I borrowed a fun survey from Hungry Runner Girl, i haven’t done a survey in forever! Take a seat, get to know me a little more and feel free to answer the questions in the comments or take the survey on your blog! 🙂
I need to be honest. Training has it’s ups and downs. Mentally, physically, emotionally, and so on. I know it’s a little dumb, especially coming off of a great training half marathon, but i’m scared that I won’t be able to run the pace i want in 7 weeks. My spring ‘A’ race is almost here and halfway through training, I’m doubting myself and to be brutally honest, I’m fucking scared.
I hold running close to my heart. It’s a sport I didn’t get to play in school (not by my own choice, but that’s another story). After being active in art and music –all of which are subjective as to whether or not I was any good, I found running. The distance you cover, the pace you run, the time on the official board, is what it is. No one can take that away. It’s objective, black and white and another one of the hundreds of reasons I love it.
Each year I fall more and more in love with running. And each year i set goals. The goal of breaking 1:30 in a half marathon has been a far fetched goal of mine. It was once the secret, i bet one day I can break 1:30, goal. It’s been in the back of my head for years, even before I broke two hours. Until now I thought coming close to this time goal was as out there as finding the pot o’gold at the end of the rainbow or the lost city of Atlantis…
I have several more of those seemingly impossible, i can’t say these out loud goals which i’ll save for another time. Once a goal crosses my mind again and again, it’s hard for me to shake them. I have to know if i can do it! Or at least I have to try.
I’m 6 minutes away from a huge running goal of mine and for the first time in a while, i’m scared of it. It almost seems too big to actually happen. It’s getting close and for some reason the closer it comes the more i doubt my abilities. Yeah, i know! Ridiculous. But i’m allowed to have ridiculous thoughts, that’s the point of this post. Training takes a strange toll on you mentally and emotionally.
Maybe i’m just dealing with post-race blues? Maybe I’m not ready to hit the 1:30 goal this soon because it will close a big chapter in my running life. Maybe I’m already nervous of what goals I have for after.
Most days i feel motivated, strong and unconquerable. Those confident feelings of I CAN, push me through workouts and keep me relaxed when paces and miles seem impossible. I remind myself often, the mind will quit well before the body and we are all capable of what we can’t even possibly imagine.
See, talking it out with all of you makes me feel much better. Thanks for letting me air my thoughts :).
Last Week
Monday:20min yoga
Tuesday: 8.5m interval 16 x 400s @ 10k pace (6 @ 6:31/pace, 6 @ 6:27/pace, 4 @ 6:22/pace)
Wednesday:6.9m easy 8:58/pace, 40 min shoulders + legs
Tuesday: 8.5m interval 16 x 400s @ 10k pace (6 @ 6:31/pace, 6 @ 6:27/pace, 4 @ 6:22/pace)
Wednesday:6.9m easy 8:58/pace, 40 min shoulders + legs
I made a ton of last minute changes for the race which made me extremely nervous and anxious during the week leading up to it. Pre-race went badly, a lot of stuff was out of my control, I didn’t think this was going to be a good race.
Monday through Friday leading to Saturday’s race I dealt with a massive sinus headache, sinus related vertigo/dizziness & pressure headaches until Friday ,when i finally started feeling better (cue sigh of relief!) and changed my hair color. Not that hair color had anything to do with me feeling better.. wait, it may have been a slight pick me up.
The sinus/allergy stuff was out of my control of course. It’s never fun going into a race week feeling like absolute crap. I still managed to hit the weekly running workouts on the schedule, even though they all felt harder than usual. I’m thankful it was a cutback week, although I probably would have had to cutback anyway with how tired those horrible allergies made me.
The changes I mentioned have to do a lot with nutrition. Since last fall I’ve cut out most refined carbohydrates (breads/pasta etc) and have replaced those grain carbs with potatoes/carrots/beets etc. I will do a post on this in more details soon–> the point being, I was nervous about not having a regular pasta meal the night before and a bagel the morning of the race. So what did I eat? I had a whole sweet potato with maple syrup and pork chop for dinner. The morning of the race I had a banana with pb and coffee, then on the train I ate a Honey Stinger Waffle and drank pink lemonade Nuun.
