Workouts this week 9/16-9/22

View from the indoor track

Monday: easy miles

5.25 miles at the indoor track. This was an easy run. I ran indoors because it was 90+ degrees outside. So 42 laps around the track.

The run felt easy enough. 

But afterwards, I felt as tired as I'd done a really hard track workout. My legs were sore. I was so tired and went to bed early. The run was fine, but after I felt like garbage. 

Tuesday: off

My legs felt so bad I skipped Tuesday's run. I just felt really, really tired. I went home and read and rested, and started to feel normal again. 

I think I didn't run much this summer. Then, I did 3 weeks of training and my body was tired. I also ran too many road miles last week, so I need to hit the trails more this week. WHEN IS THE COOLER WEATHER COMING? 

Wednesday: track workout 

My track workout for the week was 4x1600 with 400 recovery. Fun, huh?

1. The weather finally cooled down. It was 80 instead of 90. And because it's been so hot that 80 degrees felt like 68. It felt cool. Cool enough that I did my workout outside at 6 p.m. instead of inside. 

2. I ran my warmup mile, 8:30, which is a tad fast for a warmup. I think my body just likes running at the track. (Softer than the indoor one.) My stomach felt pretty gross while warming up. Maybe I was dehydrated I don't usually have stomach issues.

3. Going in, I  thought I'd like to hit 7:45ish. But didn't know if I could find that speed. I thought if I finished the workout, great. If it was 8 minute miles, that's where I'm at.

Rep 1: 7:33. That's the fastest mile I think I've run in a while. I wasn't expecting that fast. Happy with that. Did a 400 recovery. 

Rep 2: 7:34. Surprised with this. Still worried I was going a little fast. (I could have held this speed in the past, but not after a lazy summer.) Did a recovery 400.

Rep. 3: Ok, this is where it fell apart. I did one lap and almost quit. Other people on the track made me get to 2 laps. But I split this into 800s with about a 45 second break to catch my breath. So 2 800s, for 8:00 pace.Totally fine with that. I should have done a 400 recovery after that but I just walked 100 meters out and 100 meters back to the start. (I know the recoveries will make me tougher, so hopefully I can do better next time. About 75 seconds of recovery. 

Rep 4: 7:45. Had a runner friend jump in to the first lap, which helped make me go a little faster. He jumped in on the last lap and I actually had a little left on the last lap, so I got a nice 100 meter finish. 7:45 pace. Which is probably what I should have averaged.

That was 5.5 miles right there. I did a .5 mile cool down, which I had to make myself do. I did not want to do it. 

4. I ran out of water. I had a 12 ounce bottle and I was parched after the last rep. Bring a bigger bottle next time, Sara!

5. I'm happy with the effort. I worked hard. Got some practice running hard and fast(er). 

Right now, my October 10k is not looking like a PR, but we'll see where I can get in the next month. I've been making progress and I'm happy that speed is coming back. 

Thursday: 5 miles

Did an easy trail run after work. My legs didn't feel as bad as I thought they might. Wore my new trail shoes. I found them on eBay for $60. New in box. Pretty excited about that. 

Friday: Hill repeats 

I knew I was supposed to do a hill workout this week, but didn't know how to get it done. I prefer hill repeats on soft surfaces. I'd prefer the morning. But I can't see in the morning (even with a headlamp). But the weather was cooler, 80s, so I opted for the trails. The workout was 2 mile warmup. 6x90 second hill repeats and 2 mile cool down. The hill I like is .2  miles long. The workout also said 7 minute pace for the repeats. Hahahahaha. I am so bad at hills, I can't run fast up them. But I can try not to run 10 minute pace up them. Also trees and GPS drift. 

I just ran the length of the hill, 1:50, 1:50, 1:46, 1:46, 1:46, 1:41. 8:28 pace is the best speed my watch said I got. I tried hard. 

I did my 2 mile cool down. And I tried the workout. Happy with the effort. I know I need to get better at hills. I looked at my data from the last time I ran hills. I've run the hills faster. But I get better as the weeks go by. So hopefully next time I'll be faster. 

Saturday: OFF

I rode my bike some. Maybe 10 minutes to meet a friend. 

I sat down to watch a few minutes of TV. And it's amazing how much better I felt after sitting. I think I needed a day to relax. (I sit all day at work, but honestly, I think the building I work in has something that makes me feel unwell, mold etc.) I catch myself standing to eat and need to relax. (In what time?) 

Sunday: Long run

It was a cutback week, so my long run was only 7 miles. I did trails. The weather was perfect.

Honestly, I was tired all day after this run. It took a lot out of me. And I was lazy and didn't do any strength or core like I normally do. 

Miles this week: 29

Runs this week 5

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 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)