The Hardest Workout Ever©, the Sequel

Week of January 23-29, 2017

Mileage: 61.3, with a small fartlek, a set of strides, a double, the Hardest Workout Ever© (not actually copyrighted, but it should be!), a strength workout, and a bootcamp workout.  This was also a solid week of wind resistance training!

Monday -  Cross-training Monday at home (because Jon was out of town) with 40 minutes elliptical and 40 minutes of strength training.

Tuesday - 8.7 miles, including a 4 mile fartlek of 3', 2', 1' with recoveries equal to the next push (6:48 average for all 8.7 miles; pushes were 5:45, 5:37, 5:30, 5:53, 5:53, 5:33, 5:49).  This workout felt so short, and I really wanted to extend it, but I followed the schedule and was conservative due to still recovering from bronchitis (I was on Azithromycin and Prednisone January 21-25) - and also due to having such a hard Saturday workout slated.  And also due to just trying to follow the schedule my coach puts in place for me in general!  It was nice to run sub-6:00 again though!  Danielle and Missy ran with me some on this one, but we were all doing slightly different paces.  Afterwards I did about 5 minutes of calf raises and step-ups, as I forgot them on Monday.

Wednesday - 14.7 miles; 10.4 base pace (7:29) with 6 strides at the end in the morning, with the first 8 miles with Missy and Danielle.  We played around with our course on this one to minimize running into the powerful west wind!  4.3 miles at lunch (7:37)...yep, still windy!  This day ended up making me really happy, because I realized that I'm in good shape when I can run 14.7 miles in a day and feel like I didn't do much!  Proceed to marathon!

Thursday - 8.1 miles base pace (7:13) with Danielle.  I felt wonderful on this run, making me hopeful that I was getting back to full strength post-bronchitis.  I also did 10 minutes of core work, mainly plank variations, and attended my first Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners board meeting!  This was a day I was going non-stop from my 5:00 a.m. alarm until I got home from the long meeting at 9:30 p.m., which also meant I didn't get enough sleep (which I felt on Friday morning).

Friday - 3.5 mile shake out (7:25) plus a 45 minute bootcamp.  Jumping lunges never get easier!

Saturday -  20.3 miles total.  This was my second go at the Hardest Workout Ever, so it was less intimidating this time - especially because a note came with it stating, "I really don't want you to over-do it on this workout this time.  Keep to the paces...I'm trusting you to stick precisely to the paces and not get carried away."  Ahem....apparently I got carried away last time I ran it.  Some of my goal pace ranges were 5-10 seconds faster this time, however -- but I'd exceeded some of the ranges as the workout progressed last time, I'm in better shape now, and it was quite warm last time I ran it, so I felt good about hitting this one (despite just finishing that round of antibiotics on Wednesday - I was basically pleading denial about that!).

I didn't have to set an alarm on Saturday morning, as I didn't have any time constraints, and which I was very thankful for!  I woke up a few minutes after 5:00 a.m. thanks to my internal clock, but then went back to sleep until 7:08 a.m., which was pure bliss!  I took my time getting around and with pre-workout fueling, but I didn't want to wait too long to get out because I feared that the already 15+ mph wind would pick up as the day went by (it did).  I ran a lot of loops and out and backs during this workout in order to stay on flat terrain, split up the wind, and practice my fueling (drinking and taking gels while on the run), but since the wind was northwest it wasn't possible to avoid a headwind and keep it to the side like when it's straight north or east.  I also ran this one solo, but it's seriously the shortest 20 miles I've ever run, and I have a much easier time running this workout alone than 20 miles base pace alone.  The different segments split it up, and I was always thinking about hitting my times on the portion I was on, and not about the entire distance.

Here are the stats!

The workout plan:

20 miles total

2 miles warm-up

5 miles at 6:35-6:45

4 miles at 6:30-6:40

3 miles at 6:25-6:35

2 miles at 6:20-6:30

1 mile under 6:20

(with 0.5 mile recovery jogs between tempos)

1 mile cool-down

The actual workout:
20 miles total (6:41 average for all 20 - I did end up running 0.3 more to get back to my house, but I stopped and saved before adding that little jog)

2 miles warm-up

5 miles at 6:36 (6:41, 6:38, 6:31, 6:36, 6:34)

4 miles at 6:28 (6:28, 6:28, 6:31, 6:24)

3 miles at 6:25 (6:27, 6:23, 6:24)

2 miles at 6:19 (6:21, 6:16)

1 mile in 6:08

(with 0.5 mile recovery jogs between tempos)

1 mile cool-down
(average pace for the 15 hard miles was 6:27)

All considering, I was extremely pleased with this workout!  Having done it before went a long way in regards to knowing I could do it; last time before I ran it I worried that I wouldn't be able to hit the paces later in the workout, but this time I approached it more assertively.  The 4 and 5 mile paces felt brisk but sustainable; they had me asking, "Can I maintain 6:3X pace for a marathon?", and when I got to the 3 mile I told myself, "These 6 miles at 6:25/6:20/sub-6:20 should be nothing; you even get two recoveries, and you've done 13.1 straight at 6:12.7 pace!"  I would not call the end of the workout easy by any means, but the bottom of my pace ranges felt do-able throughout.  To be completely honest, beforehand I was hoping to run the final 1 mile push under 6:00, but I'm going to blame my inability to do so on the wind wearing on me throughout the workout and on not being quite 100% post-bronchitis.  By the time I got to that point in the workout, I knew I didn't have that kind of finish left, but I gave it what I had and was happy with that!

