Training to Taste: A Wine & Dine 2016 Training Report

[CherieFran]

Week of 8/15 - 8/21​

This is definitely the highest mileage training week that I've had in a very, very long time (probably easily more than a year), and by the end of the week I was feeling it. Nothing seems injured but a lot of general tiredness and soreness. But it'll make me stronger, right?

Monday: 50 minutes cross-training

Some boring walking on the treadmill for my cross-training this week.

Tuesday: 4.53 miles/40:00

40 minute tempo run on the treadmill. 10 minutes of warm-up running, 20 minutes tempo, 10 minutes of cool-down running. Felt fine.

Wednesday: 4.5 miles/39:26

Did my longer "easy" run outside again this week. Already above 80 degrees at 7 am. There can only be a few more weeks of this, right?

Thursday: 3 miles/26:28

Easy run on the treadmill.

Friday: Rest

Yay for some rest! Except I went bowling. Which I think made my hips hurt?! All I know is that I woke up Saturday morning and my first conscious thought was that my hips were super sore! Not sure why bowling would do that to me but I didn't do any other activity that would explain it. Unless my Tuesday and Wednesday workout efforts just had a really super delayed onset of soreness.

Saturday: 4.5 miles/37:16

Pace run up to 4.5 miles now! Luckily, the hip soreness eased up shortly into the run and didn't cause a big problem. The run felt decent but it also seems pretty overwhelming that I'm planning to try and maintain this pace for almost 3 times this distance in just a couple weeks! Yikes!

Sunday: 10 miles/1:31:52

Got a nice early start to my long run again this week as I wanted to be finished in time to watch the Olympic marathon. The early start helped beat the heat as the sun was still climbing for the first few miles. Then I really lucked out for the last three miles as the skies clouded over. That helped a ton in my effort to maintain my target pace! If it had been full-on sunny, it would have been much tougher!

Next Sunday is a race day! I'm signed up to run a 10-miler in Annapolis, MD. I'm struggling to figure out what my target pace should be. The race organizers warn that it is not a PR kind of race since it's a very hilly course and in August. I ran a half marathon in Annapolis a couple years ago that had a very similar course, so I know what I'm getting into with the hills (and they aren't kidding!). At the same time, my 10 mile PR pace is a fair bit slower than my half marathon PR pace so I think I could still pull off a PR even given the tough course and probable warm weather. I don't want to overdo it, though, and jeopardize the rest of my training for my "A" race half marathon three weeks later. But, also, I want to race it at least a little bit, otherwise I might as well just be doing another training run. Dilemmas.

The pug bug got a new ball this week and was so obsessed with it that he carried it around the apartment with him to all his nap locations:

 

[Ariel484]

Hey - bowling can be risky. Someone - not naming any names - may have thrown her back out while bowling in college.

Target pace is tough for me too. Maybe just run by feel and see how it goes, don't get too caught up in the numbers? I bet you'll have an awesome race, you have been working super hard!

 

[ZellyB]

Well done on your training week and I'm sure will make you stronger. I don't think I've gone bowling in probably 15 years, so there's no telling what kind of damage I could do to myself.

I'm sure you will do great and your race and you never know it might be a great one for you. Seems like you could set yourself a PR goal, but just be willing to adjust on the fly and not beat yourself up if it just isn't the day for it.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

Is your 10 miler through the Annapolis harbor area? I grew up kinda close to Naptown and loved to go there to walk around. I can see how it would be hard to PR there with the brick streets and hills. I always have those dilemmas too, do I try to go for the PR or save my legs for another day. I am usually still deciding up until the end of the first mile lol. I need to see how I feel that day even though it's probably not the best plan.

 

[CherieFran]

Hey - bowling can be risky. Someone - not naming any names - may have thrown her back out while bowling in college.

Yikes! I usually end up with a sore elbow or wrist, so the hips were a new one for me.

Target pace is tough for me too. Maybe just run by feel and see how it goes, don't get too caught up in the numbers? I bet you'll have an awesome race, you have been working super hard!

