Last week's planned and actual workouts:
Sun 10/6: 1 hour yoga
Mon 10/7: Base/easy 40 min run
3.57 mi, 39:56
Tues 10/8: 9x hill repeats
6.64 mi, 1:17:19
Wed 10/9: strength training
15 min elliptical warmup, legs and abs
Thurs 10/10: Santa Fe 5k
3.1 mi, 28:21
Fri 10/11: 1:10 base + strides
4.68 mi, 57:00
Sat 10/12: 18 mi long
17.85 mi, 3:14:07
Tuesday's hill workout was tough as usual! This was our longest hill workout, but also our last one for the training season. Very few people showed up, I think the 9 repeats scared some people off! But our small group did great and I felt like I finished strong.
Thursday's 5k was different and fun! I signed up for this race a while ago, it's been a long time since I've done a 5k! In fact, when I looked at my profile on Athlinks, the last one I did was in October of last year! I have also never done an evening race before, but figured it was no different than an evening workout. Getting to the race site was tough in rush hour traffic, and parking in the neighborhood was kind of a mess. I was late to the starting line, I got there almost 5 minutes after the official start time! Oh well, I just went ahead and started and caught up pretty quickly. It was actually a little fun, I got to feel fast passing the walkers and back-of-the-packers! The race started and finished at Lindsley Park, with most of the race on the
Santa Fe Trail. Since my legs have been in endurance mode (not speed mode) for so long, I wasn't sure how I was going to do, but I'm pretty happy with my time. We also got these cute finisher's mugs!
There were also food trucks and beer, but I needed to head home so I didn't stay. But it was a fun race, I'd do it again!
Unfortunately I didn't stretch afterwards and when I woke up Friday morning, my legs were stiff and sore! I decided that instead of base plus strides, I would do more of a recovery pace (with a few walk breaks) and then stretched and foam-rolled.
Saturday morning, I was not looking forward to my run! I had only gotten about 4.5 hours of sleep Friday night (I went to see The Lion King at the Fair Park Music Hall, it was fabulous!), plus it was warm and really humid. I believe the humidity was almost 90% when I got to the lake at 6am! My pace leader,
Clay, had been battling a cold all week but said he felt better. I was nervous about the run, I kept thinking about how my longest run (16 miles) had been 4 weeks prior, so I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up in the humidity.
Our group was small (10 runners and Clay), we started out of the parking lot with me up front with Clay. Before we even got to the lake, Clay said, "I'm calling it, I can't finish today." I turned to ask if he still wasn't feeling well and he had already turned around! I was so shocked, but fellow trainee Travis was smart enough to grab Clay's map. Poor Clay, he felt awful but he was really smart to listen to his body and give himself more time to recover. In the meantime, the 4:10 group (or "3:70" as we like to call ourselves) was on our own! I stayed up front but I am a terrible pacer so knew that I would have to rotate out as soon as we hit the first water stop. Thankfully, around mile 3 our coach Steve was waiting for us! Clay had called his cell phone and told him what happened, so Steve said he would step in and pace for us. (Steve usually starts with the fastest training group and checks on all of us throughout the run.) Haha, I was so happy to see him!
The humidity made it a tough run for all of us! Several of our members ended up dropping back (Steve was careful to make sure they knew where they were going) and we ended up picking up at least one person from the 4:00 group. The route was actually really fun, we ran along the lake, then into the neighborhoods, all the way to the
Katy Trail, then back to the lake through East Dallas. Despite the humidity, my legs felt strong (probably all that extra rest!) and I was confident that I would be able to finish, even if I had to fall back. Somewhere between 7 and 8 miles, I accidently hit the "Lap" button on my watch, so my splits got a little messed up. I also apparently forgot to restart it at one point after a water stop, so I ended up about .3 miles short of what we actually did.
Most of our water stops were water fountains, but one had Powerade so I made sure to drink some as well as fill up one of my water bottles with it to get some extra electrolytes. I also ate a few Honey Stinger chews at each water stop. I was sweating like crazy, so I knew I would need the extra fuel! After we got back to the lake, we dropped even more runners but I managed to stick with Steve until the end! He finished with just 3 of the original runners we had started with (plus one we had picked up). I'm still surprised I didn't drop back, but like I said my legs were fresher than most, so maybe that helped.
This week will be busy! I have a lot of social obligations (not complaining!) but I think I'll be able to fit in all of my workouts even if I end up having to switch some around.
Sun 10/13: Strength training (plus lots of stretching and foam rolling!)
Mon 10/14: base/easy 50 min run
Tues 10/15: 4x1200m speedwork
Wed 10/16: Yoga 1 hour
Thurs 10/17: base + strides 1:20
Fri 10/18: recovery 50 min run
Sat 10/19: 18 miles long
There is a lot of rain in the forecast, so it will probably still be a humid week! It's supposed to be a little cooler, though, so hopefully that will help.
