August Angst

August 2022 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 414.4

• August 1-7:  97.3
• August 8-14:  99.7
• August 15-21: 99.5
• August 22-28:  77.8
• August 29-Sep. 4: projected at 99
• Note: when I discuss this marathon training cycle, I will refer to most of this month's mileage as "about 100 mile weeks", hah! I was a little tempted to round off all of them, but I do not think tenths of a mile are going to make or break my fall races.

Some of our best #augustangst work

Races:

• August 13: Riverside 5000 in 19:19 for 4th overall female and 1st female masters. I had mixed feelings about this because I met my place goals of placing in the overall prize money (top 5) and winning masters, but I expected to run significantly faster. I suspect it was a combination of just not my best day, the high mileage on my legs slowing me down, and me not being good at 5ks.

This was not at the Riverside 5000,
but it was how I felt during it

Workouts:

• August 3: 4 x 1.5 miles at marathon pace with 0.5 jogs, within a 12 mile run. My pace goal was 6:32, and I heat adjusted it to 6:40, then I ended up averaging 6:31 via 6:38, 6:33, 6:29, 6:22 for the 1.5 mile reps on rolling hills. The first three felt swift but maintainable (e.g., like marathon pace), while the fourth felt more like threshold pace (probably because it was, heat-adjusted). I don't usually look at the summer weather before my workouts because it's just better not to know, so I estimate my adjustments but I'm usually pretty close if I check after the fact. This is the calculator I use (it accounts for dew point plus temperature!), but I do half of the suggested adjustment; for example, if it says to add 16 seconds per mile for a workout I add 8. I think I'd need the full suggestion if I wasn't heat-adapted, but half seems about right unless it's a really long sustained effort, such as racing a marathon or a double-digit tempo.
• August 6:  6 easy, 6 x (1 mile marathon pace/1 mile easy). My good weather goal pace was 6:20-6:30, and I heat-adjusted it to 6:30-6:40, which probably was not enough in a 75* dew point (also 75* air temp at the start, and not sure what I climbed to). I ran 6:36, 6:29, 6:29, 6:35, 6:32, 6:28 for the marathon pace miles, which I was happy with - it was a brutal day to execute anything! I ran with a handheld and refilled it twice, but could have drank at least twice as much as I did.
• August 10: Progressive marathon pace workout of 25:00 at 6:33 pace, 2:00 jog, 15:00 at 6:18 pace, 2:00 jog, 5:00 at 6:05 pace (12.5 miles total). My goal paces were 6:32, 6:22, and 6:15, so I let loose a bit too much on the final 5:00 but I enjoyed the progression and negative splitting in a dew point of 70*, which I cannot always do.
• August 16: 8 x 1:30 @ 10k pace/4:00 @ marathon pace continuously. My coach gave me 5:50 and 6:25 for my paces, which seemed aggressive, but I tried! My marathon pace drifted as the workout went on and I couldn't get the final 1:30 down, but I felt terrible every step of this one so I was pretty happy with the outcome. On my second round I was already thinking, "How in the world am I going to manage this 8 times?!" The weather was cooler, so that helped - 66* and misty. My 1:30 paces were: 5:55, 5:49, 5:46, 5:47, 5:48, 5:53, 5:50, 6:04 (average 5:51). My 4:00 paces were: 6:22, 6:32, 6:31, 6:31, 6:37, 6:40, 6:39, 6:24 (average 6:32). The workout got me 6.95 miles total at 6:20 pace, plus 3 warm up and 2.2 cool down gave me 12.2 on the morning. I'm pretty sure my first 3 miles of this workout were faster than my Riverside 5k, so there was that...
• August 20: 5 easy, 3 MP, 1 threshold, 2 easy, 1 threshold, 3 MP, 5 easy (20.5 total) - splits for the workout were 6:41, 6:39, 6:36, 6:10 | 6:09, 6:30, 6:43 (uphill), 6:15 (downhill). My target paces were 6:30 and 6:10, and I averaged 6:34 and 6:09.5, so I was close on MP and perfect on threshold. Much like my August 16 workout, based on how I felt I was really happy to almost hit this one! When I saw the first marathon pace split of 6:41 it was very not confidence-inspiring because it felt more like half marathon effort. We ran a rolling route for this workout, and I sure felt every uphill and incline. Spencer ran this with me and really helped me along! I usually don't feel like I need cut-back weeks, but after my workouts this week I was ready for the reduction the following week.
• August 24: 4 x 8:00 at threshold with 3:00 jogs in average paces of 6:04, 6:06, 6:16, 6:14 (11 miles total). This was meh. Spencer ran the first 2 reps with me, giving me someone to hang onto - then when he stopped I really tried to hang onto the goal pace (6:05) but couldn't manage. This was during my cut back week and it was 65*, so I have no reason why I was so sluggish, but I was!
• August 27: 7 x 3:00 at threshold/3:00 jog in a 15.2 mile run. My target pace was 6:05 and we were on a hilly route so I focused on 6:05 effort and ran 5:58, 6:18, 6:14, 6:10, 6:10, 5:59, 6:00. Based on Spencer's premium Strava, most were a faster effort than our paces reflected - except the first which had decline for the majority of it. The run felt good overall but as usual I wished 6:05 would have come a little easier!
• August 31: 8 x 1k with 2:00 jogs at paces of 5:49, 5:47, 5:41, 5:42, 5:37, 5:38, 5:40, 5:33 (11.5 miles total). This was supposed to be threshold (6:05-6:10), but we got out fast and I felt amazing so I just went with it! I felt really strong and finished feeling like I could do the whole workout again. I hadn't had a workout I felt good on since August 10, so I really celebrated this one! Spencer's watch said we averaged 5:46 pace for the work and mine said 5:41; I think mine reads a little fast on some courses, so his was probably right and mine was ~5 seconds/mile fast, but I am thrilled with either 5:46 or 5:41! It was 58*, which is pretty much a PED after summer training.
• Strides: August 2, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 30.
• Doubles: August 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31.
• Strength training: twice a week - I've been really consistent.
• Favorite workout: I loved August 20 for the concept, but hands down August 31 for performance.

