Week in Review

78 Miles
11.5 MLR
12 miles with down Ladder workout of 10-5-3-1-:30 on and 3-2-1-:30 min off at increasingly faster paces
1 Double
20 mile long run in 6:51 average
3 days in Greenville, NC

So it was Thanksgiving this week and I have a track record of running low mileage over holiday weeks because I get so consumed with the holiday spirit and lose all motivation.  This year was a bit different because I was able to get in a decent amount of miles in Durham before I headed to my in-laws' house in Greenville.  I had a lot of solo workouts and runs this week, which is definitely not ideal, but I still pulled my butt out of bed and out the door to get these runs in.  The workout on Wednesday was particularly difficult because it was like 40 degrees and raining and, to make matters worse, I didn't have any company to do this workout.  I managed to hit the target goals, but felt like crap the rest of the day because my body was still thawing out from the cold.

In Greenville, I spent my time hanging out with family, running and doing some last minute work for Duke MBA projects that are due in less than two weeks.  After enjoying some quality time with the new puppy, Greta, it was particularly hard to leave Greenville, but we ultimately did.  After all, we had a Wake Forest v. Duke football game that we could not miss!  For the first time ever, Garrett and I wore our Varsity Letterman jackets as well as our class rings that we received for being varsity athletes at Wake.  I'm actually quite sad that I had not busted out my Letterman jacket until now because, damn, that jacket is warm!

I topped the week off with a point-to-point 20 mile long run with 10 miles at steady state.  Billy joined me for the first six miles, then I ran solo for six miles and Garrett graciously biked alongside me for the last eight miles.  My stomach really ached this whole run, which made it pretty miserable and, afterwards, I was totally wrecked. I had high hopes of studying for my finals for several hours , but instead I was in bed for about 3 hours before finally mustering the strength to move.  My motivation to get out of bed was strictly driven by my insatiable hunger that I could suddenly no longer ignore.  Even though it may not have gone like my last 20 miler back in September, I was proud of myself for not quitting and for getting in the miles when every ounce of my body was telling me to stop.  If I do end up racing LA marathon, I'm beginning to lay the foundation that will help me be successful.  Up next, finals!

Week in Review

67 Miles
400m workout
14 mile EZ long run
0 days off
3 Days in CLT
1 Football tailgate

After a successful race in Richmond last weekend, the focus for this week was to facilitate a quick recovery and to begin building the foundation for a successful winter campaign.  I started the week in Charlotte and enjoyed some easy runs in the freezing cold weather with Michelle, Danielle and Caleb.  After I got back home, I went to my first Duke football game tailgate, but failed to venture into the stadium for the game because it was cold and I wanted to go grocery shopping. Yes, I am that lame.  I realized that going to Trader Joe's during a UNC/Duke game is the equivalent of going grocery shopping at 8AM, because no one is there.

On Friday, Billy and I headed to the stadium/track, and did some 400m repeats together while also dodging frozen water and gatorade that was leftover from the football game.  I was surprised to feel so springy in the legs during the workout, especially on such a cold morning.  I spent the weekend attending class, doing homework, going bowling with my #teamFuqua friends and running.  Today, I did my first long run at Umstead and really enjoyed the 14 mile loop, except for the hills.  The second half of the loop was so hilly that it seemed to cancel out the whole "easy run" part.  My labored breathing on the 15 steep climbs prevented me from blabbering my mouth the entire time.

Over the next 4-6 weeks, I plan to post some good workouts and mileage since Term 2 of my MBA ends on December 8th and then it's Christmas time, meaning no work and no classes!  I hope to take advantage of the free time to train hard, be with family and dream about LA Marathon 2015.

(Richmond Half Marathon) Week in Review

60 Miles
10 miles with 2 x 1.5 miles followed by 4x200m
Half marathon race in 1:16:02
0 days off

This was the first weekend that I missed the live webex sessions for my MBA courses. Admittedly, the nerd in me was really freaking out about this, but I got in a lot of work early in the week so that I wouldn't let my teammates down before heading to Richmond for the marathon and half marathon weekend.  My race recap is below:

Goal:
5:50 Place and 3rd place because from past results there seems to typically be 2 africans

actual:
2.5 miles warmup solo with strides
Race in 1:16:02 for 3rd place, 1st American female via
540, 554, 543, 544, 552, 551, 550, 559, 559, 549, 551, 547, 528, :29 (splits from the race markers)
2 miles cool down ish cheering for Michelle and Meagan

For those that may not know, I was in China for two weeks and then I was sick for an entire week after China and didn't recover until just under two weeks left for the half marathon race. Thus, I wanted to set realistic goals so I felt like 5:50 pace (or low 1:16) would be a good fit for me.

I warmed up solo in the cold conditions and came back to the hotel feeling like the conditions truly weren't that bad, especially compared to Cal International Marathon 2013. I immediately told Meagan and Michelle this to make them feel a little bit better about the cold.

Our hotel was so close to the start that I didn't meander over there until like 7:20, just ten minutes before, and it was perfect timing. On the line, I saw two Africans and a blonde chick in pink tights who I thought could definitely not be a legit runner. Well, I was wrong.

