HAHAH I started working on my log last week and never finished it. Sorry about that! It was Father’s Day, as you might recall, and I took my dad out for breakfast and we took my father-in-law out for dinner. We didn’t get home until 9:30 and I had to be up at 5 a.m. to head to Indianapolis for a workshop all week.
That means, dear friends, you get TWO WEEKS for the price of one today!
June 12-18
Intention for the week: “Focus on the process and enjoy it.”
Monday: 6 easy in the morning, felt really good. Kept it relaxed since Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday had all been pretty quality … and I had a Tuesday workout around the corner. 48 min / 141 AHR.
Tuesday: Death by coach. 10 total, 1k repeats with the first 800 at 10k effort and the last 200 all out. Averaged 3:57 in crappy weather — 75º with a dewpoint of 71. Half mile of the cool down with Morgan, our Aussie. 77 min / 152 AHR.
Wednesday: First .65 with Morgan then the rest of 5 miles easy. Stiff from Tuesday but I’ve had worse. Should’ve foam rolled more yesterday. 41 min / 141 AHR. Taught Pilates in the evening.
Thursday: Taught Pilates and then went straight to a race, the Viking Dash 5k. If you’re really bored, a friend ran with his GoPro and made a little video. You can see me a couple of times in black shorts and a black and neon New Balance crop top.
Coach and I had discussed a few options, including taking Tuesday’s workout down a notch and racing harder Thursday. At the time, it looked like Thursday night might be a heat index of 100º so I opted to hit Tuesday morning hard and let Thursday be kinda whatever it was. Last year this race was in fact almost that hot, and I went out too fast and struggled home. Apparently you can run 1 mile okay when it’s 95 … but not 3. Haha. But the weather turned out okay, 82º albeit humid, and I texted Coach in the afternoon. I said I was thinking about starting off easy and working my way down to practice smart racing strategies. He agreed a progression run would be a good way to go and suggested 6:30, 6:20, 6:10. My initial reaction was, “6:10 LOLZ.” I was thinking more like 6:40, 6:30, 6:15 maybe. But sure, coach, whatever you say!
2 mile warm up plus some strides. Already nice and warm and loose from Pilates, too. There was another fast girl there, so I figured she’d totally dust me — which was totally fine, I had hit a great workout Tuesday and this was really just the second workout of the week. Plus winning doesn’t really get you anything special — just the same plastic trophy as first.
Some kids go out hard from the start, including a girl who literally stops 400 meters in. I’m trying to rein myself in — with a small field that contains some speedsters (winners ended up being 15:57 and 18:30), it’s easy to get pulled along.
There’s another girl who I don’t know that passes me and pulls ahead around the 800 meter mark. I am not a fan of this. For the record, I had told coach our racing plan went out the window if there was actual racing to be done. I gradually pull back up and then give a little surge to pull ahead. First mile, 6:16. WHOOPS.
Okay, Chicory, time to not screw this up and positive split like last year!
I felt good, though, and in control. I catch a couple of guys before the halfway mark and ran with another guy I sort-of know for a bit after that. We got through the water stop at halfway, and I dumped the coldest cup of water ever over my head and shocked myself. WAKE UP!
2 mile split is 6:17, that’s pretty close to even so I’ll take it. Maintain and stay focused.
I stay with my new pacer until about 2.75 and then start to press. I did a good job closing despite not having anyone to really chase down. Last mile 6:09, last bit at 5:39 pace for .15 per Garmin. 19:32 finishing time. My watch had it a smidge long, but considering all the turns, that’s probably spot-on. Great little low-key race with no frills — for pete’s sake, it was “bib optional” and you just wrote down your finishing time on a card at the end. Love it.
1 mile cool down with a bunch of folks. Late race = late dinner = late bedtime = oh shit it’s time to run.
Friday: Pain Train. What did you think I was going to say? That the sun cast a rosy early morning glow on me and the birds sang sweetly and my legs felt light as the fresh summer air?
No. It was 70º and muggy and slow AF. 6 miles, 53 min / 133 AHR. Woof. Also I had three different events starting at 4 p.m. that involved consuming adult beverages, so I a) had to run in the morning and b) basically set myself up for a crappy run Saturday, too. #foreshadowing
Saturday: 12 miles of death, 98 min / 141 AHR. Hot and humid again. Things got bad around mile 5 and worse at 9.5. The only good part was that Morgan ran her first full mile at the beginning! (And was one of my fastest miles of the day.)
Sunday: 1.5 miles, 13 min / 131 AHR. HAHA I shouldn’t even record this as a run, but I am because it serves a purpose. Coach wrote “Easy 5 or off.” So I headed out and things were feeling pretty terrible, and I decided to exercise my option to rest.
