"What am I even doing with my life?" Comments Welcome!

Huma I can't stand because the consistency reminds me of baby food. Gu are OK, but I prefer cliff block chews.
 
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Week 3 + the beginning of Week 4

August 3rd:
2 miles at Easy. I did this run in my neighborhood versus the park I usually run in. I don't love running in my neighborhood because of traffic and I end up just going up and down streets over and over. However, I had to do this one in the neighborhood because my car was out of commission. Needed a new alternator! It went well. Too fast. Otherwise nothing to report.

August 5th:
3 Miles at Easy. Again, too fast, but completed just fine. This one was in my neighborhood as well because I still didn't have my car.

August 8th:
This should have been 3 miles, but I switched it with Saturday's run figuring I wouldn't be able to get the full thing in so I did 6 miles instead. I tried GU for the first time and as I mentioned, it was disgusting. The heat reallllly got to me on this one, but I finished.

August 10th:
It's a good thing I switched days with the 8th because honestly I got no running in. The day was just jam packed and I couldn't find any time to get it in. I had a wedding venue walk through and a fundraiser I had to attend. Both 2 hours from my house. I just couldn't get out there. Woops!

August 12th:
2 miles at easy. It was raining! A lot! I almost didn't make it out there just because I didn't feel like running in the rain, but I did and I'll consider that a victory.

August 13th:
HA. Ha. Hahahahaha. This was a MESS. I wanted to do the 100m on a track. Went to a nearby by high school, but the football team was using it. Went to another high school. Their football team was using it. Boo. I ended up just going to a nearby park that had stretch I previously measured out to be 100m. I ran this with a friend. The first mile went fine, but it went too long. It ended up being like 1.4 miles. I closed out of Runkeeper and accidentally discarded the run so I don't have a record. Then came the first 100m. WAY. TOO. FAST. My friend started laughing as I pulled away. Her watch said we were doing a 9 minute mile. Should have been around 11:24. I tried to use my stopwatch on my watch, but it kept closing out, but I remember it reading something like 23 seconds when it should have been closer to 42 or 43 seconds. I went slower the next 4 runs, but they were still all too fast. I also think the last 4 were too short distance wise. We started a couple feet further the last 4 intervals. I will definitely use a different method of tracking these next time and pay closer attention to where I am starting and ended the 100m. It was my first time doing these, so I don't feel too bad about it. I'll do them better next time. Finally, I closed out with another mile at easy. Overall, my friends watch said we did 2.9 miles (including a longer walk interval that she didn't stop the watch for after the run) at 15:41 average pace. I just used this for tracking purposes since I accidentally deleted my history.


I need to figure out why I can't slow down on these easy runs. Ever since this training cycle started, I'm having such a hard time meeting my easy paces. In fact, I haven't met it on a single run yet. I know I was too fast in the 100m intervals, but I'm chalking that up to not having a feel for what 11:24 is and just thinking it's way faster than it actually is. But, I should have these easy paces down by now.
 
23 seconds in a 100m distance would be a 6:10 min/mile (23 sec * 16.08). Just a smidge faster than goal pace of 11:24. :oops:
Lol! It was definitely not that. 33 seconds*****!!

It was definitely too fast, but it was also too short. I'll be better prepared next time!
 
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Okay so this is a stretch at the park I run at. It's also the stretch I used for the 100m. Looking at it, I was about 10-15m off yesterday.

Note to self - a little bit before the light pole to the driveway to the dog park

Lol, this will have to do!!!
 
If you're wondering why I've been silent, you'd be right in guessing it's because I'm sad to say I've missed a couple runs. A spur of the moment Disney trip that led me to getting sick (again, what the heck immune system).

However, I'm back at it and ran yesterday and today even though I'm still blowing my nose every 5 seconds. I didn't miss too much overall, though I did miss a 7 mile run. Trying to decide if I'll replace tomorrow's run with that....

I'll provide some updates later today!
 
Oh! And I think I am going to do the Hot Cider 8k in November the weekend after the Hot Chocolate because why not???

Hot Chocolate. Hot Cider. All the hot drinks.

WHERE IS MY PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE 5K?!
 


Still here. Still running.

Still loving my DopeyBadger plan.

I got all my runs in last week, though I was a mile short because I can't do math as I run apparently and forgot how long a segment was supposed to be. My 100/200m runs were way more successful than previously. The exact right distance, but still struggling with the pace. Much closer than last time, though.

