23 days to go!! Training Updates-Last week's and some of this week's training log.

So today is technically my Friday (woo-hoo).  Tomorrow will be my last long run, I'm taking the day off of work to run, and to possibly go to the movies or just hang out with my husband without the kids.  We don't have too many date nights, so we make up for it with personal days off from work.

Anyhow I need to get this blog caught up with my training updates before my spotty memory forgets the details of previous runs.  Last week was a lower volume week, but I had one hard work out, and two mid distance runs that were leaving my hip feeling cranky towards the end of the week.

Training updates

Tuesday 10/27- 7.2 miles.  I headed out to the Pittman Wash again, I had planned on running some trails, but instead I found the perfect bike path for intervals...

I decided to do some 800 meters.  I was tired from the weeks previous 20 miler, so I think that's why I didn't want to think t0o hard or put too much pressure on my split times for the 800's.  I tried to run these by feel/effort and I tried to only look at my stopwatch.  I don't have a fancy Garmin, so I use my Forerunner 10 to track the distance, and then I use a regular stop watch, to time the interval.

Who needs a fancy Garmin when you can just do this?

I ran about two miles to warm up, I was lazy and I didn't really stretch out well... For my recovery I would slowly jog for two minutes.  The bike path was also part of the Pittman Wash Trail but, I have never run on this stretch before.  It was very flat, and empty...  Here's the data:

Perfect for running repeats

Here are the times I recorded manually for the 800 meter intervals:

3:33, 3:38, 3:35, 3:31, 3:30, 3:35.

The first two repeats felt easy, the last two were very hard.  Go figure...After the work out,  I jogged a little over a mile to cool down.

Wednesday 10/28-  4 miles  recovery.  I went to the gym on my lunch break, and did a short circuit training workout, and then I ran the miles at recovery pace.

Thursday- 10/29 Two a day.  11.3 miles total.  I wanted to get  a short run in before work, so I ran an easy 2.9 miler before work.  At lunchtime,  I wanted to run a little over an hour.  I ran 8.4 miles of rolling hills.  Here's a picture of the elevation.

This route climbs 580 feet over eight miles, with most
of the climb happening the first five miles.

For pace, I tried to run by feel. I didn't want to run tempo, because I just had done a speed workout on Tuesday.  Another thing I have noticed is that now that the temperatures have cooled off, my feet have shrunk.  It felt like me feet were slip sliding around in my shoes.  I will need to wear thicker socks this winter.

Friday 10/30 3.1 Miles recovery and they felt like crap.  I went to Cornerstone Park, to run  a few easy miles.  I just felt tired, and I couldn't really lift my legs that high to run, this run felt like a shuffle... I was supposed to run 4-5 miles, but my left hip which hasn't bothered me in awhile started acting up.  I knew my running form must have been really shot to shit and it was time to call it a day.

Saturday 10/31-  Rest-  I went to the pumpkin patch with my kids. Does that count?

Sunday 11/1- 10 miles  3 miles warm up, 6 Miles at Goal marathon pace, and 1 mile cool down.  So I have kind of figured out what aggravates my hip... Lots of Hills or Lots of Torque from Tempo pace...I gave myself three miles to warm up.  The three miles were slightly uphill, but, My hip felt fine.  The next six miles were downhill, so I ran the goal pace miles a little faster than goal pace because of the downhill.  I also ate a gel during mile 5 to practice fueling. My goal was to feel relaxed but, running steady...Here's the data.

After my run, I took a very quick soak, in my freezing cold swimming pool.  

Almost the same as an ice bath right?

Monday 11/2- Rest, I got a surprise invitation to meet for lunch.  My husband is now vegan, and most of the time we try to eat healthy.  Sometimes not so much.

Did you know Mc Donald's french fries are vegan?

We went through the drive thru, to get french fries, and soft drinks.   It was nice to see my husband since our work schedules leave us working on opposite ends of town, its' nice when we can meet up.


Tuesday 11/3- 10.75 Miles.... This was another tempo goal pace workout.  2 Miles warm up, 7 miles at Goal Pace, and 1.7 mile cool down. Since hills had aggravated my hip last week, I tried to find a route that was reasonably flat....hahaha.  I work in an area, that is adjacent to the foothills/mountains of Southern Henderson.  You can only run in one direction for so long before you encounter hills....  I ended up running a loop course to get 10 flatish miles in.  There was still 420 feet of climbing. My feet hurt during the first two miles.  Now that it's cold my feet need a few miles to warm up.
I had hoped for this to be a cut down run, going from 8:30, 8:15, 8:00, but I ran the first two miles of the tempo section too fast.

 Here's the data:

The reason I chose this route, is that   I wanted to run with as little interruptions as possible, and I also chose this route so I would  not have to cross too many busy intersections...  For fuel, I didn't have any energy gels, but I did eat some leftover Halloween candy (a box of Dots)

This workout was a huge confidence booster.

Wednesday 11/4-  Strength training in the gym, and then 4.1 miles recovery.

Thursday 11/5- 5.1 Miles in the dirt at Cornerstone Park....

Tomorrow is my last long run.  I'm not sure if I'm going to do the full 20.  I plan on running between 16-18 miles but, if I feel good, I will complete the 20.  I also don't want to run this all out.  I do not want to "race" this 20 miler.  I do want to run some tempo pace towards then end, but I definitely want to start out conservatively.

Well I guess that's all I have for now...  Thank you for reading!