The last time I ran this workout I had a really great day, my average pace for the whole shebang was 6:52, and my time of 2:17:22 was at that time the second fastest I'd ever run 20 miles.  But now 2:13:51 is the fastest I've run 20, on a day I wouldn't quantify as really great.  My 20 mile split at Prairie Fire was 2:15:32, and Bass Pro didn't have a 20 mile mat, but would have been a tad slower based on my faster final 10K there (although the 20 mile mark was just before my wrong turn so who really knows).  I was really happy to improve my average pace for the whole 20 by 11 seconds this time.  I also have some comparison stats this time around, which is that I ran 6:44-6:49 pace for my marathons after the 6:52 average I ran in this workout last time...so as you can imagine I am doing the math.  Taken all together, I guess I will publicly say that I hope this means I can manage an average of 6:3X in Phoenix!  I am still deciding on exactly what time I want to shoot for there -- aiming for a PR is a given; provided I stay healthy (which is never guaranteed!), the Phoenix course would get me that even if my fitness was exactly the same as it was in fall 2016 -- and it's nice to have the information from this workout to take into consideration.  I feel very thankful and blessed to have this one in the books!

20 miles at 6:41, the hard way

Splits 1

Splits 2

Sunday - 6.1 miles recovery (7:51), with Amy R.  I surprisingly felt great on this recovery run, and it was nice to have company since I usually run Sundays alone, and sometimes drag my feet about getting out since I'm usually tired from my long run.  Amy said it helped her pick up the pace for her Sunday run, so hopefully this was the start of a mutually beneficial run meeting that we'll continue in the future!

4 weeks!

nuunbassador 2017

I'm excited to announce that I was selected as a nuunbassador for 2017!  I discovered nuun in 2016 and was immediately a fan.  Sugary sports drinks with artificial colors and flavors never seemed like the best idea to me, plus toting around several bottles when traveling to races gets cumbersome, so nuun tablets are perfect!  They are all natural, and you just drop one in water and a few minutes later you have a sports drink.  I drink nuun energy (which includes caffeine) before and during hard/long efforts, and nuun active after running and anytime my electrolytes feel "off".  I used to rely primarily on plain water before/during/after running, but I find electrolytes help me recover and perform better (something Ironwoman Missy taught me!).  nuun has recently added some additional products to their arsenal (plus for nuun and nuun vitamins), which I am excited to try!  Something else to pack in my lunch, like I mentioned here, haha!

Coming in Hot: Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon!

The short:  I executed my race plan, finished in a PR of 1:21:26, snagged a spot in the top 10 women (8th overall), and won my age group!  Official results are here.  I also had an AH-MAZING trip to Arizona with my AH-MAZING dad!

Preparing to either fly or die!

The long:
Even though the big reasons for this trip were to practice making the trek before the Phoenix Marathon in February and for my dad to go to the Barrett-Jackson car auction, I wasn’t going to Arizona for this race to NOT go for a PR.  My workouts told me that I was in PR shape, and after a particularly confidence-inspiring 8 mile tempo run and evaluating the race course, I formulated a race plan.  I wanted to run my first mile in 6:20, keep miles 2-7 around 6:15, maintain even effort on miles 8-9 (meaning slower splits due to the course elevation), then hammer my final 4 miles, banking on 6:10 or faster on them.  That would get me in at about 1:21:58, or 6:15 average pace.  I hoped I could pick up a few seconds here and there so I wasn’t quite so close on the line between 1:21-1:22.  I really wanted a time starting in 1:21, so 1:21:59 was magnificent sounding, but 1:22:01 would have been quite bittersweet!

This plan may have been overly ambitious considering that my current official 10K PR is 38:43 (6:14 pace).  My Garmin told me I ran a 37:39 10K (6:04 pace) during my recent 8 mile tempo, but that’s not a certified course time so doesn’t technically count.  I thought I had 13.1 at 6:15 pace in me, though, and I was going to go for it!  I knew I could play it safe and go for 6:25-6:30 pace, but why?  I told people that I was going to either fly (PR) or die (bonk); I knew I would be unhappy if I didn't try.  I tried not to think about how the White River half, where I ran my now second best half time ever, was more like a 12 mile race since the first mile was all downhill, or about how the White River course was easier than Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona's course.  I put faith in my training and I believed in my ability to perform when I had other women in the mix with me (something I did not have at White River).  I’ve always run better with competition.  That's not to say there wasn't any pre-race panic!

