June in Review + Goals

Total Miles:  52.6 miles down from 104.9 miles last month. 65.1 miles last June.

Total Time:  9:11:57 down from 18:58:53 last month.

Total Runs: 18 runs (includes warm ups and cool downs for 5k races) for an average of 2.92 miles per run.

Highest weekly mileage: June 12-18 23.3 miles 4:10:43 10:47 pace/mile 28.7 

Favorite run: Warm up before our 5k with Toni, we hadn't seen each other for what felt like forever, so we had about 20 minutes to catch up on all the things before the race.

Most hardcore run: One and only "long run" of June. Six miles after POWER in a trillion degrees and all the humidity. Barf. I thought my heart was going to explode.

Favorite Race: Sioux Falls Parks and Rec 5k night #2. Ran my fastest pace in six years, in 85 degree temps! Can't wait to see what I can do on a decent day!

Bike Miles: 20 miles! Plus other cycling classes without mileage tracked.

Favorite Jam: None at the moment. 

July Goals

This month I have two goals I'm going to try to work on:

• Daily meditation: I've totally fallen off of my meditation practice and I desperately want to get it back.
• Water: I've been drinking so much coffee and enjoying all the beers on beautiful summer nights, and I have not been drinking nearly enough water. I re-downloaded an app to help me stay accountable. Fingers crossed!

Firecracker 5k Race Goals

On Tuesday I'll be racing in a local Firecracker race. I had originally planned/wanted to do the 10k as there are very few 10ks around here. But after I missed the last 5k in the Parks and Rec series due to an angry back, I decided I wanted to line up for the 5k instead. Also the humidity was going to be out of control again (as per usual) and it seems way easier to wrap my brain around running hard for 3 miles vs 6.

The last two 5ks I ran were short courses, at 3 miles, paces at 8:57 and 8:22. The 5k I ran earlier in June was 8:40 pace. I'd really like to be under 8:15 pace for this 5k, as close to 8 as possible. I've done zero speedwork so who knows if this is feasible, but I know it'll be significantly cooler at this race than it was for the one I ran 8:22 pace for. However, the humidity will be intense, soooo we'll see.

Excited to see what my legs can do!

Big Fall Goals

I have some big goals, some of them I've shared on here before, some of them I've kept, and will keep, to myself. I've very driven by goals, and have always been someone who has no problem setting goals and then working my butt off to achieve them. I was texting one of my running buddies, Courtney, the other day while ice bathing, and we were talking about fall race plans. She asked if I ended up deciding on a fall marathon and I said no, but that I was shooting for a half PR.

Uff da.

Saying it outloud makes it seem real and scary and really scary. My half marathon PR is from April 2011. It was in the middle of marathon training, while training for my third marathon. At that point in my running, I had two years of really strong, insanely consistent running under my belt. The time period of 2010-2011 is arguably the best distance shape I've ever been in.

So to look at this goal, it seems a little crazy on paper. My last half marathon was a 2:05. To take off 15 minutes from that time in six months, might seem impossible.

It has been so long since I've even thought a PR could be possible, that I'm letting the craziness take root and not be freaked out by it.

I've been running fairly consistently now for the past year and a half INJURY FREE. This is huge. I've added in functional strength training that has 100% changed my body's power, speed, and ability to hold up over longer distances. I've learned SO MUCH about running, and training, and injury prevention in the past 7 years, and using that knowledge has kept me healthy as well.

Additionally, training through the obnoxious heat in the summer here and then traveling to the east in mid-November for my goal race will only help me reach my goals.

Overall, I'm really excited to have big goals again, because that means I'm putting in the work to make them seem feasible. Regardless of if I PR in November, I'm just so darn excited to be running healthy and strong and loving running enough to be putting all the time and effort into the sport again.

Maintenance Training Week 5

Week of June 19-25

Monday: My BRF was FINALLY back in town. So we met up for some warm up miles before the weekly Parks and Rec 5k race. We got in two miles, the 3.01 of the race (it's a short course) followed by the slowest one mile cool down in all of the land. It felt like a brick mile.

There was a large group of SFWR at the race. YAY!

Tuesday: I got to the group run early to get in a leisurely 3 mile shake out run. It was finally cooler temps and my body was loving it! I did two miles of walk/run with the group before a 30 minute yin yoga class. Yay stretching.

Wednesday: I did a sweltering 3 miles with Toni at the group run. I texted her earlier in the week that maybe we could do a speedier/tempo-like run on Wednesday. And then some storms rolled through and it was 93 degrees with a million percent humdity. So a slow slog it was. Followed by some yoga.

Thursday: I went back and forth about a trail run or a rest day, finally opting at the last minute for a rest day. I had run 4 days in a row, so I thought I'd be smart and treat my body to an epsom bath instead of a run.

Friday: 60 minutes of POWER. I had planned to do 3 miles afterward but I jacked up my back pretty severely during POWER. And it got worse and worse throughout the day. By far the worst back pain I've ever had. I took an epsom bath immediately after POWER, took ibuprofen, used my myofascial release balls on my low back to release some of the tension, and I was still dyyyyying. Luckily my friend was able to get me in for an emergency massage right after work, which helped. An any icy hot back patch immediately after I got home. Ahhhh.