Totals: 47 miles run (2.9 for Morgan!), 2 Pilates classes taught.
Glow: Two great speed days and good running for Morgan.
Growth: Missed ALL the extra salt I did last week!
June 19-25
This whole week was outta wack because I was in Indianapolis for work professional development. I was excited to be in Indy because my coach is there, plus his training group, plus so many of my friends! But I was sad to leave Morgan for four days and knew that would be tough for her … and for Mr. Chic.
Intention: Recover, rebuild.
Monday: Up hella early to walk and feed Morgan, then hit the road around 6 a.m. I ran during the workshop lunch break, 6 miles in 47 min / 151 AHR. A couple of friends up there, including coach, warned me it was going to be “a warm one” for a lunch run and I just laughed. It was 75º with no humidity … I’ve had worse at 6 a.m. lately! However, I didn’t plan eating very well because — like I said at the very beginning of this log — we were out late Sunday and I didn’t pack anything. I also didn’t have access to a fridge for the day, so that made things more complicated. Basically I had breakfast on the way and decided I would figure out lunch on the fly. And by that I mean I ate a bagel and a yogurt off the workshop breakfast tray at 11 a.m., regretted the yogurt for the entire run, and praised the Snack Gods when we were provided FREAKING QUESO during the afternoon lunch break. Like Qdoba style, served in a warming container with a ladle. ALL THE CHIPS. If you’re wondering, I dry shampooed my hair during the lunch break, wiped myself down with some face wipes, reapply a little bit of makeup, and threw my nicer clothes back on in the car. Sorry table mates!
Tuesday: Went to a 6:30 a.m. Pilates class, then class all day. Coach’s PBT group meets for speed work on Tuesday nights, and I was excited to join for once. BUUUUUT then I was late and they started before I got there and I was really sad. I had a good workout by myself, though, and nothing new about that. First run of the week on the Monon Trail, a great rail-to-trail system in Indy and points north. 10 miles with 6 miles alternating 10k and MP efforts, 72 min / 160 AHR. I also bike commuted on my friend/hostess’ bike and got in about 7 miles, all at an easy pace.
Wednesday: We were going to go to an outdoor morning yoga class but it was raining. Ran around downtown instead, 6 miles, 51 min / 137 AHR. Pretty typical Wednesday morning especially after a Tuesday evening workout. To be fair, my pace was aided by all the stops required by traffic downtown. I was also going to go to yoga that evening since I didn’t go in the morning, but had beers with a cool friend instead. 4.7 miles bike commuting.
Thursday: 8.5 miles in the early morning, 65 min / 159 AHR. I was staying with friends and PBT teammates Trena and Bob, and Bob is pretty close to me in pace. I talked him into doing this workout with me somehow, I think largely aided by a couple of adult beverages the night before. For the record, Bob warms up way faster than me. He took me through a really cool neighborhood of all classic craftsman houses, which was super neat. Then we hit the Monon Trail (in a different section) for the workout — 3, 2, 1 minutes hard with 2 minutes jog. I love this workout because “hard” varies depending on the day. Oh yeah and repeat three times. My goal is to always have the paces get faster as the intervals get shorter, but have each set be about the same. For example, my 3 minute segments were all .47 miles long. So “hard” but also knowing what hard effort you can actually sustain for the day. I headed back to Louisville after the class ended that day.
Friday: Back to my normal loop! First .68 with Morgan. 6.5 total (to even out yesterday), 54 min / 138 AHR. Warm and muggy.
Saturday: Little cooler but still humid. First mile with Morgan, 14 total, 1:53 / 138 AHR. My heart rate was staying low early in the run but I just couldn’t get my legs to go any faster. Averaged 8:13 for the first 10 miles. But then I started feeling a little better — also the end was in sight — and I picked it up and went 7:50, 7:40, 7:30, 7:30 for the next 4 and then back to 8:13 for a cool down mile. My heart rate was still in the easy range for that last 7:30 mile … more just tired legs than anything, I guess. Coach and I are taking a closer look at my weight going into long runs, plus I could probably use a visit to one of those doctor-type people to just check everything out. Jasyoga Quick LR Reset after.
Sunday: Easy 5 miles, super not hot — 63º! First .65 with Morgan. 41 min / 130 AHR <— so so low. Stopped at Walgreens on the way, tested the limits of ye olde Bullet shorts.
Totals: 56 miles run (2.33 for Morgan), 12 miles of bike commuting, 1 hour of Pilates and Jasyoga.
Glow: Running in different places and with different company is fun!
Growth: Weird nutrition all week, probably too many drinks with friends while in Indy. But it was kinda like a vacation, right?
TGRUNFIT 