Running Renaissance: 2024 Disney Marathon

Week 1: A Fresh Start (Jan 22-28)
I started a brand new training plan this week and with that came a clean slate and brand new goals. I spent 2017 focused on completing the WDW Marathon and it proved to be one of my best years running. I ran more miles than ever, setting weekly, monthly, and yearly mileage personal bests. Even though it was a very successful year, there are still some opportunities for improvement and I’m planning to address some of those this time around. The biggest gap I’m focusing on is keeping my motivation high and completing the scheduled workouts. I only completed 68% of the scheduled miles in my last plan, at least 15% was missed due to injury, but the other 15%+ should have been completed. To help with motivation, I’ve scheduled monthly races. This time around, I’ve also reduced days of the week from 6 to 5 which should allow for a bit more flexibility when absolutely necessary.

As for goals, my training plan is designed for crushing a Half Marathon in 3 months. Ultimately, my goal for that race is to break my current PR of 1:50:49. Coach thinks I can possibly run sub 1:45 and I’d be absolutely over the moon if that happened. With a new goal, also comes new pacing. I’ll be doing my best to stick to the pacing below:
WU/CD (Recovery) – 10:43
EA (Easy A) – 10:03
EB (Easy B) – 9:22
LR (Long Run) - 9:00
TP (Tempo) – 7:58

DT (Daniel’s T) – 7:46
DI (Daniel’s I) – 7:07


In other news for the week, I actually signed up for the previously mentioned races. I definitely had to think twice when signing up for the half. Being a frugal person by nature, I like getting the best deal. It was only $10 more to do the full, which means the cost per mile was a lot better of a deal. In the end, I decided to stick with the plan and the half. After last year’s poor showing, I’d like to see what I can do in the half nowadays. The registration asked for my estimated finishing time and proof I could run that. I’m used to that after the WDW Marathon earlier this year. However, there was no information about what would be accepted as proof. I ended up putting a half marathon time from 2016 that’s reasonably close to my estimate, but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have put my 10 mile race from last September. I sent an email asking for more information about what would be accepted as far as distance and dates. While anxiously waiting for a reply, I found an old copy of the application from 2014.
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I’m sure the times have been adjusted, but there’s still a chance that this means I would qualify for a “preferred starting position/seeded number.” That is just next level bonkers to me. It’s the equivalent of telling me I’m an elite.
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Initially, I was waiting on the weather forecast before registering for the Chili Chase. Now that the race is part of my training plan, I went ahead and bit the bullet and registered for that as well. Please send good weather vibes! Mid-February is a very dicey time to be scheduling a race. I’m not as worried about the St. Patrick’s day race, but you never know in the Midwest. It could be 10 degrees or it could be 80.

In other somewhat running related news, I think I got my first black toenail. I'm not totally sure because my toenails are so small it's hard to tell and the nail itself is still intact. Anyway, I painted them all red to cover it up!

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On with the training recap!


M – EA 3mi + strength
In the past, I’ve always ignored my pacing on easy runs. I would mostly just run them as slow as possible (unless I was on the treadmill, when I would run them at the fastest pace allowed to end that torture quickly). Since coach took the time to actually calculate out my paces, I figured I could at least take a little bit of time and try to hit those paces. We had a small discussion about it, and the important thing is to not go too fast, but I figured I could use the practice as I’m really quite terrible at pacing anything faster than Long Run pace.

Long story short, instead of going at my usual “as slow as possible” pace, I tried to hit the 10:03 +/- 10 seconds. This turned out to be an easy conversational pace with intention. Physically, it was easy but I had to mentally be present to keep the pace going. My miles ended up ticking off at 10:07, 9:57, and 9:58 so I’d say I did a pretty good job.

After the run, it was my first strength training of the year. I haven’t done anything resembling strength training since October. My Fitbit had an ab workout already loaded on it so I decided to try it out. It was only 10 minutes but it was a lot tougher than I imagined. There was nothing crazy about the workout, standard core moves, I’m just that out of shape I guess. Overall, I would say the workout was a good one but it’s tricky to follow along since it’s rather difficult to look at your wrist and do bicycle crunches at the same time. I tried to get Bucky to workout with me but she was more interested in eating her dinosaur. Maybe next time.

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Side note - She really needs a haircut.

W – EB 4mi
I was so excited for a clean slate this training plan with no missed runs but I only made it to the second day before I buffed it up. My bag was at my desk ready for a post-work run on Tuesday. Then shortly before lunch, my husband contacted me because he had acquired tickets to see our beloved Badgers play at the University of Iowa. Tip-off was at 6 and it was an hour drive, so I had no time for a run. I guess I maybe could have snuck in a lunch run, but with no showers nearby, I don’t think my coworkers would have appreciated it.

I knew it’d be no problem to shift the easy run to Wednesday, perks of being early in the plan, so I completed the mileage, just a day late. The run itself was good. Again, I tried to dial in my pacing with a goal of 9:12-9:32. Mile splits were 9:34, 9:24, 9:13, and 9:17, so I consider that pretty good. The best part of the run was definitely the scenery though. I haven’t been down to this part of the river to run in a while and got to enjoy some eagle watching while marking off the miles.

