2014 Grandma's Half Marathon Recap

Goal #1: PR 1:17:45 5:52 pace = 1:17:01
Goal #2: 1:16:xx 5:50 pace = 1:16:28
Goal #3: 1:15:xx 5:47 pace = 1:15:48 (5:44 pace = 1:15:10)

Actual:
All 3 Goals
1:14:24, 9th place female, $400

Some stats:
5 minutes and 56 seconds faster than last year's race (28s faster per mile)
3 minutes and 21 seconds faster than my previous PR (16s faster per mile)
Every 5k in 17:34-17:38

Important Splits:  5k @ 17:34, 10k @ 35:09, 10 miles @ 56:46 (new PR by almost 2 minutes)

Mile by mile splits by race markers:
5:36
5:45
5:36 (16:59) and 5k in 17:35 ish
5:46 (22:45)
5:47 (28:32)
5:29 (34:02) 10k in 35:10 ish
5:40 (39:43)
5:28 (45:22)
11:24 (56:46) with Lemon Drop Hill
5:39 (1:02:25)
5:39 (1:08:05)
6:19 (1:14:24)  last 5k in 17:38

A perfect race rarely happens. They are few and far between, kind of like those important life moments you're "supposed" to cross off your list in the right order: go to college, marry someone special, have a kid. Prior to today, I truly only had experienced a perfect race once: at the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon. Under the tutelage of Coach Mark Hadley, I negative split and ran the fastest miles in the final 10k to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon in my debut race. 

Four years later, I am a different runner and, honestly, I am a different person.  I'm married...I've got a different coach Terry Shea.  In terms of running, I've been through a lot: mostly a lot of great moments, interspersed with very few bad moments that have greatly shaped who I am today and the path I'm about to embark on. I'm more serious, a bit tougher, and I know how to dream bigger, but more realistically. 

I'm about to move to a new city for my husband.  I'm about to begin an incredibly challenging executive MBA program while continuing working full time for Bank of America, albeit without my co workers just a cubicle away. I am about to say goodbye to all of my friends and co workers who have been there for me countless times.  

I'm about to change everything I've known for the past six years and it's flipping scary. 

But it's also very good. Change is good. A new start is good. I'm not saying goodbye to my friends, I'm just saying see you soon.  Eventually I'll find a community in Durham and I'll laugh at how big of a deal I thought this was. I will be just fine and that's what I am focusing on over these next few transition weeks and months. 

I keep telling myself all these things, but I'm still dreading Sunday, June 29th because it means it has happened...that my new life chapter has begun but the pages haven't been written yet.  And yet that unknown is exactly what keeps life interesting.  

Similarly, before the Grandmas Half Marathon this weekend, the chapter hadn't been written yet. I had a vague idea of what could likely happen, but I didn't know for sure. 

I never do.  

There are so many uncontrollables in races of this distance. You could have bathroom issues.  There could be a headwind, intense heat or torrential downpours.  You could get injured.  Or, you could just have a really bad day for no real good reason. 

Yet you can't focus on the things you can't control. Just like I can't change the fact that I am moving to Durham, I can control my outlook on what's to come and focus on the positive. And so I did the same for this race. I focused on what I could control: my attitude. 

I knew I had put in the work necessary to achieve a nice PR. I knew I was physically and mentally prepared to run 1:15. But I didn't know that I could run 1:14. Frankly, I thought running low-1:15  would be best case scenario and most realistic. I don't even know if Coach T-Bone knew!  Today, I surprised myself. 

And it's fan-freaking-tastic to surprise yourself!

Granted, things didn't go exactly smoothly leading up to the race. Southwest lost Michelle's luggage and so on Friday we embarked on a grand tour to go to (1) Target for clothes, (2) Gear Running for Newton shoes and (3) Lululemon for a race outfit. It literally was going to be a tour of the entire Twin Cities metropolitan area. Selfishly,  I was probably more stressed than Michelle because I was anxious to get on the road to Duluth because I'm an anal-retentive selfish friend. Miraculously, Michelle got a call from Southwest right before we checked out at Target...the first leg of our grand tour. I let out an internal sigh of relief. Problem solved and everyone happy, (mainly me because Michelle and Eric didn't give a crap about our arrival time to Duluth) we hopped in the car, sped to baggage claim and retrieved Michelle's coveted luggage. 

When we arrived in Duluth, it was 40 degrees...a whole 50 degrees cooler than it had been in Charlotte.  A shock to my system, I was glad packed my jeans last minute.  As uncomfortable as the temperature was to casually walk around in, it was perfect racing weather.    

Things got a little hectic the morning of the race.  A throbbing headache was threatening to tear away all motivation as I stepped off the shuttle that dropped us off just a mere 30 minutes before the start.  I was a little nervous and anxious as I walked through a sea of 5,000 runners to make it to the elite area, but I kept my emotions in check and reminded myself about how prepared I was.  I also remembered what Meagan had told me about her breakthrough performance at ATM - how the quick pace just felt right and wasn't even hard.  I prepared myself for that feeling and it was my inspiration for the day. After a short warmup with Alex Cadicamo, I finally stepped up to the start line feeling mentally prepared to kill it. 

