Category Archives: running

weekly training log 1/26/15 – 2/1/15

Posted on by
Reply

weekly training log 1/26/15 – 2/1/15:
total miles: 29
easy miles: 23
fast miles: 6
strength workouts: 2 spin, 2 strength and 1 yoga
overview: another strong week! i made it out of bed at 4 on tuesday and thursday, but i couldn’t do it on wednesday. the end of this week makes 127 miles for january!

monday
planned workout: 40 minutes spin
actual workout: 40 minutes spin @ varying resistance for 9.6 miles
how did it go? felt great!

tuesday
planned workout: 6 mile fartlek with 1.5 miles warmup and alternating 1 minute “on”, 2 minutes “off”, 2 minutes “on” and 1 minute “off” with pace goal “on” intervals @ 8:30 + the core strength routine/planks/myrtl
actual workout: 6 mile fartlek with 1 mile in HR zone 2 (11:31 and 144 bpm) .5 mile in HR zone 3 (10:11 and 158bpm) and “on” intervals average pace of 8:22 + the core strength routine with 10# weights
course: purple striders – paved and flat
weather: 32*/dark/misting
gear: brooks pureconnect 3, injinji micro socks, lululemon speed tight *tech fleece, lululemon swiftly racerback, lululemon flurry fighter pullover, knuckle lights, mace jogger, nathan quickshot
nutrition: caesar salad with chicken, pretzels and dip for dinner
how did it go? i love this workout! it is so fun and really makes the time go by. it snowed the night before, so i was a little worried about slick spots, but the ground was just wet like it had rained. the last 2 minute interval was a little scary because it was on blacktop which was much slicker than the road. i actually got up at 4am to do this run, i feel like i deserve a present or something! next time i will shorten the warmup to 1 mile and the cooldown to .5 mile and take on a couple of reps. on my lunch i went down to the gym and did the core with 10# weights, some planks and the myrtl routine.

One of the main roles of the HOA is to help preserve the community’s property values by overseeing the maintenance and upkeep of the individual units as well as the grounds, you can check more info about HOA in https://www.homesgofast.com/blog/hoa-management-how-to-improve-community-relations.

wednesday
planned workout: 40 minutes spin
actual workout: 45 minutes spin and weights class with christina
how did it go? holy crap this was hard! i did not realize that i would be so terrible at actual spin class! i could not do the standing drills at all, it burned down the front of my thighs. we were on the bike for ~15 minutes and then hopped off and did upper body weights, some more cardio, some squats and then clamshells. loved this class! i was pouring sweat.

thursday
planned workout: 6 miles with 4 @ 8:55 pace and 1 minute recoveries
actual workout: 1 mile warmup @
course: highland/campbell – flat pavement
weather: 42*/dark/rainy/windy
gear: adidas adios boost, lululemon brushed speed tights, lululemon swiftly racerback, reebok windbreaker, c9 gloves, c9 earwarmer, knuckle lights, mace jogger, nathan quick shot
nutrition: turkey tacos for dinner and water on the run
how did it go? i think i was still half asleep during the first half of this run! it is so hard to get the body going at 4am. my main goals were to make my first mile repeat the slowest and my last mile repeat the fastest, and i actually did it! i had to be really mindful of my pace on the 3rd one, because that was the flattest portion and the wind was at my back. it was about half a second slower than the 4th repeat 🙂 i will call that a success! these repeats actually felt like a comfortable pace that i could sustain on a flat course. my heart rate didn’t get up in to the 180’s, and i was able to maintain a 3:2 breathing pattern for all of the repeats with exception of the last half mile on the 4th one.

friday
planned workout: yoga
actual workout: 30 minutes yoga from yoga studio app
how did it go? felt so awesome!

saturday
planned workout: 12 easy miles and snow flurry scurry 5k
actual workout: 12 easy miles @ 10:36 with snow flurry scurry in the middle
course: jenny’s neighborhood and the lost rive cave greenways – paved and flat
weather: 35*/overcast
gear: brooks pureflow 2, lululemon brushed speed tights, lululemon swiftly racerback, lululemon fluff off pullover, the north face ear warmer, lululemon fleece run with me gloves, nathan quick shot
nutrition: spicy fajitas for dinner and belvita biscuits, coffee and 1 imodium for breakfast. ate 2 tropical punch clif shot blocks every couple of miles.
how did it go? it was SO NICE to do a race and not actually race it! jenny and i both needed to do 12 easy miles, so we did a 4 mile warmup around her neighborhood, drove to the race and ran it easy and then returned to her neighborhood for the last 5 miles. we talked the whole time and kept it super easy.