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Th – EA 3mi
Real talk, I spent over 4 hours at the bar on Wednesday night after my run. That’s not normal at all; we had a friend in town and a group of us went out. The main reason I went home as early as I did is that my running stench was getting too strong to ignore. Anyway, I was exhausted come Thursday. When I got to work, my boss even asked if I had celebrated Wednesday so it must have been noticeable. By the end of the day all I wanted to do was take a nap. Thankfully, the weather was awesome and I knew I needed to take advantage before Snow Miser came back.
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By the time I got home, the sun was setting but it was still pretty nice so off we went. If Bucky gets any sort of hint that I might be going for a run, she will not let me out of her sight. Luckily for her, I planned on taking her anyway but it’s pretty amusing to watch.

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I wasn’t worry about pacing this run because pacing Bucky is difficult as it is, especially with all of the potty stops she sometimes insists on having. It’s a good thing too because I somehow paused my workout shortly after leaving my street and didn’t realize it until I was over a ½ mi from my house. I resumed it at that point, but now my pacing for the first mile is just an educated guess.

Fr – EB 4mi + strength
Friday was another unseasonably warm day but it also came with 20-30 mph sustained winds with gusts in the 40-59 mph range. Not exactly ideal for running. My coworkers were meeting for drinks after work, so I did my best to squeeze this run in between work and FAW. Since I was running some big hills, once again I decided not to worry about the pace. I ended up with an average pace slower than my recovery pace, so definitely an easy day.

I meant to do my strength training on Thursday because I knew time would be tight, but I totally forgot until I was in the shower. Then I was pressed for time and it didn’t get done…ughh…this was not a very good week for goals.


Sa – EB 5mi
My local running store was having a group run Saturday and I decided I should go. This is totally out of my element. One of my favorite things about running is the alone time. I actually nearly backed out just before, but my husband gave me some encouragement to go.

Part of the run was getting to try the new Altra Duo’s. Since my current favorite pair of shoes is Altra, I wanted to give them a shot. They felt a little big and my foot was sloshing around a bit. The salesman did some fancy lacing which locked my foot in place and they felt fine after that, not amazing, but something I could run in.

Off I went with a group of people I had never met. I’m really pretty terrible at small talk but it was actually a lot of fun learning from the other runners. One of them is going to be attempting a BQ this spring and ran the full marathon at the Kentucky Derby last year. I’m going to try to make it to more of the group runs this year, but no promises. Unfortunately, I had to turn around early because the shoe was rubbing the skin right off the back of my ankle. Somehow, early, still allowed me to complete my 5 miles but now my ankle is in a lot of pain. Guess I should have stuck with the shoes I love.

Weekly Time: 3:10:51
Weekly Miles: 19.2/20 – My plan says it’s supposed to be 20 this week, but I completed all the miles in the daily…. @DopeyBadger
Yearly Miles: 56.9/1254 (4.5%)
Average Weight Change: .6/9 (6.7%) – Yay!
Logged Meals: 14/21 – I didn’t do as well as I hoped here and I don’t have a lot of hope for this week with all the traveling :/


This week’s schedule: I’m not quite sure how this week will flush out. I’m taking a plane to Orlando later today for work. Tuesday, I’ll be working from 6a-8p so that run might need to be moved to Wednesday again. But Wed and Thurs, I'll be working 6a-6p so those days aren't really ideal either. I'll figure something out....
M – EA 5mi + strength
Tu – EB 5mi
Th – EA 6mi
Fr – EB 6mi + strength
Sa – LR 7mi
 
Error on the calculation vs the description. I had it down for 4 miles on Thursday, but changed the description to 3.
Which was I supposed to be following? Curious in case it happens again.

I love that picture with you and Bucky in the background. Adorable!!
Thanks! That's her usual waiting spot but it struck me as rather sweet that day. Shortly after she lost her patience and laid down to pout... It wasn't nearly as cute.
 


Which was I supposed to be following? Curious in case it happens again.

Just ask me if you see another error (hopefully there isn't another one). I can't say that in every case I would make the same error, so it could go either way in each case (code or description). But if you point it out to me, then I'll be able to figure out which it should have been. It's because I write the optimal plan from the end of the plan backwards. And then once I get to the beginning, I edit the plan going back towards the end. So I write the plan twice, which on some occasions causes an error. Had more errors in the Spring 2018 training cycle then I'd like to tolerate. Nothing egregious, just tiny differences here and there.
 
Just ask me if you see another error (hopefully there isn't another one). I can't say that in every case I would make the same error, so it could go either way in each case (code or description). But if you point it out to me, then I'll be able to figure out which it should have been. It's because I write the optimal plan from the end of the plan backwards. And then once I get to the beginning, I edit the plan going back towards the end. So I write the plan twice, which on some occasions causes an error. Had more errors in the Spring 2018 training cycle then I'd like to tolerate. Nothing egregious, just tiny differences here and there.
I'll let you know if I notice anything. No big deal on the error, I know a single mile isn't going to make a big difference. I just want to make sure I'm following the plan to the best of my ability. You put a lot of time and effort into it and I owe you that at least.
 
