Jumping July

July 2021 in review!  

Total mileage for the month: 320.8

• June 28-July 4:  65.9
• July 5-11:  86.2
  
• July 12-18:  74.8
• July 19-25:  51.3
  
• July 26-August 1: projected at 86

God Bless the USA!

Races:

• July 3:  3.1 on the 3rd in 18:09 in an unofficial 5k race put on by my running group. I decided in advance that I wouldn't count this as a PR, though I was sure I was going to run faster than my 5k PR, but I didn't (whomp whomp) so that was a non-issue! But I did run my second best 5k time running solo on rolling hills, so it wasn't The Worst.
• July 24:  USATF Masters Outdoor Track and Field National Championships 10,000 m in 39:39 for 2nd place in age group 40-44 and not nearly what I was hoping for!

#jumpingjuly

Workouts:

• July 3: 5k at race effort in 18:09 (3 warm up, 5.4 cool down).
• July 4:  9 easy, 3 progressive (6:16, 6:11, 6:12), 2.5 easy. I was aiming for 6:20, 6:10, 6:00, but I couldn't get the final mile down. This run in combination with the July 3 "race" showed me that I need to work on my power in regards to going uphill, but lucky for me all of my upcoming goal races are flat or close to it!
• July 6:  5 x 1600 m with 2:00 recoveries in 5:48, 5:59, 5:57, 5:55, 6:01 (2 warm up, 2 cool down). My goal pace for these was starting at 5:48 working down to 5:42, but the temperature/humidity adjustment was +13 seconds (5:55-6:01).  In my stubbornness I wanted to try the 5:48 working down thing anyway, but as you can see that was a mistake and I ended up hanging on the best I could, and just squeaked them all into the adjusted range.  My first rep was the most fun for a lot of reasons, the biggest being that I paced my friend Abby to a new mile PR of 5:49! Colin ran a 4:59 mile time trial, so clearly the two of them succeeded for the day.
• July 10:  3 x 2 mile progressive with 5:00 jogs in 12:25 (6:12, 6:13), 12:23 (6:09, 6:14), 12:23 (6:18, 6:05), 2.2 warm up, 3 cool down.  My original goal paces by rep were 6:00, 5:55, 5:50, but my coach had me use a temperature/humidity calculator to weather-grade them, and it said to add 18 seconds/mile, so I was aiming for 6:15, 6:10, 6:05 (yes, I do realize that was 15 seconds added).  The first rep felt easy, the first 1.5 miles of the second rep felt good, then all of a sudden it did not feel good anymore!  The humidity usually sneaks up on me like that.  I was happy to get the final mile back down to goal pace, but I really had to work for that.  We ran this workout on a rolling route (my Garmin said 246 ft of gain, Christian's said 571 ft, Colin's 387 ft - I'm guessing it was 300-something), so the hills also cut into the paces, but it was a better strength-builder that way...though to be honest, I wanted to run it on the fast loop but got outvoted, hah.
• July 14: 9 x 1000 m with 2:00ish recoveries in 3:39, 3:39, 3:36, 3:38, 3:38, 3:38, 3:38, 3:39, 3:35 - that's 5:46-5:52 pace (2.3 warm up, 2.4 cool down). My original pace goal was 5:42-5:48, but my coach said to use the temperature/humidity calculator, which said to add 13 seconds/mile. That seemed like too much, and I also didn't have time to convert mile paces to kilometer paces that morning, so I mostly just went by feel and after the first few decided that high-3:30s was a good goal. Although I felt somewhat "out of gas" going into this workout, I felt fine enough and was happy that I finished with my fastest rep, which is always more challenging for me in warm, humid conditions (73*, dew point 68* for this one).
• July 20:  2 mile threshold (road) + 8 x 400 m @ 10k pace (track) in 12:05 via 6:03, 6:02 and 1:26, 1:23, 1:24, 1:23, 1:23, 1:22, 1:23, 1:21 (2.3 warm up, 1.5 cool down). I seem to often run my final tune up workouts too fast, and this was no exception; my 10k pace target was 1:26 and my threshold target was 6:10-6:15 (threshold defined differently than tempo).  Every workout has a purpose and running them faster than written isn't necessarily advantageous, but running the 2 mile portion with Christian, testing out my race shoes, a morning that was cool for July (64 degrees), and reduced mileage on my legs made it happen.  About halfway through the 400s I just accepted that I had settled into 1:23ish and didn't try for anything different.  I felt controlled, like I had a lot still in the tank, and ready to race.
• July 27:  3 x (0:30, 0:45, 1:00) hill sprints within a 10 mile run.  "30 seconds feels like 30 minutes" was the quote of this workout, which I did with Christian and Colin.  Hills are a great way to make less than 7:00 total of effort feel really hard.  I also did plyometrics and lifted legs right after this workout, oof!  I was sore for 2 days.
• July 30:  Tempos of 15:00, 12:00, and 10:00 with 2:30 recovery jogs (2.7 warm up and 5.2 cool down for 14.2 miles total).  My instructions were to run the tempos by feel, and my paces were 6:07, 6:09, 6:06 / 6:08, 6:10 / 6:15, 6:11, which I was pleased with.  It was 72*, dew point 72*, but after my 10,000 m experience 6 days previously, the weather actually felt pretty good (though I finished extremely soaked in sweat).  I felt strong and like myself on this workout, which was also good for my ego after my sub-par race performance in Ames.  Colin, Christian, Claudio, and Casey also tempoed this morning, and though none of us are currently pace matches it's wonderful to start a 5:00 a.m. workout with others!
• Strides: July 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 19, 23, 26, and at least a couple before workouts and races.
• Doubles: July 1, 5, 7, 8, 13, 15, 18, 19, 28 (scheduled for July 30 but I ran all of my mileage in the morning due to the afternoon heat advisory).
• Strength work: I was consistent with 2 full strength workouts and 3 core workouts a week (reduced the week of my 10,000 m race), plus daily PT work/pre-run activation.
• Favorite workout: I loved the July 10 and 30 tempo workouts, but the easiest relative effort was the July 20 one. I'm pumped to move into more marathon-focused work!

