Guess who's back, back again? Time to say bye bye bye to my couch and hello to a new start. Roxymama's 10mile/15k fall training plan

Ha! That darn treadmill has seen so many miles...
But I think my running days are on the downhill not the uphill for the rest of the year... so now it's my turn to admire your posts :)

But your power-lifting will increase several months from now! Everyday will be an arm day!

Welcome back Roxy! I've seen you around these parts a bit. Following along and really enjoyed your story!

BTW.... I think raisins in cookies are FAR better than nuts in brownies.... :)

Ok, but what are your thoughts on edge pieces vs inside pieces? I'm a corner piece person. Two outside edges and two inside sides; Ideally frosted.
 
Ok, but what are your thoughts on edge pieces vs inside pieces? I'm a corner piece person. Two outside edges and two inside sides; Ideally frosted.
Now caught up on the raisin drama and weighing in on current events.
Cake has frosting. Brownies do not.
Also, they may not have shards of glass to rip up the roof of my mouth nuts.
 


Upcoming Race # 1 The Chicago Women's 10 Mile on 10/5/19

I was definitely looking for a next race that ticked a couple of boxes and this is kind of the order of priority of why I picked it.
A) must have a course or theme or something special that would be really motivating. Aka I needed to really want to do it. Not because I felt I had to do a race, but because I wanted to a specific race.
B) I needed it to be far enough in the future that I could actually put in the right training. But not so far away that I wouldn't start up immediately. Hence why I didn't do the Rock n Roll races in Chicago this July.
C) be a goal I'd take seriously enough but not one that felt like biting off more than I could chew
D) macarons

Ok, so I'm exaggerating about that last one...but after I found a race advertisement in my inbox from a company I'd done other races with...well you let me know how you'd react to this pic! It did make me click on the website link pretty fast to see what it was all about.
418372

Yep, all race finishers get a box of macarons!!!

So I looked into what this race was about and it's kind of got my name written all over it.
It's a women themed race in early October in the area where I prefer to start my races and run them (course deets below) and it's got gooooood girly swag. They were offering a 5k and 10 mile on same morning or a challenge where you need to complete the 5k prior to the start of the 10 miler and then complete that too for 13.1. Even though three medals would be nice I was trying to do that whole "don't bite off more than you can chew" thing. I'd be capable of it but I just kind of didn't need to do it.

Here's the basic race details from the race website.

Distances
5K (3.1 miles)
10 Mile (10 miles)
Half Marathon Challenge (5K + 10 Mile = Half Marathon / 13.1 miles)

Half Marathon Challenge participants will first complete the 5K (starting at 7:45 a.m.) and then complete the 10 Mile (starting at 8:30 a.m.). All participants who register and complete the Half Marathon Challenge will triple their bling and earn 3 amazing rose gold finisher medals.
Start Location
Grant Park – DuSable Harbor
Timing
The race will feature the B-Tag Chronotrack timing system. All participants will receive a B-Tag timing device with their bib number.
Course Time Limit
All participants must maintain a 15:00 minute per mile pace or faster.
Course Map
Coming soon.


Here's the medals...the actual medals and ribbons are dual-sided.
10 mile medal I will get is SO PRETTY! My kind of colors for sure. And rose-gold too!
418373

The 5k is pretty similar. Also dual-sided
418374
And here's the challenge medal. If it was more "spectacular" maybe I'd have thought harder on doing the challenge.
418375

The race shirt is really cute too. Women's cut and cotton. You could pay $5 more to make it a tech shirt but I decided not to because I have so many tech shirts and I don't mind having one I'd wear for everyday use. I like the rose gold "finisher" on the booty.
418376

And then this is a silly thing but if you do the 10 mile or challenge you get a Baggu. It's cute and I like the colors and I'll actually use that more than a drawstring backpack.
418377

I did pay the $10 fee to have race-day packet pickup since this is a Saturday run. Throwing money around left and right :)

So my goal currently for this race is just to train well for it. And have my best effort. That's a very gray area statement. But I'm less concerned about my finish time (I say that now) than I am about putting in the work so I can enjoy the race. My current predicted finish time by Coach B is 1:42 and change. I'm confident that I can work hard enough to be in that ballpark.

My training plan leads up to this race and then goes right into a few weeks later when I run a 15k which I will post about next :)
 
Now caught up on the raisin drama and weighing in on current events.
Cake has frosting. Brownies do not.
Also, they may not have shards of glass to rip up the roof of my mouth nuts.
You can call it whatever you want as long as it has frosting!
(disclaimer: I will also eat one without frosting)


my favorite illustration of what life is like for me in the summer:
418378
 
Following! Yay for recommitting to running & journaling! I'm now inspired to get back to updating my own journal (been a bit of a slacker in that regard lately). :o

For the record, I have such a sweet tooth that I will eat any cookie or brownie no matter what is in them.
 