Week 2: Staying on Track (Jan 29-Feb 4)
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I’m starting a new thing this week: Wednesday updates. Happy Humpday! Who knows how long it will stick. My week actually starts on Mondays so the info is a bit delayed but I’ve found myself too busy on a lot of Mondays for an update.

This week was another easy week with a long run to cap it off. I knew going into the week that fitting it all in with my current work schedule would be a little difficult but should be manageable. Although I really like traveling for work, I’m glad that I only have one more trip planned in the near future. Especially once the substance runs kick off, it can be difficult to manage the training and travel. Particularly when accounting for the long work days business trips usually entail. This past week, my days away included 6am team breakfast, 7a-5:30p training, followed by 6p team dinner. That doesn’t allow for much free time and those long days really added to my exhaustion level. I still managed all of my runs, but it was tricky and I was beat.

In other somewhat exciting news, I tried to finalize my 2018 race calendar (sort of). Mostly, I just evaluated a few options and didn’t make any decisions. Here’s what my year looks like right now:
· January – WDW Marathon (Complete)
· February – Chili Chase (Registered)
· March - St Patrick’s Day 5K (Registered)
· April – Kentucky Derby Half (Registered)
· May – Cinco de Mayo 5K or QC Distance Classic. Last year I ran a Cinco de Mayo 5K and that was a ton of fun. I also ran the QC Distance Classic last year and did not get the results I hoped for, partially due to a freakishly warm day. After that, I swore off any more May races, but now I’m thinking it might be a good second-chance two weeks after my A race in case things go sideways there.
· June – No idea. There’s a few local options but nothing is catching my interest.
· July – Bix 7. No question here. This is the one race I run every year, no matter what.
· August – No idea. There’s usually a race a mile from my house, but last year it was measured waaaaaaaaaaaaaay incorrectly so I’m not totally sold on it.
· September – I’ll be training for a fall marathon by this time and I’m evaluating a couple of nearby half marathons as training.
· October – Two options here as well. My employer’s 5K that I helped organize last year or a local chocolate race. Both are a fun time but I still have a few months before I need to make a decision.
· November – Marathon! This is still very much up in the air and might switch to October. Right now, the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon is the front runner, but we’ve also talked about going for Toronto in October. Oh…I may have also entered the lottery for NYC….
· December – Ugly Christmas Sweater 5K. There aren’t a whole lot of options come December and this one is really small (which means I could win) and close to my house.

Okay, enough blabbing, on with the training details!

M – EA 5mi + strength
I was flying out on Monday for three days of training. There were some early morning meetings (I have a weekly 6:30a and it’s one of my least favorite ways to start the week…) Once those were wrapped up, I was able to pack for my upcoming trip and fit in my run. If I wasn’t such a procrastinator I would have packed on Sunday, but I didn’t. Just before lunch, I made it out the door for 5 easy miles with Bucky.

I also tried out the Seven workout app due a suggestion here. The workout itself was pretty good but it seemed like I need to pay if I want to do any of the other workouts. Since I’m cheap, I’ll continue using the free Nike app unless anyone has any other suggestions.

There was a slight scare with my travel when I got back from my run. I had some cryptic voicemail about looking for alternate flights. It was already almost noon and I had to be in Orlando by 6am the following morning so I had to find something yet that day. I logged onto Delta and the website explained that my first connection was delayed due to weather and I’d miss my second connection. Luckily, there was a second option connecting in Atlanta that I was able to book. Crisis averted. The funny part is that when I booked the flight I was nervous about it because flying through Detroit in winter just seems so unpredictable. For some reason the ATL connection wasn’t available at that time but I’m glad it showed up.

Tu W – EB 5mi
By the time I landed, transported to my hotel, and got ready for bed it was 1 am. This pretty much confirmed that I would not be waking up early for a run. I also knew I wouldn’t have time afterwards due to an awards ceremony. Wednesday was a scheduled rest day so I just bumped the run by a day which isn’t a big deal in the early going of easy runs. I know now that my speedwork is in place it will be important to keep those days on schedule.

Wednesday morning, I woke up around 5:30 to head outdoors. I was in an unfamiliar area near the airport hotels and didn’t really have a plan. I started out down the road my hotel was on, but that quickly just became a dark & deserted with some creepy vans parked on the side. With that, I decided to head for the main road. I felt a lot more comfortable with all of the traffic witnesses but it became really annoying stopping at all of the cross streets. Eventually, I got my miles in but it wasn’t really very enjoyable.

Totally not running related, but my training was on a big ranch and included “peoplemovers” to move the attendees from site to site. This is not the peoplemover I know and love.

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Th – EA 6mi
After a disappointing run on Wednesday, my plan for Thursday was to check out the hotel treadmill between training and dinner. I was hoping to convince my coworkers that a 7pm dinner was much better than 6pm but that didn’t really work out. With only 20 minutes between training and dinner, I didn’t have a chance to fit anything in. I messaged coach to discuss the best course of action. My options were to skip the run altogether or reschedule. He didn’t seem to think it mattered much one way or the other but I really didn’t want to miss the run so I opted to reschedule my Thursday run to Sunday.

