Cigna 5k and mid August

Staying relaxed before the start

Thursday, August 13th, 2015
Cigna 5k
Last Thursday I drove up to Manchester, NH to run the Cigna 5k, at the request of my coach, even though my legs were still tired from racing and a long run over the past weekend.  I lowered my standards a little bit before the race, it was 78 degrees and sunny (although the humidity was mild for New England) and it ended up taking me 3 hours and twenty minutes to get there.  I had run this race several years ago with some guys from Keene and for some reason none of us ran well, despite the fact it is suppose to be a fast course.  I got in 2.5 for a warmup, plus plenty of striders.  The first mile of the course is a very gradual uphill, the second mile starts off downhill and then has a few mild rollers, the third mile is just straight and flat until about 2.85, where you climb a hill up to the 3 mile mark, before kicking it in to the finish line.  The gun went off and I started out behind a few girls, I eventually passed one of the girls from NYC just before the first mile (5:31) and felt good.  My second mile was 5:34+ and I thought at this point I was going to have a huge PR.  Then the third mile came, and added some time.  The open straightaway seemed to go on forever and the sun was beating down during that section pretty good.  When I made the final turn up the hill I passed some people, but I am sure that hill added a good 10 seconds to my time.  I finished in 17:29 for third place, a 4 second PR.

After the race I had a 4 x 3 minute on workout.  I did this solely based off of effort, I didn't even record the pace I was running on my watch, although I'm sure it wasn't any faster than 6:20's.  I stayed for the awards ceremony before heading up to Hanover to stay with my friend Janne for the night.  We got in 8 miles in the morning before I left to come home.  That afternoon I got in another easy 5 miles in the pine bush with Josh.

Sunday, August 16th- Easy 20 miles with Hannah, 12 with Frank, and warmed up with Tom, Scott and Matt.  Nothing special, just needed to get in 20 miles that morning and we did, averaged around 7:05 pace.

Monday, August 17th- The heat has returned!  I woke up and ran several miles in Scotia that morning, took a nap, and then went to the TAW XC run that evening.  I ran fairly easy, although I did push the uphills, to finish first female, 5th overall.  It was 90 degrees, yuck!  That evening I really worked on recovery as I knew I had a hard workout planned for the morning.  Contrast shower, foam rolled, elevated legs and PROTEIN!  Omelets and protein shakes are my easy go to meals when I get home late.

Tuesday, August 18th- 5:00 am wake-up to meet Hannah at Corning Preserve at 6:00.  It was already 74 degrees with 90% humidity.  My workout that morning was 4 x 2 miles, 2 minute rest at 6:00 pace.  We did a 3 mile warmup before starting; the first 2 were 5:56, 6:02- perfect.  The second set, not so much.. 5:45, 5:54, which really hurt me on the third set-6:10, 6:02, and then I closed in 6:09, 5:58.  So overall, the workout panned out to be exactly 6:00 pace, which I was happy with, especially considering the humidity that morning, but it was also the first time in years (?) the second half of my workout was slower than my first half.  Aside from the humidity, the fact I ran the XC race the night before and didn't have any water available after the first set of my workout probably didn't help, but I got the job done.

Wednesday, August 19th- I got 12 miles in this morning (84 minutes) out on some nice country roads, it was actually the Turning Stone half marathon course (where I also won $127 in black jack the night before!).  The sun wasn't out, which was good, but it was still super humid.  I replenished with some eggs, and peanut butter/banana stuffed french toast before going to my massage this afternoon, which KILLED, but needed to be done.  I'm drinking lots of fluids tonight!

I get to run easy doubles the next couple days and hopefully recovery fully before my long run/workout  this weekend.  I start my new job tomorrow and am pretty excited, although I must say the past 2 weeks of no work has been pretty ideal for training.  I wasn't even running a TON, but it allowed me to take multiple ice baths, epsom baths, foam roll and nap, all things which suffer when working full-time.

My love.

"Just remember: to be grateful and thank the people who are there and support you along the way is a great start to success." `M. Davis

Hartford Training, Round 2

New shoes, all ready to race again

 August 12th, 2015

I'm officially 8 weeks into my 16 week training cycle, and I am very thankful I have turned things around.  After London, I was a bit of a mess.  Things weren't clicking, I wasn't on a plan, I was afraid I had lost it.  Finally, the end of June, I started back up with Coach Mike again and my training began (goes to show I am lost without a strict daily schedule).  It took a few weeks to finally start getting back into shape again, but things have been going well this past month.  I got in a visit to Colorado, ran with some friends and of course had my post long run breakfast with Ellie at Snooze!

Long run workouts- My first long run workout was a shorter run (15.6 miles), but 10 miles of alternating MGP and a hard recovery miles, these ended up being around 6:10's and 6:50's, which was good.  The following LR workout was 18 miles, with 2 sets of 4 miles, predicted to be slightly slower than MGP.  These were all faster than scheduled and we closed with a 6:01 mile, with the second set faster than the first.  

Training buddies!

Track- Back on the track!  Last week we had mile repeats, all were faster than any set of mile repeats I've done before.  Other track workouts have been going well too, and I am thankful for Hannah, our newest team member who just moved here, to push me each week!



Bridge of Flowers 10k

2015 BOF

Last weekend was the Bridge of Flowers 10k, which I won last year, so I had the extra pressure of winning again this year (and wearing bib #1, ug!).  The race for those that don't know is not a typical 10k.  The first mile is uphill, the second is rolling and the third is a MONSTER hill.  I'm talking about 2 minutes slower than the rest of your miles easily.  I was nervous before the race, but also confident I could shave some time off of last year's finish, particularly in the first 2 miles.  I went out too conservative last year I think, in preparation for the big hill, but in reality, nothing is going to make that hill easier, you are going to be going slow, so I figured I'd go out a little harder.  Each one of my miles this year were faster than last year's.  My splits were 5:47, 5:52, 7:52, 5:28, 5:55, 5:42, then who knows for the .2!  As you can tell, the hill sucks, but I did get up it about 25 seconds faster than I did last year.  I also improved the 4th mile significantly this year.  Last year my legs were so shot from the uphill, I didn't make up as much as I wanted on the downhill mile.  Overall it was a great day, I ran 37:46 (which was a minute and 3 second course PR for me) and had fun with my teammates.  Our team won overall and took home some cash :)

Patience is a Virtue

This is a good place to be.  Last August I was getting in great shape for Hartford, had some solid long runs, ran a 5K PR and felt good.  Coming off a minute course PR last weekend and knowing where I was last year only makes me feel confident I am in a good position for this fall.  I know I can run a 5k PR right now given the right race, but I have to realize that is not the goal or the plan.  I'm running Cigna tomorrow night, which is not the time or place for me to run a PR despite knowing I could if it were a different day.  After BOF, I ran 18 miles Sunday (part of which was a good effort, handful of sub 7's), and could barely walk down the stairs for a few days.  Today is the first day I feel normal (not sore) again.  The weather is going to be warm.  77 degrees is not ideal for me who prefers 36-45 degrees when racing.  Lastly, it's a 3 hour drive.  It's all fine and I know it will be.  I just have to remind myself to purpose of this race is to practice training on tired legs for the marathon.  There's a bigger picture here and therefore my perfect 5k PR that could be just around the corner if I decided to wait and run next weekend is going to have to wait until some other time.  Patience, something I am working on…

Typical pre-race pasta and shrimp is back!