A Three Part Run

First, some randomness for Thursday....

Most importantly, CUBS WIN! We won our wild card game against the Pirates and are off to face the Cardinals in the playoffs!

Fall is upon us!  And it's really freaking pretty.

Jenga was the game of choice today for my occupational therapy kiddos.

 Augie likes to watch while I use the treadmill.

 I'm onto the next race following the Fox Valley Half Marathon.  I will be running the Naperville Half Marathon on November 8!

Speaking of the Fox Valley Half Marathon, I have yet to remove my timing chip from my shoe.

 And now to yesterday's three part run.

We've had good running weather around here lately.  I was able to leave work a little early and I got ready to run as soon as I got home.  I flew through 8 miles.  Isn't it funny how one day running can be miserable and the next it's effortless? 

8.25 miles

1:07:39

8:12/mile

Part one of my run was easy breezy.

I got home, picked up Peyton, and I was off again for part 2.  If I thought I was flying before, Peyton changed that perception.  

3 miles

20:53

6:57/mile

Seriously? 3 sub-7 minute miles AFTER running 8 miles?

That little 20 pound dog is insanely fast.  If anyone is looking to do some speedwork  Peyton would love to join in.

Part three was my cool down (finally) thanks to Augie who, instead of running with Peyton's focus, chews on her leash instead.

And they are done for the night.

Tell me something from your Thursday!

Do you run with your dog?

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Track Tuesday: Mile Repeats

Track Tuesday shows it's face again!

I prepared myself for this one on Monday.  I skipped all running and walking workouts and only went to spin to keep my legs somewhat fresh.  I have less than 2 weeks until school starts again and I've been working on getting my sleep schedule back.  I was actually up by 6:30 and out the door around 7:30 following multiple cups of coffee.

I have been researching track workouts for my half marathon goal pace and found this awesome article: Workout of the Week: Mile Repeats. The article touches on mile repeat workouts for 5K, 10K, half and marathon efforts which I LOVE since I often am trying to do my track workouts faster than half marathon pace.

 I choose to do 5-8 mile repeats at 10K pace.

Following a 3 mile warm-up and a stop at the grossest port-a-potty I've ever seen, I started my first repeat with the goal of 7:00 miles.

The first mile flew past with a perfect split of 7:00.  I walked a 200 m rest and then started my second repeat.  My Garmin was acting crazy beeping every 3 seconds with a "lap error" message on the screen.  I have no idea what that was about and I also couldn't see my pace, so I ran the second repeat by feel.  I ran a 6:34.

Apparently my body can go faster than my mind thinks it can.

With 2 miles down and hopefully 3-4 more, I wanted to up my pace but keep it conservative enough to finish my workout.  I changed my goal pace to around 6:50 and hoped for the best.  Mile 3 split: 6:49.  My legs were starting to feel the workout at this point.  Mile 4: 6:53, Mile 5: 6:50.  I could feel that I had one or two more repeats in me.  Mile 6 I really started to feel the fatigue in my quads with a split of 6:45.  I felt that I could maybe pull off one more and decided that was a good place to stop.  I didn't want to go for complete fatigue.  I still had to make it home.

A 3 mile cool down to make it back to my front door and 4x 8-10 strides to keep my legs awake.  I spent lots of time stretching and foam rolling before making my usual post-run smoothie.

There were fortunately no soccer boys this Track Tuesday, only maintenance men working on the field.  Which I didn't mind until until one of them did this:

On my last mile repeat. Of course. 


What is your workout today?

Are you a football fan?  Running around a football field is making me miss lazy Sundays watching any and all games.

Racing Reflections

As I sign up for my next race, I've been had the change to reflect on the Chicagoland Spring Marathon: what went well, what I might alter, and what totally bombed.

Let's start with the good.

My training was spot on as far as number of runs and hitting my mileage for the week.  I missed a handle of workouts due to fatigue or not feeling well.  The majority of the time I at least attempted the run and often was able to complete my workout.  I definitely put in the work and my legs were marathon ready.

My nutrition was also very good while training.  I stuck with my staples of a green smoothie in the morning and a large salad for lunch.  Dinner always fluctuated, but my cooking usually revolves around a lean protein (fish, chicken, steak occasionally), a carb, and lots of veggies.  More vegetables than you think it possible for a human being to eat.  Once a week we ate salad dinner as well.

