I don't like it; I love it

Week of February 6-12, 2017

Mileage:  57.6, with a tempo/fartlek combo workout, my first ever successful Yasso 800 track workout, a shorter long run, two bootcamps, and crazy Missouri weather.  It is a rarity for me to have three hard days in a week (my coach considers my long run a hard day even if it's easy paced), but I felt like I handled the rarity well.  This also combated taper madness, although I missed having a double and a longer long run!  Stay tuned for taper madness next week...

Enjoying Saturday's unseasonably warm weather at Top of the Rock

Monday - Cross-training Monday with 35 minutes elliptical warm-up and 55 minutes strength bootcamp.

Tuesday - 8.5 miles total with a combination tempo/fartlek workout that was called "Ice Cream Sandwich" on my training schedule.  It was 2 miles warm-up, 10 minutes tempo at half PR pace, 6 x 1 minute on/1 minute off, 10 minute tempo at half PR pace, cool-down to 8 miles.  I felt like I executed this workout well, and I think it was helpful to practice changing gears and also helpful training for efficiency with glycogen use.  My average for all 8.5 miles was 6:39, which really made me appreciate how far I've come since I began working with a coach.  In spring 2015 when I was making my own training plan, my big goal was to run a straight 8 mile tempo in the 6:30s.  When I accomplished that I thought it was one of the best workouts of my life, and that was pretty much my ceiling/the best I'd ever be; on this run I averaged in the 6:30s for over 8 miles when over half of the duration was easy running.  However, then I think about how I'm going to try to run a marathon in the 6:30s and the overall average pace doesn't seem that good any more, haha!  It's all relative, right?!

My average pace for the first 10 minute tempo was 6:08.  I was aiming for 6:10, even though technically my half PR pace is 6:13 (6:12.7 if we are getting really technical).  Just dreaming bigger about running 6:10 pace for my next half!  My 1 minute "ons" ranged from 5:30-5:54; the two in the 5:50s were up inclines, which is also shown by the recovery between them being at 6:29 pace, as that was going down a decline between (during the workout I was thinking I sure timed the placement of those wrong, but it was good for me, just not for my splits).  Then my second 10 minute tempo was at 6:02 pace.  I was aiming for 6:06ish so it would be faster than my first (and also so it would be at 1:19 half pace...still dreaming big here!), but I guess I should have just went ahead and tried for sub-6:00, because who wants 6:02?  Hindsight!  Overall I felt good and I was happy with this workout, especially considering I was coming off of my 24.4 miler on Saturday.  I screwed up the workout when I programmed it into my Garmin, so it was missing a 1 minute segment, and that's why split 15 below is 1:14...I felt like my recovery had been longer than a minute so looked at my watch and sure enough, it had started the 10 minute tempo portion, but I figure 14 seconds extra recovery probably didn't break the workout...the perfectionist in me didn't like that though!  That's also why my second 10 minute tempo was 10:06.

It was 63 degrees at 5:30 a.m. for this run - sports bra running weather in early February when we usually have snow storms!

Ice Cream Sandwich Splits

Wednesday - 9.3 base pace (7:16).  I did the first 3-4 miles with Amy R. and Jeff, and then we kind of all did our own things, but it is always nice to have others out there!  It was a nice negative split day, where easy pace was 7:30 at the beginning and 7:00 at the end (the elevation on the course we ran also promotes a negative split).  I also did 15 minutes of core work.  It was 40 degrees for this run at 5:30 a.m., which was also the warmest it was all day.

Thursday -  8 base pace (7:09), in theory, with Danielle and Missy.  This was a bit quick, because Missy's newest canine addition, Rolo, ran with us for the first time.  We learned that Rolo has one pace, and it's 7:08!  Pretty impressive because when Missy's family first adopted him in December, he could barely run one 9:30 mile.  He needs some practice in not pulling her, but on this run he dragged her and in effect all of us along.  The wind chill was 8 degrees for this one (around 18 degrees and 12 mph wind), probably the most typical Missouri February weather of the week.

