10K Race Results

The weather for the 10K on Turkey Day ended up being 100% perfect. It was about 40 degrees and dry! It stopped raining about 20 min before the race started, perfect timing. It was a very popular race, tons of people and it resulted in my first mile being about 9:00, slower than I wanted. I ended up picking up the pace to make up for it and that resulted in a 52:44 official time. I couldn't believe it, I averaged an 8:30 pace for the race. That is so awesome! 15 seconds faster than my goal pace! I was walking on cloud 9 after the race, it was a great day and nothing brought be down from the victory of my time. My confidence is really increasing and I'm starting to believe I just might manage a 4 hour marathon next year. Running really has become a passion for me and I'm so grateful for that. Happy Thanksgiving!

Final Training Run

I finished out my last training run for my Turkey Trot 10K race this morning. It was a chilly/windy day and I struggled to keep an accurate pace on my 400M repeats. However, I managed to get the run completed before the winds really picked up, I can hear the how nasty it must be outside right now. Trees are blowing, branches scratching the side of the house, and barely a ray of sunshine coming out... not nearly enough to warm anything with that wind. I believe the weather channel said it was about 42 degrees but with the wind it felt like 35. That I believed! For the first time my fingers were actually cold inside my running gloves for the first 10 min of the run. Eventually I warmed up once my heart rate increased from the first repeat, but the wind kept pushing me. It was nice when I turned around and it was pushing me from behind and I was going downhill, felt like I was flying! But then when I rounded the corner it was a huge blast in the face/chest and thought I hit a wall. I still managed to keep my pace below my goal, but it was rather annoying to deal with the wind. So far the weather is calling for a wintry mix for race day, doesn't that sound like fun.

Weekly Improvements?

Last week I ran my 2 x 2 and really struggled to maintain an 8:45 pace through that run. Yesterday I was scheduled for 2 x 3 with the same goal pace. I nailed it, it was easier than last week, I even went a little faster and 2 additional miles. Holy crap, really?!?!? I was shocked, didn't really believe it at first. Here I am moving along quite well into mile 3 of the first set and I'm surprised to notice that my heart rate is down and I feel strong. I do my 5 min recovery... stop to pick a rock out of my shoe... and then I'm back moving again for the second set of 3 miles. I knock it out with a faster pace than the first three and practically a lower heart rate. I felt GREAT! All the crappy runs I've had this year, they are completely forgotten when I go out and have an awesome run like this. I am so excited about my 10k next week and I have complete faith that I will hit my 8:45 goal pace, and maybe even a tad bit faster!

Country Road Run

This morning I went out for the first time on a country road to complete an 8 mile run. I was at a friends house for the night and got up first thing in the morning. The sun was just coming up and I enjoyed a great run down several dirt roads. It was quiet, light traffic and very refreshing. Such a great change of pace from the city neighborhoods. I would love to do more of those runs, I wish I had more places like that around me. I will need to investigate some new areas to run in order to keep things interesting and fun!

800M Repeats

Another tough workout! My goal was to maintain an 8:00 min pace for all 8 repeats, I came pretty close to it. I did run into some shoulder cramping again, but I think the issue is directly connected to breathing, so if I can just get control of my breathing when I'm over-exerting myself I might be able to keep that pain in check. We'll see how things progress. I was planning to do a little swim this afternoon, but I'm feeling pretty exhausted already today so I might just skip the swim and try it another day. Yesterday I did a bike/run brick, went to 40 min of spin and then charged on the treadmill for 20 min. It was a great workout and likely contributing to my feeling tired and a bit lazy to go for a swim.

2 x 2 Tempo Run

Wow, today was a tough workout. I went out with a goal of maintaining 8:45 for each set of 2 miles, this is the first time in a while I actually stayed with the pace I set and did not exceed my expectations. That tells me that I finally pushed myself hard enough in a training run, and I'm actually pretty proud of myself. It was a hard workout, but it felt great after it was over. Also, the weather today was very nice, about 57 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than the last time I ran!

Play it safe or push yourself?

Earlier today I went out for a 5 mile tempo run. My goal was to run it at a 9:10 pace and over the course of the 5 miles I ended up averaging 9:02. I realized during the run that each time I set out with a goal in mind, it's usually a relatively safe goal that I would tend to always meet and even exceed. Case in point today, my first mile was 9:08, then each one after was just a little faster, ending the last two miles below 9. How did it feel? Well, it felt pretty good, not seriously hard and not seriously easy. Two weeks ago I ran my last tempo run with a goal of 9:20 and I ended up averaging 9:15. I tend to do this a lot, I pad my running goals to allow myself the opportunity to exceed my expectations. I'm not sure if this is the best approach, and I didn't even realize I was doing it until today, but I'm pretty convinced that this is my tendency. I also noticed this yesterday while climbing at the gym. I tend to pick easier climbs I know I won't have any trouble with, or I'll go in the opposite extreme and get on something I know I can't climb, so there is no pressure to succeed. With me finally realizing what I do to ensure I succeed, I'm not sure how I want to handle it. I definitely think that I'm doing really well with the running the way I manage my goals, but sometimes I wonder if I could have excelled even more had I pushed myself further. With climbing though, I think that I'm holding myself back from excelling because of this fear of failure. I try to embrace the fear of failure to some degree, because it was the fear of not being able to run a half marathon that pushed me to lose 70lbs. I wouldn't never have gotten here had it not been for that fear. I can see positives with it, but there are some things where this fear holds me back. Definitely something I need to continue to watch and think about for the future.

400M Repeats

Today was my first 400M repeat workout, it actually went really well and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It was a relatively short workout, but the speed bursts were challenging. I used to do speed work on a treadmill in my previous training plans, 2 min on and 2 min off, this was very similar. The only difference was trying to keep a steady pace, not having the treadmill to set the speed made it difficult. Sometimes I think I miss running on the treadmill... not having to deal with weather factors, clothing, etc. Unfortunately my mindset has changed in that I am starting to feel like treadmill running is kinda like cheating and that I shouldn't really do it. My other problem though is that I'm doing an indoor triathlon soon and I'll have to run on a treadmill for that. My plan is to do some bricks on non-running days, incorporate short runs after spinning and swimming. We'll see how it all goes!

2 x 3 Tempo Run

Today was my first 2 x 3 tempo run... last week I did my first 2 x 2 run and I really liked it. Today however, was quite a bit more challenging and I think maybe that's why I didn't like it AS much as the previous one. It might take some getting used to as well. It was chilly today also, I'm still working on figuring out the best way to dress as the temps continue to drop. I ran all last winter, but its amazing how bad my memory is because I can't seem to remember what I would wear when I went running in the dead of winter! Today I had a headband covering my ears, gloves, tank top, long sleeved top and long pants. I would say for most of the run I was in good shape, but there were some times where I was pretty cold. After my run I did some stretching for about 10 min, that was all it took for my fingers and lips to turn purple! It's amazing to me how cold I can get, inside, after running. I took a nice long, hot shower and then layered up in some comfy clothes for the rest of the night.

Next run is 400 meter repeats on Thursday, I've not done these before either, so this will be interesting!