2017 week 5 recap- 11 weeks until the Boston Marathon

 

Whoa!  I don’t even know where this week went.  I have been super busy, I feel like I blinked and a whole week went by.  I was a ball of nerves.  Knowing I had a race at the end of the week, really gets my nerves going.  It wasn’t a goal race, but I still wanted to do well and gain some confidence as I continue my training cycle for Boston. 

So here is my weekly, recap

 

Monday- 7.10 miles at 7:44 average pace, 54:49 total time

Easy recovery run, with 60 degree temperatures. I enjoyed this run so much, it was a great mental health run for me. I was actually a little disappointed when I was done. I am so ready for winter temperatures to be gone.

Tuesday- 8.05 miles at 7:51 average pace, 1:03:11 total time

Not quite 60s today, but another enjoyable run in tank top in shorts.  The highlight of my run, may have been when I stopped to pee under a highway bridge.  How embarrassing! Ha Ha

Wednesday- 9.55 miles at 6:54 pace, 1:05:54 total time

Workout for the week.  Coach had me doing a tempo/fartlek type of run.  3 miles of warm up, then 3 miles alternating 1200ms/400ms. The 1200s were to be run at around 6:40 pace, and the 400s were supposed to be around 5:45 pace.  The first two were pretty comfortable, the last 400m push was up a hill and posed a bit more of a challenge.  Little did I know, that was a pretty good practice for Sundays 5K.  After the fartlek, included 4×200 strides then a 3 mile cooldown.  Wednesday nights are my favorite group run, and I asked some of the usual’s to join me.  Thank goodness I got someone to joinme, it’s always more fun with friends and a good push at the end.

I got in some late, strength training after dinner. Probably not my best session, I rushed through as I had spent too much time socializing and it had gotten pretty late, for a work night.  I completed 2 sets of squats, bent rows, lunges, skips and fast feet. I am going to make a point to take my time and do these correctly this week.

Thursday- 10.4 miles at 7:55 pace, 1:22:18 total time

Thursday I was really glad a friend came over to join me for some decent midweek miles.  We wanted to get in 10 miles, but went a quarter further so we could make a potty stop. Seems to be a trend this week. The run went by quickly with company, except we hit every single light along our route.  I won’t be running this route running rush hour again.

Friday- 7 miles at 7:51, 54:57 total time

I was avoiding getting the run in for some reason today.  Just one of those mentally tough runs.  It got to be a tad later than I like, to be running outside by myself.  So I went to the gym and completed my miles on the treadmill.  I really had to force myself to keep going.  Physically, everything was fine.  I just was not motivated.

Saturday- 4 miles at 8:39 pace, 34:37 total time

Super easy run, shaking out the legs and keeping the pace really light so I could be ready to race tomorrow.  I decided to hit up the treadmill again to keep my pace nice and easy.  I also like the massage beds too.

Sunday- 16.41 total miles

Race day for me, and in typical race day from.  I had nervous tummy and yacked before the race.   I was doing better this fall about my pre-race anxiety, but I haven’t raced in a few months which I think made it a little worse.  Once I got to the race, I was focused on getting my routine in.  The weather was great for racing, 32 degrees with little wind.  It was a nice sunny, Sunday morning.  I looked forward to this race.  Two years ago, this was my first race to win over all female and my first race to break the 20 minute barrier.  Last year, this was my first race to break 18 minutes. I have positive vibes about this race. I was a tad disappointed that they changed the course this year, but was still a great race.

I completed my two mile warm up, stretching and strides and made it to the line with a few minutes before the start.  Luckily, I wasn’t standing around for very long. My goal was to focus on one of my guy teammates and try to keep the gap between him and I small. I am really glad I had this to focus on throughout the race.  The first two miles were gently rolling hills and relatively uneventful race.  My only issue was my hands, I was taking my gloves on and off.  I would get really sweaty hands and feel my whole body warm up quickly, take off the gloves and they would freeze.  The third miles was a long gradual hill, which really killed my momentum.  I focused on a guy in front of me and just tried to close the gap between him and I before the top.  I did get a little giggle, when I went by him.  He said, “ I was hoping I wouldn’t get beat by a girl.”

I crossed the finish line at 17:59, which was 3 seconds slower than my PR last year. I was able to earn 4^th overall, and 1^st overall female.  (Third year in a row!) I will admit, three seconds felt like a punch in the gut.  I was a little frustrated for a short minute after my race, but quickly got over it before heading back to the finish line. It was a tougher course than last year’s course and the most important part, I am a lot healthier this week. Last year, I was holding myself together with duct tape and Elmer’s glue.  I fell completely apart shortly after this race last year and got stuck on a roller coaster of injury/healthy before my goal half.  This year, I am training smarter and working with a coach has been a big part of that.

Picture on the left was taken during the race, top right is a picture with my team mates who took 1st overall male and 1st Master, bottom right picture is me with my 3  trophies (1st overall female 2015,2016,2017)

After the race, we had a group of runners join together for some bonus miles.  The weather had warmed up a bit and once I got through the first mile or so, the run felt really great.  I ended up with 11.3 bonus miles which gave me 16.4 miles for the day.  After all that running, we earned our second breakfast!

I found this article on Runners Connect that really stuck with me this week.  I believe that last year, I ran too many workouts, too hard, too close together.  I made fast progress but couldn’t maintain it and fell a part.  I wondered if I had backed off a little if I would maybe progress a tad slower in the short term, but end up being a stronger runner in the long term because I could train with more consistency.  This article really made me feel like I was on the right path.  In particular, I like the graph they used.  

I’ll admit, it’s really hard for me to trust the process. Am I running hard enough?  Is my long run, long enough?  I feel pretty good, which is not normal for me.  Usually I have run myself into the ground, at this point into the plan.  I have a lot of weeks left, so I would like to think, this is a good sign and an opportunity to grow as a runner.

 

 

 

 

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