Workouts this week: Last of 2017

This week was my off/easy week. It was too cold to run most days and my gym is closed, so I decided that a recovery week was what my body needed. I did run when it was over 50 degrees, but I didn't do any speed work. One week and two missed runs won't hurt (I hope.)

Monday: Christmas, off

Tuesday: 4 easy miles
Did some trails before heading over to see relatives.

Wednesday: Exercise bike
60 minutes on the exercise bike + abs and a small amount of arms.

Thursday: Off

Friday: Long run.
It was a balmy 50 degrees so I did my long run at Cook's Trail.

I wore full length tights, a long sleeve and a neck warmer. I did NOT get too hot. I thought the long sleeves were a bit too hot for about 10 seconds (mostly in the elbow) but then the wind picked up and I wished I was wearing gloves.

I was so rested the first four miles were speedy and felt great. On mile 6 I zoned out and tried to sprain my ankle (it was fine). I finished the run, but dragged a little that last mile.

Saturday: medium run
I did six miles today. Same temperature and clothes as the day before. I did wear crops and that was fine. It was a few degrees warmer. Still too cold for my liking. I did loops of the fields again today. It was super windy.

Sunday: Off
Another lazy day. Did some abs in the morning. 20 minutes of exercise bike in the evening.

Miles this week: 19.5
Runs this week: 3
Workouts: 3 runs + 2 exercise bikes

And that's all of 2017.

2017 year in review

I guess 2017 was the year of running.

In 2013 and 2014 I was into trampolines. 2015 was trapeze and barre. 2016 was my year of trying new classes and 2017 was my year of running.

I ran more than 1,000 miles, which I think is amazing.

I joined the Athens Road Runners, I started going to weekly speed work sessions, I made running friends, I did races, I found new places to run. I got faster.

Races: I did 8 races this year. Some of them were awesome. Some of them I would NOT do again (that 4-H race was THE WORST and I never want to race in 44 degrees and windy again).

Favorite race: I’m going to say the Chick Fil-A half the half, because it changed how my whole year went. I did well in that race and it propelled me to keep going, to start doing speed work, to join the Road Runners, to meet new friends, and get involved volunteering at races and working on the Road Runners newsletter. It was a turning point.

Favorite race #2: I also really loved my last race in Florida. It was flat and perfect temperature. I had a fast race and I got to share it with my brother, who I don’t see much.

Favorite gear of 2017
Favorite shoes: Nike Pegasus. I finally went to a running store and got fitted instead of buying what’s cute and on sale. I love running in these shoes. (And they come in so many colors and I can get the old models on sale, so WIN.)
Favorite running clothes: My go to running outfit is a Lululemon sports bra (run stuff your bra is my favorite), a Lululemon or Under Armour tank, and Lululemon fast and free crops (my absolute favorite.)
Run hats: I’m all about run hats and this year I like my Oiselle hat, my Headsweats hat and a Run Georgia hat from the local running store.
I picked up a pair of arm warmers, which I’ve only used twice, which I also like.
Compression socks are a must after a race or long run. Love them.

Favorite place to run: Cook’s trail. Because it’s mostly flat, gorgeous and a nice long run.

Favorite distance: I’ve been running longer and longer this year. I do like an 8 mile long run, Six easy miles are nice too.

This time last year I was running 10-12 miles a week, and maybe had done one six-miler ever. I’ve upped my miles to 25 a week and run 4-5 days a week. I try to do two yoga classes a week.

I KNOW I should lift weights, but it makes my muscles tight and more prone to injury, so that’s something to work on.

Also, there’s now a Lululemon outlet in North Georgia. It’s 90 minutes away. It has a good sized selections. The sale prices vary. Usually you can find a deal. And usually I spend too much money. (I went this week and got 4 sports bras, shorts, a dress shirt, run gloves, and a Sea Wheeze tank top.)

And I found some new run gear: Gone for a Run has awesome run stuff and I have a “Kinda wanna go on a run, kinda wanna take a nap” sweatshirt from Sarah Marie Design studio.

I also volunteered at my first race and want to do more of that next year. And it's really fun to hang out at races (as in taking pictures or supporting friends while not running.)

Lessons learned from running 1,000 miles

Favorite running shoes, water, Garmin and roller. All important to running.

I'll call 2017 the year of running. I ran 1,000 miles and learned a ton about running that I didn't know last year.  Here are some of my lessons learned

1. Don't run all your miles fast.
A year ago I had one running speed. And occasionally, I'd find a slower speed for a longer run. At about 9 minutes a mile I could run forever, but it took me a long run to find this speed.

This year I learned all about training paces. And that running a long slow run doesn't actually slow you down (I thought every run had to be fast). And it's better for your body to run some of your miles slow (it's not as hard on your body.)

I found training paces online that will tell you your long run speed, your easy run speed, your tempo pace, your training pace and your race pace.

So most weeks, about 80% of my miles are easy miles (around 8:30 to 9:00 minutes) and then 20 percent of my miles are speed work or tempo runs.

And finding your pace is hard. It’s still a struggle, but so worth it when you pass all the people that went out too fast at a race—because you’re consistent and they’re all over the place.

2. Drink water
I've never been more aware of how much water I drink than when I run. If I'm running after work, I make sure I drink plenty during the day. If I'm running in the morning I drink water the night before. I'm always thinking about drinking water. And I have to force myself to drink water at times.

Running dehydrated is no fun. Getting stomach cramps while running is awful.

And drink enough water after you run. Or else you could still get stomach cramps.

And staying hydrated before you run on a hot day is even more important. So stay hydrated.

3. It's okay to take breaks. Especially water breaks.
I remember I ran an 8-miler one night. I told someone I didn't need a water break for an 8 mile run. It was summer in Georgia. And I survived the run. I thought I was tough enough.

Only, a veteran runner told me how important water breaks were to her during races. I listened and started taking water breaks on any run longer than 5-6 miles. And those runs got a lot easier. It's okay to take a short water break. Your body will thank you for it. You don't lose endurance for a 20 second break to replenish fluids. And you're less likely to cramp.

4. Fuel properly before your runs
I'm always thinking about WHEN I'm eating and when I'm running. I like about 3 hours after a meal before a run. I don't want to run on a full stomach. So it's all about timing. And it's also about what I eat. I'll eat pretty clean before a run. But indulge more after a run. Never eat french fries before a run. Running 3 hours after a lunch of fried fish tacos and delicious french fries made me super barfy. It was one of my worst runs ever and I won’t ever do that again.

Snacks are okay before a run. But I'll eat that burger after a run, thanks.

5. Stretch, stretch, stretch
I'm not sure if current research says you're supposed to stretch before or after a run. I do both.

I can't start running cold. I actually like walking as a warmup. An exercise bike if I have it works great. And I like to stretch problem areas—warm up the calves, stretch hips and IT bands.

And always stretch and cool down after a run.

