cross-training

Weekly Therapy: 12.22.17

- Mel 2 Comments

the week:
Woo! Final grades are in, and I passed my courses from Fall quarter (all A’s!). I’m super excited to be on break right now, but looking forward to my next set of classes for winter quarter. My program will continue to get more challenging and take me out of my comfort zone, and I’m so thankful that I’ll be able to focus on my studies full time.

weekend:
CHRISTMAS WEEKEND! My in-laws are visiting, and I am so excited to host Christmas in our Iowa home this year.

seven things, seven days:
1. Any good, new Christmas movies I should be watching? I have some free time to fill.
2. Not only did I get Christmas cards out this year but all of my presents are wrapped, too.
3. And because all our presents were wrapped and placed around the tree, we misjudged that our cats would mess with anything… which ended up in a $200+ vet bill for x-rays for my middle “child” who decided to snack on a wired ribbon. (Thankfully, the x-ray didn’t show anything remaining in her stomach.)
4. I took advantage of the holiday special at Title Boxing Club, which includes 2-week unlimited classes (and a set of gloves and wraps), AND I AM HOOKED. I am already paid up for Farrell’s for the 10-week Challenge starting in January, but I feel like I’ll be spending a lot of time at Title in the future.
5. I went out to Center Trails for a little night hiking this week, which was super fun – and exciting to see how many other runners and bikers enjoy the trails at night.
6. Had my introductory meeting with Girls on the Run, as I signed up to coach this spring. Really looking forward to getting more involved in this organization.
7. My husband made 5 different kinds of gluten-free Christmas cookies, and OMG he is the best. 😍😍😍

Christmas is coming, tra-la-la-la!

Weekly Therapy: 9.15.17

- Mel

the week:
Within the last couple weeks, I’ve had two separate mammograms and an ultrasound, and the doctors saw *something* in my right breast. I had my boob biopsied on Friday, so I’ll know Monday what/how I need to deal with that. Fun Fact: during the procedure, they implant a tiny titanium clip (that happens to be in the shape of the breast cancer ribbon). I’m feeling OK, if a little bruised and sore in that area.

But in better news: I got accepted into grad school! I start my master’s program on September 25, and while I’m a little stressed out to get everything started so soon (you know, considering ultra training and unexpected medical things), I am positively thrilled to continue my education in sport psychology.

weekend:
Capital Pursuit race is Sunday – read my recap of last year’s race. Should I wear the same outfit? ?

capital-pursuit-10-mile-race-blogger

seven things, seven days:
1. Officially received my one-year certificate at work! (Gimme that 401k match, plz.)
2. I also got a new manager (my 6th in a year-and-a-half) and re-organized into a new team.
3. Doing the FAFSA for the first time in two years was just as annoying. Also, why in the world do I need to add my husband’s income from 2015 when we only got married 6 months ago?
4. Went to a kickboxing class at Farrell’s this week (thanks to our local lululemon store), and I am obsessed! When ultra training is done, I’m definitely going to do the 10-week Challenge (and will also probably do a couple drop-in classes over the next few months).
5. How much time do I have to waste?
6. I don’t know. I’ve failed A LOT in the kitchen, and it has nothing to do with fear. {via Lifehacker Skillet}
7. Exercise is a waste of time… Ehhhhhhh, I’m not sure that I totally agree with this – why create MORE barriers to getting people to work out? First, we all have different motivators, and a goal can be as simple as “I’m going to to the gym three days a week.” It’s OK to JUST SHOW UP. Frankly, this type of ALWAYS ON thinking is probably going to cause burnout. And he sort of hints that you can only have success if you have a coach, which… ick. Thoughts? {via Entrepreneur}

Accountability (b)Log: Fall Fun!

- Mel

When my coach inputted Fall Fun! into my training schedule a couple weeks ago, it made me smile so hard. So that’s what I’ll be dubbing the next couple months of my accountability posts. I’m not likely to post every Monday until I get back into marathon training next year.

