Training Recap & PFTW

Adding a new puppy to your life unexpectedly a has a way of totally upending any plans that you may have had.  Since this is Sami’s second week here with us, we’re kind of getting into a bit more of a routine.  After a largely nonexistent training week the week before last, last week wasn’t terrible.  I got in an easy run, intervals, and a long run, so I guess I got the necessities done anyway.  So let’s talk about those three runs a little bit…

The easy run was an easy 5.4 miles.  It was supposed to have been 6, but I was in a time crunch.  Not much to say about this run.  It was easy.

The intervals… well I have a little more to say about the intervals.  A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I thought I needed to reassess my goal pace.  I don’t talk much about pace specifics here because frankly I’m embarrassed by them, but I think I need to put it out there to get my point across for this one.  My 5k PR was an 8:38 pace, so until recently I’ve been happy to keep my 400s under 2:10 or so.  Well, a couple of times here lately I’ve seen indications that I may be a little bit faster than what I’ve given myself credit for.  Last track session, my 6th 400 was 1:54.  So when I went back this week for 6 x 400 again, I decided to try to keep them all under 2:05.  I kind of shocked myself by pulling off a 1:55, 1:58, 2:00, 1:57, 2:00, and 1:56 with 200 recovery in between.  Sigh Sometimes I wonder what I could do if I’d actually push myself and commit to a solid training plan.

Sunday I ran 12 miles.  They were uneventful.  At 70 degrees, it was hotter than it has been and wiiiiiindy as helllllllll.  But with my H20 hydration pack loaded with Nuun and a couple of gels, I made it through it with no issues.  Was it as fast as I’d like?  Not at all.  But it didn’t suck.  Then I came home and got the foster pup and walked her for 2 miles on the road behind my house then took her home and traded her out for my two dogs and took them to the park for three laps (2.25 miles).  I’m sad to say those are the only meaningful longish walks they got this week.  I fucking hate this getting-dark-at-5-pm bullshit.  I can’t walk them from home after dark for fear of getting mauled by the coyotes, and going into the park after dark skeeves me out because it’s just too dark and secluded, and I can’t carry my gun into the park.

So anyway, that brings us to this week… It’s race week again.  St. Jude is on Saturday.  And yet again, I am unprepared.  This will be my 13th half-marathon.  You’d think I’d have this shit down pat by now, but I have never gone into one feeling like I was properly trained.  Sure I can get through 13.1 miles.  But will I go out there and kick ass and PR and race to my full potential?  Nope!  Again.  Maybe someday…

Training Recap & PFTW

This week kicked last week’s ASS!  In the running department anyway.  I totally dropped the ball on doing any kind of strength or cross-training though.  Oh well.  We can’t have it all, right?  haha

Monday – Rest day.  Nada

Tuesday – I was off work Tuesday and I had planned to cram a lot into that day, including going to the gym.  I ran 6 easy miles and I walked the dogs 2 more, but the gym never happened.  And it’s funny because as I sit here on Sunday writing this, I can’t remember why.

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – 6 miles, 3 at tempo pace.  It was FREEZING!!!!!  I went from running in a tee shirt and shorts on Tuesday to cold gear tights and long sleeves and gloves on Thursday.  Cold-weather running is my absolute favorite, but I guess I need time to acclimate to that too because I was chilled to the freakin’ bone the rest of the night.  It took two hours in my fleece lounge pants and sweatshirt with my fuzzy robe on under a fluffy blanket drinking hot chocolate to warm up!

Friday – Rest

Saturday – 6 x 400.  NAILED IT.  One of the intervals was at 5K pace, and the other 5 were well below it.  The last one was over a minute faster than goal pace.  I have no idea where that came from.  None.  Reassessing goal pace. Also, walked dogs 1.5 miles.

Sunday – Ahhhhhhhhh redemption.  Last week’s attempt at 11 miles was a disaster, and I ended up cutting it short to 9 miles.  Today i ran 11 miles, nonstop, no fuel, effortlessly, and at a decent pace.  I desperately needed that mental boost.  It was cold, it was raining, and I loved every single minute of it.  It rained the entire day, so my poor doggies didn’t get walked again Sunday.  That was by their choice though.  They had zero interest in even going outside long enough to pee.  They each held a 10-hour piss to avoid going outside.  Fucking princesses.  haha

PFTW:

Things are about to get pretty tricky because I’m losing my help at work. That means longer days and 6 days a week, but I’m gonna try my damnedest to keep some sort of semblance of a training plan.

