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

Workouts this week: Aug. 13-19

Monday: Easy miles
Took to the trails and slowed it way down to 10 minute miles. When I don't look at my watch, I feel strong. And then I look at my watch and see how slow I'm going. Oh well. Not everything is a race.

Tuesday: Off
After last week's bad speed workout, I wanted to see if the problem was running on tired legs. So I'm taking the day before speed work off.

Wednesday speedwork

Mile, 4x400, 4x200, + mile cool down

This week felt so much better than last week. It wasn't a struggle. That said, my mile wasn't my speediest. Ran it too easy (Still working on pacing. That's what practice is for). Happy with my 400s and 200s are just fun. Wish I could have my 200 speed for longer. 6:51, 1:32, 1:30, 1:30, 1:28, 40, 40, 40, 39

PM: Doctor
I went to my asthma doctor to get a new prescription for my exercise induced asthma. I have asthma, have always had it. It reached it's worst in high school on the track. And I know the doctor would prescribe me Qvar, which I haven't been taking because I've been fine until the last few weeks. I got a new prescription for Qvar, which I'm supposed to take morning and night daily. We'll see if that helps.

Thursday: 6 miles
Another slow, easy trail run.

Friday: Off

Saturday: 5k fail
I ran a 5k for my speedwork. I hadn't planned on it being a goal race, but it went worse than I anticipated. I figured I could run under 23 without too much effort.

Mile 1: 7:29. I spent the first half mile trying to get my music to turn on. I had it preset before the race, But when I hit play, it wouldn't play. I wasted time here.
Mile 2: 7:36. I guess I slowed down.
Mile 3: I wanted to walk. I wanted to barf. I felt awful. 8:13
I slowed way down and finished in 23:23 for third place woman. It's about a minute slower than I thought I'd do. But everyone was struggling with the humidity. I have no mental toughness.

I felt fine a minute or two after the race.

Tuna salad from the Last Resort. 

Sunday: 13 miler
I'm almost used to the hills on the Rogue route.

My watch stopped.

Miles this week: 34

Workouts this week: Aug. 6-12

Aug. 6 OFF

Aug. 7
5 miles at the indoor track

Aug. 8
Morning speed workout
I knew during the first rep that this workout was going to be garbage. (I didn't want it to be, but it didn't feel good after the first 800. I had to work way too hard for a slow time.)
800s: 3:26, 3:21,
400s:1:36, 1:34, 1:35, 1:35, 1:35, 1:34,
200s: 43, 44, 40, 38 (The only time I got close to mile pace. I have no endurance.)

Aug. 9
More indoor track. My first decent run in forever. At 9 minute miles, I feel like I can run forever.
I did lose track of my laps at the track. My watch said 6.3 miles. I think it was just 6. But it was an enjoyable run. 55 minutes.

Indoor track overlooks the pool

Aug. 10
OFF. I did some core yoga in the evening.

Aug. 11: Long run struggle
Another awful long run. It was 100% humidity. I just decided to tough it out. I think I had to walk a few steps in the third mile. It was supposed to be a 12 mile run. I stopped every 3 miles for water, and took some caffeine a few times. After about 6 miles, I kept having to stop and catch my breath. Like every half mile. At mile 9, I stopped to wring out my socks. I wore thin Feetures socks but they still got really damp from sweat. Then my watch stopped. The second part of my run was worse. At one point I was stopping to walk a few steps every quarter mile. In mile 10 or 11 I really almost started crying. I was hungry and tired. I was melting. I decided to run walk to finish my run, no matter how slow.

This is the worst run I've had since Fort Yargo. I can't really explain why it was so bad. Accumulated fatigue? Humidity? Was it mental? My legs were really, really sore the rest of the day.

20 minutes recovery yoga, plus lots of rolling

Aug. 12
I knew I shouldn't run today. My achilles were sore. My legs were dead yesterday. But I just plain don't have time to do a speed workout on Monday (the first day of classes). So I headed to the track just to see. (And make my 30 miles a week goal).

I ran a warmup mile. My legs were fine. My shoulder felt funny so I stretched it some. On my striders, I had ZERO speed.

My workout for the day was either 5 800s or 10 400s. I haven't done any 800s in awhile, so I thought I'd try 800s.

Rep 1: 3:23. Super slow and it was REALLY, REALLY HARD.
Rep 2 3:27. It wasn't my legs. It was my breathing. I felt like I couldn't.
Rep 3: I ran 400 meters and quit. I could not breathe. And 1 more 400. 1:45 and 1:51. And this was so hard.

I did a mile cool down and didn't even bother about the other 800s. I couldn't.

I used to love track workouts. But I've been slower and slower lately. And I kind of hate them lately. Can I have a good speed workout?

(Actually this workout helped me figure it out. I cannot breathe. I have asthma. It's never bothered me in running for the last few years. But it's asthma. I'm wheezing. Time to get some new medication) 

Miles this week: 32
5 runs
3 yoga sessions

Wednesday's lunch. Chicken, kale, bean salad, gazpacho. 

