Training for Life, Motherf*cker (4/24-5/7)

April 24-April 30

Monday – treadmill tempo/yoga. 1 WU/3@7:23/1CD. Bryan had to leave for work earlier than usual so I drug the twins upstairs with the promise of some IPAD time to get my tempo run in. Miles walked on the treadmill after, and then we all hung out while I stretched 🙂

Tuesday – swim/ride. 2525m swim/9.6 mile ride. Starting to finally get used to getting up at 4:30am….kinda. My last kiddo of the day canceled so I hopped on my bike for 30 min after work and tried not to get hit by any cars. I’m kidding. I wasn’t close to getting hit. 

 

Wednesday speedwork. 3x 1 mile repeats with WU and CD – 6 miles total. My computer still wants to autocorrect this to spadework. One day I might just leave the correction. It was a very warm evening and we got kicked off the track because of a soccer game, so I ran on the trail. I made the mistake of trying to run at 50-60 degree pace in 80+ degrees and completely bombed the last repeat (7:01, 6:57 7:31), which just goes to show you that if someone sends you  an email with suggested pace changes due to temperature, you should probably actually follow it. 

Thursday swim – 2500 meters. Still really early in the morning. Still torturous. 

Friday long run. 9 miles@ 8:49/mile. It was already 75 degrees when I started. Ugh I am so not ready for summer. 

Saturday long ride/run. 25.36 miles @ 19.9mph/3 miles (2@ 8:20, 1@9:06). My legs could still feel the effects from the previous days long run. Even though the pace wasn’t fast the heat makes the long runs feel that much more tiring. So, it took me a bit to warm up and get them going, but I stayed with a smaller group even pulling a couple times without hearing too many sighs (not that I could have heard them anyway). Afterwards, I ran an “easy” 2 miles with John which turned out to be more like tempo pace for me given the temps, and then one actual easy mile, so I could round out April with an even 100 miles. 

Sunday rest day

May 1 – May 7

So I’ve decided that to avoid burnout (and injury) over the summer I’m going to train 3 weeks with a focus on speed at 7-8 hours per week followed by one cut back week doing whatever the hell I want. So welcome to week “whatever the hell I want”

Monday easy stroller run 5 miles @ 9:25/mile. Apparently so many runs I’ve had to stop and pee with the kids that Miles frequently asks me if I need to go. Today he didn’t, but I did need to stop….and then miraculously Abby did and so did he. Go figure. 

Tuesday – swim/trainer ride. 2625 meters/30 minutes trainer. I actually got to swim on time this morning, but still didn’t come close to finishing the work out in its entirety. In fact, I picked the WRONG lane, and was lapped frequently. #guppy.  On the plus side, this was the first post swim work day that didn’t feel 80 thousand hours long. The bike was nothing to write home about, just trying to get some time in because I knew I wouldn’t be riding much more (ahem – at all) this week. Afterwards, the twins and I went for a walk, where Abby insisted her skirt wasn’t too big.

It’s not too big-uh!

Wednesday speed. 6 x 400m with WU/CD. 5.25 miles total. I drug my poor unsuspecting neighbor out with me and now she won’t talk to me anymore. Kidding. But she may never run with me again. My splits were faster than they should have been because my quads were sore for 3 days, but I hit one split at a sub 6 (5:57)!

Thursday row. 4100 ish meters/25 minutes. Yeah, you read that right. I used a rowing machine. So I drove from Charleston to Virginia with a friend and flew home Thursday morning. They happened to have a rowing machine in their spare room so I jumped on at 4:30 am (which, insanely, doesn’t seem all that bad anymore) to get a quick easy workout in. 

Friday – rest day

Saturday 10k race plus short cool down. Definitely not my best thanks to some asthma and side cramp issues but it was still a fun race and I had a blast (recap to come).

Sunday easy stroller run. 3 miles @ 9:25/mile. This run included bribery because my kids are now old enough that they want to run and walk themselves more than they want to be pushed. I’m wondering if my stroller days are numbered. 

Training For Life, Motherf*cker (4/17-4/23)

Last post I wrote about how I wasn’t really training for anything, and Amy said she heard somewhere that if you’re not training for a specific race you’re “training for life”. That sounds better than “training for nothing” so we are going with that.