Five rows back from the start line, the bull horn went off and my legs began moving at what felt like a pedestrian pace.  I positioned myself behind a group of about four women and forced myself not to look at my Garmin for pace quite yet. After about 1000 meters, I finally decided to look and was surprised to find 5:34 pace because it felt that easy and natural.  That was the story for the next 11.5 miles.  I wasn't even breathing hard and was entirely relaxed.  I tried to count the number of women in front of me and lost count after 15, so I decided to forget about place for the moment.

Up until mile five, I was either leading our small pack of women or tucking in behind some helpful guys that had the same goal as me.  There was one minor hitch in my race plan, when I got a bad ab cramp in the middle of my stomach. It wasn't a side stitch.  Rather it felt like the exact same cramp I got just 10 days ago in a workout.  A guy sped past me as I tried to ignore the pain and so I tucked in behind him so I wouldn't falter.  This strategy worked and by the 10k mark, the feeling passed.  After I hit the halfway point, I started  passing women.  Four girls down and I thought maybe I had a chance of being in the top ten, but I still didn't know for sure. 

At mile 9, Lemon Drop Hill came and went as if it wasn't really there.  I didn't feel like I had slowed much and I passed another girl here which gave me some extra speed.  My body still wasn't going into survival mode and my legs were still carrying my body downhill as if they had a mind of their own.  The climax of the race - that moment when I knew I was going to run really, really fast for me - was when I finally looked at the cumulative time on my Timex watch at the 10 miler marker.  

It said 56:46.  

I couldn't help but let a huge smile spread across my entire face.  At the same time, a tingling sensation passed through my entire body because it was in that moment that I knew.  I knew that I was going to achieve a big goal that had eluded me for the past two years.  At the same moment, a spectator spotted me and informed me that I was in 9th place.  I told myself: You've so got this.  

I kept expecting the slow, painful death march to the finish to come, but it never really did.  The worst I felt was in the last mile but not because my body was dying, but more because I was so annoyed with the sharp turns and the change in momentum they caused.  Since I had seen my 10 mile split, I knew that I was going to break 1:15 by a fair amount and stopped caring as much to kick it in and hurt the most.  And so you'll see that basically I ran a completely even race, with most of my 5k splits ranging from 17:34-17:38 at the slowest.  In the final straightaway to the finish, I broke into a smile again because damnit was I going to look happy as I crossed that finish line.  

After I crossed the finish line, it was somewhat anti-climatic.  I didn't know anyone in the chute and I didn't have anyone there to cheer me in.  And then I saw Billy, Alice's dad, who had convinced a group of fans next to him to cheer me in to the finish line while he took a sweet video of my final strides.  After I gave him a quick hug of thanks, I scanned the chute to find any women I may know.  When I didn't, I grabbed my bag and fished out my phone with frozen hands and called my coach.  Terry was the first person I wanted to talk to.  Not my husband, not my parents, but my coach.  I couldn't have done this without his guidance (and also probably not without Laurie's help on all my workouts).  We had a quick chat before I met Alex to cool down back to the hotel.  

As I settled into my warm hotel room, I thought about how drastically different this race experience was than the previous two here had been.  In fact, my average time at this race from the past two years had been 1:19:04 (1:17:50 in '12 and 1:20:19 in '13). Both of those years, I never noticed the downhill miles and I only noticed the seemingly uphill miles or the sharp turns. This year it felt like a whole new race course.  I saw downhills that I didn't even know existed before.  I charged up a hill that I previously had thought was a mountain.  It's all about attitude, I swear!

I spent the rest of the morning tracking my marathon friends - Michelle, Eric and Alice - before heading down to the 25 mile marker to give them some final cheers of encouragement. This weekend was a great way to spend an intimate weekend with some close friends before making the final move to Durham.  At the very least, I know that I'll always have people to call upon for a quick getaway weekend for a fun race trip.  And for that, I'm grateful!

Below are my raw notes that I wrote after the race on my iPad so I wouldn't forget.  For those that may care (but mainly for my own record):

Mile 1 (5:36) - snuck in behind a solid pack of women. 

Mile 2 (5:45) - tried to count how many women were ahead of me and in my pack. By my own estimations, I was in 15th or higher.  I couldn't help but notice the small headwind. It was annoying. Tried to tuck into a girl in front of me. 

Mile 3 (5:36) - another fast mile but coach terry had told me miles 1,3 and 6 were fast

Mile 4 (5:46) - the pack of girls had tucked in behind me or fallen off. A man pulled along side to help me do the work and I asked him what he was aiming for. He said mid -:15. I said me too. He said we are ahead. I reassured him that miles 1 and 3 are fast so it was okay. I never saw him again.  

Mile 5 (5;47) - intense stomach / ab cramp, similar to one I got in a workout toe weeks ago.  At this point all the ladies from the pack had fallen back so some guys passed by me and I tucked in with them so I wouldn't lose my chance of a pr because of a stomach cramp. No matter what I was going to make my mind believe it wasn't there. 

Mile 6 (5:29) - 10k 34:10 obviously the stomach cramp went away and I was rolling down the hill with the guys. I tucked in behind them with another flanked by my side. It was fun.  One of the guys asked when we were going to catch the people ahed of us and I said soon.  He said we are maintaining pace. I said they will come back to us

Mile 7 (5:40) - started passing more women here. Women who I've looked up to and thing I could never beat. 

