Hoka 10k 2018

Hoka 10k 2018

Sunday, June 25, 2017

CSWS: Week 5

Can't Stop, Won't Stop
 
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Such a sweet face to come home to.
 
I'm not so full of words today. I guess I had a pretty good training week. I had to switch things around a bit in order to do my long run on Friday. I introduced Sarah K. to my crazy love for the track, and FINALLY got to enjoy a run with Sarah D and company. A little weather drama led to an unexpected successful 16 miler, and I ended the week with a run at my favorite place in Columbus.
 
  • 6/19: 8.12 miles, 8:47/mile. I guess overall average doesn't matter since it was track day. Workout: 2 mile warm up, 12 x 1 minute fartleks with 1 minute recovery, 3 mile cool down. I ran my warm up solo from my house to meet Sarah at the track. I imagine she wanted to kill me for making her meet me so early (we usually meet at 5:30!). Ha! I'm glad she joined me because we killed that workout!! I ran about the same distance as I did 4 weeks ago when I had 1 minute intervals (approx. 250-275 meters) meaning I ran in the high 5s and low 6s for that short distance. I was feeling good for the first five, but started feeling it after that. It was hard and glorious at the same time. After the intervals, Sarah and I ran to her car, and I finished my cool down in my hood. It was nice running on my home track for a change.
    Love my Asics.
  • 6/20: 6 miles, 8:52/mile; Arm workout, 30 minutes. I posted looking for an easy run for today and Sarah D. made it happen for me (along with some other ladies). I don't always have the chance to run with her (which makes me sad, y'all). I woke up expecting to run in the range of 9:30-10. I let Sarah take the lead so I wasn't tempted to go too fast...I wanted my easy day! Umm...this girl, the same one that denies she is fast, ran us to an 8:52 average!! I was impressed, but also fully ready to blame her if my legs didn't feel rested for my steady state run tomorrow. ;)
    The Tuesday Crew! [Beth, Emily, ME, Jen, Sarah, Elise]
  • 6/21: 8 miles, 8:46/mile; Yoga in the Park, 1 hour. Steady State Run (5 miles at 8:22-8:32, 10-20 seconds slower than race pace). A huge group of us met for our respective speed workouts...well, the others were running speedy...Katie and I ran a more moderate pace. I was happy she was willing to stick with me for this one. I had a rough start because sleep has been lacking. I warned everyone that I was in a "mood." Katie refused to let me feel like crap and chatted me up until my attitude turned around. Miles 5-7 felt a little challenging because we were going up a slight incline most of the time. Not gonna lie...I was ready for that cool down mile. Just wasn't my best run. I should've felt better. My steady state splits were 8:27, 8:32, 8:33, 8:17, 8:20. Later that evening, I joined Sarah K. for a free yoga event in Dublin to celebrate International Yoga Day.
  • 6/22: Rest...from running anyway. I did a quick 15 minute ab workout after work (along with foam rolling of the butt). After the kids went to bed, I practiced some yoga moves. I was so close to doing my long run tonight. I planned to do it Friday morning so my husband and I could enjoy a night out on Friday (and the opportunity to sleep in on Saturday). The freaking forecast sucked. Ugh. I was so pissed. Looks like I'll be running long on very little sleep and a potential hangover.
  • 6/23: 16 miles, 8:51/mile. So...as you read from yesterday, I thought I was stuck running long on Saturday. I randomly woke up at 4:20 a.m. and decided to check my phone for some reason. I had a text from my friend Jessie that the weather was clear and a group was still running 7 miles at 5 a.m. I looked at the weather to see if it would be clear for my entire run...NOTHING! I was slightly annoyed because I had already given up on running long today and had nothing prepped. I'm so glad I got out of bed because I would have regretted missing the opportunity to get this run out of the way. I scrambled to get dressed, get my fluids, nutrition, and gear gathered, and head out the door. I ran my first 7 with Katie, Jessie, and Tamara (9:44, 9:23, 9:08, 9:14, 9:05, 9:08, 9:18).
    Just missing the life of the party (a.k.a. Katie). [Tamara, Jessie, ME]
    I was solo for the rest of it, but surrounded by a lot of fellow runners on the road. I convinced myself that I couldn't tolerate race pace miles today. I was mentally prepared to fail, but I also didn't care. I just wanted to get the miles. As I was approaching 10 miles, I remembered Tamara telling me that I didn't necessarily have to do 4 race pace miles in a row. She suggested splitting it up with recovery periods. I decided to try mile 11 at race pace to see how I felt. It actually felt awesome so I decided to try another one. Those two miles were 7:57 & 8:06 (goal was 8:12 so a little fast). It was gel time so I decided to just do a recovery mile (8:56). I followed that up with two more faster miles (7:55, 7:53) and a cool down mile (8:43). Phew. DONE. Now I can go party it up with my boo.