Monday – Rest or easy spin
Tuesday – 6 easy + strength
Wednesday – Rest (It’s D’s birthday!)
Thursday – 6 easy
Friday – 6 x 400
Saturday – Spin + Strength + walk
Sunday – 12 miles + walk

And squeeze in walks with the dogs as many days as possible during lunch. This getting dark early shit SUCKS!!!

Training Recap, PFTW, and a Question

Planned                                                            Actual
Monday:  Strength                                         Rest
Tuesday:  5 easy                                             5 easy
Wednesday:  4 x 400 plus strength             1.5 mile walk with dogs
Thursday:  Rest                                               4 x 400
Friday:  4 tempo                                               Rest
Saturday:  Rest or easy XT                              4 tempo + 2.5 mile walk with dogs
Sunday:  7 miles                                               7.1 miles
Total:  19 miles                                                 Total: 19.1 miles run, 4 miles walked

Monday – I really should have known better than to ever even scheduled Mondays as a strength day.  It’s never gonna happen.  Period.

Tuesday – Shitty, no good, horrible, miserable, longest, slowest 5 miles ever.  Seriously.  Embarrassingly slow.

Wednesday – After a long day at work, I really didn’t want to wait until 6:00 (when the high school crowd clears away from the football field where my local track is at) to start running, so I took the dogs to the park instead.

Thursday – Pretty good track session!  I hit my goal for the 400s even though it was in the 80s with high humidity (preceding the severe storms that came through a few hours later!).  My last 400 was even about 8 seconds faster than goal pace.  I’m thinking that if I can do that I need to rethink goal.

Friday – No way I was running Friday night.  Game 1 of the NLDS started at 5:37, giving me just enough time to make a beer run after work.  My heart rate during the game was at tempo run level a few times though!

Saturday – It was a beautiful sunny mid-50s day, but the wind was brutal.  Tempo run wasn’t terrible, but my stupid shoelace came untied at mile three, and after stopping I couldn’t get my pace back for the last mile.  I hate it when that happens!  I took the dogs to town after I finished up and we walked 2.5 more miles in the park and a nearby residential area.  It was so nice to be able to walk them farther and leave the shaded park and not have to worry about hot asphalt or them getting too hot!

Sunday – Sunday was a solid 20 degrees warmer than Saturday and the wind was just as bitchin’, but somehow I pulled of a beautiful long run of 7.1 miles.  (It was 7.1 because the wind was so loud I didn’t hear my watch beep on the mile!)  I was keeping it at a slow and easy long-run pace like a good little runner girl and felt fabulous.  At my turn-around point, I was about a quarter mile from the shop, and I knew D was there painting a car, so I deviated to get something to drink.  I was tempted to just turn around and go home thirsty because I kept remembering how hard it was to get going again when I stopped yesterday, but I decided I’d take my chances.  At mile 6 I still felt amazing, so I broke the LSD pace rule and ran the last one at half-marathon PR pace.  It.  Felt.  Amazing!  I love ending the week on a high note!

PFTW:
Monday:  Strength (Miracles sometimes happen)
Tuesday:  5 easy
Wednesday:  5 x 400 plus strength
Thursday:  Rest
Friday:  4 tempo
Saturday:  Rest or easy XT
Sunday:  8 miles
Total:  20.5 miles

For those of you that do 400s, what do you do for recovery in between?  Some plans I’ve seen call for 200 recovery, some 400, and some a set time, like 90 seconds or so.  Which do you do and why?

Recalculating

Sometimes the route you were planning to take changes.  Sometimes you encounter roadblocks and have to go off course and do some unplanned twisting and turning.  You’ll still get to your destination, but it may take you a little longer to get there.

I won’t be ready to race RnR St. Louis in October.  Due to the circumstances with D’s mom, I just haven’t had the time to invest into quality training.  I’m running here and there and will no doubt be able to cross the finish line that day, but it will not be in a PR attempt as originally planned.  I’m spending the weekend with two FABULOUS LADIES, so there will be no shortage of good times, and October 19, 2014, is going to be about having fun running through Cardinal Nation and showing my team pride!!!  One of those ladies will be racing her first 70.3 only two weeks before this, so depending on how recovered she is, we may just have to shoot for a new personal worst!  haha  If I remember right, there are plenty of bars on the course.  And how cute will I be in these?!