Monday – tempo run/ride. 1 easy/6 @ 7:35/1 easy.  8 total. The speedier runs in combination with the biking and swimming are a little easier but overall my legs still feel tired much of the time. I hit the paces but not without a few rest breaks, even with a temp below 60. 30 minute trainer ride/6 miles I needed to get my bike to the shop for a cleaning and to see if I needed new tires so I hopped on the trainer after the run so I’d at least get the 2 rides in. I’m not even going to share how slow I was going

Tuesday swim. 2500 meters. The swimming will get easier, right? RIGHT?

Wednesday speed. 6.25 miles with 5×1000 between 6:25-6:33. This run went surprisingly well. It was warm, but not TOO warm (around 75).

Thursday swim. 2800 meters. At some point I’m going to get used to getting up at 4:30 am right? RIGHT? I mean I’m not even trying to be an Ironman right now. I must be nuts.

Friday long tempo. 8 miles @ 8:09.  The goal was 7:50 so that tells you how this run went. I did the first mile easy and then tried to pick up the pace, which went ok for 3 miles and then I was done. I tried one easy mile and the picked up the pace again, but my pace was 10 seconds off of goal so I ran the last two at my future goal marathon pace (8:15) and called it a day.

Saturday rest day

Sunday ride/run brick 25 miles @ 18.9 MPH. There was a larger group at this ride and I took it easy for most of it, but pulled for a couple segments at between 20-21mph to get a little speed in. 1.13 miles @ 8:35/mi. 

 

I’m Training for Nothing (4/10-4/16)

I’m not really training for anything, and it feels kinda weird. I still have a 10k in early May in mind, but it’s really going to depend on how warm it is. I guess I am “training” for the Charleston Sprint series?

I started swimming with the YMCA Masters group last week (I skipped the recap) but only swam once because of weather, so this week was the first week of getting up at 430 am both Tuesday and Thursday. Ya’ll, I am a morning person, but 430 is EARLY. 430 is still night time.

So what I’m planning through the summer is to keep up my tempo/speed/long runs probably 3 weeks out of the month and then do one easy week. I’m going to swim twice a week and ride twice a week. My focus will be mostly on running and swimming so my bike is going to take a backseat this season. But really, other than Kiawah my races are only 12 miles. This week was tough because I’m trying to add a good amount of swimming (2500m or more) twice a week in addition to riding AND my speedier run workouts.

Monday – tempo. 6 miles. 1.25 easy/3 @ 7:23/1.75 easy. This went fairly well, though I warmed up a bit longer than a mile so it threw my pace off for the faster part. I took one rest break and ran a 7:21, 7:17, 7:18.

Tuesday swim/strength 2500m swim/15 min leg workout. There was a big focus on kicking for the swim workout but I figured since I was wearing fins I didn’t need to worry too much. Then I got home and decided a 15 min leg workout was necessary, which I paid for dearly later.

Wednesday  speed (ish). 6 miles with 4 x1200 and 400 recovery. I woke up and my quads were a little sore, which is never a good sign. I felt ok during my warm up, but once I started my 1200’s I knew I was going to be throwing my pace goals out the window. I was shooting to run them in a 6:42. I ran the first in 6:44 (not bad) and the second in 6:41, but thats only because I literally stopped and rested halfway through. The third was a 6:58 and the fourth a 7:10 – slower than my last 5k average page. My legs were just totally trashed.

Thursday swim. 2500 meters. 4:30 comes really really early. My legs were still tired. I felt them all day.

Friday long. 9 miles progressive. 8:00 average. I woke up Friday and my legs were still tired, but at least no longer sore. My goal for the day was supposed to be 8 @ 7:50 but after Wednesday I decided to start easy and see how it went. The last thing I want to do is end up injured. So I started at a 8:35, ran the second and 8:20, and decided to try an easier progression. 8:35, 8:20, 8:12, 8:00, 8:01, 8:00, 7:49, 7:35, 7:23.

Saturday ride/run 25 mile ride @ 17.6 MPH/1.7 miles @ 8:56/mile I joined Tammie on her long ride, which was my first of the season. I’ve hardly been on the bike at all this year, honestly, and it was nice to get a good easy long ride in.

I took zero pictures this week, so if you’re still reading I’m impressed.

