Week in Review, 10/24 - 10/30

I'm gonna start making this a weekly blog feature. It's good for me to look back at my training and analyze what works and what doesn't, track my progress, and keep myself accountable to the rest of ya'll. Usually only stuff with actual mileage goes into Daily Mile, so this will be the place where I list EVERYTHING I've done for the week. Sunday is the last day of the week in my head, so Sunday will be posting day.

So here goes:

Monday: Ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill (15:00), hour long spin/abs class (50-ish minutes of spin followed by ab work)

Tuesday: 30 minute tempo run. 3.1 miles in 30:05. Not shabby at all for three days post-13.1. Even splits. Hard effort.

Wednesday AM: 1 mile swim in 45:43. PM: hour long rocket yoga class. (Similar to Ashtanga, but a little faster paced. Love it.)

Thursday: 4 mile easy run in 41:34. Wind was killer. Then drove right to the gym for an hour long circuit class. Eating a 6" subway sandwich on the way was a huge mistake, even though I was starving. Came dangerously close to puking during class, in a room with no trash can!

Friday: REST, woot. (Although huz and I went to see some haunted stuff and ended up walking a lot.)

Saturday: 6.2 miles in 1:00:47!! It didn't feel EASY but it didn't feel all-out either. Splits were awesome. Thrilled with that one.

Sunday: biked 17.61 miles in 1:05. Was going to do more but I was underdressed and freezing! Then ran 3 miles in 31:33 immediately afterward. Holy crap, that was hard. My legs were burning after the great run Saturday.

Totals:

Running: 16.8 miles, 3 hours. (Rounded off, I'm not that anal!)
Biking: 17.61 miles plus spin class, 2:05.
Swimming: 1 mile, :45.
Strength/flexibility: 2 hours.

Total: 7:50. Close close close to that 8-10 hour range I want to hit, but I was recovering from a half marathon so I'll cut myself a little slack there. Trying to run more frequently at shorter distances to see if that helps cut down on injury and keep my legs fresher. That's the theory! Would like to average about 20 miles a week for the time being. Wanted to bike more but kept getting hit with craptastic weather on the days I wanted to go. Once it gets dark earlier, that'll cut way down on available bike hours. Plus it's getting cold. Booo. And yes, I know that as a triathlete I should swim more, but I hate swimming, ok? I'll do more this winter. Plus I'm looking into swim lessons.

OH YES I DID.

Rev3 Cedar Point

140.6 miles.

I just totally signed up.

BRING IT.

Good news

Mental funk is starting to go - a little. And today, for the first time in FOREVER, I ran with NO calf support. NO sleeves. NO tape. NO brace. Ok, ok, so I forgot the brace, but I decided to try an easy run anyway (had stopped at a park on my way home from work) and it was all right! It hurt a little, but nothing more than it's been doing lately. Quite tolerable. 4 miles.

I've had at least some kind of extra something since February. Tape on my right leg. Then the stress reaction. Then back to running, with a pair of calf sleeves for the shin splints. Then extra tape on my left leg since August, then I let the right sleeve go but I've been wearing the new strappy brace for the past month. I'm a little sick of artificially holding my legs together! It's freeing to run unsupported!!

Air Force Marathon pics!!

I just realized, after posting my horrific Cincinnati Half pics, I never did post my (much better) marathon pics!! These are pretty much the only race pics I've really liked, ever, but some of them are great!!!

First of all, not a race pic, but long overdue: me outside the expo with Mary the Bear!! Mary belongs to another blogger, Little Miss Runshine. She's being passed around to other bloggers for their first marathons, for luck and encouragement, and everyone does a short writeup in Mary's passport. RB had her for the Pig, and I was actually a bit excited that I DIDN'T run the Pig, because I got Mary all to myself for my first marathon!

Awwww!!

And...the race pics!!

I love this one!! I saw the camera way back, so I was cheesing. I look like I'm running in slow motion!

I also love this one. I look like such a badass. (Marathon buddy Katie is behind me!)

CHEEEEESE!!

Aaaand then we have 18 or so miles later. Not quite as happy!

But as tired as I was, they still got me in midair!! My first airborne running pic - yay!!

This is just funny. I managed to do a victory pose. I just forgot to make my face convey the same emotion.

OK, really. Aren't you done taking pictures yet? (Check it out - the photog is at the top of a hill, in the hot sun, about 23 miles in. That's just a cruel place to be creating permanent memories!)

This is actually halfway cute, except that I have exhaustion written all over my face...and my shirt was bleeding!

<3 Husband <3! And <3 shiny things! <3

And of course, running buddy!!!

run happy?

