, and a bootcamp.  6 of my 7 runs this week were solo, as my running partners were all out of town.  I enjoy running on my own and used to do 95% of my runs that way, but it was a change from recent patterns - and I am thankful it wasn't super cold, as those are the runs that are harder to get out on my own for!

Monday - 3.2 mile shake out (7:52) and 30 minutes of strength training.  This was a scheduled day off running, but since I was traveling and didn't have access to a bike or elliptical, I ran the 3 miles I had scheduled on Friday.  I was still dragging following Saturday's 18 miler though!  I tried to emulate bootcamp as much as I could with a HIIT strength workout in my in-laws' living room, but I try not to do much jumping inside other people's houses.

Tuesday - 8.2 miles base pace (7:25) and 5 minutes of planks.  I was back to regular routines and felt normal again! 

Wednesday - 12.1 miles:  3 warm-up, 5 x 1 mile repeats on the road with 0.5 recoveries, 2.1 cool-down.  My repeat times were 5:57, 5:54, 5:57, 5:56, 6:02...I just couldn't find a few more seconds on #5!  I'll call this workout average; if you've read my blog at all you know that I will never be happy with a workout where my final repeat is my slowest, and especially in this case when it was the only mile that wasn't sub-6:00.  Really I guess I am rarely satisfied with anything I ever run, even if it is a personal best (which this workout was).  I don't mean to be unappreciative of PRs; sometimes I just know I can do better, and this was one of those times.  I have this thought pattern with most things I do, but running is particularly quantifiable.  It probably makes me a little crazy, but it also makes me a competitor!

My goal pace range for the mile repeats was 5:50-6:00, and when I first saw this workout on my training schedule a few weeks ago I told myself, "I am going to run all 5 in 5:50." (in retrospect, now that I've looked back at my past mile repeat times, I am not sure why exactly I thought I could do that).  I didn't feel nearly that confident during my warm-up, as I didn't feel wonderful and mainly kept thinking about how I'd rather being doing a 6-8 mile tempo.  Then I thought about the irony in that, because in my 20's I loved mile repeats and struggled with even short tempos.  I also got up at 4:45 a.m. to get this in, and ran it alone, two things that did not help my optimism.

I never judge a workout by the first rep or first mile, as it almost always feels meh.  But by the beginning of the third repeat I knew I was going to struggle to keep them under 6:00, and I did since I couldn't quite inch by on the last mile!  Looking back, I should have started my kick sooner on #5, as I thought I had more distance left when I looked at my watch to gauge my sprint and was already at 0.96.  I struggled with negative self-talk during this workout, which I am sure didn't help.  I kept trying to re-focus, but I kept drifting back to, "This is hard," "I'm never going to stay under 6:00", "This wind sucks," "I just don't have it today," etc.  The wind did suck (18 mph), and I had to deal with it for about half of every repeat because I ran a loop course, but at least it was 38 degrees!  I considered stopping at 4 repeats because my legs felt done at that point, but convinced myself to finish the workout as written...then I considered skipping the cool-down but also convinced myself to slog through it (it was some of the slowest running I've done for awhile, 8:25ish pace).

I'm still struggling with negativity about this workout, even though it's the best mile repeat workout I've ever done, with 5 repeats in an average time of 5:57.  I can't find in my training log that I've ever done 5 mile repeats at all, as 3-4 has been more standard, and my best outdoor averages I could find were 5:58 for 3 and 6:05 for 4 (I've gone a little faster on the treadmill, but that's not really real).  I think I would have been fairly happy with this one had I run the last repeat in 5:50ish and finished feeling strong instead of hammered, but I guess they can't all be perfect, right?  I've had a string of really good workouts so I need to focus on that and also be thankful for that!  I'm glad this workout is in the bank and I think it will help me in the Arizona Rock 'n' Roll half that's coming up on January 15.  After all, now I have practice running a 6:02 mile on legs that feel like they have nothing left to give, which can only be helpful in mile 13.  After my last two tempo runs, which I've been able to finish with sub-6:00 miles, I told Jon that I'd like to try to run the last mile of my half under 6:00, but this workout showed me that that goal is probably way too ambitious at the present time!

Wednesday's second workout:  Silver Dollar City

They are the cutest!

Thursday - 12.3 miles; 8.1 a.m. (7:24) and 4.2 runch (7:43).  I expected my legs to be dead following Wednesday's workout (as they were sure dead on Wednesday's cool-down!) plus Wednesday evening at Silver Dollar City, so I was pleasantly surprised to feel normal on these runs.  I did 6 x strides in the final mile of my morning run after second guessing whether or not those were on my schedule or not about 20 times during the run (they weren't, but they are every single other Thursday so you can understand my error!).  It was very windy for both of these runs, but also fairly warm for this time of year (37 and 47 degrees).

Friday - Bootcamp (50 min.) with an elliptical warm-up (30 min).  I think I needed a day off running, as I went longer than usual without one, but I also missed my little 3 miler before Friday bootcamp.

Saturday (New Years Eve) - 15.1 mile base pace long run (7:23).  This was scheduled as "comfortable and steady" the whole way, and I was in need of a cut-back long run so I didn't even mind stopping at 15!  I met my friend Julie, who was visiting from Illinois, at the Run for the Ranch (R4TR) starting area and ran the first 9 miles with her.  She is super speedy (2:49 marathon PR!), but has been dealing with an injury so I could actually keep up with her while running farther than her at an easy pace.  After she finished I continued on for the rest of my miles, including a loop of the R4TR course and some other randomness near the Missouri State campus.  I finished with one mile at about marathon goal pace for good measure (6:39, aiming for 6:40).  Then I spectated at R4TR, seeing many talented area runners in the half and full marathon races, and seeing my sister-in-law run her fastest half marathon yet!

Cute spectators

Allison's PR!

No rest for mama after running 13.1 (her 1-year-old isn't pictured but was also crying for mom here)

Sunday (New Years Day) - 6.2 mile recovery run (7:42).  Today I also learned, via Instagram, that Neely Spence Gracey is running the Arizona Rock n Roll half in 2 weeks and therefore I'll be in the elite starting corral with her!  What an amazing, although super intimidating, opportunity!  I imagine there could be some other famous pros in the mix as well, so I am going to make sure my dad takes a lot of pictures while I cower in the back of the corral and/or attempt to look like I did not enter the incorrect corral.

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