Hotel room pre-race mirror photo

On race morning, everything went smoothly and I had plenty of time for a warm-up jog, a few minutes of uptempo running, drills, strides, and peeing multiple times before the start.  I was able to keep warming up until the last minute and then front-load into the corral, which I really appreciated.  I loathe standing on the starting line waiting for any significant period of time, and Jon always gets worried that I’m going to miss the race start because I stay out to stay moving as long as I can.  In this race all of the other elite runners were doing the same, and the starters let us then called us back in at the last minute.  Kudos on this, Rock 'r' Roll race organizers! 

I was surrounded by women in professional racing kits; half tops and bun huggers.  I suppose the elite men also looked professional, but I wasn’t paying attention to them.  I positioned myself in the back of the elite corral, just in front of the corral 1 runners, and also just a bit behind Neely Spence Gracey.  Some of the other “commoners” were talking to her, but I was too afraid to!  I pretty much just waved to my dad and tried to pretend I did not look like a complete amateur in my mishmashed outfit, also ensuring that any potential doubters could see the elite bib number pinned on my tank.

Where's Sara?

"Hi, Dad!"

And we're off!

Although I was intimidated on the starting line, I wasn't running for place and I was confident that I had the best race plan for me and for the course.  Everyone else could do as they pleased, and I was doing my thing!  We were sent off at the gun along with corral 1, and many people went out blazing fast.  I stayed controlled, aiming for 6:20 pace.  I looked at my Garmin about a half mile in and I was at 6:18 pace – perfect.  I am pretty sure I was last, or certainly near last, of the elite women at that point, but I was confident about sticking to my pace plan.  Sometimes I think it takes more confidence to not go out too fast; and I guarantee that if I had been in that situation when I was in my 20’s I would have run my first mile too fast.  I came through mile 1 in 6:18, and I didn’t even have to look at my watch to know that because the course mile markers all had large clocks on them, which I loved (more kudos, race organizers!)!

I focused on staying in rhythm and around 6:15 pace, which felt brisk but controlled that early.  Around the mile I started slowly picking off other runners.  I focused on the next ponytail in front of me and on reeling her in.  The game was pick a ponytail, move up.  The miles clicked away right around 6:15 pace and I kept playing the game, only slightly foiled by one woman with short hair and no ponytail.  I used the course mile clocks to gauge my pace and didn’t really use my Garmin at all.  The math on 6:15 pace was easy to do for the first 7 miles, and I was always right on or slightly under!  My Garmin usually beeped just slightly after each mile marker, meaning that my Garmin splits were just slightly slower than my course miles (in the end it read 13.09 on a 13.11 mile course, so it was really close overall).

I came through the 10K in 38:42…and since there was an official timing mat there I guess I get to say I ran an official 1-second 10K PR!  That was confidence-boosting, because it was still a controlled effort at that point.  I passed two more women right after the 10K, and I got excited about that because I thought that my friends and family tracking me would see that I’d moved up at least two places between the 10K and the next mat.  I’d moved up a lot between the 5K and 10K mats, but since there had been a man frantically calling out the elite women’s bib numbers at the 5K mat when we passed, I suspected that mat wasn’t working.  In the end, the runner tracking was off and different for everyone who was tracking me, so no one actually knew much (or anything) about my time/place until afterward, and some received incorrect information.  My husband and dad didn't get a single update!

During mile 7 I continued to feel good about meeting my goal, and reminded myself that I was over halfway done!  Mile 8 was all incline, and ended up being into the wind to boot.  I wasn’t close to any ponytails at that point, but focused on a man ahead of me.  I looked at my Garmin during this mile because I could tell I was slowing down, and I was 6:25ish.  This was a hit to my confidence, because 6:25 felt much harder than usual, but I reminded myself that I’d planned for that mile to be slower because it was incline.  Then the race started feeling hard, too hard.  Mile 9 had quite the long hill in it, and I started to worry about my goal time slipping away based on how I was feeling.  I even took a quick shot of sports drink at an aid station hoping for a little boost. 

Once I started up the hill, I saw a bike coming down and realized that it was Neely Spency Gracey running with the lead cyclist!  I didn’t think the out and back on the hill was long enough that I would see her, but once I did I knew I would see all of the women in front of me, so I started counting.  When I got to the hair pin turn at the top of the hill, I knew I was in 10^th or 11^th female position (there was one runner I wasn’t sure on the gender of, but now I know that was a guy with a ponytail).  I wasn’t too far behind two of the women, and my competitive juices were flowing and I decided I was going to gun for a top 10 finish.  Then I turned around and saw that there were 5-6 women quite close behind me; certainly within striking distance if I didn’t finish strong.  My thoughts vacillated between, “I’m going to catch those two and get in the top 10” to “Everyone is going to pass me because I’m dying!”.  