When I'm super busy, I might try to cut short stretching. And I always pay for it later. If I don't stretch after a run, my legs will be sore and stiff. Every single time I skip stretching, I pay for it. So I might drive home in a hurry, but I make sure to stretch and/or roll at home.

Matt neglects stretching and that ended up with him going to physical therapy. Stretch. Your body will thank you for it.

6. Take care of yourself in general.
Stretch before and after a run. Drink enough water. Take some yoga classes if that works for you.

And listen to your body. Take rest days when you're tired. It's okay to miss a run here and there (don't miss 80% of your training miles).

Be kind to your body.

My quads were always really tight after weight lifting. And they stayed tight. Which led to my shins being tight and my knees tracking wrong. All because my quads were tight. So take care of yourself. Because a small imbalance can lead to larger problems if you ignore it.

7. Speed work really helps
I do group speed workouts every Tuesday. I went from running a 7:03 mile to a 6:30 mile in about nine months. I got my 5k down to the low 22s. And it’s from running more mileage and dutifully doing speed workouts. You don’t get faster by always doing the same thing. As in, if all your miles are easy, it’s going to be difficult to bring your 5k time down.

I’m excited to see what I can do in 2018.

8. Don’t race too much
I did 8 races in 2017. I don’t think I’m going to do that many in 2018. I like doing races and I will do some, but I’m going to save my races for when my training cycle calls for it. (And don’t run two 10ks on back to back weekends. So hard). Races are hard on your body. Save the wear and tear.

9. Tapering works
I always have some extra pep in my step after rest days. Tapering for a race really works. You’ll have so much extra energy for a race.

10. Training plans work
I followed my first training plan to run my first 10k. I just wanted to finish. And I did way better than expected. So find a training plan and follow it. It should work.

Other thoughts from running in 2017
I’ve never checked the weather as much in my life. I check the Go Run forecast maybe 5 times a day. Temperature (and humidity) are really important to know for a run. You need to know what to prepare for and what to dress for. My life almost revolves around the best time to run (before work, at lunch, after work before dinner with friends)

Also, I really love Strava. It's awesome. (See my recap post on 12/30.)

Workouts this week: Christmas Eve edition

Monday: Off

Christmas tights

Tuesday: Speed work—800 repeats

I was the only person to show up at speed work tonight. OMG. I kinda felt like doing an easy 5 miler, but I did the workout since Mike showed up.

He ran the first one with me. The plan was to run an easier pace for the first one, 3:40-ish and then settle into 3:30 800s.

3:33 for my first 800. A tad fast. But super controlled.

I ran by myself and didn't look at my watch because it was dark out. I warned Mike it might not be the best workout because I've been eating a ton of sweets at the office.

3:19
3:17
3:15
3:11 (he ran this one with me. I was dead.)

Which was faster than we had planned. I think I worked hard, but not too hard. I was pretty winded after sets 3 and 4. The final one was pretty hard. I didn't have anything left to push at the end. Which maybe means I did the workout right. Yes, it's faster than my 5k pace, but I like running fast. And this was faster than my last set of 800s repeats, but only barely.

Wednesday: medium run

I did 5 miles. And I really felt tired today. I think I was mostly tired because work has been crazy for two weeks. Probably I was a little tired from the speed work, but this easy run was a chore to get through. I finished mile one and a half and I was ready to be done. I think the fatigue was mostly mental. I ended up going to bed early.

The pool at the gym. It's fun to watch the swimmers.
The gym was empty for the holidays this week. 

Thursday: Off
I am always tired on Thursdays. Weird.

Friday: Medium run
I did 6.25 miles at the indoor track today. My goal was to get one last run in at the indoor track before the gym closed for the holidays. (I would have run outside but it was rainy and gross.)

I did four miles and then decided to do two miles at 10k pace (or around 7:30).

I ran mile 5 in 7:50. I had trouble changing speed.
Miles 6 was 7:28 and that took serious pushing.

I usually run fast or easy, so running fast after running easy was a challenge.

I also did a yoga class on my lunch break, which was nice. 45-minute yoga classes are perfect.

Saturday: Long run
I did 9 miles of trails today. My husband came along with me. I led the first four miles and then I let him take the lead. BUT I went to get water at the halfway mark and the water fountain was turned off, so I ran to the next water fountain and that was turned off too. At this point we were near the car, so we got our bottles of water and went back to the run. After another mile of running, I just couldn't do any more hills. I had a tiny cold and my chest just couldn't do another hill climb so for the last 2.5 miles of my run, I did loops of the practice fields. Matt ran the trails. I finished a minute before him. But I did my long run. With a cold. And then we went out and got burgers. Which was very delicious and well deserved.

Turkey burger with sweet potatoes and broccoli

Sunday: Off
I'd logged my 25 miles for the week so I took Sunday off too. It was also Christmas Eve and we had family in town, so not running freed up some time.

Strava missed miles

I take this Strava thing way too seriously. It's great that Strava logs your miles for you—but what do you do about missed miles?

• When you forget to start your watch
• Warmups/cooldowns you don't want lumped in with your speed work (so your average pace WON'T be smoking fast)
• When Garmin doesn't track right.

A lot of people put Missed Miles in Strava for these reasons.

But then Strava says you do like 10 runs a week, if you're separating out your warmups from your speed work.  And I don't do 10 runs a week. I do 5. (If I run a mile warmup, a speed workout and then a mile cool down, in my mind that's one workout, but not three, but I don't necessarily want that average in Strava).

So this week I tried just logging my missed miles and dumping them into one day. So my runs per week average wouldn't be too off.

This was my week of missed miles

Tuesday: .35 miles (watch not tracking correctly at indoor track)
Wednesday: 1 mile warmup, didn't even turn on Garmin
Friday: .5 mile of warmup
Saturday, .25 warmup, .4 missed distance from not tracking right
Sunday, .5, warmup, plus another 2 laps of cool down, .25

For a total of 3.25 missed miles this week. Which is the difference between 22 and 25 miles a week. Small, but enough to annoy me.

I guess the other options are deleting the workouts and manually re-entering them into Strava. I like the pace charts in Strava.

The downside is that is doesn't track shoe mileage correctly, since I wore different shoes on these runs.

We'll see if I continue to do this.

Workouts this week: Dec. 11-17

This was my week of not wanting to  run. Work was the busiest it’s been in awhile. Add in eating a ton of holiday sweets, and I’m just not in the mood to run. That and all my miles were indoor :(

I’m tired and didn’t want to run this week.

Monday: off

Tuesday: Easy 4 miles at the track. (Didn’t want to run.)

Wednesday: Attempt at Tuesday speed work. Not great, but I did the work.

Thursday: off. My busy day.

Friday. Again, I didn’t want to run. So I ran 3 miles. Not much, but better than nothing.

Maybe it’s time to take a week off training or at least taper some.

