Another month of training in the books!

Week 5
Monday, November 21 – 70 minutes easy
I felt so good on this run and thought I maintained a faster pace than my watch said that I did which surprised me at the end of the run. Oh well.

Tuesday, November 22 – 50 minutes easy
I had originally planned on 60 minutes for this run but had to settle for ten less because I could not start right away. My aftershokz gave me a low battery warning in the morning so I needed to let them charge a little before heading out. Once I did get out there, I felt just as good as the day before which I love. I have felt so strong lately but don’t know whether to attribute the training I’ve been putting in or the the cooler weather. it’s likely a combination of both.

Wednesday, November 23 – 40 minutes easy
My current plan has speedwork on Wednesdays but this week brings an 8k race on Thursday, the one race that I have run every year since I started running, so I switched the workouts and ran easy today. It felt a little more difficult than the two previous days. Once again, I do not know whether to attribute the increased effort to the miles I’ve put in or the slightly warmer weather.

Thursday, November 24 – TreesUpstate Turkey Day 8k
See race recap

Friday, November 25 – 60 minutes easy
Several things combined to make this run not as pleasant as I could have hoped for. I expected a little bit of soreness due to the race effort on Thursday. I did not expect the significantly warmer temps or the lower back soreness brought on by my period. It’s fun being a woman. I decided to walk at each mile to take it even easier than I have before.

Saturday, November 26 – 18 miles long run
Winter comes reluctantly in the South and often warmer temps persist well beyond when they should. That combined with the things that I mentioned in Friday’s entry made this run a bit more difficult than the 17 miles the week before. This run did not feel awful but I definitely needed the additional support of starting music sooner than last week. We actually turned around about 1.5 miles into the run since MOm felt overdressed. This turned out to be a really good decision. That helped the run feel shorter because when we restarted, we had already run several miles.

Sunday, November 27 – streak mile
I had a bit of a sinus headache, centered behind my left eye as usual, so I did not really get out as soon as I had hoped. That combined with the long run effort and significant wind gusts made this run less than my favorite runs. I got it done thought.

Week 6

Monday, November 28 – 30 minutes warm up, 10 x 1 minute fast, 1 minute recovery, 10 minute warm down
Mentally, I really wanted to do these intervals. Physically, that same or rather similar, sinus behind the eye pain that really demotivated me before stuck around. While it didn’t interfere with the run itself, it made the run less than pleasant so I told myself that I could do an easy run rather than the fartlek intervals. Gradually, I started to feel better so I decided to go ahead and do 10 intervals. Since I started at 30 minutes in rather than 20, I cut the cool down to 10 minutes. I really enjoyed these intervals and I’m so glad that I pushed ahead and got these done.

Tuesday, November 29 – 50 minutes easy
I don’t remember much about the beginning of this run. That must mean that it at least started average since nothing stuck out to me. As I got into the run, I started to struggle a little mentally with my mind telling me that I was tired even though I wasn’t. After I pulled back a little on effort and kept reminding myself that I was fine, the rest of the run went well even if my pace was slower than I usually like.

Wednesday, November 30 – 20 minutes WU, 25 minutes tempo @ 8:34, 15 minutes warm down
So the tempo portion did not really go according to plan. The warm up felt pretty good even though I wondered in the back of my mind about the tempo portion. (I had already chosen to run inside to help.) Once I started the tempo portion, I felt okay, at least at first. As I got closer to 10 minutes, I started to really struggle. I had to push myself to get to fifteen minutes before taking a break, a much longer break than I planned. I ate an apple and drank a core power chocolate recovery drink before starting again but I got started again and finished the remaining ten minutes.

Thursday, December 1 – 40 minutes easy
My legs definitely needed the easy effort after strength training Tuesday and the tempo run Wednesday. Even though I could most certainly feel the soreness, I felt capable and strong throughout the run, so much so that I had to tell myself to hold back so that the run would serve its recovery purpose.

Friday, December 2 – 50 minutes easy
When I started, I found myself surprised with the lack of pep I felt. I didn’t feel bad but I didn’t feel good either. My legs definitely felt all the work I’ve put in this week. Thus, so I have energy for the long run tomorrow, I pulled back and after the second mile and walked each mile instead of every other mile. I made the decision around the 1.5 mile mark when I didn’t feel nauseous, I just felt like my HR was too high even though when I stopped and checked, it was normal for this point in the run. Once I pulled back, I knew I could finish and started to feel better as I ran.

Saturday, December 3 – 16 miles with goal pace finish
We started close to noon, this time to avoid rain, two rather heavy but short storms that moved through quickly. As we started the run, I realized that the older shoes I wore Thursday and Friday contribute to those runs feeling difficult. The whole first half of the run felt pretty good and I was optimistic that I could easily handle the faster finishing miles. Then we made the turn around and somehow everything felt so much more difficult which opened the door for the negative thoughts. However, I banished those thoughts by first telling myself that I would deal with it when those miles came and then that I would try it and keep mushing in those miles as I ran. Once we started those final miles, I felt so strong and capable that I almost laughed at myself. The only time that those miles felt difficult was on the ridiculous hill we have in our second to last mile. Even though I didn’t run quite as many miles at goal pace (I scaled it back a little to better fit the miles Mom had for the day) I still count this run as a win, specifically for the mental stamina side of the run.

Sunday, December 4 – streak mile
I wore. myold shoes for the last time which helped me confirm that they were responsible for part of how I felt Thursday and Friday. I think the newer version included some changes to the foam. Other than that confirmation, the run felt exactly as it should.

Week 7

Monday, December 5 – 60 minutes easy
I ended up running inside thanks to getting started later (after my ART appointment) plus drizzly rain that I would not have otherwise minded but combined with the lack of light would have made it unsafe. I felt really strong through the entire run and would have easily completed it without even contemplating walking if not for a couple pit stops.

