Odd October

October 2020 in review!

Total mileage for the month:  220.2

• Sep. 28-Oct. 4:  67.8
• Oct. 5-11:  81.1
• Oct. 12-18:  69.1
• Oct. 19-25:  21.8 
• Oct. 26-Nov. 1:  1 (it was a pain-free mile - I'm just being super cautious and waiting until Monday, Nov. 2 to truly try to start back because I cannot need 4 months off again)

Yes, I look odd and don't care!

Races:

• I'm pretty sure 2020 is going to remain the year that I ran only one actual race (the bronchitis Houston Marathon in January).  Let's move on!

Workouts:

• October 2:  3 x 3k with 2:00 recoveries in 11:23, 11:18, 1:18 (2 warm up, 1.2 cool down).  Paces for 1.86 for those who think in miles (this workout drove my husband crazy; I told him that the next time he ran with us we would run 3 x 2 mile instead, hah):  6:05/6:08, 6:02/6:06, 6:02/6:05.  The target pace range was 6:11-6:19 and Christian and I swore we were starting at 6:19, but we both felt good, we ran a fast course, and the weather was spectacular.  Each time we came through the mile too fast we said we were backing off but didn't slow down much for the second half.  6:02-6:05 sure felt like 6:15 on this one!  I'm filing that away for another day when 6:30 feels like 6:15, since we all know that will happen too.
• October 6:  2 x 20:00 at marathon effort with 4:00 jog between, in a 13.1 mile run.  The marathon effort paces were 6:33, 6:34, 6:32, 6:30, 6:36 (incline), 6:24 (decline), and based on my heart rate it was really good pacing.  The course we ran had light rollers the whole the way.  Christian and I ran this together, which probably made it feel easier, but we were also planning to work together in the marathon.
• October 13:  2 x 2 mile tempo, 2 x 800 m faster, 2 mile tempo, all with 2:00 recoveries in 6:18, 6:18, 6:15, 6:21, 3:03, 3:04, 6:26, 6:24 (2.2 warm up, 2.7 cool down).  This one was a doozy!  My target tempo pace was 6:20 and my 800s were supposed to be sub-6:00.  I succeeded on the tempo with 6:20 average on the nose, but I couldn't find that faster gear for the 800s.  I felt strong but not fast on this one.  Christian, Sean, and Casey ran part of the workout with me, and we all decided we should have run it on a flatter course!  I was totally shot after the 800s and the others all stopped by that point, so I ran the last tempo with my heart (but also feeling like I was tanking to 6:50!) and was pleasantly surprised I managed to stay in the 6:20s while dead.  The workout course we recently switched to is a good 10+ seconds/mile slower than our fast workout course (we did the fast one on October 2), so it's not quite the same confidence boost but there is probably more benefit.
• October 17:  18 with a 15 mile progression run, dropping 10 seconds/mile.  Christian had a 10 mile progression run scheduled for Thursday but I told her if she did it within her long run I'd run it with her since I had a progressive fast finish scheduled (although not this much).  She was in, and we planned to do 5 easy then 10 progression (then 3 cool down for me), but I realized that if we started at 8:40 we could do a 15 mile progression.  Our splits were 8:33, 8:22, 8:08, 7:47 (lots of downhill), 7:47 (likewise), 7:45, 7:13 (more downhill), 7:20, 7:16, 7:05, 6:55, 6:40, 6:34, 6:41 (incline and headwind), 6:29 (incline).  As you can see, we did not select the best route for this, but we ran miles 9.5-23.5 on the Bass Pro marathon course so this is just what we got!  It was reminder that long stretch down Jefferson from about 22-24 is always against the wind.  I am not sure exactly where the corresponding uphill was to the early downhill, but I am sure I will find it the next time I run that course.  My cool down miles were 7:27, 7:26, 7:32, so it was nice to not be totally dead (my cool downs are usually in the 8s).
• October 20:  4 x 1 mile tempo with 2:00 jog, 6 x 200 m w/ 200 m jog, 1 mile tempo in 6:15, 6:21, 6:21, 6:33, 0:40, 0:42, 0:41, 0:42, 0:42, 0:46, 6:21 (2.1 warm up, 2.2 cool down).  I think I was still tired from the October 17 workout for this one - I told my coach she could tell me "That's why you should stick to your schedule and not run someone else's workout" (hindsight is also 20/20)!  I struggled some on the fourth tempo mile, which also had a lot of incline/uphill, and then on 200 m rep 5 my hip started hurting so I eased back on the last 200 m.  This wasn't exactly what I wanted (goal pace on the tempo was 6:20 and I would have liked all of the 200s to be 39-40, although Garmin isn't terribly accurate for that short of a repeat anyway), but I chose to run on the rolling hill route over the easier workout loop again, so I was proud of myself for that because I think it produced greater gains but made it harder to hit my paces.
• Doubles on Oct. 1, 5, 12, 14, 19.
• Strides on Oct. 1, 5, 8, 14.
• Elliptigo:  as a double on Oct. 4, 8, and 18, and as a workout most days from Oct. 21-31.
• Strength Training:  weekly totals of 1:35, 1:50, 1:10, 1:00, 1:35.
• Yoga: weekly totals of 2:50, 2:45, 2:35, 2:15, 0:25 (I'm stopping yoga at this point because my hip may actually be too loose).