Following! Yay for recommitting to running & journaling! I'm now inspired to get back to updating my own journal (been a bit of a slacker in that regard lately). :o

For the record, I have such a sweet tooth that I will eat any cookie or brownie no matter what is in them.

Eventually I need to also get back on track with reading other's journals regularly instead of just downloading whole seasons at a time (aka binge-reading 20 pages trying to catch up randomly.)
 
Upcoming Race # 1 The Chicago Women's 10 Mile on 10/5/19

I was definitely looking for a next race that ticked a couple of boxes and this is kind of the order of priority of why I picked it.
A) must have a course or theme or something special that would be really motivating. Aka I needed to really want to do it. Not because I felt I had to do a race, but because I wanted to a specific race.
B) I needed it to be far enough in the future that I could actually put in the right training. But not so far away that I wouldn't start up immediately. Hence why I didn't do the Rock n Roll races in Chicago this July.
C) be a goal I'd take seriously enough but not one that felt like biting off more than I could chew
D) macarons

Ok, so I'm exaggerating about that last one...but after I found a race advertisement in my inbox from a company I'd done other races with...well you let me know how you'd react to this pic! It did make me click on the website link pretty fast to see what it was all about.
View attachment 418372

Yep, all race finishers get a box of macarons!!!

So I looked into what this race was about and it's kind of got my name written all over it.
It's a women themed race in early October in the area where I prefer to start my races and run them (course deets below) and it's got gooooood girly swag. They were offering a 5k and 10 mile on same morning or a challenge where you need to complete the 5k prior to the start of the 10 miler and then complete that too for 13.1. Even though three medals would be nice I was trying to do that whole "don't bite off more than you can chew" thing. I'd be capable of it but I just kind of didn't need to do it.

Here's the basic race details from the race website.

Distances
5K (3.1 miles)
10 Mile (10 miles)
Half Marathon Challenge (5K + 10 Mile = Half Marathon / 13.1 miles)

Half Marathon Challenge participants will first complete the 5K (starting at 7:45 a.m.) and then complete the 10 Mile (starting at 8:30 a.m.). All participants who register and complete the Half Marathon Challenge will triple their bling and earn 3 amazing rose gold finisher medals.
Start Location
Grant Park – DuSable Harbor
Timing
The race will feature the B-Tag Chronotrack timing system. All participants will receive a B-Tag timing device with their bib number.
Course Time Limit
All participants must maintain a 15:00 minute per mile pace or faster.
Course Map
Coming soon.


Here's the medals...the actual medals and ribbons are dual-sided.
10 mile medal I will get is SO PRETTY! My kind of colors for sure. And rose-gold too!
View attachment 418373

The 5k is pretty similar. Also dual-sided
View attachment 418374
And here's the challenge medal. If it was more "spectacular" maybe I'd have thought harder on doing the challenge.
View attachment 418375

The race shirt is really cute too. Women's cut and cotton. You could pay $5 more to make it a tech shirt but I decided not to because I have so many tech shirts and I don't mind having one I'd wear for everyday use. I like the rose gold "finisher" on the booty.
View attachment 418376

And then this is a silly thing but if you do the 10 mile or challenge you get a Baggu. It's cute and I like the colors and I'll actually use that more than a drawstring backpack.
View attachment 418377

I did pay the $10 fee to have race-day packet pickup since this is a Saturday run. Throwing money around left and right :)

So my goal currently for this race is just to train well for it. And have my best effort. That's a very gray area statement. But I'm less concerned about my finish time (I say that now) than I am about putting in the work so I can enjoy the race. My current predicted finish time by Coach B is 1:42 and change. I'm confident that I can work hard enough to be in that ballpark.

My training plan leads up to this race and then goes right into a few weeks later when I run a 15k which I will post about next :)

You are so much better at race details and showing off the bling. I'm like...hey I signed up for a race...bye......

We definitely need to meet up and your DH needs to bring the Chicago newbie pizza. One can never have enough pizza! I eat it hot, cold, with pineapple...
 
You are so much better at race details and showing off the bling. I'm like...hey I signed up for a race...bye......

We definitely need to meet up and your DH needs to bring the Chicago newbie pizza. One can never have enough pizza! I eat it hot, cold, with pineapple...

I’m just easily excitable about shiny things. (And pizza..to which I agree that pineapple is a correct choice.)