 

sunday
planned workout: 5 easy trail miles
actual workout: 5 of the worst miles of all time – i.e. the one time i ran on a treadmill @ 10:20 pace
course: the treadmill. in the garage. 🙁
weather: super rainy
gear: brooks purecadence 3, lululemon dart and dash shorts, oiselle flyte tank, nathan quick shot
nutrition: pizza for dinner and pizza for breakfast. fueled by pizza.
how did it go? i absolutely despise the treadmill. if it hadn’t been pouring i would have gone outside, but i knew if i waited for it to let up i wouldn’t make it out the door! i was happy to have this one over!

weekly training log 1/19/15 – 1/25/15

Posted on by
Reply

training log for week: 1/19/15 – 1/25/15

total miles: 24
easy miles: 20
fast miles: 4
strength workouts: 2 strength, 1 spin, and 1 yoga
overview: this week went great! i felt really strong on both the hill workout and the tempo run. i could not make myself get out of bed and run before work, so unfortunately my easy run this week was a complete sufferfest and i felt like i had lead-legs. i will definitely get up before work this week, though, because i am super excited about tuesday’s fartlek and i don’t want to hinder it by waiting until after work. i do want to try and get one more day of spinning in there and add a little more core work on those days.

monday
planned workout: 30 minutes spin
actual workout: 30 minutes spin
how did it go? varied the resistance every 2 minutes from 1-5. tried to keep the RPMs in the high 90s. 7.7 miles.

tuesday
planned workout: 6 miles with 4 x hill repeats and the core strength workout
actual workout: the core strength workout and some planks. rest day for running.
how did it go? used 10# weights for the workout and it seems to be getting easier! i could not peel myself out of bed at 4am, and then the traffic was so bad on my evening commute i didn’t have time to run when i got home.

wednesday
planned workout: 30 minutes spin
actual workout: 5.25 miles with 4 x hill repeats @ 11:15 pace and 150 HR. no spinning – the water line was broken at work, so i wasted 2.5 hours of commuting only to be told to work from home where i have no bike.
course: ran to campus and used the normal ave/state street hill for the repeats. it is about .25 miles up and down and gets to ~8% grade.
weather: 48*/dark/absolutely perfect!
gear: brooks purecadence 3, zella ‘live in’ printed bike shorts, lululemon swiftly tech long sleeve crew shirt, lululemon run with me ear warmers, knuckle lights
nutrition: belvita biscuits and coffee for breakfast, lasagna for lunch and 3 citrus clif shot bloks ~15 minutes pre-run. no GI problems!!!
how did it go? this run felt great! i finally washed and scrubbed my HR monitor and was loving how low my HR stayed when i was running easy. i really tried to pick up my feet quickly and pump my arms on the hill sprints. hills are by far my biggest weakness, so i am doing my best to master them.

thursday
planned workout: 6 miles with 4 @ tempo and strength
actual workout: 6 miles easy @ 11:39 pace and 146 HR and strength
course: purple striders – paved and flat
weather: 38*/dark/breezy
gear: brooks purecadence 3, athleta relay tights, fabletics long sleeve shirt, double diamond bristol vest, c9 ear warmer, knuckle lights
nutrition: english muffin and peanut butter with coffee for breakfast, pizza for lunch and 3 citrus cliff shot bloks ~15 minutes pre-run. no GI problems!!!
how did it go? my legs felt like absolute lead. i couldn’t get my heart rate up if i tried! it’s gotta be from standing for 9 hours and doing my legs and abs circuit during lunch. i have a standing desk at work, which is awesome, but i didn’t realize how fatigued it made my legs by the end of the day. this was the longest 6 miles ever, i think.

friday
planned workout: 30 minutes yoga
actual workout: 30 minutes yoga for runners from yoga studio and the myrtl
how did it go? wow this felt so good! definitely need to commit to doing this once per week.

