10K with a side of PR

It's been my goal to run a 10K in the 38s for about 10 months.  I missed my 10K goal race, due to a funeral, when I was in top shape last fall.  Shortly after missing it I ran a 10K time trial and a huge unofficial PR, but it didn't really count despite making me feel a lot better at the time (see this post).  I had a few races where I was close (39:1X) and felt that if a variable out of my control had been different I would have made it (i.e., not having to run really wide turns around or weave through masses of slower 5K runners, cooler weather, etc.), but bottom line was that it didn't happen.

I'd run the Run for a Child's Hunger 10K  in Rogers, Arkansas in 2015 and really liked it, plus one of my best friends lives in the area, so we incorporated it into our Labor Day weekend plans.  My husband and I were discussing my race strategy on our drive down to Arkansas the day before the event.  Since I knew the course and what I'd run there last year (40:22), when he asked about trying for the 38s I said no way.  I told him the 38s were going to take a flatter course, a cooler day, and better rest.  I felt like I could probably run a minute faster than last year, or 10 seconds per mile, so was hoping for 39:20-39:30, but noted I would really would be happy with anything in the 39s considering I didn't taper for the race and we'd been running around on our family getaway for the two days preceding it.  I was hoping to place in the top 3 women and win some cash, but that always depends on who shows up!  Historically the race has always had really fast winning times (35-36s for the top 1-3 women), but there isn't a whole lot of depth in the field.

On race morning, I did my usual warm-up and couldn't quite gauge how I felt, but I wasn't worked up or stressed about it.  I planned to give all I had that day, and that's all I or anyone can do!  There was a delay in starting the race due to a cow on the course (hahahaha! - also right up my alley after my recent experience of helping chase a cow back into a pasture during a 15 mile run, which I don't think I posted about yet), so I spent some extra time looking around me on the starting line.  I saw one female who I kind of knew indirectly who is a pro triathlete and who had beat me at this race last year.  I knew she would be way out ahead of me, as she probably runs in the 36s on a bad day.  I saw another female who looked fast and had on what I thought was a Saucony Hurricanes uniform, making her a pro runner (I later confirmed this via Google here - I promise I am not a stalker!).  They were both talking to another lady who looked very fit, so I felt that my chance at prize money was dwindling!  I did some extra jogging during the start delay, including running out to Jon to tell him about the competition situation.

I only take decent running pics on my warm-ups

My plan for the race was to start conservatively.  The first 1.3ish mile is nearly all uphill, so I planned to run it around 6:25-6:30, knowing I would make up some time in the last 0.7ish that was mostly downhill.  This is a wonderful perk of having run courses before, because I knew that last year I was dying and still made up time in the last mile, haha!  I got out nice and relaxed at 6:25 pace exactly and found myself in 5th female right away.  The three fast ladies I’d been eyeing on the starting line took off probably around 5:45 pace so they gapped me quickly.  I moved into 4th female less than a half mile in, and kind of figured that was where I was going to stay.

Elevation chart

Around 1.25 or so, the course turned, and I could see ponytails bobbing in the distance as the women ahead of me turned.  I saw two women together but then the third woman had lost quite a bit of ground on them.  Once I came around the turn, I kept my focus on her and decided that I was going to make it my mission to pull her in over the next 5 miles.  I seemed to be gaining slightly, and although she had a substantial lead on me, it was clear she’d gone out too fast whereas I’d gone out conservatively, and I knew my first mile would be by far my slowest baring disaster.  Focusing on her gave me a mission and took my focus off my watch, and I missed my mile 2 split completely.  I was also trying to look at course splits vs. Garmin splits to ensure I was on pace per the course miles vs. my Garmin miles, but I missed both of the splits there.  I'd come really close to forgetting my Garmin at the hotel (what Jon said would have been a "terrible tragedy", but what I thought might have actually been a blessing in disguise had I done it), so I just figured I wasn't meant to focus on my watch during the race, which typically works out better for me anyhow.

Between miles 2-3, I continued to reel her in.  I started game-planning in my head.  Should I pull up on her and sit for a while, then try to go with a mile or 2 left?  I didn’t want to pound it too early, and I also knew that I was at an advantage looking ahead to her, whereas she didn’t know I was coming from behind, so it was possible that she would pick it up when I got closer.  She looked younger than me so I knew that I wouldn't want to leave it to a sprint finish either.  I wasn’t sure where I was at time-wise since I’d missed my split, but I also wanted to ensure I ran in the 39s so I didn’t want to run so strategically for 3^rd that I slowed my pace too much.

The decision came easy, as I pulled up on her right at the 3 mile mark on the course (which again caused me to miss my mile split), and at the pace I was going even without surging I blew by her.  She had slowed substantially, probably to 7:00+ pace, and there was no way I was going to slow that much – plus I knew that beating her was in the bag if she was hard off enough to slow that much.  I encouraged her as I passed, and said a little prayer for her because I know what it’s like to bonk in races like that and I knew she was in for a tough second half.

The best I can figure, my first 5K was around 19:30.  I prefer not to know my 5K splits during 10K races, because I end up getting intimidated because not too long ago those were really good 5K times for me!  Having passed the female, I looked ahead to the next male and set my sights on pulling him in.  I pretended like he was another female, and also told myself that he was going to finish in 38:50 so if I could pull him in I would too (I do this often in races - pick a man ahead of me who is going to run my dream time and tell myself that I have to catch him to get that time).  I ended up passing him around 4.5, and he was dying so wasn’t any help to pace with.  I looked down at my watch around the time I passed him to see my average pace for that mile was at 6:01 at that time, and couldn’t help but smile.  I knew I could run a solid final 1.5 miles (and then the 0.2 can be done with nothing left in the tank) – especially because I knew I had a nice downhill coming around 5.5.  I knew I had a sub-40 coming, which was my hope for the course.

I then started focusing on another male, but he was significantly ahead of me so I didn't make much progress towards him.  I missed the 5 mile mark also, but I don’t think it was even marked on the course because I’d run my warm-up backwards on the final mile of the course and hadn’t seen it then either.  Based off my Garmin average, I figured that if I could run a 6:10 last mile, I would actually be in the 38s (surprise!)!  But my math is also horrible towards the end of races so I wasn’t quite sure whether that was really correct.  It was tough running by myself, but I pretended it was the end of a solo hard workout and told myself that if I ran a 6:11 mile at the end of an 8 mile tempo, I could do a 6:10 now!  Once we got to the downhill, that sure helped, and then when I took the final turn and could hear the announcer I sprinted with all I had.  Coming down the homestretch, I could see the finishing clock but couldn’t quite tell if it was in the low 38s or low 39s.  I pushed with all I had (my Strava told me that I set a PR for 400 m with a 1:19, haha!), and once I was close enough to see that the clock was in fact in the 38s I really hammered it.  At the end of races I always want the clock to slow down and my legs to speed up!  My Garmin said I ran the last bit at 5:01 pace, so I had a nice kick (especially for me because my raw speed is horrible relative to my endurance!).  I could hear Jon and Albani cheering, and the announcer incorrectly announced that I was the 2^nd female (I knew that was only possible if one of the top two had dropped out, and Jon confirmed that I was "definitely 3rd" shortly after).

