Week in Review

58 Miles
1000m workout success at duke track
10K PR at Cooper River Bridge run in 34:32

This was a down week by design since I had the Cooper River Bridge Run on the plan for this weekend.  After hitting a strong workout on Tuesday with Billy, I felt ready to at least fight for a top three spot with the other American women.

On Tuesday, my workout went something like this:
3.3 miles warmup at 630AM to meet Billy
1000m via 82, 79, 40
400m jog rest in 1:59
600m in 1:56
200m jog rest in 1:04
1000m via 81, 79, 40
400m jog rest in 2:05
400m via 75
200m rest in 1:09
1000m via 81, 79, 40
400m jog rest in 2;08
200m in 35
4.4 miles ish cool down to get 11.3M for the day

On Saturday, my race went something like this:
Goal:
Top 3 American

Actual:
3 miles warmup (ish) + strides and drills
10k PR in 34:32, 3rd America, $1000, via 5:23, 5:45, 6:01, 5:20, 5:23, 5:29, 1:07
5k splits: 17:43/16:49
2 miles cool down to Hominy Grill

I was really happy with this race effort.  How could I not be? I came out with a lifetime PR (both collegiate and road) along with a fat check for $1000.  I raced tough, definitely a little smarter than last year, and competed very strong against pro runners. I knew what to expect this year so that helped tremendously - mainly knowing that the bridge demoralizes you completely but to not freak out.

I went out at basically the same pace as last year through two miles, but was tougher on the bridge. Went out at 523 at the mile, saw Chad sitting on my shoulder via his shadow. Was with Michelle side by side, which was really fun. Then of course Scherf was out front way ahead as always. Amy was about 20-30m ahead of me, along with Allison. As we began our ascent  up the bridg, I told Allison and Michelle to "let's do this" and then they fell off. After the mile, Chad blew past me and then caught up to Amy on the uphill and she hung on to him for a bit before I started to catch her. At first I wondered if I should have gone with Chad, but I'm glad I didn't as the hill was tough. So then I pulled up behind Amy and I could tell that Scherf was heading back too. Through 3 miles, I actually passed both Scherf and Amy. Then Scherf saw I was a "nobody" and picked it up again. Through the 5k I was 17:43 (right next to Amy) and Scherf was 17:42 and then the downhill began. Scherf pulled away with another African, and I pulled away from Amy. I knew I needed to get as far away from her as I could. Similar to last year, stomach felt tight which I've decided is just natural for running up a mountain at that speed.

I ran better in the second half this year because I ran about 10-15 seconds faster in the last 5k. I was running really hard, passing very few people because the competition had thinned out. Only one dude passed me around 5 miles and I thought it was Amy. Then I could hear Amy's breathing close to me and people were yelling "let's go LADIES (plural)" and I thought F ME. I tried so hard to push in that 6th mile to give myself a sizable distance but I didn't have much left in my legs (which I account to the Tobacco Road Half). I heard her Garmin beep for mile 6 and was entirely bummed because the legs were unraveling.  So then we rounded the turn, and with about 50 meters to go, Amy passed me and there went another $1000 cash out the door. I lost all motivation then to work hard and basically let the legs finally give in to the fatigue they had been feeling. Amy ran 4 seconds faster than me in the final 100 meters. Regardless, I still came away with $1000, a PR and another great showing against some pro runners. Both Amy and Scherf train full-time. I work full-time AND go to school AND train my butt off, so I think I win something on the busy life conversion scale.

As a side note, I had no idea I was in good enough shape to run faster than last year. Coach couldn't believe I didn't trust myself or know that I would run faster.  Guess I should express my doubts to him next time so he can tell me I am in shape.  Regardless, I really want to run a fast 10k now! I also have motivation to run more than I typically would while I'm on the India residency in just a week. I don't want to lose this fitness - I'm feeling great!

2014 v 2015
2 mile: 11:06 / 11:09
3 mile: 17:11/ 17:10
4 mile: 22:41/22:30
5 mile: 28:06/27:54
6 mile: 33:38/33:23
10k: 34:47/34:32

Next up: a big mileage week so that I can get in some solid work before I take a couple of down weeks during my trips to Dubai and Delhi.

Week in Review

65 miles
2x4k workout in
14.4M medium long run easy pace

There really isn't that much to report this week. I am on a break from school so I was hoping to get more mileage this week, but turns out that the Tobacco Road Half Marathon race effort took way more out of my legs than I was hoping.  The theme for this week was "hey - your legs feel like crap!".  I didn't run a single easy run faster than 7:45 pace, which is very unusual for me.  My legs just were garbage, plain and simple.  Somehow I did muster up a very solid workout on the track with Billy.  I can tell that I'm getting stronger because even though the legs felt heavy, they still powered through pretty fast paces.

