In my phone call with Coach Jenny with Ekiden last week we discussed the partial training schedule she had for me. She had intervals scheduled for this Wednesday. Sweet! I love intervals even though I know I do them wrong. Run like hell than slow jog (walk) for a bit? I’m all over that. Except I noticed the plan doesn’t say recovery. It said float.
Wait a second- what the hell is FLOAT?!
So I asked. Float is less of a recovery and more of a push. Instead of a recovery pace, you run closer to tempo pace. The logic behind it is two fold. One is that you get used to running the intervals on tired legs without a full recovery. Second is that your tempo pace should feel a little more comfortable post speedy interval. Ok, makes sense. Sounds intense but makes sense.
But could I do it?
Well, kind of. I headed to the lake path on Wednesday since I knew I would need flat and easy for this. My legs have been achy so I even had compression socks on for a shorter run. I had programmed 5 intervals into my phone but had a feeling I would only be completing 4. Yep. 😛
After a 1.25 mile warmup, I hit the first 400. 8:03 pace, yes! First float? 9:08 pace. Sweet! But I felt like was going to lose my cookies. Could I keep doing this?
Pace
Set 2- 7:50 9:16
Set 3- 7:48 10:49
Set 4- 7:50 10:37
So my speed intervals sped up but my float intervals slowed down. That crap was hard! There were a few times I came to a complete stop just panting. Granted those times were also to avoid being hit by a car or a kid on a motorized mini motorcycle thing but I milked them for all they were worth!
I cooled down with another mile but man I was toast. I felt pretty good but out of shape at the same time. It’s frustrating but it is what it is right now. It gives me something to work on, right? Or whine about. 😛
I’ve yet to decide if that is reassuring or reason enough for a panic attack. It could go either way, it just depends on the day. 😝
After week 8’s less than stellar showing I was really hoping for a better week. What I got was a learning week. And an injury scare. Then I finished it all up with a tough 10K.
Monday- 5 miles. I love seeing easy miles on the plan. However, I ran these too fast. I was about a minute under pace for the run. While it felt pretty good at the time, I wonder if this added to the issues that popped up later in the week. I also ran these miles in my Pureflow’s. I was thinking of wearing them for my race so I wanted put a few miles on them since I hadn’t worn them since the SLO half. My toes still feel squished but other that I remembered why I loved those shoes.
Tuesday- 1.25 mile w/u, 6 x 800, 1.25 mile c/d. Since I missed week 8’s speed workout due to a head cold, I decided to do it this week instead of jumping to the 1K repeats. 800’s are hard. The 600’s a few weeks ago had felt pretty comfortable, these did not, these were hard. I also had technical difficulties of the hilarious kind. I’ve been using the workout feature on my Garmin; I create the workout online and push it to my watch so I don’t have to try and track the intervals on my own. So I programmed in what I thought were 6 intervals of 800 with 400 meter recoveries. I felt like my first 400 m recovery was taking forever. I kept checking my watch but it kept saying 399.9. What? Come to realize that I had programmed my recovery at 400 MILES not meters. Oops!! So from then I just tried to ballpark when to hit the lap button to end each recovery. I underestimated each time, oops. My recoveries ended up being around .15.
My goal time for each 800 was 4:30-4:42. Actual times were- 4:28, 4:23, 6:38, 4:26, 4:24, 4:23. So yeah that 3rd 800? I had tried to see if I could fix the 400 mile recovery but not only failed, I had also started the run interval but not realized it. I think it would have been in the line with other ones though.
Wednesday- Rest My legs were feeling super sore. I wore compression socks to work and changed from boots to flats. That might not have been the best idea. I also had an appointment with my gastroenterologist and I have a shiny new elimination diet to start this week. During marathon training…yay? Also pizza night was a giant fail. Boo.
