Well well well, another week of training and my first time hitting 50 miles since last spring–woot woot! Mentally I’m feeling good but I definitely overdid it a bit this weekend with a 17 mile long run followed by a hard 5 mile race. My knees are still creaky and sore, so it’s been a little bit rough getting back into training this week (hence my late recap!) Lesson learned–adjust your training accordingly if you are planning to race hard! Secondary lesson learned–I’m really bad at not racing hard 🙂
Rewinding a bit, I started last week with a hill workout that felt tough (as always) but fairly good. I do question if I should be working hill repeats somewhere steeper–the hill I run on is fairly gradual, but I definitely feel the work. Let me know if you have insight on this! I’m all ears. Tuesday I geared up for 7 early miles in a fairly steady snowfall. This was my first time running in the snow with my headlamp, and it was really disorienting to see the flakes really brightly in front of/into my eyes. The footing was actually pretty good, though, and it felt peaceful to be out there by myself. I did stop at 7 instead of 8 when the snow really started to pile up. I was pretty much the abominable snowlady after this one.
Wednesday I did my first workout at the Y near my house–it’s cheapest gym option that’s close to both home and work. They supposedly have fancy treadmills that can connect to TV streaming services but I couldn’t figure them out, so I made do with an episode of The Crown on my phone. Things to work on for next time!
Thursday I decided to do my strength work in the morning and save my run for after work, when the temps were going to be in the mid 40s. I had a half marathon pace tempo workout and brought my headphones to make the time pass. Of course, I plugged them in and realized my music player was dead–so I was on my own. I gave myself a little pep talk and settled into a hard but comfortable pace. I was so in the zone I barely recognized a running buddy whizzing by me! It turned out to be one of the best workouts of training so far–5 super steady miles at a 7:06 average pace. A confidence builder for sure!
Friday I took completely off, which was super necessary, and Saturday I ran 5 before meeting up with the girls for a chilly spin around the river. We were all dragging a bit but I felt pretty good, managing to nail my fueling (toast + pb + banana pre-run, 2 gels during the run with water, carb-y breakfast and Nuun after). My knees were feeling it a bit by the end but we got it done! I spent the rest of the day at a super fun Chili Cook-Off in Cambridge and a night in watching Where to Invade Next with J.
Sunday J and I ran the Super Sunday 5 Miler! Despite some logistical hiccoughs, we had a fantastic turnout from the Oiselle gang and I managed a 20 second 5 mile PR. I have a recap of this race coming shortly, so stay tuned for that.
Week 9: 50.8 miles
- Monday: 2 up, 8×90 second hills at 5k/10k effort, 1.5 down for 7 total
- Tuesday: 7 miles in the snow
- Wednesday: 5 easy treadmill miles
- Thursday: 2 up, 5 HMGP, 1 down for 8 total, mini band work + core
- Friday: Rest day!
- Saturday: 17 mile long run
- Sunday: Race day! 6 total with warmup and new 5 mile PR of 33:12
Linking up with The Weekly Wrap (hosted by Hoho Runs and Taking the Long Way Home).
The theme of this week was: hooray for the cutback!! I definitely was feeling the accumulated stress of 3 weeks in a row at close to 50 miles, so was glad to be taking it a bit easier. I had some residual tightness in my right hip after last week’s 16 miler, so this couldn’t have been better timing. Monday I kicked things off with 6 really easy miles at 9:30 pace, keeping it light so my hip could loosen up. After some quality time with my foam roller Tuesday’s marathon pace run felt pretty good. I haven’t been running with headphones much recently, but I was definitely glad to have a little music to pump me up for this one! Tuesday was also the hubby’s birthday so we celebrated with delicious tacos and this amazing flourless chocolate cake. SO good.
Thursday was a beautiful 6 miles, the first 3 with a colleague who’s also training for Boston. Friday J and I went to a yoga class together and did some nice shoulder opening work–definitely something I don’t focus on enough!
Week 7–here we go! This one had some off moments but overall I made all of my training happen and ran outside every day, which makes me super happy. Monday was 7 miles with some snow flurries I wasn’t expecting, but it made for pretty scenery. Tuesday I had a track workout on the books so was excited to join the HHRC crew. This was a fun one–400s with 5 minute tempos alternating HMGP and MGP in between. It definitely kicked my butt but I was happy I went, as always. It’s really motivating to have pacers to chase and buddies to run with.
