Week 8 - Oh My Mileage

Monday
Distance: 5 miles, with strides
Pace: Hot mess, Part Deux

I just cannot find my schedule.  Too few options, too many options.  Long arse commute makes it so that if I run the weekday distance, I do absolutely nothing else except run and work.  I guess I don't have to sustain for longer than a few months, so I will suck it up. But rough, man!

K & M are running Mondays, 6:30 AM up in Alpha.  That's the one scenario that no longer works for me.  :/  To start at 6:30, I need to be down past a good bit of the commute, or I don't get into work until bed time. lol.

The oval-beltline is the most appealing in the evening, but now that In-Training for Peachtree is over, that's alone.  Alone Monday, alone Tuesday AND alone Wednesday evenings sounds like a receipt for disaster.  So I must keeping trying to shuffle this. For now, alone, hot and a mess.  But 5 miles, done!

Pretty much #nope all the way.  But I could have skipped it, so there's that.

Tuesday - Friday
Nope, nope and nope.  Work essentially blew up.  Run buds disappeared. My pink gym bag basically was along for a scenic ride of the downtown area each day.

Nice change of pace on the personal / home front though.  Friendships and relationships stabilizing. I have a bit of support again in this crazy world, and am starting not sounding like a cynical cat lady (among other things, I don't even like cats, so that path was going to present serious issues, lmao).

Saturday 
Distance: Decatur 4 miler
Time: 42:24, 10:29 avg pace.

Last year, I finished this race in 35:36, 8:54 avg. pace.  I for sure was absolutely tickled; that time was definitely representative of a "make it suck" effort. This year, I just had fun.  I can't even figure out if this is my new kinda-make-it-suck pace, or if I am both off pace and off on mental game.  For today, we'll blame it on the fact that I stayed out REALLY late Friday night (NKOTB concert .. woo!).

But .. no more whining about last year.  I am where I am, and I need to get better.  That is all.

Sunday
Distance: 14 miles
Pace: ~11:20

Hallelujah!  Felt great on this run!! A few things that were different from last week's run: no hills, overcast, and flat. I love Cochran Shoals!  Also, and a big win, I didn't chase anyone out of the gate, or make early-on pacing mistakes.  I knew I'd need run/walk eventually, so I started 3-1 right from the beginning, even when I didn't need it.  K was doing similar, so I had a person anchor for all two plus hours.  Big group all out there on the out and back loops, too. My favorite perk.

If I use this as an indicator, I think that I can realistically train for under 5 hours, maybe 4:45. Not where I'd like to end up, and its going to be REALLY hard to keep the mental game up for months, and to keep the enthusiasm up during the race itself, if a PR of 4:26 is not even possible.  But not ready to admit defeat on that front. Lets just keep doing what we're doing for a while longer, shall we? That said, right now, sub-5 for sure seems like a hit I'd have to be proud of, given the circumstances being where they are right now.

Hard not to mention last year here specifically, too.  A Facebook memory reminds me that this weekend, Michele and I hit 17 miles for the first time, and ran it at a 10:30 avg pace.  That said, its only 3 miles from what we did, and I for sure did not feel like I tempo-ed any part of this run in absolutely any way, so very hopeful there is still a bit of wiggle room if I really, really get ambitious with training.

Of course, my favorite part of any run is cutting it up with friends, and .. WAFFLES! :) 

I hydrated well, slept well, pre-ate well, and the only thing that tuckered out were the bottom of my feet.  Quads and calves only a tiny bit miffed.  No soreness Monday.  So, I am thankful!