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.)

Workouts this week: Sept. 4-10

Here's a recap of my week in fitness:
Did my longest run to date and it was awesome (see Saturday).

Monday: Race
Ran a 5k race. Super happy with my time. Ran a mile cool down. And then had the rest of the day off.

I REALLY wanted a Chick-Fil-A biscuit as my reward for the race. I drove to Chick-Fil-A, but they didn't open until 10:30 a.m. because of the holiday. BOO.

I had a Keba sandwich and fries as my cheat lunch.

Tuesday: Easy miles
I ran five miles before work today. It's later and later until the sun rises, so I have to start later and later. I don't want to sprain my ankle on a dark trail. And there's only so much a head lamp does. For this run, sun rise was at 7:10 a.m. and I probably could have started running at around 6:44 (civil twilight. New term). I went to the IM Fields. And just as I was about to start running, the 30+ runners on the UGA cross country team came speeding my way. I waited until they passed and ran the opposite way. Even at 6:55, the trails seemed awfully dark, so I headed on the road.

I've been seeing the cross country team a lot lately. And I ran into them maybe 3 more times on this run. I think we were doing opposite loops. Though I was doing easy miles and they were really pushing. I ran into them at the bottom of the first hill by the lake, at the top of the big hill, near where I started running, and where the trail flattens out and by the bridges. Usually I just ran to the far side, or stopped completely. There were a lot of them. Hopefully I didn't annoy them too much. They didn't flatten me, which was good. On one of the bridges, another runner's dog, ran through them (while on a narrow bridge), and I was glad none of the tripped. It was scary. And irresponsible of the dog owner.

Wednesday: OFF
I took Wednesday off, since I didn't know when my next off day would be.

Thursday: Speedwork 

I usually do speed work on Tuesday, but the track coach told me not to come the day after a race. (I thought it was pretty funny to be uninvited) So I went to the track after work to do mile repeats. I walked a mile for my warmup. (I always procrastinate doing speed work) Then I ran half a mile and stretched.

3 mile repeats. The goal was 7:20 pace. But I was running by myself, which isn't that fun.
7:21
7:21
And I was trying to run EASY (but within pace), but my legs were a little tired. I was having to work a tiny bit for these paces, (not too much, not like my first workout back after my time off)
7:12 for my last mile. And I worked for it. I was breathing HARD by the end.

I did a half mile cool down and that was that.

(My last mile repeats workout was the beginning of May and my times were: 7:24, 7:26, 7:13)

Friday
My plan was to leave work a few minutes early and go to a rocket yoga class. Work got insanely busy after lunch, so I couldn't leave early. Boo. (Especially since my month to the studio is up so I never got to try the class). I needed yoga after the work day so I went to yoga at Ramsey. At 5:30 the class wasn't that full, but by 5:40 it was packed with people showing up late.

(And no I didn't go to glow yoga. I like it. But maybe just for fun and special occasions. It's later than I like to be out)

Saturday: Long run
The goal was to go out and run 9 miles. And Cook's Trail is my favorite place for long runs (because it's so flat).

The weather was glorious. And this was one of those magical runs. I was on this run—running easy, running my pace. And I just felt strong. I got to the half way point of the run and used the bathroom and got some water, and started running back (not even 2 minutes of break. Completely acceptable. The water really helps.)

On the way back, I was thinking
1) How wonderful it is to be alive. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining through the tree canopy and it was just a gorgeous gorgeous day.
2) How wonderful it is that my body can do this. Run for an hour and a half

I almost said I didn't walk once in the run (but there's a super steep hill I always walk on, so 15 steps, but after that I didn't walk at all).

The last time I ran this trail, I had a small breakdown on mile 6. Not today. I ran my 9 and had a little left in the tank, so I got to 9.3 so I could say I did a 15k, and then I was at 1:29, so I decided to run for another  minute to get to 90 minutes. So I ran 9.4 miles. And I could have kept going. I 100% could have done 10 miles today. But I didn't want to overdo it. (I was worried I'd hurt later). So I stopped and waited for Matt, who did 10.

This was MY LONGEST RUN EVER. And I am super, super proud of it. Yay for getting fitter.

Our reward was burgers for lunch.

And then Sally texted and asked if I wanted to go to yoga. Yep! So I did an hour of yoga that night (which I needed to stretch after the long run, and definitely had a little less energy than normal in the class.)

Sunday: 3.4 miles plus BodyPump
I did 3 easy miles at the botanical garden. It was windy. I got all sorts of dirt and sand blown into my eyes. It was painful. Definitely not running in tomorrow's tropical storm rain.