I now have a new future goal: to run a 13.1 and finish happy!! All three halves I've ran, I've struggled with at least the last three miles and dragged myself across the finish line.

Let me draw your attention to Exhibit A. My shirt says "Run Happy". HA.

Go ahead, shoot me. It's ok.

The rest of the pics from that one aren't much better!

Oh look. The finish line. Yay.

I kinda like this one - look, I actually have hair - except that I'm stopping my garmin!

Yeah, the face says it all.

Stopped running as soon as I hit the mats. Yep, over it!

Thinking....

Training plan idea, based on current work schedule and gym/yoga studio class offerings:

Monday - short (2-3 mile) easy run, spin class
Tuesday - short easy run, 30ish minute swim
Wednesday -  tempo run or speedwork in the AM (~45 minutes), either a bike ride or yoga class or swim in the PM
Thursday - pilates (AM), circuit training class (PM)
Friday - NOTHING, ZIP, NADA, OFF (Fridays are a really good day for me to be unmotivated!)
Saturday - long run (keeping this at 6-8 miles for now)
Sunday - long bike ride, yin yoga if schedule permits; I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do when it's too cold to bike outside. Probably pout. Maybe start doing some long swims And pout. Heehee.

That's about 10 hours of workouts a week, which is good, because that's probably about what I'll need to dedicate to half ironman training. The strength and flexibility stuff will probably be phased out at the peak of that training, just because there are only 168 hours in a week, and I need time to sleep and socialize and relax and keep the huz from feeling neglected. Oh, and my boss likes me to work sometimes too. But I'll hopefully have a decent strength and flexibility base that I can maintain at that point.

I found a 13 hour a week full ironman plan and I'm not sure whether to trust it or not, but 13 hours a week sounds completely doable. And hey, I'll be training to complete, not compete, right?

I want to try 4 runs a week; some of them are just much shorter than I'm used to running. I think that'll keep my running legs fresher and let me build some speed. That's the theory, anyway.

It sounds great now because I'm super motivated. Imma see how it looks in a couple of weeks. :)

race report - Cincinnati Half Marathon, and planning

First of all, the injury update: it's doing better. It's still there and annoying, but I've had a few sessions with my husband's chiropractor and I think they've helped. They've done some electro-stimulation on my tendon and muscle, and I've had two 30-minute massages entirely devoted to my lower left leg. However, I'm looking at the end of my PT insurance benefits, so I'm going to go it alone now and hope things continue to recover.

I'm able to run on it ok. I have some pain, but not enough to alter my running form, and it's pretty tolerable. I don't feel nearly as bad as I used to post-run, and recovery is faster. The chiropractor actually told me not to run. I was feeling awesome, so I ran anyway. I went back to see him, and he said if he knew my leg was going to feel as great as it did, he wouldn't have told me not to run. He gave me his blessing to run the Cincinnati Half.

I made some mistakes in this one. One of those was telling myself I wanted to run it because I knew a ton of people running it, but that I would run it purely for fun, not for time. I was deluding myself. Most of the people I knew who would be running it are faster than I am, and I am just not capable of doing a run for fun unless there are obstacles involved or it's otherwise an event I've never done before. Forget that. Of course I wasn't going to run it for fun. I was going to run it for a PR. I always run for a PR.

Except....I've been injured. I've been running twice a week since the marathon. I've been cross-training, but I've only been RUNNING twice a week. I signed up a week before the race, and the next day I came down with the cold from hell. So it's been a week of being exhausted the minute I wake up, coughing and sneezing everywhere, and collapsing on the couch. I took one day to work from home and catch up on paperwork, in my pajamas, kleenex by my side. I was starting to recover, but still not 100%.

Neither of those things sets me up for a PR, to say the least.

In theory, I should've been able to do it. My 13.1 time during the marathon was a PR, AND I ran 13.1 more immediately after that. So I figured it should've taken minimal effort to blow that away.

And when I didn't blow it away, when I didn't PR at all, I was pretty significantly bummed.

OK, here is the deal. I've been feeling bummed to a pretty significant degree lately anyway. I think it has to do with a lot of things - work got insane, post-marathon blues, not following a training plan anymore, less daylight - but ultimately, it's affecting my running and how I think about my running, and I've been doing more dwelling than I should on how I'm not as fast as I want to be. Heck, I haven't been able to recover the speed I had when I was training for the Pig. I get bummed that lots of people who have been running for a shorter period of time than I have can run way faster than I can and I wonder what's wrong with me.