Workouts this week July 30-Aug. 5

This was a week of bad workouts. I'm just tired. Life stress and running and being busy. It wasn't my best. But I tried?

Monday: OFF
Monday is my usual day off. I was tired. I don't think I even did any yoga.

Tuesday
I was still feeling tired. In my bones. So I took another day off. I decided it would be my scale back week.

Wednesday
It looked like it would storm for morning track so I slept in. So of course it didn't rain. I attempted to do the workout after work. It didn't go well.

The workout was a mile at race pace. I couldn't do a mile.

My legs felt really stiff in my warmup mile. (I thought they'd feel fresh after two days off.) I was supposed to start with the mile, but it felt bad so I made it an 800. (3:07, 3:12). Then I tried the mile again, and it felt bad so I stopped after 1200 meters (5:10, 6:53 pace). Then I did 5 400s and 2 200s and mile cool down. 1:38, 1:35, 1:30, 1:27, 1:32, 41, 45

 I don’t know why this went so badly.Was it mental? My legs were stiff. Eating bad?

Pre speed work lunch. Healthy.

Thursday
6 miles at the indoor track. (No thanks to heat and humidity).

Friday
I usually take Friday off. I had extra energy from taking a day off running so I went on a bike ride.

Lunch Friday. Salad. Vegan cheese pizza. 

Saturday: Speed work
I did some speed work at the track this morning. The workout plan said 1 mile pace and then 5 800s. I did a 1.5 mile warmup and cool down.
Mile: 6:30. Strava said 6:20 so it gave me a Strava record. That was hard. But about what I wanted to do.
And then I did 4 800s, not 5. I was struggling.
• 3:16
• 3:22
• 3:24
• 3:21
Not quite my mile pace, but faster than my 5k pace.

Sweat Angel. Da Vinci style. 

20 minutes recovery yoga that evening.


Sunday: Long run
After a few weeks of NOT running 11 miles as my long run, I decided I had to do 11 miles today. I'm not sure I picked the right day. I decided to do the group 10 mile run every other week. And this week was the week. So I did 1 mile before the usual 10 mile run. And then most of the group took off at 8:11 pace or faster than my long run pace. I think I walked a few steps twice in the fourth mile. I wore my hydration pack and didn't want to rest at water stops, but I did. I needed the time in the AC to recover. The dew point was 74. It was 74 with 100% humidity, completely soupy and miserable. I was dying. Especially up hills. It was such a struggle. I couldn't breathe. I felt super out of shape. (And decided I'm definitely not doing AthHalf. I don't like the hills. And I don't like the distance.)

The usual 10-mile group only did 6 miles today. Only 4 of us did the 10 mile route. And after the first water stop, they took off on the 6-mile route and I slowed way down to the 9 minute miles I should be running. And then Mike mercifully decided to run with me, since I don't know the route. He took some detours to make the course flatter since I am just not used to the route's hills. I walked a few more times. (And Mike had raced the day before, so I'm thinking he needed an easy day). Mike tried to play cheerleader, which I appreciated. And I don't think I walked any that last mile.

(Looking back I wasn't actually that slow, miles 9 and 10 were slow, but nothing too worry about. They sure felt bad.)

Big ol owl. Overseen on my run.

This run was rough. And I wasn't as wiped as my last Rogue run, But was super dehydrated. I brought my hydration pack. Which was a good idea. I ended up drinking 20 ounces during the run. And afterwards got a lot of water and even drank half a bottle of gatorade. I ended up getting a coconut water smoothie from Smoothie King. I was still thirsty all day.

I stretched. I foam rolled. I did 30 minutes of yoga. I have no attention span. After 15 minutes I was so done with yoga.

Week in review:
4 runs, 28 miles
2 yoga sessions
1 bike ride

I took an extra day off and I'm not sure it helped with my fatigue.

Exhaustion

Today I was so exhausted. I struggled through work. I came home and took a nap. And still was so tired. It was my day off running. But still at 8 p.m. I was ready for bed.

I've had this bone tired feeling for weeks now. I think it's all the 5 a.m. wake-ups catching up with me. I try to go to bed early, but I'm super sensitive to even 10 minutes of lost sleep. I've been walking around with like a zombie. And I'm still not used to the 5 a.m. alarms. 

My legs aren't particularly tired. My quads are a little sore. And my achilles are sore first thing in the morning, but loosen up with walking around. It's nothing I'm worried about.This is fine for me. My legs are feeling fine. It's just a general feeling of fatigue, almost like I'm about to get sick.

But when I look at the numbers this is why I'm tired:

• I've been training hard with no cutback week for 9 weeks. 

• The week before my May 28 half marathon was my last light week (taper before the half) 

• The week of June 11 (7 weeks ago), I switched from running 4 days a week to 5 days a week. 

• The last time I took two consecutive days off running was June 4-5. 

• I ran more than 120 miles in July. It was the first time I got the Strava badge for 200 km in a month. 

• I've run around 30 miles for the last 6 weeks. (When 25 is closer to my normal). This is a lot of miles for me. And the point where I start to hurt and break down.

