Denouement

Ran 15k in the early morning.  Lots of rain.  From my house to Kowloon Tsai, so a tougher course for keeping a good pace. 4:52 ave pace.

45 min elliptical in the afternoon

core workout at night. 

AM: 8.1k at 4:45 ave pace

PM: Track workout, 10 x 800m on the 4 min, so just 1:20 rest between.  Turning the screw on the workout I did a couple of weeks ago where we took off on the 5 minutes and I averaged 2:39.4.  

Today though it was persistently raining, I even did half my warm up in a jacket but then got too hot-- I was soggy by the time the workout started.  I got a long warm up since Ali was not working out (did Macau Marathon this weekend) and I was going to do the workout with some fast dudes and they weren't ready by 7pm.  I warmed up 6.5k, pretty agitated and stressed to start (stressed because of the workout, I forgot my fast shoes, but then Ali lent me some flats, stressed because my Coach is leaving in 12 days, but who is counting?).  Anyway, here's how the workout went:

	Time	Split
1	2:42	77,84	Boys went out way fast, and I followed suit, felt worst in this one
2	2:39	78,81	78 felt much better than 77, but coach said I looked pretty awful in the first two reps (he told me this at the end of the workout, not like "michelle! you look awful!"
3	2:39
4	2:39
5	2:39		Coach gave us a slow lap jog, probably 4 minutes, I think specifically so I could have a bathroom break, I didn't say I needed one but I so did, and he knows me by now
6	2:38
7	2:39		some of the boys are losing steam and I am getting closer to them
8	2:38		one boy drops out of workout
9	2:39
10	2:32		I tell orange shirt boy to watch out or I'd get him.  I thought, "that's a sure way of helping motivate him to not let me get him" but in the second lap he kept looking over his shoulder for me, and let me catch him at 150m then we both sprinted to the finish.  I think he wanted to help me.
	2:38.4 ave pace

 

 So despite the long break in the middle, coach says this is a much more impressive workout than the other 800m workout, esp because of the rain and how yucky I looked at the beginning.  With such short rest, there was no jogging, I just walked and told myself to get my breathing in control and during the 800s I tried to be relaxed and smooth and did no sprinting to the finish (except the last one, of course). Long cool down with Coach, 6.5k, 4:50 pace

Thanks Ali for letting me borrow your shoes. They are a bit magical :D 

Horrible, horrible sleep!  Too pumped up from workout night before.

Went to a research seminar and was very excited to feel antsy to comment.  At most research seminars I have very little to say because I am so green in the academic world, but in this one I had to hold back, which was a long lost feeling, haven't felt that since staff meetings at work at my CPA firm in Utah, or since my masters program.  It was a good feeling.

After the seminar, I went for a run with Curtis, my ave pace shows 5:22, which includes the stairs up and down from Bowen Rd, but I know we were going a good pace (4:40-4:45 when we were actually on Bowen Rd).

Core workout in the PM 

5 hours of sleep!  What is wrong with me?  I need a nap.  Woke up at 5:10am to meet Roberto for a fartlek ladder.  With just 5 hours of sleep, I felt yuck-yuck.  But the pace is HM goal (3:40-3:45) so not like I have to have killer instincts to do this workout, and Roberto was there to help, and he was quite witty this morning so that was nice to wake up.  After 4.09k warm up (4:50 pace), we got to work.  Upward ladder with 1:30 rest between.

# min	Pace	Distance (k) think meters people
1	3:43	.27
2	3:43	.54
3	3:42	.81
4	3:43	1.08	legs starting to wake up
5	3:43	1.34	bowels have woken up, took about 2:30-3 min break for bathroom that wasn't right at the end of the rep
6	3:41	1.63
7	3:45	1.87	Roberto telling me to calm pace down, had to go potty again after this one but kept rest to 1:30 still
6	3:43	1.61
5	3:44	1.34	feeling tired
4	3:45	1.07
3:01	3:40	.82	Roberto peeled off for home after one minute, I continued on toward Tai Wai, watch on manual now so fartlek amounts are off by seconds because I am prone to error :/ (1:32 rest)
1:02	3:45	.28	was supposed to do two minutes but had to, had to go to the bathroom again, long bathroom break
3:02	3:40	.83	get myself back to workout fatigue mode to make the end feel like it is supposed to by redoing the last 3 minute bit, 1:30 rest
2:04	3:38	.57	1:32 rest
1:01	3:36	.29	done
53:10	3:42 ave pace	14.35K

Just 1 mile cool down.  Had to get home! 

So I felt fatigued and the three bathroom breaks made the workout a bit disjointed, but am happy it is done and I didn't flake.

11k easy, so hard to keep pace slow though, 4:38 ave pace

Core workout 

Easy run, have race next day. 

Ran 9k, then stopped and stretched, waiting for Paul (my Paul) to come.  He was doing an out and back 18 mile run, his first 18 mile run, and he was understandably concerned about the run.  He didn't know I was meeting him so it was a surprise, then I ran with him for a couple of k (pace in the 5:40's/k).  So my ave pace was 5:04 over all.  11.27k

Big adult christmas party with so much bad food. Did have some bad dips, etc but had no bad dessert, not a taste, for fear of stomach reprisal midrace the next morning.