WTF is it about an article of clothing in the floor that attracts animals???

The PR attempt will be delayed by at least six weeks when I’ll be running St. Jude in Memphis again.  And I’m even toying with the idea of running Mississippi Blues in January since it JUST SO HAPPENS to be on my birthday!  (And probably Little Rock again too since I’m so in love with that race.)  So yeah, my route has had to be recalculated, but I’m not one little bit upset about it.  The time I would have been running (and everything else, for that matter) has been spent with family, and that’s where I both need and want to be right now.  There’ll be plenty of time for everything else very soon.

The Outtakes:

Training and Body Comp Check-In (a "WTF?!?!" moment)

I was feeling pretty good about things this week.  After having a bad week last week (that still resulted in fat loss anyway), I got back on track this week with some good workouts and a clean diet.  Too fucking bad my scales didn’t get the memo.

Monday – Rest

Tuesday – 3 mile run + Crossfit

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – 4 mile run

Friday – Crossfit

Saturday – Walked 3 miles with dogs (1 with Bella, 2 with Harley).  This was supposed to be a run, but I was CRAZY sore from the 25-pound kettle bell front squats the night before.

Sunday – 6 mile run + 2 mile walk with dogs

Weight – 134.8 (UP 0.9 from last week)
Body fat – 26.4% (UP 0.3% from last week)
BMI – 23 (UP 0.2 from last week)

I’m so fucking disgusted right now.  Shit just got real.  No rest for the fluffy…

Training Recap and Body Comp Check-in

Last week kind of got away from me.  I worked a lot of hours and missed a lot of workouts, and I was stressed, so I didn’t eat as well, so I really wasn’t expecting much when I stepped on the scale for the weekly check-in.

Monday – CrossFit

Tuesday – Walked 2 miles with dogs

Wednesday –Rest 

Thursday – Rest

Friday – 4.5 mile run and then worked in the yard.  I’m totally calling that a workout.

Saturday – Nada

Sunday – 6 mile run + core work

See?  Way less activity than what I’ve been doing, but I must have been doing something right because I still went the right direction this week.

Weight – 133.9 – down 0.9 pound from last week, 2.6 pounds total
Body fat % –  26.1 – down 0.2 % from last week, 0.7% total
BMI –  22.8 – down 0.2  from last week,  0.5 total

Not as much of a loss as the first week, but with a week like that, I’ll take it!

Training Recap and Body Comp Check-in

I mentioned a few posts ago that I’m trying to shed a little bit of fat.  I feel like I put forth a solid effort the last few days and am off to a pretty good start!

Sunday – 6 easy miles @ 11:12
Monday – rest
Tuesday – 3 easy miles @ 11:08 + CrossFit (Weightlifting:  Hanging clean + four front squats x 8.  Metcon: 10 med ball cleans + 10 burpees x 7)
Wednesday – 2 mile walk with dogs (soooooooo sore from Tuesday!)
Thursday – 30 minutes on the spin bike at moderate intensity
Friday – Rest.  Punked out of a planned 4-mile run.  Shitty day at work.  Got home late and crashed instead.
Saturday – 3 mile fartlek @ 10:37  (75 degrees feels effing hot after this winter) and 2 mile walk with dogs.
Sunday – 2 mile walk with dogs and 4 easy miles @ 11:22 (79 degrees.  Low heart rate + rising temperatures = slower paces)

And most importantly!

Weight – 134.8 – down 1.7 pounds
Body fat % –  26.3 – down 0.5 %
BMI –  23.0 – down  0.3%

Headed in the right direction!

Tuesday Tidbits

• This is my 300th post.  Please hold your applause.  Mostly because you would look a little challenged sitting alone at your desk clapping.  On second thought, go ahead.  Your coworkers could probably use a giggle.
• We have baby bluebirds on our porch!

• This photo was taken last week.  Not last fall.  All those leaves you see on the ground?  Yeah, that’s because everything here is dying or already dead from lack of rain.  We got a little rain a couple of days after this photo was taken, but I’m afraid the damage is already done.  Poor farmers.