I stopped my watch at 38:44 and my official chip time was 38:43 (gun time was 38:44; 6:14 average pace - official results), and about started crying from happiness!  I’d wanted in the 38s so badly but did not think this would be the day it would happen!  I was also pretty red-lined, and when the volunteers started telling me they needed my chip instead of reaching down and getting it like they seemed to expect me to, I asked who was going to cut it off, haha!  Then I found my family and began celebrating, and sent a few text updates before taking off on a 2 mile cool-down.  My legs felt pretty trashed on the cool-down but at the same time in my excitement I felt like I could go forever!

Not the most clear picture, but the clock is there!

Official times

My friend Mary rocked the 5K while her daughter watched with Albani

Who doesn't love a huge check?

Albani tells her class that we're rich after I win prize money, bahahaha!

Now that I’ve had time to process the PR and what went into it and into several of my past PRs, I’ve decided that the keys to me running PRs seem to be:

1.      Hilly courses that I've run before.  This one had over 200 feet of elevation gain, but I liked the way it was distributed for the most part.  I felt the uphill between 4.5-5.5, but knowing that the downhill was coming made it do-able.  The uphill in the beginning helped ensure that I went out conservatively.  Overall the course had quite a bit in common with the Waddell and Reed half marathon course, which is where I ran my current half PR.  I feel like sometimes I gain more on the downhills than I lose on the uphills, which is not scientifically what is supposed to happen, but I’m going with it! I also think the hills help me focus on effort instead of pace, since they make pacing uneven. 

2.      Going out conservatively.  Sometimes when I’m attempting PRs I get caught up in not “losing” any time in the first mile.  I don’t go out too fast, but going out a little slow seems to work for me better than going out at pace.  I ran slow first miles in this race, and in my half and full marathon PRs.

3.      Not leading or being in contention for overall female.  I think knowing that I’m not going to win a race because there are women in it who are much faster than me also helps.  In some races there is a balance between running to win (especially when there is prize money) and running for goal times, and it’s more mentally taxing to try to do both.  I knew from the gate that I wouldn’t win this one, so I didn’t worry about that part.  I did hope to place in the top 3, but I never actually worried about that because early on it seemed like it was out of the question, and then after mile 3 it seemed like a sure thing.

4.      Focusing on competition and not time.  I always run best when I don’t look at my watch much, and incidentally when I miss my mile splits.  It’s better for me to zero in on race effort instead of a specific pace, and to focus on catching females or if I have the luxury of running with another person (such as with Jamie during my half and full PRs).  Chasing the girl during the first few miles in this one helped a lot, and then chasing men and focusing on lengthening my lead after that was beneficial.  Sometimes I have a harder time keeping my eyes off my watch than others, and some of that I think is a good day vs a bad day thing (i.e., I look at my watch more when I'm feeling bad and running poorly, therefore not looking at it is just a correlation with good days when PRs are possible).

Sometimes I feel like I know a lot about running and competing – after all, I’ve been doing it for over 24 years! – but other times I feel like I am still learning so much.  I hope to take the concepts that I’ve learned and continue to improve as long as I can.  I am thankful for my health and the experiences, and so thankful to have a family who enjoys going to races with me and also enjoys running themselves.  Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back throughout my running career I sure wish I knew then what I know now, but I am thankful to know it now!  I have certainly learned that I need to work with a coach to reach my potential; I will over-train myself to injury and fatigue because I am too type A to make my own schedule.  I’ve learned the benefits of more total miles but fewer hard miles (no, I should not run speed work and tempos 3-4 times a week!).  I also know that I need to not take myself too seriously, and then good performances will follow.  When I really get worked up for a race, I am more likely to have a poor race.  So here’s to enjoying the blessings instead of stressing!

I did the right thing

This past Saturday, I skipped a scheduled long hard workout in favor of easy mileage because I was sick with a cold, and I lamented a lot about whether or not that was the right thing to do (see Saturday's notes in this post).  It was a hard call because I wasn't that ill, but was feeling puny enough that I worried that a hard run could make me quite sick.  On Sunday and Monday, I began feeling much better and now I am pretty much completely recovered from my cold.  I still ran 18 miles on Saturday, split 15 and 3, but it was slower than usual and I felt weak.

Today I had 22 miles on tap, and wow what a difference a few days made!  I felt SO much stronger today than on Saturday's run, and I really had to hold back to not speed up early on.  You can see on my splits some early miles, like mile 9, that made me say "oops!" when I saw my split.  I did 18 relaxed then 4 miles at marathon goal pace (the final mile was closer to half pace, though).  And it felt amazing!  Missy ran miles 2-8 with me, then Casey ran 8-13 and about 15.5-16.5 then 18-19 with me (it's complicated!). 

Feeling sub-par for a bit really made me appreciate feeling good more, and I know that I did the right thing with skipping the workout when I felt puny because a) I probably wouldn't have hit my paces anyway, and then I would have been discouraged, and b) I would have delayed my recovery from being sick and not had this run today, and c) I would have risked the illness going into my lungs and really jeopardized my goal races.  The tempo workout was rescheduled for September 11, so I get to run it then!

Today was also a work day mileage PR, although I did go into work an hour and a half late (flex time is a beautiful thing!).  I could have made it just one hour late, but it was nice to have time to foam roll, take an ice bath, and eat before leaving!

What did you start at 4:59 this morning?

Splits

"Hardest workout ever"

This workout was titled “Hardest workout ever!” when it came to me in my August training schedule.  My first thought after reading it was something along the lines of, “You’ve got to be kidding me!!”, but as workout day drew near I actually got pretty excited about it.
 

The workout:

20 miles total

2 miles warm-up

5 miles at 6:39-6:50

4 miles at 6:35-6:45

3 miles at 6:30-6:40

2 miles at 6:20-6:30

1 mile under 6:20

(with 0.5 mile recovery jogs between tempos)

1 mile cool-down

My cat was concerned about these goal paces

I’d once read about a workout that included 5-4-3-2-1 miles all at goal marathon pace (6:50ish for me - 6:51.9 will get a sub-3:00) with half mile recoveries within a 20 miler, and I thought that would be challenging, but this was Intense with a capital I.  I figured that I would aim for the high end of the pace range on each repeat, but if that wasn’t happening I would just try to keep all repeats between 6:45-6:50.  Either way, it would be 15 miles total at goal marathon pace or faster, within a 20 mile long run!  In my book, any day you finish 20 miles is a good day!  Even though I've done enough 20+ mile long runs in the past 13 years that I'm not intimidated by the distance, I still feel accomplished after each one.

