Training Updates

I needed my rest week last week! My ankle is still s-l-o-w-l-y healing up, but my sacrum/hip was starting to get achy again as I ramped up my mileage. So after 4 weeks of building, last week was an easy week with easy runs and lots of my old PT leg exercises - my legs were actually tired most of the week from doing my exercises, but they got a nice break from the pounding of running.

Now it's time to build for another 3 weeks before 1 final easy week and then the "Loony Challenge" (TC 10K and 5K on the morning of Oct 4, and the great TC 10 Mile the next morning).

On Saturday, I headed out for some 1-mile repeats to kick off another week of building miles. I did the same "street route" that I did about 2 weeks ago, but I forgot to look up my previous times before the workout. I THOUGHT I ran 5:52s last time, but I really ran 5:48s (I thought it was 2 seconds slower than 5:50, but it turns out it was 2 seconds faster). So I was pretty happy with my first 5:49 interval, thinking it was faster than 2 weeks before. I ran 5:49, 5:46, and 5:52, averaging 5:49. So they were 1 second slower than 2 weeks earlier, but I felt a LOT better, so that's worth something. Right?

Yesterday, I wanted to do a 10+ mile run. I looked back to my time training with Coach Jen in 2010 leading up to my 59:05 TC 10 Mile, and I found a 10 mile run that I decided to "copy." But I knew this would be slower. Duh. The workout was a 2 mile WU, then 5 miles descending to ALL OUT pace, then a 3+ mile CD. I felt good throughout, and I descended my middle 5 miles in 6:36, 6:19, 6:16, 6:20, and 6:00 (31:31 for those hard 5 miles). Again, I forgot to look at my times with Jen from 2010, but when I did, I saw that my final 2 miles were 5:52 and 5:47 for a 29:32 total over those hard 5 miles. So I was 2 minutes slower. Dang.

If I ran 2 minutes slower over these 5 miles this year, I'm not sure if it's correct to say I'd expect to be about 4 minutes slower over the TC 10 Mile. (1:03:05 vs 59:05.) But that doesn't take into account having tired legs from the 10K and 5K the day before. So here's my first TC 10 predictions: A great day would be sub-1:04, and a pretty good day would be sub-1:05. I just better finish sub-1:10. In my 5 previous 10 mile races, I (chronologically) ran 1:02:42, 1:02:19, 1:02:43, 59:05, and 1:01:20. Three of those (the first and then the last 2) were TC 10 Milers.

Three final thoughts:

• Looking back on my training with Coach Jen from 4 years ago, I saw that I didn't run nearly as much as I thought I did. Training for my 59:05 TC 10 Mile, I only did two 10 mile runs and one 11 miler as my 3 longest runs. My first thought when I realized that was "maybe I won't build to 12+ miles in 2 weeks." But then I realized with a 10K and 5K that race weekend as well, some more miles would probably be OK. But if I feel achy/crappy during my final "build" week, I won't feel bad rolling back my 12+ miler by a mile or 2.

• I'm the fattest I've ever been. More weight = extra slow. But more muscle = less possibility of getting injured over 3 races that weekend. In 2010, I was floating around 151-153. The next year, I was lighter (150-151). Right now, I'm always around 160-163. Dang.

• I think I felt so great during these last 2 hard runs because I was well rested from last week. Note to self: don't overdo it leading up to the TC 10. I'll really lay off the PT leg exercises leading up to the race to feel extra fresh. If anything, I want to err on the side of TOO rested.

On an unrelated note, Henry started preschool today. Here are 2 photos from my Instagram page:

"First day of pre-school. Not to sound cliché, but where does the time go?!?"


"I left Charlie in Henry's basket at pre-school. I'll pick him up on Thurs."

When Pharmie picked him up, she saw other kids running out into their parent's arms. Henry just sauntered out and gave a wave. What a goof.