However, once I turned around and started coming down the hill, I felt much better.  Before the race I’d thought of miles 8-9 as an “investment”, because we climbed around 120 ft in them (compared to about 50 ft total in miles 1-7), but then we got to come back down that elevation in the final 4 miles.  When I passed the 15K marker in 58:33, I smiled because that was an unofficial 15K PR for me (no course mat though, boo).  I passed one woman who I could tell was hurting much more than me, and came through mile 10 in 5:58, for a 10 mile split around 1:02:35 (another unofficial PR - there was a mat there but it apparently wasn’t working either!).  I was ready to roll for the final 5K!  Keeping my final 5K at or under 6:10 pace felt at the same time very intimidating and like something I could do.  If I missed it, it sure wasn't going to be due to lack of trying!

I kept working on pulling in the next lady, who had on a Oiselle racing kit.  She was coming back to me, and I was keeping my pace under 6:10.  I came through mile 11 in 6:05 and pressed on.  It was hard, but I knew I could do 2 more miles at that pace.  Around 11.5, I pulled up on and passed Oiselle girl.  I passed in a manner to convey that she was not going with me, and she did not try.  I told her "nice work" as I went by.  I couldn’t see any more ponytails at that point, so I focused on a man in a white singlet and on keeping my pace down to the end.

When I saw my mile 12 time, I knew I would finish in the 1:21s even if I ran a 6:30 last mile, but I sure wasn’t going to let myself do that!  I gunned for a sub-6:00 final mile, and my one regret of this race is that I couldn’t find 3 more seconds to do that; my final mile was 6:02 (I never looked at my watch during it, though, so didn’t know how close I was until reviewing my splits afterward).  For most of the mile, the finish line seemed so close yet so far.  We took a turn onto the final stretch with probably around 0.2 left, and I could see the mile 13 sign and the finish.  I sprinted with all I had, knowing I had a PR and top 10 finish coming.  My Garmin said my final 0.1 was at 5:13 pace.  I could hear my dad cheering, “Go Sara!!!!”, and after I ran over a chip mat on the home stretch, the announcer said my full name (pronounced correctly!), hometown, and that I was coming in for a top 10 female finish.  I was absolutely glowing inside.  I for once remembered to run through the finish line before stopping my watch (to get a good finishing photo), although my dad got so excited that he didn’t get any finishing pictures and ended up taking a video of the ground instead of my finish, haha!

The only picture of me racing, coming down final stretch (I'm on the left behind two men)

I teared up walking into the finish shoot!  I didn’t know my official time yet, but I’d stopped my Garmin at 1:21:29 so I knew it was a bit under that.  I also didn’t know if I had been 8^th or 9^th female, but I knew I’d netted a top 10 finish, which I sure didn’t think was possible beforehand.  I had my professional photo taken with my finishers medal, then continued through the finish shoot, grabbing one of everything (water, sports drink, protein recovery drink, banana, granola bar, pretzels – some of this I had to stuff under my tank top straps – surely looking like a pro there, haha!).  I was very eager to find my dad!  I got to the family meeting area before him, and put my drinks/food on the ground by the letter “I” sign while waiting for him.  When I saw him, he was running towards me in excitement!  I think he may have been even more excited about my PR and place than I was!

Happiness

Like a kid at Christmas!

After sharing excitement with my dad and a brief phone call to Jon (which was mainly me telling him I couldn’t hear anything over the band and would call him again soon, but that I finished in 1:21:2X and in 8^th or 9^th female), I found my dad a place to sit farther away from the band and went out for my cool-down on a dirt path I conveniently found after a porta-potty stop.  It ran right along the river, and on it I ran into Neely Spence Gracey and second place female Maor Tiyouri running their cool-down in the opposite direction!  In my post-1:21 I-conquered-the-world high, I was no longer timid.  I told them, “Nice race, ladies!” and Neely said, “You too!”

I have a pretty bad case of “never satisfied syndrome”, so it’s rare I have a race that I don’t want to put “buts” or “*”s with, but this was one.  I don’t think I could have done anything better, and I put my mind to getting a 1:21 and I did it!  I do feel like there are factors that show I can go faster in the future --  the course was not flat, it was 55 degrees, I was in a 55 mile training week, and I have room to increase my mileage – so I have hope this was not the end all be all, but this was my best race performance at any distance up to this point hands down.