Fall Bonus: I made the decision to keep my coach, despite not having any time goals for my Fall & Winter races. I really like having one less decision to make and, personally, having someone schedule all of my weekly workouts is very valuable to me. Plus, I like her a lot — she keeps me motivated, focused on my successes and she’s always available to ask on any question. 🙂

Even though I’m in some sort of “off season,” I’m using this “off season” to get stronger in preparation for marathon training next year. I still plan to run 4x a week regularly with long runs or races on the weekend, but amp up my cross- and strength-training (helloooooo, two-a-days!).

ALSO: As I’ve mentioned, I’m doing a 100-mile Challenge for November with the Capital Striders.

I hit my 50-mile mark at the halfway point!

capital-striders-des-moines-100-mile-challenge-half-way

Accountability Monday: IT’S JULY! — and June wrap-up

- Mel 1 Comment

Wrapping up June first, I finally got back into a routine with my workouts — planning most sessions out from start-to-finish, being open to doing “quickie” ones instead of nothing at all, and maintaining the consistency that I lost months ago. I still have a few weeks left in the “off-season” before my half marathon training starts up again, and I’m feeling really excited with this momentum.

By the way, this image that I downloaded from my Gasparilla race photos (thanks to that 50% discount code) is EVERYTHING:

love running gasparilla race photos

Quick wrap-up for June: Set up my Achievement Wall in my home gym, started setting weekly goals (even if not a 100% success), had my first race in Iowa (a pretty terrible half for me, but happy to get that out of the way!), and didn’t have to worry at all about tracking my mileage for the month. 😉

This week’s goals were mostly a flop again, but I feel good about the work that was done.

MONDAY: REST DAY

TUESDAY: I was in an INSANE mood after work, and hearing the song “Roxanne” on my drive home got me pumped to do some more burpees. At my former CrossFit gym in Pittsburgh, we were introduced to this burpee routine – dropping down every time you hear the name “Roxanne.” It’s a great addition to warm up, and dang if it doesn’t actually make me smile when I finish.

That was only *part* of my workout:
I warmed up with 3×5 reps of inch worms, mountain climbers and alternating single leg bounds (thanks again to Runner’s World for a great idea to add to my routine).
Jump rope for 2 minutes
Ran 2 miles at a 9:30 pace (followed by a cool down walk for 2 minutes)
Roxanne burpees (one day I’ll count them!)
Ladder plank holds to Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” (ha, the RAGE!)
Workout 1 from the Strong & Fast movements from Runner’s World to “cool down”
And then some long stretches with my TheraBand

WEDNESDAY: My third golf lesson! Still working on corrections to my swing, but I’m definitely making more contact than I did when I first started.

THURSDAY: REST

FRIDAY: REST (dinner and drinks and fun at the golf club overruled my evening workout)

SATURDAY: BOO, RAIN! I was all set up to join the social run club at LifeTime in the morning before my massage, then it started raining at 6:30am, and… well, I’m not officially training for anything, so NO THANKS. This, unfortunately, blew up my goal this week to both run outside AND go out with a running group. Also, can you believe that there were NO afternoon classes to take after my massage? A 10:45 yoga class was it, and my 90-minute massage ended at 11:30. :-/ Alas, I went for my massage, and then sat around for most of the afternoon reading books, reading blogs, and planning out my vacation workouts.

In the evening, I did a 15-minute run on the treadmill with a 5-minute walk to warm up and a 3-minute walk to bring my heart rate back down – I’m loving the Parks courses that were recently added to iFit maps. Shout out to my girl (Pittsburgh City Girl, that is) Chelsea, I ran in Central Park!

Also, randomly, this was the first time that I tripped the breaker while on the treadmill. I, err, hope that doesn’t happen again because this is a new house. WTF?! While the boyfriend was resetting the breaker, I cranked out 20 burpees.