You know, with all this talk around the boards about "blind running" I was kicking around the idea of leaving the Garmin at home and just seeing how it goes. It's sort of the perfect opportunity to give that a try since I don't really have a super specific time goal and since it's a race, I'll know my time (and distance, obviously) at the end. I don't know if I am brave enough to let go of the watch as my security blanket, though. I don't know if this race has clocks at the mile markers, but I am guessing probably not. Eek!

Well done on your training week and I'm sure will make you stronger. I don't think I've gone bowling in probably 15 years, so there's no telling what kind of damage I could do to myself.

I'm sure you will do great and your race and you never know it might be a great one for you. Seems like you could set yourself a PR goal, but just be willing to adjust on the fly and not beat yourself up if it just isn't the day for it.

Thanks! I think I'm going to have PR as my goal but in a relaxed way (hopefully). The fact that my PR pace for the 10 miler is more than 15 seconds/mile slower than my current PR pace for the half should work in my favor.

Is your 10 miler through the Annapolis harbor area? I grew up kinda close to Naptown and loved to go there to walk around. I can see how it would be hard to PR there with the brick streets and hills. I always have those dilemmas too, do I try to go for the PR or save my legs for another day. I am usually still deciding up until the end of the first mile lol. I need to see how I feel that day even though it's probably not the best plan.

The race starts at the football stadium, goes through the Main Street/harbor area, then crosses the Naval Academy Bridge (yikes!) and runs around the hilly neighborhood on the other side of the river before going back over the bridge to the stadium. I live in VA and have actually never toured around Annapolis. I need to go there some day and not run a race!

Agreed on the day-of feeling. I think a lot will depend on the temperature as well.

 

[DopeyBadger]

You know, with all this talk around the boards about "blind running" I was kicking around the idea of leaving the Garmin at home and just seeing how it goes. It's sort of the perfect opportunity to give that a try since I don't really have a super specific time goal and since it's a race, I'll know my time (and distance, obviously) at the end. I don't know if I am brave enough to let go of the watch as my security blanket, though. I don't know if this race has clocks at the mile markers, but I am guessing probably not. Eek!

I support this idea! You can do it!

 

[CherieFran]

Week of 8/22 - 8/28
​

Monday: Rest

Happy for a rest day following a pretty tough double on Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday: 5 miles/44:18

Flipped my work-from-home days this week because of meetings so headed outside this morning before work. We had a "cool" front come through and it was an amazing 68 degrees for my run! A full 10 degrees cooler than any outdoor run I've done in 2+ months. I could feel a tremendous difference cardio-wise. The cardio effort felt very easy. Now, the legs on the other hand, were a bit of a different story. This easy run bumped up to 5 miles this week. In all my previous half-marathon trainings, I've done one long run a week and any other runs have been no more than 3 miles, so adding the extra mileage on other days is new and tough on my legs. My legs felt tired through the run but in the last mile my calves felt super tight. It was like running with cement in my shoes. I was kind of frustrated since the cardio part felt so good. But the point of this run was not to go fast so I tried not to dwell and did some extra calf foam-rolling and stretching this week.

Wednesday: 4.05 miles/36:16

Speed workout day. 0.5 miles warm-up and cool-down with 0.25 mile speed repeats in the middle. I'm up to 9 repeats now. Those higher repeat counts seemed so daunting when I first typed up the plan but now I'm actually doing them! Luckily I didn't have a repeat of the cement-leg problem from yesterday.

Also today, Mushu and his dog walker had a fun little photoshoot on their mid-day walk:



Thursday: 3 miles/26:29

Standard treadmill easy run day.

Friday: Rest

Celebrated my rest day by working through lunch instead of running through lunch.

Saturday: Rest

Yay! Bonus rest day in honor of the race this week! Used the extra time to finally hang out at the pool for the first time all summer!

Sunday: Annapolis Ten Mile Run/1:27:59 (spoiler alert: PR!)