F – EB 6mi + strength
I had an early flight out on Friday. Early enough that I got to the airport before the check-in counter was even open. That was a bit annoying but with how quickly the line grew, I was glad I was there 20 minutes before opening instead of 10 min after. I was pretty well exhausted after the long week and waking up so early so I took a well-deserved nap when I got home. My nap delayed my run just enough that I didn’t have time to squeeze in my strength training. I’m not sure why I thought Friday would be easy for fitting in extra, we usually have evening plans. I’m going to try out Thursday this week to see how that goes.

A certain pup had got her haircut while I was gone and was super excited to see me.

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Unfortunately for her, the weather wasn’t really ideal for outdoors so I headed for the treadmill. It was a nice easy run but I’m starting to run out of things to watch. I’m hoping with the Olympics coming up that I’ll be able to record some of the events and not hear the results until after my run.

Sa – LR 7mi + strength
My long run pace for this training block is 9:00 and I really wanted to be able to hit that. I started off the run easy to get warmed up but by the second half mile I was hitting my pace. The route itself was pretty hilly so I had a few miles outside of the pacing, but looking at my GAP, I did pretty darn well with only one mile just a tad fast. Plus, my average pace for the run was 9:08 so I’d say it was a success.

Mile – Pace (GAP)
1 – 9:13 (8:55)
2 – 9:05 (9:07)
3 – 8:58 (8:58)
4 –8:58 (8:39)
5 - 9:20 (8:54)
6 – 9:20 (9:07)
7 – 9:03 (9:04)

I did my strength training, but that’s all I really have to say about that. It included chair dips which are my worst enemy. I have no upper body strength. Guess there’s no time like the present to gain some?

Su – EA 6 mi
Determined not to have a missed workout only two weeks in, I made up my skipped workout on Thursday. I may have also wanted to go running so I didn’t feel guilty about any Super Bowl snacks that evening… It was another easy run on the treadmill. I watched Toy Story 3 during the run which resulted in me crying like a big baby at the end. Maybe that’s good race day training though since I tend to get emotional then too?

Weekly Time: 4:49:11
Weekly Miles: 29.2/29
Yearly Miles: 86.1/1254 (6.9%)
Weight Progress: 9.2 lbs to go. Took a bit of a step back this week. People who travel and stay fit have a lot of willpower and much respect.
Logged Meals: 4/21 I started off strong but then it became difficult with the catered meals to know what I was really eating.


This week’s schedule: Here we go! Onto the hard parts!
M – EA 5mi + strength
Tu – DT 3x1mi
Th – T 4mi + strength
Fr – EA 6mi
Sa – LR 8mi
 


January 2018 Recap
Just realized I didn’t give my January numbers anywhere, so here’s a brand new post just for them!
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Previous Month: 145.2
January 2017: 15.4
January 2018: 61.9
Year to Date: 61.9
Mileage Goal Progress: 4.94%

At first glance, January was a down month compared to the month before. Heck, it was less than half the mileage. This was expected though since December was all about ramping up for the marathon and January was mostly about recovering from it. After the WDW Marathon on Jan 7, I took 11 days completely off from running. I intended for two weeks but then we had some crazy seasonably warm weather and I just had to get out and enjoy it. Those final two weeks only included easy runs between 3-5 miles while my body still recovered.

Looking at the big picture, I’m really happy with how the month went. My mileage quadrupled from the same month the year before which happens to be when I actually started tracking this sort of thing (spoiler, I’m on track to beat February 2017’s totals pretty handedly too). Plus, I ran a marathon! I’ve rambled on about it before, but I was a bit nervous about this. I knew I was stubborn enough that I would cross the finish line, but I was worried about the state I’d be in when I got there. I couldn’t have asked for a better race experience and I just hope my next marathon is at least half as enjoyable.
 
Week 3: And So It Begins (Feb 5-11)
I know technically my plan started two weeks ago, but the real stuff started this week. That real stuff being less easy running and more speed. I always get excited about this part because it forces more variety but then I get to the actual speed runs and they can kind of suck sometimes. Overall, this week was extremely trying on my motivation. The weather prevented me from going outside and I’m out of things to watch on my DVR.


M – EA 5mi + strength
Monday was a snow day.
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Well, not really. As I mentioned before, I have 6:30a meetings every Monday and since those meetings are virtual, I typically just join from my house. We were expecting quite a bit of snow around the lunch hour so I decided to just work from home the entire day. The rest of my team was traveling and not in the office anyway. Most of the schools were called for early dismissal so it was probably the best decision. I talked with a lot of people on Tuesday in the office who wished they would have stayed home.

Anyway, staying home meant that I kind of just lounged around all day and was feeling especially lazy. I lost my motivation in a pool of laziness and postponed my easy run to Wednesday.


Tu – DT 3x1mi
I was a bit excited about this run. It would be my first time doing any sort of speed in quite a while. When I left work it was 17 degrees and felt quite warm compared to the sub-zero temperatures from the morning. I debated running outside but due to the snow there was still a lot of uncleared areas and I didn’t feel comfortable running fast in slick spots.

Down to the treadmill I went. The nice thing about speedwork on the treadmill is that it makes the actual treadmill part less boring. My mind stays engaged as I count down the seconds until I get to switch speeds. The first interval was really tough and it made me nervous if I would survive. Surprisingly, the second interval felt quite a bit easier and even the third was no big deal. I think my body just wasn’t quite warmed up enough for the first one. Please don’t tell coach, that 2mi warmup is about all I can mentally stand.


