Week 1 in Europe

45 Miles
2 Days off
10M with 3 mile tempo in 608, 601, 551, 800m jog, 1M of 30s on/off in 552
14.6M with Michelle in Vienna
3 days in Amsterdam, 4 days in Vienna

This week can best be summed up with bullet points and pictures:

• I'm proud of myself for doing an unplanned tempo in Amsterdam
• Peter, Claire and I travel really well together.  We didn't plan a single thing and somehow everything worked out (except getting in to the Anne Frank house, which wasn't high on my list anyways!)
• Tulips are pretty.
• I'm grateful that Michelle flew to Vienna because not only did we get to catch up, but we also got to run 14 miles together on Saturday!

Week in Review

55 Miles
8.2M with 15 x 1 min on/off
16M long run with 8M via 622, 622, 609, 618, 613, 606, 606, 559, 620, 633, 652 (cool down)
4 days in Plano
1 Day on a plane
1 Day in Amsterdam

What a whirlwind of a week!  I flew to Dallas to sort out stuff with my tech team.   I barely survived the humidity in Texas, and I barely got myself out of bed every morning to get a run in (it's soooo hard to wake up when the time difference makes it feel like 430AM cali time!).  Did I mention that I absolutely despise Plano?  I'm sure the people who live there are very nice.  But it's just so....vanilla?  Hot?  Boring?  Regardless, I get so much work done when I'm there since I'm able to bug the heck out of my tech partners to get answers quickly around features we're building for Erica.

While in Texas, I did 15 x 1 min on the 2 mile loop I found, with minimal traffic stops and just four sharp turns.  I felt like total garbage for the last 5 intervals and really fought off every inclination to cut the workout short.  However, I perservered and finished 15, which was the number that coach had outlined for me to do.  I didn't actually cool down because I was running behind getting in to the office (again, that damn time change) and basically finished the last interval and walked into the hotel.

After 4 long days in Plano, I prepped for a Friday long run with Jonah.  We were supposed to do 8 miles at 630 pace, but instead we were hovering around 615 pace so I figured, screw it, let's keep the pace honest and push even harder.  I am glad that we did this together, especially before I head out to Europe!

Week in Review

58 miles
11M down ladder on the track
15.4M long run with 2 x 4 miles at 616/616/617/614, 3:51 800m jog, 604, 556, 557, 551

For those who care, here are the detailed splits for the track workout I did on Wednesday with Heather and Jonah at Stanford.  This was special because it was Heather's last day here in the Bay before her big move to Seattle.  I was really grateful to have both her and Jonah with us and we all synced together perfectly into formation on the oval.

Over the weekend, I was scrambling to find a long run buddy because everyone was either at the Boston Marathon or traveling for Easter.  Fortunately, Tania and Ben really came through and met for a workout that matched with exactly what Terry had down for me to do.  It was great running with Tania because she's so close to the Trials standard and I would love to workout with her to help her achieve her goal!

alternating 200m and 400m rest
2000m: 88/87/90/86/89 (79)
1600m: 86/88/85/87 (2:00)
1200m:82/83/84 (79)
800m:81/81 (2:05)
400m: 88 (65)
200m: 36

Week in Review

55 Miles
1 Day off
10M with 6x1000m repeats at 336, 332, 333, 333, 331, 329 with 60s jog rest
12M MLR
10M with 3.5M via 601/604/601/251, 5:00 jog, 1M in 5:48 of 30s on/off
4 days in Charlotte

Thank god for Billy Shue.  Such a trusty little running buddy while I was in Charlotte for a 4-day heads-down-no-windows-only-laptop-screens kind of meeting for work.  This trip to the Queen City was a bit different than ones in the past in that I basically only saw John, Aaron and Billy because I was exhausted from work and also because no one seemed to be running from the Dowd except for Billy.  I didn't mind though.  Instead of seeing tons of people at a brewery and not getting to spend any quality time going below the surface in conversation, I was able to spend really focused time with some of my dearest friends.

After 4 days of fun in CLT, I headed back to California with hopes of hearing good news via email from my attorney, saying that I was divorced!  The one year separation mark came and went, but I was foolishly ignorant and assumed that everything would be done on that day.  It doesn't work that way. Quite honestly, I don't even know at this point when the divorce will be finalized, but ultimately it doesn't change how I'm already living.  The only thing it will change is the last name on my work email, which is ABSOLUTELY annoying the crap out of me.  Other than that, I get to go about my day-to-day as though I'm Caitlin Chrisman.

Anyways, back to my return to Mountain View.  California welcomed me with it's typical perfect weather and I immediately jumped right back into my routine with my running buddies, with a Saturday community run at Whole Foods and a long run field trip (thanks to Tom for chauffeuring me) at Sawyer Camp.  Overall, I was really pleased with the workouts this week and am looking forward to finally getting a race under my belt!

Week in Review

59 Miles
10M with 2 x 2.5m via 558/555/251, 2:30 jog rest, 2M in 555/553, 90s jog rest, .48M in 540 pace
14M with 5 miles at 637, 611, 612, 614, 606, 636 

The highlight of this week was throwing up in the middle of my workout on Tuesday.  No really, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nothing better than approaching the imaginary finish line for the last rep of an interval and throwing up right before you reach the end.  Fortunately (or unfortunately?) it was just water, but I threw up twice on the side of Stevens Creek Trail before dejectedly heading back home.  I don't know what was worse - throwing up on the side of the trail or having to run another 1.5 miles back home before I could lie down and let my stomach recover.  The good news is that it didn't appear to be any particular bug, and I just limited my food intake for the next couple of days while cautiously continuing to run and take in tons of liquids. 

By the time Saturday came around, I felt ready enough to do 8 miles with Jenna before taking off for an uptempo portion of the long run.  It's definitely been a bit painful to do some of the faster workouts, such as the one I did earlier in the week, but I am very much enjoying the long runs and the tempos above 6:00 pace.  I'll need some more time to regain my comfort level with running sub-5:50 pace over the next couple of weeks.