Saturday: Long run, 9.3 miles around an 1/8 th of a mile track in 1 hours and 20 minutes.
This run was awesome. I felt great. I ran all my miles under 9 minutes and it was EASY. I felt so strong afterwards. 8:38 pace (without looking at my watch)

Sunday: run + yoga

I decided to do a small progression run today. The plan was a mile at 7:30, a mile at 7:20 and a mile at 7:20. No breaks. (I didn’t quite want to continue my Sunday 7:30 pace ritual.)

First mile I was running too fast. I ran 7 laps in 6:20 and then slowed way down to be close to 7:30 pace. (7:31) instead of like 7:16 pace.

Second mile I hit 7:18

And the third mile I just decided to go for it. 6:59.

I was pushing this workout. It was a little hard in miles 2 and 3. But it felt great. I felt strong. I don’t think I pushed too much. (I love it when sub 7 miles come more easily.)

Then a yoga class at Athens Running Company at 5:30 p.m.

(And I hurt my hip. I blame last Sunday's yoga class and holding pigeon too long. Boo)

Workouts this week: 5 runs, 1 yoga class
Miles this week: 26

Speed workout recap: Not my best

I'm trying to do longer speed workouts so mile 3 of a 5k won't be so awful.

Today's workout was supposed to start with a mile and go down in length. I added some shorter lengths before the miles for 3.75 miles of speed instead of 2 or 2.5.

Mile warmup.

800: 3:45 (7:30 pace, 10k pace)
1200: 5:34 (7:25 pace)
1600 7:18 (I was aiming for 7:15 close.)
1200 5:27 (7:16 pace)
800 3:28 (a little faster than 5k pace)
400 1:37 (my mile pace)

3.75 miles in 27:13 averaging 7:15 pace, which is around my 5k pace. So not my best workout.

I started getting a stitch towards the end of the mile. (I never get a stitch. This was in my stomach. Not my side.) Maybe something I ate today. My legs were fine. But I wasn't feeling fast.

In fact I looked back at previous versions of this workout and this might be the worst I've done.

May 30: 7:11, 5:18, 3:20 , 1:22
June 20: 6:55, 5:06, 3:22, 1:26
Aug. 8: 1600 7:09, 1200: 5:27, 800: 3:34, 400: 1:28 (Only my second workout after coming back from shin splints)

I'm glad I got some faster time in. But this felt awful.

Race Recap: Vets Day 5k in Destin

I really wanted a redo on my Halloween 5k. I thought I had a better race in me. Two people suggested I run the Free to Breathe 5k at Sandy Creek. And I really considered. But I had plans to visit my sister in Florida that weekend.

WHICH RACE TO DO
I eyed two races in Destin. I didn’t sign up in advance in case something happened and I didn’t go on the trip or didn’t want to race.

One race was closer to their house, but it seemed like a bit of a party. (I think finishers got three beers). The other race was at the American Legion and benefited veterans. Since it was Veterans Day and seemed like a more serious race, I opted for that one.

1. This bib is awesome
2. I was representing Athens in my patriotic tank

(My race prep was driving on Thursday and not being able to run and being busy with vacation stuff and not running on Friday, and not eating any donuts or fried food.)

The race started at 8 a.m. I left their house at 7 a.m. (and brought my brother). I got there at 7:15 and parked next door. I registered. The price went up to $35 (boo) and they were out of shirts. (oh well). I pinned my bib and did a warmup. Maybe 300 people in this race? (Also the bib had a flag on it. Super cool).

We all gathered in the parking lot, only most people guessed wrong for where to start, so we all had to shift. And the race started.

THE RACE
The race was an out and back, with one turn repeated. So very straight and very flat. The temperature was 60, so perfect for racing. (A little cool during the warm up, but I was warm after running half a mile).

It took me a second to get on 7:15 pace for the race. I tried to hang with a tough looking older guy. I passed him. I kept with my pace and my first mile 7:10, which was perfect.

In mile 2, I passed A LOT OF PEOPLE. I passed a lot of women and girls who were breathing really hard. (Which always makes me more conscious of my breathing. I try for it to be controlled, where I’m working hard but not dying.) Also it was WINDY. (Windy and 60 is preferable to windy and 46.) That second mile was the worst of the wind.

We hit the turn around. I saw one woman WAAAAAAAY ahead of me. There was no catching her. But by the halfway point, I’d passed all the other women and didn’t see another woman ahead of me (coming the opposite way on the out and back.) I really didn’t want a woman to pass me.

I should add that they closed one lane of this road, so there were cars driving down the middle of the road, since they wanted us running with traffic (not in the same lane).

Mile 2: 7:09. Right on pace I was happy with that.
And then mile 3 starts. And I’m counting down how much I still have to run. It hurts. Oddly, it was my arms that were bothering me. They were sore and heavy. (This has never happened to me before). And then it was my lungs (it was hard to breathe). But I told myself I could do this and I ran and ran, and counted my steps down.

1 mile left to go. .8 miles left to go. .5 miles left to go. And so on.

My watch got to 3 miles. And I didn’t see the finish. I didn’t have much left. A guy came up behind me, but didn’t pass me. The kid who I’d run with in mile 2 but passed, passed me. He was like 12, so I was fine with that and didn’t have the speed to catch him.

Finally I did see the finish. And I didn’t have as much of a sprint as I normally do. The clock timer said 22:25 when I crossed. Which is a few seconds faster than my last race. I thought I’d run a better race than that, but that’s 8 seconds faster so I was happy with it.

POST RACE
My brother was actually at the finish. They’d put him to work. All the finishers got dog tags instead of medals, which I thought was pretty cool. He was handing them out.

He had my water at the finish. Yay. I was spent. And I had nothing left at the end, so I went hard and even? But I didn’t know what my last mile was. I hadn’t looked. I heard my Garmin beep but didn’t recall the time. And it took a few minutes for my Garmin and phone to synch so I could see my splits.

7:10
7:09
7:15. I lost 5 seconds on the last mile. That’s not bad!

And the race ended up being 3.15 miles.
My Garmin said 22:11 for 3.1, which I’ll take. And makes more sense given my splits and because I did speed up some at the very end. After 3, I averaged 6:10 to 7 flat pace.

My brother said they didn’t have the timer set correctly when the race started. He said it like 90 seconds before it started and they guessed what the time was. !!! What!?!

“Was I second woman?” was the second thing I asked after asking for my water. He said I was, and I was probably in the top 20 (16th after the results posted). (First place woman ran in the 18s, and apparently wins every race in the area.)

I ran a cool down mile (mid 8s) and still had energy and my legs. And worried that maybe I didn’t go hard enough since an 8:26 mile was easy for my post-race recovery.

#merica. Running a Veterans Day race in a patriotic shirt
and posing in front of a tank. 