After a successful workout

After a successful easy run :-)

Long Runs:

• October 3:  20.3 miles (7:56) with Christian in Joplin before Albani's cross country meet.  I had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to make this happen, but it ended up working out nicely and it was fun to run long in a different location.  I have become very fond of the workout Friday plus easy long run Saturday this season!
• October 10:  23 miles (7:39) that felt great!  Missy and Colin ran the whole way with me, Casey did 14 with us, and it flew by.  It took me 2:56:11 to run this, my goal being for it to be my longest time on feet this season - and it definitely was since I am not running a November 1 marathon as planned.
• October 17:  18.3 miles (7:24), with a 15 mile progression in 8:33, 8:22, 8:08, 7:47 (lots of downhill), 7:47 (likewise), 7:45, 7:13 (more downhill), 7:20, 7:16, 7:05, 6:55, 6:40, 6:34, 6:41 (incline and headwind), 6:29 (incline), described in workouts above.

23 miles of endorphins

bRUNch post-long run

I want to eat this meal every day

Running Highlights/Lowlights:

• Hitting 80+ miles again was great!  Since July/August I've been itching to run more miles and bigger workouts nearly every week, but I really held back and listened to my coach...
• Unfortunately, sometimes you can do everything right and things still go wrong.  After limping my cool down after my October 20 workout, I could not comfortably run, and I haven't run since except for a very easy mile with Jon (which was pain-free though!).  I wrote a separate blog on this, but the hip issue I dealt with from February through May is back and I am not running the local marathon I planned to on November 1 nor the local half I'd hoped for on November 21 (it filled up a few days ago, and I wasn't going to register while I was not running).  I am hoping to start back to running on November 2, but TBD.

We call this one Octypus October

Dark o'thirty on Christian's birthday

My running club accidentally tagged
me as a 2:45 half pacer, & the
responses made me laugh & grin

Life Highlights:

• Albani finished out 7th grade cross country.
• I became a masters runner on October 26.  I was pretty pumped about this, because in some larger races that I have no chance of finishing on the podium I can hold my own in the old lady category, if my hip allows that is (that really seems like an old lady thing to say!).
  
• Halloween - it was the first year Albani has been allowed to dress up at school, and of course the cats enjoyed the day.

7th grade school photo

In the process of passing

Pre-meet team prayer

Post-meet brunch

Latest cross-stitch

Dragon on the shoulder

Dragon wings in back (but I'm not
actually sure what she was...)

Hot dog #1

Hot dog #2

Chiefs fan

Books:

• Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
• The Beatrice Letters (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen
• The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
• After You by Jojo Moyes
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Theme for the month:

Bipolar.  Just when I felt like I was getting back into pretty good shape and was feeling good about running around 2:52 for a fun local marathon, my hip impingement pain returned with a vengeance.  Being unable to run the marathon was disappointing, but because of the circumstances (a small local event, not being in PR shape) I got [mostly] over it quickly.  Being unable to go out and knock out easy mileage daily and the fear for the future has been much harder on me.  

I was also really sad for my training partner Christian, who got injured and was unable to run Bass Pro, which was set to be her first marathon and would have been a smoking fast debut!  We ran many workouts and long runs together this season, and then we biked/elliptigoed together once we could not run.  No one wants to be in the injured runners club, nor do we want any of our friends to join, but if it has to happen to both of us it's nice that it happened at the same time.  Here's hoping we can both return to running at the same time - we have another marathon picked out if all goes as we pray it will!