It’s Friday!! And I have a 3 day weekend. I can’t wait. Sleep has not been my friend these past few weeks.
I’ve been in a weird non chatty mood this week. My last post was Monday! 😔 I am not sure what put me into a little funk but I am working my through it. Donuts were involved on Thursday. Apparently we were all feeling it, the clock hit 10 AM, we looked at each other and said donuts.
I wore my amazing new socks!!!!
I have a race this weekend! I think. Truth- I haven’t registered yet. Oops!! I always procrastinate but this time might be the most extreme. Part of it was due to my leg and it’s achiness. Part of it was due to a late giveaway I entered. Fingers crossed!
That said, I am nervous for it. But mostly about my shoes. I’ve been wearing the Hoka’s and while they don’t suck, I’ve never gone past 6 miles in them. Yikes!!! I have almost 30 miles on them but I am nervous.
It’s almost blanket weather! Almost. I love curling up under a good blanket. Nights are finally in the 40’s out here. There are still 90+ degree days in the forecast but we’re getting closer to fall like weather. 😛
I did get some short miles this week. Overall my leg felt ok. Saw a pretty great sunset too-
I have not had pizza or bought a bag of chips this week. Who am I?? 🍕 Can I make it through cookie Friday????
Hmmm, I thought I had more to share but nothing’s coming to me right now. Oops. And why does the iPhone want you to use 🙊 instead of oops? Silly auto predict.
I stopped speed work a few weeks ago when I started feeling tightness in my hamstring. After some slower weeks, and more stretching, I figured I would give it a shot. The plan called for 6-8 400 repeats with a 200 m recovery jog in between. Followed by 3 200m strides with a 200 recovery in between, all sandwiched between a 15 minute warmup and 15 minute cool down. That sounded like too much of a push so I adapted it some- you know Slacker Style. 🙂My warm up turned into just over 16 minutes as I ran through a horde of gnats. I then ran while flailing my arms around my face trying to disperse them. Yuck!! Oh well, the people in the playground area probably had a good laugh. Since I was running the intervals at the lake path I figured I would run the intervals on the back side of the lake and take a longer recovery on the front side when running through the parking lot and playground area. I completed 4 400m intervals and 3 200m strides. Except the lake path isn’t the track and I don’t know how to program that into my Garmin so it was actually 4 1/4 mile repeats and 3 .12 mile strides. That is what my brain was capable of computing. 🙂
So for my 1/4 mile intervals I hit 2:04, 2:08, 2:16, 1:59– 8:00-8:24 pace.
My strides (.11-.13 miles) came in at :49, :59, :59—7:32-7:58 pace.
I also didn’t check what pace I should have been doing so there was less pressure on me. Which was a good thing because for a 1:59:00 half I should have been hitting 1:30 for each 400, ouch. And when I plug in my last half, I should have been hitting 1:46. Double ouch. Whatever, the paces I hit were still faster paces than I have been hitting lately. Bonus was that my hamstring never complained while running or later that evening. I wasn’t all out sprinting ever, I made sure to keep my breathing fairly steady and I didn’t want to aggravate my left leg. So I am happy with how my return to speed work went. I was super excited that I finally hit 5 miles at 49:30, I was under 50 minutes for the first time in months, but I hit lap instead of stop on my Garmin. Boo!!!
On to ThursdayStupid!!
Thursday was supposed to be an easy run. I was looking forward to both the easy pace and that I had a half day so I was able to head to the river path to get in a run. It was a little warm but there was a pretty good breeze. I really do like that path, it has black top, concrete and dirt. It’s a good mix. There are more than a few intersections (housing tracks) to cross but most of the cars always let me cross first. Even when I would like the break. 🙂 I had a problem with the easy part though. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should have been aiming for a 10:45 average this close to a race. What do I do? Run an 8:26 mile. Seriously!? Yes, I know I should have slowed down but once I was part way through, I wanted to finish it. Stupid. What was I thinking?
So, yeah, I was a little sore today. I made sure to stretch and ice a bit. I wore compression socks inside my boots as well- pinstripe dress and argyle compressions socks. I’m so stylish. Then again who dressed me for Thursday’s run-
Not even close!
Stupidity aside, I am looking forward to the race. I am not treating it like a race but a long run. Just with a couple hundred friends and aid stations along the way. I love this race and I say this knowing the hill at the end will kick my ass, just like it has before. I like to call it the death hill, partly because of its’ incline and partly because it’s at mile 12. It’s time to add a new wine glass to my collection, too bad I don’t drink. 🙂 I just wish I didn’t have such a busy day tomorrow. With work and errands and packet pick up, I already feel short on time. Crap- I need to go to sleep!
For reasons why I am so nostalgic about Wine Country, read here and here.
Who else is racing this weekend? If you’re in CA, it’s gonna be a hot one!
Ever done the exact wrong thing on your last workout before a race?
Did you ever notice that average pace on the splits screen is different than that on the main screen? The main screen has Thursday’s average pace at 10:18 but above says 10:47.
Slacker Runner 