So I'm going to give myself a break. Two days off running. I'll lower my miles a little this week. And hope I start to recover. I've been working really hard and one run (or one week) doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. 

Let's see if I can feel less exhausted. Off days are important. 

Workouts this week: June 11-17

June 11: Monday, off

June 12: Easy 5 miles

June 13: Speed work

After more than a year, I FINALLY MADE IT TO THE 5:30 A.M. TRACK WORKOUT.

I'm the one with the giant frizzy hair.

Thursday: 5 mile bike ride

Friday long run

I took Friday off work, so I decided to use the extra time to get my long run in. I did 4 hill repeats in the middle. 

Lunch from the Grit.

5 mile bike ride

Saturday: Bot gardens + core

I need to get better at running hills so I ran at the botanical garden. Ugh. (I think I did have to walk twice.) It was hot. But I'll run more hills and get better. 

Evening: 20 minutes of core

Sunday: Speed work plus yoga

After months of 10k speed, I want to work on shorter distances. My goal was to work on my mile or 5k this summer. 

There's a mile race in September. It's 12 weeks out, so I decided to do a time trial.

This training plan said that if I could run 1,000 meters at my goal pace, I could do a mile in 6 weeks.

So I went to the track. 

• Mile warmup. (And my legs felt lighter than they had in a while.) I did some strides and drills.

• 1,000 meters. I stopped my watch at 3:50, which I think is 5 seconds too slow. But my watch had 6 minute pace the whole time. But I felt good.

• Then I did a 400 and 200 meter just for fun. (1:28 and 41 seconds)

• 1 mile cool down

Overall, super happy with this workout. Think a 6 minute mile might be possible for me. It was good to feel fast. 

Evening: 40 minutes of yoga.

Workouts this week: 3 yoga, 5 runs, 2 bike rides

Miles this week: 27 

Race Recap: The Big Run 5k

Matt and I at the starting line. 

For Global Running  Day, one of the local running stores partnered with Brooks do a huge event. Last year, it was a group run. This year, it was a free 5k and 350 people preregistered and a few more people showed up day-of.

I was floored by the interest in the event. So many people pre-registered and coming to the event. On a Wednesday evening. It was awesome. Brooks was there. As was Nuun. And there were popsicles after the race (yay!) already paid for. (Thanks Fleet Feet and Brooks).

My running group, also had a potluck afterwards.

The race
Originally, I had wanted this race to be a rust buster. I wanted to see where I was at in terms of 5k speed. I haven't raced a 5k since November. (I was hoping for under 23 since I am not in 5k shape.)

And then the temperature was 90 degrees for this race. I adjust my expectations and thought that I could do a 10k speed workout and that would be good. But if that didn't happen, so be it.

I'd also been at work since 7:30 a.m. at a conference. I'd eaten badly and was generally tired from being around people (introvert problems).

Most of the runners I knew were going to take it easy. But I thought I could at least do a tempo and see what happened. (I thought 7:30 pace was doable).

And at 6:30 p.m. in 90 degree heat the race started.

Mile 1: 7:25. I was feeling fine.
The course was a little more hilly than I would have liked. A girl I know is slower than me passed me in the first mile. I just laughed silently.

Mile 2: 7:31.
I was feeling okay. I kept a consistent pace and stayed behind Kristen (who I finished behind at Marigold.) I think I passed slower girl in the first mile. I was maintaining.

Mile 3 7:30
By mile 3 I was getting hot. The course had a turn around, so I could see who was in front of me. I counted two women in front of me. So I was third place woman. After that turn around, that gave me some motivation. (I wasn't losing third and I was keeping the second place woman in sight. She finished near me at Marigold as well.) I was counting my steps to the finish. At about 2.8 I was really ready to be done, but knew by legs could do a speed 7:30 or 7:00 minute mile as long as I kept my foot turnover quick. So I slugged on.

.1 And then I got to the end of the course sooner than I thought. The clock was in the high 22s so I sprinted to be under 23

Running with the guys

Time: 22:55

And I was happy to be under 23.

The course actually measured a hair short. My watch measured it 3.09. So I walked around until my watch got to 3.11 so I'd have a 5k in Strava.

As for effort—it was a solid tempo. It wasn't an all-out run. And I wonder what I could do on a cool morning. But I also didn't want to go any harder than I had to. I was happy. My splits were consistent. All that 10k training DID pay off. I didn't die in the end. I heard that little voice in my head, but today I was determined not to let it get to me. I was more aware and not giving up this time.

I got a medal and a pint glass for finishing.

After that, I drank two cups of water. I was so hot. I said hi to some of my friends. I walked up the hill and a man told me popsicles from the ice cream truck had already been paid for. I got a watermelon popsicle and did my cool down running and eating a popsicle. The ultimate cool down.

Then I changed out of sweaty clothes, and went to the potluck.

Great turnout for our potluck

I ate a bunch of cookies. And then helped clean up.

I got home at 9 p.m. It was a long day. I was so tired I knew I'd sleep well.