605 Series 4 Mile Race Goals

Last weekend, I was looking ahead to week 3 of our training plan and fired off a frantic text to Toni, "holy crap we're racing next weekend already!" We had signed up for the 605 Race Series a few months ago, and they've been on the calendar since then, but somehow it's already the end of July and I'm just not sure how that happened!

The race series is a 4 mile, 8 mile, and 12 mile every other Sunday leading up to the Sioux Falls half. I was hesitant about signing up, because I know that "racing" 4/8/12 leading up to the half won't benefit my training, my Toni insisted we sign up, and not race them. And duh. She's totally right. The race series supports my favorite running store, their wheelchair race adventures, it's super cheap, there's awesome prizes, and even though they say it's low/no frills, I won at least 1 nice pair of running socks last year, and to me that's MUCHOS FRILLS!

The plan for Sunday's four miles includes 8 miles with 4 at tempo-ish. This is the one race of the series I'm actually planning to all-out race. I think we'll do a 2-3 mile warm up, 4 miles race and then 1-2 mile cool down.

Based on my best 3 mile of this summer, McMillan puts me at an 8:30 pace for the 4 miles. That'll be my A goal for Sunday.

My last 5k was at a 8:39 pace, so I'd be pretty happy if I could do 4 miles at that, especially if the weather is more favorable than it was on the fourth.

Otherwise, my last, and only, 4 mile race was during this series last year, and I completed it in 9:06 pace. Our tempo paces have been around 9:05-9:15 in the 100% humidity over the past few weeks, so  4 miles at tempo would still be a great workout for the day.

Either way, I'm looking forward to running and racing with a bunch of my friends and supporting our local running store.

Race Report: Jingle Bell Run 5k

I had initially planned to race a 3 or 6 miler on Thanksgiving morning, but when it was forecasted for well below zero, and Friday was showing a heat wave, I decided to sleep in and race Friday instead. Great decision. Unfortunately that means I spent $45 on a 5k. I often race half marathons cheaper than that, uff da.

My first race as a 605 Running Club Member!

I had to head downtown really early as race day registration ended an hour and a half before the race actually started. Luckily people were gathering at 605 Running Co. pre-race, so I did some shopping downtown and then headed over there to wait. We snapped a picture in front of the store before we made our way to the 6:30pm start, and after talking to Greg, I decided I'd try to stick with him, because his goal race pace was similar to mine.



The race was an out and back to start along the street that would feature the Parade of Lights as soon as we were done running, so it was packed with "spectators." They weren't there for us, but it definitely felt like it while we were running. The first stretch was a gradual uphill, and I was pretty pleased that my pace was right around 8:40. I was hoping I could run around an 8:30ish for the 5k. I stuck with Greg until our first turn around, and when I thought I could speed up on the gradual downhill, my legs already felt tired. (sidenote: this 5k was the longest run I've done in awhile. Uh...ooops!)

While I felt like I was slowing down, my pace ended up being almost exactly the same. I probably went out too aggressively in the opening uphill mile and paid for it, but that's ok. Run and learn.

Mile 1 8:40

We got a nice boost of cheers each time we passed in front of the running store, and hopefully they snapped some pics of us flying. Once we started heading toward the falls, we lost all spectators but also got to run through the falls all lit up for the holidays.

Mile 2 8:38

Right around 2.3 miles my body was ready to be done. This also coincided nicely with the twisty turny windy bike path that was the most intense uphill of the race. Blah. In the past, this race has been considerably short, (2.8-2.9 miles) so I started doing a countdown to being done. I do this a lot in races because counting takes my mind off the pain, and I like to get to the finish line before I hit zero. Unfortunately they adjusted the race course, so it was actually on this year, so I got down to zero and still had .2 to run. GAH!

Mile 3 9:15

Hah, told you I faded in the third mile. I saw Greg in front of me as I was nearing the 5k so I was able to kick it in a bit for a strong finish.

.1 :48 (8:20 pace, 7:28 max pace)

I finished 3.1 in 27:15 for a pace of 8:49.




The good news is that I didn't have any knee or IT band issues after the race, so I think all of my yoga is helping to stretch and strengthen my issues, and it's no surprise that my endurance has suffered a bit with running taking the backseat to yoga. It was a blast and reminded me how much I love racing, and lining up for races with friends.

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Weeks 3 and 4

Monday morning started the way I prefer, with gentle vinyasa yoga. This is my favorite class each week, because the instructor is amazing and I learn so much. She goes through many common vinyasa poses and preaches form corrections and common errors throughout. I always learning something new, and I love that.

Tuesday I had the day off due to Veteran's Day so I treated myself to an ass kicking Power Vinyasa class. I won the sweatiest yogi award, per usual.

