PRs, long runs, sore muscles - Oh my!

This was a BIG week of running for me.  Not only was it a big mileage week for me at 40 miles (my longest ever and likely the most weekly mileage I'll have for a long, long time), but I also snagged some great PRs.

I started the week with a 5 mile run on the indoor track at the YMCA thinking that I'd be doing 10 on Wednesday and another 5 on Thursday.  When I realized my work schedule wasn't going to allow me to run 10 miles before work any day this week, I decided to take my running gear to work and finish off another 5 miles at lunch.  My legs were a little tired from Saturday's 14 miler so I wasn't particularly fast, but I did get to run outside at lunch for the first time in weeks!  The sidewalks were clear, it was about 32 degrees outside, and did I mention the fact that I got to run outside?!

First 5 miles indoors - 10:21/mile avg
2nd 5 miles outside - 11:19/mile avg

Wednesday morning I got up and pounded out my fastest 5 miles EVER at an average pace of 9:31/mile.  That's a time of 47:44, people!

Thursday morning was sort of sluggish, but I did get to run with Lynn again.  She's been out of commission with a hip issue and hasn't been able to run but Thursday she ran a mile with me on the indoor track. It was nice to have some company!  Average pace?  10:10/mile.

And finally, yesterday's 20 miler.  I've been checking the weather forecast all week and yesterday was supposed to be clear with a high of 35.  I was super excited to run outside for my long run and mapped out a route from our house to Meridian, back to Boise near the mall, then finally back to our house. But when I went upstairs to throw on running gear, I could hear the wind howling outside. I think I paced around the bedroom for a solid 30 minutes checking the weather, listening to the wind, and trying to figure out if I should continue with my plan to run outside or if I should head to the indoor track yet again.  The wind wasn't expected to subside anytime soon and was blowing 20+ mph.  As much as I hated to do it, I made the decision to pack up some gear and run at the Y again.  Sigh.

I was really trying to slow my pace for the long run so I would still have some energy at the end of it is really difficult to control my pace without the ability to use my Garmin indoors.  I started out too fast and I knew it by mile ten (1:41:54), by far my fastest 10 mile run ever.  I finished (approx) 13.1 in 2:13:51 (new PR at 10:13/mile!)  and took a little break to eat 1/2 of a peanut butter sandwich and have some Honey Stinger Chews (I had some Jack3d before my run) and set out to finish the final 7 miles.  My first 13 miles were all under 11:00/mile but my last 7 were all over 11:00/mile, my fastest of the 7 being the 20th mile at 11:32.  One thing I've been focusing on is pushing myself the last lap or 2, like I will want to do at the marathon in 3 weeks (holy crap, THREE WEEKS!!!).  I finished 20 in 3:35:28 which is an average pace of 10:45/mile. 

My legs are sore but that's to be expected.  Now the taper begins...

Dare I say it? A fast 14 miles?

Well, once again my plans for outdoor running were foiled yesterday.  I was quite excited that the temps were above 22 degrees for my 14 mile training run but when I stepped outside I was once again greeted by an icy driveway, icy sidewalks, and icy roads which left me nowhere to run that morning.  We made plans to drive to McCall for the Winter Carnival that afternoon so I didn't really have the option of waiting until later in the day to run and I really like having Sunday as a rest day so I wasn't very interested in waiting another day.  Plus, I had already taken my Jack3d that morning and if I didn't go work out I would have exploded. 

So I trudged off to the Y for another indoor track run.  My first mile was surprisingly difficult.  My shins were screaming at me to stop, so I took a few minutes to stretch a little bit about 1/2 mile in and then continued on.  They still hurt a bit and I realized my form was terrible so I made a conscious effort to straighten up and correct my stride and that made all the difference.  Believe it or not, I was not trying to run this super fast. 

I tried to take it easy and slow things down a little bit since I've been really bad about slowing down my long runs.  They (whoever "they" are) say I should I should be running my long runs at a 12:30 pace or so but that feels so. damn. slow.  So I haven't been.  I just run them how I feel.  I walk when I need to walk and I run when I feel like running.  That method played out pretty well for me on this run.  I ran my fastest half-marathon ever during this little training run (2:16:57 - my previous PR was 2:21:13!) and in the end finished 14 miles in 2:27:18, faster than 2/3 of the half-marathons I've run over the past few years.  Say whaaaaaat?!

I stretched and got home to shower before Josh and I headed out the door for the ride to McCall.  Sitting in the car for a few hours after running that hard probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had, but the decision to stop at Gold Fork Hot Springs on the way back sure was!

Jack3d 9 miles

Jack3d.  It's kind of like crack for workout freaks.  Seriously.  I got a little sample to test out last week and I used it before my long run.  It was pretty good but I don't think I realized the full benefit of it since I ran 18 miles that day.  I took it again this morning before scheduled 9 miler and wowza, did I ever run fast! 

Breakdown:

Mile 1 - 9:30
Mile 2 - 9:29
Mile 3 - 9:56
Mile 4 - 9:50
Mile 5 - 10:16
Mile 6 - 10:10
Mile 7 - 10:38
Mile 8 - 10:27
Mile 9 - 11:00

The last mile was pretty rough but I flew through the first 4 like I was a girl on fire. I'm actually not sure if I've ever run 4 miles continuously at such a fast pace.  Go me!