The race also served its purpose of boosting my confidence for the Phoenix full marathon on February 25.  It showed me that my fitness is there, and also eased my fears about performing off of traveling (I expect to take it easier the day before the marathon as well, as the day before this race we gallivanted all around the Barrett-Jackson car auction and the Desert Botanical Gardens).  I haven’t recently run a full marathon consistent with what my half performances indicate I should be able to run.  Before I got my half time down to under 1:25, my half and full performances were always almost spot on by this calculator, and often my full would actually be a little faster than my half predicted, while my shorter races would be a little slower.  I believe that is in part because I haven’t ever run a fast marathon course, but maybe also in part because I didn't believe I could (also I may need more mileage).  But my chance is coming!  I have a big goal, and some might call it overly ambitious, but so was my goal of running a half at the same pace as my 10K PR - and as it worked out, I ran my half faster than that.  A big part of accomplishing a goal is believing you can, and I really think I have it in me – and if not at Phoenix, at the next one.  Here’s to controlling the controllable, and to accepting the uncontrollable that race day brings.  Here’s to 5.5 more weeks of miles and of avoiding the treadmill!  Here’s to God who makes it all possible!  He delights in the details of our lives, and gives us victories like this that we certainly don’t deserve.

If your goals don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.  Seriously, not long ago my average pace in this half (6:12.7) was my 5K pace in a really good 5K.  I'm just a normal person, with a full-time job and a family, and if I can do this so can you.  Set a lofty goal and chase it!

How else will it come true?

Garmin splits

I made it!

Truth

Cold, Hot, Cold, HOT!

Week of January 9-15, 2017

Mileage:  54.7, with a tiny tempo, a double, two sets of strides, a bootcamp, a flight to Arizona, and a PR half marathon!

Monday -  Cross-training Monday was bootcamp (50 min.) with an elliptical warm-up (40 min.).  My recovery from last week's 20 miler was better than my recovery from my previous two long runs, which I was very thankful for and accredit to not being depleted going into the long run this time.  I felt great on this workout!

Tuesday - 10.4 windy miles (7:25).  It was 50 degrees for this run (hot-ish), which I really appreciated!  The wind was blowing at 26 mph, but I'll take these conditions over the "feels like" 4-6 degrees I was running in last week any day.  I ran with Missy and Danielle for most of this, and we mostly ran east and west; I only had 1.3 miles directly into the south wind.

Wednesday - 12.3 windy miles; 8.1 a.m. (7:04 average for all; tiny 2 mile tempo in 12:15 via 6:08/6:07) and 4.2 at lunch (7:51).  It was again hot-ish (47 degrees a.m. & 66 degrees at lunch) but super windy!  I did my tempo miles with the wind to my back, haha!  That did, however, take me off my normal tempo course, a pretty flat loop that primarily runs north and south, and put me on a hillier route so I'm not even sure it helped.  My coach told me not to run any faster than 6:10 on the tempo, so I was kind of trying to run 6:09s; pushing the envelope as usual, without trashing my legs.  As usual, the way I felt on the 2 mile tempo was a mix of confidence-destroying and confidence-boosting.  I usually need at least 2 miles to really get into a tempo, as displayed in how I negative split every good tempo I run (such as this 8 miler, this 6 miler, and this 4 miler during my current training cycle).  So on these little taper tempos, the first mile is often a lot of "There is no way I can run this pace for a half marathon and possibly not even for 2 miles" in my head, but then by the end of mile 2 I'm thinking, "Okay, this is brisk but sustainable."  I walked away from the tempo confident that I should NOT start at 6:10 pace in my half, but I never planned to anyway, as I figured my first mile should be about 6:20, followed by a slew of 6:15s.

Thursday - 7.2 miles (7:16) with Danielle.  It was 59 degrees when we started and 40 degrees when we finished - and very windy!  I was glad I checked the hourly forecast in advance so I knew it would drop and started in long sleeves and carrying gloves.  7 seemed pretty short!

Friday - 4.2 mile shake out with 4 strides (7:34) from my parents' house in a 10 degree windchill (cold!), plus a flight from Wichita, Kansas to Phoenix, Arizona with my dad!

Arizona (hot)!

Kansas (cold!)

Saturday - 2.4 mile shake out with 4 strides (7:25).  As expected, mile 1 was sluggish (8:00ish) and mile 2 was "okay, maybe I am ready to race" (7:00ish)!

Sunday - Rock n Roll Arizona half marathon, which yielded a bright shiny new half marathon PR of 1:21:26 (6:13 pace) - HOT!  Results are here.  Race report(s) forthcoming - I only had the energy for this post tonight because it was already written sans photos!  I was thrilled with my result.  I went into the race with a plan and executed it perfectly so I was also proud of that.  The course was not nearly as easy as White River, so improving my time from that race was even sweeter.  I'm savoring the runner's high!  My total mileage for Sunday with warm-up and cool-down was 18.

Pre-Race Panic

I use the term "panic" lightly, because relatively I don't get that nervous, but anytime I have an important race where I'm attempting a PR, I have a lot of anticipation/obsession!  The Arizona Rock n Roll half is on Sunday!

