I need to get another post up here because that last one is depressing! In an attempt to not be so hard on myself I have decided on the eating front I am going to try and exercise moderation and I am going to stay off the scale so I can't over analyze every half pound gained or lost. This is a big step for me as I am OCD so we'll see how that goes!
On the training front, last week was a bit lighter in anticipation of racing the Johnnycake Jog, and the week didn't go well so this next week will be light too in hopes to transition into marathon training mentally and physically fresher.
Original Plan for the week was:
Total Mileage 55 - 60.
Tuesday: Track.
Thursday: Tempo run on roads 6 miles @ 6:20 pace.
2 days @ 7:50 - 8:20 or slower at the end of one of these days do 4 - 6 * 100.
1 days @ 7:20 - 7:40.
Saturday: Pre race day 4 - 5 miles easy.
Sunday: Johnny Cake Jog plus warmup and warmdown.
After a horrible tempo Thursday we decided to bail on Fridays run though so mileage ended up a little low.
How it played out:
53 miles for the week
Monday- 8 miles 8:24 pace
Tuesday- 10.5 miles track with mile time trial
Wednesday- 8 miles 8:08 pace with 4*100 strides
Thursday- 10 miles with failed tempo
Friday- off
Saturday- 4 miles trails easy
Sunday- 2.5 mile warm up with strides, 5 mile race, 5 mile cool down
Key workouts:
Tuesday-
1 mile time trial in 5:17. A shiny new mile PR, but I can't lie I thought it should be faster, but don't think I could have done anything more, maybe went out a bit harder the first lap. Splits were around 75, 2:35, 3:56, 5:17
Followed that up with 4*800 and 2*400. My right hamstring was a little pissed towards the end, but otherwise a really solid workout.
800s in: 2:50.97
2:49.74
2:48.65
2:46.81
all with 2:30 rest
1:24.82
1:23.33 with 90 second rests
Thursday- aiming for 6 at 6:20, 3 miles in just toasted.
I did 3 at pace but was really struggling so I took a 2 minute walk and tried to start back up on my own, couldn't get the pace down so I turned when MR and NC were coming back and restarted the watch and did one mile with them, the last minute of it was torture and I was falling off so I called it after that.
6:18.7
6:19.58
6:21.89
2 minute walk
0.35 at 7:39 pace
6:29.27
Race- Hot morning, don't think I ran to my potential but don't think I could have run any harder, maybe went out a hair fast the first mile. Report to follow.
Struggling with Balance
I'm a bit down this week and I am sure it has a bit to do with my lack of anything resembling moderation in my lifestyle right now. I have a highly addictive personality and I find it hard to do everything in measure. When I am behaving I am Really behaving, and when I indulge, well I Really indulge.
I have been struggling with time management. For Boston I was getting a solid 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Lately I've been staying up later and I am groggy in the morning and just not as high energy. Work is dragging me down mentally and I can tell it's affecting other areas of my life. To escape I've been reading or playing video games (in excess), which are just time suckers, they are mentally stimulating, but not really solving the actual issue.
I think when all areas of your life are going well it is self serving in that everything continues to go better and better, when something gets out of whack it brings down everything else around it.
Enter my diet habits.
Since Boston I have been focusing on speed work and trying to keep things in balance rather than such an extreme focus. My weight got pretty low before Boston so I decided I should try a more moderate approach to diet and try to let everything even itself out. Well I have been creeping up on the scale since, thankfully not as fast as it came off, but enough that I can feel it, and I can see it. I want to be as strong as I can be, but I also want to try and not be so extreme as I was this spring, because I think it puts too much pressure on my performances. This turns into well one beer won't hurt or one scoop of ice cream is healthy, but I hardly ever have just one beer or just one scoop of ice cream. So I am contemplating how I am going to proceed with my diet the next 12 weeks leading up to the marathon.
All of this leading up to a less than ideal week of training and I am realizing I am probably due for a bit of a break mentally and physically. I need to recharge and get back on track but try to do it with some moderation.
