Highs and Lows- Week 14

I thought this was kinda cool! Cheers to my friends running their big races next weekend!!

Less than one month away from running my fourth marathon!!! CUH-RAY-ZEEE! This was supposed to be my cutback week (in some ways it was) but I ran 3 extra miles on Sunday. I threw in a track workout and some race pace miles into my long run this week to, in the words of Theresa, "make sure I'm still alive."

Me looking "alive" after that run! Ha!

After running 49 miles in 4 days, I felt surprisingly great on my rest day and was ready to rock and roll on Monday. Later in the week, I started my dreaded period...we all know how well that went last time around.

Here are my highs and lows for this week:

 

LOWS:

Nada.

 

 

HIGHS:

• Tour de New Albany. I was in a Westerville funk and needed a new place to run. There are two pretty great chicks that run fast AND live very close to me in New Albany. I met up with Meggie and Allison at the ripe hour of 4:45 a.m. and set off for 8 easy miles. Even though I couldn't see crap, I knew there were some really nice homes I'd like to see in the daylight. We averaged 8:28/mile, didn't get run over, and didn't see any critters. I'd say that's pretty successful.
• Donut Run (6 miles, 8:55 average pace). Thanks to a different Allison for putting together our monthly donut run! I must admit, it's more than a monthly event for me. I go to Schneider's 1-2 times per week when I run in Westerville.
  

  

  My real job ^^^.

  It was nice catching up with Karen and Dani! We got to hear all about Dani's PR on Sunday!!!

• Thursday Track Day. Track workouts are NEVER easy...EVER! I go into them expecting death. Surprisingly, this makes it more tolerable! I always whine to at least one person about how I'm not going to be able to do it. This week, Theresa was the lucky one. The workout was 10 total miles with 2 mile warm up and 8x1200m with 400m recovery. Goal pace for intervals was 7:10-7:15 min/mile. Two weeks ago, we had the same workout minus 2 miles/2 intervals. The workout a couple weeks ago was so tough at the beginning. I was praying this week would feel better...and it did! The 2 mile warm up was just enough to get me going this week. The first 3-4 intervals felt easy and then I started to fatigue. I wanted to stop after 6 but knew I had enough energy to finish. On the last interval, my legs were in the beginning stages of jello. That's when you gotta stop the yappin' and make $h!t happen. I saw a lot of 7:05 on my Garmin throughout the run so I was pretty excited about that! Overall pace for 10 miles was 8:04. The icing on the cake? I was accompanied by a lot of awesome ladies who kick major butt.
  

  

  Loved this pic. This is how I imagine the track when I'm running on it in the dark.

• Long Run on the inclines of Dublin (LOVE MY INCLINES!). Cutback week equals shorter long run. I didn't originally plan to run race pace miles in this week's long run, but Ms. Theresa had to run 22 miles with 10 at race pace...I had to help a sista out! It was sort of a weird run. To accommodate for all of the people we wanted to run with, we started the workout with the race pace miles...NO WARM UP! Oh dear. Not our finest moment. After four fast miles, I told T to keep going and I would keep her in my visual field. After recovering with an 8:19 and an 8:29 mile (and after taking off my jacket cuz it was freaking HOT), I felt ready to speed back up again. I managed to pop (I bet you read that as "poop") out four more speedy miles before meeting up with Dani and Marion. I cooled down with some easy miles and averaged 8:12 for my 14!
  

  

  Missing Marion a.k.a. Fashion Icon. She was so fashionable that Theresa had to copy her entire outfit the following day ;) [me, Theresa, Dani]

• Half Marathon Sunday. So much for cutback week! LOL. I was supposed to do 10 but increased to 13.1 when Jackie said she was coming! I couldn't miss out on time with her. It doesn't happen often lately so it was worth the increase. My intention was to run an 8:45 pace but, not surprisingly, we got out of control. I didn't realize how fast we were running because I felt good. On mile 10, I decided to dial it down a bit so I could enjoy my extra three with Jackie.
  

  

  I show this because, one year ago, Jackie and I ran our hearts out at the Run Like a Girl Half Marathon. I think our time was around 1:50:13. Today, we ran the same thing and it was our easy run. If you want it, you have to chase it and work hard making it happen.
   

  Highlights of the run: gorgeous weather, running by Hoover on Sunbury Road, random Ouija board on the trail (and the demon dogs that put it there...Amber's theory), and the tunnel of dementors that I warded off with the gel I made in potions class. NERD ALERT and HARRY POTTER FAN.
  

  

  The Sunday crew! Missing a few of our favorites. [Theresa, Amber in the back, Jackie, Me, Dani, Karen]

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Random thought in my head:

• I wish they had track meets for adults who aren't elite or professional. Someone needs to make this happen or tell me if it exists.

 

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What's next? Hopefully a mostly easy week. I'm doing my hard track workout on Tuesday and running easy the rest of the week. Sunday is the Columbus Marathon! I'm running the half at 8:20 pace and somehow getting 7 more miles to make 20 miles for the day (my last long run before Indy). My miles for that long run will be broken up but I know I'm ready for Indy so I'm not too concerned about it. I am just completely thrilled to see many of my friends chase their goals next Sunday!!!