Saturday: I was still in pretty rough shape Saturday morning but had to teach yoga, so I modified class a bit so that my body could demo most of it as necessary. The yoga helped loosen up my back, but I was still a ways from normal.

Sunday: My back was still pretty tight, so I took another day off from running. Womp. I took a 60 minute slow flow yoga class followed by a 75 minute restorative yoga class.

Total Mileage: 14 miles.

Weekly Reads: Ramona Blue

Ramona Blue is the newest book by Julie Murphy. I absolutely LOVED
Dumplin' so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. Once I picked it up, I had a hard time putting it down. It was a great story of relationships, love, hardship, and growing up. I would highly recommend it!

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever.

Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever.

The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona’s friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he’s talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.

Race Report: Parks and Rec 5k Week 3

For week 3 of the Parks and Rec 5k, the humidity had finally dropped. I think it was in the 30-40%. Wahoo! My legs felt really good during the warm up with Toni, unlike the previous week when I felt every mile of the 20 mile bike ride Kyle and I had gone up the previous day. I had texted Kyle earlier in the day that my goal was to be under 8:40, hopefully close to 8:30 pace.

There were a lot more runners this week, which I was really excited about. The race got going, and I started going, somewhere in the comfortably hard range. When the first mile came through in 8:13, I simultaneously thought SHIT, too fast and let's see how long I can hang on to this.

Mile 1 8:13

The second mile I definitely knew that quick of a pace wasn't sustainable, but I wanted to keep working hard. A gal passed me at this point, and I tried to attach a string to her mentally to pull me along, but she was getting stronger as I was getting more tired. At the halfway point, I did some quick race math and calculated that my finishing time could be just over 25 minutes if I didn't let up anymore. 12:36 at the halfway point (the course is short, so I basically assume I'm racing a 3 mile instead of a 5k).

Around the turn around I realized that Toni wasn't super far in front of me, so I set my sights on her back to chase. Somewhere during this time, I guy I usually run with, and we take turns beating each other at races, passed me, so I tried to use that to propel me faster as well.

Mile 2 8:28

I gave myself half a second to be annoyed at how far off pace I had fallen during the second mile, and instead focused on less than a mile remaining in the race. I had my watch set to tell me the average race pace, so I was focused on dropping that pace down as best as I could leading up to the finish. We had some shady spots in the final mile, so I told myself to run hard in the shade. The final quarter of a mile I tried to pick it up as hard as I could coming up on Toni. As soon as I got close to her, she turned on her turbo jets leaving me in her dust, but that also helped me find another gear to push along with her.

Mile 3 8:23 

.01 :02 seconds, 6:46 max pace

I ran 3.01 miles in 25:08 for a pace of 8:22!

164 Avg HR, 170 Max HR

I was so freakin' excited. And in looking at my first half split vs second half split, I actually ran stronger the second half of the race, despite the fast first mile 12:36/12:32. This is the fastest pace I've ran for 3 miles/3.1 miles since AUGUST 2011! Which is craziness. Of course I had to hop on McMillan running calculator to see what that translated to for other races, knowing full well that I'm a speedier runner than I am an endurance runner, so those calculations never really work for me, but whatever! If I can run those paces in 85 degrees, I'm pretty darn curious what I can do on a nice cool day! Can't wait to get the chance to figure it out.

Podcasts Take 2

I spend a lot of time in my car driving back and forth from work, and I typically drive "into town" for my long runs on the weekend as well, and to do yoga, or cycle. So yeah, I spend a lot of time in my car. But that's cool, because I love my car (subie squad!). I listen to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts, so here is installment #2 of podcasts that I'm currently loving. (installment 1 can be found here, a running specific installment here).

Surely everyone has listened to S-Town by now, but if you haven't, it totally lives up to the hype. I didn't listen to it compulsively from start to finish, but pretty close. The first episode was just meh for me, but after that I was way into it.

Serial Serial is a pretty silly concept for a podcast in that it's a podcast about a podcast (how very meta, eh?). But I first started listening when it was recapping the original Serial podcast, and it has touched on season 2 and a bit on S-Town as well.

The Ali on the Run Show is one of my newest adds to my listening channel. I used to read Ali's blog back in the day, and then I fell out of love with running and unfollowed all the running blogs (nothing like watching people love running, when you don't, right?). But I found her podcast and she seems like such a cool girl, that clearly us and our dogs need to be friends. I'm entertained, and I typically learn something new. What more could you want from a podcast?

Endurance Planet is a newer running podcast I've added to my rotation. Some of the posts are a little too technical for my liking (which is impressive because I love the technical!) but they're one of the only podcasts I've found that really dive in to the science behind running, and I obviously eat that up.

Relationship Alive is your weekly relationship counseling session that you don't have to pay for or coordinate a schedule with your partner to attend. For real. It's awesome. Last fall I listened to an episode every week during a long walk and it always gave such excellent advice and suggestions. If you think about it, no one ever teaches us *how* to be in a successful healthy relationship. We have our parents as an example, but if our parents relationship isn't identical to our partners parents' relationship (which the odds of that are like, one in a million, right?) then we're already starting off on a difficult foot. The host brings on experts of various areas of relationships, and it's just great.

What else do I need to add to the rotation?!