 
I planned ahead to practice pre-race and during race nutrition during this workout, something I’ve done really poorly at because when I’m starting runs at 5:00 a.m. I like to get up at 4:40 a.m.!  The Saturday this workout fell on, I had no time constraints and I was also running it alone, so the main consideration was weather.  With it being mid-August in the Midwest, I still wanted to start early and began this one at 5:53 a.m. after waking up at 5:00 a.m.  I prepared my nutrition the night before, and it included a scoop of vanilla cream Generation Ucan blended with almond milk pre-workout, then a PowerAde gel (all carbs + caffiene), an Accel gel (mostly carbs with 5 g protein), and Osmo electrolyte drink during the workout.  I don't like to fuel very heavily and find that I don't need to - probably because I do 99% of my morning runs fasted so my body has adapted - but I need to dial in my nutrition plans before race day unlike in 2015!  In retrospect, I should have bought some Gatorade or PowerAde to drink during the workout, since that is what will be served during my marathons, but I generally do fine with various drinks; it's solids that kill me right before/during running, hence the fluid nutrition pre-workout.  I am planning to work up to 2-3 scoops of Ucan pre-long run/pre-marathon (and probably 3-4 gels during).  One of the benefits of training with an Ironman triathlete is that I've gotten started with Ucan and Osmo because of Missy, both of which I love but probably wouldn't have tried without her recommendation.

Gels

I planned to run loops in order to run past my yard to pick up my bottles and gels, on my recoveries particularly.  I took a lawn chair out to the corner of our lot before I started and stocked it with my 2 water bottles, 2 gels, a pair of sunglasses in case the sun came out, a visor in case in rained, and some Vaseline.  My neighbors must think I'm a freak! I didn't end up needing the sunglasses, visor, or Vaseline. 

After 2 miles of warming up, I was off on my 5 mile tempo.  6:50 pace is an awkward pace for me - I find I want to either slow down to 7:00+ or speed up to 6:40, so I ended up watching my watch more on this repeat than on any other.  I stayed in the mid to high-6:40's through this, and that wasn't taxing so that was good (it also wasn't easy, just awkward is the best way to describe this pace for me right now)!

5 miles:  6:46, 6:49, 6:44, 6:41, 6:46 - average 6:45

I took my half mile recovery, including drinking while running, picking up my PowerAde gel, and peeing by the road (I stopped my watch while peeing - probably 20 seconds). I love living in the country!

Then I was off on the 4 mile.  I took my gel gradually during the first 1.5 miles of it, as I wanted to practice taking it while running marathon-ish pace.  I also picked up an Osmo bottle around mile 2 in order to wash down the gel (I did this while running, no watch stopping), then dropped it in another part of my yard after sipping on it.  I felt better dropping the pace a bit on this one because I was out of that awkward pace range, and towards the end of this repeat I started feeling confident that I could run closer to the lower range of my goal splits.  I started thinking about how I had run 8 continuous miles at 6:24 a couple of weeks ago, so shouldn't I be able to do the 3-2-1 miles with recoveries at the lower end of the prescribed pace ranges?

4 miles:  6:37, 6:41, 6:33, 6:37 - average 6:37

I took my half mile recovery, including picking up my water bottle out of my ditch to sip on (stopped my watch to climb into the ditch - less than 10 seconds), and was ready for my 3.  I told myself that I "only" had 6 more miles total hard, and I felt good about that.  I wasn't looking at my total mileage, but focusing in the segment in front of me.

Then came the 3 mile.  When I was less than a mile in, my husband and daughter came out of the house to cheer for me.  They knew I was running loops and knew how hard and potentially significant this workout was (my husband is a runner so especially appreciated how hard this would be).  My daughter even made a sign.  I told them I was on the 3 hard and that next time I came by I'd want my drink on my recovery.  I loved seeing them out there!

3 miles:  6:31, 6:32, 6:28 - average 6:30

On this half mile recovery, I picked up my drink and second gel from my daughter who was holding them out for me in true aid station form.  I told her she was the best aid station ever!  I ran out and back a bit so I could drop the bottle back off before my 2 mile repeat (I also ended up dropping off half of the gel, couldn't quite handle all of it, so I had the second half of it right after I finished to start recovery).  This was the first recovery jog I felt like I really needed - after the 5 and 4 mile hard portions I thought it would be easier to just keep running than to slow down and speed back up, but after this one I was breathing harder and knew the recovery would bring that down, which it did.

Then the 2 mile!  I decided I would definitely push for the lower end of my pace range on this one, which was 6:20. My daughter was still cheering for me, but my husband was explaining to our neighbor who had come out of his house (to get the newspaper I think) the weirdness that was happening with our family at 7:30 a.m.

2 miles:  6:20, 6:15 - average 6:18

I was definitely ready for this half mile recovery!  I hoped I could run my final mile in at least 6:15 since I'd just done that in the 2 mile, but I was getting pretty tired at this point.  I decided to go all in and see what happened.  For most of the repeat, my watch was running around 6:08 pace, and then for the final 0.2 I pretended like I was passing the mile 26 mark of a marathon and kicking it in. 

1 mile:  6:04.9

Any day a 20 miler includes a mile under 6:05 is sure a good day in my book (not that I have ever done that before!)!  It was HARD, but I wouldn't expect it to be any different.  I grabbed my water bottle and went off for my 1 mile cool-down.  Then my watch beeped 20 and I stopped to walk a bit to my sweet family!  Weather note - it was 70 degrees when I started and still 70 degrees when I finished, and cloudy with pretty much no wind the whole way.

The whole 20 ended up being at 6:52 pace, which is by far the fastest I've ever done 20 in training (average for the 15 total hard miles was 6:34; my PR half pace is 6:27 in comparison).  It was almost marathon goal pace for 20, the hard way (uneven pacing), which was super exciting!  In my actual marathon, I'll need to keep my Gamin average at 6:48 or so due to Garmin error (I plan on 0.01 per mile), but this was closer than I realized it would be!  I liked having the 5-4-3-2-1 segments because I was always focusing on the segment I was on, or even just the mile pace I was on, and I think I should work on doing that during my marathon.  When I saw this workout on paper I was intimidated, but I also thought - "How could a person hit this workout and NOT run a sub-3:00 marathon?!"  I hope that is the case!  The only time I have run 20 miles faster than this was in my PR marathon at the Dallas Marathon, with a 2:16:25 20 mile split (also my only recent marathon that I crashed in the final 3 miles, hence the 3:01:44 finish - but I learned from it and am ready to give sub-3:00 another go!).  7 weeks until Prairie Fire and 11 weeks until Bass Pro!

Best aid station ever!

Splits part 1

Splits part 2

Don't let comparison steal your joy!

I first read this quote on an Instagram post from Sarah Hall, who I really admire as a runner and as a person. Now if a professional runner can run joyfully in that manner, I sure should be able to as well! On one hand, I really enjoy running each and every day; on the other hand, sometimes I am hard on myself because of what I can't do.

This is a conundrum. Racing is about competition, and how can you have competition without comparison? Although I strive to place my best in races and to beat my competitors, ultimately my competition is against myself and improving my PRs. I wouldn't care if I placed dead last if I ran a sub-3:00 marathon! If I don't hit my time goals I am far more disappointed than if I don't win or place; in fact, I've had plenty of disappointing wins because of times. In training, I always compare my times to what I've done before, and sometimes that brings me joy while other times it does steal my joy. 