It's time to end that. I'm not as fast as I was because I'm not training the same. I'm training enough to more or less maintain, but not improve. Of  course, it's fun to say that right now because I'm not 100% healthy, which is the best time ever to increase training, right?

So I've figured it out. Much as I would love to do a sub-60 10k in a month, and much as I can get pouty when I allow myself to because there are people out there who have never NOT done a sub-60 10k, not even as a beginner....again, I'm trying to end that. I'm going to train for it as best as I can, after I go easy this week (to recover from the 13.1 and kill the end of the cold). I want to go up to running 4 times a week, but most of them easy pace, shorter distance runs. I want to *try* speedwork, but I'm gong to try that with a shorter 10k pace tempo run on the treadmill to test the waters there.

December is going to be for maintenance and for playing around with different combos of workouts to see what works for me. Next year I'll be hitting the triathlon training hardcore - especially if I DO sign up for a 140.6 - and I need to figure out what kind of multisport schedule is good for me. Two a days? Swim followed by run? Morning? Evening? How many rest days? Do I like running two days in a row, biking two days in a row, swimming two days in a row? Etc. and etc. However, with the holidays, I get to cut myself lots of slack for parties and entertaining and visiting because I won't be following a plan. Hmm...maybe I'll do swimming lessons in December, too.

January starts Pig training, and I'm going to figure out where to put the swimming and biking in there, too. I'll probably be doing some strength training that will taper down as other training increases.

Oh yeah. I planned to make this a recap. Sooo...the Cincinnati Half. It was freezing at the start, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that a trash bag actually keeps in a lot of body heat, so I tolerated the sub-40 temps. They also had coffee, which is AWESOME. I mainly carried it around for warmth, because I'd already had my ritual morning coffee and didn't want to get too jittery, but the half a cup I sipped on pre-race tasted awesome too.

My goal was a 2:15. I had a pretty decent pace going, but it was accompanied by a sinking feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep it up. I ran with an older guy named Bob for the first seven miles. He was nice, but I honestly got tired of talking after a while, and he kept going ahead of me (even though he said he wanted to go SLOWER than 2:15 as this was a training run for him.) So I let him. I'm so sick of shot bloks that I broke the cardinal rule - nothing new on race day - and had two gus instead. The vanilla orange one tasted awesome. The chocolate outrage was good, but waaaay too rich to be eating while running. I was happy with my pace, but 10 miles in, I knew I was done for. I SLAMMED into the wall at that point. I wasn't happy to be out there, I was getting annoyed with fellow runners (although to be fair, I had a right to be at times - like the one who was in the middle of the road right in front of me and suddenly stopped to walk, or the group of 8 run/walkers who would pass me, then stop to walk and force everyone to maneuver through their walking wall of people). It was just a bad time for those last 3 miles. I was pretty close - 1:45 at the 10 mile mark - but I ended up doing an 11+ pace for the last three miles and finished at 2:20:28. (Big note to add here: the course was .1 miles too long. That time was for 3.21 miles!)

I realized something, too - I don't think I like racing!! Last weekend, when I went out for a 10 mile run alone, and I genuinely had NO reason to feel one way or another about my time, so I was pleasantly surprised...and I cleared my head and enjoyed the weather and felt AMAZING - THAT is why I run. To be trying to hit a goal, and feeling like that is my ONE shot, and people are passing me and people are everywhere and I burn out too fast and barely make it across the finish line - that's just not enjoyable. Now, I know some of that has to do with the mental funk I've been in and my currently crappy attitude, but still - the pressure isn't fun. Now that the race isn't about being able to complete the distance, every one feels like it needs to be a PR, or what's the point? And it's just not fun right now.

I should mention that the last two races I've done (aside from the duathlon) have not been PRs at all. This is the first time since I started running that I haven't PR'd every race. It's not at all a good feeling to me.

Well, anyway....2:20 isn't bad. It's super close to where I was for Little Miami, and like I said, I've really been running to maintain and not improve, whether I like it or not. It wasn't all bad, not at all. Seeing friends on the course (two out-and-back parts) is awesome. Plus, Girls on the Run was doing one of the water stops and I said hi to all them. Running Buddy's mom was spectating and she cheered for me. Some of my coworkers were volunteering at the finish line. I got a medal. The river at sunrise, with fog sitting on top, was beautiful. And we all had a lot of fun hanging out afterward. That all made the race worth it, really.

And, as soon as I stopped running, I was coughing up half a lung, so I felt validated in my lack of PR, knowing that I'm still sick.

Now, I just can't wait until the stars align and everything is in a good place for me to start working on getting better, again.