Thursday- 8 easy miles— 3.75 miles With a 10K race on Saturday, the plan was to swap my easy run and my tempo. My training plan advised against this as I was supposed to step up to 8 tempo miles this week but I really like this race. I still felt sore and tired so I headed to the river path to get in an easy 8. Ha! My legs hurt from the get go. My shins hurt, my ankles hurt, my arches felt off and my knees started to ache. I gave it 2 miles to see if it was all in my head and if I was going to be able to run it out. No dice. I called it at 2 and hobble ran/walked back to the car. It hurt. I went home and stretched, rolled and put on compression socks again. And tried really hard not to freak out. Thank you to Heather and Ashley for putting up with all of my whining text messages. 😂
Friday- Rest My legs were still super sore. I was beginning to question Saturday’s 10K.
Saturday- Bands on the Run 10K Could have gone better but I made it through it. More on that next post though. Why do beach races make my calves so sore?
Sunday- 15 miles- Rest My alarm was set for an early run but when it went off, I said no. I had started to feel the beginning of a headache Saturday night and tried to fight it off by sleeping with an ice pack. No luck, Sunday morning it was a full on migraine. I shut off the alarm and slept more hoping it would ease up and I could get some miles run in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all the afternoon saw was a 2 hour long nap. My head hurt so bad, I didn’t even complete this post in time to go up on Monday. Once again, I slept with an ice pack that night.
Hmmm, well 4 days is better than week 8 right? Unfortunately my overall mileage still hovered in the low 20’s. The leg pain kind of freaked me out and I am making an adjustment to my training plan going forward. I am swapping my Monday easy run for Wednesday’s rest day. I knew my training plan was intense for a Slacker like me, even with dropping Friday’s run from the get go. So now let’s see how I feel with 3 days in a row instead of 4. Cumulative fatigue is one thing, I am freaking tired. Plus, who knows how these dietary changes are going to go over? Fingers crossed! Hopefully, my legs will get me through the week. 😀
This week has been in the back of my mind for a month now. Looming and lurking all at the same time. The first real test of my crazy decision to run a marathon. The first big effort for this Slacker. Throw in some stress in my personal life and some work stress and the week had the potential to go south real fast.
Monday- Rest Attack of the crazy wind! Well, spring had been here. The temps dropped and the wind came in. How those palm trees bent so far without snapping, I have no idea.
Tuesday- Rest I had every intention of running after work, I really did. My mom started texting and wanted to move pizza night up. I said I wanted to run. Her response was that it was still crazy windy everywhere. There was truth to that as we had lost part of a tree at work but I still wanted to run. Then she dropped the kryptonite- my dad would come with us if went on Tuesday instead. All right, she won.
Wednesday- 3.81 miles Baby speed work!!! I headed to the lake path for some intervals. After a 15 minute warmup I did intervals of 1:30 at 5K pace and then 1:30 recovery. Baby intervals but you have to start somewhere right? I did 6 intervals- 8:29, 8:44, 8:34, 8:19, 8:31, 8:35 pace. Which is about 30 seconds under my 5K pace but hey they were fairly consistent right? I felt pretty good and wanted to do more but knew I had big plans for the weekend and was trying to be smart. cows!!
Thursday- 5.69 miles I met up with NikeC after work for a few miles. Ouchie McOucherson. This run hurt. I am not sure if it was because I had run the day before or because I was once again wearing shorts. It also could have been the Launch’s; I was wearing different socks than usual. Whatever it was, my shins hurt the entire run. Not enough to quit but enough to be concerned. Other than that, it was a great run. The company and conversation were great and NikeC ran us up a street I had forgotten about. It was the course for a 10k we had run years ago. The race was so miserable for me, I tried to forget everything about it, it took me 2+ years to run another 10K. However, now that I remember the route, I have more ways to add mileage with out doing incessant loops.
Friday- Rest Can I say how much of a win it was that I only ate 1 cookie on Cookie Friday? Anyways, once off work I was home by 7:30 and prepping for Saturday. I was ready to go to bed by 10:30, which is early for me but I knew I had an early wake up call the next day.
