Mighty May

May 2024 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 289.5

• April 29-May 5: 38.8
• May 6-12: 63.1
  
• May 13-19: 73.2
• May 20-26: 65.5
• May 27-June 2: 71.8

This photo is hard to beat

Races:

• May 4: Girls on the Run 5k in a mostly relaxed 20:57 for 1st OAF.

This sign was on the ground & we put
it back by the post it goes on, but it was
a fun photo-op b/c we run this road often

Workouts:

•  May 4: 2 miles MPish + 1.1 miles push (6:45, 6:50, 6:11, forgot to lap the final 0.1 but I'd guess it was pretty close to 6:11) in a 9 mile run. I also did several ~20 second pushes towards the end of my warm to test the legs a bit.
• May 11: 13.2 miles with 10 x 1:00 pick ups to 10k-ish effort around the beginning of each mile from 4 on. I always seem to feel better when I do little pick ups during long runs instead of only running easy, and they are not at all fatiguing.
• May 14: 2 warm up, 2 tempo, 5 easy, 2 tempo (tempo miles were 6:46, 6:47, 6:45, 6:59) - I did this just for fun with some of my running buddies who are training for Grandma's Marathon! It was very humid and felt much harder than I'd have liked.
• May 18: 20 miles via 5 easy then 15 x 0.1 pick up/0.9 easy. Repeat of May 11 - little pick-ups really help these easy long runs! See below for why I ran 20.
• May 21: 6 miles alternating 0.5 at 10kish pace/0.5 at MP, jog to full recovery, 4 x 150 m hard with 50 m walk recoveries. Again I jumped into the Grandma's Marathon crew's workout and specifically helped pace Lisa on the 6 mile portion. Splits for our 10k segments were 3:08, 3:10, 3:10, 3:08, 3:09, 2:59 and splits for the MP segments were 3:38, 3:35, 3:29, 3:24, 3:24, 3:21, then all 150s were 0:30. I didn't tell Lisa beforehand, but I pushed the final 10k pace section and she rose to the occasion and still ran the fastest MPish section after it. Our pacing on the 10k segments was very even with a strong finish, and the MP sections were a nice little progression. This felt 100x better than the May 14 workout I joined, and not because it was any less humid (it was actually warmer too).
• May 24: 16 miles alternating 1 at 7:15-7:30/1 at 8:15-8:30. This was yet another Grandma's Marathon workout I jumped in and it was fun! The weather was rough at 72* and 96% humidity at 5:30 a.m., but my friend who I helped hit or exceeded her goal paces (no adjustments) even in that! Shockingly, I also felt great.
•  May 29: 15 x 1:00 on/1:00 off. I was pretty fatigued after getting home from traveling the night before this, but I needed to do something to stop from slogging. Sometimes a little workout like this feels better than dragging through an easy run. My paces were all over the place, but as I've said before that I don't know how accurate a Garmin is for 1:00 intervals.
• I did strides and hill strides many times this month too!
• Favorite workout: May 21 certainly felt and went the best, plus I love gear-shifting workouts like that!

#mightymay

#musclemay + Sarah & me twinning
in running group's new singlets

Long Runs:

• May 11: 13.2 miles (8:04).
  
• May 18: 20 miles (8:10). I showed up to this run planning to run either the 13 or 15 mile loop, (which are mostly the same and the way we almost always run), but the Grandma's training group really wanted to do the 20 mile loop (which is totally different). I could have gone out with them for 6+ miles and then turned back, but then I'd have had half my run alone so I was coerced into going with them the whole way. I reserved the right to start walking at 15 or 16 and they said the would come back and pick me up, but I felt surprisingly just fine even though it was 77* when we finished, perhaps because I gained some heat adaptation from suffering through Frisco. Since I thought we were doing our usual course, I'd left my handheld on the entrance to my neighborhood, which is 3 miles into the route we usually run. Therefore I had no water or gels, but Lisa had quite a bit of water that she shared with me, plus she and Sarah refilled their bottles at the Rogersville McDonalds. Casey shared her two gels with me but they were both terrible and I could only manage to eat a small amount of each - plus she needed them more because she was running 23 after a 12 miler with work the day before. So, I ran 20 miles on 1/4 of a gel, making it my worst fueled long run in years. I used to run 20+ on nothing but have not since I learned better.
  
• May 24: 16.1 miles (7:46) again helping with Grandma's Marathon training and enjoying myself!
• Favorite long run: May 24 was really fun!