MEDALS, ETC
Post race they had weird food. I didn’t even know there was food until I saw someone with a plate and went inside. There was a roasted red pepper soup, pickles, cookies, cuban sandwiches and Jimmy Johns.

I wanted a banana and a granola bar. My stomach was UPSET. I couldn’t eat soup. I tried the Jimmy Johns, but think it was ham not turkey. I finally found a granola bar an hour later.

I figured I would get a medal, so I’d hang around for the medal ceremony. That took forever. I think they started the ceremony at 10 a.m. Two hours after the race started.

Also this was my first Florida race, so I wasn’t sure how it would be different.

• They took the bottom of my bib at the finish (like they did in high school)
• There was no leaderboard with notecards so I could see place anywhere
• The had some different categories. They had awards for walkers, and I think they had the overall awards, masters (40+), grand masters (50+) and senior grand masters(60+), which I feel is one more category than I’m used to. These winners got cool mugs. (I was sad I didn’t get a mug. They were glass beer mugs with an American flag on them)

I got a medal for winning my age group (nothing for second overall). And slipped out shortly after that.

PARTING THOUGHTS
Ultimately, I am HAPPY with the race.

21:11 or 22:25, whatever. It’s a faster race. A PR.

It was an even race. Mile three was hard, but 25 seconds faster than two weeks ago. I wasn’t dying like I was then. I think I need to train longer so mile 3 isn’t as hard.

I think that might be my last 5k of the year unless we get some really warm weather. I might focus on 10ks, if I have the time. I want to get my 10k time down.

A sub 22 5k will be the goal for 2018.

Workouts this week: Nov. 6-12

Monday: Off

Tuesday: track workout in the dark
The time change made our track workout very dark. There were some football lights on during my warmup, but then they turned off. I’d left my headlamp in the car because I thought the track had light. Haha.  I could see a few feet in front of me, but not much.

It was also rainy and the track was wet and by the end of the workout my feet felt like water balloons--wet and squishy.

I did a mile warmup. Then it was on to the workout. 5x800s.

3:31, 3:28, 3:26, 3:23, 3:07. Then a mile cool down.

I tried to run with Sally for the last one. I held on to her for 400. I tried. It was a valiant effort. Also does it mean that I started out too slow if I ran the last one in 3:07?

Lots of people came. We had some of our usual group, plus two new ladies.  And then a big group came late. There was some kids. A guy running 2:40 800s. A mom. I’m happy when more people come.

Next week I’ll bring my headlamp.

Wednesday: Medium run
I had planned on running outside. After going outside, I decided it was too cold and that I’d run inside. So I ran 48 laps at Ramsey. I’ll take boring over cold.

I ran 6 miles at an easy pace.

Thursday and Friday: Off
On Thursday I drove to Florida after work and didn’t have time for a run. Friday was vacation things and I didn’t run. I did run after a 2-year-old, which should count for something.

Saturday: race
I ran a 5k while in Florida and did a separate race recap. I’m happy with how I did.

Sunday: Long run

I really wanted to go back to the trail I ran in Florida this summer. This time after a little searching, I found the trailhead and place to park. (Yay). I did 8 miles. I ran 4 out and 4 back.
It’s only wide enough for one person. It’s mostly trail, though it’s sandy in some parts. I ran the first two miles, and then I came to the road where I had started this summer. This second section of trail has a lot more turns and intersections (where you can get turned around) than the first section. But I knew I could get lost this time, so I was more aware. AND I DIDN’T GET LOST. YAY!

I also had an awesome run. My legs were faster than my usual easy run: 8:40 pace on a flat trail. I felt great, like I could run forever. (Which is crazy for the day after a race). One of the best runs this fall.

Where to go for this run: Longleaf Pine Trailhead near Santa Rosa Beach. It's near 30a.
Address is 399 Satinwood Dr. Santa Rosa Beach Florida

You should be able to find it in your GPS. $2 for parking. And yes it looks sketchy when you first pull up.

Runs this week: 4
Miles this week: 23
States run in: 2

Race Recap: Jack O Lantern Jog

I ran the Jack O Lantern jog at Sandy Creek Nature Center. The course is certified. It's flat and I've heard great things about it.

My goal in this race was to run a 22:30. But secretly I was hoping for low 22s, which I think I'm capable of.

I was really excited about this race. The weather was supposed to be great. Then my fast friend said he'd pace me. PERFECT.

Then the weather forecast changed and got really cold. I don't do cold. My asthmatic lungs don't work when it's cold. And I was dreading this.

Had I not had a friend pacing me, there's a good chance I would have just not shown up.

But I did. I took all my inhalers and dressed as warmly as I could (wool socks, crops, warmest long sleeve with a tank over it [I thought I would get too hot in this top. I didn't], and a sweat band.) I warmed up with track pants and a vest. I could have kept the vest on. I never really warmed up.

How the race went:

I started my watch at the start. It didn't start. So I had to start it again after I'd run a few seconds. Ugh.

Mid stride checking my watch. 

Mile 1: Felt good. 7:08
Mile 2: 7:12. Still going strong.
And then I completely bonked in mile 3. I was wheezing. I could hear this high pitched gasp at the end of my breaths. And I couldn't. My watch was showing 7:40 pace. I tried to change my breathing—nose breaths, deeper breaths. That didn't help.

It wasn't my legs or my energy. I just couldn't breathe. I was dying. I yelled to my pacer as much and he slowed down.

I kept telling myself I could finish one more mile, and then a half mile and then I was just looking for the finish line. I did sprint to it.

I thought my time was 22:31. That's what I saw when I crossed the line. But officially it was 22:33.

Which was my goal time.

And I should be happy to be chipping away at that PR 5k time. 11 seconds since September is awesome.

But I'm so disappointed running a 7:40 third mile. Those aren't good splits. I should have been at least 20 seconds faster.

I finished second place woman and 10th overall for a small race.

Me and my awesome pacer Mike. THANK YOU. 

I ran my cool down and my breathing normalized since I wasn't racing.

And I want to be positive. I did the very best I could. I ran in the coldest weather I've ever run in (46 degrees with 22 mph winds). My lungs wouldn't have done that a year ago. And my lungs gave me a good two miles in the cold. I just need to work on my endurance. (Good news: legs are fine.)

But overall I'm just disappointed in myself. The course was great. I'd run a race out there again. But I think my next race will have to be when it's warmer. I've marked noon and afternoon races—and might do a day-of sign-up if there's good weather. Hopefully I can find a race in the high 50s or 60s.

**The owner of the running store told me good job. And that actually does make me feel better of the race. I will try to be positive. (I DID THE BEST RACE I COULD.)

Workouts this week: Oct. 9-15

This was a tired week of working out: a few rough runs.

Monday: Off
Rest day. Caught up on SNL from the weekend

Tuesday: Speed work
It was 86 degrees and 70% humidity.  I think that’s all I need to say. It was hot and soupy out. It felt like June and everyone was complaining about the weather.