Speaking of shiny things...I ordered this rose gold head sweats visor and race skirt from the SA Xmas in July sale and they came in the mail today.
9DD4409C-77E6-4039-91EF-3261FC01D60A.jpeg

They are quite shiny. I do enjoy a good fluttery running skirt during a race, though I never wear them for training.
I do have a bit of a skirt hoarding problem though...
18495013-0636-46FD-839A-6A948BEFAE17.jpeg
 
I will recommend Gino’s east for pizza one of my favorites. I am sure roxymama has a few others. I have a few obscure ones, but those are up north and roxy is south,
 
I will recommend Gino’s east for pizza one of my favorites. I am sure roxymama has a few others. I have a few obscure ones, but those are up north and roxy is south,

I’ve got some ideas. But post away bc I’ll take any northern pizzaventure suggestions for myself :)

The race will be starting in grant park likely heading down the lakefront at points. Definitely some good spots near enough by there. I’m hungry (I type as I’m eating a Mickey ice cream bar)
 
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Omg I am so sad. I looked it up to spell it correctly and it closed last year. It was Wa-PaGhetti’s pizza in Wheeling. I also like Carmen’s in Evanston, which may also be closed. Finally Rosotti’s. Wow am so sad.
 
Omg I am so sad. I looked it up to spell it correctly and it closed last year. It was Wa-PaGhetti’s pizza in Wheeling. I also like Carmen’s in Evanston, which may also be closed. Finally Rosotti’s. Wow am so sad.
I shouldn't have googled Wapagehttis pizza because it looks amazing. :/
I've had Rosotti's though multiple times. My dad used to work in the northwest suburbs and I know I've had it at his work functions many moons ago.
I'm a big Lou Malnati's fan when talking about the bigger Chicagoland franchises...something about that crust.
Vito and Nick's is the best Chicago thin style place near us on the southside.
There's a really good place that has pizza and pierogis near most of the Chicago southloop races called Flo and Santos. Having pierogi's, a salad, and a pizaa....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I know I'm being stereotypical Chicago right now, but I don't care.

Off I go to have mexican food & drinks though on date night with the hubs. It's my off night :)
 
Following along. I should have asked you for Chicago hotspots. I was just there last week for work. I did have Lou Malnati’s as everyone said to go there but unfortunately was unable to try a Chicago dog.
 
And DNS'd a spring half that I was training for to get re-motivated. I probably could have gutted it out just on my fitness alone but I was siiiiiicccck and it felt stupid at the time to push myself and maybe get injured. I stalled out hard on what to do next and went weeks without running.
Running beyond current ability/fitness always results in less running or even worse no running/exercise at all.

Back in 2015 I started getting tired of watching my family and friends run races from the sidelines and used a WDW Disney racecation as an excuse to start running. Show of hands of people who can identify with that story motivation!!
Mine is similar. In 2008 and 2009, I spent Labor Day weekend at Disneyland, which was also when the Disneyland Half Marathon took place. In 2009, I finally decided to ask some runners about it and they proceeded to tell me how wonderful it was, but far more importantly, they outlined to me just how not at all fast I would need to be in order to finish. After a family event meant 2010 would not happen, I wound up running the 2011 Disneyland Half with my little sister and the rest as they say is history. Although way back in 2011, I saw the marathon weekend medals and knew it was impossible.

Y'all can decide which one he is in this picture
Umm, the big one with lots of red hair wearing a "da Bulls" uniform? :rolleyes1

But your power-lifting will increase several months from now! Everyday will be an arm day!
Now seems as good a time as any to remind everyone that Batman never skips leg day!!! Or so The Lego Batman Movie taught me.
 
Following along. I should have asked you for Chicago hotspots. I was just there last week for work. I did have Lou Malnati’s as everyone said to go there but unfortunately was unable to try a Chicago dog.

Then you will have to come back again for a Chicago dog :)

I'm also registered for Hot Chocolate and debating the Womens race because... macarons.

Don't you just love that we can use running as an excuse to get free cookies and chocolate???

Mine is similar. In 2008 and 2009, I spent Labor Day weekend at Disneyland, which was also when the Disneyland Half Marathon took place. In 2009, I finally decided to ask some runners about it and they proceeded to tell me how wonderful it was, but far more importantly, they outlined to me just how not at all fast I would need to be in order to finish. After a family event meant 2010 would not happen, I wound up running the 2011 Disneyland Half with my little sister and the rest as they say is history. Although way back in 2011, I saw the marathon weekend medals and knew it was impossible.

And we just keep running!!
 
NEW TRAINING PLAN WEEK 1 (and some previous bonus days)

So I thought I should actually start talking about my training plan. I've lost track of how many total I've now personally used, but I can see on my file from @DopeyBadger that this is his 371st plan!
We are going off of my finishing times for a few races I did this year where I was trying my best (aka, not stopping for 20+ minutes to get a picture with chipmunks) to determine my training paces.
I will be running 4 days per week: M, W, Sa, Sun. This is new since I used to be a T, R, Sa,Sun runner except for the times I had 5 days worked in there.
I'm kind of digging the new schedule so far. I tend to be most motivated early in the week and on weekends. So now having Thur and Fri off is working out.