Mile 8 (5:38) - passed two more girls and encouraged them to come with me 

Mile 9-10 (11:24) - lemon drop hill was mile 9 and I didn't even notice the split. I didn't even feel bad yet. A man barreled past me and I told myself that didn't mean I was slowing down.  At mile 10, I finally paid attention to my cumulative time and saw 56:46 and got a huge tingling sensation all across my body and my face erupted into a ginormous smile because I just KNEW it was going to happen today and that no matter what I was going to break 1:15.  I had just broken my 10 miler PR en route to a half marathon by almost two minutes. I also still wasn't hurting yet and I was finally noticing that this course can be fast. All the downhills seemed to be placed there just for me.  Such a contrast to the prior years where my average time was 1:19. The course didn't seem fast then but not suddenly it did. 

Mile 11 - 5:39 still rolling with some guys. Not many had passed me and I just tucked in.  A man who sounded like a monster pulled alongside me and annoyed the crap out of me with his outrageous breathing noises. 

Mile 12 - 539 at 11.5 I started to hurt but not bad enough that I was going to slow down. 

Mile 31.1 - 6:19 in the last moments of the race I stopped caring about trying to kick because I knew that I was going to be sub 1:14:30 so I didn't kick as hard as I should have. 

One Last Tempo with Laurie and Eric

Goal:
12-14 miles with 7 miles wave tempo starting at 548 (target range 546-555) and alternating with 615-625

Actual:
3.7 mile warmup
7 mile wave tempo in 41:05 @ 540, 608, 543, 604, 535, 615, 540
2.7 mile cool down for 13.4 miles total

My last big workout before Grandma's Half was a success.  After Saturday's bomb of workout, I needed that!  It was quite possibly my last tempo as a permanent resident of Charlotte and with Laurie, so I'm glad I can leave on a positive note.  At 5:50AM, I warmed up with Michelle and Phill before dropping them off and continuing on my way to get Laurie and Eric.  We decided to do two loops of the 2-Mile Dilworth Speed Loop before heading down to the Sugar Creek Greenway for the remaining miles.

Laurie and I started it off a little quick, but the pace felt reasonable so I went with it.  After that one, Eric told us that we "weren't being disciplined," but he was wrong.  Whenever I go out too hard, I calculate what are the odds that I can continue at that pace or faster and if the odds are in my favor, I continue pushing forward.  Today was one of those days where the odds were good and I ignored Eric.  Oddly enough, I felt pretty terrible on mile 5 because I had a weird breathing issue / stomach cramp that was making it very difficult for me to maintain my composure.  I told myself to just ignore it and it would go away.  Sure enough, it did.  It's these sort of tactics I need to employ in the race should something go terribly wrong.

I felt really good about this tempo and it shows that running 5:48 pace or faster for the half in just 10 days is completely within reason.  As Terry told me a couple weeks ago, running sub 5:50s should feel quite manageable in the first hour at Grandma's and the last 15 minutes or so will just have to come from racing tough.  I am ready.

3 x Broken 1.5 Mile Repeats

Goal:
3x1.5M with each 800m at a different pace @ 254, 300-307, 240-245 with 3:00 rest.  Option to do one mile of 30s on / off if I feel good

Actual:
2.7 mile warmup
3 x 1.5 mile with 3 min rest for 5.3 miles in 31:12 minutes for 5:53 pace
2:51, 2:57, 2:37 (3:02 for .4 mile of rest)
2:45, 2:59, 2:39 (3:04 for .4 mile of rest)
2:44, 2:58, 2:36
4.4 mile cool down in 34:00

This workout was awesome! It was really fun to break the 1.5 mile into 3 different segments with different target paces.  It also helped tremendously that at 530AM Laurie, Aaron and Eric joined me.  We did this on the 2 mile speed loop but went on the turnaround at Park Road so we didn't have to do a sharp turn on the faster 800m. This worked out perfectly as the jog back to the start was about 3 minutes exactly. 

We took out the pace too fast on the first 800m and Eric stated frankly after 400m this fact.  Aaron said "okay."  We continued on our way.  I was feeling good and it appeared Laurie was too so I didn't really want to hold back any and I vowed I would hit the same paces (or roughly around them) for the remainder of the workout.  On the last set, Aaron took off with just 400m to go and I already knew we were rather quick. Although I finished last by a couple of meters, I felt really pleased with what I had accomplished.  Granted, it wasn't many miles of work because the focus is on my big workout on Saturday, but these paces were fairly easy to hit.  

I think the average pace without the rest for the 4.5 miles of intervals was 5:34, which is exactly what I ran in the 8k this past weekend.

At this point in my training cycle, I feel like things are just really falling into place. It's nice to be able to run 5:53 pace with 3:00 jog rest for over 5 miles and not feel like it was anything crazy. I felt really strong out there today and knew that even if we went out a little fast in the first 800m that I would be able to run just as fast for the remaining 2 intervals.   Now I just hope I can do the same on Saturday.

