10k Scratch

I had originally planned to race a 10k tomorrow. Which would be my third race in three weekends. For someone who's injury prone, they sure didn't think that planning through, did they? I've been planning to try to run the automatic qualifying time to gain a guaranteed entry to the Houston Marathon, and knew I wasn't going to hit a 1:52 in either of my halfs, and thought maybe, juuuuuust maybe, I could run the 51 minute 10k requirement.

Once the race got closer I realized that I'd have a shot of running the time on fresh, recovered legs, but not on legs that are one week post-half marathon. Since the Brookings half was my goal race for the spring, I decided to scrap the 10k. My stupid luck, I'd try to run the 10k time, fail AND hurt myself. Nope nope nope.

So I'll be entering the lottery like lots of other schmucks and hoping for the best.

But fear not.

There is a 10k that I'm setting my sights on for mid-June as my last spring (uff that's technically summer, huh? Or no..... wait! Only after the 22nd?? Seasons are HARD) hard effort race. Which means more dates at the track working on mah speedz. Whoop! So maybe I'll get that sub 52 this spring anyway. ;)

AND THEN MARATHON TRAINING STARTS. ERMAHGAHHHHD.

Goal Race Week Training Recap

Monday I woke up and hit the treadmill to do my shakeout run from the weekend's half. The crazy wind from the weekend was still upon us and I knew I'd have to walk/run to keep my run a recovery run, so I hit the treadmill instead. My body felt like crap. My left knee started hurting, so I cut it short at 1 mile.

I went home and did core work and glute exercises.

Tuesday the winds were still present, and I had no desire to deal with them or the treadmill Rest day it is.

Wednesday I had an Alexander No-Good-Very-Bad-Day and almost bailed on my track workout with Jenn, but I made myself go, knowing the endorphins would help out my mood. Again, it was cold and ridiculously windy, but man is it easier to only have to run into the wind for 100m at a time!

^Showing off our twinsie iPods, she just got a new one. #teamgreen

I had 2 mile repeats on the schedule. For someone who used to absolutely DREAD mile repeats, I sure do enjoy them (maybe because of my previous mile repeat paces, eeps! those'll be back soon, I'm sure). I was supposed to run them in 8:25 pace, but knew that last week's were closer to 8:20, so I shot for that.

Thanks endorphins.

Thursday Ollie took me on a mini quarter of a mile shake out run. I worked late because I lead a bookclub at work once a month, and I spent the entire morning reading the book so I was prepared for the bookclub! Which means I didn't get my run in. Ollie wanted to RUN on her nighttime potty break, so run we did. It was fun.

Friday I meant to run, I really did. But. I didn't.

Saturday was my PGSPR spring half. Whoop!

Sunday was full on recovery. 12 hours of sleep. Reading, Veronica Mars marathon, two hour nap with the pug. Went to bed at 9:30pm. And a trough full of water. I meant to foam roll but that would've required me to get off the couch. :P

Weekly Reads: Catching Air

Catching Air is the newest book by Sarah Pekkanen. I received an advanced copy of this book to read and was excited to dive in. It was published yesterday, so start tracking it down! I've been reading a lot of "heavy" books and needed something light with a happy ending, I figured Pekkanen would do that justice. The story is set in Vermont in the winter in a B&B. When I say that I usually enjoy Pekkanen's books, what I really mean is I spend 250-350 pages lusting after the setting, and this one was no different. Can I buy a B&B also? Please? This was a good, fast read.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

From the internationally bestselling author of four books, including The Opposite of Me, a vibrant, compulsively readable novel about two married couples who pursue a dream to open a bed-and-breakfast in small-town Vermont.

A chance to run a B&B in snowy, remote Vermont—it’s an offer Kira Danner can’t resist after six soul-crushing years of working as a lawyer in Florida. As Kira and her husband, Peter, step into a brand new life, she quells her fears about living with the B&B’s co-owners: Peter’s sexy, irresponsible brother Rand, and Rand’s wife, Alyssa…who is essentially a stranger.

For her part, Alyssa sees taking over the B&B as the latest in a string of adventures. Plus, a quiet place might help her recover from the news that she can’t bear children. But the idyllic town proves to be anything but serene: Within weeks, the sisters-in-law are scrambling to prepare for their first big booking—a winter wedding—and soon a shy, mysterious woman comes to work for them. Dawn Zukoski is hiding something; that much is clear. But what the sisters-in-law don't realize is that Dawn is also hiding from someone…

Relatable and dynamic, Catching Air delves deeply into the vital relationships that give shape to women’s lives.