  • 6/24: Rest. Enjoyed some amazing time with my family. Such a great day.
    Breakfast for two. [South of Lane]

    Muffin making with Baby Boo.

    My sweet lady.
  • 6/25: 6.27 miles, 9:51/mile; Hatha Yoga class, 1 hour. Highbanks...my favorite place to run. It's pretty and hilly. What more could a runner ask for?! I got to see some new faces and faces I haven't seen in a while. I got to run with Theresa for the first time in forever and even enjoyed a walking cool down with her so that we could catch up on some things. It was certainly a great start to my day.
    
    What a crew we had at Highbanks! [Rachel, Elizabeth, Theresa, Hannah, Meg, Megan, Chris, ME]
    
 
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I have what appears to be a tough week ahead of me. Once again, I have to do my long run on Friday morning so that makes things a little screwy. If I can survive this week, I'll feel like a running queen.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

CSWS: Week 4

Can't Stop, Won't Stop
 
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Crazy about this girl.
My friends really stepped it up this week and volunteered to run with me! It was awesome! I had a busy work week so waking up early was my only choice. Being peppy was quite the struggle.

It was tough fitting in those strength workouts because of my work schedule. I usually have time between seeing my last patient and picking up the kids. This week, I didn't have that luxury. I was still able to get in three strength workouts, but it wasn't as convenient.
 
  • 6/12: 8.09 miles, 8:12/mile. Race pace day. Workout goal: 2 mile warm up and cool down, 4 miles progressing from 8:15 to 7:45 (marathon pace to half pace...I'm not really sure what my half pace is right now so I used a few pace calculators to come up with a number). My faster splits were 8:14, 7:53, 7:32, and 7:22. I enjoyed my time with Kimberly and Karen! They always make me feel fast...or slow if I end up way behind them! LOL.
  • 6/13: 5 miles, 9:39/mile; Chest/Back, 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure it's been a bazillion years since I've run with Beth. We had an exchange to make (pie dishes and pot holders for baby diaper covers...you know, normal mom stuff) so we met up for some easy miles. Elizabeth was looking for a partner so she hopped in with us. All I really remember is humidity and bugs...lots of bugs in the mouth.
    I'm wearing a shirt?! [ME, Elizabeth, Beth]
  • 6/14: REST.
  • 6/15: 4.35 miles, 9:17/mile. Gahanna with Sarah! So, those strides...I was supposed to do them after my run today, but I had so many excuses!! LOL. I had to poop...my baby was waking up as I was headed out for my run so I was anxious to get back home to her...I'm doing hill repeats tomorrow so that's a good workout, right? Ugh. I'm usually not full of excuses, but today is the day. When it comes to these strides, I need someone to hold me accountable.
  • 6/16: 6 miles, 9:29/mile; Leg workout, 45 minutes. Hill Repeats! Workout: 2 mile warm up, 10x30" sprint repeats, 2 mile cool down. It was my lucky day because Ellen and Melissa had hill repeats! They had a different workout, but it's always good to have company when you are going up and down a hill repeatedly. LOL. We warmed up together, knocked out our individual workouts, and ran our cool downs separately. I appreciated the company of these awesome ladies. I did not appreciate the creepy raccoon running from the trash can.
    Gorgeous, sweaty morning at the dam. [Melissa, ME, Ellen]
  • 6/17: 15 miles total including 6 miles solo, 9:04/mile, and 9 more miles (8 with Andrea and 1 more solo), 8:47/mile. Such a hot morning! Oh my goodness. I didn't sleep well the night before and was not-so-wide-awake before 5 a.m. I knew I was meeting Andrea at 7 a.m. so I decided to get my ass out of bed and do the rest of it beforehand. Starbucks is just a mile from her house so I parked there and got 6 miles before our meeting time. We did the 8 miles together before I headed back to Starbucks for a fat passion iced tea. The miles seemed to fly by and I didn't even notice I ran 15 miles until I was by myself the last mile. It was freaking hot outside! I didn't check the humidity, but it had to be in the 80s or 90s. Ick. My legs felt tired...probably from my workouts the day before. Despite this, it felt great to get in 15 miles! My longest run since the Carmel Marathon.
    I always love meeting new running friends! [Andrea, ME]
  • 6/18: Hatha Yoga, 1 hour. I haven't been to my yoga class in three weeks! UGH. Life. I was happy to make it back there.
    Berry picking with my first born.
 
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This week ended "block 1" of marathon training. The program I am following is 4 blocks consisting of 4 weeks each. Block 1 gave me a taste of the different types of runs in the program: steady state, fartleks, tempo, track, strides, long runs, easy runs and hill repeats. I stayed conservative with my weekly mileage (running between 36-40 per week) so that I could see how my body responded to the speedier workouts. I seemed to do really well, so I'm planning to step it up a bit for this next block (hoping to get my first 50 mile week since training for Carmel). 
 