SUNDAY:
I have fallen trap to this “all or nothing” fallacy, where if, say, I have a mimosa in the morning, then I can’t do anything for the rest of the day (like, do my workout). It’s been a REALLY hard habit to break, to remind myself that I really only need 30 minutes and that having a drink at brunch does not negate the entire day. So sometimes that means doing your run at 9pm because you feel good and you’re awake — and dang it, you’re just sitting there watching the stupidest game shows on TV (now, sober). DO YOUR DANG THING.

Again, because I was in some kind of mood, I decided to do a speed test of my 5k PR pace (which is standing strong at 28:08 from last year). And I KILLED those three miles at a 8:56 pace. No joke, it was hard — but I need to be committed to do some of my runs at a harder pace or I will NEVER get faster. Like my cross country coach used to say about rewards: if you puke, you get a hamburger! Which I realize is really terrible advice for a 12-year-old.

Goals for this week:

  • Do ONE new thing
  • TWO workouts while traveling
  • Run THREE times
  • FOUR workouts total
  • One FIVE-mile run

Accountability Week: 6/13 – 6/19

- Mel

The most important thing for me this week was spending a little time on planning out my workouts — and I really enjoyed the process. I made some goals for the week, too… which included some burpees:

  • Run three times — including going to check out a new run club. No mileage requirements; do one interval/speed workout. — Except for checking out a new run club, I did three runs with one as a speed workout. I still would like to join up with a local run group and start building my community there, especially when it comes time for half marathon training again.
  • Do my regular Wednesday session of yoga — CHECK!
  • Two sessions of TRX — I only got Sunday’s in, since my Friday workout plans changed a bit (see below)
  • BURPEES with every workout — CHECK! In fact, I did them EVERY DAY.
  • Get through our BIG bike ride on Saturday — We didn’t complete anything NEAR the 78 miles of the course, but we got through our first trail ride in Iowa!
30something accountability week workouts Iowa
A Tale of 4 Workouts
MONDAY:
While today was really a REST day, I did my regular hip strengthening movements and 20 BURPEES before bed.

TUESDAY:
I planned for some deadlift reps (4 rounds x 12 reps; I used dumbbells) and a fun EMOM workout. The EMOM workouts, or “every minute on the minute,” workouts were popular in my CrossFit box, and a GREAT way to get in a high-intensity, quick workout. I started with a EMOM warm-up with 4 inch worms / 5 mountain climbers / 6 squats for 5 minutes total. Then I found a fun Odds & Evens EMOM online — in the odd minutes, you do 10 burpees; and in the even minutes, you do 10 overhead squats (again, I used dumbbells).

Cooling down, I stretched out my lower back by rolling backwards over my exercise ball (I think this feels really good after these types of workouts), and then some light yoga pose holds and twists to stretch everything else out.

WEDNESDAY:
My usual Wednesday ritual at LifeTime — run for 15 minutes on the treadmill (with a 5-minute walking warm-up and 2-minute walking cool down), followed by an hour of hot vinyasa flow. It was hotter OUTSIDE than it was inside for hot yoga. That’s intense, Iowa! Also, they switched instructors for Wednesday nights now, but I like the new instructor a lot. I felt really strong in this class (and sweaty) — and she taught us how to set up for side crow, WHICH I WAS ABLE TO DO ON BOTH SIDES! Holy crap, all someone had to do was show me the set-up.

After having my chocolate milk at home (my usual post-workout recovery), I got in another 20 burpees.

THURSDAY:
I intended to join a local social run for Saucony try-on night, but I hadn’t had a good night of sleep for the entire week. My body was too exhausted for a run, so I pushed it to Friday. My legs needed some foam rolling, so I spent about 10 minutes doing that (I know that I should be doing this with more regularity, but baby steps). AND: I did my 20 burpees before bed!

FRIDAY:
I ran for 3.5 miles on the treadmill, running a Pittsburgh street view map that I created on iFit that started at my old house (awwwww). This worked out almost too perfectly: It was my Pittsburgh CrossFit Buddy’s 56th birthday — and on birthdays, we do BURPEES! Maybe I should dub this workout my Pittsburgh WOD?

