August Angst

August 2021 in review!  

Total mileage for the month:  402

•  August 2-8:  86.3
• August 9-15:  100.5
• August 16-22:  85.1
• August 23-29:  90.0
• August 30-Sep. 5:  97.0

We love our #augustangst photos!

Races:

• August 28:  Rock the Parkway Half Marathon in 1:24:19 for 3rd overall female, which was about the best things could have gone when it was almost 90 degrees at the finish, but was hard to get too excited about.  Race recap coming soon!
• I was registered to run the Riverside 5000 on August 14, but it was cancelled due to increasing COVID cases in the Tulsa area.  I got a high mileage week in that week instead, which I preferred over a 5k anyway!

Watching friends race post-long run

Workouts:

• August 3:  3 x 1 mile with 0.25 recoveries in 5:42, 5:49, 5:53 (3.2 warm up, 3.5 cool down).  I really should have run these splits in the reverse order, with a progression instead of a positive split, but a regression is what happened!  I coordinated with Colin's tempo for the first two reps (his tempo pace being 5:40-5:45), which was really helpful, but I didn't have him to hang onto on the third rep and it was a grind (Christian ran the same workout and we started each rep together, which was also very helpful).  This is a pace zone that is hard for me, and my legs sure let me know they weren't the happiest with it, but it was good for me!  It was about 65 degrees for this workout, which felt amazing - and I knew I wouldn't be getting those conditions for my upcoming 5k race that this workout was targeted training for.
• August 6:  5 x 6:00 tempos with 1:00 recoveries at paces of 5:52, 5:51, 5:52, 5:50, 5:49 (2.8 warm up, 2 cool down).  I jogged the recoveries after reps 1-2 and stood for them after 3-4 because Christian made me run a bit too fast and I needed to get my heart rate down.  It was a great workout for both of us; goal pace was about 6:00 based on last week's tempo average of around 6:10 in warmer weather (it was 64 degrees for this one!).  We ran a flat fast course.
• August 10:  3 x (4 x 1k at MP, 1 x 800 m at tempo) with 1:00 recoveries between reps and 2:00 recoveries between sets - paces of 6:21, 6:26, 6:23, 6:23, 5:52 / 6:16, 6:19, 6:15, 6:20, 5:54 / 6:14, 6:18, 6:20, 6:16, 6:12.  The early morning weather was gross for this workout at 77* and 73* dew point, and my coach told me to use a heat calculator to adjust my paces.  It said to add 19 seconds/mile, so I added 10 seconds/mile to start, but worked down to about my original pace goals on everything but the final 800 m (decent weather pace targets were 6:15 MP and 5:50-6:00 tempo).  The first two sets felt pretty easy, then as per usual the heat hit me suddenly and on the final couple of 1k reps I really had to work, then on the last 800 m I didn't have much left.  I think having the recovery jogs in there really helped keep me from overheating until the end; a continuous marathon pace run or tempo would have been a lot harder in these weather conditions.  Christian ran the same workout, and although our paces didn't quite match, it was nice to have someone else grinding out 9 miles of work with me (we also warmed up with Colin and Elise before they did different awesome workouts on this morning)!
• August 14:  16 easy, 4 goal marathon pace (6:41, 6:32, 6:25, 6:15), 3.4 easy (23.4 total).  My average for the marathon pace miles was about right on with heat/humidity adjustment and I kept up with Colin so I considered it a success despite the pace average not actually being 6:15.  I felt strong but not fast on this run, which is pretty typical for me during peak mileage.  Christian and Colin did similar workouts, and David joined us for many miles of the run too.  I started this one at 4:52 a.m. (to run 1 mile before the others started at 5:00 a.m.).  I later realized that this was actually the fastest I've ever run this workout, just slightly bettering what I did in April in good weather.  It's just one of those workouts that makes it very difficult to wrap my head around ever running the pace for an actual marathon!
• August 17:  2 x 2 mile tempo at 6:08, 6:09 / 6:14, 6:07, 1 mile at 10k pace in 5:48, 6 x 0:25 hill sprints at average 5:39 (2.3 warm up, 2.8 cool down).  We ran a rolling hill route for this one, so I was thinking about 6:10 for tempo pace and 5:50 for 10k pace (though when the time came for that mile I decided I'd be happy with 5:59!). I was happy with the outcome, especially since I'd checked my rolling 7 day mileage the evening before and saw 105. I'm really happy that in 2021 I've been able to still hit workouts when my mileage has been 100+ (in 2020 I couldn't quite).  It was 69*, dew point 67*, which felt pretty good for August!
• August  21:  20.7 mile long run with 3.5 easy, 20:00 at tempo (6:31 average), 4:00 easy, 15:00 at tempo (6:19 average), 5 miles easy, 10:00 at tempo (6:23 average), 2:00 easy, 5:00 at tempo (6:14 average), easy to the finish.  This was definitely a effort-based and not paced-based day!  It was warm and humid (expected) then it monsooned during the first tempo effort (not expected).  We questioned whether we were running or aquajogging for awhile there, but even had the weather been great I don't think I'd have knocked this one out of the park based on how my legs felt.  I looked back at my training log and I hadn't had a day shorter than 9 miles for over 4 weeks, and only 5 runs of 9 miles (e.g., all of the other days were double digit mileage).  My coach had scheduled a day off for me on August 19 and I asked to switch it to August 22 due to travel plans, but I think I needed the original schedule to nail this workout (especially considering August 19 changed from a day off to 12 miles).  Christian, Colin, and Casey also ran this workout, and Casey hit her tempo paces with no weather adjustment (!!), but Colin and Christian suffered like me.  Any day we can run 20+ miles is a great one though!
• August 24:  7 x 5:00 at tempo with 1:00 recoveries in paces of 6:00, 5:51, 5:53, 5:52, 5:54, 5:55, 5:50 (2.2 warm up, 2.8 cool down).  Another sweltering workout, and recovery jogs that prevented me from overheating!  I was targeting 6:00-6:05, but Casey pushed me to run faster and it felt [mostly] good.  We had a great workout group on our flat fast workout room this morning - Casey, Christian, Rebecca, Elise, David, and Colin.
• August 31:  Mixed system workout of 20:00 at tempo, 1.5 miles at 10k, 1600 m at 5k, 4 x 300 m hard (3:00 recoveries between everything except 200 m jog between the 300s).  I ran this by effort, which ended up yielding paces slower than I'd have preferred, but I was able to get faster each section (vs. dying off, which would have happened had I pushed the pace to what I wanted it to be early on).  I averaged 6:14 for the tempo, 6:07 for the 10k work, and 5:56 for the 5k work, then my 300's were all 1:00-1:01 - couldn't quite crack 60 seconds!  It was 67 degrees, so felt cooler, but my legs were tired from my hot half with a long cool down.  Casey and Colin ran the same workout at different paces, but it was nice to have them to commiserate with!  Elise and David also did some tempo work on the road plus faster work on the track with us.
• Strength work: I was consistent with 2 full strength workouts and 3 core workouts a week, plus daily PT work/pre-run activation.
• Strides: 2, 5, 8, 9, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30.
• Doubles:  August 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 26, 30, 31.

