This week I’m ready to crank it back up. I won’t be doing mega mileage again yet, probably under 100, but lots of speed, mountains, and quality- the rest will just be junk miles – which are only in there to keep my distance strength & fitness up for competing in 100s. <–That’s my sched. Will it actually turn out that way? Prob not, but if I’m smart, I WONT GO OVER.Here we go!
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Sun 13 miles single track trail moderate pace with friends. Really enjoyed hearing stories from the girls, they crack me up!:) I’m used to running long by myself, so it was a bit refreshing to run with others for once. I thought my legs would be torn up for running over a marathon yesterday, but they weren’t bad. I hadn’t done anything too long since AO100 in early Dec, so that was a nice surprise.
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Mon 100 chin to ground pushups for breakfast, & Dan got home from work a little late, so ran out of time to do my 13mi trail run. Did 8 easy in 1:04 and saw a beautiful winter sunset. Will have to add the additional miles in tomorrow after speed work.
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Tue well this day turned out a little strange. On my menu I had 10×800’s at 3:00min each. However, my plans changed when yesterday, I had 3 awesome emails in response to the article I wrote about Anita for Ultrachicks. I decided I would hit the woods for a celebratory solo ultra after a short speed work session! But things never turn out the way you plan, and when I hopped in the car to take Brook to school before the workout, my engine wouldn’t turn over. Piece of crap car! So my mom took Brook to school and I was stuck home without trail time. Thankfully, my client Traci was home from work and wanting to do her speed work by the track next to my house. So off to the track we went! I had Traci working on her self-push speed for her first marathon, while I did my own 800s. My first 800 was a brisk 2:51. AND IT DIDN’T HURT! I was shocked. I normally struggle to go under 2:58. So I bargained my workout, and decided to see how long I could carry the speed. Turns out I had plenty of speed in me! We did a 1 mile warm up, then 4 800’s with easy 400’s in between for recovery. I hit 2:51, 2:52, 2:54, and 2:49. Then the bottom dropped out of the sky and started pouring hard during the next 400. We scampered out of the rain & decided to take the workout to the garage where we did some core work. 20 full weighted situps, 10 pushup rows, 20 ab straps, and 30 curls x2. Then the rain stopped, and I decided to finish out my mileage. I ran to the local shopping center & back on a busy road (7 miles) in 55 mins despite stopping for lights, etc. So I didn’t do anthing I had planned, but turned out to be a very fun & effective training day!! Very very interested to see how my next speed work session goes & how many repeats I can hit with those times.
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Wed today was supposed to be a Q1. I do my tempos on trail, because that’s usually where I need to perform. Once I got on the trails though, there was a ton of mud and puddles, and I was wearing flats- so I opted to take it easy to avoid an epic fail. Truth be told, I probably needed the easy miles anyway. Pulled out my headphones, and coasted to some heavy blues for 12 miles of singletrack & also did 3 additional miles in the evening training Cindy (Who is dominating her workouts! Way to go, woman!) I’m at 47 or so for the week so far. Tomorrow I think I’m gonna knock out the Q1 with my mountain miles. I also have a 20 miler with Traci Saturday. So [I’m eating my words] but I (might) be well into triple digits by the end of Saturday. Could be a big mistake with all of the quality workouts this week, but I’m listening very closely to my body. I’ll pull back if I need to tomorrow.
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Thur today was AWESOME! The Stone Mountain 5 mile loop is my favorite paved loop to run- it’s got lots of challenging hills, tons of regulars to make friends with, and of course the ginormous rock at the center of it for strength and cardio training (and sulking on top of when you’re not happy). I needed to make up the quality workout I skimped on yesterday, and I needed hills, so I combined them all. When I have to do a Q1orQ2, I scope out the park for the fittest runner I can find so I can get in race mode–I let em take off about 2 mins before me- then take off for my loop in the opposite direction (fully knowing that most of the runners actually run the 4.79 mile loop instead of turning off to complete the real 5 miles So I have to work extra hard.) I decided to take the first loop easy to warmup, and finished the first 5 in 42 mins (8:24 per mile). When I got back around, I found my guy! This insanely ripped black man dressed head to toe in spandex was starting a loop in the opposite direction, and took off at a decent quip. So I started my clock and took off at what felt like a comfortably hard pace determined to beat him back around. My Q1 just called for a chunk of mileage at race pace, so I didn’t push to threshold. However, I got a huge smile on my face when 3 miles in, I finally passed my rabbit (at his 2 mile mark) Yeaaauh. We exchanged some competitive glances (he knew he’d been defeated) then I continued to surge all the hills for training & finished that loop in 33:30 (6:42 per mile). Then I decided to hit the mountain for more cardio. I CANNOT WAIT TO TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT THIS DUDE THAT TRIED TO RACE ME UP THE MOUNTAIN- but I gotta save it for my next blog post! This one is way long. Anyway, I pushed pretty hard up my mountain, and raced back down, then I finished out another 5 miles for a cool down in 39 minutes (7:48 per mile). So today was pretty great for training! I felt good the entire time- didn’t redline myself- and the weather was gorgeous. I ran 17.6 miles, though I really only needed 10 or so. To top off an awesome training day- I came home to an email that Brooks gave me 2 pairs of shoes, 4 shirts, running tights, shorts, gloves, arm sleeves, and a bra. SWEEEEEET!!!!! All things to smile about!:)
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Sat was insane. Traci and I set out to do 20 in the pouring rain, and in the middle of it, a tornado siren started wailing. We found some bikers who were finishing up their route who checked into the weather for us & said there was nickel sized hail in the area. So despite me wanting to push Traci through the rain, I’m not THAT crazy. We only finished 12.5 Later in the evening I squeezed in a 5 mile tempo.
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ASHRUNS100s 