Carmel Week 3: Baby It's Cold Outside

Baby It's Cold Outside

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Cuddles with mommy. I was getting all the love.

Winter is officially here.

Coach added a few new things to my routine this week including:

-butt kicks

-broad jumps

-bounding (talk about looking stupid)

-fire hydrants

-hips circles

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Let's talk about pace. I am not given paces...I am given "feelings." I know this will be a good thing, and it will contribute to my goal of using my watch less. I'm proud to say that, although I analyze my paces after the fact, I haven't looked at my watch during training runs in at least two months.

Here's my struggle: I know the paces I've run in previous races and I know my race pace goal for my next marathon. When I see the overall average of some of my "easy" runs, I wonder if I should slow down even more.  In the moment and after I finish, I feel great...even later in the day and the next day. Then I read all of these articles talking about running 1 minute to as much as 2.5 minutes slower than marathon race pace. For me, that's 9:12-10:42/mile. There are times I can't force my body to go 10+ minute miles. I know it sounds weird, but it's true (there are also times my body can't go faster than that!!).

So, WHAT IS EASY?! I think it will always be an ongoing topic of conversation without a specific answer. I do know that a majority of my runs are not within 30 seconds of my goal race pace nor do I strive to run PRs in my training. LOL. I think this is just something I will have to continue to figure out.

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• 12/11: 5.74 miles, 8:43/mile. Today's workout included 8x8 second hill surges in the last half of the run. Unfortunately, I had to run in Hilliard (which I normally wouldn't mind), and it does not have a nice, steep hill. I went to the only hill I knew of and hoped for the best.
  

  

  My surges marked in yellow.
• 12/12: 7.94 miles, 8:11/mile; Chest/Back, 30 minutes. Since the weather called for "squalls," 1-2 inches of snow, and high winds with gusts up to 30-40 mph, I decided it wouldn't be in my best interest to do my track workout on the track. UGH. So stupid because I love track workouts. Let's just say that the weather wasn't exactly as predicted, but I followed through with my plan to run at the gym. I popped into The Y as soon as they opened, and tried to pump up my mental. It felt so early!! Workout: 10 minute warm up, 8x800m with 400m recovery, 10 minute cool down. I was asked to run my 800's in 3:38 (7:16/mile pace). The closest pace on the mill was 8.3 mph or 7:13/mile. I ran my warm up and recoveries at 9:13/mile and my cool down between 9:13 and 8:57/mile. Oddly enough, my last two intervals felt the best.
  

  

  Look what I finally did!

• 12/13: 6.35 miles, 9:27/mile; Shoulder workout, 30 minutes. BRRRR!!! Garmin tells me it was 19 degrees outside with 9 mph wind. I didn't really notice any wind. I do know that the real feel was in the single digits. My point being that this was my coldest run so far this season! I had three layers on my head (balaclava, ear warmer, hat), three top layers (tank, long sleeve tech, jacket), and two pairs of tights....oh, and three pairs of gloves! I nailed it because I wasn't cold or hot. Anyway, today called for an hour of running. I met up with Sarah, Lisa B, and Elizabeth for a stroll through Gahanna. I ended my run with 3x20 second strides, but felt like a sumo wrestler as I was "running" them.
  

  

  Finally starting to see the benefits of my hard work.

• 12/14: 10.1 cycling miles, 45 minutes. Cross training day took me back to the gym for cycling. I was able to listen to a chapter or so of a running book to pass the time.
  

  

  The birthday boy!!!

• 12/15: 5.98 miles, 8:22/mile; Power Yoga, 1 hour. It drove me slightly crazy that my distance ended up being 5.98 miles. One might think I would run a few more seconds to get to 6, but, when you are anal like me, you stop at 50 minutes because that was your intended workout. Earlier in the week, Amanda texted me saying she found a hill in Powell that she wanted to run. We arranged our schedules appropriately so that we could check it out together. For those familiar with the area, we started at the Powell YMCA and ran down Carriage Road. This road is rolling until it gets just east of 315 where the hill of interest was located. The hill is about 0.35 miles in length with an elevation gain of about 125 feet. So, maybe not a crazy ass hill, but about as good as it gets in Columbus! LOL. Let me just put this out here: I ran too fast. I know I did (see discussion above! LOL). 
  

  

  She can't get enough of me. She just has to find hills to entice me to hang out with her. [Amanda, ME]

  
  

  

  The bottom of the hill.

  
  

  

  The top of the hill.

• 12/16: 14 miles, 8:56/mile. I'm starting to dislike winter long runs more than summer long runs. I used to hate summer because the hubs would have to be at volleyball by 8 a.m. That meant super duper early long runs. No one wants that on a Saturday. As the years passed, he was gracious enough to change his volleyball schedule so that I didn't have to wake up as early. Winters have become summers, but not as early. Sarah met me at 6 a.m. this morning for 9 miles, and I finished the rest solo. I wanted to stop with her. I was tired today...and cold! Initially, I felt overdressed. On the way back to our vehicles, the wind was hitting our faces. I couldn't get warm after that.
  

  

  Hmm...smells good...looks good...

  
  

  

  I gotta try this stuff...

  
  

  

  YUMMY!!!!

• 12/17: 5.86 walking miles, 16:38/mile. Another walk with Meg! This time we met up with Christine in Worthington. She took us on a tour of her neighborhood and the Worthington Hills Country Club area. There were some interesting homes out there. My Aussie, Sophie, joined us and was a trooper. I think she's capable of much more activity than I give her credit for, but I'm so scared to do too much too fast and injure her!

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Me: James, keep looking at mommy. Don't stop looking at me. Ruthie...Ruthie...RUTHIE!!!!! Roop: WHAT MOM?!

Overall, it was a great week of training. I was more sore from my Friday run than my speed workout! Also, that Power Yoga class Friday mornings at the Y is amazing! I am ALWAYS sore the next day. I think coach is extending the times of my easy runs this week. I'm looking forward to what's in store!