W – EA 5mi + strength
I really was not motivated for this run. There was no good reason for me not to do it though, so I eventually (with the help of my husband’s encouragement) made it downstairs to the treadmill. Bucky was disappointed as usual. It’s been a long while since I’ve been able to take her outside and I think we are both equally annoyed about it.

After an easy 5 miles, I completed a new strength workout. It was pretty easy, but I enjoyed it for that reason. There were still a lot of tough moves and I learned I can only do 10 pushups before tapping out.


Th – T 4mi + strength
Ughhh, tempo runs are my worst enemy. They seem so easy going into them. I mean, if I’m supposed to run this pace for 13 miles, 4 should be no problem. It’s never worked out this way for me. I’m not the scientist around here, but I think the race day adrenaline plays a big part in me being able to keep up a quicker pace. Plus, it’s a lot easier to stay engaged and “race” when there’s others out on the course. On my treadmill, in my basement, not so much.

I was still committed to giving it a go so down to the basement I went. After 2 easy warm up miles, it was time to crank up the speed. The first mile went by pretty easy but things started to get tough from there. I stopped to take a minute breather at the 2 mile mark and that was much appreciated. My breathing never got out of control, but I could feel my heart working. I was also starting to feel some less used muscles in my rear being activated. Eventually, I made it to the cooldown and I was never more relieved. I had thought about cutting it short several times but kept going.


F – EA 6mi
I was really hoping to get outside for this one. There was a lot of snow on the ground which I thought would be okay for an easy run but it was also very windy, so downstairs I went. Thankfully, this time I had some Olympics DVRed. I basically recorded everything except the figure skating. While I really love curling, it’s not really an adrenaline pumping sport so I had to switch to skiing. Luckily, I had oodles of choices (good thing I recorded almost everything).

Sa – LR 8mi
Going into the week, I knew the long run on Saturday was in jeopardy. We left for Chicago Friday afternoon for a concert and weren’t coming back home until Sunday. In my ideal mind, it was going to be nice weather and I’d just be able to run Saturday morning before things got going. Sadly, it wasn’t particularly good weather and on top of that Chicago has a really bad drainage problem. They got something like 18in of snow in the 5 preceding days and it was all pooling in all of the corners. It made me really glad I packed my winter boots but would have been miserable to run in. Anyway, long story short, I didn’t go on Saturday and planned to go when I got home Sunday….but travel days are rough for me and I didn’t do it that day either. I was really tore up about the whole thing and quickly asked coach if I could make it up sometime the following week. He assured me one missed run was okay, but not to make a habit out of it.

Weekly Time: 3:56:22
Weekly Miles: 24.1/32.2
Yearly Miles: 110.3/1254 (8.8%)
Weight Progress: Not good…up half a pound.
Logged Meals: I kind of fell off the wagon on my trip the week before. I’ll get back to this, eventually.

This week’s schedule: Here we go! Onto the hard parts!
M – EA 5mi + strength
Tu – T 4mi
Th – EB 7mi + strength
F – EA 5mi
Sa – Race Day!!! Chili Chase 4 Miler!

…I may have forgot to post this in a timely manner so just ignore the fact that I posted it a week late….
 
Week 3: And So It Begins (Feb 5-11)
I know technically my plan started two weeks ago, but the real stuff started this week. That real stuff being less easy running and more speed. I always get excited about this part because it forces more variety but then I get to the actual speed runs and they can kind of suck sometimes. Overall, this week was extremely trying on my motivation. The weather prevented me from going outside and I’m out of things to watch on my DVR.


M – EA 5mi + strength
Monday was a snow day.
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Well, not really. As I mentioned before, I have 6:30a meetings every Monday and since those meetings are virtual, I typically just join from my house. We were expecting quite a bit of snow around the lunch hour so I decided to just work from home the entire day. The rest of my team was traveling and not in the office anyway. Most of the schools were called for early dismissal so it was probably the best decision. I talked with a lot of people on Tuesday in the office who wished they would have stayed home.

Anyway, staying home meant that I kind of just lounged around all day and was feeling especially lazy. I lost my motivation in a pool of laziness and postponed my easy run to Wednesday.


Tu – DT 3x1mi
I was a bit excited about this run. It would be my first time doing any sort of speed in quite a while. When I left work it was 17 degrees and felt quite warm compared to the sub-zero temperatures from the morning. I debated running outside but due to the snow there was still a lot of uncleared areas and I didn’t feel comfortable running fast in slick spots.

Down to the treadmill I went. The nice thing about speedwork on the treadmill is that it makes the actual treadmill part less boring. My mind stays engaged as I count down the seconds until I get to switch speeds. The first interval was really tough and it made me nervous if I would survive. Surprisingly, the second interval felt quite a bit easier and even the third was no big deal. I think my body just wasn’t quite warmed up enough for the first one. Please don’t tell coach, that 2mi warmup is about all I can mentally stand.