Although I'm not yet quite sure how to reconcile this, I am definitely going to work on not letting comparison steal my joy. I'm not very good at living in the moment or rejoicing in the present - I'm always thinking ahead - but I think the more I can find joy in each moment the more fulfilled I will be, in running and in life. I shouldn't lose another moment on comparison - with running or with my career, parenting skills, marriage, helpfulness, productivity, possessions, etc. After all, we are all on our own journey and no one person has it all!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! - Philippians 4:4

I did it!

This workout has been staring me down in an intimidating manner for 5 weeks - ever since I received the training schedule containing it.  It was written as "2 miles warm-up, 8 miles tempo, 5 miles cool-down".  When you have 5 mile cool-downs you really know you are marathon training!  This was a combination tempo workout and long run.

My coach gave me 6:15-6:25 as my goal pace range for the tempo miles, and also said to start slower and speed up if I could.  I've written a few times about his grandiose ideas for my tempo paces, and I've mostly just been hanging onto the top of the pace ranges he has given me.  I had the same pace range for my last 6 mile tempo a couple of weeks ago, and I averaged 6:24 on it so had no delusions of running anywhere near 6:15 pace for 8 miles, and really figured that 6:30 was probably a more realistic pace goal for this run (I could NOT have run 2 more miles at tempo the day I did the 6 at 6:24).

I've felt kind of crummy all week; I think it's been a combination of a hard running weekend (Saturday race plus Sunday 18 miler) in the heat, not getting enough sleep, and the stress of and work of getting ready to leave on an 8-day vacation.  Then when I don't sleep enough I end up eating crappier, so I've been on sugar which gives me a temporary lift, then I feel worse, and then have to reach for more sugar and end up in a bad cycle (and I also feel bloated!).  I did not feel confident about this workout (goal pace or total mileage) - especially considering how I felt on Wednesday (I ran a fartlek that day and wasn't even hitting near 6:25 pace on the "ons", which were only 2-3 minutes!).  So I was feeling a little doomed, but decided that all I could do was give it a try with both the tempo and total mileage, and if I couldn't do part of it or any of it then I couldn't; sometimes your body just can't do it and I am learning to respect that more.

I think having a super short easy run yesterday helped, because I didn't feel awful when starting this run - the first time I could say that this week.  I did my warm-up, which ended up being 2.3 miles, peed and got a sip of water, and started off.  I ran this on the YMCA dirt half mile loop, which sounds awful when you think about 16 laps, but which I love because I get in a really good rhythm and pace well on it without looking much at my watch.  I also think it's a fast course, and I knew that it was probably my only chance to hit my pace goal!  I planned to start around 6:30 pace and knew I would feel fine about this workout if I ended up averaging 6:30, but figured if I felt good then I could try to drop the pace a bit as the run went on and try to sneak closer to the 6:25 goal average.

My first two miles were both 6:30 exactly, and they were okay but I did not feel confident about finishing the 8 miles tempo at that point.  I felt like I was having to push a bit too much to keep my pace there (on a good tempo I usually feel like I am holding back on the beginning miles, especially with a tempo this long).  Mile 3 felt a little better and my pace dropped a bit, and then as I came towards mile 4 I actually started to feel good!  For the first time I thought that I was going to be able to finish the workout! Miles 4-5 were great and I was in the zone, and mile 6 was a little harder but I felt like I had a good chance at keeping it under 6:30 for the remainder.  I looked at my overall pace average, which was 6:27 at that point, and told myself that it was only 2 more miles. "It's like mile 11 of a half marathon!" 

That thought helped me push more and speed up mile 7.  Then I decided to hammer mile 8 and see how much I could take off my average pace.  I was happy to see that I dropped to 6:11, and also quite happy to be done!  I walked for probably 2 minutes and got a drink before starting my cool-down.  I didn't feel too confident about running all 5 miles of it, but again I decided to try!

The 5.1 mile cool-down felt much like I expected it would when I saw this crazy workout on paper, and believe it or not "good" was not the adjective that came to mind!  I felt like I was really slogging, but my pace stayed right around 8:00 or just under, so it was just fine and I got the miles in. It wasn't the easiest but it was manageable. 

My legs are pretty hammered from this, but my next 3 days are pretty light (5 easy miles, 7 base pace miles with strides, cross-train), so hopefully I can recover well - although I will be on vacation which will be a barrier.  I don't have my August training schedule yet (I am expecting it on Sunday - but I know that August 1 will be no running because I never run on Mondays).  I am both excited and terrified to see what it brings! I once read a quote that was something like, "If your goals don't scare you, they aren't big enough", and I guess the same could be said about your tempo paces!

Splits

 

Because (s)he's racing and pacing and plotting the course

That Cake song is a classic in my book! And I did a little pacing and racing this week, or at least pretended to!

Week in review for July 18-24:

Mileage: 53.3 with one double, one split tempo, one 5K, one long run, one strength bootcamp, and a set of strides for good measure.

Jamie & I before the Bentley 5K ("I'm not going to touch you for the picture" - it was very hot!)

Monday - Cross-training Monday kicked off with 30 minutes of elliptical to warm up and 45 minutes of bootcamp.  We don't run much in bootcamp, which is good because I go on non-running days, but today we did a ladder type thing that included jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, and mountain climbers, with short sprints between sets.  Got my heart pumpin'!

Tuesday - 11.5 base pace miles total with 8 in the morning (7:29) and 3.5 at lunch (7:16).  I always think it's neat to see how my pace fluctuates with slight elevation changes as I maintain an equal effort throughout (see below).  I also love Strava for being able to look at my run data this way! Side note: if you're on Strava, add me!

I couldn't remember if my second run was supposed to be 3 or 4 miles, so I ran 3.5 (it was 3).  After last week my coach told me to slow down my second short runs, and I have never before been one to run easy runs too fast, so I don't know what's happening on these second runs because I sure felt like I was going slower than I was on this one!  First world runner problems. Next week I promise it will be slower than 7:30.

Elevation fluctuations

Wednesday - 10 miles with 2 warm-up, 3-2-1 mile tempos with 0.5 recoveries, 1 cool-down.  My target pace on this was 6:15 and it went very well with splits of 18:41, 12:26, and 6:09.  I liked this workout a lot, because although it was 6 miles of work, the recoveries split it up nicely and also with each repeat being shorter it seemed very do-able to maintain pace.  Full description and splits here.  This was a confidence-boosting workout, and I wish I had it last week so it could actually have helped my 5K race instead of being so close that it could only hurt it.

Thursday - 6.1 miles easy (7:49) with 6 strides in last mile.  My first mile especially was quite a slog, as I was feeling Wednesday's workout!  I felt better as the run went on, as usual, but I was okay with only having 6 miles.

Friday - A day off...which was 10 minutes on the elliptical to maintain the workout streak.  I set my alarm for 7:00 a.m. but woke up at 5:32 a.m. - boo!