Was up at 4:30 am and was out of the house a few minutes after 5 am for the 45-ish minute drive to Annapolis. I opted not to trek out to Annapolis the day before for packet pickup so I wanted to leave plenty of time to get my bib in the morning. I left my Garmin at home with the plan of running the race blind! When I pulled into the parking lot right around 6 am, I realized I also left my armband for my phone at home as well! I have no idea how I managed to leave it behind as I had carefully laid out everything I needed on the kitchen counter the night before. I debated leaving the phone in the car but I really wanted to have it with me for pictures and to keep track of the time before the race since I didn't have my watch. I tested whether it would fit in my pocket of my shorts and it would, although I was kind of paranoid that it might come flying out while running so I decided that I would hold it while I ran. Tried to push that annoyance aside and went to pick up my packet, drop my goodies (a hat and a buff. I had no idea what a buff was but apparently you can do a lot with it -
http://womensrunning.competitor.com...-piece-of-gear-every-runner-should-have_47642) back at the car, and take in the early morning scenery.

The race start was in the parking lot of the Naval Academy football stadium.





The highlight of the start area for me was that the stadium had real bathrooms!!! Avoiding porto-potties is always a great way to start a race. I celebrated the real bathrooms situation by stopping there twice before I went over to the corrals. I headed to the corrals about 10 minutes before the start time, and it was pretty crowded. There were pacers holding signs in ten minute increments. I had intended to line up somewhere between the 1:20 and 1:30 pacers but it was so crowded that I ended up by the 1:50 pacer instead. This was the 41st running of this race, which is put on by a local running club. They definitely had it down to a science, and I was impressed with the organization. In the final event email a few days prior, the race director had provided an incredibly detailed mile-by-mile description of the course, so (in addition to the fact that I had run a half-marathon on a similar course a couple years ago) I knew pretty well what to expect.

At the start, it was 75 degrees (so not quite as hot as most of my recent long runs) but very, very humid (dew point 73). I was hoping to break my PR at this distance of 1:29:19 and was aiming for 1:27:30 as my target with 1:25:00 as a more aggressive goal if I was having an awesome day. Once the gun went off and everyone started to move, it was pretty crowded. I told myself that I wasn't going to waste a lot of energy weaving through people, and I tried to stick to that as best as I could while I slowly worked my way up to the 1:30 pacer. It took almost exactly a mile to get up to that group, and I passed them just after the 1 mile marker. After that, I figured that as long as I stayed ahead of them, I should probably be safe to PR since they had a little head start on me.

Somewhere between miles 1 and 2, my hands were getting sweaty and holding my phone was getting annoying. I decided my fear of my phone flying out of my pocket was less than it just slipping out of my sweaty hands (meanwhile, I had left the case at home since I planned to wear the armband, so I REALLY didn't want to drop it) so I tucked in into the left front pocket of my shorts. At about Mile 2 we hit the heart of Annapolis and ran past the state capitol building.



Then it was down through the brick-paved Main Street and along the edges of the Naval Academy. The race director email had warned me to take the first 3-4 miles easy as they were the most flat part of the course. At a water stop around Mile 3.5, I took half of my root beer-flavored Gu. Right after the water stop, we began to climb and turn a corner to face the Naval Academy bridge. I ran this bridge during my half marathon so I knew what to expect but, man, it's a big bridge (this pic stolen from the race Facebook page. It says Mile 8 since that's actually the view of the bridge on the way back):



Right as we were getting to the bridge, a woman behind me recommended to her running partner to count the light posts as a mental exercise to get through the bridge. Seemed like a decent enough idea and that kept me entertained going over (there are 38). The Mile 4 marker was in the middle of the bridge. I felt pretty decent going over but I knew that the hardest part of the race was coming up and the bridge would be waiting again in a few miles.

Miles 4.5 - 8 were in a neighborhood on the other side of the river from Annapolis. It was constant hills but the neighborhood was lovely and had lots of tall trees that kept the course totally shaded. In addition, it seemed like the humidity was much lower on this side of the bridge, so it actually felt pretty pleasant. A fair number of folks were outside their houses watching and cheering, and a number of people had rigged up hoses to ladders to create spray stream arches to run through, which was super nice. At a water stop around Mile 6, I had the second half of my Gu.

