Brookings Half Training Week 2

Week of February 27-March 5


Monday Planned: General Aerobic + Speed 5 miles 6x12 sec uphill, 8x100 m strides
Monday Actual: Rest.

Tuesday Planned: Sanford Power + Endurance 8 Miles
Tuesday Actual:  60 Minutes of Sanford Power and another day of no running. This cold almost killed me.

Wednesday Planned: General Aerobic 3 Miles
Wednesday Actual: I sandwiched Monday's run and Wednesday's run. 5 miles General Aerobic + Speed with 6x12 sec uphill & 8x100 m strides with Toni before the group run, and then a 3 mile general aerobic run with the group. 60 minutes of yoga after.
I also got a lovely hour long massage in the afternoon. Ahhhhh.




























Thursday Planned: Lactate Threshold 7 Miles 18 min LT, 4 min jog, 12 min LT
Thursday Actual: 4 mile recovery run after work.

Friday Planned: Rest/Cycling
Friday Actual: Lactate Threshold 6 Miles 18 min LT, 4 min jog, 12 min LT. Toni and I headed up for six miles with some lactate threshold thrown in. I shorted the run from 7 to 6 since I didn't hit my full mileage last week due to my cold. Trying to adhere to that 10% increase rule. But the crazy thing is that I was EXCITED for this run. It was hard, but doable. First sub 10 pace run in forever, 9:39! And the lactate miles were 8:55-9:10. Wahoo!

Epsom salt bath ftw.

And the best pizza I've ever made at home. Red onions+brussel sprouts+balsamic glaze+goat cheese.

Saturday Planned: Endurance 11 Miles
Saturday Actual: 3 mile recovery run. I had my bestie Emily meet me at the library after work and we did a walk run. I think this is the furthest she's ever gone. And we did it together. Wahoo!

Sunday Planned: Rest
Sunday Actual: Long run 10 miles. I took one mile off of the long run distance, again to make sure I didn't jump too much in my mileage since I was sick. It was a beautiful day for a run and it felt so strong and so good! Jordanne is training for her first half (!!!) and Mallory is just getting back to long runs after taking the last couple of months off, so we did take a few walk breaks. But the miles were ticking away in 10:20 pace for the majority of the run. And it felt gooooood.

Total Mileage Planned: 34 miles

Total Mileage Actual: 31 miles. Which is my highest weekly mileage since July 20th, 2014. That's insane. I'm loving how good I feel right now.

Week 7 of Spring Training

Week 7 started off with a bang. I hit the treadmill to do a HR test (more on that later) and was on a monster running high from there. I spent all day Wednesday looking forward to my run. And then I got home, got on the foam roller before my run and realized I should take a rest day. I had a super ouchy spot up high near my hip flexor and one down low by my knee. Running when these spots are tight, for me, almost ensures an injury.

I didn't end up running again until Sunday. Uff. I could've run on Saturday but I had a serious case of the lazies and madsies at the weather. It was supposed to be high 30s and then magically that changed to 30 and 30-40 mph winds.  Eew.

Sunday I hit the treadmill for an easy 3 mile shakeout run.

Monday I was one of the lucky ducks to have the day off from work, so I gave the sun a chance to do its thing and melt the new snow and ice that was dumped on us last night, and then headed out for a long run in the early afternoon. I had planned for 13-14, but after seeing how messy the bike trail was, and how slowly I was running to compensate for the poor conditions, I told myself I'd be happy with 12.

Once I got about 4 miles from home, the conditions on the trail got better, so I decided to keep running, dreading when I'd have to turn around. I decided a half marathon would be a great way to spend the day. I hit my turn around point and for the first time in the history of my running career, the wind that was at my back for the first half HAD ACTUALLY DIED DOWN for the second half. Usually it doubles while I'm running with it at my back. Also a couple of the super slick and icy spots had melted so that was nice too. I ran out of water with 4 miles to go, drank some snow, but was still super thirsty when I finished up. I need a new Nathan's quickdraw because my straw got super moldy and nasty, blech. I only have my tiny little 12 oz. handheld for the moment. That's not going to cut it in a month or two when it's actually hot out.

22.1 miles for the week (Tuesday-Monday). Who else is ready for spring??

Week 6 of Spring Training

Monday I didn't have to go in to work until 6pm because I was scheduled to work both Saturday and Sunday (#weekendbrarian, whoop!). It was sunny and almost 20 degrees so you'd better believe I was heading outside for my recovery run. Due to some new information from one of my friends, I learned that the terrible turkey has been relocated because he was chasing so many people. YIPPEE! Unfortunately that bit of news was accompanied with a snapchat video that showed three turkeys crossing the parking lot. Hmm.... I decided to take my chances.

Oh how I missed my little recovery run route, turkey free! I even got in some miles on the gravel. That counts as trail running right??  jk.

Wednesday I hit the treadmill for mile repeats. Eek. Mile repeats have always been my least favorite and most stressed about workout. ALWAYS. I was actually pretty excited about them, however, because running has been going pretty well, my body has been holding up (everyone knock on wood along with me, please!), and I wanted to see how they would go.

