Week 15 - last week of heavy training... then taper time

This was a good week with some variation in running paths and temperatures/humidity down a little bit in the mornings.  Afternoons have still been hot, but that's expected for mid to late September.

This week started out with a 7 mile run, followed by a 6 and a 5 mile. The 7 mile run was a little bit faster (10 mm) and the others about 10:30 mm.  Did some changes in my course to make it more interesting.  This will be my last 7 mile weekday run for a while because next week is taper.  Changed taper a little based on some new knowledge about not decreasing miles too much. 

The last run of the week was to be a 20 mile run.  Decided to do it on Sunday instead for just a change of pace, a chance to stay up a little later Friday night, sleep in a little Saturday morning.  Met up at 6am Sunday and the day was beautiful.  A little dark at 6am but we did bring our headlamps.  A few of the group wanted to start as early as 5am but I didn't feel like I could get up that early (plus the trail was a good 30 minutes from home) so I opted for 6.  When I got there, one of the two ladies continued with us and we stayed with her so she could finish her 20 and then we finished ours.  I never thought 20 miles could go that fast, but it did.  Even running at a slower pace.  I'm glad I ran it at a slower pace.  I feel like the "time on my feet" was better to estimate marathon feel.  It was all about the temperature and it finally felt good (55-65 degrees).  I really felt like I could have gone a few miles longer, even so I definitely can say I feel I've done my best in preparing for this marathon.  I head into taper feeling pretty pleased.  Now my goal is to try to rest up and hopefully do well with taper.  A little step down is sometimes good but there is something called the 'taper crazies' that many runners dread...

https://getgoing-getrunning.com/2015/01/31/the-causes-of-the-taper-crazies-and-how-to-get-over-them/

I'll have to read this later when they take full effect... for right now I'll enjoy the present moment.

Week 14 - 4 day running streak and Air Force 10k

So I'm getting sick of running the same routes all the time.

Decided to venture out of my comfort zone this week a little and set up a few new neighborhood paths to try.

Monday was a 6 mile run and it felt considerably cooler.  I tried a new neighborhood and did have to consult google maps to find my way back at one point.  I am certainly directionally challenged!  This neighborhood had a few different entry ways so when everything looks similar it can cause me to get turned around.  Managed about 10:26 mm pace for this one. 

Wednesday was a little longer at 7 miles . Had to cross a kind of busy road which I don't really enjoy doing, but it was the only way to get to a few new neighborhoods. I reevaluated the decision before the run, and since it's busy but only has 2 lanes and I'd be running during the daytime I felt ok about it.  I usually will not run on a road without a sidewalk just due to my own fears of cars hitting me.

But I looked at how long I'd even have to be on it and it wasn't long.  Basically just enough to get to the next turn for the following neighborhood.  So I decided on best practices during those runs, only on the left side of the road, no headphones in my ears during those times.  And I always wear a road ID bracelet.  The new neighborhoods felt like unexplored territory which was nice.  I had mapped out which roads and approximately how many miles.  Also, there is only one entry into each of the neighborhoods and the rest were cul de sacs so I felt like it would be hard for even me (as directionally challenged as I am) to get lost.  Managed a similar pace of 10:29 mm.

Thursday was a 6 mile run again.  Ran a 10:07 mm pace on a not very exciting route (mostly main streets with sidewalks). I was able to get negative splits so that felt good.

Friday I hadn't planned on running because I had a race scheduled for Saturday and was figuring out how I was going to get 12 weekend miles.  The race was a 10k so I randomly surveyed some of my running group and luckily someone was available Friday afternoon.  I hadn't run with her before and she has a faster pace but she was nice enough to slow it down for me.  She had run a trail race Thursday and was ok with that.

However, did not anticipate the heat which made me have to stop several times.  I apologized but she didn't mind the stops.  Then a train crossed the road we were running on which made for an unexpected break.  Finished this one at about 10:09 mm pace which wasn't bad considering I had to stop a few times.