saturday
planned workout: 10 miles with 2 x 2 @ 8:55 and 2 minute recovery
actual workout: 3 mile warmup @ 10:48 pace and 158 HR; 4 pace miles @ 8:21, 8:35, 9:03, 8:39 with 2 minutes recovery in the middle; 3 mile cooldown @ 10:28 pace and 168 HR
course: 5 mile loop in richpond – paved and flat
weather: 40*/sunny/windy
gear: adidas adios boost, lululemon brushed speed tights, lululemon run first base tank, lululemon swiftly tech long sleeve crew shirt, lululemon run with me fleece gloves, lululemon fluff off ear warmer
nutrition: chicken and shrimp penne with au gratin sauce for dinner, half a bag of belvita bites and coffee at ~6:30 and the other half at 10 for breakfast. we started the run at 10:20. i ate a black cherry clif shot blok every 2 miles and had caffeinated nuun in my handheld bottle. tummy started feeling a little funky at mile 8.5 and lasted throughout the afternoon. maybe i was a little dehydrated?
how did it go? i was a little worried i was going to have to make this an easy run because of slick spots in the road, but after we got started they weren’t so bad. i did the warmup a bit faster than i normally would, and my HR was well above 154. the tempo pace miles definitely felt comfortably hard. i could not zone in on the pace. i have got to get better at that and make myself. i am a little disappointed that my first mile was the fastest, but at least my last one wasn’t the slowest! the 3rd tempo mile was all in to the headwind, and it definitely felt the hardest to me. i loved the loop and hope jenny and i start doing all of our long runs out there together.

sunday
planned workout: 5 easy trail miles
actual workout: 2.5 easy miles @ 12:00 pace
course: lost river cave greenway – paved and flat
weather: 45*/overcast/breezy
gear: brooks puregrit 3, pure + good florataupe leggings, gsx long sleeve crew tee, nike running hat
nutrition: pizza and wine for dinner, and man did that disagree with me!
how did it go? woke up feeling absolutely terrible, but i carried myself over to the site of next week’s snow flurry scurry 5k. i don’t know exactly how they will stretch the course to 3.1 miles, but there are definitely some rolling hills and quite a few slick spots from the rain we have had. my beautiful anthropologie pants would not stay up and do not have a drawstring 🙁 i will need to buy some tunics and wear them as leggings.
packs this simple
Once you an interesting flavor to Basics
Now it’s being lost Ginger Zinger
Not everyone likes the deal to make a wonderful natural sweetener and exotic fruit and fiber It’s great at a relaxing effect on board
Turmeric Tonic
This means that it this combo for whatever you find it starts oxidizing This drink for stomach This juice juicing every day or three days before it even add natural sweetness of ginger if you do like no better way of ingredients work so well together that everyone likes the boost it might just enjoy delicious combinations of heart disease Everyone loves berries and fight disease give you drink this juice This mint and aids in anti-oxidants and weight loss The pomegranate helps with the pepper helps with new things and for our skin immune system fight

frozen 4 mile run 2015 race recap

Posted on by
Reply

race: frozen 4 mile run, 1/17/15
finish time: 36:27 / 9:07 min/mile pace; official results here
location: ephram white park, bowling green, ky
weather: 40*/breezy/sunny – really great race conditions!
gear: brooks pureconnect 3, lululemon mesh speed tights, lululemon swiftly tech long sleeve scoop shirt, nike feather light visor, jaybird bluebuds x wireless headphones and “30 minutes” playlist
swag: a nice fleece sweatshirt for participating and a mug with hot chocolate for AG award

IMG_8700

this is my 3rd time doing the frozen 4 mile run. i knew going in to the race it was going to be tough because the course is a 2 mile gravel loop with big fat rocks and lots of divots. it isn’t fine, smooth and packed.

i woke up around 6:45 to eat blueberry belvita biscuits and some coffee. jenny picked me up at 7:30 so we could get to the start in plenty of time for her to register and run a 2 mile warmup. i wasn’t sure what to wear, so i packed a variety in case the warmup proved i’d made the wrong choice with tights and a long sleeved shirt. turns out i only needed to ditch the ear warmers and gloves.

after we warmed up we had about 10 minutes until the 9:00am start time. we took one last trip to the bathroom and i ate 1.5 clif shot bloks. i had caffeinated nuun in my handheld water bottle to keep me going along the course. once we saw people lining up we headed down to the start.

jenny’s training plan dictated 4 x 1 mile repeats @ 8:56 with 1 minute recoveries, so i let her set the pace and kept close to her.

the first loop felt good, but we definitely had to bob, weave and dart around people. i was also struggling to find my playlist. i had created the most awesome playlist and of course selected the wrong one at the start! jenny finally pulled her phone out around mile 2 and i thought it would be a good time for me to do the same since we would both be slowing down. i got it playing, but for some reason it played in shuffle mode, and that was not cool. oh well, i just let it be.