Saturday -7.5 miles total - 2.5 warm-up (7:30ish), 5K race (6:12) at the Bentley Fund 5K, 1.8 cool-down (8:20ish).  Jamie talked me into running this one, and I acquiesced because I hoped to hold onto her in the race as long as I could to get a good time, and because the race had prize money.  Since my recent workouts have been tempos and not speed work, I thought that 6:10 was a good 5K pace goal for me - especially considering that this race took place during an extreme heat advisory.  Jamie talked me into trying 6:05 pace, and said the race would be "interesting".  Refer to my response to her and to my actual race splits below!

I knew what I could be in for!

2 miles of racing + 1 mile of giving up + 0.2 redemption sprint

Jamie and I warmed up together and started the race together.  My plan (which she knew about) was to let her set the pace and to not look at my watch.  I seem to do better in 5Ks when I run this way - I think because they are fast and intimidating from the gate. We had another lady, Amy, in the mix with us, and we all three clipped off those first two miles right around 6:05 pace.  Around 1.8 or 1.9, Amy made a move and Jamie and I both tried to cover her, but neither quite could.  At that point we also turned up a long incline (this entire course except for the final 0.3 seemed like incline!).  Going up the incline, Amy pulled out and Jamie pulled away from me.  At the mile 2 mark the gap from Jamie to me was small (2-3 seconds), but it was enough that I'd lost contact.  I wanted Jamie to go with Amy, and I also wanted my legs to go with both of them but they sure wouldn't!

The gap grew a little more and a little more, and I kind of just gave up.  I knew I was going to finish third female at that point, and I was dying.  I didn't look at my watch at all but kind of wish I had because maybe that would have got me going at least a little better than I was during mile 3.  In retrospect I am mad at myself over it, but at the time I don't know if there was much more I could do anyway. I ended up finishing in 19:34.  My Garmin had the course at 3.18, and it's impossible to know if it was a little long or if I didn't run the tangents (there were a lot of turns), or Garmin error was a bit more than usual - or some combination of all of the above.  Even if it was a tad long, there is still no question that I crashed and burned in the last mile!

I think/hope I could have held onto 6:05 pace if it had been 60 degrees and a flat course (and perhaps without the Wednesday workout) - so I will try again.  The 5K knocks me down every time, but darn it, I am going keeping trying to run another one in the 18's before I get too old to try!  My husband tells me that I need to try this not during a 53 mile training week (novel idea, but not sure I can ever justify resting more than 1 day for a 5K).

Finish

Sunday - 18 mile long run (7:34).  I wasn't the most motivated to start this run; it was 5:30 a.m., we were still in that extreme heat advisory, I ate a lot on Saturday night, and I was still kind of mad at running and wondering if I should even be marathon training (over my poor final mile on Saturday -- I finally told myself that not even Galen Rupp could run his best 5K off of marathon training, as shown at the Olympic Trials!).  Due to logistics, I also had to run this one solo, but Jon decided to bike part of it with me since Albani was with my parents.  It ended up being about 9 miles alone followed by about 9 miles with him on the bike.

My long run base pace range from my coach is 7:30-7:45 so I decided that I needed the upper range on this run and started closer to 7:45.  My miles stayed pretty close to 7:40 for 14 miles, and I was feeling good at that point so dropped the final 4 to 7:27, 7:17, 7:16, and 6:49, which improved my overall pace average.  I think I was fearful of crapping out at the end of this run, so being able to finish strong and feeling good sure made me thankful.  The miles went pretty fast and I can't believe that I am already up to 18 miles and 11 weeks out from my marathon!

Long run part 1

Long run part 2

Are workout PRs still PRs?

I'm not talking about comparing training times to racing times, but about comparing workouts to other workouts. We can all use a little more PR in our lives, so I say these can be celebrated in addition to race PRs (and these are easier to come by!)! Garmins aren’t perfect and will always have some margin of error, but comparing one workout on a Garmin to other workouts on a Garmin is close enough for a workout PR for me (as for race PRs, I won’t count them unless they are on certified courses).

Anyhow, the workout I had yesterday was only the second time I had run this sequence, so my chances of a workout PR were pretty good!  I often look at my past times and try to beat them when I’m repeating a workout, but I did not this time because my overall objective was different across the reps (even pacing this time).  The workout was 2 miles warm-up, 3-2-1 mile tempos on the road at 6:15 with 0.5 recoveries, 1 cool-down.

I felt okay going into this workout – not fresh but not exhausted.  It was of course a million degrees with a million percent humidity, but overall I’m a good heat runner so didn’t stress about that.  I ran my warm-up, got a drink of water from the bottle I set on my mailbox, and was off on my first tempo of 3 miles. My pace was pretty even right around 6:15 throughout the first mile and I came through it at 6:14.  I hoped I could maintain that for 5 more miles!  Mile 2 was 6:17, and mile 3 was 6:09 (I pushed a little more on it knowing I would get a recovery after) – for 18:41 for the 3 miles.

My heart rate and breathing were high at the end of the 3 miles, but dropped pretty quickly on the recovery jog.  A half mile was plenty of time, and I was as ready as I would ever be for the 2 mile.  Sometimes I have a hard time getting going again after a recovery jog, but this time wasn’t bad, although I did feel better as the rep went on and negative split with a 6:17 then 6:09 for a 12:26 2 mile.  Then off for another half mile recovery jog.

On paper, the 1 mile at the end of this workout seems like it will be easy – because 1 mile at tempo pace isn’t a big deal – but in reality it wasn’t because I had the cumulative fatigue of 5 tempo miles on my legs.  I felt confident I could run a 6:15 but hoped to make it a little faster, and did with a 6:09.  This meant that my average for all 6 of the hard miles was 6:12.

Last week I had a 6 mile tempo with a goal range of 6:15-6:25, and finished that in 6:24 average.  I can’t currently do 6 miles straight at 6:15 in a workout, but give me a couple of half mile recoveries and I can exceed it.  I know the latter will help me improve on the former.  I liked this workout mentally too, as it was easy to think about maintaining the same pace but running a mile shorter each time.  Also splitting the miles up made it less intimidating than 6 miles straight tempo, particularly since I ran this alone.

I had a feeling that I’d run quite a bit faster this time than the last time I ran this workout, so I looked back at my training log and found it – run back in March 2015 (I remember the weather being nice and cool!), on a course I consider a little faster than what I ran on this time.  My splits then were 19:17, 12:41, 6:13 – so I improved this round with my 18:41, 12:26, and 6:09.  That made me feel good about my recent training, and like I am progressing.  I’ve been getting caught up in kind of feeling like I’m maintaining but not getting faster.  I know I'm not out of shape by any means, but I wasn't sure if I was improving enough to try for a sub-3:00 marathon in October; however, this made me feel like I really am getting more fit. I need a confidence-boosting race to really feel good about things, and hopefully that will come sooner rather than later!

