HHH: Week 4

Hilly Half Hustle

 

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James at the Wolverine Chase.

 What an eventful week! My main focus this week was making sure I was ready for race day and ready to conquer my longest long run thus far. I can't believe I'm only two weeks away from my race!! I'm very excited, but I really need to look at the course map and figure out my strategy with the hills (remember it's a "moderately hilly" course in Nashville...whatever that means!). I'm confident I can get my goal of 1:50 if I play it smart.

 

• 11/21: 6 miles, 9:46/mile. Hill repeats. After a slow two mile warm up...10:27 and 10:13...(Noemi and I had no idea we were going so slow...it was so cold that I didn't notice anything!), we hit up the hill at the dam for repeats. I completed 6 repeats (approx. a quarter mile each) and ran a cool down until I reached 6 miles. The hill felt so hard, but I remember it feeling hard when I was in good shape. It's a tough one.
  

  

  Baby, it's cold outside! [Noemi, ME]

• 11/22: 9.4 cycling miles, 35:45; upper body circuit. I wanted to knock out my monthly goal of 30 cycling miles, so I rode until it happened. I opted for upper body so I wouldn't be too sore on race day.
• 11/23: REST.
  

  

  James wanted to hold Roop. SOOO sweet.

• 11/24:RACE DAY! 2.01 mile warm up, 8:56/mile; 3.99 mile race, 7:41/mile; 1.07 mile cool down, 9:33/mile. You can check out my RACE RECAP for details!
  

  

  Turkey Trot crew.

• 11/25: Leg circuit. Basically everyone I know was off work today,  but I had the joy of working. I was too lazy to workout in the morning and forgot to do it after work. I had to knock it out while Ruthie was napping and James was taking a bath...but I got it done.
• 11/26: 13.15 miles, 8:36/mile. My long runs keep getting longer! After a couple of weeks running 12 miles, it was time to move up. At least now I know I can complete the distance of a half marathon. Every time Amanda offers to run with me, I get nervous!! I'm not sure why because she's never left me dead on the road. She took me on a Tour de LC. The first half of our run was the hillier portion (although the back half felt like it might have had some inclines...or maybe I was just getting tired). I realized when I got to her house that I forgot my gels so I couldn't practice nutrition during this run. Just like last week, I felt fine until the last 4 miles. That's when I started to feel my leg workout from the night before. I do wonder if having a gel might have helped a bit. Either way, we stayed pretty consistent with our splits (minus miles 6 and 10 which were in the 8:50s...we cranked out our fastest mile at the end to make up for it). Overall, very happy with the run. It does take me back 2 years when Jackie and I first started running with Amanda. I didn't realize my potential until she pushed us a bit. I'm happy to have a whole crew of besties to push me now!
  

  

  Happy face after my long run!

• 11/27: 6 miles, 9:10/mile; CORE. It was another bRUNch day with my pals! I'm starting to love these little get-togethers. We went to Fox in the Snow, again, for those that couldn't attend a couple of weeks ago. Jackie, Megan, and I were all a little tired from our long runs the day before so we made sure to keep it easy. After the holidays, I'm hoping to arrange a bRUNch in Grandview!
  

  

  COFFEE!! [Meg, Jackie, ME]

 

After an exciting week of training and racing, I'm hoping for something more low key this week. Happy Running, friends!

 

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Side Note: I decided to take some pics of my postpartum mid section progression. I'm still pretty flabby but the weight is slowly coming off and my shape is slowly coming back. I'm excited to say that I was able to button up my favorite pair of jeans this morning! Woo Hoo!!!