Long Runs:

• July 4:  14.5 miles (7:20) that included a 3 mile progression, referenced in workouts above. Colin and Casey ran this with me, though we separated on the progression, and the miles flew by and the 4th of July was good.  God bless the USA!
• July 11:  12 miles, with a workout, described above.  My running group's team singlets came in the afternoon before this run, which was exciting!
• July 12:  16.3 miles easy (8:07), which was a normal enjoyable group run with Elise, Casey, Colin, Austin, and Rebecca.
• July 17:  13.1 miles light progression (7:41). My coach said to start a 8:15 (MP+2:00) and gradually drop to 7:15 (MP+1:00), which is how I run about every easy long run anyway!  Christian is being coached by Nichole now as well, and had 10 miles of the same. Most of our workouts are coordinating partially right now.  After the run we celebrated Amy's 50th birthday with a Lululemon cake at 7:30 a.m.!
• July 24:  11.7 miles of warm up, 10k race, cool down (this barely counts, and I was going to do 12 but got back from my cool down a little early and was just done).
• July 31:  18 miles (7:53) that flew by!  We had a great group and my first 7 miles were supposed to be super easy (8:15+) then the rest were 7:30-7:50, which really didn't feel any faster.
• Favorite long run: July 31, since it was the longest!  All were very enjoyable aside from July 24.

We celebrated Amy's 50th with Lululemon cake at 7:30 a.m.!

Not bad for after a long run (David says he doesn't
jump anymore & Colin also hates jumping post-run)

Running Highlights:

• I got my new rabbitELITE race kit and my running group's Miles from Mentor singlet.

C- photo of A+ singlets

Life Highlights:

• We spent the 4th of July in SE Kansas at my in-laws.  Albani loves fireworks and cousin time!  My parents were able to join us as well, making it even better.
• My parents accompanied me to Iowa for the USATF Masters Outdoor Champs, and we had a great vacation along with the meh race.