Between Miles 6 and 7 there was a turnaround point where you could see folks going the other way. I estimated that I was maybe 45 seconds to a minute ahead of the 1:30 pacer. I was feeling okay at this point. A bit tired but nothing terrible. Around Mile 7.5, I became aware of a stinging sensation on my upper left thigh. My phone in my pocket was chafing my leg! NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY, PEOPLE!! Once I realized what was happening, I took the phone out and carried it in my hand for the remainder of the race. After a few minutes with the weight removed from my pocket, the stinging stopped. I really took a morale hit at that point, though. This all happened during a hill climb and just as we came out of the shady neighborhood into the full sun. Suddenly the race seemed much harder.

We passed the Mile 8 marker and ran a short downhill before heading back up the bridge. The bridge was much less enjoyable the second time. I slowed down a lot but continued to count off light posts (did they get farther apart since I saw them last?). My quads were hurting as I pushed. I crested the top of the bridge and headed down the other side, enjoying the downhill. A short while later we hit Mile 9, and I was so done. The sun beating down was rough, and I was starting to feel that little bit of shivers and shakiness. I wanted nothing more than to walk in that last mile but didn't let myself. I told myself I could slow down as much as I needed but I couldn't walk. This is probably the point were I was most wishing for my Garmin. I would normally have used it to give myself a pep talk ("Only 4 more minutes. Only 3 more minutes." etc.) but didn't have a clear sense of exactly how much further there was to go. Finally, the stadium came back into sight! There was one more uphill (which I knew about from the race director email) and then the final stretch to the finish line. I still managed to pick one or two people off on the last uphill but I had nothing left in me to accelerate towards the finish line. I was so happy to be done.

The clock at the finish line was about 1:29:20-something when I crossed. Since I started fairly far back I knew that meant I had my PR but I had to wait for results to be posted to see my time.

Official results
1:27:59 (8:48 pace)
29/153 in Division
448/2500 Overall

They had super cold towels at the finish line which felt unbelievably amazing. At the food station, I passed on the bananas and bagels (I had already eaten a banana pre-race) but took a frozen fruit pop. Best popsicle of my entire life! The jolt of sugar plus coldness was a huge help. I hung around for 20-25 minutes eating my popsicle, waiting to see my time, and trying to stop sweating enough to get in the car and drive home. Getting out of the car after a 45 minute drive home was not super awesome but my legs seem to be feeling okay this afternoon. We'll see how they are doing tomorrow.

Meanwhile, this race doesn't have medals but instead gives hoodies as the finisher's premium. I don't really "need" another hoodie but it's a pretty nice one:



So, overall, I think I am pretty happy with my race. I knew it would be a tough course with tough summer weather and it was. I survived the no-Garmin experiment and finished pretty darn close to my predicted time, although I don't think I could stand to chance it in a race where I really had a firm goal. There was a timing mat at Mile 5 but I haven't seen anywhere where those splits are posted. I'd be curious to see how my times compare, although I am sure the second half was slower as it was much harder.

My half marathon is in three weeks. To hit my time goal, I need to run at a pace about 25-30 seconds faster per mile than I did today (I'd need to run about 11 seconds per mile faster to PR). That's a pretty scary thought. Rationally, I know that this course was much hillier than the half marathon course will be and I have a few more weeks of training to continue to get stronger. I think I am going to need a good weather day, though. Fall, where are you?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on the race! Looks like the conditions weren't great, yet you still hit a PR without pace feedback. That's pretty awesome! Only three weeks to go!

 

[ZellyB]

Great job and congrats on a new PR! Seems like you will be well-positioned for your half race though and hopefully in 3 weeks the weather will be improved.

 

[CherieFran]

Congrats on the race! Looks like the conditions weren't great, yet you still hit a PR without pace feedback. That's pretty awesome! Only three weeks to go!

Thank you! I wasn't necessarily feeling it in the moment, but looking back, I'm happy with the pace. I do wish I had my splits, though!

