Thankful November

November 2022 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 289.5, and I feel like almost every week needs an explanation, so see below!

• Oct. 31-Nov. 6: 74.4
• Nov. 7-13: 29: 29.1 (Monday & Tuesday normal, then COVID)
• Nov. 14-20: 60.0 (mostly run on Thursday through Sunday)
• Nov. 21-27: 101.4 for rabbit's Run It Forward Challenge (see also: why I typically don't do mileage challenges)
• Nov. 28-Dec. 4: 90.4

Birthday cake protein bars for Rebecca's birthday

Races:

• Nov. 6: CMC Recycling (Bass Pro) 5k in 19:14 (3.19 miles at 6:02 pace/5:57 grade-adjusted per Garmin and Strava) for 2nd overall female/1st masters female and more happiness that I expected!

Workouts:

• Nov. 2: 1600 m at 5k effort, then 1200 m, 800 m, 400 m, 2 x 200 m aiming to get faster each rep (paces of 6:00, 6:00, 5:45, 5:24, 4:44, 4:57). Each rep was approximate in distance, but were within 0.01 per my watch - I was on the road and didn't program this workout into my Garmin since I determined what I was actually doing during my warm up! I jogged however much I felt like between reps, and I ran a 3.7 mile warm up with strides and 2.6 mile cool down for 10 miles total. I felt pretty sloppy on the first two reps but things got better as the workout progressed.
• Nov. 19: Long run of 5 easy, 5 moderate progressing to marathon effort (7:21, 7:26, 7:02, 6:59, 6:38), 4 easy. There wasn't much differentiation between easy and moderate (e.g., I had easy miles of 7:22, 7:29, 7:35 in there, though most were about 7:45) - and my moderate miles felt about 20 seconds faster than I got, but since I'd felt like I was dying 5 days before this, it was fine with me! The route was fairly hilly, so my grade-adjusted paces were all faster and probably also accounted for some easy and moderate miles being the same pace.
• Nov. 22: 4 x 1k in 3:36, 3:37, 3:36, 3:37 with 1:30ish recovery jogs, within a 12.2 mile run. Based on how hard the 6:38 mile felt on Nov. 19, I didn't expect too much out of this workout, so I was happy to be sub-5:50 pace and consistent! My breathing definitely limited me, but compared to post-COVID horror stories I've heard from others, I think I'm doing alright.
• Nov. 26: 15 x 0:45 picks up, at the beginning-ish of each mile starting at 5 of a hilly 20 miler. These felt good and helped the run as whole feel great! 
• Nov. 29: 6 x 0.5 on the road in 2:53, 2:51, 2:51, 2:52, 2:56, 2:52 with 2:30ish recoveries (jog back to start) in a 10 mile run. My breathing still felt limiting, and I ought to be able to run faster with limited volume, but I was pleased to feel pretty decent on this session. We had an 18 mph headwind for about half of each rep, which didn't help (some would also say that having 101 miles on my legs didn't help).
• Strides: Nov. 1, 3, 5, 18, 21, 23, 28, 30
• Doubles: Nov. 2, 21, 22, 23, 28
• Favorite workout: Nov. 26, because even though it was a very light workout, it was a 20 mile workout and I felt like I could have run 30!

Long Runs:

• Nov. 5: over 16.6 miles total, with 2.5 warm up, 5k race, and more than 10.9 run-cheering after. I messed my watch up multiple times with stopping and starting while run-cheering, and I estimate I missed recording between 1 and 2 miles. I had 16.6 recorded on the day, but I bet I ran at least 18. 
• Nov. 19: 14.1 miles (7:29, GAP 7:17) with some moderate miles, for my first trial of some faster running post-COVID (I missed my Nov. 12 long run due to COVID).
• Nov. 25: 14.2 miles (8:21) in Kansas. I was going to do 10 and 4 this day, but since I had the chance to meet up with my friend Michelle I did her long run distance of 12 then talked her into 2 more - the miles flew by because we had a lot of catching up to do!
• Nov. 26: 20.5 miles (7:37, GAP 7:18) with 1093 ft of elevation gain and 15 x 0:45 pick ups to ~6:00 pace. I started this run with a group of 6, and most did 12 miles or so. Colin maintained that he was not doing 20 with me, so he ended up doing 19.9 (I ran 0.6 while he was in the bathroom mid-run). It's nice to have friends who you can talk into running farther! When I got home from this run I told Albani, "I ran 20 miles this morning" and she replied, "Well, I woke up 20 minutes ago", hah.
• Favorite long run: Nov. 5 because run-cheering was so much fun, but I very much enjoyed every one of these.

Post-run with Michelle

After a feels like 4* long run!

Running Highlights:

• I did rabbit's Run it Forward Challenge the week of Thanksgiving. We could form teams of 3, and rabbit donated a clothing item for every 20 miles run. Initially I pledged to run 80 miles - which was reasonable since I've been doing 70-85 since TCM, though I was a little tentative since I was coming off COVID. I then decided 90 would be very doable with a few doubles and also a reasonable increase from 85. Then I decided I should just do 100 to get 5 clothing items donated! I formed a team with one of my rabbitELITE teammates, Jennifer, and one of the women I met through my 2020 OTQ pursuit, Rachael. We all hit triple digits for 310.25 team miles and 15 clothing items donated! We will find out if we were one of the top 3 teams on Dec. 2.

Life Highlights:

• A lowlight, but affected my month: after 2.5 years of avoiding it, I tested positive for COVID on Nov. 8, making for a pretty unproductive week. It was pretty rough for about 8 days, but then when things turned around I bounced back quickly and was back to normal training by Nov. 17. The upside is that I didn't give it to anyone else; even Jon and Albani stayed healthy.
• While COVID hurt my mileage, it boosted my reading this month!
• We spent Thanksgiving in Southeast Kansas with my parents, my in-laws, and extended family.

Thanksgiving

Books:

• Gilt by Jamie Brenner
• The Counselors by Jessica Goodman
• Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
• The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
• Divergent by Veronica Rogth
• Geekerella by Ashley Poston
• The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz
• Legend by Marie Lu
• What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth
• The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Theme for the month:

• "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest." - Corrie ten Boom