I had a really rough week stress wise, so despite my best efforts, I did nothing Wednesday through Saturday. My sleep schedule was all messed up, and I've been having some serious stomach issues, probably due to stress. Blech.

I jumped on the treadmill for a run on Sunday and made it one mile before I called it quits.

I went to a restorative yoga class later in the evening, and that worked to hit my reset button a little bit.

Monday morning I went to my beloved gentle vinyasa class and learned a lot about twists. It was amazing.

Tuesday I opted to forgo Power Vinyasa to work on my NaNoWriMo novel. I got caught up on my word count, but I missed going to class. 

Wednesday night Kyle magically got a night off from work, so a date night was far more important than working out, obvs. 

Thursday and Friday were super cold and no classes fit my schedule so I was lazy.

But Saturday, yay Saturday! After much convincing I got Kyle to come with me to a power vinyasa yoga class and he did awesome. I told him he couldn't look at any other fab yogi booties, and I'm sure he listened. :P

Later in the day I headed downtown for the 605 Running Co. group Beer run. It was a blast and go figure, I ended up winning a gift card for the store after I had purchased two new shirts before the group run. I guess I'll have to wait for some new Oiselle stuff to come in to splurge. :)

So despite this saying weeks 3 and 4 of half marathon training, clearly I'm still focusing more on strengthening and stretching muscles that have caused me to have injury issues. I am feeling stronger and able to maintain good form for longer, but I feel like my endurance is starting to suffer. Hopefully it won't take too long to get back on track!

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 1

Well, as anticipated, yoga sculpt destroyed my will to live. And also my legs. And butt. I spent Monday and Tuesday limping around. And popping ibuprofen. 

I had planned to take an additional rest day on Wednesday but it was such a nice day I had to meet up for the group run. I had enough time to do a quick foam rolling session and that helped a bit. The group was planning to run 3 miles so I just stuck with the slowest in the group and went with a tempo-ish pace. On the way back, the last duo in the group decided to cut some mileage off the 3 miles, so then I really had to pick up the pace because I wasn't sure how to get back and wanted to catch someone to follow. Eeps! Surprisingly, my legs felt even better after the run than they did before. And I got to pick up my run club race tank. Whoop! #teamgreen

Thursday I toyed around with doing my long run for the way since I had the day off for the weekend, and also going to the group trail run. My running friend said that the group trail run is usually at an 8:40 pace, so I decided that would be a recipe for brokenness based on the previous day's speedy-ish run. After foam rolling my legs, the long run was also out. Then I saw that Elf was on tv, so I did a 3 mile recovery run on the treadmill in my apartment. And 5 minutes in both of the overhead lights blew out, and the overhead fans powered down. Luckily the treadmill, box fan, and tv (with Elf) weren't effected. Random.

Friday after work, Kyle and I enjoyed a much needed date night, which trumped any sort of workout. Oops. Saturday I worked all day and it was the NaNoWriMo kick off, so I was itching to get home and write write write as soon as I was off work! The 40+mph winds did nothing to dissuade me from this task.Sunday I had planned to do my long run (10 miles) when I realized that my time would be better spent strengthening. Smart runner Jerbear is awarded 1 gold star. After thinking about it, I realized that the month of November would be better spent taking strengthening yoga classes and keeping my runs in the 3-4 mile range with long runs topping out at 5-7. I know my form starts to fail as my legs get tired, so I'm hoping that the long runs are short enough I can actually focus on my form, and that with some concentrated strengthening, I'll be tacking on miles to the long run distance once December rolls around.So I hit up yoga sculpt. And got my booty handed to me. It was waaaaay hot. At least twice as many people as last week, and the temperature reflected that. Woof.  

605 Running Co. Club Member

A new running store, 605 Running Co.,  opened up in Sioux Falls this year downtown, and they have been doing a great job of hosting group runs for area runners to meet up with each other. And they carry Oiselle. So win-win, right?

Before the Sioux Falls half they announced an upcoming running team. YAY! I want to be on a team so badly. And then they announced the time requirements. Lololololz. Nope.

While flipping through instagram on the way home from the Bemidji Marathon, I saw a post announcing their Running Club! I hobbled downtown on still trashed legs Monday afternoon to sign up. I'm so excited to meet other runners in the community. Some of my favorite people are those that  I've met through running, and I'm excited to make new running buddies! I'm sure it'll only help my running as well!

When I signed up I was given a spike bag, and got to pick out a shirt to wear for races. They had adorable long sleeve and short sleeve options, and I was set on a grey one with GREEN logo when I realized, uh.. I never race in anything but a tank top. I asked if they had tank options, and they said they certainly could. So sweaty sisters thinking of signing up, you're welcome!