Great job and congrats on a new PR! Seems like you will be well-positioned for your half race though and hopefully in 3 weeks the weather will be improved.

Thank you! I've started to obsessively check the weather every day. Right now it is looking like maybe low-to-mid 60s for the start. Not terrible (a lot better than it has been), but I wouldn't mind a few degrees cooler.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thank you! I wasn't necessarily feeling it in the moment, but looking back, I'm happy with the pace. I do wish I had my splits, though!

Well if you choose to race blind again, then you can do like I do. I bring my watch, start it, switch it to "clock" mode and then never look at it. That way after the race is over I have the splits, but during the race I just don't bother looking at it.

 

[CherieFran]

Week of 8/29 - 9/4​

Third-to-last week of this phase of my training plan. This week was actually peak mileage for the plan. Next week is slightly less mileage and then the last week tapers for the race.

Monday: Rest

Woke up feeling pretty good the morning after the race but my quads felt progressively more sore as the day went on. Nothing too terrible, but I could definitely tell that I raced the day before.

Tuesday: 3 miles/26:37

My quads felt better than the day before but still some soreness. I decided to structure my three mid-week runs in order of easiest to hardest to give my legs some time to recover. I extended my warmup on this run on the treadmill a little bit although it didn't make much difference in the overall time.

Wednesday: 5 miles/43:52

Outdoor run before work. Temperatures were decent. Legs felt basically back to normal.

Thursday: 5.13 miles/45:00

45 minute tempo run on the treadmill. 10 minutes warm-up, 25 minutes tempo speed, 10 minutes cool down. The first 5 minutes of the tempo portion felt particularly hard, and I got a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to get through a tempo run this long, but after I got through those first 5 minutes it felt a lot better and I ended up feeling really strong. Longest tempo run on the training plan and I'm proud of how I handled it.

Friday: Rest

Rest day, and I left work an hour early for the holiday weekend. Woohoo!

Saturday: 5 miles/41:32

My longest pre-race pace run. I was a disaster at staying on my pace target (8:15-8:20) this week. Near the end of the first mile, the velcro on my phone armband suddenly decided to let go and my armband almost went flying into the street. All the fussing with it messed up my rhythm, and I ended up at 8:43 for the first mile. I sped up the next two miles to compensate but ended up probably going a bit too fast (8:06, 8:09). Finally, the last two miles I managed to get myself together and hit right in the pace range. Overall, my pace was on target in total, but not how I'd like to achieve it on race day.

Sunday: 11 miles/1:41:10

Today was my FP+ day for the Wine & Dine trip! I missed the memo that the booking time for FP+ had changed sometime in the 8 months since I did it last, so I was up at my computer at midnight trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally figured out the problem and had a fairly successful booking at 7 am instead. Because of the FP+ priorities, I started my long run about an hour later than I would have usually. Luckily, it was a fairly cool day. Low 70s but the lower humidity made a huge difference. I felt really strong, particularly in the first 5 miles. I felt like those first few miles were so easy that I almost forgot I was on a long run. The last 0.5 mile before my turnaround point in the middle of the run were a series of rolling hills with a net uphill that brought me back to reality. Overall, the run was fine and on target pace-wise.

Mushu pic-of-the-week - taking a nap in his pile of toys:

 

[ZellyB]

Solid training week even if you didn't quite hit your paces during the run as intended. Funny how some unanticipated interruption can really throw things off. Hope you got all your FP+ scheduled that you wanted!

 

[CherieFran]

Solid training week even if you didn't quite hit your paces during the run as intended. Funny how some unanticipated interruption can really throw things off. Hope you got all your FP+ scheduled that you wanted!

Thanks! I did get all the FP+ scheduled that I wanted. Oddly enough, I had the hardest time with Animal Kingdom. But since I think I'll end up probably only getting 4 hours or so there (between Expo in the morning and an early dinner reservation at Beaches and Cream), I knew it was going to be tight.

