Weekly Recap 10/23/16

LAST BIG WEEK DONE! Seriously, I’ve been on the grind since late May and I’m not feeling burnt out but I am feeling ready to see the payoff. Just two more weeks until Indy Monumental — which at times felt like it would never get here!

Theme of this week: sleep. I struggled every day to wake up and run — the late sunrise is kicking my butt right now. Also, lots of miles is also kicking my butt. Listening to my body and sleeping as much as I need … apparently this week that was 8:45 per day average!

Monday was 10 miles easy, on the heels of last week’s 70 mile week, 86 minutes. Not much to note, except it was warm and humid and dark. I started thinking about creepy clowns around mile 7 and then couldn’t stop and nearly scared myself to death thinking about what I would do if I saw one. (Kick him IN. THE. FACE.)

Tuesday I opted to do speedwork after work even though it was hot — heat index of 87 in late October, what? A friend met me for the warmup which broke things up. I was scheduled for 5×1 mile around 85-90% max HR. I’d say it went okay, considering it was hot and the wind was around 12 mph. Oh and I threw in some hills, too, because Coach wanted us to simulate road racing with varying terrain. Honestly, if I saw a race had all the hills I ran, I wouldn’t race it, haha. 6:34, 6:32, 6:41, 6:45, 6:41. The first two were net downhill, the third had the biggest hill, the fourth was net uphill and the last basically flat. I felt pretty neutral about it but Coach said it was “good work on a pop-up warm, humid day,” so I’ll go with that. 12 miles, 90 minutes.

Wednesday I hit the treadmill because I was running after work and didn’t have a lot of time. (Also it was still hot and I just couldn’t anymore.) 8 miles easy, 67 minutes. This was also an experiment because Coach noted my easy runs had been way slower than he expected. Trying to unravel if it’s a watch issue or if it’s me. I’m pretty sure it’s more that those runs are in the early morning in the dark, when I’ve literally been awake for 15 minutes before I start running. I think I’ve been sandbagging them a little, too — I know at least one of them my HR averaged 128, which is maybe 65% of max. Taught Pilates after that.

Thursday I slept in … again. That put me in a predicament. I had too much to do at the office to run before teaching Pilates Strength at 5:30 p.m. (that would’ve meant leaving work at about 3), so I was pretty much stuck with going after. I basically used class as a warmup then hopped on the treadmill so I wouldn’t be running the last few miles in the dark. (Counting down to the solstice already.) Plus I just wasn’t really feeling this late run so I did whatever I had to do. This was mostly easy miles but with a section of 8×1 minute on, 2 minutes off thrown in. The “hard” was supposed to be 85-90% max HR but that’s tough on the treadmill so I cranked it in the 6 min/mi range for most of them and dialed it down to 5:40 or so on the last one. 10 miles, 83 minutes … might be 10.25.

Friday recovery, 6 miles, 49 minutes. I was going to meet a friend after work and it didn’t pan out so I was solo while hubs was getting a massage. I told Coach I was going to pay better attention to keeping my heart rate between 135-145 on recovery runs and not letting it slump too low, so I was happy with this. It was also 57 degrees so fall, finally. Average HR was 143. #nailedit

Since the mister was still out when I got home, I spent the next 45 minutes on recovery. Foam rolling and some Jasyoga, then an Epsom salt bath.

Saturday. Bun up before sun-up. 22 miles, 2:55. A perfect 45 degrees for my last real long run, so tank, shorts, gloves it was. I started in the dark so I had on my Amphipod vest, headlamp and sunglasses. I dropped a water bottle with Hammer Endurolytes Fizz in it at my friend’s house first, then headed out. I scooped up one friend at 6.5, then we ran 3 miles to Rebekah and my water bottle. Dropped off the first friend a couple of miles later, then dropped Rebekah off when I was around mile 16. From there I picked up the pace and got that sh*t done. First long run with lots of gels — I took one before and one during my 22 miler in West Virginia, but the 5 other 20-pluses and everything shorter was just a gel before at most. This time I took one before then one at 9.5 and again at 16 (Hammer Gels in Apple Cinnamon, Raspberry and Vanilla, respectively). I felt so much better than last week, although the weather helped with that too. I was planning to be a good girl and do lots of recovery stuff after, but then it turned out the gym spa had a manicure opening and that won. (You should’ve seen me tin-man walk after I sat in the manicure chair for an hour.)

Me, to coach: “The cake is baked.”

Coach: “We have two weeks to get it frosted and the candles on it.”

Sunday, 8 miles, 66 minutes. Slept 10 hours and woke up at 9 a.m. No regrets. Didn’t run until 10:15 a.m. and decided to make the most of it. I knew if I got in 8 miles (schedule said 6-8) I’d tie my highest mileage for the season. And if I felt terrible, I could quit at 6. I basically never run outside with headphones but decided to listen to a nice quiet podcast … because I’ve been wanting to listen to it and I never have time. Multi-tasking part 1. I also decided to have my loop include a stop at the bank (multi-tasking part 2) and finish somewhere for a coffee or tea (depending on how warm it got; multi-tasking part 3). Worked great except when I mapped it out beforehand I missed something and I was a mile farther than expected when I got to the bank. No worries, though, it was getting warm and I got in a nice mile walk that included a McAlister’s Deli stop for an iced tea. Plus more time for the podcast, which I’m still not finished with!

In two weeks, it’s time to fly.

Totals: 76.2 miles, 2 Pilates classes taught, 1.2 miles walked.