@DopeyBadger - I missed my 7 mile run the week before last. I have an 8 mile run this week. I figured I would just go for the 8 miler anyway, but I guess I should check with you lol. I didn't want to have to alter the plan!!!!

The wedding I'm in is in less than 2 weeks. Fingers crossed I'll be more consistent with posting after that!
 
@DopeyBadger - I missed my 7 mile run the week before last. I have an 8 mile run this week. I figured I would just go for the 8 miler anyway, but I guess I should check with you lol. I didn't want to have to alter the plan!!!!

I'd approach it by mentally saying you'll do 7. Then try for 7.5. Then aim for 8 if you feel like you can maintain consistency with the pacing.
 
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I just wanted to share my splits for the "speed" portion of one of my runs this week. Still not great when the goal pace is 11:24 for the run segments. However, I would be rather be too fast than too slow. I think?

Eta- they got slower because I was trying to slow down after seeing I was going too fast. I could have gone a bit faster. It wasn't fade.
 
Impressive! Now it's just a matter of getting your speed to match your endurance. Because once you pass 60 seconds of R pace, that's when I feel it gets really legit. So 10:16 might be a reasonable interpretation of your overall top end speed and not an 11:24. Exciting progress!
 
Thanks!!!

I'm just plugging away week by week and getting those miles in to hopefully up my endurance!

Even though I played soccer back in the day (way way back), I always used to be more of a sprinter (used to be, definitely used to lol).
 
Wow, I have been really awful with this whole "I'll do a full update shortly" nonsense. To be fair, it's been a very very hectic past couple weeks.

As a reminder, my Easy pace is supposed to be 16:15 and I've clearly just abandoned that. >.>

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I was awful at tracking T+D and taking notes the week of August 26th, so I'll just leave the above as is. As you can see (and as I previously mentioned), I completed all my runs, but was short a mile on August 31st. This was honestly unintentional. I didn't have the run written down and remembered the 2.5 HM tempo portion being 2 miles and the final CD being .5 miles. I clearly can't math.

434507

This past week started off pretty messy.

September 2nd - Labor Day
I woke up thinking it was Sunday. I don't run Sundays. I wasn't working. My boyfriend wasn't working. We were hanging out talking about our BBQ plans for later in the day. By the time I realized that it was not, in fact, Sunday, it was too late to go run because of aforementioned plans. Honestly, I was pretty annoyed with myself, but decided to suck it up and just run three days in a row this week. Onwards!

September 3rd
I did Monday's run instead, but it was pouring and lightening out, so I took it inside to the treadmill. FYI - I hate the treadmill. It seriously HURTS to run on the treadmill. I feel like I run "dumb" or something on them? I don't know, but not a fan. I did 3.06 miles at 15:36.

September 4th:
Tuesday's planned run! Speed day! Woo! I ran this one with my friend Catie. (She also likes my DopeyBadger plan and her sister Melissa is jealous that she doesn't have one). Overall I ran 3.14 miles at a 15:16 pace.

Warmup: This was supposed to be 1 mile easy. We ran 1.4 miles at 15:54. So, closer to my easy pace, but still "fast".

100/200m intervals: My 100m intervals were supposed to be 43 seconds long. However, they actually ended up being 34, 39, 40, and 39 seconds. All too quick, but I guess I would rather be fast than slow. My 200m intervals were supposed to be 1:26, but they were actually 1:21 and 1:24. Closer to pace, but still didn't quite hit it. I will figure it out eventually.

CD: This was supposed to be .5 miles at easy. We did .68 miles at 15:10.

September 5th:
I also ran this one with Catie. Plan: 5 miles easy. The first mile and a half was EXTREMELY HARD. I was just NOT into it at all. I regretted running three days in a row. I think it was mostly mental, but my legs just felt dead that day. They didn't want to move. After those first 2 miles though, it got much better and we finished out "strong" for us. Ended at 5.11 miles at 15:30

September 5th: Off day!

September 6th:
My longest run to date! 8 miles were scheduled! I was SO nervous. The first mile I took pretty slow. I kept thinking there was no way I would be able to get to 8. I reminded myself that Coach said to aim for 7 and get to 8 if I could. However, I just was pretty down on myself for Thursday's run and I had VERY little faith. Mile 1 was my slowest. I took some sports beans at 50 minutes in and my confidence started picking up. I was feeling pretty good and trucking right along. By mile 5, I was like "I got this. I just finished Thursday's run. I feel good. I can do 3 more." Finally, I hit mile 7 (which ended in a hill!!!!) and I knew I would be able to complete 8. Mile 8 was definitely my hardest mile. I was ready to be DONE, but it was also my fastest mile (at 15:33, so not fast lol). Overall, I ended at 8.09 miles with an average pace of 15:44 per mile.