Afterwards, I stretched out with the resistance band from TheraBand that I received this week. I’ll be using this piece a LOT in my exercise routines!

SATURDAY:
We took off around 9am for the BACooN ride, and cleared almost 20 miles before the boyfriend crapped out from the heat and some numbness in his wrist. I was feeling pretty good — though it was hot. Finishing the full 78 miles definitely would’ve been a challenge, but I feel as though I could of at least made it to Linden (30 miles from the start in Waukee). It will be a fun challenge to see where our biking fitness levels take us in the next year. #goals

I also did 20 burpees before bed (trying to be really quiet because the boyfriend was already asleep, and I just kept cracking myself up; plus, I had a couple ciders that night).

SUNDAY:
Why change a good thing? I basically did the same as last Sunday’s workout: jump rope for warm-up, TRX for arms and shoulders, burpees (though only 20 this time), a speed workout on the treadmill (this time, I ran on The Strip in Las Vegas), my Strong & Fast workout from Runner’s World, and some yoga stretches to close it out. LOVE this workout!

For the speed workout, I did some fun ladder drills: run a minute, walk 30 seconds x 2, run two minutes, walk a minute x 2, run three minutes, walk a minute… you get the picture. I increased the run speed every 30 seconds until I felt like my legs would fly off. lol Overall, I got a great 20-minutes, and about 2 miles.

I definitely spent some time foam rolling my calves at night.

Hey, that’s a total of >> 206 << burpees for the week! Holy crap. Should I keep the streak going? I’m already 7 days in a row!

Goals for the week:

  • 108 Sun Salutations for Summer Solstice (YEP!)
  • Run 3 times
  • Take a new class! I have a couple things in mind here. Stay tuned! 🙂
  • Ride my bike once, over the weekend
  • Keep the burpees streak going?

Accountability Monday and Half Marathon Goals

- Mel 1 Comment

If I don’t have a plan, I won’t do what I’m supposed to — and having a plan means so much more than just adding all of my runs to my calendar and signing up for a class on MindBody (and, honestly, this applies the same for my personal life). WHY AM I DOING ANY OF THIS?!

What it means: Drafting a WHOLE workout to include the different warm-up exercises that I’ll be doing and for how long, what the focus of my run is (instead of just going out to accomplish a certain number of miles for the day), and planning out my cool-down and stretching routine.

An interesting thing happened: This process has made me much more attached to my workout and makes me feel TRULY accountable for my routine rather than showing up at the gym and not knowing what to do or plugging in my earbuds and tuning out on a slogging long run. It was a total mind-shift on my health and fitness. It may sound like a “no duh!” thing, but I’ve been exercising without purpose or focus for a while — it was really important to give more meaning to my healthy lifestyle and be more mindful of my decisions to do something and how I budget my time.

One of my goals for 2016 was to run a 2-hour half marathon, which I’ve decided to make happen this October at the IMT Des Moines half. To accomplish this, I will need discipline, speed and power, and a little help from my running community. My training officially starts in late July, so for now I’m focusing on my running base (mostly with consistency), my core, and overall body strength.

And also, just as REST has always been integral to my mental health and prevention of burnout, and given my awful Dam to Dam race last weekend, I took a week off to rest my body and mind. It was important to reflect on what went wrong and WHY. Well, Why #1 is that my training program was practically non-existent. There wasn’t one single week where I ran more than twice, and several weeks where I didn’t run (or workout) at all. Though I was a little surprised on how dehydrated I was on race day, especially with how conscious I am over my water intake and that I didn’t even have a drink the night before!

I sincerely want to follow through on a training program and be all “EFF YEAH, MEL!” Making the practice as important as the completion of the goal is my new purpose.

Anyway… SUNDAY I got my shit together and put together a great workout — and finally used my in-home TRX suspension trainer (and today I remember why I LOVE IT so much, woof!).