My current thoughts:

"What if 50 degrees is too hot?  I've been training in single digit wind chills!"  This is followed by, "50 degrees is nice!  It will be great!  Plus it's a half and not a full."

"What if the freezing rain in the forecast screws up my flight?  What if I don't even make it to Arizona?!  I'm going to have to run a half marathon time trial on the treadmill while the Midwest is covered in ice!"  This is followed by, "Well, I have no control over the weather or flights, so if that happens I'll run a different race a different day."

"What if traveling messes with me and I bonk in the race?"  I remind myself that, "I ran well in the Portland Marathon in 2009 when I flew out there."  And I try not to think about bonking in the 2016 River Run 10K!

"Will TSA take my Generation Ucan thinking it's cocaine (it's white powder)?"  Then I remember, "I'm sure I can buy some in Arizona if it's confiscated."

"I hope I'm not the slowest elite!"  I remind myself, "The time cut-off was 1:25:00, so there can be women with PRs that are 2:23 slower than mine in this corral; plus not everyone will be in PR shape."

"My outfit is going to look silly; a mishmash of brands among athletes in actual racing kits!" (Note:  the brands I will have on include Nike, Underarmour, Hoka, Pro Compression, and of course Garmin...also potentially throw-away gloves that probably came from Walmart if it is cooler than expected)

"What if my goal time is a stupid idea and I die?"  I then tell myself, "You'll regret not taking the chance and going for it; of course you can go out there and run 6:30s, but why be comfortable?  If it doesn't go well you'll learn from it and try again next time!"

"How did I ever run that 6:06 pace tempo?  Was my Garmin incorrect that day?"  This is followed by, "I ran 6:06 pace for 8 miles in training without being rested, and my Garmin has historically been very close to distances in races so surely it was not grossly inaccurate for that one day only...I can do this or at least be justified in trying."

I have also been reading and re-reading everything on the race website, and also checked and re-checked that I packed everything multiple times!  I'm familiar with the course map and have a course-based pace band with my goal time ready to go.  I am going to go out there and do this with 100% of what I have that day - which we all know is different day-to-day.

My pre-race tiny 2 mile tempo yesterday (Wednesday) functioned as it always does to make me feel simultaneously prepared and unprepared.  My coach told me not to run it any faster than 6:10, so I tried to run it at 6:09 pace, haha!  It ended up being 6:08/6:07, so I was close.  It always takes me a couple of miles to hit my groove on tempos, so it's just hard to gauge much from 2 miles.  The first mile was, "This is way too fast; I can't run this for a half marathon and possibly can't run this for 2 miles."  Then the second mile was, "Okay, this is brisk but sustainable...okay, now I'm done."  It was a good reminder of why I plan to go out conservatively; my first 2 miles of my half will not be at that pace, but I hope my final miles are!

I'm officially listed on the race's runner tracker system (also available on the Rock n Roll race app), and I *think* I've been able to decode some things about the race numbers.  Elite men in the full marathon have numbers starting at 001, and elite women in the full have numbers starting at 101. Elite men in the half start at 201, and elite women in the half start at 301. Other athletes have 4-digit bib numbers that correspond to different corrals.  There are 22 elite women and 19 elite men in the half, and the bib numbers are in order of times that runners are coming in with.  I am number 313, so I appear to be ranked 13 out of 22 based on the PR I am coming in with.  So not last! The bulk of the women are between 1:20-1:25, which means we should have a nice pack!

The top contenders, with stats from very quick Google stalking searches:

Neely Spence Gracey - half PR of 1:09:59, top American at 2016 Boston marathon in 2:35, heavily favored to win this one

Kara Foster - 5K time of 15:54, 10K time of 32:37

Maor Tiyouri - top Israeli female distance runner (which is really cool!), 2:42 marathon

Priscilla Schultz - half time of 1:18

Courtney Olsen - half time of 1:18, full time of 2:45

Allison Delancy - half time of 1:20

Theresa Hailey - half time of 1:20, seems to be a very positive person (I really enjoyed this article that she was mentioned in, as I certainly suffer from "never satisfied syndrome")

I'm honored to share a corral with these ladies, along with several other talented gals!  I may be a little star-struck!  I suppose even if I am the last elite, it would not be the worst thing.  I guess the worst that can happen at this point is getting banned from the elite corral at future Rock n Roll events, haha!

It's not sunshine and rainbows ALL of the time

I write about all of my runs in my weekly re-cap posts:  the "normal", the bad, and the good.  I realized recently that I tend to write more about the positives than I do about the negatives; after all, I'll write a whole post on an amazing workout, but just a sentence or two about a meh day.  I think it's easy to emphasize the positives online; just look at anyone's Facebook or Instagram for proof of that!  We often share our ups but not our downs, and then we start thinking that everyone else's lives are perfect because that's all we hear about.  I love running, and I really do love it every day, but that doesn't mean I am leaping for joy to start every single run, and I don't want to discourage any other runners by presenting myself that way.

