Emily's training blog

I could have probably used one more recovery day.  I was not feeling so fresh and peppy this morning.  But, I realized that I hadn't done any speed since Thursday, and the morning was actually very nice.  So, off to the park I went for a fartlek run.

I ran a 20 minute warm up to Valley Park.  Then, I ran 1min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 5 min, 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, with  a 1-1-2-2-3-2-2-1-1 recovery.  Something kept twinging in the outside of my left quad, and my left hamstring is very tight.  I cooled down with a 15 minute run back to my house.  I spent some extra time stretching, and incorporating my favorite torture device, the foam roller.  I think it is time to re-instate the ice-bath, since I have so many sore body parts. 

I'm trying to front load the week a bit.  I'm running a 10k on Saturday, and would like to feel a little better than today.  Hopefully, I can recover well on Thursday and Friday.

It was raining hard again this morning.  What else is new?  So, it was a treadmill day.  I ran an easy eight miles.  I definitely felt yesterday's workout.  The foam roller seemed to help my left leg a bit.   Today and tomorrow will be longer, and then I get to recover a couple of days.  I plan on running another 4 tonight.

PM  4.5 miles easy.  I ran some loops through the neighborhood.  Definitely have some tight spots that aren't recovering very well.  Time to stretch and ice.

I felt better today than I thought I would.  I still have dead legs, and my left hip is still tight, but I didn't feel like I was going to fall apart any second.  So, that's an improvement! 

I met Devra and Karla at Murray High to run Devra's track workout with her.  She is racing Saturday, so had a short workout of 2 800's at 2:45, followed by 2 400's at 80, with 3 minutes recovery between the 800's, and 1:30 recovery between the 400's. 

We warmed up with a 3 mile run through Murray Park.  After a few strides we began the workout.  We ran 2:45 for the first 800, jogged 400 meters, and then ran 2:43 for the second 800.  After anonther 400 jog we ran 77 for the first 400, and 78 for the last 400.  I felt pretty good all things considered. 

I needed more mileage, so we headed back over to Murray Park and ran 10 x 1 minute on 1 minute off, followed by a mile and a half cool down.  That gave us 10.35 for the day.

I'm glad I made it through today's workout, and I am even happier that now I get 2 days of recovery before Saturday's race!

Recovery starts today.  It is very much needed!  I ran very easy today.  It didn't seem to matter, my legs were dead for the first 4 miles, but seemed to revive a touch after that.  I'm glad I have a short one tomorrow.  I am excited to race on Saturday.  It sounds like the race will be good and competitive.  It will be a good measuring stick of where my fitness is. 

I ran out to 4800S, down to the River trail, out to the 4 mile mark, and turned around and came back.  It was windy, and I didn't appreciate the headwind coming back.  I wish the weather would get consistently nice, soon.   Tired legs and crappy weather made for a cranky Emily this morning.  But, it's done.

When I got home, Teren, Lily, and I went to Cole's last day of pre-school program.  I can't believe the year is over all ready.  I also can't believe what a sap I am!  Parenthood turns you to mush when you see your babies achieving those milestone.  Cole is growing up faster than I am ready for.  At least he has one more year of pre-school before I have to face the first day of kindergarten.  Now, what am I going to do with a busy 4-year-old all summer?

I went to Liberty Park today for some soft surface running.  I ran 3 laps around the park on the outside path.  Then, I ran 8 x 100 meter strides to get some turnover in for tomorrow.  My legs felt much better today than they did yesterday.  When I got home I took a 15 minute ice bath, much to the delight of Cole.  He kept taking ice cubes out of the bathtub.  At least he didn't eat them.  When I ice with an ice baggie, he likes to lick the ice.  I don't think he has ever seen me take an ice bath before, so he was fascinated.  I'm sure he thinks his mom is really weird, but given enough time, being part of a running family will seem perfectly normal.

I feel good and ready for tomorrow.  I'm really excited to race!

I knew that I would be racing on tired legs today, even though they did feel better than a couple of days ago.  I could feel it in my warm-up, but I tried to put it out of my mind and concentrate on my race plan.  I thought I could run at least 6 minute pace, with an outside goal of breaking 37 minutes.  I knew that Andrea North would be in the field, and I had heard good things about how fast she was, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. 

My race plan was to run steady for the first two slightly uphill miles, and then push hard on the downhill through miles 2-5, and then hopefully have a strong lead going into the last mile.  I erased my splits off of my watch, but they weren't helpful anyway since the race doesn't know how to accurately measure a mile.  I ran anything from a 6:30 mile to a 4:52 (yay, me!) throughout the race.  It was frustrating not knowing where I really was in the race. 

For the first five miles I stuck to my plan.  I lead the first mile, and Andrea took over in the second mile.  At mile 2, I started to push to pull back even with Andrea.  I pulled ahead at 3 miles, and led until five miles.  When we turned back onto 400 East, I started to run out of gas.  Andrea passed me, and instead of sticking close I let her go.  I am very disappointed with my last mile.  Andrea ran awesome, and may have beat me anyway, but I mentally threw in the towel, instead of sticking it out and pushing the last mile.  I've been beating myself up ever since!  I was completely unfocused the entire mile. 

On a more positive note, I ran the pace I thought I could, and I think the race indicates an increase in fitness.  I have only been training consistently for four weeks, so it is just a start.  I am happy with the week's training.  I may have overdone the intensity a little, but my miles are increasing, and I'm sure the paces will come down.  When I am tired for a race, I need to remember the bigger picture, my half marathon in 4 weeks, and more importantly, a successful fall marathon.

I warmed up three miles, and cooled down three with Kristen and MaryAnne.  I thought of adding an additional mile to finish out the week at 60, but since I had only planned to hit 55 this week anyway, I thought it was a little unnecessary.