So starting today I am going to try and start putting back together my carefully balanced house of cards that is my life after this brief crash. Wish me luck ;)
I have been struggling with time management. For Boston I was getting a solid 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Lately I've been staying up later and I am groggy in the morning and just not as high energy. Work is dragging me down mentally and I can tell it's affecting other areas of my life. To escape I've been reading or playing video games (in excess), which are just time suckers, they are mentally stimulating, but not really solving the actual issue.
I think when all areas of your life are going well it is self serving in that everything continues to go better and better, when something gets out of whack it brings down everything else around it.
Enter my diet habits.
Since Boston I have been focusing on speed work and trying to keep things in balance rather than such an extreme focus. My weight got pretty low before Boston so I decided I should try a more moderate approach to diet and try to let everything even itself out. Well I have been creeping up on the scale since, thankfully not as fast as it came off, but enough that I can feel it, and I can see it. I want to be as strong as I can be, but I also want to try and not be so extreme as I was this spring, because I think it puts too much pressure on my performances. This turns into well one beer won't hurt or one scoop of ice cream is healthy, but I hardly ever have just one beer or just one scoop of ice cream. So I am contemplating how I am going to proceed with my diet the next 12 weeks leading up to the marathon.
All of this leading up to a less than ideal week of training and I am realizing I am probably due for a bit of a break mentally and physically. I need to recharge and get back on track but try to do it with some moderation.
So starting today I am going to try and start putting back together my carefully balanced house of cards that is my life after this brief crash. Wish me luck ;)
Week 11 Speed Training Rundown
1 more week of speed training to go then it is time to start focusing on the marathon. This week was a little more laid back. Temperatures were off the chart so just did what we could.
Plan:
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Tuesday: Track.
Thursday: Tempo run on roads 4 miles @ 6:20 pace. 1 mile @ 6:10
2 days @ 7:50 - 8:20 or slower at the end of one of these days do 4 - 6 * 100.
2 days @ 7:20 - 7:40.
Long Run: 14 miles @ 7:10
How it played out:
66 miles
Monday- Lunch ~800 meter swim in Lake Erie easy
6 miles easy 9:05 pace
Tuesday-10.5 miles with track
Wednesday-8 miles 7:36 pace bridle trails
Thursday-10 miles with tempo
Friday-9 miles 8:13 pace with 4*100 hill strides
Saturday-9 miles 7:37 pace, half trails
Sunday-14 miles 7:02 pace
PM ~ 600 meter swim in Lake Erie easy
Key workouts:
Track: Temps were out of control so we bagged whatever the planned workout was and instead did 2*800 meters with 4 minute rest at mile race pace then 10*100 strides
did the 800s in 2:31 and actually felt like I could have done a workout, but no sense in pushing it right now.
Tempo: I have a mental block on these so went into this workout with the plan of just running with NC and ignoring the watch. Well that works if her Garmin isn't on the fritz, but it was so had to look at the watch a few more times than I wanted to. We hit all the paces but the last 1.5 miles were a struggle, just felt juiced and like I was overheating. But the workout was successful so that's a plus. Need to figure out what my problem is with these, even in this case where I met the workout goals I didn't feel good about it. Maybe just because I am getting used to all the other workouts being much more controlled and these tempos it sometimes feels forced and mentally I think these paces aren't even that fast, which in turn makes it frustrating when I can't hit them.
06:13.1
06:14.0
06:15.6
06:18.1
06:07.1
Total
31:07.8
Ave Pace
06:13.6
Plan:
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Tuesday: Track.
Thursday: Tempo run on roads 4 miles @ 6:20 pace. 1 mile @ 6:10
2 days @ 7:50 - 8:20 or slower at the end of one of these days do 4 - 6 * 100.
2 days @ 7:20 - 7:40.