Hot double

Angst

Amy made me run 0.4 extra this day

This one is very angsty

Long Runs:

• I didn't include medium long runs this month, because I had 23 morning runs that were double digits - only 8 days were not (every Friday and 5 days during my cut-back week were 8s).
• August 6: 18.2 miles (7:21), with a workout described above. I got to talk about UCAN with my local running club OMRR after this run!
• August 14: 20.2 miles (7:57), with great company from Casey and Rebecca the entire way. Since everyone was running 20, we did a 20 mile loop, which is my favorite way to do it even though it required carrying fluids.
• August 20: 20.5 miles (7:18), with a workout, described above.
  
• August 27: 15.2 miles (7:18), with a workout, described above. Cut back week!
• Favorite long run: August 14 was a really smooth easy pace 20 with excellent company and a nice loop course!

Post-20

Running Highlights:

• When I looked up the Oklahoma state 5k record for my age prior to the Riverside 5000, I found my half marathon record from the 2021 T-Town Half online. I knew that I'd set the record but at the time they were updating the online listings and I only had a text document file, so it was fun to see it official. It may have been posted for over a year, I just haven't checked! My age group 40-44 record is here, and single age 40 state record here.

Sharing UCAN knowledge, & kettle corn

Colin's first ever Pineapple Whip (Amy
made us run too far this day, too)

#augustangst with Story by the 
Table Rock Lakeshore Trail

Abby's surprise birthday party

David's birthday August angst

Life Highlights:

• Albani and I did a girls' day at Silver Dollar City for Arc in the Park.
• We spent a weekend in Branson with my sister's family. I got to run with my niece Story, who is on the Columbia University track team.
• Albani started her freshman year of high school, which is terrifying to me!

Silver Dollar City

More SDC

Hiking in Branson

Cupcakes in Branson

Ozark High School Meet-the-Teacher

First day of school

Tradition!

Books:

• A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
• The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
• We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride
• More Than You'll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez
• Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
• How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
• The Giver by Lois Lowry

Theme for the month:

• Busy!

