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!