Albani is almost as tall as my mom now!

Ibbetson crew doing rock, paper, scissors for 
firework lighting duties

ABA parties are hard to match!

Iowa State mascot + downtown Ames

Capitol building in Des Moines

Des Moines Art Museum

Pappajohn Sculpture Garden in Des Moines

Books:

• The Martian by Andy Weir
• A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
• The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Bizarre Romance by Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie Campbell
• Artemis by Andy Weir
• Hidden (Lost and Found #1) by Ferm Michaels
• The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

Theme for the month:

• Summer of speed, continued...I mean, I raced a 5k and a 10k, plus look at all of those track workouts!

USATF Masters Outdoor National Championships 10,000 m: That was Terrible!

The Short:

I ran in what I hope will be my first of many USATF Masters* Championship races!  I also hope it is the worst race performance I produce in a competition like this; though I was able to hang on for a 2nd place finish in age group 40-44 and 5th overall female in the race, my time was a huge underperformance in relation to my fitness.  I'm sure no one is surprised that it was hot and humid in Iowa on July 24.  I went to compete without expecting a fast time, but I didn't expect to suffer as much as I did, finishing in 39:39.  I think the heat slowed me down about 2:00, but my performance being equivalent to 37:39 in good weather doesn't really make me feel any better, especially because I couldn't dig to compete like I typically can.  I really enjoyed training for this race - the day-to-day training was awesome! - so I'm still glad I did it, but it's going to take some time for my ego to recover from it.

*I also learned that although masters division typically begins at age 40, USATF starts it at age 35, so I have missed 5 years of masters championship road racing.

My medal was silver but my parents are gold

The Long:

As part of enjoying being a new masters runner, earlier this year I looked at the USATF masters championship race schedule.  As part of being crazy, I love racing 10,000 m on the track and thought doing it at the end of July in Iowa seemed like a great idea!

I didn't have a time goal going into this race, because I knew that weather and strategy could be big factors.  However, my speed block leading up to the race went well - the best speed block I've ever had actually - and I felt fit and tapered leading into the race.  The race day forecast was warmer every time I checked it, and by the time the race began at 8:45 a.m. the heat index was 90* with the sun radiating off the track.  I told myself that I die less than most in the heat, shoved ice into the crop and shorts of my new rabbitELITE race kit, and went to the starting line hunting a national masters win.

Shorts with the elite logo came a few days later!

My heat of the 10,000 m had 4 women's age groups and 2 men's age groups in it, so there was a crowd!  My plan was to run the first 2 miles conservatively to try to avoid overheating, then progress the pace downward from there.  While I didn't have specific time goals, I thought I was in shape for a 35:59 in ideal weather on a good day with good pacing, so I figured high-36/low-37 in the conditions we had.  I have been heat-adjusting my workout goal paces when it's been over 70* and humid, but by only 50-75% of the amount this heat calculator recommends.  I came through each of the first 8 laps right around 1:30 (I ran by feel but it's very difficult not to look at the clock when it's a huge display in front of your face each lap), and it didn't feel fast but it also didn't feel good.  I told myself I'd feel stronger as the race went on, and to reel in the women ahead of me.  At that point I was leading my age group, with two women ahead of me in the 35-39 division.  

This is pretty much how the entire race felt

Around 2 miles I started feeling worse, and a man who'd been running right behind me passed me.  I told myself to latch onto him, which I did briefly, but I couldn't maintain contact.  By the 5k I really started worrying, but I reminded myself that in most 10ks I've run I've passed the 5k thinking there was no way I could run that again, but I always did, often faster.  At some point another woman passed me, and I tried to stay with her even harder than I'd tried to stay with the man, but much like earlier, I just couldn't.  Our age groups were on our backs, so I knew she was in 45-49 and I was still leading age 40-44.  I knew I was slowing despite my best efforts not to, and at that point my goal became hanging on to win my age division.