Workout:
3.7 miles warmup
2x4k via
82, 82, 92, 89, 82, 82, 89, 90, 80, 82
800m jog rest in 4:00
81, 82, 90, 89, 81, 81, 89, 90, 80, 77 for 28:12 for 5 miles and 32:12 for 5.5 miles with the rest
3.6 mile cool down back to house.

Week in Review

74 Miles
10M MLR
13 miles with 4x400m, 1M, 4x400m, 1M, 4x400m
Tobacco Road Half Marathon Race in 1:16:27, 2nd place, $600

This week marked my first race of 2015! As exciting as that may be, starting it off with a half marathon is a daunting task.  After taking a week off in late January, I had no idea what my fitness would translate into in a race, so after seeing the result, I'm very excited about this year.  Despite having a crazy travel schedule for school, I'm able to put in the miles and hard work to still find success in my running.  It's been a really positive experience all around! It just proves that just because you have a busy life, you can still find time to do the number one thing you love!

I started off the week with a solid workout solo on the Dilworth Speed Loop in Charlotte. I definitely miss doing the road loop because it is just so much easier mentally for me to focus.  I hit all the times and even though it felt pretty hard, I came away feeling ready for the half.

In the half marathon, I ran about 75 seconds faster than I did here last year.  This is because I raced smarter (read: ran slower in the first half) and because I had Michelle Lillienthal for some enjoyable company.  Long story short, Michelle and I raced together through about 8 miles side-by-side and then she took off and ended up beating me by about 40 seconds over the last 5 miles.  I wasn't actually that far behind her until we hit around 11 miles, and the legs started to feel really fatigued.  By mile 12, on a slight uphill, I questioned whether my legs would even be able to make it up the hill.  It felt like I was very close to hitting the wall, where my legs just would not go any more.  My glutes and upper hamstring were tightening up FAST and I had nowhere to go but to that finish line.  Fortunately I made it without walking or collapsing.  I spent the rest of the time cooling down with Michelle and hanging out with her until the awards. I hope I can get fit enough to run the Trials next to her because she's a really positive presence and a smart racer.

Week in Review

73 Miles
13 miles with 3-4 sets of (mile-800)
16 miles with 4x(3-2-1) with 90s rest between each
2 nights in NYC

For a finals week, this is an impressive mileage.  I knocked out one final on Monday this week by spending 12 hours locked in my work office.  I knocked out my strategy final on Friday morning before I headed to NYC for a quick rendezvous with my MBA classmates.  I felt really good about my mid-week workout and knocked my solo long run out of the (Central) park.  I'm always surprised when I run fast solo because it's about 100x harder than running with a training buddy.  Fortunately for me, there were about 10,000 people running in Central Park because it was probably the first time these New Yorkers had seen the sunshine and a clear roadway in months.  For that reason, it felt like I was running a race and passing people left and right.  It was very motivating!

I had a great time hanging out with my classmates, celebrating their birthdays (Happy Birthday Kishor).  I am glad that they still respect me as a person considering that I left them around midnight because I turn into a pumpkin at any time after that.  I'm in the middle of a training cycle, so I needed my beauty sleep. Plus, I wanted to be able to run with Sarah the next morning in the park.

February Snow and Ice Review

I was going to do a week in review for every week in February, but then I realized that all I remember about February was that there was a bunch of snow or ice on the roads for about 2 weeks straight. So, the main thing to remember is that the last two weeks of February were annoying and I ran most runs on either the 2 mile stretch on Campus Drive, or on snow-packed pathways, or in Charlotte, where they didn't get nearly as much snow.  I definitely got to know the 14 mile loop around the Research Triangle Park as well.

Week of Feb 23:
8 inches of snow
70 Miles
3 x 2 miles fail
16M Long Run with last 9 miles at 633, 612, 615, 607, 552, 651, 605, 625, 643

Week of Feb 16
1 inch of ice
72 miles
12M MLR
10 miles with 4M tempo in 611, 615,557,559
12 miles with 4 x (4 x 300m) with 100m rest and 500m rest between sets. All in 60-58-56-55 ish
15.5M easy long run 

Week of Feb 9
74 Miles
11.7 MLR
12.3M with 6 x mile via 549 (42 rest), 545 (50s), 544 (51), 540 (55s), 540 (75s), 552 (200m on/off)
16M in the freezing cold at 653 average and with 15mph winds