#musclemay

#mightymay

Post-20 miler w/ UFO

Post-Frisco run w/ blinding sun

Running Highlights:

• I'm just enjoying doing "whatever" at the moment!

Life Highlights:

• I went to the ABAI Convention in Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend. I was a co-author on a presentation and two posters at the conference. While conference days were long (8 a.m. to 6-7 p.m.), I saw all of the area sights via 4 runs and a historical walking tour that was offered one day on a long lunch break. I also ran across the Ben Franklin bridge into New Jersey twice. Travel was an absolute nightmare getting there, including an overnight in the Chicago airport, but everything else went well.

Rocky Statue in front of the Philly Art
Museum w/ the iconic Rocky stairs

Independence Hall

Liberty Bell

My conference/hotel was 2 blocks from this

So regal

Books:

• The Last Flight by Julie Clark
• There There by Tommy Orange
• Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
• The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• The Rules of Disappearing by Ashley Elston
• Notes:
• Bold = 5 stars
• Working a lot reduced my reading a bit

Theme for the month:

• Running group did Mighty May / Muscle May.

Girls on the Run 5k

I won a free entry to the Girls on the Run 5k through my running club. My friend Casey was a coach in the program and I thought I might use the entry to be a running buddy to one of her girls, but they actually had more buddies than girls so I decided to race it. I was hoping I wouldn't have to run super hard to win, since I was a week off of the Frisco Marathon.

I struggle with vertigo from time to time, and I had an episode begin over a week before Frisco, 2 weeks before this race. I'm actually convinced it's somehow brought on by decreasing my mileage, because of the 5 times I've had issues with it, 3 have been during marathon tapers and 1 was when I had an imbalance issue and had to greatly reduce my running (I can't remember what was going on the other time so it could have also been a lower mileage time). If any ENTs or neurologists want to do a study on me, I'm willing! It didn't bother me too much at the beginning of this episode and I don't think it hurt me at Frisco, but coming off of Frisco it worsened and I couldn't lay down, which meant my sleep was poor which is not great for marathon recovery. Through many associated events, I ended up at Urgent Care for 4 hours after work the day before the GOTR 5k. I went to bed that night thinking I probably wouldn't be able to go.

Urgent Care was somewhat helpful though, and I woke up feeling okay enough on Saturday morning that I knew I'd be fine to run easy at the least. Since I had won the free entry that several people wanted, I also felt obligated to go, even if I needed to jog it. I drove to the race figuring I'd do just that. I really didn't care about winning any more.

As I warmed up for 4 miles and threw in several 0:20-0:30 pick ups, I felt decent and only a bit uncoordinated/clumsy. I saw two awesome masters women I know, Missy and Rosie, at the starting area. I asked them what they were doing and they said 7:00ish pace and I kind of invited myself to join them.

Start - I promise I was not glaring at a child!

The 3 of us early

After the young girls who sprinted out slowed down, the three of us were leading. I didn't look at my watch but the pace felt very manageable - definitely not 5k effort, which I was thankful for. I figured it was right around 7:00 as they'd said. Rosie encouraged Missy and I to go do our own thing, but she stayed pretty close behind us. I just stayed with Missy, and she encouraged me to do a progression run. I asked her if she wanted to finish together holding hands, which I thought would be fun, plus we would still get overall and first masters. She didn't want to do that and again encouraged me to push the end. I asked if she wanted to push mile 3 and she told me to go and she'd try to latch on, so when we passed the 2 mile mark I did. The environment on the course was so fun and supportive, and it was a fun race to lead! I came in overall female in at 20:57 after running Garmin splits of 6:50, 6:50, 6:11 (I forgot to lap at the finish so I don't know my final 0.1 but I imagine it was about the same pace as mile 3).

The 3 of us a little later

My second lap w/ bike escort looking back

The course was certified, which is hard to come by for 5ks around here, and weeks before the race I'd considered giving it all I had (prior to Frisco and vertigo!). Ultimately I was glad this didn't pan out because there were a lot of turns and awkward sidewalk to road transitions, and since it was 2 loops we had to dodge a lot of people in the final mile (also it started at 10:00 a.m. and was 76*, we know how I feel about that!). There is no way I had a good 5k in me that day mentally or physically so it all went the best it could have, but I hated that I "wasted" a 5k that was actually a 5k! 

However, I'm glad I got to take part in a fun event for such a great program. For my win I got a free entry to next year's race so I'll be back!

Results are here (for sure the most decimal places I've ever gotten in a race time at 20:57.111), my Strava activity is here.

Great handmade card

Casey ran with the girls she coached
& Missy ran mostly with me!