Block 2 will have the same type of workouts, but will step it up in mileage. It will also start to incorporate race pace miles in my long runs. Up to this point, my long runs have been all easy paced miles. I'm looking forward to the added challenge!
 

Sunday, June 11, 2017

CSWS: Week 3

Can't Stop, Won't Stop
 
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My week started with some TIRED LEGS!! After a horrible long run last Sunday and a sluggish start to my week, I was certain this entire week would suck. I was then reminded of the power of slowing it down. Even though I felt like complete crap during those runs, keeping at the slower paces was exactly what my body needed to recover. When speed day rolled around, my legs were ready to go! I'm really trying to follow this method and slow down some of my runs to see if it allows my body to recover more quickly.
 
My body is not the same as it was 2 years ago. I've put in a lot of hard work to try and get it back to that point, but I'm not there yet. My body responds and recovers differently than it used to. Right now, I NEED those slower runs to survive! Plus, it really makes me appreciate the fast ones.
 
 
  • 6/5: 5.03 miles, 9:28/mile; Bis/Tris, 30 min; Foam Rolling, 15 min. How many ways/times can I say that I felt SLUGGISH?! Oh my goodness. I'm hoping this is one of those "it will only make you stronger" moments! I felt really good going into my race on Saturday...legs not tired at all. I guess the race got me more than I thought because I was dragging on my long run the next day. Today, the trend continued. We ran pretty slow. I was hoping this would shake out the yuck. I guess I'll find out when I get ready to do my track workout! All I can say is I'm looking forward to my running rest day. Also, I typically don't foam roll for 15 minutes, but I really wanted to focus on a couple of areas. I rolled my glutes and quads. I just treated it like a deep tissue massage and cranked on those babies! Oh boy was it fun.
    Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'
  • 6/6: 7.5 miles, 8:24/mile. Track day, baby. Always a fav of mine. Oh Lord, did I dread this one. I thought for sure I'd die in the warm up. I mean, I've been so tired since Saturday. I'm not sure if it's because I expected the worst, but I felt good during my warm up. My legs seemed to feel normal again! Even though the warm up felt good, I didn't get my hopes too high...I still had to nail those intervals. This week I had to do 7x2 minutes hard with 2 minute recovery (2 mile warm up and cool down). I had an idea of what my distance goal was for the 2 minutes based on my fartlek workout from 2 weeks ago (1 minute intervals in which I ran 250-275 meters each). I figured if I ran at least 500 meters in that 2 minutes, I'd be doing good. I also wanted to focus a lot on my form. My quads were SO SORE a couple of weeks ago. I figured out it was likely because of my form. Today, I wanted to focus on decreasing my step length a bit and not feeling like I have to stretch my legs to their fullest extent when I'm doing my intervals. My first interval was a bit of a test that I completely failed. I ran 475 meters (6:47 pace). I figured it all out after that. My next four intervals were 500 meters (6:26 pace) and the last two were 525 meters (6:08 pace). I made a comment to myself after the fourth one that I felt pretty good so far. The next interval shut me up. That's when things started getting tough! I was so nervous about not hitting 500 meters for the last two that I actually ran faster and further. Woo Hoo! Anyway, I was super stoked about this workout considering how much I was dreading it. Looking forward to a rest day.
  • 6/7: 1 mile, 8:47/mile; Glutes/Abs, 30 minutes. Global Running Day was today. I knew this first existed 2 years ago. I didn't run that day because I was on a 5 day hiatus from running since I just ended my spring running season. Last year, I was still rehabbing from my accident and not allowed to run. This year, I had a planned rest day! LOL. I couldn't go without running at least a mile. I did 17 laps around the track at the Y and followed it up with strengthening.
  • 6/8: 8.1 miles, 8:40-ish average/mile. I forgot to start my watch and missed the first 1.15 miles of the run (had to do some calculations to figure it all out with map my run and Karen's stats...I'm glad I was always a math whiz). This was supposed to be my steady state run, but I decided I was too sleepy to desire to pay attention to my watch. I just decided I would warm up a couple of miles then try to pick it up just a bit. The intended workout was to get at least 4 miles between 8:22-8:32/mile. Looking back at our splits, we actually made that happen without a bit of thought! Miles 4-6 were in that range and mile 8 was faster. So happy I could do it without wasting mental energy! LOL. I need all the brain cells I can get.
    10 months old this week!
  • 6/9: 14 miles, 8:43/mile. Amanda and I took it to the streets of Dublin to meet another friend close to her home. Our friend didn't make it, so we had the pleasure of a run with some elevation. It felt so much better than last week's long run!
    The face of those who like some elevation. [Amanda, ME]
     