Man oh man, it’s hard to believe I’m already on week 6! This was a pretty textbook good training week–I completed every workout as planned and felt strong and solid as I inch up towards 50 miles. Monday morning I was up bright and early for hill repeats, which were at 5k effort up and jogging down. I really like these workouts because they force you to measure pace by effort vs. by the numbers–although I feel like my favorite hill is a little too “easy” for these workouts? Hard to tell! Either way, I’m huffing and puffing by the top 🙂
Saturday the weather was a little crazy–starting in the 60s and ending in the 30s during a 2 hour run! It was awesome to run with my pal Denise–she’s moving to Cali and I want to get in as many long runs as possible. Luckily she’ll be back for Boston–
Best race experience:
Well, well, well–here we are, back again for a new series of weekly training recaps as I gear up for Boston 2018! I 
This weekend was a busy one! I got in a nice, relaxed 10 miler in the snowbefore heading to my local yoga studio for my initial work-study training. I’m hoping to take on a weekly shift to get more connected with the community and to save myself some $$ on my yoga habit. Then I hit up two holiday parties, spending most of the evening with the Oiselle gals! It was a lot of fun, as always–and now I’m seriously considering running 
I’m back again with one last race recap of 2017 (I promise!) and I have to admit, I did not want to run this one. I definitely overbooked myself this fall on the racing front and was just feeling very blah overall this week–a little bit frustrated professionally, and annoyed I had missed a few runs/workouts due to poor planning. I was excited for a morning with the Oiselle gals but just not geared up for the 5k.
We started up near-ish to the front of the corrals and took the announcer’s advice to “go go go!” The first mile started a little bit slow as we worked our way around some slower runners to settle into the pack. We hit the first full mile split at 6:34–right on track. I barely looked at my watch during this race, keeping the effort hard but steady and pacing along with Cait. The second mile started to feel pretty tough–there’s a slight but steady uphill at this point, and my nose was pretty stuffed up from the cold. I got a little lift from seeing a friend in the pack and getting some cheers from the girls spectating. Cait and I checked in with each other to make sure the pace was ok, and then pushed through the second mile at a 6:29. I knew at this point I was going to hang on as best I could, gutting it out to the finish. We could tell there weren’t many women ahead of us so we picked off a few in the last quarter mile or so, hitting mile 3 at a 6:22 pace and then sprinting it in at 5:20 pace for the .1.
We ended the morning with a quick stop by the post-race party (it was COLD) and then a fun coffee meetup with the team. Big props to the 
This was my first time in Prospect Park and it was absolutely gorgeous. We kept our layers on as long as possible before sneaking up to the front of the start corrals. The one downside of this race was that the start wasn’t seeded at all, which made for a pretty chaotic start with 2000+ runners and walkers. Either way, Ari was off like a shot and I started out at a hard but steady clip. I did have some goals in mind for this race:
Given those goals, I figured I would try to keep the pace under 6:50, which was my previous 5 mile PR pace. The first mile was on a slight downhill, and felt fairly smooth at 6:40 pace. During mile 2 we started to climb up, so I kept my effort even and let it slip a bit to a 6:48 pace. During mile 3, we hit a fairly long and steep climb, and my pace was at a 7:02. It was at this point that the crowd had thinned considerably, but the course wasn’t closed off so there were lots of walkers and joggers in and around the racers. I was legitimately shocked when someone called out from the side of the path “You’re third woman!” I was pretty convinced they were wrong, but just in case I figured I would hold on as best I could despite some small cramps that were creeping up. I got some encouragement from J along the sidelines and then put my head down and cranked the pace up to a 6:29 for mile 4 and another 6:29 for mile 5.
Before I knew it, I had crossed the finish line and was being directed over to the sidelines to pick up my prize–for the first time in my life, I had come in as the third female finisher!! I dizzily spelled my name for the guy at the finish line and happily accepted my prize–an apple crumb pie, which I proudly carried as we headed for celebratory hot chocolate and snacks at the finish.
So this was an incredibly gratifying surprise, especially given that this was a good-size race in a big city. My official time was 33:31, which was good for 3rd woman overall (out of 1,260 female finishers). Needless to say, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Overall, the race was reasonably priced ($25 if you register early), had great swag and medals, and was well-organized and fun. I’m hoping to be back next year with more family members in tow!
I’m going to start this race with a confession (runfession?): I am really, really susceptible to peer pressure–especially when it comes from other runners. After 
Come race morning, I left my house planning to arrive at 6:30 am (according to my GPS), a full hour before race start. It was marginally too early to take public transit, which I would have preferred–especially because I then sat in traffic for an extra 35 minutes trying to get into the garage, missing the Oiselle team picture 😦 Things were hectic and disorganized, and I couldn’t find the bag check or the bathroom before the staff starting yelling with megaphones for everyone to get to their starting corrals. Luckily I stumbled into some teammates in the corral and we took off, keeping things conversational and comfortable. At mile 5 I popped into a porto potty and then managed to find my friend Sarah, who I had promised to pace for her marathon workout. Unfortunately, a couple of factors were working against us–the rain had picked up and the 7,000 runners were herded on and off of a narrow series of dirt paths. The crowding was made even worse as everyone tried to avoid the mud pits and puddles that were rapidly forming. With our shoes soaked and the traction not being ideal, we kept the pace under control to make sure Sarah gets to her goal race uninjured.
While the rain definitely didn’t add anything, this race was one of the least well-organized events I’ve ever run. On top of the long lines, lack of direction, and overcrowded course, they lost a bunch of the jackets so people couldn’t get the sizes they had ordered, and the photos are all dumped into one 700-photo album instead of being searchable by bib number. Overall, this race was pretty frustrating–and would have been even more so if I had been running for time or if I had paid the full ticket price of over $100. That said, it’s always fun hanging with my birds and it was a super motivating way to get a long run in.
Shorter and Faster 