The workout was 2 1200s and 2 800s and a bonus 400 if you wanted.

I aimed to go around 7 minute pace. Hahahaha. With the heat, that wasn’t happening.

My 1200s were both at 5:16. Which is 7 minute mile pace plus one second.

Then on to 800s. My first lap felt hard. My second lap was utter garbage. 3:31. I felt sick. My stomach hurt. I felt like I was going to barf. It’s one of the worst laps I’ve had since coming back after shin splints.

I took an extra 10-20 seconds to recover after everyone else. (My recoveries are usually shorter since I’m the last to finish). I ran another 3:31. It was hard. So hard. It was the second lap again. My legs were okay. My body was just working too hard in the heat.

I didn’t do the bonus 400. I had nothing left. I barely finished the last 800.

I did a cool down for an even 4 miles. That was super hard.

Wednesday: 5 miles
It feels like July outside. I ran 5 miles. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, but it’s just too hot to feel good on a run. 85 degrees. The trails were practically empty. I didn’t see as many other as I usually do. There was also a big tree down (new) at the bottom of the main hill—so to get around you needed some knowledge of the trails. So lots of things to go around on this run. There’s a fence near the band practice field, the chain at the top of the hill, a lot of the side trails taped off (so varying degrees of being able to go around.)

Thursday: off
I was supposed to run 4 or 6 miles today. I decided it was too hot and I wasn’t running. I WAS going to go to yoga, but I had to work a few minutes late, so I didn’t go to yoga. And I didn’t do yoga at home. I walked Mojo, did 20 minutes on the exercise bike and then did 10 minutes of stretching and rolling. Oh well.

Friday: 4 miles + yoga
I’m back on track after yesterday’s laziness. I ran 4 miles at the iM Fields.

I had my hair braided and my elastics fell out around mile 1.5. So I ran almost a mile with my hair tucked in my sports bra. I did thankfully find the elastics again. Yay.
There’s a new obstacle every time I run this trail. I noticed a “Do Not Enter” sign for the first time. I was past it before I realized what it said. They have installed another gate in the forest part of the trail (in addition to the gate at the bottom of the area between the tennis courts and the Redcoat practice field). They added some gravel after the (open) gate. Ugh.
And maybe people are heeding the sign I only now noticed, because I see way less people out there.

Then I went to yoga. There were only two people + the instructor. This happens every now and then. It’s a good way to stretch after a run.

Saturday: Long run
Third 10 miler today. I felt a little tired on this one. I took my first gel. I was trying it out. I think other than being gross (the texture!) it had NO effect on me at all. I didn’t notice a difference.

The trail was covered in leaves—which slows me down a tad (since I can’t see the roots and there are roots EVERYWHERE on this trail.) Saw three deer. Including the two from last week.

I think I only had 8 in the tank today, because I got to 8 and my legs would not turn over.

WHEN DO 10-MILERS GET EASIER?

Those last two miles were utter garbage. They were hard. I wanted to walk. And I didn’t know WHERE TO RUN. I found this little trail and I wondered if it would work. I tried running road miles and my legs didn’t like that—I was running super slow and my feet weren’t landing right so I switched to an unknown windy trail and that helped some. I had nothing left.

And then my legs were achier after I finished. (They’re usually fine.) I felt like I was stiff and a little more limpy than normal.

NOT my dog. His doppelgänger
at the nature center where I did my run. 

I did get 25,000 steps in for the day. Which is awesome.

Sunday: Run + yoga
I was up at 5 because the dog and the cat both puked. (Super gross. Don’t ask.) And I couldn’t go back to sleep. That’s off topic, but oh well.

I had 1.7 miles to run to make my goal of 25 miles. And I’ve only done 2.5 in speed work so I did some more speed.

I did a walking and running warm up (½ mile) and then did 3 1000-meter repeats. Which is a fun little workout. 5 laps at the indoor track. 60 second between each.

I was supposed to run around 4:23 for each 1,000 as part of a sub 22 5k workout plan I saw online. I thought a few seconds slower would be okay, because I’m not quite there yet.

4:30 (7:12 pace)
4:22 (6.59 pace)
4:13 (6.45 pace).

So a nice progression there.

I started a little slow but within target. (7:12 would be perfect for a 5k). My watch doesn’t do pacing right for indoor runs. It was saying 7:40 pace or 8:35 pace for these laps. (Also I just noticed it said 90 second recovery, but I thought it was 60 seconds, so oops again).

I ran another lap so it would be 3200 meters or two miles.

Then I headed to yoga. I like this combo of speed work plus yoga. It makes sure I stretch after the run. And I need to stretch.

Week by numbers:
Workouts this week: 5 runs, 2 yoga classes.
(And a lot of bad runs this week. Tuesday and Wednesday, it was too hot to run. Saturday I was tired. Friday and Sunday were okay.)
Miles this week: 25.85

Lululemon Dawsonville outlet review

I’ve wanted to go to a Lululemon outlet since I knew they existed. I love getting a good price on Lulu.

But until now the closest to my house were Myrtle Beach—6 hour drive and Orlando—11 hour drive.

In August, a Lululemon outlet opened in the North Georgia Premium outlets. It’s a 90 minute drive from my house. I learned about this 2-3 weeks ago. And when I was an hour horth of my house getting my car repaired, I tacked this on the end of my trip.

The store really was a mix between the warehouse sale and a showroom.

Scarf wall. 

• The interior was pretty spartan. It wasn’t warm like my local showroom (with candles and wood floors). But it was functional.
• There was a small men’s section and a TINY kids section. 75% of the store was women’s clothes.
• Clothes were arranged by type: a wall of bras, leggings together, capris together, tanks together, longsleeves together—and arranged by size. 6 together etc. There was a wall of bags and accessories.
• Most of the clothes had their final sale price marked on them. Some of the clothes were MORE on sale: $24 sports bras, $10 off long sleeves, $29 tanks. The educators said they change their sales daily, so I’d go back.

Selection
A vast majority of the stock was items currently on markdown: things that won’t move. (high neck sports bras that most people don’t like, a strappy tank that has poor reviews on the website.)

It was slim pickings for favorites and I spent more than an hour carefully looking through all the racks.
• I had wanted some more Cool Racerbacks. There were a few in 4 in neon orange, but nothing in my size.
• There were NO swiftly longsleeves. I found a short sleeve in 1 color. It might have been the only one in the store.
• As for crops, they were still expensive. I tried on a pair of run inspires from a few years ago. Still $69 so I passed. There were a lot of wunder unders from 2 years ago, some jet crop slims. If you wanted any crops in black, they were only in stock in 12.
• There just wasn’t a lot in my size (a 6). There was a ton of cute stuff in size 12.

I was a tad disappointed in the selection, but that’s probably better for my wallet. Here’s what I got.