I think I am fortunate to love the training process, and I also think that's why I'm a lifetime runner.  Honestly, I enjoy daily training just as much, if not more than, racing.  The journey truly is the reward.  Again, that doesn't mean I don't have harder time periods or days when I don't necessarily want to run.  If anyone says they never have a day where they want to pull the covers over their head and do nothing, I think they are lying!

Winter is absolutely the hardest running time for me.  It can be so dark and so cold for my early runs. On Thursday and Friday last week, after I'd run twice in single digit "feels like" temperatures, and was facing a 20 mile long run on a route TBD since the roads were still hazardous, I had some periods of time where I was ready to throw in the towel and take up sitting on the coach and eating junk food as my new hobby.  What was I thinking scheduling a February marathon?!  What am I thinking trying to run PRs??  If I were content with finishing the marathon as my goal, it wouldn't matter if I skipped runs here and there, but I sure can't miss a 20 miler in PR pursuit!

But I also know what makes me happy, and while being lazy is all good and fun for awhile, it doesn't fulfill me like running does.  Running without goals doesn't fulfill me like training hard does, although I have had life seasons where that was what I needed.  I go through slumps where I wonder what the heck I was thinking with training for [insert crazy goal time/race here], and I think that's completely normal for any runner!  I think I'm blessed to have done it so long that I know I'm going to be happiest if I go out for every run, even on the days that are harder to (plus the OCD in me has to check it off the schedule!).  Some runs may be hard to get started, but once I'm out there I enjoy them 99.9% of the time (the 0.1% I've regretted have been when I caused a pain or illness to get worse).  I also embrace chasing my goals!

So don't give up when you have days that are harder or when you feel unmotivated!  It's all completely normal!  Don't give up when running is hard - it will get easier!  Every runner has ups and downs...now, if you never want to run that may be a different story, and maybe you're a better fit for another activity (that is how it is with me and swimming!).  I want to go out for most runs, but there are some days when it is intimidating or feels more like a "have to" than a "get to".  I always try to re-frame that and think about how blessed I am to be healthy and to be able to do this!  I choose to do it!  What I wouldn't give to have been able to do it at times I've been injured in the past!  But nothing in this world is perfect, so we shouldn't expect it to be.  Peaks and valleys will come, and those also make us stronger in the end.

Set goals that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning!  Even though, that's not going to happen quite every morning - especially during winter.

I'm very thankful for a warmer patch this week!  And I am jumping out of bed thinking about my next goal, which is the Arizona Rock n Roll half marathon on January 15!

Often our minds limit us more than our bodies

I couldn't wait for my weekly review post to write about today's workout, because I was so very excited about it -- so excited that I'm writing this on my lunch break at work, and I want to tell the world whether the world cares or not (and I realize that, really, the world does not and I am mainly writing this for myself, but I am also okay with that!)! I ran an 8 mile tempo (with 2 miles warm-up and 2 miles cool-down).  It was actually scheduled for tomorrow, but I ran it a day early because the morning low today was 47 degrees as compared to 20 degrees tomorrow.  I knew that I would run better at 47, plus based on past average temperatures/common sense/the current 15-day forecast, it is going to be much closer to 47 than 20 for my half marathon in Arizona on January 15 as well as for my marathon there on February 25.  I also figured that doing it a day early would give me one extra day of recovery between it and my half marathon, which I thought would be helpful since I planned to hammer this one.  Update:  the wind chill was 4 degrees on Wednesday morning, making running this a day early a very smart life choice.

I worried about this workout, mainly because I put a lot of stock in it in regards to determining if I would be capable of a PR attempt at the Arizona Rock n Roll half, but also because I had a not-so-great workout last week.  I'd had solid 4 and 6 mile tempos building up to this, but my mile repeats last week were a hit to my confidence.  It wasn't only that I didn't run them as fast as I wanted to; it was also that I never felt strong during the workout.  The whole thing messed with my confidence and I wondered if I wasn't on track to try for a PR half after all.  I wrestled with this workout mentally yesterday, and as I went to bed I left it at, "If it goes well, it's going to be a confidence-boost, but if it goes poorly I'm not going to let it throw me because I've had other solid workouts...it's just one workout."  I also told Jon that I was going to try to go sub-6:00 on my final mile, since I'd been able to close with 5:54 and 5:55 final miles on my 4 and 6 mile tempos, and I could tell he didn't think I could do that on an 8 mile tempo, so proving him wrong also became a big goal for the workout.  Proving him wrong has fueled many of my best workouts and races over the past couple of years, so I guess I should be thankful for his pessimism, haha!

