Highs and Lows- Week 4

I gotta be honest...I'm sort of in a pissy mood today. Not sure I should be blogging my highs and lows while in a bad mood but I guess I wouldn't be "honest mother runner" if I always posted while in a good mood. Ugh. I'm totally rambling. Anyway...

Total miles this week: 43.18 (goal 42)

LOWS:

• I was forced to be flexible this week because we had a mini vacation planned to the family cottage at Lake Erie. I love the weekend trip but I hate running while I'm there. I don't know the town well enough to be comfortable with running on my own. In order to get my miles, I had to do my long run on Friday and my hilly run Sunday afternoon instead of morning.
• The summer sun is absolutely killer. I love running in the heat of the day more than most people. Until this year, I ALWAYS ran in the late afternoon during the summer. I think, because I've become a morning runner (reluctantly), I'm not used to the intense feeling of the afternoon sun. I had two midday runs this week that were actually very good runs but the sun made it more challenging.

  

  SO HOT!

• More friends out of town this week. They did not get approval from me to travel.

HIGHS:

• Hills. I did really well with my two hill workouts this week. They were both my midday runs mentioned above. I did shorter, steeper hill repeats this week (Emerald Parkway at Dublin Road) and managed to average 8:35-8:45 min/mile, including my downhill recovery, for my repeat miles. I then went back to Dublin yesterday and ran a route given to me by Jackie. It included almost every hill on Emerald and the up and down on Post Road. I averaged 8:33 for my almost 9 mile run.
• I got to run with Jackie TWICE! It's no secret that she's my BFF. Solo runs with her are rare nowadays so my cup overflows when I get them. I ran the last 14 miles of her 22 mile run. I was so glad I could be a part of that mileage PR (for training...the girl did her first full marathon this year!). I haven't even run a 22 mile training run before! We got to talk about life and be open and honest with each other...best thing ever. That's what keeps the bond strong. She also joined Amanda, Christine and me on a race pace run...which leads me to my final high of the week.

  

  Yacky Jackie and me.

• Race pace run. These are, by far, the scariest workouts EVER. I get so freaking nervous the night before. Self doubt consumes me. Not even a donut makes the negativity go away. I am so blessed to have a friend in Amanda. She has a niche for seeing peoples' potential and making that person believe they can accomplish what they feel is impossible. She is part of the reason I've been PR'ing all year long. She, along with my other running buddies, coach me through the tough runs. Amanda lead us through this run this week. She knew our goal and helped us to it...AND THEM SOME! I'm training as if I'm attempting a 3:30 marathon is hopes that I can at least get enough under 3:35 to qualify for Boston. This means that my race pace range is 8-8:12 min/mile. For this week's run, I was supposed to do 8 total miles with the middle 6 at race pace. We did so well that our overall average was 8:03 (including warm up and cool down miles) and our race pace miles progressively improved from  7:56 to 7:23!!! I was on cloud 9 after finishing this workout. The best part is that I felt good and relaxed during those fast miles. If I stay injury free and don't get pregnant, that goal is looking mighty achievable! 

  

  Race pace run splits!!

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What's next? This week, I have to be flexible again because I may have to do another Friday long run. I have 16 miles on the program...my longest run since my full marathon at the beginning of May! I'm not nervous at all about the distance but I am nervous about mixing in the race pace miles at the end of it. 

Happy running, friends!