Long Run: 14 miles @ 7:10
How it played out:
66 miles
Monday- Lunch ~800 meter swim in Lake Erie easy
6 miles easy 9:05 pace
Tuesday-10.5 miles with track
Wednesday-8 miles 7:36 pace bridle trails
Thursday-10 miles with tempo
Friday-9 miles 8:13 pace with 4*100 hill strides
Saturday-9 miles 7:37 pace, half trails
Sunday-14 miles 7:02 pace
PM ~ 600 meter swim in Lake Erie easy
Key workouts:
Track: Temps were out of control so we bagged whatever the planned workout was and instead did 2*800 meters with 4 minute rest at mile race pace then 10*100 strides
did the 800s in 2:31 and actually felt like I could have done a workout, but no sense in pushing it right now.
Tempo: I have a mental block on these so went into this workout with the plan of just running with NC and ignoring the watch. Well that works if her Garmin isn't on the fritz, but it was so had to look at the watch a few more times than I wanted to. We hit all the paces but the last 1.5 miles were a struggle, just felt juiced and like I was overheating. But the workout was successful so that's a plus. Need to figure out what my problem is with these, even in this case where I met the workout goals I didn't feel good about it. Maybe just because I am getting used to all the other workouts being much more controlled and these tempos it sometimes feels forced and mentally I think these paces aren't even that fast, which in turn makes it frustrating when I can't hit them.
06:13.1
06:14.0
06:15.6
06:18.1
06:07.1
Total
31:07.8
Ave Pace
06:13.6
Weekly Rundown Speed Phase Week 10
Goal:
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Tuesday: Track.
Thursday: Tempo run on roads 6 miles @ 6:20 pace.
2 days @ 7:50 - 8:20 or slower at the end of one of these days do 4 - 6 * 100.
2 days @ 7:20 - 7:40.
Long Run: 12 miles @ 7:00
Sunday: 8 - 10 miles (Race + miles) or Long run.
How it played out:
66 miles for the week
Monday-8 miles 8:30 pace with 4*100
Tuesday-11.5 with track
Wednesday-10 miles 7:19 pace
Thursday-10.5 with tempo
Friday-6 at 8:23
Saturday-12 at 6:58
Sunday-2 mile warm up 3 mile cool down with 5k at 17:50.1 PR!
Track:
Goal 12*400 at 1:24 with 60 second rests then 4*200 with 200 jogs targeting 39.
1:23.73
1:23.32
1:21.19
1:23.65
1:22.19
1:23.01
1:22.68
1:23.65
1:22.15
1:22.57
1:18.59 (NC made me do it)
1:16.05
39.67
38.95
38.30
36.15 (Once again NC's doing)
Tempo: Goal 6 at 6:20.
Another less than stellar tempo effort. Need to fix this. I don't know why but I seem to really struggle with every 3rd or 4th tempo. The new course is harder but I was just juiced after that 3rd mile/hill. *Note Wednesday's run was hilly soft surface, probably ran a bit too hard given a tempo was planned for the next day.
6:18.72
6:13.59
6:32.61 (uphill mile)
6:15.08 (downhill mile)
6:29.00 (I stopped at .5 of this mile and took a 2 minute walk break and then just ran the last 1.5 as hard as I could)
6:26.04
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Tuesday: Track.
Thursday: Tempo run on roads 6 miles @ 6:20 pace.
2 days @ 7:50 - 8:20 or slower at the end of one of these days do 4 - 6 * 100.
2 days @ 7:20 - 7:40.
Long Run: 12 miles @ 7:00
Sunday: 8 - 10 miles (Race + miles) or Long run.
How it played out:
66 miles for the week
Monday-8 miles 8:30 pace with 4*100
Tuesday-11.5 with track
Wednesday-10 miles 7:19 pace
Thursday-10.5 with tempo
Friday-6 at 8:23
Saturday-12 at 6:58
Sunday-2 mile warm up 3 mile cool down with 5k at 17:50.1 PR!
Track:
Goal 12*400 at 1:24 with 60 second rests then 4*200 with 200 jogs targeting 39.