Saturday was race day.  It was a bit complicated as this was the Air Force Marathon, Half, 10k all starting on the same day.  The 5k was the night before.  I drove Friday night to my friend's house.  She had picked up all of our stuff for us so that made it easier.  It also was good to have a place to stay.  The next morning we got up early at 4am because our plan was to catch the shuttle over to the race start line.  We heard thunder at 4am but were hoping the storm might leave before the race.

We got ready and left at 5am after eating something, We arrived for the shuttle around 5:20 and got on.  Then the shuttles didn't move for an hour.  No one told us what was going on so I checked on my phone.  Start was supposed to be at 7:30.  However, there was still lightning in the area, so the start was delayed until 8am.   Eventually around 6:15 the buses moved to the start.  I didn't mind too much because I was sitting.  I'm not sure how fun it would be if you were standing on the bus.  They had asked everyone to stay in their vehicle due to the storm.

I was sitting next to a person running the full so we talked about his training and how he was hoping to finish today.  The ladies I came with were sitting on a different part of the bus due to lack of seating.

Once we got there it looked like the storm was gone.  The sky started to clear and we found a place to sit in one of the tents with tables and chairs.  Things got underway, and I enjoyed the course, especially the two Ospreys that flew over before the start.  We did a 10/2 interval plan which was my friend's goal and finished better than she expected.  The water stops were frequent which was great.  Also got a really awesome medal, shirt, patch and a hat.

(Our commemorative patch)

(Shoe selfie!)

(Front and back of medals)

Would recommend this one to others.  It does tend to be  hot time of year so as long as the weather cooperates, it would be enjoyable.  The only downside is that it's not very shady being on base and on main roads a lot of the time.  But it was cloudy most of the time for us, so it wasn't too bad.  The humidity was a little bit high but it wasn't full sun.

Next week is a bigger week mileage wise.  7/6/5/20 total of 38 miles.  Then it's taper time!  I may revise my taper plan a little upon getting some new advice about cutting back mileage 20% the first week of taper and 25% the second week.  More on that later.

Week 13 - You know you're a runner when you buy stylish compression socks to wear with your work outfits

Monday was a 6 mile day but was also Labor Day.  I signed up for a community race several months ago and forgot about it somewhat.  Then I saw packet pickup was on my calendar and remembered.  So I made a plan to meet a new person I haven't run with before at the start of the race about an hour beforehand.  Enjoyed running with a new person, always makes for new conversation.  I did 2.3(ish) miles to warm up for the race with her (avg pace 9:57). I remembered that when I ran this race last year it was only 3.8 miles instead of the 4 miles it was billed to be.  I had a really great result last year and it would have been a PR.  But I was hesitant to count it last year because it was significantly shorter than 4 miles.

This year's plan was to push it pretty hard and maybe even to the max of my comfort level to try to PR again.  I am typically competitive with myself when I'm running a race I already did (can current me beat younger me kind of thing).  My hope was that it would be closer to 4 miles this time. I discovered upon arrival at the start, that they changed the course slightly and moved the start to a farther away location.  This made the race 3.91 miles... according to my watch anyway.  Once again I pushed myself more than I usually would.  The first mile was really fast (for me, anyway) and I looked down and saw 8:42 at the beep.  The day was far cooler and less humid than last year's same race.  The next 2.91 miles I had between 8:57-9:04 but basically was able to hold a pretty good pace.  I've decided to count the new PR for 4 miles but I'm not sure if it's really accurate.  However, I asked the question "Had I not been wearing my watch, would I have counted this as a 4 mile PR?" I probably would have.... So I will... but it's unlikely I'll be beating that one for a while, if ever...

I hadn't run a race where I really felt compelled to go fast in a while.  Usually my body and mind are screaming at me to quit running so fast if I get that pace in a training run.  I've also been training in extremely hot/humid weather and since it's a marathon distance with long runs 13+ I've been working on pulling the pace to a slower and more comfortable level . So with this in mind, I wasn't actually sure if I could do a less than 9 min/mile pace for any longer than a mile at this point.  I found myself pleasantly surprised.  The weather being better certainly helped.

