ugh, winter is here

I made myself a training schedule to follow until Star City and I followed it really well until today, when I decided that the planned 4 miler was not in my best interest.  I needed a shakeout, but it was too cold and damp for an effective shakeout so I did yoga instead.  Turns out I would have seen the first snowflakes of the season if I had gone for that run...I have no regrets.  I am so totally not ready for winter.  I've had the heat on for almost 2 weeks now, and I know I made it til November last year.  Also, despite all the layers of sweats I wear, I keep having to turn up the heat higher and higher.  This top floor apartment has ceiling heat, who's brilliant idea was that?! And I currently have no downstairs neighbor, so no heat rising from below.  I really hope someone moves in soon... I made my budget assuming I'd manage to keep the heat around 55 like I did last winter, not taking into account the fact that I currently weigh less than I did last year, and that I have no downstairs neighbor.  I fully expect to gain some weight back after this race, but I'm thinking I still won't be able to tough out the cold quite as much as I did last winter. 


In other news, I nailed my track workout this week!  And it was a big win for my lungs.  I actually ran the whole way to the brewery to meet the guys (0.7 miles) and then started towards the track with them before realizing that I had not used my inhaler.  And I wasn't even having trouble breathing yet.  I was half-tempted to try the whole run without it, but I had mile repeats planned and didn't want to risk bombing them.  We practically run by my place to get to the track though, so we made a pit stop.  My goal was at least 3 mile repeats, at slightly faster than goal half marathon pace.  I wanted 5, but I knew I would stop after 3 if I didn't feel like I could hold the consistency.  After 4, I was still feeling really good so I went for 5.  I probably could have done 6, but it was full dark by the time we finished the 5th, and it wasn't worth it to keep running when we could barely see the track and we were getting really cold.  5 was a good workout though, I was running strong and consistent (6:19-6:22 pace), barely out of breath at the end of each one, and the 400m walk recovery was plenty. 

This week : 

M : circuit training 33:15

run 5 / 8:19 / 545 ft 

(easy effort hill run)

T : yoga class 1 hr

run 8.4 / 8:43 / 344 ft

(5 x 1600 w/400 walk recovery)

W : rest

R : run w/ Corey 10 / 7:34 / 502 ft 

(8 @ moderate effort (7:40 ish), last 2 hard - 7:15, 6:46)

F : TRX 45 minutes

Sa : run 8.3 / 7:57 / 650 ft

Su : yoga 30 min

total miles : 31.7

T-20 days til Star City!  

Belated post...but now it's T-11 days til Hatfield McCoy!

Last week : 

M : hill fun 7 / 7:49 / 505 ft

T : yoga class 1 hour

track 8 / 7:54 / 98 ft

(3200, 1600, 800, 400)

W : TRX circuit 30 x 45/15

R : group 7 / 7:20 / 400 ft

F : rest

Sa : 10 / 9:08 / 856 ft

Su : rest

total miles : 32

My week started strong and was going really well.  I meant for Monday's run to be easy, but once I started up the first hill, I caught hill fever...and the rest is history.  I had to go find more hills to run hard.  It felt so good...  On Tuesday it was POURING rain but it was Track Tuesday and I wasn't going to let the stupid weather be an excuse to quit.  So I picked a short ladder, and we did 1 lap walk recovery between each run in an attempt to keep our legs warm.  My shoes were soaked and sloshing by the time I got to the 800.  For Wednesday's TRX, I did 5  warm-up exercises, a 3x8 workout, and then finished off with a plank.  On Thursday it was raining again, but at least not too hard this time.  I picked a loop with a nice hill in the middle, and set out with Ben & Corey.  I intended for it to be marathon-ish pace.  It ended up being a bit faster for me, but it felt really good to be able to keep up with the guys, even with some conversation.  A few months ago, I couldn't do that, so this was huge for me!  My lungs are definitely a lot stronger now, and of course all my dedicated training is paying off and I am getting faster as well!

Sadly, my strong week crashed about 3 miles into my run on Saturday.  I was in Lewisburg, and had planned a 12 mile run on all my favorite mountain-y hills. I planned to get all or most of it at marathon pace.  But 3 miles in my legs decided they were done for the week.  They just didn't want to move.  So, I jogged the loop instead, and finished out the bare minimum loop at 10 miles, instead of adding on at the end to get 12.  I was disappointed to feel so bad on this run, but I've been really lucky to have so many good runs lately, and am hoping that tired legs was the only thing wrong.  I'm counting on not feeling like that on marathon day as long as I am super careful for the next 11 days!  

Last minute 5k...because, hills!

I came across a race called Hike the Hill 5k, in Abingdon, scheduled for April 15.  I thought that was the date of Blue Ridge, so I figured it was not an option for me.  Then I found out that Blue Ridge was a week later than I thought it was...and I couldn't find a good excuse not to run the Abingdon race.  (I mean, resting for Blue Ridge was an excuse, but not a good enough one to keep me away from a hill challenge!)  I'll post my race recap tomorrow or sometime this week.  I'm waiting to see if any race photos come out...

This week : 

M : run 10 / 7:33 / 561

T : group 4.3 / 7:51 / 151 ft

W : rest

R : run 8 / 7:34 / 581 ft

F : 45 minute Power Yoga

Sa : warm up 1.6 / 7:22 / 79 ft

race 2.76 / 7:34 / 414 ft

cool down 0.7 / 9:51 / 89

Su : bike 21.2 / 17.3 mph / 1286 ft

total run miles : 27.4

total bike miles : 21.2

On Monday I decided I needed another long hill workout since I still had almost two weeks til Blue Ridge.  So I went out to the closest hill from home that most closely resembles the Mill Mountain climb at Blue Ridge - White's Mill Road.