My goal was 8 miles at 6:15 pace, and I knew if I could do that and finish feeling strong (meaning that sub-6:00 final mile that I was obsessed with) I would feel good about going for 6:15 pace and a 1:21:5X at the half.  However, my best 8 mile tempo to date was during my last marathon build-up at 6:24 pace (although I ran a faster 8 miles during the White River Half and probably during the Waddell & Reed Half, but those were races).  I told myself that surely, since I'd done 6 at 6:09, I could do 8 at 6:15.  Surely.  But that disappointing mile repeat workout was taunting me and telling me that somehow I'd lost all of that fitness and that I could not do it or even come close!

I ran a warm-up with Missy and Danielle, effectively removing all worry at that point with some social time, and then Danielle started the tempo miles with me, planning to run 3-4 miles with me.  I'd planned to start off at 6:20 pace and then try to drop pace throughout, but I think having someone with me for once pushed me to start a little faster and I came through the first mile in 6:12.  That felt good and I felt like I was holding back, which was promising because I didn't feel that way early on in my last tempo, but I was also a little worried I was sabotaging my chances to finish with a sub-6:00 mile by starting a little faster than I'd started my 6 mile tempo.  I told myself to just stay between 6:12-6:15 and I would be fine.  On a tempo this long, there is always a slight fear of fizzling out early though!

Danielle ran through about 1.5 miles with me and then told me she was going to drop back with Missy, who was running 6:30-6:40 pace for her tempo.  It was nice to have company for awhile, and even running alone from there forward it was nice knowing that they were out there with me (we were all running a loop course that is not quite a mile long).  By coincidence, mile 2 was 6:11, so then I decided I would try to drop 1 second per mile.  I like having little goals like that during longer tempos, as it breaks up the distance and gives me something to focus on each mile.  I did exactly that for the next two miles, with mile 3 in 6:10 and mile 4 in 6:09 (this was a little bit by trying and mostly by luck).

After I finished mile 4, I told myself "this is like mile 9 of the half marathon", and pretending I was in a half race with that much distance left made my pace drop a bit.  Mile 5 was 6:02, and then I worried that my perfect negative split was out the window since I doubted I could drop too much time from that - but I did feel like I could maintain that for 3 more miles, so that became my goal.  I was close, with 6:04 and 6:02 for the next two miles.  All the while I was counting down the distance as if I was racing a half..."okay, 2 miles left, this is like mile 11", etc.  Running tempos like that really helps me tune into my effort and also helps me get a good feel about how much I have left to give.  The loop I ran also helps me run more effort-based (i.e., not look at my watch all of the time), because it has a "slow side" and "fast side", and I always lose time on the former and gain time on the latter.

As I passed mile 7, I pretended like I needed a sub-6:00 final mile to meet my half goal time (Lord knows my math skills won't be good enough during the actual race to accurately figure that out! - at White River I kept adding on 1:00 for the final 0.1, which is 10:00 pace).  I pushed and I did it with a 5:55!  That push left me feeling pretty spent at the end, but I think if I'd have kept miles 5-8 all 6:05ish I could have definitely maintained 6:05ish through 10 miles at least.  And I wasn't hammered for my cool-down like I was after my mile repeats; I finished it at my usual relaxed pace (7:33).  I ran this on the exact same course that I ran my mile repeats on last week, and also woke up at 4:45 a.m. for it, showing me that mile repeat workout was just an off day (it was less windy today, which surely helped as well).

I surprised myself with this one!  I was hoping to hit about 6:12 for my average pace if I had a good day - basically 6 miles at 6:15 and then the final 2 faster - and I would never have believed that I could run this at 6:06 pace.  I was really intimidated by 6:15 pace, so I'm sure glad this pace wasn't given to me as a goal!

I also ran a Garmin 10K PR during this run!  It doesn't count for anything besides a Garmin best, but it still made me happy.  I am hoping to run a 10,000 meter race on the track this spring, and I will definitely be trying for this time or faster when that day comes.

I'm a little up in the air on what to try for in Phoenix, but I figure I can never go wrong with starting conservatively, so I think starting at 6:15ish pace will still be my goal and then I'll see what happens from there.  If I maintain 6:15 pace across the board, I'll have a time starting with a 1:21 and a PR, and if I can speed up a little more throughout as I have on my tempos then I'll have a better PR!  I'm hoping that even if I have a bad race I can run my second best half ever (my current PR is 1:22:37 and my second best time is 1:24:33).  The weather factor is slightly terrifying, as it will for sure be warmer than what I've been training in, so that may crush my PR hopes...but I have more spring halves planned if that is the case!  I'm trying to remember that it's only one day and only one race; just like this was only one workout and the mile repeats were also only one workout.  There will be more if I'm disappointed; there will be more with bigger goals if I run strong.  All I know for sure is that I will give 100% of what I have that one day, as I did today!

Onward and upward (or should that be downward, as in faster times?!)!

Splits

Wahoo!