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

Blogs Don't Get Updated When You Work and Study

I really did have a goal to keep this blog updated after I got back from Santiago.  Well, I underestimated the amount of time my third Fuqua MBA term would take from me.  Between travelling to Charlotte for work and wrestling 30-page strategy papers along with a confusing finance team assignment, it's been a bit rough.  I've somehow managed to still cook dinner for two every to fuel me during my crazy schedule, but it's been a tight squeeze.  Running continues to be my outlet, my source of freedom and fun...a time to unwind and forget (for a short bit at least) about all the stuff that's on my plate.  And I'm not complaining - I love every minute of this - but I do have to prioritize the things I do now in my spare time and unfortunately updating my blog is not one of them.

From a running front, I ran 60 miles over the week of January 26th and then 70 miles this past week.  I even threw in a couple of workouts (200m repeats and a 5 mile progression tempo) and a 16 mile long run. Overall, I'm feeling really good and I'm hopeful to win some good prize money this year to continue handing over to Duke for tuition.  Things are looking good!

My race schedule is as follows:
March 7 - NC USATF 10k Champs
March 15 - Tobacco Road Half
March 28 - Cooper River Bridge Run
April 6 - 20 - Dubai and Delhi for Term 4
May 16 - Brooklyn Half
May 30 - NC USATF 8k Champs