Ready or Not: October in Review

October 2019 in Review
Total mileage for the month:  376.4 - a monthly mileage PR, barely!

• Sep. 30-Oct. 6:  88
• Oct. 7-13:  91.7 - but during the Sunday through Saturday week of Oct. 6-12 I ran 100 for the first time ever!
• Oct. 14-20:  92.1
• Oct. 21-27:  80.4
• Oct. 28-Nov. 3:  60.3

It was too cold for this!

Races:

• Oct. 5 - Panther Run 5K as a "bonus" race that my coach added at the last minute in 17:52 for first female and my first 5K in the 17s!

Winter arrived, some days

Workouts:

• Oct. 2:  10 miles moderate (1 warm up, 1 cool down), which was slated at 5-10% slower than goal marathon pace, or 6:29-6:48.  My coach noted on my schedule that I'd "win" this workout by keeping all of my miles within that range, so I won with 6:35, 6:45, 6:38, 6:46, 6:42, 6:39, 6:41, 6:47, 6:38, 6:33.  My grade-adjusted paces were a little more even, because I ran a rolling route (480 ft of gain).
• Oct. 5:  After the Panther Run 5K and as part of a 16 mile day, I had a 30 minute progression run, starting at 8:00 and finishing at 6:00.  I set my watch to take half mile splits and aimed to drop 15 seconds off my pace each half mile.  The half mile split paces were: 8:04, 7:30ish (I messed this one up by hitting lap and splitting it into 2), 7:19, 7:02, 6:51, 6:43, 6:34, 6:08, 5:53.  I was happy to feel strong on this; when I saw it on my schedule I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it after the race!  Daniel and Michael ran this with me, which was quite helpful (every other workout I ran this month was solo).
• Oct. 8: 10 x 1K with 1:00 recovery jog in 3:37, 3:37, 3:34, 3:33, 3:38, 3:39, 3:36, 3:38, 3:35, 3:35 (that is 5:43-5:54 pace), 3.2 warm up plus drills and strides, 2.1 cool down. My coach told me "5:50-5:55 pace and no faster", but 5:50 effort is sure different in 42 degrees than it is in 70 degrees, so I kept having to reel myself in!  It looked like a long workout on paper but it went by quickly.
• Oct. 12:  During my 24.5 miler I had 10 x 1:00 pick ups to marathon goal pace-ish at the beginnings of miles 12-21.  My paces were:  6:03, 5:58 (decline), 6:01, 6:28 (incline), 6:17, 6:06, 6:03, 6:17, 6:36 (uphill), 6:17.  I liked doing this in lieu of 24 all easy, because it broke up the run and got my legs turning over, but it was just a light stimulus so didn't leave me any more fatigued than 24 easy pace miles.  It did, however, make MGP feel way too hard.
• Oct. 15:  10 x 4:00 at tempo/2:00 at MGP (that's 60 minutes total alternating 5:55/6:15) - I ended up with 10 miles at 6:01 average with 4:00/2:00 split paces of:  5:53, 6:11, 5:55, 6:06, 5:54, 6:04, 5:53, 6:24, 5:54, 6:11, 5:51, 6:12, 5:56, 6:09, 6:02, 6:20, 5:57, 6:24, 5:58, 6:18, 3.2 warm up, 3 cool down.  The workout was technically over 11 seconds before I stopped, but I wanted to run to 10 to see what my 10 mile time was.  I had no idea I was going to be so close to 10 miles in an hour; while I exceeded expectations with my paces, after seeing 6:01 average I wished I'd have run 2 seconds/mile faster! I had a much harder time finding 6:15 pace than 5:55 pace, which is evident in my splits.  I know tempo effort well but marathon pace in training (especially coming off tempo pace) is something I am not good at settling into!  I was pretty excited to run unofficial 15K and 10 mile PRs, the hard way (uneven pacing) by myself in the dark.  I was also pumped to nail this workout on a Tuesday after a Saturday 24.5 miler - historically I've bombed my next workout after my 24 miler pretty much every time, even when we pushed it to Thursday.