So much for good intentions, I could not sleep. I was tossing and turning and felt like my heart was racing. Either the stress of the week caught up with me or the next days’ plan was really freaking me out. Either way, I got less than 4 hours of sleep.
Saturday- 16 MILES!! Holy crap, people, I followed through! I knew the likelihood of me completing this run on my own was small so weeks ago I called in reinforcements. I met up with Ashley and Heather bright and early Saturday morning. The sun was barely up!! Not that we could see it as it was a very gray morning. Heather was running 24 so she ran to where Ashley and I were and then we ran from SLO to the Avila pier and back. That sounds like a lot when I type it.
We kept a steady pace up for the first 9ish miles and I was feeling pretty good. I had to take a few walk breaks which I knew I would but I felt bad for slowing them down. The route ran through the Bob Jones Trail which I had always heard about but never really run. A mile of it was in the City to the Sea half but I was riding the misery train and hadn’t paid that much attention to it. It’s nice, paved and scenic and full of people enjoying it. We hit the bay around 8ish miles and I had to take a break. My right knee was twinging in an odd way. I told them to go ahead so I could stretch it out. Speeding up usually helps me work out the kinks so catching up to them worked perfectly. Once at the pier we turned around and headed back towards SLO. oh, just a little fog
My lungs started protesting around mile 11. Which wasn’t surprising given how heavy the marine layer was. I started to slow down. We played leapfrog for the last few miles. We would run together until I tired, then I would walk, they would pull ahead. Then I would either catch up or they would wait for me. I didn’t hurt until mile 14. Then my knees started aching and my right toes ached. Just keep running, just keep running. At this point we lost Heather, she had a much longer run back and the sun finally came out and the temp was rising. On a side note- she’s a rock star and ran 25 miles that morning!
Then my watch buzzed- 16 miles!!! I did it! And I didn’t hate myself! In fact, it kind of rocked. I have Ashley and Heather to thank for that, they were both awesome.
Funny thing- because we ran all the way to the pier, the mileage was a little off. When my watch hit 16, we were still 3 miles from the cars. I contemplated walking it, but instead we took an Uber. I’d never done that before! It was a morning of firsts.
Sunday- Rest After a much better nights’ sleep, I headed down to SLO for a little bit of shopping. I also cleared 10K steps for the day so let’s call it active rest. Stairs were the only times I noticed a little soreness from the run.
Weekly miles 25.5
Last week was a good week. I feel a little better going into future training. I know it’s going to be hard and going to kick my ass but this was the week I needed. I needed a litle reassurance to continue. I got it. Now I just need to keep running and training and taking it one week at a time. I need to work on fueling. I ran those 16 miles on an empty stomach and only ate 1/2 a package of fruit snacks along the way. I felt fine but I know that won’t always be true. My hydration was good- I had Gatorade and Skratch.
Low-carb- speaking of food, last week was kind of an odd week. I did pretty well on most days but really bad on others. It was kind of an emotional eating week but I didn’t give in anywhere near as much as I could have. I passed on In n Out for crying out loud! I am concerned that this week will be more of the same but we will see.
How was your week?
What about weather? What is it like in your neck of the woods?
I know I picked a longer training cycle but how is week 6 over already? Picking a longer cycle seems to have been a good choice so far with work being crazy, my odd leg issues and other various issues popping up. The plan is detailed enough to give me guidance but flexible enough I can move things around. And things moved this week.
Like I mentioned in my last post, this run made me nervous. While my leg ached it didn’t outright hurt. I tried to focus on my form and make sure that my left leg was actually coming around and not just shuffling along. I pulled off a nice negative split for the run but gravity helped that along. 🙂
Wednesday- Rest
I have to start writing these recaps as the week progresses. I can’t even remember what I did other than work on Wednesday. I think pizza may have been involved. Oh, I got my CT results. Yeah, more on that next post.