I still kept telling myself I was going to feel better and speed up, and that everyone else was dying just as much.  I was trying to take 1600 m splits on my watch to look at later, but I missed one of them and then started really struggling to remember what lap I was on.  My brain felt foggy, my legs wouldn't move, and I just felt gassed.  At some point a woman with AG 40-44 on her back passed me and I really tried to hang onto her but my body felt felt shut down and I couldn't respond.  The possibility of a national championship slipped away and my goal mostly changed to just making it through, which is not a very inspiring race goal.

About to get passed

I was lapping people, some multiple times, plus two women and two men lapped me.  With the number of people in the race, the officials had their work cut out for them with telling people what lap they were on, and several times they didn't tell me my lap count when I passed.  My pace was so off what I'd expected to run and my brain was extremely cloudy, so the best I could do at times was "somewhere between 8 and 10 left" and "either 4 or 5 laps left!"  It started to not really matter, as the race began feeling more like a survival thing than a competition.  Finishing was a relief, though also a huge disappointment.

New rabbit teammate!

My official lap splits were:  1:29, 1:31, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:35, 1:36, 1:32, 1:36, 1:39, 1:39, 1:36, 1:35, 1:36, 1:40, 1:40, 1:38, 1:40, 1:40, 1:40, 1:33 (i.e., don't pace like this!).  I thought that starting at 6:00 pace was conservative, but clearly it wasn't adequate for me that day.  At the end of my 50k, I felt like it was the distance that got to me (not the pace), but in this race it felt completely like the pace!  Oddly, 25 laps on the track didn't seem very far.

I am really not sure what happened.  Yes, 90 degrees and humid (dew point 72*) on a hot track is miserable, but surely that can't account for slowing down 37 seconds/mile from what my workouts indicated I could run; I am also generally really good at knowing what I'll realistically run in races.  Most of the field ran about 2:00 slower than their seed times, but I was 3:05 off of mine (my heat calculator also gives me about +20 seconds/mile in the conditions, which is 2:00 - but remember, for hot workouts I've been using only 50-75% of the calculation).  All of my track workouts and strength-based workouts this season were faster than when I ran 36:34 on the road, so even in the heat I thought I'd be in the 37s on the track; I also ran a 36:52 on the road in not ideal weather of 71*, dew point 68* when I was at similar fitness to what I am now (though now those conditions seem okay, haha!).  I couldn't respond in a competitive situation, plus I felt awful and not at all strong, which I think is what makes this particularly discouraging.  There was just nothing there.  Maybe it's just time to retire from summer racing!

I'm trying not to dwell on this too much, because I am really thankful for the opportunity to compete in this event, and to take home the silver in my age group.  I'm thankful my parents came to the race with me, and for the vacationing we got to do along with it.  I'm thankful that my training for this race went so well, and that I'm 100% healthy.  But this was sure a hit to my confidence!  I also had to laugh about it; it was like my body said, "You think an 18:09 5k wasn't good enough, I'll show you a bad race!" Related note: my HR was higher during this 10k than it was during that 5k time trial, showing that I was right about that 5k effort being more like 10k-half effort.  This race was a 10k effort, it just wasn't the pace or place I thought that effort would produce!

But!  During my final tune up workout 4 days before the race, one of my running buddies was on a recovery when I was running a rep, and said "Go, coach!" (I coach several of my training buddies), which was the perfect reminder mid-400 that THAT was really what it's all about.  I love running and competing, but that is the selfish piece and surely not the primary reason God gave me a passion for running - though I believe He wants us to be happy, and running certainly makes me that way!  I love coaching, cheering for, supporting, and pacing others in this sport, and I really feel in my element when I'm doing those things.  I don't think I'll ever be anywhere near content with how this race went, but it doesn't change how much I love running and everything associated with it.

Now, onto a 5k, a half, a road 10k, and 26.2 between now and October 3!