I don't really like running at the botanical garden. The trail is narrow, technical and just too hilly. I haven't run here in awhile so I gave it another chance. Nope. Still my least favorite trail.

And I kept straight on the white trail, so I ended up at 2 miles so I had to do another half loop. I always turn wrong on this trail.

I like the flat part and only the flat part.

So I made my miles for the week: 26 miles.

I thought about going swimming or doing another workout today. The gym is closed Monday and Tuesday (because of the hurricane) so I decided to go to a Bodypump class. Since I guess I'm taking Monday off. The class was PACKED. Everyone wanted to get their Monday and Tuesday workouts in.

Weights from Bodypump. 

So I did the class. Died in the lunges. And did too heavy a weight for one section of arms and died. And I figure it's fine if I'm sore since I have the next day off. But it wasn't bad for not having taken the class since end of June (maybe early July but not sure).

Garmin step challenge:
Randomly, my Garmin gives me challenges to compete in. This week's was the 95,000 step challenge. I got to 95,000 last week, barely. I had to pace a ton Sunday night. But this week, I ran more miles and didn't make the 95,000 goal. Not sure what that's about. Seems like if I ran more miles, my step count would be up.

Miles this week: 26 miles run, including a race
Workouts this week: 5 runs (1 race and 1 speed workout), 2 yoga classes and 1 weight session

Churro donut.
Just because. 

5ks one year later — Race recap: Restoration Labor Day 5K

A little over a year ago, I ran my first 5k (as an adult. Not counting high school cross country or the 15+ years I took off).

This morning I ran a road race: with way more training and a better plan. The races were night and day so different.  (Think it might be my first road 5K! Since in 2017 I've done 3 10ks, a trail 5k and a 4k)

My first race last year was HARD. I had wanted to go sub 24 in the race. However, it was a hilly trail race that was closer to 3.3 or 3.5 miles. I didn't train right. I thought that if I ran 10-12 miles a week that I would do amazing. In hindsight, I didn't train right.

Today's race was different.

I had a goal: Run sub 23 for this race. (I've run close to this pace for the first half of 10ks, so it was a realistic goal). The course was flat and the temperature was great for the race (55 degrees. It said it was 100% humidity but I didn't notice it)

My goal pacing was about 7:20. But 7:30s would be okay for pacing. My goal was even splits and to NOT go out too fast like I normally do.

Mile 1: 7:28
A little slow, but fine. Chased a few people down who went out too fast.
A teenager passed me. She was breathing HARD and I knew she wasn't going to last.
I was thinking about running as easy as I could while running close to the right pace. I was concentrating on my breathing—taking deep breaths. That teenager passing me reinforced this (deep breaths, not shallow).

Mile 2: 7:29
Passed that teenager a few guys. Would have liked a faster pace but there was no one around me.

Mile 3: 7:20 
I passed another guy and closed the gap with the lead woman. (The guy I passed told me to go get her.) And I tried.

The last .2 of the race I kicked it in. And finished 3 seconds behind her. In retrospect I should have kicked it in about 15 seconds earlier. But I didn't know how much I had left.

I thought I finished in 24:40. That's what the time clock said and when I stopped my Garmin. My print out said 24:44. Which is still right on goal pace.

My watch measured 3.08 at the finish (other people's Garmins said 3.1), so I ran a little extra so Strava would register 3.1.

I wasn't super tired after that effort. I ran a mile cool down. And bascially kicked myself for not running 7:20s. I think I could run 20 seconds faster at least if I had someone to push me. Maybe I'll find another race soon.

How is this race different than last year:
• More miles. I run around 25 miles a week. (I did take a good amount of time off in July and I've been back for a month.)
• Training: I didn't train so much for this race (Decided on Friday to run it) but I know what a training plan is and my training doesn't look that much different than a training plan for a 5k. I run 5 days a week, with increasingly longer long runs on the weekends and speed work during the week, and easy runs of just mileage. In fact, after these three miles, I wasn't even tired. After my 8 mile runs, 3 fast miles is easy peasy.
• Pacing: I know what that is now! I'm learning. My pacing was even with my last mile the fastest! I could have gone a hair harder, but I know that now and I can be patient to gradually drop my time.
• I finished that 2016 race in a little over 30 minutes. I was 7+ minutes faster today (Could I have run 4 miles in last year's 3 mile time?) It was easy. I was even. I ran a smarter race and I trained right. That's the difference a year makes: 30:09 ->22:44. 

Race prep: I didn't do a lot of race prep for this race. I knew I was roughly doing what I should to train. I tried to eat a little cleaner the two days before the race. I did healthy carbs—lots of noodles. I also drank a ton of water Sunday before the Monday morning race. I got up at 5:30 for the 7:30 a.m. race. Was out the door at 6:45, got there at 7, which was enough time to sign-in, walk around, stretch, and get nervous. (Races are weird when you go by yourself and don't know anyone there.) Also I dressed right for the weather: crops and a short sleeve. Was happy with the choice.