Now, I know 8 miles is nothing compared to a lot of you, but it's big deal to me. I'm still nervous about doing that kind of mileage at faster speeds, but seeing as I could barely finish a mile when I started, I know that I will get there.

I ended my week at 19.4 total miles, which is my highest mileage week to date and just a bit over what was scheduled.

This current week is a pretty easy week. All easy runs. Only 11.5 miles total. MY COUSIN/BFF GETS MARRIED THIS WEEKEND THOUGH. I CANT WAIT.
 
Now, I know 8 miles is nothing compared to a lot of you, but it's big deal to me. I'm still nervous about doing that kind of mileage at faster speeds, but seeing as I could barely finish a mile when I started, I know that I will get there.

Way to go. Wrap your head around that. Soak in the accomplishment. If it's a big deal to you, then it's a big deal to me too. Celebrate everyone's victories!
 
Way to go. Wrap your head around that. Soak in the accomplishment. If it's a big deal to you, then it's a big deal to me too. Celebrate everyone's victories!
Thanks! I'm trying my hardest not to compare myself to other people at this point, which is admittedly hard for me. Just keeping in mind all the progress I've made!


I'm pretty glad this is an easier week, my legs don't hurt, but they are pretty tired.
 
I'm back with an update.

The wedding I was in was a success! It was an incredibly hectic couple of days leading up to the wedding and the morning of was such a frenzy, but everything went well! My MOH speech got the appropriate laughs and aw's. The photographer sent back some photos already from the day and the ones from my speech are HILARIOUS. It looks like I am being incredibly sassy and/or scolding a whole bunch of small children. I'm not! I swear!

(Low Resolution Sample Pics - The quality will be much better when ordered).

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Why am I so angry? What is happening?


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The week of the wedding was a bit of a mess. I don't really remember why I didn't run on the 10th, but I imagine it was wedding errands. Thursday, I only did half of my run, which was a VERY good thing because I ended up running super late (edit- running late to get to the bride's house, not like physically running late in the day)

This week has started off well. I have gotten everything in as planned. My I Pace was too fast during the last 3 segments, but on pace the first. I'm interested in seeing how Saturday's run goes. With all of the "easy" running, this has much more of the "quicker" paces.
 
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I am feeling pretty down on myself after yesterday's run. It was very very hard. I am frustrated with my lack of speed and feel that these M/HM tempo runs shouldn't be as hard as they are for me. Shouldn't I be able to hit those paces and maintain those distances? I just don't think I can. It was hot and humid, but still. I feel like I should be farther along in my progress? I don't know. Maybe I'm expecting too much too fast.

Anyway, I didn't finish. I stopped during my cool down because I was just feeling pretty awful. My paces were all over the place, which probably contributed to my general feelings of DEATH. Some of my intervals ended up in the 11 minute range when they shouldn't have been, which probably made the next interval harder (even if I slowed down) or took a few more seconds walking.

I'm just feeling not great, but I'll get past it.

I'm finally over 300 miles for the year with about 310 total.
 
I am feeling pretty down on myself after yesterday's run. It was very very hard. I am frustrated with my lack of speed and feel that these M/HM tempo runs shouldn't be as hard as they are for me. Shouldn't I be able to hit those paces and maintain those distances? I just don't think I can. It was hot and humid, but still. I feel like I should be farther along in my progress? I don't know. Maybe I'm expecting too much too fast.

Did you adjust your overall paces based on a T+D of 148 (4.5%)?

Screen Shot 2019-09-22 at 7.45.01 PM.png

So easy was nearly 17 min/mile, then M Tempo was 14:49 pace and then HM was 14:14 pace? And then in adjusting the workout to duration based more so than mileage based when the pace adjustment gets to be a lot can also help (since the plan is written by duration in reality).
 
Did you adjust your overall paces based on a T+D of 148 (4.5%)?

View attachment 438085

So easy was nearly 17 min/mile, then M Tempo was 14:49 pace and then HM was 14:14 pace? And then in adjusting the workout to duration based more so than mileage based when the pace adjustment gets to be a lot can also help (since the plan is written by duration in reality).
I... Did not. I pretty much always go for the prescribed paces regardless of T+D
:oops:

I know I should! I'm doing it all wrong! I wonder what T+D was during my magic mile. I don't think I checked it.
 
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