I Have A Need for Speed (3/6-3/19)

I got behind again so its time for another combo post, but I haven’t done much exciting or much “formal” training since the Myrtle Beach Half.

March 6-12

Monday – cross. 45 minutes yoga. Only minimally sore (yay!) but still tired from the race.

45 min of yoga and this is what happens in my family room

Tuesday easy run. 4.75 stroller miles @9:41 average. One advantage of not following a training plan is more runs with the twins, who now spend a good deal of the run asking for their turn.

Wednesday easy-ish run. 6 miles @8:24 average. Some of the track group met to run some hills but I decided against it and ran the trail. It was a warm day, but I was pleasantly surprised that my pace didn’t feel awful, which gives me (some) hope about this summer.

Thursday cross. 30 minutes elliptical/25 minutes strength

Friday rest

Saturday long run 9 miles mostly easy with 2 5k miles for an 8:06 average. I had considered running the Shamrock Shuffle but decided I probably wouldn’t be sufficiently recovered, and I was right. The two 5k miles felt much more difficult than I’d anticipated.

Sunday cross. 55 minutes yoga. Still attempting to stretch out all my tight muscles.

 

March 13-19

Monday easy. 6 miles @8:19/mi The first part of this run was difficult thanks to my asthma acting up but a 2nd puff of my inhaler did the trick and then it was smooth sailing 🙂

Tuesday cross. 50 minutes yoga My hip started feeling achy sometime Monday night (yay), so I hoped some extra stretching would help.

Wednesday speed/easy. 5.5 miles total. Ran the Catch the Leprechaun 5k, and of course a warm up and cool down. 3.15 miles @ 7:06 pace, and the rest easy.

Thursday cross 30 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes strength. 

Friday rest

Saturday long progression. 10 miles @ 8:05. I was unsure on how to go about this run, and wise man told me to run a progression if I felt like my body could handle it. I went out with a possible plan to start at 8:50, knocking 10 seconds off per mile for 10 miles, which would end at a 7:20. The first couple miles felt great so I went for it, hitting my paces in 8:47, 8:41, 8:29, 8:21, 8:09, 8:00, 7:50, 7:41, 7:31, 7:20. I actually really enjoyed that the first few miles were pretty easy but that it packed a challenge at the end and I’ll definitely be doing more runs like this in the future.

Sunday ride. 12.5 mile ride/16.5 mph. I thought maybe I should get back on my bike since it had been almost a month. Unfortunately I picked a VERY windy day.

Running “season”, for me, is rapidly reaching an end, and I really need to get in the pool and on the bike more. I have one more 5k race and 10k race (well, I’m using race loosely here as its the bridge run and I have no PR expectations) on the calendar and then its time to start trying to not drown and not get run over.

Catch the Leprechaun Race Recap

Catch the  Leprechaun is a popular race held each year around, you guessed it, St. Patricks Day. Since the race is on a weeknight and a 40 minute drive, though, I’ve never raced it before. Luckily, this years’ race happened to fall on speed work night it was easier to justify the evening away.

The weather was calling for about 47 degrees, but a check in the morning revealed that it was also going to be windy. Like,  14 mph gusts windy. So, just in case, I packed 3 sets of clothes. (Hey, can’t say I wasn’t prepared). I left work wearing long sleeves and running tights. I arrived about 5:20 to pick up my number, confident I had chosen the right outfit. Walking to get my bib I was freezing. But when I left my car again to use the restroom, the wind had died down a bit and I got warmer. I discussed my options with 4 different people, because I guess I thought maybe they’d know my typical exercise body temperature enough to tell me if I should change (they didn’t). Upon my return to the car I made a last minute decision to change into my capris and the only t-shirt I had, the race shirt.

Melissa and I ran a quick warm up, threw our jackets into the car and headed for the start where we found John and hung out around the front with him. With 5 minutes to spare we posed for a picture. 

But the sun was directly in our faces so we turned around and tried again.

Not much better. I just needed to grow about a foot to block the sun. Or maybe I should have had John stand in the middle. Hindsight.

Catching the Leprechaun is a little mis named, because in reality the person dressed as the Leprechaun waits until most of the group starts running and works his way up to the front. So really you’re trying to avoid HIM catching YOU.