Race review: This was a cute little race. It was in Crawford, a town I never go to. But it was 20 minutes from my house—the same distance as the other side of Athens. There was parking by a Baptist church and an indoor area for registration and indoor bathrooms. Yay.

The course is flat. It's on roads that aren't closed, but I only saw 2 cars on it during the race and they seemed patient enough. It's an out and back, so you can see the people behind you. There aren't too many turns. The weather couldn't have been better.

Prizes: Long sleeve T-shirts came with the registration. For Prizes, they didn't do medals. That gave off painted railroad stakes. The overall winners got fancy plaques. The stakes were for age group awards. I guess the stake is a unique prize.

I'd do this race again. I liked the course. It was pretty low-key. A few more people in the race would have helped pace me, but that's okay. There's also an 11k after the 5k so a lot of people did both. Maybe for next year?

Workouts this week 8/28 - 9/3

Monday: Off
Took Monday off. I was tired and went to bed early.

Tuesday: 6:30 workouts
Because I went to bed early, I got up early and did the 6:30 a.m. yoga class at Ramsey. I walked in at 6:30 a.m. I was the last person there (oops), and there were 18 people in the class. Whenever I've done these early classes, there's never more than 8 or so in the class. I guess it's the beginning of the semester so everyone has the best intentions.

New track surface. The grey sections are new.

I also  did a 6:30 p.m speed workout at the track. And I am back. After my two weeks of shin splints (almost two months ago) I think I'm back to speed. And hooray!

This was my first workout on the newly resurfaced track.

.5 mile warmup, 3 400s, 2 800s, 3 400s and a 1.25 mile cool down

1:43, 1:42, 1:41, 3:37, 3:30, 1:35, 1:34, 1:25

Wednesday: New trail

Trail Creek Park

Today was the Athens Road Runners Trail Series. We tried Trail Creek Park. It's actually only a mile from my office and I'd never been there before. (It's pretty close to the ghetto.)

I got there early and tried to get a lap in before joining the group, but I took too long on the trail and missed the group. I found them later, so yay.

1. This trail is VERY technical. Maybe the most technical I'd ever run on. There are lots of roots. Lots of switchbacks and hairpin turns. It's a mountain bike trail and I bet it would be a fun trail—if you're an adventurer and like adrenaline (I'd guess it's not for beginners.) There are hills and curves and rock outcroppings. It's not flat, but the hills are small so not super long and awful.

2. It's not a fast trail. I was running 90 seconds to 2+ minutes slower per mile than I usually do on a trail.  BUT I felt like I was going FAST and was working hard to run 11 minute miles. That might be the slowest I've ever run in my life. Oh well. Maybe it was the sharp turns that slowed me down?

So I missed the group at the beginning and found them when they were maybe a mile into their run. My goal today was 4-5 miles. I got to 4 and decided to do one more. Then I got to 4.5 and found Sally. I finished out my planned 5 miles with her (and it was nice to slow down and chat with her) and decided I could do another mile with her. But I was tripping a lot, so I asked her to lead. And then needed to slow down. (I'm the WORST RUNNING PARTNER EVER). There were some turns we didn't know which way to go, so we ran over a bridge, and under a bridge, and maybe got slightly turned around. We eventually found our way back to the start, and did a lap around this field/walking track so I got to 6. And Sally ran another mile and a half to get to her intended 3 miles.

Thursday: Easy miles
I did 5 easy miles after work.

IM Fields. Again.

Friday: Long-ish run and yoga
I woke up and decided I would do that race Monday. I'm off work. The weather looks like. It's flat. So I decided to do a longer run (in place of my Saturday long run) on Friday and rest over the weekend. (I also took today off work) So I did 7.2 miles at the IM fields. I ran 7 of trails and then did 6.6 miles of trails and then did a few loops around a grass soccer field barefoot. I like to think it uses different muscles. It was a nice run.

And I went to black light yoga with Sally. I was in a weird mood though, so I didn't paint my face like I sometimes do.

Saturday: OFF
Nothing for me today. I walked the dog. And did a lot of chores around the house.

Sunday: OFF
I went outlet mall shopping and had WAY too much fun. Didn't buy any new Nikes, but they had the Free RN and the Pegasus and I was thinking about them.

Easy day and went to bed early. Set the alarm for 5:30 for the race.

Miles this week: 22.3
Workouts this week:  4 runs, 2 yoga classes (mini race taper)