Track Repeats & Freekeh

• 0 • 13.1 Training, My Running

You can do it put some track into it! 

Hit the track this morning for my second workout for the Maine Coast Half Marathon in May! Yes… it’s starting. I had great results with Greg modifying Jack Daniels’ workouts for me for the Maine Half Marathon in October, but I wasn’t able to spend as many weeks in each phase as he would have liked because I didn’t start until school let out in June. This time, we’re starting around 18 weeks ahead of time to build in a buffer for any off weeks due to illness or vacation and to make sure I don’t rush through any of the phases before I’m ready for things to ramp up.

I had a 1 mile warm-up, then 12 x 200 meter repeats with a goal of 8:04-8:30 pace followed by 200 meters active recovery, 1 mile cool down.

I had to work for some of the first ones, but by the end I was hitting the repeats without any warning buzzes from my Garmin.

I almost ran this run on the treadmill, not so much because of the weather which was in the thirties and sunny, but because I was dreading the run to and from the track with its elevation and longer mileage than I really need to warm up or cool down. I was debating whether to run the first intervals on the road leading to the track, when I realized hey – I have a car. I will already be in said car dropping my kids off at school. I could just drive straight to the track, warm up and cool down there, and not have to face the giant hill leading into my neighborhood that would put me at higher mileage than strictly necessary.

So I did that, and I got to run outside in the fresh air and work on the mental discipline of making myself run the required interval speed rather than letting the treadmill make me do it.

The only downside was the irritation I felt when two women cut into the track and started walking their dog in the fast lanes. The thought of a dog using the bathroom on the track preoccupied my thoughts on all my recoveries, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak to them and suggest that maybe it’d be more hygenic not to have a dog in a place where college students do push-ups before track practice and the turf and track material has no drainage except over on the side which is meant for runoff.

I can’t police the local track 24/7, but I can remind all of you to wash your hands in between push-ups and eating wherever you do them, and don’t wear your running shoes inside.

After my workout I used my InstantPot to make freekeh for a breakfast grain bowl. By the time I’d showered, I had cooked freekeh which I topped with cinnamon, frozen raspberries that thawed when I mixed them in, and molasses to sweeten it. I think maple syrup would be delicious, too, but I love the taste of molasses and it’s a better source of iron and calcium.

Freekeh is also crazy healthy – I had 1/2 cup dry which means two servings. That means I got 32% of my daily fiber, 160% of my manganese (whaat?), 40% of my iron (not even counting the molasses), plus 12 grams of protein, which is 26.8% of my protein. I also had a glass of unsweetened soy milk with 8 grams of protein, bringing this post-run breakfast up to 44.8% of my daily protein with 20 grams. Plant power indeed!

This is good news because I did not finish my carrot smoothie this morning BECAUSE IT TASTED LIKE CARROTS. And not the good, sweet, fresh carrots. It tasted like old, overcooked carrots. We are having a blueberry goji smoothie tomorrow instead because the best thing I can say about this smoothie is it looked very nice with Will’s pajamas.

6 Weeks of Running Progress in Snapshots

• 0 • 13.1 Training, My Running

I had a great run this morning. 10 miles, hitting all my target paces Greg set up for me. (1 mile warm up, 1 mile under 10:18, 4 miles under 12:00, 1 mile under 10:18, 1 mile under 10:45, 2 mile cool down.)

It was night and day from my last 10 mile run, which was admittedly hot and humid and felt like an enormous struggle despite averaging almost 13 minutes per mile. That pace is about as slow as one can run while still running. It definitely felt like I was shuffling along for a brutal 10 miles.

Part of it was the weather that day, but part of it is the progress I’ve been making. For a neat visual, I decided to pull my snapshots from Strava and look at them over the course of my last six weeks of training. Snapshots like these don’t tell the entire story, because you can’t see the rest intervals dropping my pace after 400 meter repeats, or how hot the weather was, or if I maintained a tempo pace in the middle.

But they still tell a story of improvement. I’m trending longer and faster, and I’m thrilled. I’ve been consistently completing the workouts and I’ve got something to show for it already. YES.

I’m benefitting from Greg’s expertise and ability to create challenging but manageable workouts for me, from the accountability he provides that makes me want to push hard to meet the targets he sets, and from planning ahead to find time for running.

Check it out – and if you want to make your own, picmonkey is a great free online tool for making fast picture collages so you can see your week to week progress too.

First Training Run from Greg!

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Today’s 10 Mile Run

I averaged a faster pace today than I did for half the distance on my first training run of the summer, and that’s thrilling.

Running 10 miles and feeling good gives me hope that I’ll meet my goal to run the Maine Half Marathon on September 30th without walking and with a smile on my face at the finish. (A grimace is acceptable.) It’s been a few years since I ran a half, and it feels good to think that I might be back!