Splits

 

Olympic Trials

Who else loved watching the track and field Olympic Trials?!  I watched more television in the 6 days they were on than I have in the previous 6 months (well, perhaps not quite, as I watched an awful lot of TV while on the spin bike in February when I couldn’t run for 5 weeks!).

I of course enjoyed the distance events the most, although several women I was hoping would qualify did not (Sara Hall, Kellen Taylor, Jordan Hasay, Stephanie Bruce, to name a few).  I was ecstatic that Brenda Martinez qualified in the 1500 m. after getting tripped up in the 800 m. final (I was confident that she would have qualified in the 800 m. had she not been clipped on the final turn so really felt for her).  It was also fun to see a runner from Nixa, Missouri (15 minutes from where I live!) qualify in the 3000 m. steeplechase (Courtney Frerichs).  It was no surprise to see Molly Huddle victorious in the 5000 and 10,000, Emma Coburn win the steeple, or Jenny Simpson dominate the 1500 m.

My favorite men’s moment was Benard Legat winning the mens’ 5000 m. at age 41!  I can’t quite be a big Galen Rupp fan, and I’m not exactly sure why because I do think that he will do well in Rio, but I think it’s something to do with all of the Salazar doping possibilities and also because I thought he was just showing off by running the 5000 m. at the trials with already having Olympic spots in the marathon and 10,000.  Jon and I played a lot of "who's doping" while watching these, which is sad that it has become so common.

I also enjoyed seeing someone I raced against in 2015 in the 1500 m. final (Stephanie Brown).  Not that I was ever actually in the running with her in the race we both ran, but I saw her at the starting line and running away from me in the first mile, and also receiving her overall female award before I went up for my 3^rd overall female award.

When we were watching the womens’ 5000 m. finishers come in around 15:00, Jon told me, “You’re only 3.5 minutes off of the Olympic Trials, Sug!”  I laughed so hard…yes, “only” 1:10 per mile improvement on my best 5K time is needed!  That’s going to take more dope than anyone has available!

I was 3rd overall female (way) behind two pros in this one

Track Workout Tuesday

I was on the track this morning for the first time since December!  The workout I had didn’t have to be done on the track, but since I was out of town for work I didn’t know of a flat course without potential traffic stops that I could run on, and I don’t like running fast stuff on unfamiliar courses anyhow.  Plus, I couldn’t get this workout to transfer to my Garmin watch from Garmin Connect, and with it mixing kilometer distances for the repeats and mile distances for the recoveries, it would have been a trick to do it on the road even if I was at home!

The workout was:  2 miles warm-up, 2 x 2K in 7:40-7:45, 2 x 1K in 3:35-3:40, half mile recovery jogs between all repeats, and 0.75 mile cool-down (for 8 miles total).  One of my friends who lives in the Kansas City area directed me to the Park Hill High School track, which was about 3 miles from where I was staying Monday night, and we checked it out on Monday evening to make sure it was open to the public.



No fence climbing to access the track is always a sight for sore eyes

I arrived at the track early on Tuesday morning and ran my warm-up off track, did a few leg swings and plyos, and was off.  The first 2000 went like clock-work; every single lap was 1:32.X for 7:43 total.  This pace was brisk but I could tell it was sustainable for the 2000s.  The second 2000 wasn’t quite as even, and I don’t remember my laps exactly except that I had to run a 1:30 final lap to tie my time for the first rep, and I did that for another 7:43.

While I felt good about the 1:32 laps and like I could do 1-2 more 2000s at that pace, dropping to 1:26-1:28 lap pace for the 1000s sounded really hard!  When I read this workout on paper I knew that the 1000s would be much harder for me than the 2000s; my endurance is there but I don’t have raw speed and I haven’t been doing speed work.  I knew that hitting the top of my goal range would be the best I could hope for.  I’d also looked back at last time I ran 1000s on the track (which was in September 2015), and for that workout my goal range had been 3:40-3:45 which I liked a lot better than today’s range! Not to mention it was 78 degrees even at 5:30 a.m. today.

I tried starting off the 1000s with a 1:28 lap, but came through in 1:29.  I sustained this 1:29.X for 2:59 through the 800 and a 3:44 first 1000.  I didn’t have much left and I knew I couldn’t go any faster, but I told myself just one more repeat as close to goal pace as I could, and finished up the second 1000 in a similar fashion in 3:45.

I typically don’t run my best while traveling, but I don’t necessarily think I would have run this any faster at home this morning.  I think my coach was ambitious on those 1000 paces, and that this went pretty much as well as it could have!  I’ll need to do a few more of these faster workouts before getting ambitious about any 5Ks for sure!

Doing Painful Scary Things

Week in review for June 20-26, 2016:

I guess the theme of this week could be doing painful and/or somewhat scary workouts!  It almost always "hurts so good", though!

Mileage: 54

Monday – HIIT bootcamp with elliptical warm-up (45 minutes each).  Why don’t jumping lunges ever get any easier??  We will give the painful and scary of this day to them and excessive burpees, although my triceps were what ended up sore for 3 days.

Tuesday – 12.26 miles total with a workout and double.  My morning run was 9.16 miles with 8 x 0.25 hill repeats in the middle.  Holy hill this was hard!  Relatively speaking, 2 miles total of quality is a short workout, but on repeat 1 I was already gasping for air.  The hill I used had around 100 feet of elevation gain in 0.25 mile, but it’s not evenly distributed – I would guesstimate it’s about 250 m with intense uphill, then 100 m with gentler uphill, followed by 50 m with barely there incline.  In the end, I summed this workout up as “Hill repeats:  All the work of track repeats with none of the fast splits to show for it.” 

My average pace for the whole 9.1 was 7:33, and my paces on the 0.25 uphills were between 7:22-7:42.  This was my second time running this workout on the same hill, so I compared my average splits from today with the workout I did there in November, and was pleasantly surprised that my splits from today’s workouts averaged 2.3 seconds per quarter mile repeat faster (that's over 9 seconds per mile pace)!  I don’t think I am in as good of shape now as I was then, but hopefully this means I am progressing!  Never would 7:30ish pace make me breathe so hard as running up this hill.  Luckily I had forgotten how painful this workout was so I wasn't scared of it beforehand - hopefully I don't have it again until I forget how intensely and differently hill repeats hurt.

My second run was 3.12 miles in 7:28 average in 92 degrees.  2-a-days were terrifying to me for a long time, then they were painful, and now I seem to have hit my stride with them - fingers crossed!

Wednesday - Today wasn't painful or scary, just normal (some would consider 4:50 a.m. alarms both painful and scary, though, so we will go with that!)!  10.12 base pace miles (7:31 average) with Missy.  I am so thankful to have Missy to run with!  Running friends are the best, and who else would get up at 4-something to hang out?