Another thing out of my control pre-race: the metro was a complete mess on race morning. 13 minutes behind schedule and the train stop we were told to get off at had their stairs and escalators blocked off. Hundreds of runners were waiting to load up into an extremely small, slow moving elevator. A lot of us hopped back on the train and got off at the next station. Because of these setbacks, I did not have the chance to warm up or start the race on time. I was literally in a port-o-potty at 7:28am, two minutes before the start.
I ran slowly to the corrals, peeling off my throwaway clothes, getting my Ipod set up and finally squeezed into Corral #5. I was supposed to start in #2, so i knew i’d have some weaving to do in the early miles. My plan for this race was to hold back until miles 6-7 where the big hill was then see how I was feeling to push the backend of the race.
After the stressful morning, the race itself was great! Once my legs warmed up (took 2 miles) and I weaved around the corral 5 runners, i got into a groove and felt very relaxed. I finally had some elbow room at mile 5 and I could feel myself trying to speed up and kept telling myself to save energy for the hills in the 2nd half.
You might not like it, but my race mantra for the hill was “I like it on top.” It made me smile and laugh a little, which relaxed me. Feel free to think of this on your next hilly run 😉
Once I hit that wretched hill and my slowest mile–it took another half mile for my quads to stop screaming at me. But once they recovered I was feeling fantastic and I just let the legs do what they wanted.
The final miles of the race were 7:05, 6:59, 6:51, 7:05 and my final mile was a 6:56! I was hoping on a good day i could FINALLY hit a sub-7 mile during a half. The negative split was my fastest ever 10k! Hitting those splits are a good indicator that big things may happen in 6 weeks. Horn officially tooted.
Here are the splits! Official Time 1:37:05.
I did a breakdown of the good, bad and otherwise in a few other race recaps and I’m going to continue with this because it’s easy to look back and recall what needs to change and stay the same for future races. So here it goes!
The bad
-I did not anticipate the Metro being backed up, therefore I had ZERO time to do a proper warm up. I truly feel if I had that extra 30 minutes as planned I could have had a PR day, but i’m not upset over it because that was not the purpose of this race. This just means for my ‘A’ race I will have to plan for extra time to warm up just in case!
-My back was really sore after this race. I don’t know if i was tense or if my back was taking all the downhill jolting. Guess I’m out of downhill running practice?
The good
-I felt 100% properly fueled. My nutrition is on point and Honey Stinger products & Nuun are sitting well in my stomach.
-The final 6 miles. I paced properly! All those workouts of mile repeats and 2 x 3s are showing up! A 7:00/pace did not feel like death :).
-I’m definitely a midwest girl. The flat parts of the course I cruised and dare i say, the pace felt easy. I never felt like I went above an 7-8/10 effort and the negative split was just icing on the cake.
-This race felt better (i.e I felt more comfortable) than Indianapolis where I got my latest PR.
The firsts I know you aren’t supposed to try new things on race day, but this was a practice race for me so there were a TON of new things.
-Pre race evening meal. Sweet potatoes will forever be a staple. And the morning meal, no bagels just real food.
-On the course i only drank water. This is the first time I didn’t have gatorade, and my stomach was happy because of it!
-Shoes. I bought a brand new pair of Saucony Kinvara 6s for this race. I did not wear them or break them in before the race. They worked perfectly. No blisters or anything. Saucony is seriously amazing.
-I was blonde. Hey when you’re not gunning for a PR you need to find other running firsts. It was my very first run with blonde hair. lol.
Last Week
Monday: 7.5 tempo (2m warm up, 3 @ 6:53/pace, 4 x 2:00 @ 6:18/pace, 1m cool down)
Tuesday: 4m easy 9:45/pace + 2m walk w/LE
Wednesday: 6.9m easy 8:41/pace
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday:13.1m Race 7:20/pace Rock n’Roll DC 1/2 marathon
Sunday: Rest
Total Miles:31.6
What are your pre-race rituals??
New running “first” you’ve accomplished during a race (other than a PR/distance record)?