I did a mile warm up, than 3x1 mile repeats with an 800 jogging recovery in between them, followed by a one mile cool down. There was a guy on the treadmill next to me, and when he was done I thanked him for keeping me company. It almost felt like I had a running buddy! The intervals were hard, and I was definitely counting down the last two minutes of each one but I was able to run strong and keep proper form throughout which is a major win for me. Interesting fun fact: I almost ALWAYS count down from 120 with speedwork and in races. Two minutes seems like a really long time, but 120 seconds seems like NBD. Also, I count along with the cadence of my feet and breathing, so it's actually slower than a second and I'm done long before I hit zero. This is weird, I realize. I'm ok with that.

Pouring sweat? Check.

Bright red mug? Check.

Full on swass? You bet (and you're welcome for no photo #proof)

After logging my run, I went back through my log to see when the last time I ran that fast was. I had to go all the way back to January 2013 to see mile repeats at similar paces. 13 months! Getting back there.

Friday was my scheduled long run. Due to working Saturday and Sunday and Friday being the "warm" day of the week (high of 12), that was the plan. Unfortunately that means that my long run buddy Jenn, was working.

I sent this text to Kyle at 10am when it was -5 and -16 which chill. Come on winter, get yo act together!

Somehow I laid on the couch all day and finally threw the towel in on my LR when I realized I was starving and needed some food. Of course, as soon as I stepped outside to go grab some food, I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as the forecast was projecting. #fail

Saturday night after work it was a balmy +10 because of the snow fall we got. Thanks snow for bringing the temps in to the bearable range! On my drive home I noticed that a few sidewalks were cleared on a hill repeat spot I've been wanting to try (once the threat of turkey chases disappeared). Of course by the time I got out there, I realized that it was 95% covered in a thick sheet of ice. Luckily it's a fairly low traffic area with two lanes, so I was able to hop on the road to complete my repeats. I did a 1 mile warm up, followed by 6x800m hill repeats, and a quarter of a mile rest/recovery in between. I walked for about a minute and jogged the rest of the recovery. Then I ran home. This is the strongest I've felt on a speed work session! My hill repeat averaged to 4:10, or 8:20 pace.

Since I didn't do my LR, I tried to push two runs fairly back to back to at least try to simulate the time on my feet. Sunday morning I hopped on the treadmill for a 4 mile recovery run. I wanted to go another mile longer, but I had to get ready for work. Womp.

Week 3 of Spring Training

This week was low on "sticking to the training program" but high on "running inspiration" so it wasn't a total wash. I was sick early in the week, and when I was finally feeling good enough to go for a run, life smacked us in the face and running was the last thing on my mind. I was able to get out for a gorgeous 10 miles on Sunday and frolicked around town with a giant smile on my face. Week 4 is a scheduled cutback week, so I'm flipflopping week 3 and week 4, so I can redo my week 3 quality workouts. I did manage to get in a few core work sessions, so it wasn't a total wash!

On the running inspiration front, I have tentative race bestie weekend plans for next year to possibly run the Houston half or full (likely the full) after it was gorgeous and magical etc. etc. and our bestie lives there, so yeah, duh. Where do we sign up?? The guaranteed entry for qualified times for half and 10k requirements are slower than my PRs which has given me extra motivation for spring races to get back to my old speed. I'll be running 3 halfs and 1 10k before the cutoff, so consider a fire as having been lit under my hiney!

Additionally, I have been doing some planning regarding the fall marathon plans/ideas/shenanigans. Sorry, Danielle, it doesn't look like Chicago or Philly is in the cards.... this year. The more I look at the Bemidji Marathon the more I think it'll be the perfect race selection for me. It's about 5 hours north of here, so it should be nice and crisp mid-October. It's pretty darn flat, but not pancake flat like Fargo (which is actually hard because your muscles don't get any variation for 26.2 miles) but more like the flatness I'm used to running with mini tiny rollers to keep it interesting. My 18 week training program would start the day after my last planned race of this upcoming season, and my only race on the schedule--Sioux Falls half (my 10th consecutive SF half!!)--falls on a day where I'm scheduled to run 18 miles with 14 at GMP. Even if it's a hot day for the half, I should be able to knock out 14 miles at GMP. WHOOP! Most importantly, I've got Kyle on board to come along, because opening pheasant hunting season isn't until the following week (great planning there!) and my parents are planning to come and spectate barring any major issues in the next year. My parents have never got to see me run a marathon, so I'm pretty psyched. The race goes around the lake, so Kyle and my dad can get their fishing game on while they wait for me at the various spots. :)

I basically spent the afternoon on Sunday working on my training program to start in June. It's been awhile since I've had this sort of excitement for running. I sure hope it sticks around.

And my fastest mile of my long run on Sunday was the last one. Running the last 5 miles in o 35mph winds was less than fun, but it was still a way stronger run than last week's 10 miler! AND it was also in capris. WHOOP.