Friday - 3.1 shake out (7:29), before 50 minutes of bootcamp.  It was around 30 degrees with a 22 degree wind chill for this one; again, pretty typical Missouri February weather.

Saturday -  12.1 total with Yasso 800s.  The goal was 10 x 800 m on the track in 2:55-2:56, with 2:55 jog recovery between (800 m = 2 laps on a standard track).  I wasn't particularly looking forward to this workout because it was a strugglefest last time I ran it (see Saturday here).

If you're not familiar with Yassos, essentially you're supposed to run ten 800 m repeats in minutes:seconds in what your goal marathon time is in hours:minutes - so if you want to run a 3 hour marathon, you run 3 minute 800 m repeats.  Many people, especially men, can run faster Yassos than they can run a marathon (e.g., they can average 2:55 for Yassos, but their marathon is 3:05).  I'm the opposite/oddity; mine are actually usually pretty close or a tad slower than my marathon time (e.g., I'd average 3:05 for Yassos and run a 3:03 marathon), although I still don't believe in them as a predictor for anyone since the physiological systems used for a speed workout vs. a marathon are so different.  Plus I know I cannot currently (and did not) run Yassos as fast as my Phoenix goal time, so I'm going to cling to my recent half time, my "Hardest Workout Ever", and my 24.4 miler with a fast finish being better predictors for me than Yassos!  However, even though I don't think they are a predictor, I do think they are a very solid and challenging workout.

And, I nailed my Yassos for the first time ever!  My splits were 2:54, 2:55, 2:54, 2:55, 2:55, 2:56, 2:55, 2:55, 2:55, 2:53 - which is an average of 2:54.7.  I was most excited that I finished strong, with my last rep being my fastest, and I actually felt like I could've done 2 additional reps at 2:55 had I needed to!  The other times I've done this workout, I've barely been able to cling on to 2 seconds above my pace range on the final 2 reps, and because of my past difficulties with this workout I was scared of failing at it this time, especially since my pace range was faster than last time.  It wasn't until I was finishing repeat #7 that I realized I was actually having a good workout and was feeling great (I was just so used to running crappy Yassos that I thought I was again running crappy Yassos); then I kind of turned a corner and finally felt like I could do it.  The whole run all together was at an average of 6:40 pace; refer to Tuesday's lamenting about overall average paces.  It was 55 degrees with 12 mph wind (lighter wind than expected, whew!), and right now it looks like it will probably be around 50 degrees at the start of my marathon, so it was perfect to run hard in the 50s!

Another first for me on Saturday happened when I was running my warm-up around the residential streets near the track.  A lady walking her dog told me "there's a dead body up there" while gesturing to police cars up the road by an apartment complex (side note:  I was on part of the Bass Pro Marathon course).  She looked a little crazy herself, and didn't specify whether it was natural causes or suspected foul play, but I went ahead and turned around and found another route!  I haven't yet seen anything on the news about it, which I'm taking as a good sign.

Sunday - 15.5 mile final "long run" (7:16).  Since my last five weeks of long runs have been 20, 18 (with a half race), 22, 20, and 24, I felt the need to put "long run" in quotes here.  Kind of crazy this was 9 miles shorter than last week's long run!  Amy R. had a 25K tempo at her marathon goal pace (7:20-7:27), and I offered to pace her.  We were right on throughout, and I ended up with 3 faster miles (7:0X) from 9-11 because I stopped to pee and she kept at it and I had to catch back up - she nailed those miles without me though.  I knew she had a negative split in her, so I dropped to 7:10ish for the final 2.5 miles, and she nailed that as well!  She ended up with a 7:18 average pace, and I was so proud of her for such a strong performance.  She is right on track for a 3:15 or better at Boston!  We had a powerful north wind on this one (20+ mph), but we ran out and back east and west only, so it wasn't too much of an issue; just a little chilly, but at 49 degrees it could have been much worse!

Final fun news for the week:  in honor of Valentine's Day, you can get 25% off your order of nuun though their website by using the code NUUNLOVE25!  nuun energy is my favorite pre- and during-run electrolyte drink, and I've sure been going through a lot of it lately!