I ran down to the bottom at a moderately hard pace, and then really pushed the uphill coming back.  My pace was close to 7:00 and I was feeling really strong, until I reached the steep part towards the end, and then I completely died.  I dug deep and found every bit of grit in my body to keep pushing for the top, but it was a major struggle, and I fell way off my pace as I gasped for air and my legs slowed from lack of oxygen.  Needless to say, I will be running that hill again, and trying to make strategize better so as to make it to the top without dying.  But it will have to wait until after Blue Ridge at this point.

Heading down the hill...sporting some nice blue argyle compression socks!

On Thursdays run, I again decided to push some hills.  I ran a moderate pace in between the hills, and pushed the uphills.  And I sought out as many uphills as I could during the 8 miles...some long, some short.  The last one looks tiny, but it was really steep and definitely hurt that late in the run!

Today's bike ride was supposed to be pretty easy, but the wind had other ideas.  I still managed not to quite overdo it out there, but I had to work harder than I wanted to with the wind in my face for the last 7+ miles!  It was a gorgeous day though, I rode out to the Emory & Henry campus and back.

Sandman Extreme Half Marathon

Half marathon #29, and the first race of 2017 is in the books!  I had vague memories of how tough this race was from when I ran it in 2014, but time definitely softened the difficulty in my mind.  I had completely forgotten that this race was actually harder than the Blue Ridge!  Check out the elevation profile!  I didn't mind the 4 mile uphill climb so much (although I won't say it was the easiest either) but going back down the other side was brutal!  The first two miles of downhill were on gravel, and that was manageable, but my hip started hurting almost as soon as I hit the pavement, and that part was steeper too.  My hip has barely stopped hurting since, but I think the shake out jog, stretching, and foam rolling I did today helped tremendously.

Like my last race, I ran this one with my watch hidden in my sleeve.  I felt like I was crawling for the first mile, but since it was downhill I knew it would be easy to go too fast and ruin the rest of the race, so I made myself stick to the slow-feeling pace.  Of course it turned out to be sub-7 pace, but that's the downhill for you.  I waited til I hit the uphill, and then I kicked into gear.  I was afraid to push too hard on that uphill and not have anything left for the rest of the race, but in hindsight I wish I had pushed a little bit harder.  I'll have a better idea of strategy for next year though!  

I let go as much as I could on the downhills to make up time from the uphill, but when I did encounter flats or uphills after the long downhill, I found it really hard to get back into a rhythm after relying on momentum for so many miles.  I was pleased to see that my splits didn't get too terribly slow by the end though.  At least, not as slow as they felt!  I crossed the line at 12.85 by my watch, so I kept running around the block until I hit 13.1.  They clocked me at 1:37:18 at the line, and I finished the 13.1 in 1:38:27. My finish time was slower than I had hoped, but it was a tough race in unpleasant weather.  35ish degrees, foggy, and intermittent light rain.  And my sore legs say I ran hard even if it was a bit slow!  

Only 270 miles on the old pair but almost no tread left, and I could feel that they were wearing out so it was time for a new pair before the old pair could injure me!  Nice to race in a brand-new pair!

New race hairstyle for the hair since it's too short to braid now...double pony-tales!

Somebody caught this photo of me running up a hill during the race.

Finisher medal along with 1st place winnings : mug, headband, and bag.

I finished first place female and 5th place overall, about 4.5 minutes behind 4th place, which was my running partner Ben.  

Hills, Hills, Hills!

I didn't originally plan for this week to involve mostly hill workouts, but that's what it turned into, and once it started, I didn't see the point in changing it!  I decided on Tuesday that it was past time for some hill sprints, and talked two others at the Wolf Pack group to join me : Ben and someone new.  Then on Thursday Ben and I planned to meet early so we could get in a ten miler before dark, and I suggested we run down to the bottom of White's Mill and back...so we did.  And we ended up going up the long hill faster than we went down it.  I spent the weekend in Lewisburg and planned a long hill loop for Saturday morning, but it was 27 degrees Saturday morning, and I was staying in a house with no heat (waiting for a new furnace to be installed).  The thought of putting on cold running clothes to go run in the cold was really not appealing.  So I stayed in warm sweats until I went out to the barn for a trail ride at 11.  I almost let myself take yet another day off today and call it an easy week, but I managed to talk myself into getting out the door once the frost melted.  And once I was out there, I convinced myself that it would be silly not to get my 30 miles for the week when I've been on a streak for 6 weeks, and I should really be pushing it to 35 by now.

This week : 

M : 6 w/Amanda / 7:59 / 240 ft

T : 4.6 hill sprints / 8:50 / 568 ft

R : 10.7 w/Ben / 7:33 / 581 ft

Sa : 3 hour horseback ride

Su : 9 / 8:07 / 823 ft

total : 30.3 miles 

Tuesday 

I put about 85% effort into the first 6 sprints, going for consistency, and 100% all-out effort into the last one.  Lungs were hurting bad in the last one! I'm impressed with myself for being so close to the same time for the first 4!  You can see that the oxygen debt started hurting me after the fourth one.

Thursday 

Sunday

trail riding on winding country lanes

And now a message that I just happened to catch on the back of Thursday's recovery bar.  

I love this message, and am tempted to write a whole blog post about how important I think it is.  

I might do that...later...