  • 6/10: REST. It was glorious.
  • 6/11: 5.11 miles, 8:54/mile. I met up with some friends for another bRUNch! We did some easy miles followed by 4 strides. I can't believe I actually did them. LOL. I've been forgetting or avoiding them the past two weeks. Fortunately, I had the girls hold me accountable! After the run, a few of us made our way to Delaney's Diner for some coffee and grub.
    bRUNch crew. [Jen, Karen, Katie, Meg, ME]
 
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Overall, it was a solid week of training. This next week, I get to look forward to a race pace run and hill repeats. It will also be the final week of Block 1 of training. I just LOVE summer training and can't wait for the sweaty heat. Bring it on, summer!
 
James wanted to feed his sister. LOVE!


Sunday, June 4, 2017

Chloe 5k

 
I think this is the fourth year for the Chloe 5k. Sanctuary Columbus Church (where we used to attend) supports the organization Chloe, Inc. which "is committed to empowering teen moms to become self-sufficient, resilient, and adaptable; preventing and breaking cycles of poverty through education and safe haven in our community." I couldn't participate the first two years because of other races. Last year, I was just getting back to walking after my accident and could only do the 1 mile walk. This year, I was super excited that I could FINALLY run the 5k!
 
The 5k was held in Gahanna at Creekside (a course I'm very familiar with). It's an out and back on road and paved trail with a gradual incline and a couple of short hills. The weather was SO MUCH BETTER than the Field of Heroes 5k last week. The temp was higher and the sun was making itself known, but the humidity didn't feel very high.
 
My goal for this race was to run better than last week (23:06). Otherwise, I would certainly whine and complain.
 
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It was a beautiful sunny day at Creekside!
 
As we lined up to start, I heard the lead bike man ask these two guys up front if they were running 17 minutes. When they replied "yes," I felt as if I needed to create a little space between us! I mean, holy crap!! My goal, just like last week, was to stay as close to 7 minutes as I could for the first mile and just see how I felt. I actually felt really good the first mile. We went up a very slight incline, took a sharp turn, then down the decline (definitely more decline than incline for this segment...but we got to look forward to that being an incline on the way back!). My legs were feeling really good and my breathing wasn't that awful. I even caught up to the first place lady. Mile 1 clocked in at [7:07], and, in that moment, I felt like I could hold that pace for the rest of the race.
The future of running.
 
I knew the next mile would be more difficult, though. It had a couple of hills, the mid-race turn around, and the hills again. Now, these hills aren't awful. On an easy run day, they'd be nothing. On a 5k race day, they could potentially be enough to slow you down JUST a few seconds. I did a fairly good job with them. Even my race partner commented during our cool down that they didn't seem to phase me. I loved that compliment! Mile 2 ended up being [7:21]. At this point, my legs were still ok...not good, but ok. Unfortunately, I was starting to have some breathing issues! Ugh. Last week after the 5k, I thought it was just because of the horrible humidity. Later in the week, I had a really good speed workout and my breathing was great. I felt relaxed and never really struggled to breathe (granted, it was low to mid 50s and minimal humidity). What was going on with me?!
James doing the Kids Fun Run.
 
The first part of mile 3 was flat followed by the long incline (the one that was a pretty good decline in mile 1) and slight decline to round the corner to the finish. I tried to ignore the difficulty I was having and just finish the last mile. I trucked up the incline with purpose, rounded the sharp turn, and just felt blah. My last mile was awful!! I just didn't have the desire to finish strong. My legs were feeling it just a bit, but I needed air! LOL. As we rounded the corner to the final stretch, I noticed my watch read "2.92" miles. I knew that the course would be short when I saw that. I was slightly frustrated at first but decided it didn't matter since it wouldn't be a PR for me. Mile 3 was [7:35]....huge barf. I really have no idea what happened that mile. I didn't feel like I was running that slow, but obviously I was!
 
When I saw the clock as I crossed the finish line, I knew I still ran better than last week even though the course was short. It was just a tad better, but a few seconds is still better when it comes to a 5k! My official time:
 
22:13.
 
5th overall, 2nd female. Such a small race this year!
It never happened if the Garmin doesn't prove it!
 
 
I will not complain about that. I did better than last week, and I know I have more in me! If anything, it's huge motivation to keep working hard! I really enjoyed having my racing partner, Rachel, on the course with me. You never know who will show up on race day, and I'm glad she did. She kept me motivated when it got tough and helped me to that goal. I couldn't quite catch her at the end!
Picture with the champion! [ME, Rachel]
 
I'm not registered for anymore 5k's, but I know what I'll be doing after the kids go to bed.
My winnings! Fleet Feet card of an amount that's unknown, Duchess gift card, and a 2nd place medal!