Workout Success + Fail

Goal
3x1k @ 3:20-24 with 2:30 rest
2k @ 535-530, 3:30 rest
3x1k @ 3:20-24 with 2:30 rest

Actual:
2.5M mile warmup
3x1k in 3:23, 3:21, 3:03 (stopped early for pit stop)
3:30 rest
2k in 5:36/1:2, 3:30 rest
3x1k in 3:24, 3:24, 1:20 for 400m (all w 2:30 rest)

Put simply, I had stomach problems in today’s workout.  In the early morning hours on the speed loop with Eric and David, I started off feeling great in the first two intervals and then things began to very quickly unravel.  At first I was pushing the pace on the first two and after that I was barely surviving...not because I was tired, but because I couldn’t control that I had caught some sort of mini stomach bug (which I didn’t realize until after the workout).  That being said, I’m actually pretty happy about the splits I was able to hit.  Obviously I would have preferred to run faster for the last set of 1k’s but that just wasn’t in the cards for me today. A mini stomach bug is going around work, so I think that I caught that and worked from home the rest of the day.  Sometimes you just can’t control everything!

4 x 2 Miles on DSL

Goal:
4x2 Miles @ 6:00-5:50 with 2:00 jog rest...Stick with 6:00 to ensure you can hit 4 repeats

Actual:
3+ miles warmup
4x2 miles with 2:00 rest 8M total in 46:43
Splits:
600 / 556 (11:56) 1:59 rest
552 / 552 (11:44) 2:06 rest
548 / 547 (11:35) 2:01 rest
544 / 544 (11:28)
2.4 miles cool down for ~14 miles total

This is exactly the workout I needed to boost my confidence.  Considering that just four weeks ago, I struggled to hit 555s for three repeats, running the same workout but with an addition rep seemed almost impossible to me.  I’ve been battling a cold and just ran a good 10k on Saturday, so I felt like the odds were not in my favor.  However, in the early pre-dawn hours, Eric and I hit the Dilworth Speed Loop and surprised each other.  Running side by side down Worthington and Tremont Avenues, we found a rhythm that helped push the other along and bested our own expectations.  Before the third set, I told Eric that I wanted to slow it up in the beginning.  We did, but after 600 meters, I knew I felt good so I kept rolling the pace to drop it down.  I was not glancing at my watch, but Eric dropped back and said “we are too fast” and I said “okay” and kept rolling.  When we came through our mile split in 5:48, he told me “remember now that I warned you to slow down.”  When we finished that one, we both put it out in the open that sometimes our workout strategies make it difficult for the other.  I like going on feel and ignoring my watch (and sometimes my own workout time goals) whereas he likes to conserve energy and check his garmin constantly and wait to open up until the last interval.

After we got that out there, we agreed to try to hit the same pace for the fourth and final set. We came in a hair faster through the mile and then Eric really opened up on the last mile to beast out a 5:3x mile while I came in perfectly even.

I’m thrilled about this workout and where it indicates my fitness lies.  The times weren’t blazing fast, but I wasn’t uncomfortable until maybe the last mile.  Even so, I was completely relaxed and never felt like I was completely ruining my body.  It’s great to see that things are finally coming together after a long break over Christmas.

12 x1 Min On/Off

Goal:
12-15 x 1 Min On / Off with on paces @ goal 5k pace

Actual:
13 miles total with 12 x 1 Min @ 5:30-5:05 pace with 1 min rest

There really isn’t too much to say about this minuters workout.  My legs were tired, so I basically just got it done in the early morning hours with Eric, Phil, Laurie and Derrick.  I definitely didn’t feel spectacular at any point during the workout and viewed it as a low priority compared to the rest of the week.

2 x 3.5M with Laurie & Eric

Goal:
2 x 3.5-4M @ 604-610 pace, 1 mile jog rest, next set at 550-600 pace

Actual:
4 mile warmup
2x3.5M with .8M jog rest
604, 602, 612, 258 (21:18 total)
5:49 jog rest
602, 553, 600, 245 (20:40 total)
2.9 miles cool down for ~15 miles total

Taking advantage of the Bank holiday, Laurie, Eric and I headed over to the Sugar Creek Greenway to knock out a tempo.  I was kind of dreading this workout since it’s the first time I’ve done an extended tempo since December’s marathon, but the company helped tremendously.  We traversed down the Greenway, before heading up to the Booty Loop and some hilly side streets for the second set.

On the first set, the three of us were cruising along, chatting like it was no problem.  This set definitely felt easy and I was enjoying the flat terrain and the conversation.  Then, we headed up the booty loop and we were ready to roll before 1 mile hit, so we started a bit early and ran on a hillier route during the middle miles, but with a downhill last 800m.  Our route was completely unplanned, so we basically created a route on the fly that was absolutely perfect!  Laurie naturally led about one step in front of me for the first mile, but then on the slight uphills, I would break even with her as she had just completed a 23-miler on Saturday.  Laurie, Eric and I are great workout buddies as we each challenge each other in different ways.  After the uphill section, we crossed the street and Eric surged ahead to run alongside Laurie.  My legs felt tired then from the hills, but I knew there was a downhill coming soon, which really helped bring our overall pace down.

Overall, I’m really pleased with this workout! I nailed the times that Terry suggested and didn’t work too hard during the first set.