I overshot my abilities at the last 5k, running 2 quick miles and then hitting a 3rd that was more than 15 seconds longer than the first two. So this time I aimed to see if I could run a steady 7:05.

Mile 1 (7:04)

The horn went off and the group began running. As always, I shot out too fast, saw my pace was at a 6:45 and started to slow down. That’s me, in the blue, looking pained. Note how the girl in front of me looks amazing. I hate her a little for that, but I caught up to and passed her before the end of the race so TAKE THAT RANDOM NICE LOOKING RACE PICTURE GIRL!

But I digress. The first quarter mile included a small hill, but overall I felt ok pace wise.

Mile 2 (7:05)

I stayed pretty consistent through most of this mile, and not much to report here. But I felt better than I did in Mile 2 of Charlie Post and hoped this was a good sign for the rest of the race.

Mile 3 (7:12)

Just kidding. I’m not sure what happens when I hit mile 3, but my body is like “sorry honey, this isn’t happening”. I actually started out the mile in the 7:20’s and slowly (and PAINFULLY) increased it to a 7:18, then a 7:18 – back down to a 7:18, and finally up to a 7:12. It was the LONGEST MILE EVER. It was also (dammit) windy.

Last .15 (6:52)

Lord knows where it came from but I was able to kick it a bit faster to the end. I’m sure the downhill helped.

I crossed the finish line in 22:25 – 13 seconds slower than my last 5k. My average pace was exactly the same, but since the course ran longer of course it added time. Sucks because I actually tried to run the tangents this time. Still, I wasn’t disappointed given the wind and wasn’t sure how I’d perform 10 days after the half anyway.

Melissa and I took a pic with the Leprechaun (who did not catch up to me!), where I took a particularly awesome picture with my eyes closed.

On the plus side I won 2nd in my age group and a couple of my speed work friends won something too, so we stood around freezing to death waiting for awards.

 

Results

Race Time: 22:25 (7:06 average)

Overall: 65/734

Gender: 10/447

Age: 2/61

I Have a Need for Speed (12/26- 1/1)

I took a break from blogging after the Ironman, even though the only thing I had time the energy to post for the 6.5 months prior to it was weekly recaps. Now that I have more time and energy, I plan to starting writing about other things again, but find I kind of like reading back on training to find out what works and what doesn’t.

2017 is going to be all about shorter distances. I have a goal to PR my half marathon, which isn’t short per se, but requires much less training than I’d been doing. Otherwise I’m looking at 5k’s, and then one Tri season rolls around – Sprints and an Olympic.

This year I want my races short, sweet, and hopefully fast. And I want to focus more on strength.

In an effort to regain some speed and hopefully bypass my current fastest Half Marathon time, I’m following the Run Less Run Faster Half Marathon plan. I ran the Sweet Tea this year literally 10 minutes slower than last year, so I’ve had some work to do. Up until recently (and still, to be honest), Id been focusing on trying to increase speed little by little until I can run the training runs relatively comfortably.

So here we go:

Monday: tempo run. 1 WU/2 @7:38, 1 easy, 2 @7:38, 1CD.  7 miles total. This workout is getting a little easier in that it is requiring fewer stops (ha), and I even managed to average a 7:43 going up two (small) hills during the last fast mile, so I figure this is a win.

Tuesday: trainer ride. 5 min WU followed by 2 min hard and 3 min spin for 45 minutes total. I dunno that I’ll ever ENJOY the trainer. The gear that is my easy gear on the road is my hard gear on the trainer, so my average speed is like 13 mph. Afterwards I did some quick arm weights. Because I need to work on my gun show.

Wednesday: speed work. 1.5 WU/ 12×400/ 1.5 CD 6 miles total. Dude. I KILLED this speed workout. But if I’m gonna kill one its going to be a shorter distance workout. My goal pace for each 400 was 6:25. I had one 6:25 and the rest averaging between 6:07-6:15. I even had one 6:02! By the end, I wanted to vomit. I didn’t, but I wanted to. I’m sure my track buddies appreciated that.

What is with the look on my face? Dread? Maybe its dread. 

Thursday: ride. 20 miles. South Carolina’s weather has been drunk or high lately, and it keeps jumping from 75 degrees to 30 and back again in a matter of 48 hours. Still, it was nice to ride outside for the first time in a long time, and finish off my year with a solid 2575 bike miles, a number I likely won’t see again for a LONG time.