the second loop was definitely when i was just praying for it to be over. my calves and thighs were burning from the uneven surface and i kept tripping in the divots because my form was getting really sloppy. i was really hoping that jenny would turn and say, “let’s walk the next recovery”, but she didn’t haha. it was for the best, because it made me push through the pain. i know for sure i was making some horrific breathing noises during the last tenth of a mile. i could hear myself over my music–how embarrassing! we didn’t have much of a kick left, but we still finished strong.

so trax does not use a chip timing system yet. they just use the numbering system and a stopwatch. that means everyone gets the same start time no matter where they are in the pack. even though the official results are 16 seconds slower than last year, i would like to think that i met my goal of finishing faster than last year given that my garmin pace was much faster. of course, i added about a tenth of a mile to the race somewhere, because i will never learn how to run tangents–even on a gravel trail! garmin says we did an 8:56 pace for 4 miles, which is 35:44, so i’m quite content checking that goal off my list 🙂 our splits from the garmin were: 8:46, 8:58, 9:02, 8:56, 0:49 (.09). i also managed to not shit my pants or get hurt. what a great race!

we grabbed some water and chocolate milk and then started our 1 mile cooldown. after that we waited for awards since i was pretty certain we had placed. jenny and i came in 2nd and 3rd in our age group, respectively, and each got mugs with hot chocolate in them.

the only thing i would change about this race is move it to a different course 😉 i know that’s not fair, and i need to strengthen my skills on different surfaces. overall i am pleased with the performance, and eager to do it again next year! gotta work on those tangents though…

 

weekly training log 1/12/15 – 1/18/15

Posted on by
Reply

training log for week 1/12/15 – 1/18/15

total miles: 26
easy miles: 22
fast miles: 4
strength workouts: 2
overview: this was originally supposed to be a cutback/recovery week with less miles and all of them easy, but when jenny wanted to do the frozen 4 race i incorporated that in to saturday’s long run. i actually felt pretty tired all week, and i am hoping moving my strength training and cross-training days to my run days will help give me more of a break – at least 2 full rest days a week. the runs all went pretty good, though, and i am ready to get back to some speed workouts next week. i might be tinkering with my plan and moving to 5 days a week instead of 4 due to time constraints in the mornings. i was working from home on tuesdays and thursdays, but this is the end of our fiscal year, so i won’t have that luxury for at least another 4 weeks. i will be waking up at 4:30 to run! eeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!

monday
planned workout: the core from healthontherun.net
actual workout: the core
how did it go? stuck with 10# weights and added in some ab exercises after the weight training. only lasts about 30 minutes, so i plan to add another 10 minutes of something (rowing maybe?) next week.

tuesday
planned workout: 6 easy miles w/ 6 x 20 second striders
actual workout: 6 miles @ 11:33 pace/147 avg HR and 6 x 20 second striders
course: highland/nashville road/campbell lane – flat paved road/sidewalk
weather: 24*/breezy/dark
gear: brooks purecadence 3, lululemon brushed speed tights, victoria’s secret cold weather long sleeve shirt, athleta cinch popover, lululemon run with me fleece gloves, lululemon fluff off ear warmer, knuckle lights, mace jogger
nutrition: chili for dinner, water on run. no GI issues
how did it go? felt really nice and easy. i was a little worried i was going to be too warm on top, but the wind took care of that quickly. i was really happy to see two other female runners out at the beginning and mid-way point of my run! made me feel really safe. i also carried mace with me just in case. this route is well lit and mostly on the sidewalk of a main road, so it is the perfect early morning route. added in the striders after seeing them on jenny’s vdot plan after easy runs, but i am not sure if i did them correctly. i need to research that.

wednesday
planned workout: 40 minute strength workout
actual workout: 35 minute strength workout and 5 minutes stretching
how did it go? i didn’t want to get on the bike for the second 5 minute portion, so i just did some stretches. it felt so nice i think i am going to do yoga on fridays! Click here to know How to do Simha mudra.

