12 days of vacation- Speedwork,one terrible long run, and a few pictures

Apologies in advance for this really long blog post.

I had a really nice long break from work.  My place of employment observes the Passover hoidays, so we get several paid holidays during this time. I decided to combine some vacation days with those work holidays and I ended up having 12 days off from work. During that stretch, I travled to California to visit family, and then my children were home from school for spring break.  I managed to run most of those days. So let's pick up where we left off.

I had a really great 10 mile tempo workout on tired legs on Wendsday April 5th.

Thursday 4/6  4 Miles 35 minutes at recovery effort and 8 x 30 second strides at 10k pace.  This was a recovery effort, and I was so tired from the previous days workout.  The strides at the end felt difficult.

Friday 4/7  Rest day, I drove out to Southern California with my husband and my two kids.  I stayed up a little late and drank a little too much.

Saturday 4/8  6.5  mile cutdown run.  It is pancake flat in Oxnard California, the weather is much cooler, and the air is more humid.

Oxnard is full of farm fields.

And we are a stones throw away from the ocean.

But, I still was dreading this run.  My plan was to wake up at 6 am to go run and then link up with my family for breakfast.  At 6 am it was still dark, and my mother had warned me that it is not as safe as it used to be in my hometown.  I decided to eat breakfast, go to Target, and then run at 9 am.

My workout was 30 minutes at 9:00 pace and 20 minutes at 7:30 pace.  The 9:00 minute pace didn't feel hard, and about 20 minutes in I started to do some strides to warm up into 7:30 pace.  I felt tired from Wednesday's hard workout My split times for the 20 minutes were 7:32 (ok) 7:41 (uh-oh), and 4:48 for .63 miles (7:37 pace).

About 16 minutes into the tempo portion I saw a group of high school boys running towards me.  I think it was either the HS soccer or distance track team.  I let them pass me, and then I ran about 100 meters and flipped a u-turn so I could follow them.  I was really hurting but, these boys gave me some motivation to finish the tempo portion. Here's the data

This run was not a confidence booster at all.  I can't believe that I used to run half marathons at the tempo pace that I was trying to maintain.... I'm trying to trust the process.  And that marathon training has more volume/mileage than half marathon training.

That same day I visited family, went to a bridal shower, and again stayed up really late.

My beautiful cousins and I'm the short one on
the right.

Sunday 4/9 40 minute shakeout run.  I didn't want to get out of bed...  Again I was so tired.  But, once I got started the run went by quickly.  I noticed that the roads in CA are full of pot holes, and some roads are slanted to help drain water.

Later on that day I had some of the best sushi ever

Total Miles for the week 35.1

Week of April 10-16

Monday 4/10 6.4 mile cutdown run-  We hopped in the car early for the six-hour drive back to Las Vegas. Since I drove out to California, my husband drove us home.  We got back into town, unpacked, started laundry, and then I went grocery shopping.  I had been tempted to skip my workout because I was running long the following day.  But, since I am following a structured training program I knew that the last long run was not meant to be run on fresh legs... It was too hot to head outside so at 4:30 in the afternoon I hopped on the treadmill.  The workout was 30 minutes 9:00 pace and 20 minutes 7:45 pace.  I gutted this run out, and then I ran short cool down.   I think deep down I knew that I was in for it the following day.

Tuesday 4/11 17 miles total
I was lucky enough to have my mother in law watch my kids while I went for a long run.
My workout had called for 4 miles warm-up, 13 miles at 10-15 seconds above goal pace, and a 1 mile cool down.  I think I lasted about  8 miles of steady state before the wheels fell off the wagon.  I was tired, the speedwork, the traveling, the indulging finally caught up to me.

I chose a route that was fairly flat, the temps were about 68 degrees when I took off, and they were 78 when I finished up.  So I think the heat got to me too.  I had hoped to have one good last long run, but that didn't happen.

I had decided to run out to the Sunrise Picnic Area and through the wetlands.  There was no shade and there was a bunch of construction going on.

I ended up stopping twice.  I ran back to my house to grab a bottle of water, use the bathroom and to swap out my wireless headphones for regular headphones at mile 7, and then I stopped at a quicky mart to buy another bottle of water at mile 14.

The day before when I went to the grocery store I was on the lookout for run fuel.  This was all that I could find.

They don't dissolve quickly and they were way too sweet. I used to like these a long time ago.  But, I prefer Honey Stinger energy chews now.

Here's the data.

I stopped my watch at 16.5 miles and then I slowly jogged for another half mile.

Even though I only ran 35 miles last week.  In this last seven day stretch, I hit 48 miles.  

Wednesday 4/12- 30 minutes recovery effort.  Even though these runs suck, they help get the stiffness out of my legs

Thursday 4/13- Rest

Friday 4/14- 6.1miles- 30 minutes recovery 20 minutes General Aerobic, 5-minute cool down. I drove out to the other side of the valley to visit my friend Jenn, she's also racing Revel on April 29th. She will be running the half marathon. 

Us after RNRLV last November.

We have been friends for many years.  She was really nice and offered to watch my kids so that I could go run. I had been feeling down about Tuesday's long run.  But, I felt a little better after this run. It was also nice to check out a different neighborhood.

Saturday 4/15- 5.3 Mile run 30 Minutes Recovery 20 Minutes general aerobic effort 

Sunday 4/16 -Rest Day

Total miles for the week 37.8

Week of April 17-20
Monday 4/17 5.6 Miles 40 Minutes general aerobic effort (9:20 pace) 10 minutes 10 seconds faster than goal pace (8:00 pace). I ran this on the treadmill.

Tuesday 4/18- 5 miles at recovery effort.  My last day off from work, and I decided to drop my daughter off at daycare so that I could go shopping alone.  I had gift cards from my birthday earlier this month. I bought a new running top for next week's race,

Super lightweight
and different from all of
the hot pink I normally buy.

 some cute wedges,

These are Areosoles and they are super comfy

and some beet powder (more on that later)

Wednesday 4/19- No running.  My first day back at work, in almost two weeks.  I made myself a beet juice drink in the morning using my new beet powder.  I haven't been drinking any fresh beet juice lately.  Earlier this year and last year my husband and I were juicing on a regular basis.  Beet juice has magical powers (I'm serious) it lowers blood pressure, and in the past, it has helped me feel energized during hard efforts.

Thursday 4/20 9 miles- 2 miles general aerobic 6 miles steady/tempo pace 1 mile cool down. This was my last big workout.  After last week's disaster of a long run, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to execute this run.  The temperatures have climbed back up into the 80's  I drank another beet juice drink in the morning.

I will use a teaspoon and a half of beet powder
mixed with a LaCroix sparkling water and
a little bit of Gatorade or lemonade to cut
some of the beet flavor.

I took off at 11:30 and it was close to 80 degrees and when I finished it was 86 degrees.  I brought a small bottle of water with me, and I told myself to take it easy if the heat was getting to me.   Within the first two miles, I was close to finishing my bottle of water. I stopped briefly at the park to refill it.  But other than that this workout felt great.  I felt strong, and I felt like I could have pushed the pace harder..... I think the taper is helping too.  Here's the data.

Today is a rest day.  Tomorrow I have a short 30-minute recovery run, and then on Sunday, I have a 50 minute general aerobic slight tempo pace run.

I hope to have a summary of this training cycle post ready by next week.

Thanks for reading this whopper of a post.