5x2K w/ 90s Rest

Goal:
5x2K @ 5:50 with 90s jog rest

Actual:
4 miles warmup
5x2k w/ 90s jog at:
715, 718, 710, 728, 720 (with rest got in 7 miles in 42:40)
3 mile cool down for 14 miles total

Had a huge crew for this one at 5:20AM: Laurie, Eric, Billy, and Phil.  We knew about the snowstorm that was supposed to hit so we got knocked this one out early before the snow started falling. I felt good on the first three and hung with the group, even though the pace was faster than what I wanted to be running. I paid the price for the faster pace on the 4th one and slipped into the 6:00 range instead of 5:50, but somehow was able to pull myself back together on the 5th and final repeat.  Billy and Laurie were way ahead of me on the 4th and 5th, but fortunately, I had Eric in front of me as motivation to catch.  I wasn't entirely pleased with this workout, but I was happy that I didn't give up when that was really the only thing I wanted to do during the 4th one.  I haven't a workout quite yet where I was really thrilled with the outcome, but I know it will come soon.  In the end, I have to be pretty thrilled about running 7 miles total in about 6:05 pace.

3x2 Miles on DSL

Goal:
3-4x2 Miles @ 550-555 on the first 3 intervals (548s would be acceptable, but no 545s) with 2:00 rest. Assuming you are feeling strong and up for a 4th interval, that one can either remain in same target range or else you can push it more like 10k effort.

Actual:
3.4 mile warmup
3x2 Miles @ 
555, 551 (201)
550, 557 200)
554, 557
2.3 mile cool down for 12 miles total

So this definitely wasn't what I wanted out of this workout, but I'll take it.  I knew getting out of bed at 5:15am that this was going to be a doozy.  My legs felt tired, but I knew the work needed to get done.  I met Phil and Eric at the speed loop and after a couple more laps of warmup, we headed to our start line, ready to attack the Dilworth 2 Mile Speed Loop.  After the first mile, 5:55 pace felt more like 5:35 pace, and I knew it would be a struggle to just get three sets done.  However, I knew I would not walk away without completing at least three.

The funniest part about this workout is that we all felt so bad that the three of us didn't even run in a pack.  Phil was about five meters in front of me and I was about five meters in front of Eric.  I was so tired that I didn't even have the motivation to put in a couple quicker steps to catch up to Phil.  Regardless, once we finished, Eric and I looked at each and both said, "well, that was terrible."  And with that, we cooled down and put the workout behind us.

8x1000m on DSL

Goal:
8x1000m with 50s-60s rest w/ 1st 5 @ 3:38-3:39 (550 per mile pace), next 3 @ 3:33-3:34 (543 per mile), optional 1-2 more at any pace you like. With option to increase rest over 60s

Actual:
4 mile warmup
8x1000m all with 60s jog rest in 331, 336, 331, 333, 335, 330, 330, 328
2.1 mile cool down for 12 miles total

A combination of things forced me to do this workout in the afternoon instead of Wednesday morning.  First, another polar vortex blew in one inch of snow along with bitterly cold temps (10 degrees), so it was probably slick out on the roads.  Sure enough, in the morning on my walk to the bus stop, my entire road was covered in ice.  The main roads were fine, but the side roads definitely were not maintained. So, I crossed my fingers that the sun would melt some of the ice to slush.  Over lunch break, I did a drive by of the speed loop and it looked clear enough, so I informed the forces that we were a go for a 4:30 workout start from my house.  Michelle, Danielle, Chad, Laurie, Caleb and Eric all showed up at the speed loop for some fun.

On the 1000m Speed Loop, there was one patch of ice as we turned onto East Blvd, so we decided to cut out into the bike lane instead of the sidewalk.  I was glad I had my Garmin programmed because it was much easier to tell where to stop as we avoided some minor patches of ice at both the start and finish.  Then we just jogged briskly back to the start line and repeated eight times.  For the first one, Laurie, Caleb, Eric and I all got out to a fast start and then we had to pull ourselves back to hit the prescribed paces.  We were talking through the first five intervals and then by the time that the 6th one came, we were all suddenly quiet, except for Laurie who has an uncanny ability to speak during any type of workout.  My legs were a little tired after the 7th one, but I just figured it was because of the race.  I'm definitely pleased with the workout and it's always nice to hit times faster than what your coach told you to do.

Down Ladder (4-3-2-1)

Goal
4m (@610-615)-3m(@600-605)-2m(@550-555)-1m(@540-545) with 800m rest at 3:30-3:45

Actual:
1.7 mile warmup at 5:20AM
4 miles in 24:42: 6:11, 6:13, 6:08, 6:10 (3:32)
3 miles in 18:01: 6:01, 6:01, 5:59 (3:34)
2 miles in 11:30: 5:45, 5:45
1 mile: 5:41
2.7 mile cool down for 15.9 miles total with jog rest

Eric and I nailed this workout together.  With a 5:05AM wakeup call, we both trudged out of our respective beds to prepare for a monster of a workout during pre-dawn hours.  Fortunately for me, I fell asleep at 9PM so I was fresh off 8+ hours of sleep.  It was going to be a dark one the entire time, so I brought my headlamp (that I hate) and held it in my hand until I met Eric at the Speed Loop for our workout.  I chose a course the went from the 2 mile speed loop and then back down into the Sugar Creek Greenway, mainly because it's flat and fairly well lit.  Because of this, I turned off my head lamp after a while because it really was not necessary.