Warm-up: Jump rope for 3 minutes
Upper body strength: TRX arms and shoulders video workout, about a 20-minute workout
Cardio: A 15-min interval workout on the treadmill (a little over a mile in total)
Burpees (‘cuz burpees, baby!): 39 total, though I maxed out at 18 straight without stopping
Running strength/power: Strong & Fast Workout 1 from Runners World; 5 movements at 15 reps each/each side (took me around 15 minutes to complete)
Cool Down: Then some light yoga stretching to cool down

30-something workout Des Moines
Working out at home in my matchy-matchy Fabletics.

It felt like the perfect workout. And it felt REALLY good to plan it out and make it happen.

Goals for this week:

  • Run three times — including going to check out a new run club. No mileage requirements; do one interval/speed workout.
  • Do my regular Wednesday session of yoga.
  • Two sessions of TRX (I’ll likely do a similar workout to Sunday’s).
  • BURPEES with every workout! (I wonder if I can do them every day? HA!)
  • Get through our BIG bike ride on Saturday! (EEEK!)

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #12 – RACE WEEK!

- Mel

Week #12 in this training cycle was also Race Week! I’m currently in a recovery week.

Whew, this was not my strongest mesocycle and I felt immensely under-trained. But strangely, my body is striking back like I’m over-training. Because of my knee concerns, I decided to cut all my final training runs before race day. This has been a similar taper cycle to my last couple races, but unfortunately, this time around the pain didn’t go away for the race.

runners knee injury prevention RICE
:-/

Quick glance at the week – I’ll be doing separate Gasparilla race reviews in upcoming posts.

MONDAY: An hour of spinning at the Y

TUESDAY: Rest Day

WEDNESDAY: Upper body and core workout from Runner’s World (at home)

THURSDAY: Rest Day – packing for Gasparilla AHHHHHHH!

FRIDAY: Travel to Florida Day! Expo and packet pick-up

SATURDAY: Gasparilla Day #1 – 15k and 5k

SUNDAY: Gasparilla Day #2 – half marathon and 8k

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 upper body/core strength workout)
TOTAL RUNS: 4
LONGEST RUN: Half marathon (and an 8k soon after)
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 30.4 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 111.04 miles (I’ll now be rolling my mileage into my full marathon training)

And going forward, we switch over to Pittsburgh Marathon Training!

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #11

- Mel

Welp, it’s Race Week! And I feel like I’m getting the boyfriend’s cold. UGH.

I leave Friday for Florida to run in the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge races. I feel under-trained and unprepared, but trying to stay strong with my mental game. I do NOT plan to race any of these distances, and I WILL plan to have fun and listen to my body if things start to go awry (despite really, really REALLY wanting those five medals and that crazy-ass finishers jacket). I mean, worst case scenario, it will be 70 degrees and I’m staying on the beach, so I cannot complain about taking this mini vacation at all.

MONDAY: [walked home from work] Spinning for an hour at the Y. This class felt much more intense than usual (which felt good). No knee trouble either.

We had three scheduled house showings in the evening, so killing some time with exercise was the best idea I probably had all week.

TUESDAY: [walked to the hair salon from work, about the same distance from work-to-home; and I went back to being a brunette!] Rest day and catching up on The Bachelor. 😉

WEDNESDAY: What a difference in a week! Last week, I wish I had packed shorts; this week, I wish that there was a Snuggie made for runners. At run//yoga//run//club, we got in about 2 miles and it was SUPER FRIGID. Probably a bad idea to start along the river too, where it was windy enough to make your eyeballs freeze. Running back up on the stadium level was a much better option, but that chill made two miles feel like five.

30-something run club Pittsburgh
Zero degrees with wind chill. Eyeball-freezing wind. I got this!