• Oct. 22:  12 x 1K with 1:00 recovery jog in 3:37, 3:37, 3:39, 3:40, 3:40, 3:42, 3:44, 3:38, 3:37, 3:39, 3:47, 3:40 (2.1 warm up, 2.5 cool down). My goal was 3:35-3:40, so 9 of the reps were on target and 3 were not, and I'd call it a mediocre day.  It was windy, and at the beginning of the workout it seemed "not bad" whereas at the end it seemed "terribly windy."  I think hitting the pace early on took more out of me than it would have without the wind, making hitting it later more difficult.  I took 1:00 standing recoveries instead of jogging after reps 7 and 11 to try to get back on pace. 1Ks were easier on Oct. 8! I had the option of 12-15, and choosing 12 shows that it was not my best day.
• Oct. 26:  10 miles at 6:10, which ended up being 6:02 average via 6:07, 6:02, 6:04, 6:07, 6:04, 6:01, 6:00, 6:04, 6:02, 5:53 (3.2 warm up, 3.6 cool down).  I was a little nervous for this workout, I think since it was my last long run workout before my marathon so I wanted it to go really well.  I kept telling myself that 10 steady at 6:10 shouldn't be an issue since I'd done 10 at 6:01 alternating 5:55/6:15 on Oct. 15 - but in my head 6:10 is really hard.  Once I got started I felt great, and my pace kept drifting more towards 6:00.  I started the workout in a short sleeve shirt, arm warmers, and gloves (it was 44*, wind chill 38*), but around mile 3 I peeled off my shirt and tossed it in the ditch - also a good skill to practice before race day at a fast pace.  Around mile 6, it started raining!  Cold rain is my least favorite, and luckily it was a light to moderate rain, but the portions running into the wind were pretty cold.  Weather.com had told me the rain that wasn't going to start until after I finished the run - although the day before it had 90% change of rain from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., so I'm not sure why I trusted it.  When I saw my average pace at mile 9 I really wanted to continue to 13.11 for an unofficial half PR, but I made myself stick to the distance my coach had given me, although I did try for that sub-6:00 final mile.  I will race a half in good conditions sometime!
• Oct. 29:  6 miles with 5 at MGP and 1 hard, full recovery, 4 x 800 at 5K effort with 2:00 recovery in 6:15, 6:14, 6:10, 6:08, 6:18, 5:59 / 2:55, 2:55, 2:53, 2:52 (2.1 warm up, 2.2 cool down).  I felt alright on the marathon pace work, but then my legs did not want to turn over any faster.  I think I could have used another easy day between the Oct. 26 workout and this one, and I mostly accomplished the workout but had to really work for it (and 5K effort was not 5K pace!).  I also walked for a few minutes on my full recovery, and milked the 2:00 jogs for all I could between the 800s.  On my warm up, I'd told Abby that it didn't even matter how this workout went, because my cycle had been solid, and I stand by that, although I wish mile 6 and the 800s had been a little faster and come easier! 
• Doubles:  Oct. 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, (a tiny 1.1 miler on Oct. 12 in order to hit 100 miles), 14, 17, 21, 25, 27, 31.
• Strength work:  Weekly totals of 2:36, 1:50, 2:09, 2:25, 1:16.
• Yoga:  Weekly totals of 1:20, 1:52, 1:41, 1:37, 1:20.
• Favorite workout:  The Oct. 5 Panther Run plus progression and the Oct. 15 workouts really showed me that I'm stronger than I think I am, but Oct. 8 and Oct. 26 exceeded expectations too - so I'll just say I felt very blessed this month!

I said "Vogue" pose & this is what happened
(they are too young to understand!)

It's the days of sports bra & gloves workouts!