For the first four miles, both Eric and I could talk and I felt entirely relaxed.  There really wasn't much to report except that both of our Garmins were spitting out different times, so I'm going with my splits.  For the next set of three miles, my legs continued to feel great and the conversation continued without any issues.  We stopped to get some water during the rest after this one mainly because I was feeling a little dehydrated since the workout was so early and I didn't get to drink much water.  For the next 2 miles, I felt really great and took it out entirely too fast in the first 400m (about 5:35 pace) and then immediately put on the brakes to hit a more respectable time.  In hindsight, I think that this quick pace out of the gate affected my ability to run any faster on the final mile, but at least I was very consistent in my pacing after I noticed it.  For the last mile, Eric took off and I knew that my legs weren't going to respond in the way I wanted them too, so I let him maintain about a 15 meter lead on me, while I maintained around 5:40 pace, which was right where Terry wanted me to be. 

All in all, I am exceptionally grateful for Eric's company because he helped make those first seven miles of the workout go by quickly.  Physically and mentally, there was never a point where I thought that I couldn't do the workout.  I felt strong coming into the workout and left feeling confident and prepared.  My training is really coming together right now, and it's getting me very excited for the next couple of weeks.

3x2 Mile in Dilworth

Goal:
3x2 Mile with 2:00 Rest at 5:55-5:50

Actual:
2.8 warmup
3x2 with 2:00 rest in 5:55, 5:54, and 5:47 averages
3 mile cool down for 12 miles total

Just like last week, I had Laurie and Eric for company again on the Dilworth speed loop. My legs felt pretty sluggish, but the company made it easy to get it done.  Laurie took off on the last mile, and I hung back again because my legs just didn't have that extra gear to go any faster.  It was just one of those workouts where I got it done for the sake of getting in the work, but I didn't have any real pleasure while doing it.

4x1.5 Mile in Dilworth

Goal:
4x(800m rest @ 3:30-3:45, 1.5 miles @ 5:50...8 mile average should be ~6:10

Actual:
8 miles in 47:21 with splits of 605, 544, 510, 542, 605, 544, 605, 546
13.2 miles total

This workout went great.  Thank goodness for Laurie and Eric because they really pulled me along. This was just one of those days when everything just clicked. I felt good and the rest seemed way too easy, so we of course didn't maintain that pace.  Most of our rest times were between 3:15-3:25 and then we had a pretty quick first .5 mile of our "on" portion.  Laurie pulled away from me on the last interval, but my legs could still feel some of the lingering effects from the mile race so I let her go.

5xMile on the Speed Loop

Goal:
4-6xmile @ 5:55 with 1:00 jog rest

 Actual:

3.6 miles warm-up to Dilworth Speed Loop

5:56 (1:00 jog - .1mile)

5:56 (1:00 jog - .1mile)

5:54 (1:00 jog - .1 mile)

5:55 (1:45 jog /water / pee break - .1 mile + stop)

5:47

~ 2 miles Cool down for 11 Miles total

After a 5:08AM alarm, I was alert and mentally ready for my workout literally one minute after I hopped out of bed.  I just hoped that my legs would respond in the same way that my mind wanted them to.  By 5:30, I was out the door for a longer warmup before meeting Eric on the Speed Loop at 6.  Of course, my legs felt sluggish and heavy on the warmup, which carried over into the first interval.  We started out pretty slow in the first 800m (~6:10 pace), but I knew that I would make up ground on the downhill on Lexington.  I felt best on the second interval but basically survived for the third and fourth.  At that point, I was utterly convinced that I was done for the day.  Even Eric  was so convinced  I was done that he left to go do some 400m repeats.  There I stood, in an RBC Bank parking lot, contemplating how I only did 4 intervals while sipping on cold water.  After Eric took off, I secretly decided to do another interval so that I wouldn't feel like such a wimp.  I created my own route and didn't look at my watch and just ran.  This ended up being my fastest one for the day, but I cheated a little because I had an extended rest period in between with lots of water. 

In assessing this workout, my paces were most likely all over the place during each interval as I would start out slow before letting a trigger go off in my mind.  "Get it together, Caitlin Work hard, push the pace."   I'm not sure if it was the voice inside my head or Eric's actual voice that pushed me below 6:00 for each mile.  Regardless, I am pleased with my resilience and determination to hit my targets, but annoyed at how hard the workout felt.  It could be due to a lack of fitness.  It could be due to being sick last week.  Or, it could just due to the 100% humidity in the air.  It's clear that I just need to put in the work and be patient because I still have just under 8 weeks until the half in DC, which is plenty of time to get strong for the longer distances.     

Tempo + 400s

Goal:
Pre Race workout with tempo + speed

Actual:
3 mile warmup
4x400m in 72, 73, 73, 72 w/ 1:30 rest b/w and 3:00 b/w set
2 mile tempo in 11:09 - 5:36, 5:33 (4:00 rest)
4x400m in 73, 75, 75, 74 with 1:30 rest
3 mile cool down for 10 miles total

Today Garrett left for baseball for the entire season, so it was silly of me to think that I'd actually wake up to do a workout with Laurie.  After a fitful night of sleep because I was undoubtedly thinking about Garrett leaving for 5+ months, I woke up to cancel on Laurie and sleep for an additional 2 hours.  By 8AM, Garrett dropped me off at work before embarking on a ten hour drive to Indiana to begin his baseball season.  Our goodbye went something like this as we left the house:

Garrett (heads for the door):  Alright, let's go.
Caitlin:  Uh...don't I get a hug or something.
Garrett (perplexed):  Oh, right...
Caitlin (gives Garrett a hug):  See you in July, I guess.
Garrett:  Yeah, I'm so excited to start pitching.