W – EA 5mi + strength
I really was not motivated for this run. There was no good reason for me not to do it though, so I eventually (with the help of my husband’s encouragement) made it downstairs to the treadmill. Bucky was disappointed as usual. It’s been a long while since I’ve been able to take her outside and I think we are both equally annoyed about it.

After an easy 5 miles, I completed a new strength workout. It was pretty easy, but I enjoyed it for that reason. There were still a lot of tough moves and I learned I can only do 10 pushups before tapping out.


Th – T 4mi + strength
Ughhh, tempo runs are my worst enemy. They seem so easy going into them. I mean, if I’m supposed to run this pace for 13 miles, 4 should be no problem. It’s never worked out this way for me. I’m not the scientist around here, but I think the race day adrenaline plays a big part in me being able to keep up a quicker pace. Plus, it’s a lot easier to stay engaged and “race” when there’s others out on the course. On my treadmill, in my basement, not so much.

I was still committed to giving it a go so down to the basement I went. After 2 easy warm up miles, it was time to crank up the speed. The first mile went by pretty easy but things started to get tough from there. I stopped to take a minute breather at the 2 mile mark and that was much appreciated. My breathing never got out of control, but I could feel my heart working. I was also starting to feel some less used muscles in my rear being activated. Eventually, I made it to the cooldown and I was never more relieved. I had thought about cutting it short several times but kept going.


F – EA 6mi
I was really hoping to get outside for this one. There was a lot of snow on the ground which I thought would be okay for an easy run but it was also very windy, so downstairs I went. Thankfully, this time I had some Olympics DVRed. I basically recorded everything except the figure skating. While I really love curling, it’s not really an adrenaline pumping sport so I had to switch to skiing. Luckily, I had oodles of choices (good thing I recorded almost everything).

Sa – LR 8mi
Going into the week, I knew the long run on Saturday was in jeopardy. We left for Chicago Friday afternoon for a concert and weren’t coming back home until Sunday. In my ideal mind, it was going to be nice weather and I’d just be able to run Saturday morning before things got going. Sadly, it wasn’t particularly good weather and on top of that Chicago has a really bad drainage problem. They got something like 18in of snow in the 5 preceding days and it was all pooling in all of the corners. It made me really glad I packed my winter boots but would have been miserable to run in. Anyway, long story short, I didn’t go on Saturday and planned to go when I got home Sunday….but travel days are rough for me and I didn’t do it that day either. I was really tore up about the whole thing and quickly asked coach if I could make it up sometime the following week. He assured me one missed run was okay, but not to make a habit out of it.

Weekly Time: 3:56:22
Weekly Miles: 24.1/32.2
Yearly Miles: 110.3/1254 (8.8%)
Weight Progress: Not good…up half a pound.
Logged Meals: I kind of fell off the wagon on my trip the week before. I’ll get back to this, eventually.

This week’s schedule: Here we go! Onto the hard parts!
M – EA 5mi + strength
Tu – T 4mi
Th – EB 7mi + strength
F – EA 5mi
Sa – Race Day!!! Chili Chase 4 Miler!

…I may have forgot to post this in a timely manner so just ignore the fact that I posted it a week late….
One problem with posting a week late is that I also forgot some of the details. Travel definitely played a part in my missed long run but the real major factor was both my calves were suffering severe cramps all day on Sunday. Unfortunately, I brought this on my self by drinking a bit too much on Saturday. Lesson learned. If there's a bright side to this it's that it was pretty early on in the training plan and I should be able to bounce back.
 
Starting a new training plan in February is a pain! The weather has derailed a couple of my runs too and it stinks. Coach also reassured me that the occasional miss wouldn't be a big deal as long as I don't make a habit of it.
 
Starting a new training plan in February is a pain! The weather has derailed a couple of my runs too and it stinks. Coach also reassured me that the occasional miss wouldn't be a big deal as long as I don't make a habit of it.
I really thought training for a marathon in December was a pain, but I think you're right. Starting in winter is just as bad as finishing in winter! On the flip side, I'm currently in Louisiana (I've literally been all over the southern half of the state it seems) and it was 87 today! I can't imagine training for any kind of race when it's almost 90 in February!
 
Joining in to follow your training - this time of year is such a bummer, past the holiday excitement and so close to spring, but not close enough.
 
Joining in to follow your training - this time of year is such a bummer, past the holiday excitement and so close to spring, but not close enough.
Such a great way of putting it! I could also use a little less teasing from mother nature. One week it's 50s, next week it's snowing everyday. Just make up your mind! It's look like this week will be nice here weatherwise so I shouldn't complain too much.
 
Such a great way of putting it! I could also use a little less teasing from mother nature. One week it's 50s, next week it's snowing everyday. Just make up your mind! It's look like this week will be nice here weatherwise so I shouldn't complain too much.

50s here today and tomorrow - potential big snow storm coming this weekend! Pick one Mother Nature!
 
Week 4: A bit of turbulence (Feb 12-18)
After missing my long run over the weekend, I was determined to get back on track this week and not miss any runs. Bit of a spoiler here, but things did not go as planned… My RHR had been about 10 bpm above normal for weeks and but I felt fine and there was nothing particularly stressful happening in my life. I thought I had just lost a lot of fitness somehow and my heart was adjusting back down. Apparently not. I’m still not entirely sure what was going on because I never got any normal sick symptoms like coughing, sneezing, or congestion but by body was definitely fighting off something. The good news is that it's back down now and I'm ready to tackle this training!