 

[CherieFran]

Week of 9/5 - 9/11​

So it was kind of a rough training week for me. Nothing was really wrong. I wasn't injured or sick or even sore, really. I just felt kind of 'meh' for several of my runs. I started with my 5-day-a-week training plan 19 weeks ago and, with only a few exceptions, I have followed it pretty faithfully. That's a lot more consistent running than I'm used to doing. I think I may just be a tiny bit burned out. I had already planned that after my half marathon next weekend I'd take a week of recovery with little or no running before I start back up for Wine & Dine. I think that short break will be good both physically and mentally.

Monday: 60 minutes cross-training

I had an hour of cross-training scheduled for this holiday Monday. So I used it in the best possible way and walked to my local donut shop! It's about a half-hour walk each way, so it was perfect! And delicious!



Tuesday: 3.5 mies/32:23

This was supposed to be a speed work day with 10X0.25mi repeats on the treadmill. But as soon as I started on my warmup I just wasn't feeling it. I felt like there was no way I had the energy to get through that workout. So I compromised with myself and shortened the reps to 0.15 miles instead of 0.25 miles. By the time I got to the end of the workout, it was like my body had finally woken up and settled in, so I ended up doing the very last rep for 0.25 miles like it was supposed to be. So my overall workout was 0.9 miles shorter than it would have been if I had done it as planned, but better than bagging it altogether.

Wednesday: 4 miles/36:03

This was supposed to be a 5-mile easy run outside at home before work. My legs just felt terrible. Again, it wasn't pain or soreness really. They just didn't want to move. At the 2-mile point, I decided to turn around and make the run 4 miles instead of 5. And then, just like the day before, as I approached the end of the run my legs started to feel better. It's like both days I needed 3 miles to just warm up! I probably could have added that extra mile back in but I decided not to force it.

Thursday: 3 miles/26:28

Finally a pretty normal-feeling run. 3 miles on the treadmill with no drama.

Friday: Rest

Needed.

Saturday: 3 miles/24:51

I was super happy that my longest pace run was last weekend, and I only had 3 miles scheduled for this week rather than 5 miles. It was hot and humid again/still but I did a decent job of keeping my pace fairly consistent and in the target range for each of the miles.

Sunday: 12 miles/1:49:41

Warm weather still hanging on. It was about 80 degrees for the whole run but a front came through that lowered the humidity dramatically. I could actually feel the humidity lessening as my run progressed. The lower humidity was a big help, and I felt surprising decent on this run. I even managed to practice my "finish strong" kick the last 1/3 of a mile (and hit an 8:42 pace for the last mile). Given how blah my other runs were this week, I was happy to come out of this last long run before my race feeling pretty good! Now I am really looking forward to a week of taper!

So next Sunday is race day! My goals:

"A" goal: Under 1:50:00 - this is the pace I have theoretically been training for. I'd love to hit this goal but I've always thought that it would be dependent on all the factors working in my favor on race day. Right now, the weather does not look all that great. Lows temperature Saturday night into Sunday morning is projected high 60s/low 70s and humid. It could definitely be worse (and I've done probably all of my long runs in hotter temperatures this cycle), but I don't think I'll get as much of a cardio boost from decreasing Fall temperatures as I had maybe hoped.
"B" goal: Under 1:52:58 - this is my current PR set at the same race 2 years ago. That race had totally perfect (for me) weather conditions and was a really great race day. My next closest time is over 3.5 minutes slower, so if I can set a new PR, even if I don't hit my "A" goal, it will be a successful day.
"C" goal: Under 2:00:00 - I ran my 12-mile long run at right about this pace, so barring a big problem, this should be an achievable goal.

And my favorite Mushu moment this week - he somehow built himself a pillow fort:

 

[ZellyB]

Training burnout is REAL! I often get that way once it starts getting close to race time. I'm just sort of over it and want to quit. Taking a short break after your race seems like a good plan to reenergize yourself.

Great 12 mile training run though. I'm glad you felt good during it and had enough in the tank to kick in at the end. That seems to bode well for your race. I'm rooting for you to hit that "A" goal.