• For Matt: tank top $29 and shorts $39 (price online)

• For me, I stocked up on $24 sports bras. I got an energy bra, a floral print invigorate bra, and two light support black bras that I figured I could wear to yoga. I’m always reaching for black yoga bras. (There really weren’t that many bras. Maybe a dozen in my size).
• I got a blue swiftly short sleeve.

• I found a yoga tank for $29 (I was hoping it was a run tank, but it’s not. It's the reveal racerback and it's cute but it rode up A TON during yoga.
• I got a black casual long sleeve, just because it was comfy.

• I eyed the scarves for $24, but didn’t know who I’d buy them for (as a gift)

I wanted some shorts, but there was nothing interesting in my size (again super small selection). Just lots of micro mini tennis skirts. I looked at the crops, but didn’t see anything I was interested in. Lots of previous season dud styles.

I had wanted a yoga mat, but they had one pink super thin mat and a bunch of thin yellow ones. They all looked thinner that I’d like.

I’d go back to the outlet, but I think the key is buying what’s on the sale of the day. Everything else isn’t that great of a value. Unless you’re just looking for an older style. But it was really nice to be able to try so many different styles on.

Workouts this week: Oct. 2-8

Getting faster! 

Oct. 2: Off
Took today off working out. Always amazed at how much time I have when I don’t run. I made dinner for Matt and me, prepped a salad for lunch tomorrow, caught up on SNL, did some dishes. It’s amazing

Oct. 3: Speed work at the track
Today’s workout was 10x400 at the track
The directions were to take the first few slower than 5k pace with short breaks (less than 90 seconds between each rep).

My 5k pace is about 7:20, so I was thinking about 1:50 per lap. Maybe faster since I want to get my 5k down closer to 7 minutes a mile.

Well everyone else at the workout runs 6-minute miles in their 5ks, so I was WAY behind the group. I was looking at my watch and running easy and strong and finishing 10-20+ seconds behind everyone. I was running great—but everyone is so much faster than me.

Can we have more people my speed at this workout? PLEASE. Would love someone to run with. (And since everyone is faster than me I was getting maybe a 60 second break. I knew because I had about 30 seconds left on my watch everyone we restarted laps.)

Splits
 1:48, 1:48, 1:43, 1:43, 1:40, 1:39, 1:41, 1:38, 1:38, 1:21. (7:09 to 5:19 a mile pacing)

I turned up the speed for that last one. Strava said 1:19. Mike called out 1:21. It could have been faster. I got boxed in by a newbie runner on the first 100 and couldn’t go around (despite me saying I was going to run with Sally and lining up next to her. This guy kept blocking Matt too.)

I was happy with this workout. I worked HARD but not too hard. I was working to keep those first reps as easy as I possibly could while maintaining.

Garmin. Again I tried setting the workout in Garmin.
But it wanted me to do a 90 second recovery after my warmup. (That is NOT what I programmed).

Wednesday: Your Pie Group run

I am THE WORST at going to group runs. (It’s probably been since June).

I had planned to do 5 miles today, but I saw an announcement for the Your Pie group run. And I’ve been meaning to try it for six months. I decided today was the day. So I went and ran some laps around the track and then did the run. (3.14 miles)

The perk is you get a ticket for free beer or gelato. I got some sorbet. I ordered a pizza to be a good consumer.

I don’t do group runs because I don’t run on the roads. (I worry about shin splints). And I like to pick my own route. It didn’t hurt to do a few miles on the road today. It was nice to see other runners. But meh. I think I’d rather run trails. (And I didn’t particularly want pizza after a hot run.)

Oct. 5
I really didn’t want to run today. I was tired all day. I came home and took a nap. But felt like I needed to get miles in. So I waited too late and didn’t actually start running until 7:04 (when sunset was at 7:10.) That first mile was okay. Mile 2 was DARK. Mile 3 was scary dark. Mile 4 was dark to the point that I needed a headlamp, but ran in the grass so it was okay. (The wood trails were darker than the trail around the fields).

IT IS GETTING DARKER EARLY. It didn’t think it would THAT dark so fast. But it did. I even saw a bat fly by my head on my last mile.

My plan had been to run 6 miles, but I didn’t have that in me. I ran 4 and I’ll say that’s good enough.

Oct. 6
I usually do Friday yoga after work at the student gym. But I went home and kind of did 10 minutes of yoga on my own. I did 20 minutes on the exercise bike and 30 minutes of yoga and 10 minutes of rolling. Apparently I REALLY needed to roll out my legs. Yikes.

Oct. 7: Saturday long run. 
I decided to do my long run today. And the plan was to do it solo. Matt was supposed to do his 12 mile run with a group, so I’d do 10 miles of trails by myself. (I couldn’t think of anyone to ask to run with me.) Matt slept through his group run and then decided to rest instead of run, so it was indeed by myself.

I probably waited a few minutes too long to start my run. I started it after 8 a.m. I ran the first four miles of Cook’s Trail, stopped and got water, and then ran a mile of Buckeye Trail to Lakeside Trail until I got to 5 miles and then turned around and came back.

My route wasn’t the best, because that section of Buckeye Trail was STEEP and I had to walk. (13% grade at the steepest and the hill goes on for a half mile). That’s not the mile I need to add on. So if I do 10 again, I’m not doing that section. It was too steep. It looped me around to Lakeside Trail and I was running downhill and there was a bridge, and I had so much momentum I almost went over the side of the narrow bridge (and there was a good 8 feet of drop under the bridge). I had to use my arms to save it. Eek!

The run back was a bit of a slog. I was tired. (I did see three deer.) It was 100% humidity and I could feel it. And running solo for that many miles is BORING and LONELY. Pandora quit somewhere around mile 7 so I put it on my run playlist on my phone. My hip flexors were sore on the last two miles, so I need to make sure to stretch them out. But I did it. I did 10 miles. And I didn’t walk on the last four miles back (I was so bored and tired. It was a mental effort not to quit, even though I wanted to.)

Then the rest of the day was super busy. We had a lot planned.

Oct. 8
I had 2 miles left to make my goal of 25 miles (since I ran shorter on Thursday). But I decided to get another speed session in. (One of the sub 22 5k training plans has speed work twice a week).

My idea was to see how fast I could run 2 miles. I haven’t done this in a while and it’s a little like a tempo run. I’m trying out race pace to see what I can run a 5k in.

I went to the indoor track (it was humid and storming outside) and did a short warmup (I was running late), and then ran 2 miles.

Garmin cannot figure out pacing for an indoor track. It never tells me my pace right. I tried the workout function as opposed to the treadmilll run. It was way less accurate. (Said I ran .78 miles total instead of 2, but it still had my overall time like a stop watch).

The track wasn’t too, too busy, so I didn’t have to weave too much.

My goal was 14:00. So two 7 flat miles. Ambitious? I think I’ve run a 14:20 before at the track. That calculated to 52.5 seconds per lap (if my math is right).

