Week 14
-32 miles and I am so excited to be running less this week! Longest run 8 miles, speed work 4-6 x half mile repeats at fast to hard pace, running 6 days.
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5/2/2023
Up at 5:00, read my bible and got ready for work. My oldest was sick and stayed home today but my youngest and I were out the door at 7:25. It’s a busy time of year with the end of the school year. Kids are excited/antsy and the paperwork is overwhelming. My day went by in a frantic blur of activity. The weather had a nice change of pace this week bringing sunshine and 60, oh and wind, 25 plus mph wind! Exhausted and dreading the wind I still changed and headed out the door. My daughter told me I should run inside because it was too windy.
I kept it slow and easy. It’s funny how running into the wind is difficult but that same wind pushing doesn't seem to give an equal amount of help. My plan had half mile repeats for today but I opted to save that for a less windy day.
Fell asleep on the couch at 9:00, training is exhausting.
5/3/2023
I was undecided if I was going to do an easy 4 or go half mile repeats (warmup, run half mile at a hard pace, recover for less time than I ran, repeat 4-6 times and cooldown). I worked this morning mostly sitting at my computer but did try to drink water. Ahh what the heck, get the hard workout out of the way.
Well, this may have been a poor choice!
My winter trained body was not ready for the demands of a feels like temp of 75. I started out with an easy one mile and then decided to go for it with my first half mile repeat. SIDE ACHE! I haven’t had one of those in quite awhile and focused on my breathing, in slowly and out slowly. I somehow made it through and at this point realized that I would not be attempting 6 repeats. My recovery was so slow and the wind picked up again, so I was running into the wind on my recovery in order to maximize my speed during the repeats. Repeat number 2 started before I was fully recovered and was my slowest. The mental game was tough. I thought about calling it quits and trying this workout on another day but I AM NOT A QUITTER! I found a rhythm with repeat number 3 and had a better recovery. Repeat 4 I pushed it as hard as I could, I was willing my legs to turn over and when my watch buzzed the final half mile I almost dropped to the ground.
Have you ever run or worked out so hard that you partially lost your hearing? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. My muffled hearing and I still had 4 miles left of a cooldown since I had cut my repeats short. It was a slow slow turtle like pace to finish out my 8 miles today.
“I hope you fly through every workout and feel amazing. The reality, however, is that you won’t feel great in every workout but that's okay. The tough runs are often where you get the biggest benefits.”
-Greg McMillian M.S. Run Faster Marathons (Run Faster Races Series)
I had just read this quote the other day and it ran through my head as I was struggling. This is worth it. It IS making a difference and I WILL see benefits. After I made it home and recovered, yes my hearing came back, I looked up my pace from my half mile repeats from last year. Shockingly my fastest repeat from today actually beat my fastest repeat from last year! My run was hard, I survived and I’ll keep plugging away.
5/5/2023
I knew it was windy but good grief, at one point I was running on my tiptoes leaning into the wind to get forward momentum. So much for an easy 3 miles.
5/6/2023
Another early morning. My crew is heading down to my sister’s today to watch a track meet and help my nieces get ready for prom, so 6:00 a.m. run.
My schedule for this week has an 8 mile run or a 10k race. I’ve been using a marathon training plan from The Competitive Runner’s Handbook. I decided to shoot for a 10k but do a longer slow warmup and cooldown to hit 8 miles.
I started out doing a very slow one mile warmup, of course it was windy again but temps were perfect for running at 40 degrees. I had a time goal in mind but didn’t want to check my watch or focus too much on time, just effort.
Mile 1 my pace was on track and I threw my long sleeve at my driveway.
Mile 2 it was starting to get real as I weaved through the streets in town attempting to avoid the wind.
Around mile 3 my water bottle was annoying me as it started to slip between my gloves and tossed in the ditch to pick up later.
Mile 4 I found a section of road where the wind was actually pushing me! I lost a glove on the road because my hands had gotten hot and I tucked them into the waistband of my pants but apparently not securely. I thought about stopping for it but I was still on pace to hit my goal and I wasn’t sure if I could manage bending over and then picking up the pace again.
Miles 5 and 6 were a blur. A farmer drove slowly beside me and asked how far I was going and if I was cold. I don't know how but I managed to carry on a conversation and let him know that I had warmed up and was aiming for 8 miles. He told me to have a good run and I pressed on.
The last .2 I set my eyes on cracks in the road and each crack was another milestone until my watch buzzed that I was finished! Only 3 seconds off my goal and a huge pr (personal record).
Since I took advantage of the wind at my back I now had to get home and weave back around to pick up my glove, water bottle and shirt. It was a slow run/crawl like pace back to my house and ended up being 9 miles rather than 8, oops.
Two more weeks until the true test, Fargo Marathon.