Friday: rest day. Want to hear our exciting New Years Eve? We went to bed at 10:00. Zzzzzzzzz

Saturday: long run. 8 miles @ 8:10 was the goal. I’m not sure what the average ended up being, but it was slower. Remember how I rode outside two days ago? Well this morning it was 31 degrees. My asthmatic lungs didn’t tolerate it well. I ran my first mile as a sorta warm up at 8:30 and got up to 8:16 by the second, but by the third I was at 8:25 and had to stop for my inhaler and spit about a gazillion times (gross) in an effort to get rid my the mucous build up. I did this while running so I kept losing my breath. By mile 5 I decided I was going to finish on the treadmill. I ran mile 5 in 8:11, and then at least finished strong inside with a 8:09, 8:07, 8:04

Sunday: yoga. 50 minutes. It has been nice to incorporate this again, although I have a long way to go on my flexibility.

Sing it with me: two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a….oh, and an attempt at bridge

I Want To Be an Ironman

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a bike trainer hating life.

To clarify – I was hating that 20 minutes of life as I was pedaling away trying to get my heart rate as high as possible. Tammie, my marathon training buddy and I tortured ourselves in the garage of a fellow triathlete  (also Tami) attempting to figure out our heart rate training zones. Now that triathlon season is starting, there has been lots of talk amongst the members of our Tri group about heart rate zone training. Many of the group are tackling the full Ironman in October, and while I wasn’t sure I was going to use it myself for the Half, I figured it would still be interesting to know.

Briefly, the plan involves doing just about all training in heart rate zone 2, or your aerobic zone (Zone 1 being the easiest and Zone 5 being close to max). This zone is supposed to be the zone where you can “hang out” the longest, an important factor when you consider many  Ironman participants take 12+ hours to finish. 

So I’m pedaling and Tammie/Tami are using what encouragement they can to help me keep the pace up, and Tami asks me if I ever thought I’d be doing something like this a couple of years ago. My ability to talk silenced by my heavy breathing, I shook my head. Although I was well versed in the meanings of the numbers 13.1 and 26.2, I barely knew what 70.3 or 140.6 even meant (70.3 is the Half Iron distance, 140.6 is the full) a couple of years ago. The concept of triathlon was still new – I thought an Ironman was downright crazy. Even as I registered for the Half a few months ago, I shook my head at the group going after the full, though this time more in awe than insanity.

I said the same thing about a marathon once.

Discussion about training plans has been circling for several weeks already. Most Ironman plans are at least 30 weeks long. 7 months. SEVEN. MONTHS. Many plans peak at somewhere between 15-18 hours of training for the week. A part time jobs’ worth of hours.  The Half distance, though certainly not a walk in the park, was something I figured would be easier for me to manage. After training for something for almost a year, I was going to take it easy before starting to follow a plan in early July.

After our test was over we sat on Tami’s porch with a beer. Tami has completed 5, yes FIVE, full Ironman’s and Tammie was interested in picking her brain on training. While she asked questions, I flipped through the book containing the plans for the full race, and before I knew it I was mentally calculating how I could complete the training hours  in the least involved plan.

My mistake was saying it out loud.

They look like innocent enough friends…

I thought on this quite a bit the next few days. Mentally planning workouts. Looking at reviews on this particular plan  (the hours compared to most are on the low end  but I’m just looking to finish and still be able to be home). Asking questions. Discussing the idea with Bryan. Working around his work, my work and the daycare schedule. That few minutes (and some not so subtle hints from the other two) started changing my entire frame of mind and suddenly what I thought was completely nuts a couple weeks before something I was not only contemplating but actively planning.

A month or so ago I set a countdown on my Garmin watch to my Half Ironman race.

