Workouts this week Aug. 20-26

Monday: OFF

I was supposed to run Monday night but I was exhausted. I came home and napped. And did nothing. 

Tuesday: Morning miles

I got up early and ran before work. I was supposed to run 6 miles. But I got out the door at 6 a.m. instead of 5:45 and then spent too long warming up. I was feeling good at 5 miles, so I ran 5.5 miles and then decided to skip washing my hair. Still on time to work. Yay. 

I ran at the indoor track, and saw a short girl doing that exercise study I almost did a few months ago. I was running easy, easy, and think I lapped this girl every 6 laps or so. (So she probably wasn't running race pace.) It's cool to see the study. (Which I didn't do because you had to run 8 miles indoors, WITHOUT water or music or your watch, on an empty stomach. Not worth it to me. I'm super busy.) 

Wednesday: Speed work

5:30 a.m. Speed workout at the track. Today's workout felt a little better than last week's. I was pretty happy with it. Mostly my 400s. But then I looked on Strava and saw I was faster a month ago. Oh well. 

2x800, 4x400,2x800

3:12, 3:09, 1:31, 1:28, 1:29, 1:26, 3:17, 3:16

My 400s felt good. I had a good kick at the end.

The last 800s were awful. I wanted to walk off the track and quit on the last one. I decided to finish whether it was 7 minute pace. And it was still well under 7 minute pace. I'm happy with the workout, maybe not the last 800s, but humidity. 

Thursday: Scaring walkers

I did 5 junk miles on the trails. I scared the bejeezus out of a walker on the trail. I came upon him. I was going to warn him, but he was still 12 or so feet off. He jumped sky high and shrieked. And then realized it was a tiny white woman. I apologized as I ran past. Then when I finished my run, my water bottle was gone. I had stashed it near the bathroom, where I've stashed stuff before. I couldn't find it. I checked the trash cans. Who would still a clearly cold water bottle? So no water for me after my 5 mile run. I've stashed water bottles for years and never had this happen. !!!

Friday: Trail run

I had planned to take Friday off running, but I was off work and Matt was running Cook's trail, so I joined him. And 8 miles might have been too much. My legs were a little tired on the last part of the run. I looked at my Garmin, and it said my 7 day mileage was 41. Eek. I usually run 30-ish in a Strava week.

The trail was was super easy pace. Cook's trail was still pretty muddy. About 1.2 miles from Sandy Creek Park, there's a big muddy section. Maybe 20 feet or more? I tiptoed across some branches, and then there was still more mud. On the way in, I sunk into the mud. On the way back, I tried the branches, but still sunk into the water. I've washed my trail shoes three times and hope they're not ruined.

Did some core yoga that night. 

Saturday

I had planned to do my 8 at race pace today, but after looking at yesterday's mileage opted for a rest day. I decided to go on a bike ride instead. (I hadn't ridden in almost 3 weeks.) I was going to do an easy 5 around the neighborhoods, but with Matt around I wanted to do Firefly trail from the house and back. Which the first 6 miles were fine, then I slowed it down a lot, and my quads starting protesting. I made it almost 18 miles. And I made it home. But my last longest ride was 13 miles. 

I need cycling shorts. I wore running shorts with a compression liner, and spent the entire ride picking at my shorts. I tried changing gears some too. Two hours might have been a bit too much and I can see why this would help your cardio. 

Sunday: Long run

Today my "long run" was 8 miles at race pace. I went to the Rogue Run, since their EASY pace is my half marathon pace. Sally and Kristin had agreed to pace me. We told Mike the plan and he joined in. Though they tried to talk me into a mile warm up and cool down and to just do the 10 mile route. I took the first half mile easy, and was pretty close to what I wanted. The group stopped for water at mile 4, which I didn't really want to stop, but I was running with a group so I had to stop. I peeled off from the group at 6. They did 10. And I did the last 2 miles with Kristin, and we picked up the pace. I think we averaged 8:18 pace, which was ahead of my 8:23 goal pace. (At one point Mike tucked in behind me so I couldn't slow down. Which is a devious strategy. He did give me some slack on a hill. And while I slowed way down I was happy to not walk either of the big hills.)

The workout was hard. Not too hard. And honestly the first few miles were easy. The hills were the hardest part. I went home and felt fine. I didn't feel too spent.

I wore my heart rate monitor and my watch gave me a new Vo2 max and updated my race predictor. (Which is hilarious.)

Thoughts: Strawberry cliff blocks are my new favorite fuel 

I probably should have done some yoga. I did roll twice and stretch some. 

Sunday night around 6 I just crashed. I started to feel sick. I sat down and felt immediately better. I think it was my body telling me to slow down. 

Miles this week: 32 running, 18 bike

5 runs, 1 bike ride, 2 yoga

My Sunday reward