18 miles

I don't really have anything clever to write about this particular run, other than the fact that my plans changed several times before I actually started running.  I thought about running at the Nampa Rec Center on the 1/5 mile indoor track but when I got up yesterday morning the sun was shining (yay!) and I was hopeful that the Greenbelt would be clear enough to run down there.  I struggled with what to wear to run outside because it was over 30 degrees out side and my other outdoor runs have been in the teens over the past few weeks.  I bundled up and went down to my regular parking spot only to slip and slide all over the place getting down to the main path.  I took one step on the main path and turned around and went back to the car.  By the time I got home and changed into indoor running gear I had no desire to drive to Nampa.  Instead, I drove down the street to the YMCA and decided to alternate between the treadmill and the indoor track.  It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be to run on the smaller track, but it was less than ideal.  I finished 18 miles in around 3 hours 25 minutes which put me at about 11:19/mile average.  I'll take it!

This week: 5, 9, 5, 14

Also, I realized this week that not only have I run over 100 miles in January, I've run more this month than I did in January and February in 2012.  Woot!

Quick update

5 miles yesterday morning on the treadmill - 11:19/mile average
4 miles yesterday afternoon on the treadmill/indoor track - 11:21/mile average

5 miles this morning on the indoor track - 10:13/mile average (my first 3 were under 30 minutes!)

I will most definitely be doing any indoor runs on the indoor track rather than the treadmill. 

That is all.

I HATE the treadmill

Look, I know HATE is a strong word but that is truly how I feel.  I am NOT a treadmill runner.  I feel like my gait gets all out of whack and I can't seem to run more than a mile at a time when I'm on it without taking breaks to walk. That being said, I've been running my weekday runs on the treadmill at the YMCA for the last 2 weeks because of the snow and crap weather we've had lately here in Boise.  And I hate it. 

This week my plan calls for me to run 4, 5, and 9 miles during the week with my long run of 18 this weekend.  I met Lynn this morning for my 5 miler on the treadmill and was going to call it good for the day until I realized I could get out of work a little early, take the kid to the Y for teen yoga (she loved it!) and I could pump out the remaining 4 miles while she was at yoga. That way I would only have to do 5 on Thursday and could have a day of rest before my 18 miler on Saturday. 

***Quick pause for another brief story which may or may not explain what I did for my final milei today: At work today I was talking to a fellow runner about the crap conditions outside and he suggested going to the Nampa Rec Center and paying for a day pass to run on their indoor track rather than suffering through another long run on the snow.

So I slugged through 3 miles on the treadmill after work and it took me over 35 minutes to get that done. It was getting pretty crowded at the gym and I started feeling guilty for being on the treadmill  for over the 30 minute allotment during the busy time of the day so I decided to run the last mile on the indoor track.  Keep in mind that each lap on the indoor track is 1/12 of a mile so I had to run 12 laps on this little track to get my last mile completed.  BUT, that mile went by SO fast!  I felt like I was flying!  I'll admit, I walked one of the laps but I still finished in what I believe was under 10 minutes for my final mile. 

It made me realize that maybe my buddy from work is on to something: 18 miles on an indoor track might not be so bad.  I'm certainly not going to do it at the Y because that track is ridiculously small.  But the Nampa Rec Center's track is 1/5 mile per lap, so I'd only need to do 90 laps to make it work.  Sure, it might take me 4 hours, but there are bathrooms right there and I can keep my water and electrolytes handy too and that might be worth the $8.25 fee for the day, especially if it snows again tonight like the forecast indicates. 

I'll pontificate a bit further and make a decision soon.  Stay tuned...

16 tough miles

Since the snow hasn't melted yet and none of the sidewalks are cleared I decided to head down to the Boise Greenbelt for my long run this weekend where some friends said the paths were plowed.  I packed up some extra gloves, a headband to cover my ears in case my new hat didn't work out, and a whole load of water before I left the house.  The temp was still only about 16 degrees when I was heading out the door so I stopped at my local New Balance shop and picked up some additional pants to throw over my tights so I would be quite as cold.  I stayed fairly warm last weekend but I knew it could be better.  Since the drinking fountains don't work on the greenbelt during the winter I was going to have to use my car as my water supply and I wouldn't be able to stray very far from that point.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when I got down to the park to start my 16 mile jaunt, but I guess I was hoping the path would be a little more clear than it really was.  Turns out the paths had been plowed (yay!) but were essentially just covered in packed snow (boooooo!).  I knew right when I started out that it was going to be another really difficult run.  I took a water bottle with me and carried it for 8 miles before stopping at the car to refill.  I grabbed a granola bar and more energy chews and refilled my water before snapping this photo and heading back out for the second half of the run...

I thought the first 8 miles were tough but had this glimmer of hope that I wouldn't want to die during the second 8 miles.  It was terribly exhausting to run on the snow (clearly my number one complaint of this whole training process) and it took me quite a while to finish, especially when it came to miles 12-16.  At some point in time I realized my pace was not salvageable and that I really just needed to finish the mileage so I could get home which also meant I had to be ok with walking a lot during the last few miles. 

Hopefully by the time I need to run 18 miles in 2 weeks the snow will be cleared up and I'll get to experience something that looks close to running in decent weather. 

On a positive note, I did get to snap this beauty when I was out galavanting...