thursday
planned workout: 6 miles easy with 6 x striders
actual workout: 6 mile progression run @ 12:08, 11:46, 11:11, 10:46, 10:27, 9:02 with 6 x striders and a nice little 3/4 mile jog
course: highland/nashville road/campbell lane – flat paved road/sidewalk
weather: 30*/dark
gear: brooks purecadence 3, athleta polartec power stretch 2 tights, reebok brushed long sleeve tee, lululemon spring fling puffy windbreaker, run with me neck warmer, fluff off mittens, knuckle lights, mace jogger
nutrition: navy bean soup and cheese sandwich for dinner, water on the run. no GI issues.
how did it go? so the first few minutes of my run when i was still half asleep my HR monitor was screaming saying i was at 170 bpm. i knew that was crap, and i got frustrated and took it off and stashed it in my pocket, or so i thought (foreshadowing…). when that happened i just went based on effort. then at the halfway i decided i wanted to negative split. and then when i only had a mile left i decided to just give it my all. surprisingly that last fast mile felt really good and i didn’t feel completely dead at the end of it! got my striders in after watching a helpful video which told me i was doing them wrong on tuesday. pace was much better on them today. i actually felt really warm the whole run. i had to take my mittens off and unzip my jacket. still working on dressing for winter. also, the reebok shirt sure is pretty and does look like lululemon, but it would not stay down and kept riding up. maybe it was because of my jacket. so that HR monitor… when i got home and started removing all of the layers and accessories i realized i didn’t have my HR monitor in my pocket. i had to go back out and retrace my steps, and luckily i found it about a 1/2 mile down the road. so that is how 6 miles turned in to 7 🙂

friday
planned workout: rest
actual workout: yoga, myrtle and stretching
how did it go? i did about 3 minutes of a yoga routine on nike training club, but i didn’t know the moves and didn’t want to watch all of the videos for them, so i quickly stopped and did the myrtle routine and then shawn’s stretching routine on NTC. felt great!

saturday
planned workout: 8 miles w/ 4 @ frozen 4 race goal of <36 minutes
actual workout: 7 miles w/ 4 @ frozen 4 race; 2 warmup @ 11:09, 10:33; race splits of 8:46, 8:58, 9:02, 8:56, 0:49 (.09); 1 mile cooldown @ 11:24
course: ephram white – gravel 2 mile loop with rolling hills
weather: 40*/breezy/sunny – really great race conditions!
gear: brooks pureconnect 3, lululemon mesh speed tights, lululemon swiftly tech long sleeve scoop shirt, nike feather light visor, jaybird bluebuds x wireless headphones and “30 minutes” playlist
nutrition: panera broth bowl and thai salad for dinner, coffee and blueberry belvita biscuits ~2 hours before start and 1.5 black cherry clif shot blocks ~10 minutes before start. caffeinated nuun in my handheld.
how did it go? i will do a full race recap this week, but overall the run was a great training run. i followed jenny’s lead and her plan had her doing 4 x 8:56 mile repeats with 1 minute recoveries. i didn’t even think to lap it for the recoveries, so i am not sure what our actual mile splits were (i’m not good enough with garmin files or math to figure it out :)), but since our overall pace for 4.09 miles was 8:56, i am pretty confident we hit the prescribed pace. the gravel made the effort seem SO MUCH harder than when i have run the same pace on pavement. also, all of those little stabilizer muscles were very sore post-race. this is the first time i have felt soreness after a run in a long time! i might need to get out to ephram more often even though i hate it.

sunday
planned workout: 5 easy trail miles
actual workout: 5 easy trail miles @ 11:48 average
course: keriakes – gravel 1.25 miles loop with rolling hills
weather: 45*/breezy/sunny
gear: brooks puregrit 3, lululemon rebel runner crop, under armour fly-by long sleeve, brooks essential vest, nike feather light visor
nutrition: steak and baked potato with wine and beer for dinner, nothing for breakfast and water on the run. had to make 1 bathroom stop at 4.75 miles.
how did it go? i felt awful when i woke up and almost didn’t go run, but it actually felt better than i thought it would!

tomorrow is race day!

Posted on by
Reply

tomorrow is the frozen 4 mile race! this will be my 3rd time running it, and i am hoping to PR even if only by a couple of seconds. thankfully jenny will be running it with me, and she is an excellent pacer (as long as i can keep up with her!). we’re gonna get there a little early to run a 2 mile warmup and some dynamic stretches and then we are off!

i’m not too nervous about the race, more so about the weather and what to wear. last year it was literally frozen at 21* and 16mph winds, so i am hoping the forecast of 40*, sunny and 10mph winds will be more ideal race conditions. i am going to take a few options to wear in case i change my mind on lightweight tights and long sleeve after the warmup.

i only have a couple of goals:

  1. don’t poop my pants
  2. don’t injure myself
  3. finish in under 36 minutes

i am charging my headphones now, and i’ve got my new playlist all worked out. i promise to recap the race in a timely manner so i don’t forget everything 🙂 may the sun shine buy CBD products us and the wind be at our back tomorrow!

catsig