Carmel Week 9: Half Way There

Half Way There

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Realizing that I'm at the halfway point in my training brought about some sense of panic. The question I posed to my friends and coach was "How do I know how to gauge my ability to meet my goal if I'm running by feel without pace requirements?"


Although I'm enjoying my current program, it has forced me to change the way I think. For every run this session, I have taken the pace out of my view on my watch and have only looked at my overall time and mileage to know when to stop or turn around. I can honestly say that part hasn't been hard. I mean, who cares how fast I'm running easy miles? It's the speed work that has me wondering what the heck is going on.


The only speed workouts that have specified a certain pace, are my track workouts. The others feature words such as "steady," "challenging," "fast," "faster," and "fastest." Unfortunately, I've had to do most of these workouts on the treadmill because of the weather. In my mind, I've had to associate these terms with actual paces. If those paces end up feeling too hard or easy, I would adjust from there. Even with seeing my paces on the treadmill, I have no idea how to compare this to my ability to obtain my BQ goal.


Can you sense my freak out via my rambling right now?! I am trying to "trust the process," but we all doubt ourselves at some point. Here's what I do know:
-I'm still in love with running.
-I'm still super excited about running my next marathon.
-I'm absolutely going to be nervous on race day.
-I'm going to continue to stay dedicated to my training until I meet my goal.




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• 1/22: 8 miles, 8:55/mile; Bis/Tris, 40 minutes. Hill Surge Monday. Sarah and I had grand plans to conquer the Academy Park Trail hill. Although the roads were clear of snow and ice, the hill...not so much. We ran the scary cherry route to the top of the hill. When we entered onto the trail, we saw the snow, but attempted to go down to see if it was just slush. We immediately started slipping and decided it wasn't the safest thing to do. UGH. So annoying. I couldn't get this off my mind all day. I decided to go to the Y after work to run only enough to get in my surges. I just put the incline to 6.0 and ran my 10 surges.
  

  

  The shirt from my very first marathon! I found it while packing for our move.

• 1/23: 9.42 miles, 7:58/mile. Oh my. I titled today's workout the "4th Interval Struggle Bus." Workout: 10 minute warm up, [8 minutes challenging/3 minutes steady]x5, 10 minute cool down. I've done this workout twice before, but with just 4 intervals. Coach stepped it up a bit by adding the extra interval. Holy crap on a cracker. It made a huge difference and really challenged me. Normally, when I reach interval four, I can look forward to the cool down. This time, I had to worry about doing it all over again! This really got to my head. As I approached the fourth interval, I was getting belly cramps. I started feeling lightheaded and nauseous. What the heck?! I decided to slow down just a tad for this interval. Although it was a HUGE struggle, I somehow survived. I managed to feel better for the last interval, but ended the workout very excited that it was over. I went to a mat at the gym and just laid there for 10 minutes! LOL.
• 1/24: 10.02 miles, 9:02/mile; Shoulders/Stability workout, 45 minutes. The program said 60-90 minutes of easy running. Sarah wanted the longer run, so I planned two 5 mile routes so that Elizabeth and Britt could join us. Although I could tell my legs did speed work the day before, I actually felt decent and never wanted to stop running. The wind was a little cray cray at the start, but I didn't seem to notice it as we started running. I ended the run feeling pretty good about getting the miles. I'm racking em up so far this week!
  

  

  The Gahanna Wednesday morning crew. [Sarah, Elizabeth, ME, Britt]

   
• 1/25: 9.2 cycling miles, 45 minutes. I was debating what to do today for my cross training. I was super sore from my upper body workouts this week, but I wanted to give my legs a break. I just decided to hop on the bike for a REALLY easy spin. I was in a rock mood so listened to the entire Make Yourself album by Incubus. One of my favorites!
• 1/26: 6.21 miles, 8:21/mile. This was the run of rarities...10:30 a.m. on a Friday, 40+ degrees, sun, and Marion. All good stuff. I met Marion in Powell for the first part of her long run. I was slightly jealous as it was a great day for a long run! I just had too much adulting to accomplish before picking up the kiddos.
  

  

  So much glorious sun. [ME, Marion]

• 1/27: 20 miles, 8:54/mile. My first 20 miler of the season! We had a solid group of ladies today. We ran an 11 mile loop with Sarah for her half training, and the rest of us finished up with the forever dragging 9 mile loop. I'm pretty sure I looked at the distance a total of 20 times in the last segment. I did feel better than the previous two weeks, but I was SO tight the last half of the run. I forgot to bring my salt tabs, but did have a total of three gels throughout the run. When we were two miles from finishing, I was ready to get it done. I sped up a bit and actually finished in MP range.
  

  

  This was only part of the 20 mile crew! [ME, Heather, Amanda, Tamara, Katie]

• 1/28: 4 miles, 15:46/mile. Meg wouldn't let me throw her a baby sprinkle because she is way too humble. Therefore, I had to force it upon her. LOL! A large group of running friends got together to show her some love. Some walked, some ran. We brought diapers, wipes, gift cards, and ate/drank at Panera. So much love to show our Megan!
  

  

  Part of the party crowd.

  
  

  

  Sophie had some frosty ears!

  
  

  

  Bagels, eggs, and coffee, OH MY!

  
  

  

  We took over the party room.
  
  
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  I was slightly bummed that I felt so tight during my long run Saturday. I was sure I would feel like crud the rest of the day and sore the next morning. I was SO wrong. After going home, eating, and finishing my workout (leg exercises), none of my joints were sore or aching! I woke up the next morning with my legs feeling good! It definitely game me a mental boost after my mid week freak out.