Hot yoga was THE BEST after that run. I don’t usually want to be in the warm room too early, but I went in and settled into savasana for a good 20 minutes before class started. I felt a lot more intention and emotion in this session that I ever do when doing yoga, and I loved our instructors teachings to not listen to all of life’s scripts – just listen to what your body needs. And be awesome, duh.

THURSDAY: [walked to work] Rest day (another house showing after work!)

FRIDAY: Foam roll day with my short-and-thick roller AND my Rad Roller, followed up with a lot of stretching of my legs and hips.

SATURDAY: Since the cold weather cancelled all the outdoor fun, I intended to go do a couple miles on the dreadmill at the Y. But when I started doing some squats and lunges for a pre-workout at home, I was experiencing some left knee tenderness again, so I nixed any running for the rest of the weekend. Later in the day, I felt it again when walking up and down the stairs, which wasn’t enough to mark as “pain”… but it felt different and not normal. Man, I really hope this is just the usual training pains that I experienced before both my first half AND my first full last year!

I also played around with attempting my tripod headstand AND I FINALLY GOT IT without kicking my legs up. Core strength like WOAH. At least I got that to brag about.

SUNDAY: More foam rolling and I did a hip strengthening workout from Runners World. Not overdoing and/or overthinking this right now, and just going to be OK with a less-than-ideal training week.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 hot yoga session)
TOTAL RUNS: 1
LONGEST RUN: 2 miles
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 2 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 80.64 miles

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #7 + #8

- Mel

Unfortunately, some unexpected travel and a sick day threw a wrench in my training/running plans on Week #7, so there’s not much to write about. For Week #8, I didn’t exactly get back on track but it was a whole lot of “it’s better than nothing.” Reality check, though: My training program has completely gone to shit, and I am less than a month away from this race weekend. I NEED a good week!

WEEK #7
MONDAY: [walked to/from work] Home team practice night for two hours. Our Monday night team practice overlaps with league practice, so right out of the gate we were working on offense scenarios. The remainder of the practice included a lot of hitting drills (1-on-1 and hammer-and-nail partner work) and a few rounds of “Get Lead!”

TUESDAY: Travel team tryouts, round 2! This session legit kicked. my. ass. But it felt so awesome. As you see in the pic, you know it’s derby season…

That’s two nights in a row though that I ended up having to leave the floor because I was bleeding. Yikes. BUT I made the team! WOO!

I have to tell you, too, that it is amazing how much my legs have already transformed in just under two months of skating. Roller skating is seriously the secret to a perfect butt! ;)

WEDNESDAY: Needed a rest day, and since it was going to be over 40 degrees later in the week, I was going to save my outdoor runs. I don’t mind so much running outside in this weather because I have the gear, but I would have had to lug SO MUCH STUFF with me to work. And… no. See also: I didn’t wake up until 8 am on Wednesday.

THURSDAY: I did this upper body strength workout at home with 10-lb. dumbbells.

30-something upper body workout

A great quick strength workout! No way could I do 5 rounds though (one round basically made my arms immobile), but something to work up to. It’s a burner, for sure, and you can squeeze in one round in less than 15 minutes.

Friday through Sunday were a complete bust due to travel and some seriously negative wind chills.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 3
TOTAL RUNS: ZERO. Awful.
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 0
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: Standing strong at 47.81

WEEK #8
MONDAY: Since I was traveling, I was lucky to set be up with a personal training appointment for the morning. The private facility where I was at, by the way, was incredible! We started with some dynamic stretching, then moved into a strength training workout. Most rounds had 15-rep exercises, except for push-ups, 10 is my max effort (the worst). The workout: Front Squats (with 45 pound bar), leg presses (didn’t note the weight, oops!), calf presses (same weight, didn’t switch plates), box step-ups (alternating legs), front row on a bar, bicep curls (10# dumbbells), tricep machine (I think we only had one plate on this one), and then ROWING. For the first round, the row was a 30-second fast-then-slow for 3 minutes; the second round, I had to go max effort for all 3 minutes, which… PUKE. I really do not like rowing. Afterward, we did some core work on the Bosu, and then she put me in this amazing stretching machine that I need in my house for real.