Mushu's pillow fort is awesome. My dog loves to bury himself under his blanket.

 

[CherieFran]

Training burnout is REAL! I often get that way once it starts getting close to race time. I'm just sort of over it and want to quit. Taking a short break after your race seems like a good plan to reenergize yourself.

Great 12 mile training run though. I'm glad you felt good during it and had enough in the tank to kick in at the end. That seems to bode well for your race. I'm rooting for you to hit that "A" goal.

Mushu's pillow fort is awesome. My dog loves to bury himself under his blanket.

Thanks for the moral support! I guess taper is good for the physical and the mental!

Silly doggy antics, are the best, aren't they?

 

[CherieFran]

Week of 9/12 - 9/18​

Race week!!! Let's do this!

Monday: Rest

So I started the week with an interesting problem. When I woke up on Monday morning, my tailbone hurt! A lot! This happened to me once when I was first out of college and had just started working full time. I went to the doctor and and was diagnosed with an inflamed tailbone from all the sitting I was doing between commuting and work. I started using a special seat cushion (which I still use at the office and in my car) and took anti-inflammatories and eventually it went away.

On Sunday, I went to see a show and sat in a weirdly uncomfortable chair for 2 hours. I guess that was maybe enough to set if off again for some reason? So I started on a motrin regime and hoped that this wasn't going to mess up my running.

Tuesday: 1.5 miles/25:46

Ugh, the tailbone was even worse on Tuesday. Standing is less painful than sitting, and fortunately I have a sit-to-stand desk at work, so I rotated between sitting and standing about every 30-45 minutes throughout the day. The motion going was sitting to standing was awful, though. I was supposed to run 4 miles at lunch, but I just didn't know if it was going to make my tailbone better or worse, and I was nervous about it. I ran for about 5 seconds, and it hurt, so I switched to a fast walk. At the end of 1.5 miles of walking, however, the tailbone felt much, much better. So apparently exercise is good! Tuesday morning was definitely the low point on the tailbone pain. It still hurt throughout the week but improved progressively each day after, thankfully.

Wednesday: 3 miles/26:18

This was supposed to be a 30-minute tempo run. Even though I had established that exercise seemed to be a positive to the tailbone, I still didn't want to get too crazy, so I just did this as an easy 3-mile instead. Knocked this one out in the morning before work and felt happy to get a decent run in.

Worked from home today and Mushu kept trying to distract me! Notice that he has strategically dropped his ball behind my back:


Thursday: 2 miles/17:21

Last run on the calendar before the race was scheduled for 2 miles. I had an all-day training at work so couldn't get the run in before or at lunch. I thought about skipping it completely but after 8+ hours in a windowless conference room, I desperately needed some fresh air and movement. It felt great to get the heart rate up for a few minutes. I haven't run outside in the evening in months, and it definitely threw my body off. It took me forever to fall asleep that night!

Friday: Rest

Expo day! From previous experience with this race, I knew there wouldn't be much to this expo. I decided to go after work on Friday since that was more convenient for me than going on Saturday. They held it at Nationals Park (baseball stadium). Kind of cool to see the stadium empty, although I would have been happier to trek out there had the concession stands been open. They have great food there!



Saturday: Rest

Ran some errands early but then tried to take it easy and stay off my feet as much as possible. I tried Plated for the first time this week and saved the pizza recipe specifically for carbo-loading purposes tonight. It was yummy!



Sunday: Navy-Air Force Half 13.1 miles/1:50:07

Alarm went off at 4:20 am. Got myself prepped, fed and walked Mushu, and requested Lyft around 5:30 am. Normally I'd take metro to the race but they've been doing a massive construction project and are no longer opening early for these types of events, and I didn't want to stress about driving and parking and road closures in DC. Lyft worked great and dropped me off about a block and a half from the start line just before 6 am.

I spent about 45 minutes taking pictures of the sunrise (my camera did not do justice to the great colors), using the bathroom twice (the Washington Monument has a real bathroom. I love races that start there!), dropping off my gear bag, and sitting around, before lining up at 6:45.