• Remember Mimi from the Drew Carey Show?  If she has a Mini Me, I saw her at Walmart Sunday.  The sad thing is it was a CHILD, no more than 8 years old, and her mother let her leave the house looking that way.  If it wasn’t so sad, it would have been hilarious.  

• We saw the movie Ted Saturday night.  It’s been a long damn time since I’ve seen a movie that funny!  It was positively hilarious.
• A new gourmet cupcake shop opened up in town.  I liked their Facebook page and posted to it asking if they had vegan cupcakes.  They replied that they don’t but “hopefully in the future.”  I won’t hold my breath.  This IS Hicksville, after all.  There’s not a huge demand for vegan fare here, so I’ll be shocked if they come through on that.
• I had THE. WORST. RUN. Sunday morning.  It was 8 miles of sweat and expletives.  Fucking miserable.
• I just scored a pair of Brooks Ghost 4s for $63.  I guess they’re clearancing them out to make room for the 5s.  I didn’t need the shoes yet.  The 4s I’m running in now only have about 200 miles on them, and I’ll be able to make those last a while longer since I’ve got the Mizunos in rotation now too, but DUDE I couldn’t NOT get them for that price.
• I did this circuit yesterday after seeing it posted on the 5 Miles Past Empty Facebook page.  Well, I did MOST of that circuit.  My dogs decided they wanted to play, too.  I hate doing mountain climbers.  The dogs, however, thought they were awesome.  Ever tried to do mountain climbers with one dog trying to climb under you and the other licking your face?  I’m just glad they weren’t humping me.

Tuesday Tidbits

• We were under a heat advisory all weekend long with temps of 100+ and heat indices of 110+.  I knew if I was gonna get a long run in it was gonna have to be super early.  I got up at 4:45 Sunday morning and was out the door at first light to get in 8 miles while it was still bearable.  Tell me I ain’t dedicated.
• I took a couple of vacation days for yesterday and today to go with the holiday tomorrow.  We weren’t going anywhere, and I had no plans, but I just really wanted a couple of days off to do my own thing.
• One of those things yesterday involved buying the dogs a kiddie pool.  They weren’t very interested in it.  Bella drank out of it, and Harley barked at it.  Oh well… can’t let it go to waste!

• I cleaned out my truck today.  That’s pretty monumental.
• Is there anything in the world sweeter than a sleeping pup?

• Don’t forget to enter my Glass Dharma giveaway here!

Amazing Run, Hot Wings, Cold Beer, and a Bad Movie

Those 10 words sum up my Saturday perfectly.

It was an absolutely stunning day yesterday.  When I left the house at 10 am for my 11-mile run it was a gorgeous, sunny 53 degrees.  I knew I wanted to make a big loop around town, and I knew it would warm up some, so it was time to break out the ol’ “fanny pack”!  (IT’S A FUEL BELT, MICHELE!  FUEL.  BELT.)  There’s nothing really to say about the run other than it was what every long run should be.  My legs, lungs, and heart all cooperated to make it a very enjoyable 1:57:59 (I’ll save you from doing the math:  That’s a 10:44 pace.)  I just started running and ran until I was done.  I didn’t walk one step of that 11 miles and even ran fairly even splits.  This run did make one thing quite clear though:  SPRING IS IN THE AIR!  Along with the pollen and the smell of freshly cut onions.  It was a very snotty run.  I had some very decorative streaks on my black shorts by the end of it.

Afterwards I met my sister (who is still truckin’ right along on her C25K program!  Two weeks done!) for a girl’s day out.  Neither of us had any money to blow, so we window shopped for a while, decided we were both starving, and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.  Seriously, what better way to refuel than hot wings and cold beer????? 

The bar is right across the parking lot from the theater, so we walked across the lot (and a big shout out of THANKS to the waitress that chased me down to give me back my debit card I left on the table!) to watch a movie:  Red Riding Hood.

OH.  MY.  WORD.

Let’s just say if I had known what I was getting myself into, there would have been a lot more beer beforehand.  It was horrible!  It was one of those movies that sucks so bad that it makes it almost funny.  The cheese factor was off the friggin’ charts.  (Yes, they actually used the line, “Grandma, what big eyes you have.”)  If you haven’t seen it yet, DON’T!  Wait till it comes out at Redbox.  And only get it then if you have a promo code for a free movie.  And NOTHING better to do.

When a bad movie is the worst part of your day, you know it’s been a pretty darn good day.