Training updates, an adrenaline rush, and I don't have to worry about my heel striking when I'm running uphill.

Last week I had some fun with hill training. I tend to get beat up when I'm running tempo pace on the roads.  My heel striking becomes worse and the force of it sometimes causes my hip to ache.

I have noticed that I really enjoy running uphill.  I have always liked the slow grind of climbing up a hill. It's kind of like speedwork.  I benefit from using different muscles, and I'm not pounding the ground so hard.

I still have a few interval and tempo paced workouts before my half marathon on February 20th.  But, I think I will swap out some of those workouts in favor of climbing uphill.

Training updates

Monday 1/25- 3.1 Miles and some strength work.  I did a short run to warm up for strength training.  I didn't look at my Garmin once, and it was a nice surpise to see that my splits were pretty even.  My hip was feeling a little tender from the 5k over the weekend.

After that I went to the gym, and did a few exercises:

Lat Pull Downs
Cable Flys
Cable Bicep curls
Around the world lunges (body weight only)
Kettle Bell Swing Squats
Push ups
That night I did a lot of stretching and foam roalling.

Tuesday 1/26 6 Miles, It was an interval day. I didn't have enough time to leave my workplace to run intervals on a track, so I did my workout on the treadmill. I ran two miles to warm up, and then I changed my shoes.
 I like wearing a lighter weight shoe for interval training, and the shoe I'm currently using for speedwork is the New Balance 890v4 it's light weight but has a lot of support.

My only gripe is that the laces on this shoe are cheap, and they came untied during my workout...That's not something you want to happen on race day. But, getting back to the workout.

My workout was 5 x 800 meters at 10k pace.
I wanted to try the indoor watch feature on my Garmin  The first two intervals were fine.  I was stopping my Garmin in between each interval, and for the third intrerval I forgot to start my watch...  I was so mad!  I decided to try to run a 400 meter interval for time, and that hurt!  During the 4th 800 my shoe came untied.  Overall this workout hurt, but my hip felt fine.  I think the softer surface of the treadmill helped.  Here's the data (I'm not sure how accurate a Garmin can be indoors without a foot pod)  3 x 800, 1 x400 , 2 x 800 =  3:09, 3:11, No data,  1:33, 3:21, 3:12
In between intervals I slowly jogged, walked and gasped for air for about 90 seconds.  Here's a snapshot of the pace chart.

After the speedwork, I ran about 1.7 miles easy to cool down.

Wednesday 1/27 9 miles.  I had to switch up my Thursday long run to today... I have meetings and I won't have as much time to run.  I also came in to work early so I could extend my lunch break.  I was feeling a little tired from the previous days speed work. I chose an out and back route on a bike path.  This bike path is kind of isloated, and I felt kinda spooked during the middle miles.... I made sure to take my earbuds out and to be on the lookout for stray dogs, and other sketchy folk.  The first half was uphill and the second half was downhill.  Here's the data.

Thursday 1/28-No running today, but I did head into the gym for strength training.

This workout was an ass kicker.
Round 1
Lat Pull Downs
Cable Flys
Seated Rows
Stretched my hip flexors in between sets

Round 2
Alternating Shoulder Taps from a plank postion
Spider Lunges
Roman Chair Leg Lifts
Close Grip Pull Up (Arms were smoked could only do 1)

Round 3
Dumbbell Bench Press
Back Flys
Bulgarian Split Squat
Step ups onto a bench with knee lift

Round 4
Back Raises
Back flys on back raise machine.

After that I did a few timed hand stands against the wall trying to keep my body balanced off of the wall.
Also a few back bridges (wheel pose)
I also stretched my very tight hamstrings and groin.

Friday 1/29 5.2 Miles Happiness is a trail run in your new trail shoes!! I have a really neat friend who hooked me up with a pair of trail shoes, at a huge discount....I was so surprised when I recieved these beauties in the mail.

I had to take them out for a test drive the very next day (Friday).  I went to the Whitney Mesa Recreation Area,  I had such a fun time running up onto the mesa, and I took some pictures too.

Before

After

Post run PB & J

Personal Story time (adrenaline rush)
I took the day off from work, as a personal day so that my husband and I could have a date day.  We went to an indoor shooting range. It was such an adrenaline rush to fire a gun.  I haven't fired a weapon since I left the military.  But, the biggest adrenaline rush was yet to come.... On the way home we just missed being in a serious car accident.  We were driving on a stretch of road that is really dangerous. The speed limit is 45 because of the curves, but people treat this area with no respect.  We were driving in the center lane, and we heard braking with screeching tires, and a car comes flying by us, he swerved around us and hit the left guard rail, and the car fishtailed right in front of us, he hit the right guard rail,  and then the car was heading back in our direction, but my husband was able to swerve out of the way.  The car had to have been going about 70 mph.  And I'm so grateful that we didn't get rear ended or crash into the car while it was fishtailing. It's crazy how everything went into slow motion while it was happening.....  I was a hot mess after that....I'm so glad that my kids weren't in the car... But, now I really have to get serious about writing out a will in case something happens to the both of us.

Saturday 1/30 9 Miles, hills at Tempo effort.  I ran blind this morning. I started my Garmin, and pulled my shirt sleeve over it, and just ran by feel.  This run, climbed over 500 feet, most of it during the first half.  Here's the data:

Sunday 1/31- 6.6  miles, More hills, but the pace was more relaxed.  It was a nice morning.

Monday 2/1  This was a rest day.  My son was sick and I stayed home from work with both of my kids.  Last week my daughter was ill, and I was lucky that I didn't have to miss work, because my husband was able to stay home with her....  I was still working from home that day, (checking and responding to emails).

I think I will save my 4 x 1600 recap for the next post. I will also be talking about food or just showing you food pictures.

Thank you for reading this awfully long post. :)