Today, I made a *slight* change

It cuts off a little – you get the point

 

 

 

My Year in Running – 2015

 

1. My main goal for this 2015 was: finish a post twins marathon

2. My Running Shoes: Asics GT- 2000

3. Favorite running gear item of 2015: Garmin 920xt – technically triathlon but it tracks running too so it counts.

4. Playlist screenshot: My phone is currently not working, so here are my top 10 most played songs (usually while running)

• Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
• The Hills – The Weeknd
• Worth it – Fifth Harmony
• Stressed Out – Twenty One Pilots
• Stand By You – Rachel Platten
• The Heart Wants What it Wants – Selena Gomez
• Desire – Meg Myers
• Politik – Coldplay
• Most Muse songs
• Black and Yellow (yes, it has a good beat) – Wiz Khalifa

5. Number of races- Break it down:
5k – 4 (Turtle 5k, Sanagree Sombrero 5k, Moms Run 5k, James Island Connector Run)
10k – 0
Half – 1 (Sweet Tea Half Marathon)
Marathon – 1 (Myrtle Beach Marathon)
Other: 2 sprint triathlons (James Island 1 and James Island 2) and 1 olympic distance triathlon (Kiawah)

6. Most difficult race & why: The Sanagree Sombrero 5k – it was humid that day and my sinuses were angry which made for an interesting race

7. Favorite fun run: Insane Inflatables!!!!!

8. Favorite course: eh, no favorites.

9. Race I want to run again: Mom’s Run

10. Best bling/shirt from a race: I won 3rd in my age group at sweet tea and got a nice glass 🙂

11. PR/PB: Half Marathon – 1:44:48/ Marathon 4:02:48

12. Longest run: 20 miles

13. Out of state runs: none

14. Total miles ran: 971.3 – I would have easily gotten 1000 if I hadn’t aggravated my PSOAS and had to skip some runs. Grrrrr.

15. Favorite motivational/inspirational quote of 2015: Nothing worth doing is easy.

16. Lessons I’ve learned: Don’t take finishing for granted!

17. Injuries I battled and overcame: still battling the aggravated PSOAS but getting better

18. 3-5 Most inspiring people: List their blog, twitter or instagram-wherever you follow them:

• Tami – girl finished her 5th FULL ironman this year
• Amy – she works hard, trains hard, and even when she doesn’t do as well as she’d hoped (which usually means she still did pretty well) she has a great attitude about it and just picks up and tries again. You can read her blog here
• Nicolasa – she is training for the Boston Marathon with Team in Training. You can read her blog here

19. Favorite place on social media to connect with runners: Facebook

20. 2 goals for next year: 1. Finish a Half Ironman 2. PR 2 race distances

I Run For

A year or so ago, I signed up to be put on the waiting list on the Facebook group I Run 4 Michael. Created by Timothy Boyle, the group pairs runners with someone who is unable to run. The runner keeps in contact with his/her buddy and dedicates races and daily workouts. I was finally matched in April and what a cool and interesting experience it has been. I have dedicated a few running races and this years’ three triathlons to him, and we’ve developed a really cool relationship that I hope will continue as long as possible. We were matched around the time I registered for the Disney Marathon and I was excited to have a series of training runs and a race this length to run for him.

In the meantime, a few local runners have gotten together in hopes to open up a Girls With Sole chapter here in Charleston. This program started not too far from my hometown in Ohio, and its goal is to offer girls who have experienced or who are at risk of abuse the opportunity to participate in athletics. According to a PSA Keep Her In the Game, girls drop out of sports at 2x the rate of boys. A few facts from the GWS website:

• Regular exercise improves overall quality of life.

• Girls and women who play sports have a more positive body image than girls and women who do not participate.

• Women who are active in sports and recreational activities as girls feel greater confidence in their physical and social selves than those who were sedentary as kids.

• Research suggests that girls who participate in sports are more likely to experience academic success and graduate from high school than those who do not play sports

I am fortunate in that I have never suffered abuse nor was I at a particularly high risk for it, however, I can definitively speak about exercises’ benefits towards mental health. Running helped me through a tough relationship, a divorce, depression, anxiety, and the trials of new motherhood. It has taught me confidence and shown me that I am more capable than I thought, and there is simply no reason why every girl out there can’t reap the same benefits.

So this race I am sharing my dedication. I will not only be running for my I run 4 buddy, I will be running for Girls With Sole, and hope that by doing so I can help get the program started here in Charleston. If you are interested in donating, you can do so here. Where it says “dedicate your donation”, if you’d like to choose a runner (ME!), you can type her name in the box. 100$ covers the cost for the entire 12 week program for one girl. You can donate any flat amount or pledge an amount per mile.

These girls need the confidence, friendship and achievement that comes with running, and we can help make that happen.