Thursday - 11.6 miles with 8.5 in the morning and 3.1 in the evening.  The scary of this was running 11.6 miles 2 days before a race, which I'm not sure is something I've ever done before and feels like a horrible idea.  I ran with Missy in the morning and she was really tired, so my miles with her were slower and my average was 7:55.  I was only supposed to run 8 miles, but I forgot that I also had 6 x 20 second strides (with 40 second jog recoveries) until I was at about 7.9, so ended up running a little farther to get those in.  It's easy for me to forget those - especially if I am running and talking with Missy - because it's not a workout that my whole run is based around, and is tacked on at the end of easy miles.

My second run was scary due to a heat index of 103!  However, now that I've had 4 solid second runs in a row, I am going to say that I am in a groove with them.  I think my coach also structures them better than I did when I tried them here and there on my own, so that makes a big difference!  My average pace was 7:19.  Jon ran this one "with" me (e.g., we both ran the YMCA loop while Albani was on the Kids Zone inflatables...on days like these she always tells me I need to run farther so she has longer to play...I believe this began due to her staying in for 2 hours a couple of times when I did long runs when Jon was out of town).

What was I thinking when I agreed to summer 2-a-days?!

Friday - A day off -- now that is truly scary, bahahaha!  Of course I had to do a little to keep the workout streak going (almost to 30 months or 2.5 years now!), but I kept it very minimal with 15 minutes easy on the elliptical.

Saturday - 14 miles total, split into 3.4 (7:45), 3.1 (6:18), 7.5 (7:38) - but I kept the gaps between these miles pretty short, definitely under 5 minute a pop. By definition, 5Ks are uber painful (the struggle is real). However, this one wasn't painful, even though it was in the middle of a long run and at 88 degrees "feels like" temperature (so the painful and scary for this workout goes to the summer weather and 8:00 a.m. race start). The secret to making it not painful was running the first mile at half marathon pace, bahaha! But I walked away with an overall win (men and women), a solid progressive tempo run, and my long run mileage, which were the objectives, so all was good. Details here. 

My mini-me doing scary things, also at the Duck Fest

Sunday - 6 mile shake out (7:40).  The beginning of a shake out run the day after a long run or race is always scary (plus I was up until 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night, which was also scary for me)!  On these 6 mile runs, I always feel better on mile 6 than on mile 1 though! 

My final painful and scary for the week goes to the amount of laundry generated from 9-10 workouts a week!  For most workouts, I'm only wearing a sports bra, shorts, and socks (occasionally a visor), so what is truly scary is how bad this would be in the winter! 

It was impossible to get a good angle; 4 days of workout clothing on the drying rack

"Run a 5K in the middle of your long run," they said. "It will be fun," they said.

It actually was fun!  And if you know me you know I never say that about 5Ks...they are usually too short and painful!

I ran the Sertoma Duck Waddle 5K today as a last-minute race.  My parents were coming to the Duck Fest for the car show from Kansas.  I noticed the race on the festival schedule, and that the overall winners won gift cards.  I told Jon about it, but then decided that I didn't want to run it because I didn't want to modify my 54 mile training week.  He proceeded to talk me into running it to try to win (not for time), so I said I would ask my coach, who I expected to say no.  Well, he said to go for it, but also to keep my schedule as planned this week (which was what I said I would plan to do when I emailed him about this race).  So it was decided and I ran this race coming off 11.6 miles and a double on Thursday, and during a 14 mile long run.  I did skip bootcamp yesterday so my legs wouldn't be 100% shot!

When I signed up for the race, I thought it started at 7:00 a.m. (I think I just made that up or assumed it, since it is June in Missouri after all).  Yesterday I looked at the website and saw that it actually started at 8:00 a.m.  My main fear was that I was going to finish this race and then run 8ish more miles when it was really hot, so I kind of started dreading it. 

I decided I would run more miles before the race when it was less hot, but due to last minute who's riding with who debates, I only had time for 3.5 miles before the race (we were taking 2 vehicles so my family didn't have to wait around while I did my miles after the race, and initially I was going to drive there alone so they could also leave the house later, but then Albani decided she wanted to ride there with me, etc.).  Those 3.5 were at 7:45 pace and felt okay, but I was absolutely drenched in sweat and kind of wishing that I had started my long run at 5:00 a.m. and not worried about this race!  I hate racing in a sports bra without a shirt (although I train that way all of the time, it's different on deserted farm roads), but it was so hot I stopped caring.

The race started, and one woman took off around 6:10 pace, followed by one man.  I figured I'd better cover her, and I knew I could run the thing at 6:10 pace although I didn't really want to!  She faded by the half mile, and then I was running side by side with the overall male.  I could pretty much tell at this point that I wasn't going to have competition in this race.  I decided that I would just run with the overall male until the final half mile or so, and then push to try to win overall overall.  A lot of this was just me being lazy, and I kept thinking about how I had to run 7.5 more base pace miles after the race!

Running with the first male felt awfully easy, and when my Garmin beeped a 6:28 first mile, I realized that was why it felt so easy (that's about half pace for me).  I decided I would go ahead and speed up a bit, because although I didn't want to kill myself I did still want to be under 20, and he was fading a bit.  So from then on it was just me and the lead cyclist.  At the turn around I got a look at everyone behind me, and with how slowly I'd started I knew my win was pretty much locked in.

Although in the end the course was accurate (Garmin had 3.12), the course mile markers were off, with the 1 mile mark at the 1.2 point on my Garmin and the 2 mile mark around 1.9 on my Garmin.  My second Garmin split was 6:18 with some uphill, and I felt far too good for mile 2 of a 5K, but that was sure nice!  I pushed for a little faster last mile, running it in 6:12, and also kicked it in on the final 0.12 (5:21 pace) once I saw my family cheering.  I stopped my Garmin at 19:35 after I crossed, my finishing pictures show 19:33-19:34, and my official time was 19:37, so who really knows what exactly my time was (there was no chip mat at the start, and we started and finished in different places, which is always a recipe for screwy times, so I am honestly surprised it was this close).

It's always a good day when I beat all of the men and women!  I finished feeling like I'd run a solid tempo, but not an all-out race, which was good since I had 7.5 more miles to go.  I drank a 20 oz. bottle of water, wiped the sweat off my face, and headed back out.  I finished the 7.5 at 7:38 average pace and SO very sweaty!  I was glad to keep this in the 7:30s for sure.

My family picked up my awards while I was still running. I won a cute little trophy, a gift card to Academy Sports, and a gift certificate for pet-sitting (probably the most unique prize I've received!), so it was worth running this.  I also feel like I may just try for a sub-19 5K when I'm a little rested, when I have competition, when I'm not running a long run, and when it's not 88 degrees "feels like" temperature -- but, that will be painful and scary!

The moral of this story:  5Ks are not at all painful or scary when you run the first mile at half marathon pace.

Following the lead cyclist in

Finishing it up

Done

Pretty pumped about this pet sitting gift certificate!

Quite fitting for the Duck Fest

Garmin splits

Working Smarter, Not Harder

I once read that it's better to go into a race under-trained than over-trained, and the Type A in me balked.  Who are these people going into goal races under-trained?!?  However, one of the top lessons I have learned in the past year of running is that sometimes with training, less is more.