...In other words, peace out, wife!!  And Garrett left like giddy kindergartner on the first day of school while I remained the dejected, unpopular kid left behind.

Having said all that, I ran my workout in the evening with Caleb and Eric on the Dilworth Speed Loop.  I was really excited about all the splits I ran and felt really comfortable, but as I cooled down I realized that the times may have been a little too aggressive for a pre-race workout.  I'm hoping to win the 10k on Saturday, so I should have put on the brakes a little bit so I didn't feel so gassed after the workout.  We'll see what happens!

Mile Repeats

Goal:
Mile Repeats with 1:30 rest at 5:32-5:40

Actual:
2.2 mile warmup
4x1 mile with 400m rest
5:38 (2:35)
5:33 (2:28)
5:32 (2:46)
5:28
2.6 mile cool down

5.5 miles in the pm for 15 miles total

Finally - victory!  I would prefer that I dominate workouts on Tuesdays because the week inevitably is off on a better note, but I'll take a late one.  Another early morning was spent again at the Dilworth Speed loop.  Quite possibly my second home, the Dilworth speed loop is where I'll be doing the majority of my workouts until marathon training starts in September.  What was nice about this morning was the cool breeze, the company of Matt Jaskot, and the distance of the workout.  Four miles of workout is really easy to prepare for mentally, so I figured it would go well.  Spada, Eric, Matt and I all took off from the corner of Worthington and Dilworth Road East for our first repeat and simply ran two loops of the two mile loop.  The first repeat was rather uneventful.  We jogged back to the top of the hill for the start of the second one, and Spada and Eric took off.  I was a comfortable distance behind them and I heard Eric say something to Spada as they reached the middle of the uphill.  Suddenly, I blazed past them.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't actually speed up whatsoever.  Instead, they had slowed down.  I smiled mockingly and said, "Wow you guys really slowed down on this uphill" and barreled past.  After 200m they caught back up, but again I stayed strong on the uphill portions.  Eventually, they caught me on the flat surface (darn) and we finished the interval.  During the rest, Eric told me he slowed down so much because he saw 5:10 pace on his Garmin for the downhill segment.  As his coach, I used my infinite wisdom to tell him that in a race, if that were to happen, he would have been passed by Caleb Boyd and that sometimes it's just best to rely on your own instinct than your Garmin.

On the third interval, it felt just as easy as the one before, but a tad bit faster.  On the fourth, we ran the same course as the second one and I noticed that Eric didn't look at his pace on his Garmin until after he crested the uphill.  I was proud of him.  He hit his target of sub 5:20 too!  I ran a controlled 5:28 and was pleased with the effort.  Mark wants to make sure that I feel like I could add on some more intervals when I finish my speed workouts.  I definitely felt like that today, although I wasn't complaining about stopping.

I'm already at 70 miles for the week, and I'm on target to hit 100 miles if I double tomorrow.  I'm not that obsessed with hitting triple digits quite yet, so I'll likely be in the mid 90's instead, which will still be my highest mileage ever.  I can already feel the effects of high mileage:  constant hunger, constantly yawning, constantly yearning a nap, going a couple of days without a shower, and cleaning soaking wet and sweaty clothes.  It's all worth it!

3x2 Mile Repeats

Goal:
3x2 Mile with 2 min rest at 610, 600, 550

Actual:
2 mile warmup
3x2 Mile in 11:52 (6:00 | 5:52), 11:30 (5:45 | 5:44), 11:19 (5:43 | 5:36)
3 mile cool down for 11 miles total

My alarm went off at 5:20am, and, not surprisingly, the last thing I wanted to do was to workout.  I grudgingly pulled myself out of bed and got ready in less than 10 minutes to head out the door to meet Spada and Eric at the Dilworth Speed Loop by 5:50am.  On my solo warmup in the dark, my legs didn't feel fully recovered from last week, but my hip flexor and glute medeus finally were not tight!  It felt like a huge weight of stress was lifted from my shoulders and I took a deep exhale, crossing my fingers that this feeling of normalcy for the first time since pre-marathon would stay for the remainder of my spring training.

Once I hit the Speed Loop, Spada, Eric and I all jogged to the starting point near the intersection of Dilworth Rd W and Dilworth Rd E.  I verbalized the fact that I wanted to run 6-610 for the first set and to gradually get faster.  Inside, I thought to myself that I would be lucky to hit the 540s today.  I was in for a pleasant surprise. 

We took the pace out conservatively through the 400m, and then I decided to start pushing it.  The mile mark hit right before a nice downhill, so I charged down, hoping to create an equilibrium between the quickly approaching uphill section.  I lead the way on this interval and felt great.

For the second interval, I wanted to make sure it was faster than the first, so after 400 meters of Eric taking the lead, I took charge again to push the pace harder and faster.  It was a lot of fun doing this because I haven't had that desire to push the pace in a really long time in any of my workouts. 

After another two minutes of rest, we began our third and final repeat.  I faltered a bit after the 1.25 mark, but I found it within myself to power up a hill and take the lead once again.  That alone used up a lot of my energy, so after that I fell off the boys a little bit, but I still came through my last mile with my fastest split of the day. 

All in all, this workout was rather enjoyable because of the cat/mouse game that I kept playing with the guys and also because of how well I pushed my body forward.  I felt really awesome and the workout just made me excited to race again.  I haven't raced in almost 7 weeks, but I am beginning to see the payoff from my training over those weeks.  I've also decided not to run a 5k this weekend because I don't want to drive over two hours for $250.  Instead, Garrett, John and I will hang out in Charlotte!

