Distance - 17 ...yes you heard that right .. 17! (that's how I have to say it for non-runners. lol)
Avg Pace - 10:30
Another great confidence booster! I am shocked by the average pace on this one. Woo!
Unfortunately, a few big BOOS turned into secret helpers. First, we were 'kicking off' with some ZIPPY folks. I can run well with this gang for 4 miles on Friday morning (and am usually not even at the dead back of the pack on occasion, lol), but knowing I was running longer than I ever have, and longer than even most of them were planning to go, staying with them would be a whole lot of NOPE. But I'm not good at NOPE. Lucky (??) for M & I, I ended up with that chest stitch thing right out of the gate. This SERIOUSLY forced us to say buh bye to the larger group the very first thing. I did my breathing, and soon had it under control. It came back a bit more insistent ~ mile 10ish, but breathing and drinking, and remaining calm = all better. (Kinda nervous though: by my count, that's the third stitch like that I have gotten. Could it be hydration? Maybe. Weird that it didn't happen during Peachtree, or Decatur .. both hot and hilly. But it did happen during Braves, my first 15, and now first thing on 17. Not many runs, not all the time, but a few. So watching it.) This forced a theme. Today wouldn't be fast, steady, fast. It would be positive, almost neutral, the whole way until about .5 to finish. Which felt kinda pretty great. :) I hardly looked at my watch. (relative to how much I usually look at my watch; probably still a lot for some) When I realized I was keeping a nice record, I let it motivate me. (read: got a little fast). By now I'd lost M, and was rocking it out solo, plus headphones. Zoom, zoom. Unfortunately, (again quasi fortunately), my mom called with some bad news about my grandfather being in the hospital at about mile 12. As I listened, I let myself fall to 11s. The secret good there was that I needed that slow down to help with a decent push from 12.5 - 13.5, and then again from 16 to 17. (I love that stretch of Riverside where you know you are headed back to the parking lot. Even twice. Lol. I can never keep myself from not going under 9:30 that last mile .. even after 16!) (Non-run related: Grandpa is doing well, and gets released tomorrow. Yippy).
Run inspiration. *^_^*
After the run, I didn't want to pop myself in a car immediately, so Michele and I walked another mile. AND ... then I walked myself to the neighborhood pool, and did a few laps to cool off. (WAAAH???)
It feels amazing to hit 17, and still feel so normal. That amount of mileage already sounds as nuts out loud as 26.2. On the total other hand, that means I STILL have to run NINE POINT FRIGGIN TWO more miles on race day. That single thought is ABSOLUTELY daunting.
Schedule change due to bumping long run to Sunday; rest or XT today.
Well this is awkward. Except for a tiny bit of get-out-of-bed lack of grace, I feel TOTALLY fine this morning. One race, one 17 miler, and .. totally fine?? I even considered joining Kyle for the new regular Monday morning 6.2. I didn't, because my brain on occasion does prove smarter than my body. But that it feels like a pretty bonafide option is a bit unreal!
I took a walk after dinner, and was knocked out by 10:30 PM
Tuesday
Distance - #10kTuesday
Pace: 9:56
Michele is still sick. The 2nd shift 10KTuesday decided to field trip from Dunwoody to Greenway, which is a bit more doable for me, so I decided I'd go ahead and get it in first thing, so that I could run with other people. Not crazy 5 AM people, but reasonable 6:30 AM people. LOL. Unfortunately, I didn't rest well; lost in thoughts of work and what not most of the night after 1 AM. So getting up was still hard. On the other hand, I am for sure starting to feel more like the stereotypical marathon runner, up before the masses, grinding away. Woo!
About this run: I felt a bit heavy in the legs to start, but warmed up nicely. Every time I set out for a run, I underestimate myself. Especially runs with other people. I was certain this would be a "Bad Run." And I do have those. Plenty. But not enough that I should predict having one EVERY time I head off. Because the legs were not fresh, miles 5 & 6 were certainly not conversational, but the speed felt good anyways. Under 10 avg pace for a post-17 shake out .. that was a post race shake out? I'll take it!
Because I had to run away after the run, I took a sweaty by myself car selfie instead of a group selfie. I look MAD. Hehe.
And I am still keeping up with pre-shower crunches (45-55), and pre-bed plank/stretching. So far, these are the only things that have 'stuck,' but hey, better than nothing.
Wednesday
Rest
Sleeping like a newborn is now a thing. I head home, eat dinner, knock out on the couch, wake up at about 11, eat something (usually bad), and then knock out again.
Sleeping like a newborn is now a thing. I head home, eat dinner, knock out on the couch, wake up at about 11, eat something (usually bad), and then knock out again.
Distance - 5.4
Pace - 9:24
There's a little bitty piece of me that really wishes I were doing half-marathon training on mornings like today. (Okay, a bigger than bitty piece, but for the reason I am working to mention, a bitty piece). I feel like this training round, I would have *finally* been able to CONFIDENTLY bump myself into the 9 minute pace group. Back of 9s at the longer distances, for sure, but 9s none-the-less. I've already toyed with the idea of starting out at back of 9s anyway each time, just out of stubbornness to graduate myself, but that didn't really bode so well in Brookhaven the other week. haha. So .. patience .. which I am not good at. Doing twice the distance, though, so must obey the Easy Pace Gods! 9:24 is absolutely feeling super 'reasonable' for 4-6 training runs, but I doubt I'd be able to keep it up for 17 hilly miles of ATC Atlanta-based fun! (and by I doubt, I mean I'd be dead).