April in Review + Goals

April in Review

Total Miles: 65.7 up from 52.2 last month. 2nd highest month of the year. Up from 30.1 last April.

Total Time: 11:23:15 up from 9:14:21 last month. 

Total Runs: 11 runs, for an average of 5.97 miles per run. 

Highest weekly mileage: 4/14-4/20 27.1 miles

Favorite run: Track date with Jenn! I LOATHE mile repeats with every fiber of my being. But add a track, some hardcore wind, and my running buddy Jenn and I feel fast for the first time in years. YAYZIES.

Most hardcore run: Solo 13.1 long run in monster wind. Guess that was prep for most every midwestern half marathon, huh?

Favorite race: I would technically consider this my most hardcore run of the month, but it was my only race, so by default Riverrat Half Marathon takes the cake. The last 6.5 miles in 40+ mph wind gusts and a MONSTER hill that everyone else walked up. Eew. I will save those B.A. points for the next time I'm feeling defeated in a race or hard workout.

Bike Miles: 0. The Bike is back to eyeing me sadly.

Favorite Jam: None. I've been listening to too many audiobooks this month and no tunes.

_______________________

April Goals

• Run 100 miles. 65.7 :(
• Run all 3 long runs as scheduled. (2/3)
• Do one fast finish LR.
• Do one LR with 3 minute pickups every 20 minutes. 4.18.14
• Run all 4 speed sessions as scheduled. 4/4
• Run a solid half at the end of the month. (revised to be a training run with some harder effort miles so legs would be snappy for the following weekend's race) Yes! Took 3 minutes off my NYC time! Post-grad school PR (is that a thing? PGSPR??)
• Watch 2 Oscar Best Picture Nominees. Last month I watched 3 or more and this month I haven't had time for any. I blame the excessive vacationing and trying to catch up with real life. ;)
• Track food intake at least 5 days/week. I did really well the first half of the month, and then stress hit and that went out the window.
• Every other day core work. Pretty close!
• Hip stretches and drills every other day.
• Clean up my eating. 50/50
• Outside of my trip to Vegas, curb the booze consumption and eating out. Much better!
• Get 3-5 pounds closer to my race weight as the last weekend of April and first weekend in May are my goal races! I was down 4-5 midway through the month until stress happened. Still down two though, despite eating my feelings!
• 2 buddy runs (4/2 tempo & mile repeats with Jenn).
• Read 2014 Printz Winner--Midwinterblood
• Read a classic novel
• Find a new place to live when our lease is up! (Feel free to shoot me leads on 2 bedroom places in town that allow dogs!)

Race Report: Brookings Half Marathon

I went to bed at 9am Friday night after setting my alarm for 4am the following morning. Jenn and I were planning on departing town at 5am to make it to the race with plenty of time to pick up our bibs, meet up with her relay team, and for me to use the bathroom 1200x, per usual. 2am hit and I just couldn't pretend to sleep anymore. So I woke up. Caught up on blogs, snuggled with Ollie, texted people who were clearly not up yet, oops, sorry, and waited.

A bazillion hours later it was time to make our trip up. And what felt like 6 seconds later was the start of the race! Luckily I got to see Megan briefly before the race started and see Otto's Team Green outfit (I die).

The half, marathon, and marathon relay all start together, but it still wasn't a congested start. I started off too fast, then slowed down too much, and then finally found the baby bear pace of "just right." I was already .06 over when I got to the first mile marker, which I thought was weird because I hadn't been bobbing and weaving, and normally I'm a great tangent runner (especially if I'm familiar with the course!). I assumed I'd make it up over time (spoiler alert: I didn't). The first two miles ticked off precisely as planned.

1.  9:38

2.  9:33

Mile three I slowed down and deviated from "the plan." Looking at my garmin data, mile three was one mile long incline. It must've been gradual enough not to see, but my legs were feeling it. Instead of freaking out completely (as I always do), I just kept running and was rewarded with two miles that were back to where I wanted to be.

3.  9:58

4.  9:27

5.  9:27

Jenn was running miles 4-9 of the marathon relay, so she was planning to catch up to me during her leg and help push me along. I was running strong enough that I knew she'd be tired by the time she caught up to me. She caught up to me just as I spotted Megan spectating on the race route!

I think Jenn was a little surprised by my pace, and pulled ahead of me so I could chase her.

6.  9:22

7.  9:20

8.  9:25

It was at this point that I thought I would be able to start my BTTW miles. During mile 3 of the race, I had thoughts of revising my goal time to 2:05 and was certain there was no way I would be able to push for 5 hard miles after running 8 uncomfortably hard miles. Well by the time 5 miles were left I realized that I had ~47 minutes of hard running left in me and calculated that if I ran ~sub 9 pace for the remainder of the race, I could hit 2:02. 