What I would do differently with my food involves the weekend and sweets.  Weekends we eat out once or twice usually with a glass of beer or two.  I also eat less frequently on the weekends, though bigger meals.  My smoothies are exchanged for something heavy on the carbs.  There tends to be overall less fruit, whole foods.  I also LOVE to bake.  I keep premade, pre-scooped cookie dough in freezer bags so it can be baked as wanted.  We all know processed sugar doesn't help our athletic goals and my goal for my next race is to decrease it to two or three times a week.

Here is what went wrong.  Really, really wrong.

I went out with too fast of a pace.  And I knew it.  The whole time.  I was too excited about running 8:00 miles and hitting all my splits.  When I do a training run, the first 1-2 miles are the warm-up and I usually start off with an 8:45-8:30 pace.  After mile 2 my legs start churning and I find that 8:00 mile easily.  The pacer I was following for the first few miles was hitting 7:45, 7:30 miles, nothing was near the pace I needed to hit and it was too fast too early for me.

While I hit my mileage during my training, I ran too many of these miles too fast.  With a race pace goal of 8:00 miles, I was hitting an 8:30 at my slowest for an easy run.  I was not letting my body recover enough in between race pace efforts and speed work.  Coming from a soccer and lacrosse background, when we ran during practice I would run as fast as I could to get it over with.  I'm still running with that mentality during my marathon training and it is the wrong way to go.  My goal for my next training cycle is more easy runs at 8:45-9:00 pace and race pace efforts no more than once a week.

Totally wrong.  But seriously hilarious.  Please DNF before you die.

Other changes I would make?

Besides the nutrition and better pacing, I would like to run more miles on the surfaces the race covers.  I ran a lot of crushed limestone trails when the marathon was completely on asphalt and my legs felt it.

I am going to strength train more consistently.  I usually lift weights 2-3 times a week, but when the mileage increased, strength training was exchanged for couch time.  I notice improve posture, running efficiency and endurance when I am incorporating more lifting into my routine and it is something that is too beneficial to ignore.

I also am going to make time for more yoga.  Yoga makes my back happy and keeps my hips loose while I can't achieve with only stretching after a run.


What have you learned from a bad run or race?

How many easy runs do you run a week?

Thursday Ramblings

1. Looking at this list is giving me major race envy. 

2. I am working on getting all the grocery shopping done for mother’s day on Sunday.  Chris and I are hosting both our mom’s at our house and I want it to be really nice for both of them!

3.  The schools I am in are counting down the final days by using the alphabet.  Today is “I.” Summer break is SO close!

4. On that note, I am so happy I changed jobs when I did.  I almost have a position lined up for next school year as well! Whoop whoop!                

5. I went to bed at 9 pm yesterday.  I was really tired.

6. I really like drinks.

Especially drinks in purple containers.

7.  I already have pretty rad runner’s tan lines.  I tried switching my Garmin to my other wrist during my walk yesterday to help even out my watch tan line.

8. We are joining the pool this year.  Memorial Day cannot come soon enough! A date with a comfy pool chair, the sun, and a book is calling my name.

9. Peyton woke me up by laying her head on my neck and licking my chest.  Aren't dogs just the best?  Though it's probably pay back for making her do things like this:

It was hilarious at the time.

10. I am loving Dead Wake by Erik Larson.  His books are fantastic.  He has a wonderful way to writing non-fiction that is easily read, informative, yet not excessive.

So I said Tuesday was my last speed work day. I was wrong.  Today I officially wrapped it up with my final set of hill sprints!

4 miles easy

34:22

8:35/mile

10 x 10 seconds hill sprints 

done on treadmill 12% incline, 9.3 mph

It was not difficult to take the run easy today as the high was in the upper 80s today. 

I'm getting a little worried about the state of running shoes.  They have a number of miles of them already and they are starting to feel like they are ready to retire.  With less than a week and a half to go, I'm not sure if it's smart to changes shoes at this time.  I'm thinking I will start breaking my new shoes in and just see how they feel next week.

Do you dress up your dog?

How many miles do you get out of your running shoes?

What good book have you read recently?

Tell me something about your Thursday!