The race went off with an anti-climatic "go" and I found myself in the lead and thought WTF? The pace was crawling (or so I thought. I thought the Garmin said 555 pace, but I misread it and it actually read 535 pace). So then I saw the actual pace at 800 meters in, where the Kenyans had conveniently situated themselves right behind me. I naturally decided to slow down because I knew I wasn't in shape to run 1:14 and didn't want to do work for them to later win easily while I would later die drastically. So I slowed up and let the Kenyans go by and suddenly I was leading the pink tights girl and another chick who would later fall back.

After the mile split I decided to slow up a bit to force the Pink girl to take the lead along with four guys. That mile split was slow, so then the guys and I all picked it up again so that suddenly we were on the Kenyans again at mile 3. The Africans said something in a different tongue and took off again, taking the guys with them.  It was clear to me that they were trying to run the slowest pace possible to still win.

Over the next couple of miles, I was alone until the Pink chick came back on me and passed me on a slight uphill. I said good job and then tried to latch on. The rest of the race was spent yo-yoing back and forth with this Russian pink chick. Sometimes she would get me on the downhill; sometimes I would get her on the uphill. It wasn't that I battling with her, it was just that we each had different strengths. I didn't feel like I was wasting energy, but I wanted to maintain my pace and sometimes doing that meant passing her and then having her pass me back.

Quite honestly, during those miles I really wanted to quit (you can tell by the two mile splits at 559 pace), but having Pink chick there helped tremendously. In fairness, those slower splits were through a rolling terrain in a park with several turns so it was probably the slowest point on the course.

Around mile 9-10, I had settled for fourth place because I just felt so darn tired, but then I realized I could probably still beat her. However, I wasn't full confident of winning this battle for third until we rounded the turn at 12.5 miles and faced the massive downhill to the finish. She was side by side with me at that point, but I unleashed it and ended up beating her by 8 seconds in the final 600 meters and just missing breaking 1:16.

In the end, I was really pleased with my result, especially considering that in just March of this year, running 1:17 was a good day for me. Now I run 1:16:03 off minimal training, and it's a bad day. My fitness has come so far and I'm so grateful that I've been able to maintain training while in my MBA program...and to brag a little, Duke's Fuqua MBA program was recently ranked number one, beating out Penn, Chicago and Harvard.

I ran uphill all the way back to the hotel and then ran to the 16.5 mile marker of the marathon to try to catch Meagan and Michelle. I missed Meagan but saw Michelle. Then I raced back to the hotel to get a Starbucks for Meagan and Michelle and cheered for Meagan at 25.5. It was a good day!  Meagan qualified for the Trials with a time of 2:40:48 and then Michelle ran 3:02.  

Week in Review

70 Miles
12M with 7 x 1000m repeats @ 3:35 with 1:00 jog rest on Dilworth Speed Loop
12M MLR
12.5M with 6k of 400m @ 80 /400m @ 1:35, 6:00 jog rest, 6k at 556, 557, 555, 5:49 pace

As you can tell, I finally was able to get a normal mileage this week! I felt like myself, I felt like I had control of my legs again and I felt ready for Richomnd.  The biggest struggle last week was trusting that I had enough fitness to still run a respectable race in Richmond.  I have been focusing a lot this week on mental strategies that will help me believe that I'm still in shape and have put in the right amount of work to race well.  The workouts that I posted this week helped tremendously in my mental outlook and confidence in myself. I was able to run 1000m repeats basically solo at my target half pace with a very short jog rest.  I followed that up with a great track / tempo workout on Saturday with Billy as my pacemaker.  I'm feeling really good about the next six weeks of training and am really excited to toe the line at Richmond!

(Sick) Week in Review

47 Miles
2 Day off
14 mile long run

I got a little overzealous on Monday, my first full day back in the states after 16 hours of time travel across the world.  I felt just great: I got 8 hours of sleep Sunday night, worked a full day and was totally ready to hit 70 miles for the week.  With my grand plans to hop right back into training, I was smacked right in the face with my own ignorance.  Tuesday's run came and went, along with my pride and energy.  I spent the rest of the week with a stomach bug, without a voice, and sleeping like a cat from 12PM-5PM.  I struggled through every run and decided finally to take Wednesday off. I didn't go to the doctor, but instead waited until Thursday to finally pop a miracle pill Passport Health had given to me before my international travel.  Expecting the pill to work miraculously in hours, it didn't.  I almost had a meltdown on Friday, swearing to myself that there was no way I could run Richmond in just two weeks.  It's funny how quickly your mindset can go from being in the total dumps to being right back to normal. Saturday morning, I woke up and I just knew that today would be the day I would be normal again.  Despite my refusal to go to a doctor, I do sometimes make intelligent decisions.  I took my second day off from running even though I felt 100 times better. I wanted to let my body finally recover, without the additional stress piled on my garbage legs with a run.  I was able to close out the week with a 14 mile medium long run with Billy and George.  While it wasn't amazing, I got the job done and closed the week feeling good about my prospects for Richmond.