1:23.73
1:23.32
1:21.19
1:23.65
1:22.19
1:23.01
1:22.68
1:23.65
1:22.15
1:22.57
1:18.59 (NC made me do it)
1:16.05
39.67
38.95
38.30
36.15 (Once again NC's doing)
Tempo: Goal 6 at 6:20.
Another less than stellar tempo effort. Need to fix this. I don't know why but I seem to really struggle with every 3rd or 4th tempo. The new course is harder but I was just juiced after that 3rd mile/hill. *Note Wednesday's run was hilly soft surface, probably ran a bit too hard given a tempo was planned for the next day.
6:18.72
6:13.59
6:32.61 (uphill mile)
6:15.08 (downhill mile)
6:29.00 (I stopped at .5 of this mile and took a 2 minute walk break and then just ran the last 1.5 as hard as I could)
6:26.04
Aurora 5K
Like most road racers I laced up the shoes this morning to get in a July 4th 5k. Coach was not on board with doing another key race so there was no taper, we were just training through it. Despite that I wanted to shave at least one second off Flag Day and get a sub 18 5k to my name before we start ramping up the mileage for the marathon this fall. I won't be doing another 5k until at least November so I really hoped I'd be able to step it up a notch and come in under 18.
Holy crap was I nervous this morning. Despite knowing this was just a 5k and that even if I did poorly it didn't matter I was keyed up. I felt like I was going to vomit the whole ride there despite my husband trying his best to distract me. Once outside the car in the fresh air I felt a bit better. But still a bit nervous as I went through my pre race warm up rituals. Finally at the line I started to calm down a bit.
I decided to go sans watch today. I had a really bad race here last year(and a less than stellar tempo this week) and I am sure half of it was running so hard the first mile and having an awful split despite of it. My goal today was to run aggressively and keep my head in the race the whole way. I had hoped at least one consistent mid 17 5k gal would be there but unfortunately she was out of town. Thankfully though SG who lives locally and runs the race every year is a solid low to mid 17 runner here and I made it my goal to stick to him like glue until I couldn't hold on anymore. He warned me before the race he might not run that quickly today so I took that into account as we rolled out the first mile. The pace felt too easy and I pushed a bit ahead of him as he scolded my to stay calm, that the guys just ahead of us were going to go out in low 5s and we would pass many of them in the 3rd mile. I cooled off a little bit but aware as a female runner jumped ahead I didn't pull off the gas enough to let her gap me by much.
Before the mile marker we passed her and as the timer shouted out 5:37 SG informed me the actual mile was a bit further on and we were more like 5:45. Fine by me although a little more cushion would have been a mental boost 5:45 would get me what I needed. I wanted to hit the 2 mile at 11:24 to know I had it "in the bag" so I worked the next mile and pulled a bit ahead of SG as we passed a group of four younger guys who went out too fast. Hit the 2 mile split at about 11:32 and knew I needed to get to work. I took water at the stop and dumped it over my head as I pushed. It felt like I was fading a bit but I just tried to hammer and relax my upper body as coach instructed from the sidelines.
SG passed me and the people who had come out to cheer were all cheering for him as he is a local and known well. I did my best to stay close to him but he is a high mileage guy and just plain fast and I couldn't quite hold onto him. One more young guy from the Solon area reeled me back in during the last half mile. I started to get a stitch below my ribs and just tried to will and breathe it away, no time for pain right now, I knew it was going to be close. Without the watch I had no real concept of how much further it was, the last stretch all looks the same. As I cruised over the last small hill I realized this was it and started to hammer as hard as I could. I could see the clock at 17:25 ish and mentally thought it has to be less than 100 meters to the finish I know I can run 100 meters in 19 seconds just push push push! Passed the clock at 17:50 and the mats were just a few steps beyond so I am assuming around 17:52 will be the official time *update: official time says 17:46.9 but I am pretty sure they switched me with the kid who beat me and I should be 17:50.1* Hopefully I raced through over those 3 mats, I had assumed the clock was the finish, but post race noticed the mats were actually a few steps beyond. I really have no idea what happened after that clock I was just glad to get that sub 18 and be the first female across the line!