Riverside 5000

I've wanted to run the Riverside 5000 in Tulsa for years, which is ironic since I don't like 5ks or racing in hot weather! I was registered for the race last year, but it cancelled a couple of weeks before race day due to COVID. I went back and forth on running it this year because all of my local running buddies bailed on the trip and I was feeling pretty tired the week of the race, but decided to sign up two days before the event. My friend Liz was kind enough to let me crash at her house, which helped solidify my decision to go.

Though this was not my first time running a race in a ~100 mile week (that honor goes to the Run with The Wind 25k), it was my first time racing a 5k with this many miles on my legs. Although I know mileage slows you down, I workout with a lot of miles on my legs all of the time, so I rationalized that it wouldn't matter much and hoped to beat my heat advisory time trial time from 3 weeks before. The time trial was during a cut back week of 70 miles, but I hoped I'd gained fitness since then and expected I was capable of 18:15-18:30 in summer conditions. The race had prize money for the top 5 overall and top 3 masters, so my main goals were to get in the top 5 and win masters. For hot races I tend to prefer place goals, as realistic heat-graded times are never that motivating to attain!

When I warm up for short races I do a few minutes at tempo effort, and when I saw my tempo effort was getting me 6:39 pace pre-race, I was a little concerned - but I've had every combination of good/bad warmup/race, so I mostly brushed it off and lined up on the starting line with ice in my sports bra and shorts, trying to stay cool. It was around 78* with a 65* dew point, which is not great but I don't think we could have expected any better. 90* with 75* dew point would have been far worse!

I checked out the other women around me on the starting line and after the gun kept my eye out to see where I was at. Three women went out pretty quick, then when things sorted out I was in 4th. The course was out and back twice, meaning 3 hairpin turns but also meaning you could see where you were at every quarter of the race. At the first turn, I didn't have much lead on the 5th and 6th women, so I knew I was going to need to stay on it to meet my top 5 goal. The woman in 5th looked like she was likely in masters, so I was motivated to widen my gap on her.

The most common comment on this photo when I
shared it on social media was about the gas price

Like usual, I ran by effort and didn't look at my watch. I felt like I was pushing well and running hard, and if I'd had to guess I'd have said 5:50 pace. I am really glad I didn't look at my watch because I'd have been pretty disappointed to see 5:50 effort was getting me 6:10ish pace!

At the halfway turn around, I had a bigger lead on 5th but still not a lot - and I was working hard! I focused on the men ahead of me and trying to pick them off, and I successfully did for multiple men (I think 6). The course was marked each kilometer, so I also focused on pushing during the 3rd and 4th kilometers, since that was where I fell off in the time trial. I noticed that one of the lead women had fallen off the others and seemed to be slowing dramatically, so then I started telling myself to go get her.

Final stretch

At the final hair pin turn, I felt comfortable with my lead over the 5th woman, and tried to push as much as I could, with a small hope that I could catch 3rd. I closed the gap between us but she was still at least 15 seconds ahead of me. When I first saw the clock, it started in an 18, but then I saw that advance to 19 and was pretty disappointed. I ended up crossing in 19:19, but they didn't do chip time so my gun time is my official at 19:25. Results are here.

Awards

I think if Liz hadn't been at the race with me, I'd have wallowed about my time on my cool down, but instead we chatted the whole way and I stayed in a positive mood. We ran a little over 4 miles, then I picked up my winnings. I was pleased with my placings, so I had mixed feelings about this race, but I moved on really quickly from it and enjoyed the rest of my weekend - including a 20 miler the next day. It wasn't what I thought I was capable of time-wise, but it wasn't for lack of trying! I know the mileage slowed me down some, and of course the heat did too, but everything else was pretty ideal so I don't know why I wasn't better.

Not to be dramatic, but I've been wondering lately if my PR days are behind me. I'm currently training well, learning more, and giving running just as much as I ever have, but I'm not running exceptionally. Whatever the case with my performance, I'll continue to train and race because I love it - cheers to enjoying the process! - though I don't love the thought of slowing down. I am fully appreciating the masters division though!