The race started at 7:08 am for my wave. It was 72 degrees with a dew point of 70 at the start, so it basically felt like a swamp. When I ran this same race two years ago, it was 20 degrees cooler!! I had definitely been banking on some fall weather to give me a boost but it was not to be.

While the course is pretty similar to what I ran two years ago, they did reverse it for some reason. So we ran what used to be the last miles, first. The first mile looped around part of the tidal basin. I told myself I wasn't going to start too fast and did the first mile in 8:35, so, perfect. Crowds weren't a problem as I started far enough up, and the road was wide enough to spread out fairly quickly. I didn't have to do much weaving at all. The next four miles went around Hains Point. A lot of people don't like Hains Point because there's not a lot going on and usually little-to-no crowd support, but it doesn't really bother me. At this race two years ago, I was on Hains Point when I realized I was going to crush my PR and my time goal. But now, we were at the beginning of the race! I picked up the pace over Miles 2 and 3 and by the end of Mile 3 I was right where I wanted to be. A first for me, I had actually made a little pace card (a post-it "laminated" with clear packing tape) so I didn't have to do any math. I slipped it out of my pocket for a peek after each mile. No running blind at this race!

After Hains Point we ran along the Potomac River past the Lincoln Memorial and Kennedy Center up to Rock Creek Parkway. There was some nice crowd support along this stretch that gave me a bit of mental boost. I was feeling pretty good but I knew that the hardest part of the race was still to come. Up until this point, the course had been fairly flat with only a few small hills. After the Mile 7 marker, I started mental preparing myself for the uphill although it really didn't start until after the Mile 8 point. Around this point, we started seeing the leaders go by the other direction between Miles 10 and 11. Finally, a little bit before Mile 9, the steep uphill I was anticipating presented itself. It was actually a steep uphill, an immediate turnaround into a steep downhill with a water stop. All those components together made it challenging in a way I hadn't really anticipated as I had a tough time choking down my last half a Gu and water while still trying to regain my rhythm from the course variations. I had slowed down my pace just a bit, not terrible. But after the water stop, I had a really hard time picking it back up again. It's like my legs just did not want to go any faster.

Mile Markers 9-12 were the definite low point for me. Nothing really hurt but I was definitely getting tired and starting to wish for the race to be over. I was feeling a strong urge to slow down but I really wanted to be able to come back here and write about a good race and a good time, so I wouldn't let myself. Turns out Disboards is a good mental toughness technique! I gritted through another bit up uphill onto a small section of bridge just before the Mile 12 marker. Somewhere around Mile 11 or so I had let go of the 1:50 goal. I felt like I still had plenty of cushion for a PR, so I told myself I'd try for sub-1:51 or at least sub-1:52. After Mile 12 marker, I found some last bits of energy reserve and managed to pick up the pace a little. As I got close to the end of mile 13, 1:50 seemed like maybe it was still in play after all. The Mile 13 marker took forever to show up, though. Finally, I passed it and ran for home. I had a tiny bit of gas for the sprint, but not much. Super happy to cross the finish line in 1:50:07 and stop running!

Results:
44/474 Division
200/2849 Female
642/5219 Overall

I ran the first 10 miles at 8:22 pace (8:20 pace for miles 4-10) and the last 3.1 miles at 8:31 pace. So I slowed down some at the end, but it really wasn't terrible. I absolutely feel that I could not have run the race faster. Temperatures and humidity were not great, although total cloudy skies until the last 2 miles helped a lot. I PR'd by close to 3 minutes and only missed by "A" goal by 8 seconds!!!

Collected my medal, looks some photos, realized I was a sweaty, gross mess, and headed for home for a nice 2-hour nap with the pup!



Planning on taking it very easy for the next week and then jumping into Wine & Dine training. Super excited that's the next race on my calendar!!

 

[dis_or_dat]

Great job, especially in that heat! What is it about miles 9-12. They get me every time.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on the race! Given the conditions, you performed very well! Way to go!