I made the mistake of sitting down to try and get my chip off and my right hip flexor locked up on me, can we say painful? I think maybe just too much caffeine (coffee and a gel) mixed with not the right balance of electrolytes and water because my left bicep also cramped up. Walking around a bit seemed to loosen it up so hopefully just a fluke. Super stoked to meet another goal, hopefully I am solidly over the bad race slump for awhile. The main goal is obviously Columbus so let's just hope I haven't used up all my good race mojo on these short races :)
Hope everyone has a great 4th!
Holy crap was I nervous this morning. Despite knowing this was just a 5k and that even if I did poorly it didn't matter I was keyed up. I felt like I was going to vomit the whole ride there despite my husband trying his best to distract me. Once outside the car in the fresh air I felt a bit better. But still a bit nervous as I went through my pre race warm up rituals. Finally at the line I started to calm down a bit.
I decided to go sans watch today. I had a really bad race here last year(and a less than stellar tempo this week) and I am sure half of it was running so hard the first mile and having an awful split despite of it. My goal today was to run aggressively and keep my head in the race the whole way. I had hoped at least one consistent mid 17 5k gal would be there but unfortunately she was out of town. Thankfully though SG who lives locally and runs the race every year is a solid low to mid 17 runner here and I made it my goal to stick to him like glue until I couldn't hold on anymore. He warned me before the race he might not run that quickly today so I took that into account as we rolled out the first mile. The pace felt too easy and I pushed a bit ahead of him as he scolded my to stay calm, that the guys just ahead of us were going to go out in low 5s and we would pass many of them in the 3rd mile. I cooled off a little bit but aware as a female runner jumped ahead I didn't pull off the gas enough to let her gap me by much.
Before the mile marker we passed her and as the timer shouted out 5:37 SG informed me the actual mile was a bit further on and we were more like 5:45. Fine by me although a little more cushion would have been a mental boost 5:45 would get me what I needed. I wanted to hit the 2 mile at 11:24 to know I had it "in the bag" so I worked the next mile and pulled a bit ahead of SG as we passed a group of four younger guys who went out too fast. Hit the 2 mile split at about 11:32 and knew I needed to get to work. I took water at the stop and dumped it over my head as I pushed. It felt like I was fading a bit but I just tried to hammer and relax my upper body as coach instructed from the sidelines.
SG passed me and the people who had come out to cheer were all cheering for him as he is a local and known well. I did my best to stay close to him but he is a high mileage guy and just plain fast and I couldn't quite hold onto him. One more young guy from the Solon area reeled me back in during the last half mile. I started to get a stitch below my ribs and just tried to will and breathe it away, no time for pain right now, I knew it was going to be close. Without the watch I had no real concept of how much further it was, the last stretch all looks the same. As I cruised over the last small hill I realized this was it and started to hammer as hard as I could. I could see the clock at 17:25 ish and mentally thought it has to be less than 100 meters to the finish I know I can run 100 meters in 19 seconds just push push push! Passed the clock at 17:50 and the mats were just a few steps beyond so I am assuming around 17:52 will be the official time *update: official time says 17:46.9 but I am pretty sure they switched me with the kid who beat me and I should be 17:50.1* Hopefully I raced through over those 3 mats, I had assumed the clock was the finish, but post race noticed the mats were actually a few steps beyond. I really have no idea what happened after that clock I was just glad to get that sub 18 and be the first female across the line!
I made the mistake of sitting down to try and get my chip off and my right hip flexor locked up on me, can we say painful? I think maybe just too much caffeine (coffee and a gel) mixed with not the right balance of electrolytes and water because my left bicep also cramped up. Walking around a bit seemed to loosen it up so hopefully just a fluke. Super stoked to meet another goal, hopefully I am solidly over the bad race slump for awhile. The main goal is obviously Columbus so let's just hope I haven't used up all my good race mojo on these short races :)
Hope everyone has a great 4th!
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