Monday: 7.5 tempo (2m warm up, 3 @ 6:53/pace, 4 x 2:00 @ 6:18/pace, 1m cool down)
Tuesday: 4m easy 9:45/pace + 2m walk w/LE
Wednesday: 6.9m easy 8:41/pace
I feel like every blog i’ve read this week have mentioned a cut back week in their training. A cutback week is when you cutdown your mileage as a way to recover from the constant increase of mileage and intensity from harder speed workouts. This training cycle has been going extremely well. One of my 2016 goals is to run 5 days per week and strength train without feeling burnt out or getting injured. As i’ve mentioned, running my easy days at a 9:00+ pace (much slower this cycle than in the past) I’ve been able to easily run 5 days per week and have had a healthy, happy and productive first few weeks.
Last Thursday was the first time a workout left me extremely fatigued. Granted the workout was HARD (2 x 3 miles at my goal half marathon pace -6:52). As tiring as this workout was, it was the first time i’ve been able to consistently hit my actual goal half marathon pace. <–this is a big deal. If I can do 3 miles at a time at a 6:50ish pace not once, but TWICE, i should be able to hit my 1:30 goal within this year. This workout left me mentally strong and is the type of quality workout that will carry me 13.1 miles at a fast-for-me-pace.
With all the progress, I decided to take a cutback week. Not necessarily because I’m feeling the training (which i am) but because it’s supposed to be 70 degrees Saturday and I signed up for the Rock n’ Roll DC 1/2.
You know me, i like doing a half marathon as a check-in to see how much work is left during training. I’m not planning on going full out since this is a very hilly course and I haven’t been training hills that much. I might attempt a course PR, but overall this is meant to be a tempo/hilly/long run that is accompanied by thousands of other runners and gatorade stations. 🙂
So that’s it! That’s the current news. Training is going well, the weather is beautiful and i’m out to run half marathon #14 in DC!
Last Week
Monday:3m easy 9:55/pace, 45min total body strength
Tuesday: 5m easy 8:56/pace
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday:7m MP tempo (1m warm up, 5 @ 8:00, 1m cool down), 30min TRX upper body + core
Friday:9m tempo (2m warm up, 2 x 3 @ 6:53/pace, 1m cool down)
Thursday:7m MP tempo (1m warm up, 5 @ 8:00, 1m cool down), 30min TRX upper body + core
Hector and the Search For Happiness – It’s on Netflix. Watch it. It made me laugh, cry & want to travel. It’s kinda like Eat, Pray, Love but not as girly.
2. LE’s first runs. She’s doing a run/walk mileage build up. 3 minutes of running, 3 walking just like anyone else getting started! So far she’s listening really well and staying right next to me. We did 2 walk/runs last week (both under 3 miles).
3. Self Timed Pics. I will do this more often on my long, slow runs when I notice places that may be photo worthy. I’ve always wanted more pictures of me actually running that do not cost $40 or have orange “PHOTO COPYRIGHT” all over it. If the self times is how I have to get them, so freaking be it!
5. Oiselle Roga Shorts. I finally tried these and i love them. The size is a little large so i’ll size down the next time I buy them, but they’re long 4″ inseam (so no thigh rub), and I noticed in the pouring rain they never weighed down or got soaked with water. I’ve been searching for shorts for a while since Under Armour no longer makes my favorite kind. These seem to be a big contender!
I wore these shorts during a warmer run a week ago…
Have you ever purchased a photo from a race?
Any good movie finds on Netflix? Give me suggestions!
Monday:3m easy 9:55/pace, 45min total body strength
Tuesday: 5m easy 8:56/pace
I’m still riding the “love the long run” train. Sunday was no different than the last several weeks as I set out to run 12 miles. I got up at 6:15am to fit in the long run before heading into DC. Seriously I am NOT a morning person, but if you dangle the brunch carrot in front of me, i’ll do anything at 6am. I like eggs and coffee more than I like a lot of people.
Anywho, the run was lovely! I was super relaxed, kept my watch covered up and enjoyed being one of the early morning runners out on the trail. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but sometimes those are the best runs.
The rest of this post is weird because I literally lived this same day over a year ago with Emmeline. It started at Zengo for brunch.
It was so sunny, warm and beautiful I turned into a tourist and walked for several hours around the district.
The day continued with walking around the Natural History Museum and then back home.
I got a good taste of spring and am more than ready for warmer weather. I miss running in shorts!!
Here are the splits! Official Time 1:37:05.
shesgoingthedistance.com 