My first lap was 48 seconds. Too fast. I dialed it back. At the half mile point I was right at 3:30.
Mile 1: 6:49

(Which is the first time I’ve broken 7 for a mile since July. Workouts haven’t really called for it.)

So all I have to do is run 7:10 for my next mile and I made my goal.

At this point, I wasn’t checking my watch every lap. I looked down on occasion, but tried to FEEL where I should run. And sadly, this mile was a little slower. 6:57. For a total of 13:47.

WHICH IS FASTER THAN EXPECTED.

I was SO HAPPY WITH THIS TIME. And I’ve worked so hard, it’s GREAT to see my times dropping. (I didn’t know I could run that fast. I’d hoped, of course.)

It was a hard run, but I wasn’t DEAD after. It wasn’t unreasonably hard. It was also solo—so a possibly a little competition could make me a little speedier.

After that, I walked two laps, changed clothes and went to yoga. That was my stretching.

Workouts this week: 5 runs (1 group run), 2 yoga classes
Miles this week: 25

Workouts this week: Sept. 25-Oct. 1

Monday: still sick
Day 5 of battling a nasty virus. Sickest I've been this year. Didn't have any energy.

Tuesday: Attempt at running
After missing 3-4 runs last week, I thought I'd TRY to run before I lost any fitness. I was feeling a tad better. I had more energy than the last few days. I wasn't feeling great. My thought was just to see what happened. If I had to run-walk a mile, so be it

I went out to the IM Fields and ran 3.5 miles.

My legs were so happy to run. Stretching them out felt great

And the run didn't feel THAT bad. (I didn't feel like I'd lost any fitness)

A lot of the side trails were blocked off as part of a stream cleanup they're doing. That was kind of annoying, but gave me a chance to stop and take pictures of the trail closure signs.

When I stopped running, I started coughing like a smoker. But will call that run a success. (And I don't think I could have run a day earlier.)

Wednesday: Athens Road Runners Trail series

I'm awful about going to group runs so I try to make the trail runs, so darn it I was going to this one. (Though still sick and I sound congested when I talk).

The run was six miles of Cook's Trail: three out and three back.

I got to mile 3 and it was a total struggle fest. It was 91 degrees. I had dropped way back. On mile 4 and 5 I had to walk. I was one of maybe 6 people to do the full six miles. Except Sally, all the other women did 4 or 5. I was the last one to finish.

The is one of the hardest runs I’ve done in a while. I would have loved some water midway. My throat was dry. I was congested. I couldn't breathe. I was super sweaty. Just ugh.

But it cleared a lot of congestion out of my head. I felt better after.

Thursday: Yoga
Went to yoga to stretch today

Friday: speed work
This is the speed work I didn't do on Tuesday because I was sick. The workout was 5 800s, start at 10k pace, 5k pace, a tad faster, 5k pace, 10k pace.

I did this on the indoor track at Ramsey. I did a little more than a half mile for a warmup and then stretched.
3:44
3:37
3:17
3:30 (then decided to do 6 instead of 5, so threw another in at 5k pace)
3:35
3:43

I felt fine in this workout UNTIL my last 400. It’s 4 laps around a 200 meter track. On lap one I started to get a tickle in the back of my throat. It was the asthma attack tickle. But I had just taken my inhaler. So I struggled to breathe and tried to run another 600 meters. I really, really needed water. I finished my laps, coughed, got water, walked around, wheezed, wheezed some more, and then did my cool down. It was pretty scary. But now I know I can run 600 meters at 7:30 pace after an almost asthma attack.

(Also, Garmin is NO help during these workouts. It doesn’t measure the indoor distance correctly so it says may pace is between 7:40 to 8:48 a mile.)

Saturday: 4 mile run
I wasn’t up to my long run today so decided to give it an extra day. I’d run some easy miles so I could make mileage for the week. Matt ran with me.

Sunday: Long run + yoga
Did 8 miles of Cook’s Trail this morning. We ran at 10 a.m.. The weather is finally cooling off. The weather was perfect. The trail was beautiful.

Officially the trail is closed because of storm damage from a few weeks ago, but it’s runnable. We ran all the way to Sandy Creek Park (where I got some water and blew my nose.) I actually got a PR for my time coming back. I probably would have had an even better time if I hadn’t stop for a minute to switch on Pandora, adjust my headphones and wait for Matt. (He’s still sick, like me 5 days ago. Thought it was amazing he did 8 miles.)

I guess the trail is officially closed, because a tree fell into boardwalk, and thus the boardwalk isn’t 100% structurally sound. (Just be careful) And a few board are a tiny bit loose. But mostly fine. Matt said the trail was rerouted in a section (I didn’t notice.) The big tree that fell over the path had been cut up and was on either side of the trail.

Matt led on the way in and I led on the way back. It was a decent run. I could have run 10—if not for germs and congestion.

I went to yoga to stretch out that evening.

Week in review:
5 runs + 2 yoga classes
Miles this week: 25.5
Miles this month: 93 (missed 100 miles because I was sick. Boo)

Workouts this week: The week that wasn't

Sept. 18-24

Monday: Off day
Worked out six days in a row so took Monday off. Went home after work and took a nap.

Tuesday: Speed workout
Today was the return of the 20 minute workout. One minute hard, one minute off. Which I can run all day with breaks. But this workout is just so hard.

I had to work late today. Fun. I went to the track and walked two laps, then ran two laps as a warmup, and stretched.

Then the workout was 2 800s and a slower pace. So 10k pace or 5k pace + 20 seconds. And when I tried to do that I was SOOOOO much behind everyone else. (Three girls today. Sally is fast. Leila is fast and apparently ran in college.) So I ran a little faster than I should have but was still about 100 meters behind everyone else. (PLEASE more people come to these workouts)

Warmup: 4:07 (8:16 pace)
800: 3:39 (7:20 pace, which is around my 5k pace)
800: 3:35 ( My Garmin went crazy during this lap. Yay. )

20 minutes of 1 minute hard, and 1 minute off. The direction was 400 meter pacing. Which I didn't think I did when I first saw the numbers, but actually did.  But I ran hard enough. And I wanted to WALK during the off portion (which was the direction in the email, but all the fast people were jogging. I jogged only because the fast people were, and walked the last 4 or so. And of course I lost track around 7 or 8).

So I had 10 hard bursts: My pace was between 6:04 a mile to 6:34 pace (which is actually closer to 400 pace than I originally thought). And it WASN'T as bad as it was the first time I did this workout (and my splits were faster than my late May workout). It was hard though.

My goal was to run 1/2 mile as a cool down, but I ran three laps instead to get my Garmin to an even 4 miles.