The plan is starting out with a lot of easy paces to build me back up since I had time off totally from running. I have my first run with anything tempo paced on week #2 and long runs are all fairly short for a little while here while we ramp up. Totally do-able given the "fun July" weather we are having.

My coach predicted times currently are 1:42:57 for my 10 mile race and 1:32:29 for my 15k.

Current paces are
EA 12:53
EB 12:01
LR 11:42
HM Tempo 10:18
(there's other faster ones later that I'll bring up once I get to them on the plan, but so far it's mostly using these)

(pausing to grab my lunch...I'll be back with how my first days on the plan have gone and what my week ahead looks like)
 
Training Week of 7/15 (pre-plan running)

My plan technically started this Monday 7/22 but I was "ready to go" even before I had it in hand so I started running some easy miles last Monday. And then to stay on track I ran again Wed and on the weekend.

Monday 7/15: I ran 2.3 ish miles in about 25-28 minutes ish? Aka I did not have my watch with me and I just ran in my neighborhood until it got dark out and it took about as long as an episode of Austin and Ally that my daughter was watching.

Wednesday 7/17:
dspic1.png

By now I had my plan in hand and I saw 3 miles in the middle of the first week and thought...sounds good! My EA pace Billy set was in the ballpark of what I had done on Monday. Yay Science/Math.
Because I forgot A) to charge my watch and B) to charge my headphones, but I was motivated enough to have decided to run. I ended up running my mile "lap" inside my neighborhood three times and using the stopwatch feature on my phone. Not ideal...but at least I didn't use it as an excuse not to run. I screen captured them each time so I wouldn't forget my paces.
12:18.5, 12:22.89, 12:35.11
Slightly too close to EB than EA. But the best part was I got a BIKE ESCORT from my daughter and husband during the final mile. Of course she'd race ahead then stop and back and forth but I just kept steadily going while chatting to her. It was nice :)

Sunday 7/20:
dspic2.jpeg
(The previous day I found a disney parks music record at a used record shop and had to buy it! I love atmospheric disney music/ride soundtracks/firework&parade music...and I run to it often. thought it'd be fun to add to our record collection at home. And yes, we play them...often while sipping dark stouts or whiskey in our basement.)
On Sunday I wasn't sure if I wanted to do 3 or 4 miles. But there's a 4 mile long run on my plan for the next 3 weeks so I went with that. My husband wanted to run as well but he was doing a different workout. We decided since kiddo was with Grandma that we'd run the first mile together then split apart since he was doing run/walk intervals. First mile I got 12:59. It was nice to chat with him as we went and I never looked at my time, just sort of jogged together. I stopped to grab some water before my next three miles and he kept going. We were doing the same circuit of streets. I thought I'd catch up to him but I really didn't until the end of the 2nd mile. Every time I'd get close he'd stop walking and start running again at more of his speedy pace. Mile 3 we had moments of him passing me and then me passing him, but then his workout was done and mile 4 I was out there on my own.
12:59
11:37 - too fast!
11:58 - attempted to slow down
11:25 - again attempted to stay slowed down but added strides at the end. The heat and the strides made me glad to be done for the day!

How do y'all make the pics not sideways on the new disboards setup?
Anywho...Sunday night we went to see the Chicago Red Stars women's soccer team play and they had 14 participants of the World Cup tournament at the game include 8 from the USA. We sat in the front and roxykiddo walked out with her USA hat adorned with 9 signatures. I just had to share! Go Sports!

dspic3.jpeg

This Week!
I ran Monday and I'm running tonight but I'll save those for my first actual week recap when I am done this weekend. Spoiler...I did two miles on Monday and I get to do 3 tonight, 2 on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. All EA or EB with strides (aka running hard for short bursts.) The first set of runs to "count" towards my new plan. I will remember this week fondly when I'm doing 8 mile LRs and 6 miles at Tempo weeks from now :)
My watch and earphones are charging at home. I'm learning!


dspic4.jpeg
To finish this is the salad I am eating during my lunch break as I type this (and post hours later because I'm dumb and left it in my drafts without hitting post...d'oh) I'm including it because when I run I make better eating choices and there's been more turkey sandwiches and salads, etc vs burgers these last few days. Not perfect eating...just better. Hubby and I probably both are looking to shed a few bad habits we picked up when taking our time off from running. Mine included more door dash orders of taco bell than I care to elaborate on.

Now off to drool at the newly revealed marathon weekend medals and try to rid myself of FOMO.
 
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