When I decided to chase a sub-3:00 marathon in 2015, I knew I needed to go all in so I decided to work with a coach for the first time post-collegiately.  I went into it thinking that his schedule, which I started in July 2015, would be harder than what I was doing up to that point.  I was prepared for tons of hard and long workouts, and to be tired all of the time.  I expected push push push.

When I received my first month's schedule, I was surprised.  It was easier than what I would have put together myself.  The majority of my runs were at base pace, and then each week I had one workout, one long run/workout, and usually one day that included 6 x 20 second strides at the end of my run. During a couple weeks, I only had one workout total if the weekend run was intense (e.g., a 10 mile tempo within a 17 mile long run), with everything else being base miles. Putting my own schedule together, I would usually run two workouts plus a long run each week, so I started worrying that this wasn't enough!  I started questioning other runners about their number of workouts, and worrying that I was going to get slower.

I decided I would stick to the schedule, although I got antsy and asked about adding more workouts (the answer was no).  I mostly followed things to a T, although I added a tempo run here and some fast finish miles there (but this was the exception, not the norm).  For 5.5 solid months, I followed the schedule.  I peaked conservatively at 50 mpw, but I had a lot of weeks in the high-40s (peaking at 50 was my request, as I feared injury).

The one workout I had during the week was generally challenging, and often I would see the time goals on the pace-based workouts and think to myself that there was no way I could run that fast.  Once when I had a track workout that included 200s at 38-39 seconds at the end, I told my coach that there was no way I could run that fast (I have no raw speed!)...then the next day I sent him an email with the subject "It's nice to be wrong sometimes", after running them in 38s.

After a few months on the schedule, crazy things started happening.  I started running faster than I ever had before, at age 34 and on fewer workouts!  This was happening in both training and in racing.  I had a hard time giving up control of my schedule and also had a hard time not second-guessing my coach, until I ran a 1:24:33 half marathon on a challenging course, shattering my PR of 1:27:08.  I went on to run a 3:06 marathon on a training run without a taper, and to shatter my 10K PR with a 38:05, a time I never thought I'd see.  I didn't have the best day or good weather for my marathon, and while I didn't get my sub-3:00 I set a 2-minute PR with a 3:01.  I then followed that up with my second fastest ever half marathon, 6 days after my marathon in a race that I was not even going to "race."

Missing my sub-3:00 threw a wrench in my plan and cast some doubt for me, so I decided for my spring marathon I would follow the training schedule that my fast friend had shared with me.  It included two workouts a week plus a long run, and more mileage.  Hindsight is 20/20, but I sure wish I would have worked with my coach again for my February marathon instead of trying this schedule!  It worked for her but was not for me.  I ended up injured and unable to run my marathon, with about 7 weeks total off running.  I guess that's what they mean about it being better to get to your race a little under-trained!  I missed my goal race being over-trained.

Going through all of that, I can now say that I trust my coach and his schedule, and will follow it during this marathon build-up without second-guessing.  He taught me that training smarter will get me farther than throwing down all of the time.  I learned that I should feel good for my runs and not run down all of the time - and that I can, even running higher mileage and hard workouts!  He thinks I can stay healthy and run more mileage this time, and so far so good. 

The body is a funny thing, and recovery is just as important as training - but how easy is it to forget that!?  I see a lot of runners over-training - by running hard every run - and I hope they learn this lesson sooner rather than later!  I'm stubborn and would have probably never believed it until I saw it work for me, so I get it.  It's still hard to see other runners running more or longer hard workouts than me, but I remind myself that I am not them and I am working smarter for me, and toward my long-term goals!

5Ks: The Struggle is Real!

The older I get, the worse I seem to get at 5Ks.  I haven’t trained specifically for a 5K since college (or since high school because I was injured more than not during college running), but even so I would expect that I could eek out a decent 5K while I am PRing at other distances.  I’ve raced a lot of 5Ks over the years because they are common and convenient, but in 2015 I could not run one that was comparable to my other race performances to save my life.

Put in perspective:  my fastest 5K of 2015 was the second 5K of a 10K.  This was the only time I broke 19:00, with an 18:51 second 5K (although technically I did finish one 5K in 18:42, it was a bit short and my average pace on my Garmin was 6:09 so it shouldn't have been sub-19).  Most of my certified 5Ks were 19:0X, and a few slower than that (I did manage to keep them all under 20:00, though - even during two races in which I took wrong turns as the leader to make them 3.25ish mile 5Ks!).  I could never get those few extra seconds to go sub-19! To make my 5K races even more pathetic, the final 5K of my 1:24 PR half marathon was 19:10!!!  So following running 10 miles at 6:30ish pace, I can run a 5K just a few seconds slower than my all-out 5K.  Following running 3.1 miles of a 10K in 19:14, I can run another 3.1 miles faster than my all-out 5K.  What the heck!? I tried running longer and faster warm ups before my 5Ks but still no luck. 

I had some workouts that I thought meant for a promising or even PR 5K (my current PR is 18:18 run in 2010), including my best mile repeat workout of all time which was 4 x 1 mile all between 5:49-5:51, but I could never put together a nice 5K race.  My last of 2015 was on New Year’s Eve, and my time in it was the best I did for a certified straight 5K: 19:03.  The irony in that one was that it was also by far the most challenging course I ran, with 212 feet of elevation gain.

I’ve only run one 5K thus far in 2016, and if I had known what the course was like beforehand I probably would have never gone (more details here)!  The first half mile was all straight uphill, and there wasn’t really a flat stretch in the whole thing (several rollers after the first up, then a steep up and steep down before the turn around...the main redemption being that that last half mile was all downhill since it was out and back).  Once I saw the first hill and ran the course for my warm-up, I was ready to turn around and go home, and I told Jon that I wouldn’t be able to get under 20:00, especially considering that I was 6 days off racing the Prairie Fire Half and had done no speed work.  The reason we went to this one was because it had nice prize money for the top 3 women and the times hadn’t been under 20:00 for #2 and #3 in most past years (our local Olympic Trials qualifier was always #1), so I decided I wouldn’t worry about my time and just try to place.  I didn’t look at my watch during the race because I knew my pace would be super erratic with the elevation changes, and I ended up running 19:16, which I was shocked and amazed with on that course and with how my spring training had been.

I am going to run another 5K this Saturday, and I’m not as terrified about this one as I usually get of them, because I’m expecting to run slower than 10K pace!  In fact, it’s slated as a tempo workout for me, and will fall at the end of a 53+ mile week and after a Thursday workout and double run, so I won’t exactly be rested.  My tempo pace has been 6:18-6:30 per my coach, and I am going to aim for 6:20ish so I can keep it under 20:00 (and also go for the win).  It’s a huge relief to not even think about aiming for under 19:00, and I haven’t done much running under tempo pace in 2016 (I think only a couple of reps this speed workout, the 19:16 5K I raced in May, and 6 x 20 second strides which I do once a week usually), so my speed is definitely not there even if I wanted to try!

Why are 5Ks so hard and scary?   Give me a half marathon any day!