3.1 on the 3rd: Disappointed but not Discouraged

My running group held an unofficial 5k race on July 3, which we decided to call 3.1 on the 3rd (there is an awesome race in Springfield called 4 on the 4th that didn't work into most of our schedules a day later).  I created a course on rural farm roads that was rolling with a small net drop, and measured it 4 different ways.  Race morning was 64* (61* dew point), which is really amazing for July in Missouri!  I expected I'd be running alone, which was the main downside, but based on how my workouts had been going I thought I could still dip under 18, and I was even in a cut-back mileage week.

Post-race celebration

We met at my house at 5:30 a.m., then jogged over to the start a little over a mile away, did some drills and strides, and took off at 5:50 a.m.  Colin was immediately out front as expected, and his goal was to break 17 but I thought he could be significantly under.  Steve was next to me for the first 200 m or so, then I eased away.  I wore 2 Garmins for accuracy, with one programmed to take 1k splits and the other taking mile splits, although I ran the race by feel without looking at the data until after.  I liked having a beep every 1k because it split the race up nicely for me.  

There was only 1 second difference in my race time (&
apparently also the time of day) on these two Garmins!

5k pace is hard from the beginning, and Colin was significantly ahead of me by 1k and continued to steadily widen the gap throughout the race.  I tried to stay focused on my effort but kept thinking, "Either Colin is annihilating his sub-17 goal or I am failing on my sub-18 goal" (turns out it was both - he ran 16:30!).  I caught my mind drifting several times and directed it back to quick turnover/5k effort.  It is harder to focus running solo!  The race passed by pretty quickly, but sure felt like a 5k on my legs, especially during the uphill from about mile 2-2.4.  Though the race was a net downhill, it rolled the whole way and finished the last 0.1 uphill, so if I had to do it again I'd run this on a track!  I do well with hills at marathon pace but definitely need to improve on my power going up them at faster paces.  I knew I wouldn't count this race as a real PR if I ran one since it wasn't a certified course and had a net downhill, but that wasn't a decision I had to make since I finished in 18:09, 5:50 average pace (Strava activity here) - although I later realized that this was my second fastest open 5k ever (I've just run faster in 10ks and close in the final 5k of a half marathon or two, bahaha!).

When I saw my time, my first reaction was disappointment.  I'd been so sure I could run in the 17s.  However, one of the reasons I wanted to race so badly this weekend was because my first short race of a season has rarely (never?) gone amazingly, so I wanted to bust the rust in a setting that didn't really matter, before my important shorter races.  That goal was accomplished and this was a much better way to start out than trying at a high stakes 5k like I did in 2019!  I also remembered that I've had multiple seasons where I've run a 10k goal race at a faster pace than any 5k I did, so I am not letting go of my ambitious 10k goal for the year. My heart rate indicated that I wasn’t really running 5k pace (more like 10k to half  HR), but I really didn’t feel like I could go any faster! [later note: I ran a 10k at a higher HR 3 weeks later, so this was correct]

One thing I was really happy about was my negative split.  I fully believe negative splitting is the best way to run your best time on the day in any distance race - though if competing for place, not time, is the goal, it is different - but I have a very difficult time executing a negative split in a 5k.  I'm not sure I have ever negative split a 5k I was seriously racing.  My mile splits were 5:55, 5:50, 5:46 (not sure what my kick was because I didn't get my watch stopped when I finished).  If I'd had to choose my ideal splits before this race I'd have said 5:50, 5:45, 5:40, so I got the pattern right!  Oh, and I was the first overall female if that counts for my 2021 record (7 for 8, with one second OA female).

I cut off the final 0.1 since it was at 18:12 pace
due to my stopping error

I was hoping my rabbitELITE race kit would arrive in time for this "race", but it didn't quite make it.  Hopefully its first race will be one I'm happier with!  I'm super thankful for the experience and to have running buddies who are excited to do things like this with me, and also thankful that 18:09 is a time I feel meh about (I used to be ecstatic anytime I was under 20).  How our expectations change, eh?  I have a real 5k race next month, in a competitive women's field, but it will also likely be quite warm, so I'm not sure how that will go, but I really want to do this again!