There were times when I'd calculate my finishing pace to close to sub 2, only to realize that I was failing to account for the .15 I was already over the race distance. Grr! Mental note: Brookings has a million turns, plan accordingly!

I moved in to the sub 9 gear fairly effortlessly and was re-energized by the people I was passing. Mile 9 was strong, mile 10 was hard again with a slight incline. Mile 11 was my best of the day with a nice little downhill. And then mile 12 was a climb again, but I somewhat remembered us turning around and going back down that same way towards the end of the mile, so that kept me putting one foot in front of the other.

9.  8:49

10.  9:00

11.  8:45

12.  9:21

The final mile was a slight downhill and my quads were starting to feel it. I remember thinking that if I trashed them now, they'd have awhile to recover before another important race. ;) I cranked up my music to zone out, waiting for my watch to hit 12.75 so I could start my final half mile "sprint." Lolz. I had calculated my finishing time based on 9 pace with an 8 minute final half mile. Uff. Ambitious much?

As soon as I turned the corner for the finishing stretch my heart started beating all wonky and I wished my heart rate monitor wasn't dead so I could see the data for that, and then I remembered "oh yeah, sprint!" I saw that the clock was close to switching over to 2:03 so I hauled @$$ to get there before that happened.

13.  8:46

.25 1:54 (7:44 pace, 6:43 max pace) oh... ok, maybe sub 8 wasn't *so* ambitious.

13.25 miles in 2:02:53 for a pace of 9:16. Let's not even talk about how close my time would've been to sub 2 had I not sucked at running the tangents, ok? ;)

Kyle's parents came to cheer me on since he was at a fishing tourney.

Jenn will easily be dominating her goal half in a month.

And I can't wait for the next race weekend with this girl.

Ugh. Cutest Team Green member to date. Congrats Otto, Ollie will not be pleased.

Half marathon #21 in the books. Fastest one in two years. 9th fastest out of 21! 

And now I've ran the same amount of races that I did in all of 2013, in a seven week span in 2014. Whoop.

When's the next race??

Brookings Half Marathon Goals

It has been two years, almost to the day since I've gone sub 2 in a half marathon, at this very same race. There was a time when I first started running and racing that sub 2 was the coveted unicorn goal for me every race (much like sub 4 has been for the last four years). Then came a breakthrough of sorts where I would run under 2 hours for 13.1 mile training runs. Womp. I'm currently trying to work back to that point, but in the meantime I'll be shooting for a sub 2 finish at tomorrow's half.

My race plan is to start somewhat conservatively for the first 3 miles hitting 9:30-9:40 pace, then dropping to 9:10-9:20 pace for the next five miles and then attempting as fast as I can for the last five miles. I've been working on my speed quite a bit since the NYC half, so hopefully that will be to my benefit, and the race course is nice and flat, just like my quads and IT bands like it.

Also, the weather is 100% Jerbear approved: 39* at the start, with a real feel of 32*. Aka perfection. No rain, no snow, no sun, 7 mph winds (basically a whisper compared to the 40+ we've been having SINCE SATURDAY SWEET JESUS STOP NOW), and 42* at the finish, with a real feel of 38*. Let's all keep in mind that if I was in shape to PR this race it'd be 95*, 99% humidity and a 40mph wind that adjusts its direction based on which way I'm running during the race. ;)

Unicorn goal: Sub 2, sub 9 minute pace. I think that puts me at a 1:57. All the stars in the universe would need to align for this to happen.

Pugasaurus goal: Sub 2, even by a hair of Ollie's chinny chin chin.

Minotaur goal: Sub 2:05. The best race times I've posted since my last sub 2 have all been in the 2:04-2:06 range (and those times are all 18+ months old too). A 2:02 would be nice because I like palindromes. But not as much as I like a time that is 1:5X.

May Goals

May Goals

• Run 100 miles.
• Run three long runs as scheduled.
• Do one fast finish LR.
• Do one LR with 3 minute pickups every 20 minutes. 
• Run all three speed sessions as scheduled. 
• Run a strong half in Brookings (post-grad school PR pgspr!). 
• Watch 2 Oscar Best Picture Nominees.
• Track food intake on days I don't run.
• Every other day core work, hip stretches, and drills.
• Learn 2 new recipes.
• Get a couple of pounds closer to my race weight for May races and the start of marathon training in June.
• 2 buddy runs.
• Find a new place to live when our lease is up! (Feel free to shoot me leads on 2 bedroom places in town that allow dogs!)