Long Runs:

• August 7:  20 miles easy (7:51) on legs that were fatigued from the August 6 morning workout plus evening strength workout.  20 miles passed quickly; Colin ran all of them with me, and Rebecca, Christian, and David did most.
• August 14:  23.4 miles (7:46) with 4 miles at marathon pace, described above.   I actually think the faster miles would have been easier if I'd have run the first 14 faster; I was with a group running 8:00-8:15 pace, but I felt like I was going to have a hard time dropping so much from there so I went on my own for miles 15-16 around 7:30 pace before the MP miles.  If I run this again I'll probably keep it closer to 7:45 for the first 16 so I'm not so into slog mode or on my feet as long.  This run took 3:02 so was hopefully my longest time on feet for the season.
• August 15:  13.1 miles (8:10). I love back-to-back long runs and get to do a few this marathon cycle!  I also had some Thursday 11-13 milers this month but I didn't include those here.  The line on at what distance long runs begin has become blurry yet again!
• August 21:  20.7 miles (7:26) with a very wet workout, described above.
• August 28:  22 miles, including Rock the Parkway.  The 6.5 miles I did after the race were slow and HOT!

Running Highlights:

• Watching the Olympics, of course!  My running group watched the women's marathon together live on Friday and the women's 10,000 m followed by replays of every other distance race, after our Saturday morning run.
• I hit 105 on my rolling 7 day mileage for August 10-16.  I was telling Jon about my workout scheduled for August 17 and said, "plus I am going to do it with about 100 miles on my legs", and then looked at my total to clarify.  My highest ever on the rolling 7 is 106.1, so clearly I should have run 1.1 miles more, but I did not.

Kitten Frisco kept jumping on my lap
at the second Olympics watch party

Life Highlights:

• We spent part of a weekend in Eureka Springs with my sister's family before school began for all of the kids (including my niece starting college!).
• Albani started 8th grade!

Farmers Market selfie

OMRR picnic

Beaver Lake fun

Beaver Lake dam

8th grade (bus comes before dawn!)

She allowed me 1 take of this pose -
oh, the pressure!

My 4:45 a.m. buddies!

Books:

• The Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive by Jim Afremow
• Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
• Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
• Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman
• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

Theme for the month:

Heat advisories!  And I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing me complain about summer killing my paces.