This race prompted me to think about post marathon goals.  I signed up for 3 relatively inexpensive 5k's (Thanksgiving Day, December/holiday themed, and New Year's Day).  Other than that, I only have one other race (a mid January 7.5 miler) planned for 2017.  I have a half marathon in late March/early April in mind but so far no registration opening for that one.

So, I'm thinking after this I need to chill out some.  That doesn't mean I'd never try to do another full, but maybe it would be better for a milestone birthday coming up...

It crosses my mind periodically that I'd like to run a sub 2 hour half marathon some day.  Then I start to wonder if I'd really be able to hold that pace for that long.. another thought for another day... maybe a new training plan required for this goal.

Ok, I digress...

Wednesday did 7 miles which was a step down from my midweek run last week which was 8 miles.  I welcomed the break and ran at a decent pace. (10:18)

Thursday felt some fatigue and the heat/humidity was awful so was able to do about 5 miles just over 11min/mile.  I realized that after the race Monday and then 2 other fast(ish) runs this week that I needed to have a more relaxed pace.  I also tried running in a new neighborhood for about a mile and found out that it was hilly and the lack of sidewalks made it mostly unpleasant.  Not sure I'll be going there again.

Saturday had a 19 miler on the schedule and agreed to meet at a different trail because as mentioned earlier, I'm getting sick of the same places and same trails.  Met some other runners getting 19 miles as well at 6(ish)am, but now it's dark at that hour so I brought my headlamp.  I didn't realize it was so low on battery so the light was kind of eh... But it got me through the first 3.5-4 miles until the sun came up, and we met up with a local running group at 7 who were planning on 15 miles.  I really enjoyed the trail and it didn't seem that bad.  It was a shady trail for the most part.  There was one spot where the sun was out that seemed unbearable, but it was over after a few miles.  19 miles actually went rather quickly, considering...as quickly as 3.5 hours of running can go.  Kept a decent 11 min/mile pace.  Considering it was 73 degrees and high humidity when we started, I was happy with this.  It was nice to run with a group again because the 18 miler was tough to do solo.  Distance PR!  Until the 20 mile run in 2 weeks.

Next week is a shorter long run . Then one last week with a long run until taper...

Week 14 will be: 6/7/6/12  =31 miles.  I might need to break the 12 miler up into two 6 mile runs due to my weekend schedule.  But that's ok.  I could use a change.

Week 12... a fun week with great weather

I really enjoyed this week of training.  And the reason why was that I tried some new areas to run and just focused on getting it done.

Temperatures and humidity were far better this week.  My pace saw a dramatic improvement.

5 miler on Monday... modified a neighborhood path a little to make it slightly longer and a little more interesting.  10:29 pace... felt nice and not too rushed.

8 miler on Wednesday, ran out and back a different route.  I had been going to the metropark but decided to try something different.  Not sure if I actually liked the route or not, but the run felt good.  It was hotter at that point though.  Pace was 10:42

5 miler on Thursday, a good pace day (9:53).  Same path as Monday . But I like this way enough that I might keep it as a regular rotation for 5 mile possibilities.

13 miler on Saturday (had to make it 13.14 though because that seemed better to run a half marathon distance... yes, I'm weird like that).  10:18 pace which I was really happy with.  I haven't run that fast on a long run in quite a while.  The nice part was it felt great during the whole run.  Didn't even think I was really pushing it because I didn't look much at my watch . I love those kind of runs.  A funny thing did happen to me, though.  At the running group Saturday we typically take a weird route to get to the park.  I forgot where the turnoff was due to my spacing out during a good song and missed the point I was supposed to turn into the woods.  I found myself looking around, and all the condominiums there look pretty much the same.  Found a way to get back on track but it was a weird feeling.  I get lost sometimes, I admit it...

Next week I increase again... doing a 19 miler (wow) next weekend.  Already planned with someone else training for the marathon where we're going to meet.  It will be a different trail but that's fine with me, because my old hangouts are getting old...

Next week: 6/7/5/19...37 miles... another high mileage week.  Going to take this long run a little slower on purpose.