Thursday- 7 miles long-ish run
I love half days. Granted, they mean working on a Saturday but those extra few hours on weekday rock. I decided to try and get my long run out of the way. With my leg still being achy, I had already decided that instead of the 10 that had been on the plan I was aiming for 7-8 miles. I headed to the lake path, while running multiple loops can be boring I would be near my car if my leg started hurting. It was warm but not too bad. There was one section of the lake that resembled the surface of the sun and I felt like I slowed in that section every time. I completed the first 5 miles by taking a .10 mile walk break after each mile to shake out my calf area. I noticed that walking wasn’t helping so for miles 6 & 7, I tried something different. I stopped my Garmin and started a new run. Instead of walking, I took a short 20-30 second pause if I needed to stretch. My running pace dropped by 20 seconds and overall it only added 2 minutes to my run vs the 5 minutes walking. Overall, I am not sure if I learned anything but it was an interesting experiment. 😏
Friday- Rest day
I lost the battle with the cookies.
Saturday- Active Rest day
The morning started with a drive out to Saturday work town. I headed home after work as my mom and I had plans to head to the fair for the afternoon. The fair comes once a year and runs almost 2 weeks. The town goes a little insane but it’s fun. I can usually hear the concerts out my window too, so bonus! I’m not huge on crowds so I generally only go once. I have to get my funnel cake and pretzel, it’s a fair tradition. 😄 We enjoyed our yummy fair food and took in all the sights. I will never ride a fair ride but I love taking pictures of them.
She’s real!!
I always try to go on a night where I wouldn’t mind hearing the concert a little better, too. This year that was supposed to be Alice Cooper and Motley Crue. Except they had plane issues so the concert was pushed back. From what I could hear from home- Alice Cooper started playing after 10 and Motley Crue around midnight. I wonder how many people stayed. I wore my Fitbit to the fair and we walked well over 5 miles. Plus that thing is notoriously short on steps. I feel zero guilt for that yummy fair food. Maybe for the purse I bought.
Sunday- 5.5 miles Speed work
Somehow I was up early for me and made it to the track by 10. I wanted to try to complete the speed work I had skipped by running long on Thursday. The plan called for a 30 minute warm and 8x 1:00 @10K pace with 1:00 recovery and then a 15 minute cool down for 1:10:00. As I type this I noticed 2 things- 1) that math does not add up at all and 2) I thought it was 10x repeats so I did 10, ugh. The 30 minute warm up turned into 35 and I rode the struggle bus the entire way. I could not get my legs moving and my lungs weren’t much better. I checked the temp during a water break and noticed the 65% humidity. Ok, I get the complaining lungs now. I really wanted to blow off the repeats but I figured I would at least start them and see how it went. Since I didn’t want to see 500 splits with an odd overall average pace I ended my first run after the warm up and started a new one. Honestly, I have no idea what my 10K pace should be but according to my PR 16 months ago it was around 9:00. Didn’t think I had a shot in hell of hitting that.
1. 8:01 2. 8:13 3. 8:02 4. 8:12 5. 8:15 6. 7:55 7. 8:19 8. 8:21 9. 8:23 10. 8:21Well, that was unexpected. No lie, I walked the recoveries. I recently read another blog of someone much faster and stronger than me and they said they walked their recoveries. I swear it was like birds singing when I read that. 😊 That being said, I have no idea how I hit those paces when I was feeling so rough. I felt like a nasty, sticky mess when done so my cool down only ended up being half a mile. I was done. But all in all, it turned out to be a good run. Plus I love the track.
Over all, not a bad training week. I think I’ve finally accepted that I have some limitations right now so I am going to do what I can and see what happens. Going forward I would like to add in cross training and I think the stationary bike is the best option right now, I just need to get my lazy butt to the gym. Any bets on how long that will take me?
How was your week? Do you like the track?
Ever been to a concert that started that late? Would you have stayed?
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 