M – EA 5mi + strength
I was tired of running on the treadmill and with the DVR not working correctly, I decided to head outside. This only lasted for about 2 miles. As the sun began to set, the snow melt began to freeze and the temperature dropped. I really wasn’t up for slipping on the icy sidewalks so I finished up inside. At least I tried I guess....

Tu – T 4mi
Tuesday morning I went to work feeling just fine but then around 8:30 things took a turn. I was feeling a bit nauseous and lightheaded. Thinking maybe I just needed to eat something, I grabbed a few almonds from my stash and went off to my 9am meeting. Things didn’t really get any better. I was trying to make it until lunch still thinking maybe it was a food thing but it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen, so I headed home. Long story short, no running for me.

W – Valentine’s Day!
There was no planned run on Wednesday, but I still wasn’t feeling well. This was disappointing as I was really looking forward to our annual heart shaped pizza. I still ate some of the pizza but would have preferred feeling better. Anyway, I made Bucky dress up for the holiday and she was not impressed.

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Th – EB 7mi + strength
Thursday morning I was feeling a bit better but still not 100%. Since I’m lucky enough to be able to work from home, I stayed in once again but did actually get some work done. I also tried to get some rest but anytime I laid down my head I woke up to this adorable snout in my face. She is not very supportive of napping for some reason.

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F – EA 5mi
Friday morning I was feeling great and so excited to be back to normal. The entire work day went off without a hitch but then the nausea returned right as I got in my car to head home. Such terrible timing! I went home and went straight to bed and pretty much didn’t leave. My husband went to a friend’s house for a while and then to meet other friends for dinner. He was nice enough to bring me back a slice of pizza, which I ate in my bed because I had no interested in moving at all.


Sa – EB 3mi
I was feeling better on Saturday, thank goodness. We had a few errands to run and the weather wasn’t quite cooperating so I went for a quick 3 miles in the basement that evening. The DVR was still not working, but luckily it was only 3 miles so it was a bit easier to suffer through with no entertainment.


Su – Race Day!!! Chili Chase 4 Miler!
I’ll give a full recap of the race soon. I was really nervous going in since I hadn’t been feeling well or running very much. Things turned out okay, but that’s all I’ll say about that.


In other news, I we built/assembled a new running display for my collection. Previously, I had a shadow box that had several of my medals displayed but it was a really big pain to take off the wall, take off the back, add new medals, re-attach the back, then hang back on the wall. This resulted in all of my medals from the past two years just hanging on the outside of the box or collecting dust in odd places around the house
.

I was finally fed up and ready to do something that would be easier to update. There are lots of photos online of people using curtain rods so I thought that would be a good solution. For some reason, I couldn’t get husband on board. He thought it would look silly and wanted a shelf of some sort. I had no idea where we would find a shelf with a bar for my medals but he thought we could. Then I remembered that I had four shelves stored in a room upstairs that had never been hung in the new house. We went upstairs to examine and settled on this one.

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Now we just needed a bar. I still thought that a curtain rod would probably be the easiest but we wandered all around the hardware store looking for an answer. Eventually, we did settle on a curtain rod and then had to figure out how we wanted to attach it. That was an adventure in itself, but I think we managed to find a good solution.

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The tricky part was going to be hanging it. We aren't exactly the handiest people around and it was an odd length so only one of the screws would be going into a stud. Thank goodness for drywall screws.

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I’m so excited to have an easier way to show off my medals. Plus, the shelf allows me to display some of my other running memorabilia. Now to figure out what to do with my bibs….


Weekly Time: 2:06:22
Weekly Miles: 13/31
Yearly Miles: 123.3/1254 (9.8%)
Weight Progress: Really not good…avg weight up again.
Logged Meals: Still not back on this…but my weight trend is definitely motivation to pay more attention


This week’s schedule: I’m traveling this week for work, but I’m feeling good about finding time for my training. We’ll see how it goes.
M – EA 5mi + strength

Tu – EB 7mi
Th – 2x2mi @ T
F – EA 6mi
Sa – LR 9mi
 
50s here today and tomorrow - potential big snow storm coming this weekend! Pick one Mother Nature!
Ughh, I hadn't looked that far ahead in the forecast. 50s today, 60s tomorrow, 50s on Wednesday, and then March kicks off with snow. At least it supposed to stay above freezing!
 
Chili Chase 4 Miler Race Review
Weather:
I was really nervous about the weather when I signed up for this race. February is a risky time to be running in Iowa. Usually, I’d wait until a week out when I could be sure of some decent weather. However, this year with my goal for one race a month I knew this was pretty much my only opportunity to get a race in so I registered early. Amazingly, race temperatures were in the low 40s which, in my opinion, is perfect running weather. Unfortunately, the warm temperatures were melting all of the snow which meant a lot of puddles and slick spots (more on that later). I’ll gladly take 40s in any condition over 10s though.