Garmin fail:
I had tried to set the workout on my Garmin. BUT I didn't do it quite right. (Learned something). I loaded the workout in, and it was beeping and telling me my pace, BUT I had set a repeat for the 1 minute intervals, but I set it wrong and it wanted me to repeat the whole workout warmup and all (instead of just the interval). So it recorded the second 800 wrong, and then told me to do an 800 warmup again. But thankfully, it was still in run mode and I was pressing the lap button for my splits so starting at split 7 things are correct. I'll try this feature again next time and hopefully it will work better. Still learning.

Wednesday: recovery miles
I was so tired today. I went home and took a nap before my run and didn't really want to run. It was also really hot out. 90. I dragged my feet long enough to run at 7 when it was only 88. I had written 5 miles down on my workout calendar. I was so empty I thought I could do three. I got to the 2-mile mark and decided I'd do 4 miles, a happy medium. Then I decided I wanted to run some of my cool down barefoot in the grass. But the field I wanted to run in had a women's flag football game, and the next two fields also had games going on. I finally found an empty field at mile 3.98. So I decided to do a lap and do 4.25. 4.25 became 4.5, and I wanted to do another loop, and then at that point I just decided to make an even 4 miles. My pace picked up a ton when I ran in the grass (it was flat, so a minute per mile faster.) And then I stayed up late watching TV.

Thursday through Sunday: sick
No workouts for me. I was sick. It started Thursday morning when I felt dizzy. I went to work anyway. Went home at lunch time and slept for three hours. On Friday my throat was sore. Saturday and Sunday I didn't have the energy to make myself food. So no running when you can't breathe.

And that was it. I worked out Tuesday and Wednesday and then stayed in bed for the rest of the week. So sick.

Workouts this week: Sept. 11-17

Monday: Off
Today Hurricane Irma (or tropical storm) rolled into town. It rained all day. There were furious wind gusts all day.

It wasn't a day to run or leave the house.

It was a good day to take off. Maybe the first tropical storm I've weathered in Athens—3.5 hours from the east coast and 12+ hours away from South Florida where the hurricane initially hit. (I weathered one at Tybee in 2005).

Tuesday: speedwork

I had the day off work (because of the storm) so I napped all day. Then I did speed work.

There was no group workout (I'm blaming the storm), so Matt and I headed to the track to make up our own workout.

I suggested a ladder. I like going down the ladder and getting faster. Matt wanted to do a longer workout and go up and down. So we did a variation on a ladder workout we've done before. (It was hard. I'm hoping it was effective.) What we eventually compromised on (and this is why we're not track coaches) is 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800.

I walked two laps. And did a half mile warm up (too fast). 3:44. (That was extra energy for being cooped up all day)

800: 3:30 (7 minute pace)
1200: 5:27 (7:19 pace)
1600: 7:14 (calf cramped up on this one, but ran through it and was fine. This felt harder than I'd like)
1200: 5:26 (7:17 pace)
800: 3:23 (6:42 pace). And I cranked it up with 200 meters to go, and went all out for the last 100 meters. Had an epic footrace with Matt. It was pretty close. I think he won by a foot or less. He can sprint. (Garmin says best pace: 3:25)

Then I did  half mile cool down and walked another lap and went home. Sore legs.

This was a hard workout. (Also, it was 63 degrees when I started. Felt chilly so I did my warm up in a long sleeve. Did the workout in short sleeves, was super hot during the workout and then was FREEZING as soon as I finished, so I put the long sleeve back on).

Wednesday: 5 easy miles
Logging miles today. I didn't have to be at work until 10 a.m., so I used my extra time to run before work. (I really like starting the day with a morning run.)

It was 59 when I started, and I was cold. I ran in a long sleeve and shed it at the halfway.

Here are some pictures of the storm damage. Not too bad and it was mostly cleaned up that day (it helped that the trail is wide enough for trucks to drive on and bring in equipment.)

Thursday: 6 miles
Another easy run to log miles. I didn't really want to run today. I put it off and off but did eventually run and got my run in right before sunset.

Friday: Yoga
No running for me today. I went to yoga.

Saturday: 10-miler
I feel like this deserves it's own post. But I ran 10 miles. It wasn't that bad. I did it. It wasn't the scary thing I made it out to be.

Sunday: Yoga
I had debated doing some tempo miles today, but didn't have time to. Did go to yoga.

Workouts this week: 5 runs, 2 yoga classes
Miles this week: 26

First ever 10-miler

10 miles seems like such a long distance. 10 miles.

A lot of the really fast runners do this distance every week. And I've been awe-struck by them, thinking I couldn't do that.

And this time last year I couldn't. I was running 3 and 4 miles three times a week. I didn't do my first 5 mile run until the end of October 2016.

But gradually, gradually, I started upping my distances. 6 miles got easier. 8 milers got doable. And then last week I ran 9 miles. And I felt like I could run 10. So this week was it.

And it didn't go according to plan. My favorite long run spot was damaged by a tropical storm that passed through. I spent hours Friday figuring out where I'd run: try the storm damaged trail and see how bad it is, try another trail that was less damaged, or do hamster loops at my usual lower distance spot.

In the end I opted for the IM Fields, where I run a few times a week. I decided to do 3-mile loops. It's close to my house and there's water and bathrooms. (Matt did 10 miles with the Fleet Feet AthHalf training group, and he had a GREAT run. I'm afraid to run on pavement, so I ran on trails.)

The goal was to run 10 miles. Time was not important. I was running for endurance, not speed.

I parked my car, and started by running downhill.

I did the first loop and at 3 miles was near my car, so stopped briefly for water. I took a few sips and started my second 3-mile loop. I got water after this loop too. (I used to think I was so tough for running without water, but even stopping for 20 seconds for a few sips of water makes me feel so much better. I have better long runs with water.) I had thought that for the last loop, I'd run the parts of the trail I hadn't run yet. But the loop wasn't that bad, so I kept the loop pretty similar to previous ones.

And I never walked. Or even felt like I needed to. Boredom was the worst part. I would have loved someone to run with. I had music. I was counting down miles by the 10th.

And it was done. I ran 10 miles. The longest I'd ever run. I took my time stretching. I tried to get a picture of me running for social, but did a terrible job and couldn't post those pictures. I came home, and when I got out of my car, my ankles were STIFF.

Probably too many tree roots. So I put on compression socks and rolled.

I thought a 10-miler would be worse. That I would be dead all day. That I'd be sore. That it would hurt. (But the ankles were the worst, and it wasn't too bad).

It was fine. I felt like I could DEFINITELY do the AthHalf that's 5 weeks away. Which is a scary thought because I've been so indecisive about it. I was waffling and then I decided no. And now I'm thinking about it again. I think I could do it, but I might not be happy with myself if I didn't have a good time. And I've been training for a 5k, not 4x that. I can't get enough speed training in during the next 5 weeks to make it happen.

So I'll be happy with my newfound endurance.

I'm super happy I can run this far. That my body can do it. (Though I'm trying to not overtrain, so I don't get burned out like I did in July.)