5xMile Repeats

Goal:
5xmile repeats with 2:30 rest at 5:45 pace and getting faster

Actual:
3 miles warmup
5:36 (2:30)
5:37 (2:30)
5:34 (2:30)
5:37 (3:00)
5:30
2 miles cool down for 11 miles total

Eric and I did this workout on the Dilworth 2 Mile Speed Loop during a delightful North Carolina February afternoon.  The temperatures were in the upper 60s and the sun was shining bright; I couldn't have asked for better weather!  Since we did the 2 mile loop, miles 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 shared the same route.  Mile 5 was a hybrid of the two routes since we had to make it back to our starting point.

We started off a little faster than I had originally planned, but it didn't even feel hard.  On the next interval, there were more gradual uphills so I pressed harder so that I felt like I was actually working.  My time was quite similar to the one prior, even with the uphill!  Unlike all of my other post-marathon workouts, I felt better on each passing interval.  Things were going great.  We took a little bit extra rest after the 4th one because we took a much needed water break at Rebecca's porch.  I really dug deep on the fifth one and could even feel my face contorting a little bit.  Hopefully I never stuck my tongue out because the Dilworth post master would have been scared away.

The best part about this workout is that it's definitely the fastest I've ever run on this course.  Back in September, I could barely muster a 5:38 on this course.  I felt strong and almost 95% normal!  This feeling could have largely been due to the fact that Greenapple worked on me for over an hour last night, helping to loosen up parts of my body that are fighting hard against me.

Oh, and remember how Eric dropped me on my workout on Wednesday?   I dropped him on this workout.

5 Mile Wave Tempo

Goal:
5 Mile Tempo alternating every 800m pace between 2:50-2:53 and 3:05-3:07

Actual:
2.25 miles warmup
2:55 (on)
3:03 (off)
2:52
3:04
2:51
3:07
3:00 (fell asleep)
3:04
2:53
3:04 (29:53 for 5 miles)
2.75 miles cool down for 10 miles total

Wave workouts never cease to amaze me in their difficulty to complete.  They are mentally consuming, physically taxing, and aerobically challenging.  It's the hard workouts that make us stronger, right?

Spada, Eric and I all planned to meet at the Freedom Park Tennis Courts at 6AM.  This meant that Spada and I would actually meet somewhere halfway on the Sugar Creek Greenway since we both left our respective stations at 5:40.  By the time we united with Eric, it was time to get the show on the road.

We started at the East Blvd Entrance to Freedom Park, did a loop and a half around the Freedom Lake, and continued our way to the other end of the Greenway.  We started off a little slow on the first 800m "on," but that was to be expected since it's hard to get the legs rolling immediately when it's so early in the morning.  After the second "on" 800m, I knew this was going to be a tough one for me.  My breathing was already labored and my form felt sloppy.

I was really grateful for the company of Spada and Eric because I really just wanted to stop and catch my breath, but that wasn't an option with them around.  On the fourth one, Eric bolted ahead, and Spada went with him. I heard Eric ask Spada something, but I didn't quite catch what he said.  They rolled about 10-20 meters ahead of me, but pulled back to come get me on the easier segment.  Spada happily told me that Eric had asked Spada: "Did we drop her?"  Well, yes, they had dropped me, because I dropped a bomb of a split on that one.  If it had been light out, I'm sure I would have seen Eric blush in embarrassment, and he immediately stuttered something in an attempt to cover his bases and to not insult me.  Fortunately, I have thick skin and I told him not to worry about it.  In my mind, I was thinking: "Don't worry, I'm going to drop your a$$ in the next workout."  I smiled to myself.

Fortunately, I was able to bring things back into respective digits for the final hard segment, and then we called it a day.  I continued on my way on the greenway back to my house, grateful that was over.  Things are slowly coming together and I'm really enjoying this training.  My left hip flexor is still tight, but definitely manageable.  Looking forward to mile repeats on Friday.

Tempo Fail

Goal:
5 Miles at Half Marathon Pace or Faster

Actual: 
~4 miles warmup
3.5 miles at 604 pace
~3 miles cool down for ~11.3 miles total

I think I was being a bit too aggressive with my goals for this workout given my schedule this week.  I had a good long run with a tempo on Sunday, a great mile repeats workout on Tuesday, and expected to continue the upward trend this Thursday.  Instead, I found that my legs were tired and that they just didn't have the energy to keep treking up and down the Booty Loop's hills.  Even with the solid pack of Spada, Bilbrey, Carolyn, and Shue, I was just tired.  Plain and simple. Spada and Billy rocked it and Carolyn kept up with us for the first 800m and then did her own thing.  It was exciting to see her face out there with us.  I like her spirit!

With just 9 days until the 13.1 Minneapolis, all I can do is wipe this one off the slate and trust that the miles that I've put in over the summer have indeed kept my fitness at a level that will help me achieve my goals. 

Perhaps I would have run better if I had done this work out on Friday, but family is more important.  I leave tomorrow morning early to head to Michigan for a cousin's wedding.  I will be seeing family members that I haven't seen in over five years on Friday, which leaves me no time to workout.  I also will be meeting my little second cousins.  Playing with them will probably be a work out in itself!