Course:
I ran this race for the first time last year so I knew exactly what to expect. Online it’s described as fairly flat. I guess “fairly” can be interpreted different ways. The course starts with a notable downhill, followed by an uphill, back downhill, back uphill, then back downhill. This lasts for pretty much the first 2 miles. It is flat after that until the last half mile which is uphill. So, 2.5/4 miles are hilly. That doesn’t equal fairly flat to me, but they didn’t ask my opinion.

Other than the description being deceiving, it’s a decent course. It starts in a park, then goes through a peaceful little neighborhood. One of the neighborhood kids had decorated the road with sidewalk chalk. There was hopscotch and motivational things like “Go Runners Go!” My favorite was “If you can read this, you need to run faster!” Haha, point taken. After the short neighborhood section it’s on to the bike path where I log a lot of my long runs. The worst part of the course is the finish. Even though I’m not usually bothered by hills,. finishing the last half mile with 80 ft of elevation gain isn’t particularly fun or enjoyable. The worst of it is the last .1 miles which amounts to 40 of the 80 feet gained. Since this was my second year, I knew what I was getting into, but when signing up for a “fairly flat” race, I wouldn’t expect a finish like that!

Results:
A few weeks ago, I had set a goal to break 30 minutes for this race. Coach had me finishing in 30:29 on the training plan, so I just wanted to one up him for good measure. Heading into the race, I wasn’t entirely sure that was possible for a few reason. First, I hadn’t run much the week before due to some strange illness that left me lightheaded, dizzy, and scared to get on the treadmill. Second, I knew this race wasn’t exactly “fairly flat” and I had to account some time for the hills, especially that last one. Finally, there was a lot of water, ice, and snow on the course. I knew this would mean sometimes avoiding the best tangents and slowing down in certain parts. I still was aiming for that sub-30 but knew it might not be in the cards that day. I had setup a secondary goal to finish top 5. I had finished 9th overall female the year before so top 10 wasn’t going to cut it for me.

As I mentioned, the course starts off downhill. I’m always nervous about starting out too quickly and I really didn’t want to fall on the slippery downhill so I took it easy. I was right around my goal pace of 7:29 at the first half mile and realized I was going to have to pick it up if I wanted to stay on track. I trudged up the hill and managed to pass a few people along the way, happily making my way into the top 10 females. Soon enough, we were past the first mile and my time was right in the 7:40 range. I knew I was close to my goal but needed to speed up. During the second mile, I was focused on reeling in some of the racers in front of me. I managed to pass two ladies, officially making myself 7th overall. The next mile featured an out and back which is when I realized how close I was to the other women who I previously thought were far out of reach. I did my best to keep going toward my top 5 goal.

Unfortunately, the bike path wasn’t cleared and I had to slow down several times. There was one bridge in particular that was completely covered and I basically had to shuffle across (twice). I’m sure this is also what happened to the ladies in front of me and why they were so close. By the time I made it to a clear part of the course, the competition was nowhere in sight. I could hear some runners coming up on me so I kept at it. I tried to do some runner math, and somehow thought that if I was past mile 3 in under 25 minutes, I could still meet my 30 minute goal. I have no idea what kind of drugs my brain was on, I’ve never run a 5 minute mile. Anyway, when the guy called out my time of 23:xx I briefly thought I had somehow got 2 minutes ahead of my goal. Luckily, I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. At this point, I realized sub-30 wasn’t very likely, but I wanted to hold my position at 7th overall female.

Just before the last half mile, a woman came cruising past me. At her speed, it seemed she had a lot more left in her tank so I wanted to keep her close but didn’t feel the need to play leapfrog with her. In a strange turn of events, as quickly as she passed, she slowed down. Just before the big hill, I passed her back and knew it was time to put in work up the hill. The hill was rough but I just kept going. My pace certainly slowed, but I think I actually gained ground on a lot of the competitors. According to Strava, I hit a GAP of 6:34 even though my actual pace was 8:34. Everyone was too spread out by this time for any passing, but I was happy enough with my result considering the circumstances.

Time: 30:58…so close to @DopeyBadger prediction!
Age Group Rank: 1/8…unfortunately no awards at this small race. You have to win it all or nothing at all. The female winner had a finish time of 26:05 so I’m not really sure that’s in my future.
Gender Rank: 7/98
Overall Rank: 43/186

Random Ramblings:
Instead of shirts, this race gives away socks. As someone who’s been running in races for quite a few years, I don’t really need more shirts but I do always welcome new socks. They’re pretty basic running socks, but still nice to have. Plus, they’re a bit higher cut than my typical ankle socks and it can be nice to have a pair with the extra skin coverage in the winter.

Overall Impression:
For a local race, this one has a really fun atmosphere. There aren’t a lot of spectators or participants but they are true to the theme and provide chili, cookies, etc. after the race. My favorite part is the coolers of Busch Light they have lined up at the finish. I’m not a BL fan, and I always take the water, but for some reason it just seems to fit the race perfectly. It’s like you’re at a good friend’s bbq.
 
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Well done on what sounds like a pretty tough course only further complicated with snow and ice. EEK!

Sorry you had a bad week leading up to it and that you are now feeling better though and Bucky looks adorable in her heart antennae. The medal rack is all kinds of awesome. I have got to figure something out for my medals at home as well!
 

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