 

Yesterday’s swim workout

• 0 • 13.1 Training, Swim

swim33117

Warm up

100 yard swim

50 yards pull

50 yards kick

Drill

4 x 75 yards (25 kick, 25 tap front then back drill, 25 swim)

Swim 

4 x 150 yard swim with timed recovery

Drill

8 x 50 yards pull with paddles, set focus each time, timed recovery

Cool down

50 yard swim easy

Had a great swim with my swim coach yesterday. Progress is gradual and slow but exciting. I’ve gone from a 50 yard warm up to a 100 yard warm up, and my longer swim efforts with timed recovery have gone from 50 yards to 100 yards to 150 yards yesterday for the first time. It’s still tough finishing that 150 yard effort but that’s 3 times the distance I used to do comfortably without a break. My overall yardage per swim session continues to increase.

I’m feeling optimistic about my goal to swim the entire 1/3 mile swim of Tri for a Cure in July (about 600 yards) without needing to resort to backstroke. I’m fine catching my breath and checking my trajectory with a couple seconds of breast stroke, but I’d like to swim the whole thing going forwards and not zig-zag like crazy on my back because I’m panicked and feel like I can’t breathe and can’t bear to have my face in the water. As amazing an accomplishment as that was, I’m all set with that and feel no desire to repeat it.

I love that I started this journey in 2012 with Couch to 5k and then continued on to half marathons. It gives me a deep rooted belief in our ability to gradually transform ourselves.

When you’ve gone from running only 30 seconds before stopping to running several hours without stopping, you know you can achieve something that feels impossible when you start.

You can accomplish so much when you’re able to say to yourself this feels impossible, and it’s going to take a long time, but I’m going to get better and then just relax and tackle next step after next step, always accepting where you are.

I have until July. I’m going to get there.

 

 

 

Long Run Monday: 4E, 4HM, 2E

• 5 • 13.1 Training, My Running

mondayrun

Second to last long run before Chilly! Can we just note the calories? Don’t forget to eat more on your long run days (and maybe the day after!).

I ran the kids to school (Will on his bike, Andrew in the jogging stroller) and then dropped the stroller off and set out for the rest of the run.

Rather than just go for easy miles, I actually managed to follow one of Greg’s training suggestions! He has great advice, but I’m not great at following it because it might impact my swimming or my schedule. “I agree! I should run 4 x 1600 tomorrow! But I need an easy day after swimming and I am way behind on every household task!” Ok, and some mornings I need to just sit and drink coffee for a little bit in silence.

Anyway, the stars aligned today, and his suggestion made for a wonderful run. He said he’d recommend throwing 4 slightly faster miles in the middle of my 10 mile run. Enough to get me used to a possible race pace while tired, but not too much considering I haven’t tapered and am still shocked to be doing long runs at all.

4e4hm2e

The first fast mile, mile 5, was so hard. I kept looking at my watch and adjusting my pace from too slow to too fast and back again. I was all over the place. Then I settled in, and the next miles were a challenging pace, but doable, and really enjoyable. It was fun to have a goal, to adjust strategy for hills so I would still clock in around 10:30 for the mile, to think with every song that I was a little closer to making it through the tough part.

Part of the point of this is to get you used to the feel of running a target race pace, but without the wear and tear of running a training run at race pace.

So… is 10:30 my race pace? I’m not convinced of that, but it did feel good to manage four solid miles of around 10:30 pace in the middle of a 10 mile run. That bodes well for being able to run this entire half marathon on Nov. 13th… which, I’m sure some of you remember, I had thought wasn’t possible.

It was a great run, and I’m thrilled!

I followed it with a special lunch with just my little guy, and getting him new sheets for his converted big bed.

Swim lesson #4 of the season tomorrow! I was at the pool Sunday pulling myself back and forth with just one arm. If you’ve done swim drills with a barbell and pull buoy, you know what I’m talking about. If not… well, it’s surprisingly relaxing because there’s a lot less to focus on.

Hope your fall running is going well!

12 Mile Run Done

• 2 • 13.1 Training

Went for my 3rd long run this week! That makes 8, 9, 12… the Chilly Half Marathon in November is looking inevitable at this point!

Thank you so much for your encouragement. I was going to feel so sad on the sidelines again after running this half marathon 3 years in a row; I love that Greg and I both run it. I’m so glad I’m back in.

I am mildly surprised to find myself able to complete this runs. They’re about 45 seconds slower than I’ve averaged for long runs in some previous years… but I’m doing them, and I’m building my running base which will allow me to renew my quest for a half marathon PR in 2017. (I’m coming for you, sub 10 minute per mile half.)

Saturday was amazing. Perfect fall weather, sun glistening on orange and red leaves, and New England colors so bright you can hardly believe you’re in reality. Greg let me sleep in AND go for a long run, and then we spent the afternoon as a family relaxing with pumpkin beer in front of an outdoor fire.

Days like that are meant to be cherished.

There was a moment at mile 9 when I was waiting for my legs to go numb and feeling a little less exuberantly positive about everything, but then a Hanson song came on and my heart surged like I was a 14-year-old. There’s something about the music from your early teen years… it always makes my feet feel lighter. And I know ALL THE WORDS. All the words. (I sang them for most of mile 9.)

I highly digging up some songs that made you shriek and dance when you were 12-15 and putting them on your running playlist. Feel free to comment with titles – no judgement here! Whatever makes you happy, makes you happy. 🙂