TUESDAY: Rest Day. I thought maybe that I would be really sore from my training session, but… I wasn’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WEDNESDAY: THANK GOD for run//yoga//run// club. Our group leader almost talked me into doing spin instead of running outside but I was determined to get in some miles. I don’t care about no snow!

30something run outside winter snow

Because of the snow, however, we didn’t keep track of time. Our mileage was somewhere in the 3.2 range.

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: Well, it snowed. Again. And my fleece tights are somehow missing and/or in laundry purgatory. I plan to get an additional pair with these gift certificates from Christmas because… SERIOUSLY?! BUT, I walked to/from work AND I walked to the Strip District for lunch, so… OMG my toes will be cold forever, won’t they?

SATURDAY: SCRR canceled their morning group run. MEH. I found my fleece tights though, so I went out after the snow stopped in the afternoon and got in 3 miles. My pace was slow due to a LOT of slushy mess on the north side (average 11:26 pace), but I did some “bridge repeats” into/out of downtown because those sidewalks were the clearest.

SUNDAY: NOPE. Decided to meet up with some neighbors for brunch, where I proceeded to drink three mimosas and then let my afternoon go to shit. Maybe I just needed to do that today.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 strength training; 1 yoga)
TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 6.2 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 54.01 miles

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #5

- Mel

I expected this holiday week to be more of the same as last week, piling up on the rest days before derby tryouts coexist with Gasparilla training. My (adapted) Higdon Novice II training plan called for three runs this week: a 3-miler, 4-miler, and an 8-miler. Since I fell short of my 7-mile run because of the rain last weekend, I gave myself a flexible “between 7 and 8 miles” commitment for this week’s long run. I skipped my 4-mile run this week because of being super tired. Yay, holidays!

MONDAY: One hour of spin class at the Y; our instructor programmed a lot of inclines in this session! Side note: is it weird that I don’t sweat in spinning? I know it’s low-impact and it’s an old, cold building… but I find it strange.

TUESDAY: REST DAY [walked home from the hair salon, lol]

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run//club at UEC — I was so happy when I saw online that there was a run club meet-up because, BOY, did I need it! I knew that I planned to run but I was trying to decide whether I dropped in for another CrossFit WOD or yoga. My body was definitely leaning towards yoga, so 75 hot sweaty minutes of flow helped focus some of my intentions for the new year and my continuing yoga practice.

3.23 miles at average 10:30 pace (total time 33:58).

THURSDAY and FRIDAY: REST DAYS [Happy New Year!] My original plan was to go to CrossFit on Friday, but I didn’t think ahead about the gym being closed for the holiday.

SATURDAY: Went for my monthly 60-minute sports massage.

Winter Training!
Winter Training!

SUNDAY: Winter training has finally arrived! About 30 degrees (and holy moly, the wind!) for this run, so fleece was a necessity. When I first stepped out I thought that I didn’t have enough layers on, but I quickly warmed up. I legit love this lulu half zip with its built-in “cuffins” so that I can alternate between having my hands covered and not. Though my legs did feel SUPER heavy and like sandbags hitting the ground with every step, I started to feel “lighter” by Mile 4. I consciously tried to keep at a 9:45 pace to start and then the mental fun began — halfway through at a pretty consistent pace, I tested my abilities (mental and physical) to maintain this pace for the entire run.

And I did good! 7.60 miles at average 9:23 pace (total time 1:11:21)

Splits: 9:40 (1) / 9:47 (2) / 9:41 (3) / 9:39 (4) / 9:24 (5) / 8:48 (6) / 9:02 (7)

If I can keep this pace for 7+ miles, I can definitely keep this pace for a half marathon. Runs like this make me feel like I am (eventually) capable of a 2-hour half. IT’S ON.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 yoga, 1 spinning)
TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 10.83
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 40.53