Adopted! This crew replaced my sick little squad this week. I think we are looking at a sub-group run merger, because I really like Tuesday/Thursday Greenway mornings! :) (and how nice these folks are, of course .. plus zippy too! good deal)
Other random thoughts:It feels SO. G. D. NICE not to have a race this weekend! No anxiety. At all. Joy!
Two .. further ponderings about 4 miler last weekend .. its interesting how when you run your best, you feel amazing. Period. That said, I think there's a smidge of mental memory bias there. If you're going down a hill, you feel like wonder woman, if you are going up a hill, you feel like a lard. If your friends kick your arse, you might get down in the dumps, if you PR, you feel fantastic, even if that PR was months or years old. So the post-race feeling, while the BEST POSSIBLE REASON for RUNNING... EVER. ... is maybe sorta just a tiny bit flawed.
What never fails? Running with a pacer. Singleton, for example, felt a little rough during. I didn't feel totally capable. At the finish line, if there were no number waiting, I might have said: I blew it. I didn't feel like I pushed enough, I wasn't steady. I didn't feel like 'wonder woman' during. Because it hurt. like. f*ck. And I was ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. But I *crushed* a recent PR. At Braves, I felt different. In control. Pacing like a champ. Wonder Woman. At 4 miler, wonder woman. At Peachtree .. um .. Wonder Woman at the beach. All serious improvements, time-wise, yes. But the point is: if I had run with someone making me push to Level: Yuck, would I have felt like "I sucked," but ended with the *best* possible time? Which of these things do I want more for my first marathon: feeling accomplished and fantastic, or having it suck?
If I am honest, by the end, I think I want it to suck.
I ask other runners what they are toying with, and 4:30 or under 4 are typical answers. Some of these runners, I run with day in and day out, so I wonder if I'm setting myself up for sandbagging with a goal of 4:45 - 5:30. The BIG difference, though, is that they have done this before. Some MANY times. So they probably know more realistically what, with training, and the specific course, they can do. Me .. not so much. The indicator chart says 4:05 - 4:09, based on Braves. The indicator chart is loco and needs to be shot dead. It also says that I can now hit that 2 hour half, and I am 10 minutes shy of that. Granted, maybe the indicator chart doesn't know that thus far, my halves have been: hillfest Thanksgiving, hillfest Publix, and hillfest Pig, but ..
so yea. I think it's right about the half, with great conditions and a pace group, I think I could squeak out a 2 hour 1/2 soon. But seriously off on the marathon!! Plus, I do not covet that time range. In fact, in my WILDEST dreams, the time that I am *afraid* to speak out loud that I might even kinda sorta want would be a 4:30. Even thinking that out loud is against the rules for first thon. Am I setting myself up for disaster to even ponder it? In fact, by the powers vested in comical circumstances, I'll probably get pick up by the swag wagon now just for rambling on the topic! lol.
But all these thoughts lead me to .. I should go out with the 4:30 pace group. Shoot for the moon, land among the stars . yea? Fall back when I eventually need to?
The answer is still: who knows. Run 20 miles, Jude, then lets talk. ;)
Friday
Distance - 4.3
Pace: 10:13 (maybe? but probably not)
Today's run can be summarized as: fun with new watch. I accidentally set the run to 'indoor treadmill.' The Display changes I *finally* thought I had learned to set were gone. So I couldn't tell if I was seeing lap pace, average pace, or something else. When I got to the normal 2 mile mark, it said I was at 1.8. So I went to like the 5th lamp post for 2, thinking I had slacked on starting the watch. When I got back to the parking lot (normal 4), I just had 3.85!! GGGRRR. While on the run, I kept thinking that 10:20/10:30 was REALLY hard to keep, considering it was JUST four miles, but I figured this must be what it feels like to try shorter more tempo-like runs back to back. I also wondered why Courtney and Jody were running 10:20/10:30 their first mile, and if it was hard for them to stay that slow. LOL. But I did run with both for sure at least the first mile, and later when I checked, they had ~9:40, so I am going to blame the treadmill mode, and for sure give myself at least 10:05 easy pace I should have kept, and really, it was probably closer to 9:40 avg pace. (The last two were faster than first two).
Four morning runs this week. I am officially ON A SCHEDULE. This is getting easier. Woo!
Then .. the weekend. Mergh. Parent who pulled the short stick for concert pick up = moi. Yippy. 11 PM at Lakewood. Bed time will probably be 1 AM. 17 miler starts at 6:15 AM. Joy.
Saturday
Distance - 18
Pace -
So happy. :) Still sung as a bug in a rug on the 4:45 time pace!! And new distance PR. Woah.
I didn't run a single mile that started in the 11s. I didn't run a single mile that started in the 9s, except the last one. That's pacing, baby! Lol.
I had only planned to repeat 17, but it was so nice to have company a good bit of the way, and I am starting to get REALLY get nervous about running with training. The hills I haven't run since Peachtree and Brookhaven will most likely be back in full force with a vengeance! Where did I really want to try to tackle an 18 miler: out on some insane course or on home turf?? I pick flat, scenic Riverside! Plus, breaking it up really helps mentally. By the time you hit a half marathon back at the parking lot, 17 is just two more out and back, so what's 2.5 out and back to make that 18. Throw in finding a few new random people to watch and run with. Running gold.
Total:
WAHOOOOO!!! 5 runs, 51 miles! (Technicality again; ran long Sunday and Saturday, but we WILL celebrate 51 miles regardless!!! *^_^*)
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