Tuesday, December 6 – 45 minutes easy
This run marked the first run of my new shoes, broke them in minutes after purchasing them. Thanks to traffic and two necessary stops (the shoes and a few items at teh grocery store) I did not have the time I wanted to get the whole run in, thus the last five minutes got cut off. Everything else though felt fantastic, definitely a benefit of the fresh new shoes.

Wednesday, December 7 – 1 mile WU, 6 miles at goal pace, 1 mile WD
I had already chosen the mileage at the short end of the given range in my training plan but I’ve realized lately that I should have chosen the plan right below the one I chose, one with slightly less mileage to better fit with the time I actually have available in my schedule. Thus, I have decided to cut all of the runs to the low end of the range not because I think I can’t do it but so that I can finish the runs with enough time to get my daily work done. I felt so good when starting the run, which I started al ittle later thanks to faculty meeting. The only problem? I needed to make a pit stop even though I didn’t want to stop and disrupt my rhythm. I ended up easily resuming the pace after the pit stop. My stride did not feel as effortless as Tuesday’s run but it still felt good.

Thursday, December 8 – 40 minutes easy
This run felt exactly as prescribed, nice and easy.

Friday, December 9 – 50 minutes easy
Once again, the rain “forced” me inside. I felt really good at the beginning of the run and did not want any interruptions. Even though I did not need a pit stop, technology failed me. YouTube got all wonky and my phone was plugged in on the opposite side of the room. I can run a while on the treadmill but I have not tried to do so without any visual or audio distraction. Thankfully, after getting things restarted, I got back on the treadmill and still felt really good.

Saturday, December 10 – 18 miles long run
The version of the plan that I purchased called for 24 miles today. Um…nope. I’ve realized that even though I really love the idea of higher mileage, it’s not particularly practical for me. I’m going to shift to the one that I purchased for Mom with some additional mileage. So, we headed out for potentially 19 miles. I gave Mom the option and she chose 18.
We started around 11, much later than I will start next week and much later than the race will start, obviously. We had overcast skies and slightly chilly temps. (Not too cold since I wore a sleeveless shirt and didn’t need gloves or a headband to cover my ears.) In the first few miles, I felt great but I did have a thought in the back of my mind that reminded me of the run last week when I felt great right up until just after we turned around. Thankfully, that didn’t happen this time.
I took the run one mile at a time which felt incredibly manageable. On top of that we ended up running almost the whole time without music instead of just the first half to save on battery. In the last three miles or so I did start playing music because at that point, I started to feel a little tired and needed a bit of a motivation boost. I still felt strong enough to accidentally pull away from Mom in the final mile.

Sunday, December 11 – streak mile
My legs definitely felt all the work I put in yesterday so I chose not to push the pace. It didn’t feel great but it didn’t feel bad either.

Week 8

Monday, December 12 – 60 minutes progression easy
This was supposed to be a progression run with a fast finish but a paper covered that portion of where I had written that so I didn’t realize that I needed to do it when I headed out. Thus, I ended up running a regular easy run. I didn’t write immediately so I have forgotten most of the details, everything except the fact that, ironically, I wanted to run faster but held myself back.

Tuesday, December 13 – 60 minutes easy
I briefly considered doing the progression run this day but dismissed the idea after considering the fact that I had Yasso 800s coming up Wednesday. Thus, I ran easy on the treadmill thanks to a late start after a Model UN meeting. I felt pretty decent but, once again, do not remember many, or any really, details.

Wednesday, December 14 – 10 min. WU, 5 Yasso 800s, 10 minute WD
I had originally planned to do 10 intervals but with the fact that the rest intervals were supposed to be the same length, that ld have totaled 12 miles. Um. No thanks. I cut the interval number in half and still got in a good workout. The pace felt challenging from the get go but I recovered well on the recovery portion so I decided to keep going at the necessary pace (7:30). Each interval felt a little bit more difficult but not anywhere near a point where I thought I could not complete them. Yasso 800s are supposed to be good marathon prediction times but the fact that I ran on a treadmill and could maintain the required pace means I won’t use these intervals for predictive value.

Thursday, December 15 –
Too much time has passed for me to remember this one. (I don’t even remember how much I ran!)

Friday, December 16 – 30 minutes easy
Just like another time in this training cycle, I felt fine during the first couple miles but after making the turn around felt awful. I gave myself permission to cut it short knowing I had travel ahead of me plus a long run in Central Park. I know I did the right thing.

Saturday, December 17 – streak mile
I started this run the very minute it became Saturday, knowing that if I wanted to make sure to maintain my streak I had to do it then because I could not rely on train timing to get it in after we arrived. Did I feel good? Nope. Did I get it in? Yup.

Sunday, December 18 – 18 miles in Central Park
I had no idea that 18 miles could ever feel this good. I dressed in all my layers to start, definitely looking like someone who does not own a lot of cold weather gear. What I brought got the job done though. After checking directions, I headed towards the Park, just a few blocks to cover. Once in, I did not know the specifics but figured I would likely end up running a few loops. Central Park is big but not 18 miles big.
I quickly found myself on a hardpacked dirt path, likely the Bridle Path. At this point I decided to takje fuel at every other mile and drink every mile but not walk unless fueling. AFter my second time around this loop I decided to branch onto the paved path to see if I could get onto a larger loop, which I did.
Throughout these miles I felt great physically and didn’t really have any mental struggles since I successfully “distracted” myself by finishing “The World We Make” aka the absolutely perfect thing to listen to on a run in Central Park.
All of the miles, all the way through the end felt fantastic, like I could have kept going for another loop when I finished. Talk about a motivation boost!

Stay tuned for the final part!