Long Runs:

• Oct. 5:  16 miles via 3.5 warm up, Panther Run 5K, 30 min. progression run, 5 mile cool down.  This didn't feel like a 16 mile morning since it was so split up!
• Oct. 12:  24.5 miles (7:42) - The Big One, with some pick ups as described above.  Due to some route miscalculations, I ran a half mile over the scheduled 24, and it was really hard to restrain myself from going to 25!  It was 28 degrees at the start of this run, which was a bit shocking considering I hadn't done any other long runs this season in weather cool enough to even wear a shirt.  Missy and Rebecca ran the first 12 miles of this with me, and then Rebecca was with me off and on for most of the remainder.  I stopped to pee during mile 15 and didn't get my Garmin stopped, so my average pace was a little faster than this, but it was still an easy run - maybe the slowest pace I've run a 24 miler at ever in training, but that was by design (it's taken me a week to recover from most 24s in the past, plus this was tons of time on feet).
• Oct. 19: 22.4 miles (7:44), with heart rate caps of 132 for the first 10 and 140 for the next 10 (then easier final 2). My HR monitor wasn't working so I went by paces that these HRs usually correspond with, with 8:00ish for the first 10 and 7:30ish for the second 10.  Earlier in the week I'd tried to talk my coach into adding a 2 mile fast finish, but she said no, and when I had 2 miles left I was sure glad she'd said no!  I really enjoyed this run, and Missy and Rebecca ran 16 of it with me (I did 3 from my house to our meeting spot and 3 back home after they finished), but around mile 19 I started feeling pretty out of gas. I'd been traveling for work in the 3 days before this run, returning home the evening before, and that always tires me out.  I also didn't fuel very well (just water before, and one scoop of UCAN in water during, because of laziness), which I am sure didn't help.
• Oct. 26:  16.8 miles, described in workouts above.
• Favorite long run:  The 22 on Oct. 19, because I had so much fun with my friends during that run!  Missy took 3 videos and several photos of us while running.  She is a good multi-tasker!

Missy took this of Rebecca & me on Oct. 19

Running highlights/thoughts/randomness:

• I really enjoyed this podcast with Sarah Hall.  She is my favorite professional runner and I am really pulling for her at the Trials in Atlanta 2020!
• I got podcast mentions at 1:59 here and 1:38 here.
• I ran my first ever 100 mile week!
• The weather was pretty bipolar this month - one morning I'd be in shorts and a sports bra, and the next in tights, long sleeves, gloves, and an ear warmer!  On Halloween morning there were snow flurries.
• I got 3 new pairs of running shoes that are pink!

It is darker than I'd prefer at 6:45 a.m...

Pink power! The New Balance have a bright pink sole.

 Life highlights/randomness: 

• We continued to foster the stray kitten we found last month, which we named Biscuit - she goes to her permanent home on Nov. 2.
• My cousin Bill visited from Colorado.
• We took our annual pumpkin patch visit.
• My birthday fell on a Saturday.
• Albani went to her first ever school dance - isn't 6th grade too early for these?!
• Halloween resulted in excessive amounts of sugar at our house, as per usual.

Stand off on our deck

So much cuteness

Catching throwed rolls at Lambert's

You have to take visitors from out of state to Lambert's

Halloween Wars would be impressed

This was in my hotel room when I was
traveling for work - I was impressed

Pumpkin patch fun

Jon is the world's greatest farmer

We all painted pumpkins

Foster siblings (I wish Nugget & Bandit
would do this!)

Bandit

We love Skip-Bo!

I can barely handle this cuteness - I just wish
Bandit would participate

Our church's fall fest

Gotham City

Ready for her first school dance

Books:

• Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson 
• Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
• The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
• All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
• This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
• Roar by Stacey Sims

Theme of the month:
Ready or not!  My next 26.2 is right around the corner, and I am ready to run with joy the race set out for me, no matter if it takes me 2:44 or 3:44!