IMT Des Moines Half Marathon

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #3

- Mel

I don’t know if it’s a personal problem or a runners problem, but there have already been two Saturdays in my training plan where I felt like complete SHIT because I decided to drink the night before. This past Saturday was a complete failure, in that I couldn’t function for an entire day. An ENTIRE day. From just a few glasses of wine at a dinner party. I’m seriously considering not drinking at all for the duration of my training.

That said, this week I was feeling pretty sore and REALLY tired. I’m feeling really slow, which… I don’t know, it’s kind of mentally deflating. Even though I’ve had to take a few of my runs indoors, I still feel really uncomfortably warm when I’m running. I haven’t been able to muster the energy to run in the mornings (yet? probably never lol), so all of my workouts are after work during the week and late afternoon on the weekends. I’m starting to play around with gels during my long runs on the weekends, and I’m researching more about being a salty sweater (and at what point I’ll likely need to start working in salt tabs to my runs, too). And I probably, definitely need to start bringing along a bottle of Cytomax with me instead of just water. I just feel really BLAH.

The plan this week:

  • Two rest days
  • Two easy runs
  • Two core workouts
  • One strength workout
  • One tempo workout
  • One long progression run

MONDAY
My 5th golf lesson focused on chipping and pitching. Working on the short game was actually super fun, despite it feeling really weird on the set-up.

Before bed, I foam rolled for 10 minutes (lots of focus on calves again).

TUESDAY
A flip-flop in the training plan from the last couple weeks, moving the strength workout to Tuesday and easy run to Wednesday. Honestly, I really wanted to run, but I stayed focused on the scheduled workout.

Finished up the evening with another 5 minutes of foam rolling.

WEDNESDAY
Treadmill – run for 35 minutes, around 3.1 miles. I totally forgot to turn off my watch after I got off the treadmill, and my Garmin captured me foam rolling and walking all around the house with my chocolate milk LOL. By the way, does anyone know how to edit a workout on Garmin Connect, so I can remove those random post-workout paces and distance that don’t belong?

THURSDAY
Tempo intervals workout – with 100+ heat index again and storms, it was another speed workout on the treadmill (which is so frustrating and annoying because paces don’t match up and GAH, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING).

Mile 1 warm-up at 10:40 pace.
.5 = 5:06.3 / .25 = 2:41.5
.5 = 5:17.3 / .25 = 2:43.3
.5 = 4:55.3 / .25 = 2:41.3

About 3.25 miles.

FRIDAY
Rest Day

SATURDAY
AKA: UGH DAY. I’m definitely re-evaluating how I spend my Rest Days because I can’t keep wasting my weekends this way! In any event, I had to skip today’s easy run (3 miles) + core workout.

SUNDAY
Long Progression Run Day, and OMG it felt good to eat again. I seriously had dreams of eating GU because I was likely so dehydrated. I was feeling a little weak in the morning, so I waited to complete this run in the afternoon. It was still 80 degrees outside, but felt tolerable given the low humidity and a nice breeze. I went back to the Greenbelt Trail since I knew where the 6-mile course took me from last week’s run. But then I was on the trail, it felt 20 degrees warmer than what it was at my house, and… I couldn’t finish my progression run. I was completely tapped out after mile 4, and tried my best to eek out 5. My body was completely cramping up and I felt overheated and like I couldn’t get enough water — I’m being totally serious that I think I was starting to hallucinate (but that deer was definitely real and definitely blocking the trail around mile 3). All around AWFUL.

5.4 miles, average 11:22 pace (5-min warm-up walk / 10:50 / 10:51 / 10:45 / 10:50 / 12:09)

Definitely not a successful-feeling week.

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 3
WEEKLY MILES: 11.75 miles (2.45 fewer miles than last week)
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 39.05 miles

Flashback Fact: Week #3 when I was training for the Pittsburgh Half in 2015, I only had 18.83 total training miles in at this point (and basically running 1-2 times per week) — I’ve already doubled that mileage. BUT my splits were in the 9:00-9:20 range and it was winter and WAHHHHHH, I HATE THIS WEATHER!

[back to my coconut water]

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #2

- Mel 1 Comment

Week #2 of half marathon training felt great — it was nice to finally get outdoors for a couple runs (even though we had several days over 100 degrees for heat index this week). My schedule happened to coordinate with some great outdoor temps, particularly over the weekend. Again, I didn’t need to switch around any of my run or workout days this week (and I seriously considered it with Thursday’s weather), and did all my workouts as prescribed.

My week at a glance:

  • Two easy run days
  • Long run (6 miles)
  • Pick-ups speed workout
  • One strength workout
  • Two core workouts
  • MUCH foam rolling and trigger point on my calves

MONDAY
Rest Day — and my bi-weekly phone call with my Coach. Everything feels pretty good right now regarding my training program. My legs definitely feel tired though from running 4 times per week, and I’m trying to focus on doing a lot more foam rolling (a massage soon is definitely in order, too). I also need some practice with pacing my speed workouts, which feels very much a practice in Runner 101: Don’t start too fast!

TUESDAY
Easy three-mile run on the treadmill and first of two core workouts for the week.

WEDNESDAY
Strength workout felt tough, despite it being the same workout that I did last week.

THURSDAY
Pick-ups! Something new for my weekly speed workout… which I had to do indoor on the treadmill because it was 105 outdoors.

It was also very sweaty indoors.

iowa running blogger 30something hot in here

I *LOVED* this workout, and I actually wanted to do more! But, I’m sticking to my training plan and trying not to overtrain. Overall, the workout was about 3.10 miles — warming up with 10 minutes at an easy pace with 6 repeats of 1:00 fast and 1:00 not-that-fast (my splits were all over the place — I’m still learning!); finished up with a cool-down, easy pace for another 10 minutes.

I also spent a good 10 minutes of foam rolling my calves after this workout, since they felt so knotted and sore for most of the week. It definitely helped!

FRIDAY
Much-enjoyed rest day — we made a ridiculous amount of food and a giant cheese plate and watched the Olympics opening ceremony until we both passed out on the couch.

SATURDAY
Easy 2 miles — OUTSIDE! It was awesome! Followed up with my 2nd Core workout of the week.

iowa running blog half marathon training

SUNDAY
We drove to the Greenbelt Trailhead in Clive, and I did my 6 miles out on the trails while the boyfriend rode his bike. It was too beautiful of a day to waste inside on the treadmill, and I saw so many fun things on my run. It’s also nice to see how the different trails connect for when I need to venture further. I’m still getting my bearings out here, but absolutely love running out in the woods.

iowa run blogger greenbelt trail
(I’m really interested to know what that little gingerbread house was all about… and look at that tiny library on the TRAILS!!! Made me *squee* when I ran past it.)

This run was a battle of efforts between my legs and the rest of my body. The legs wanted to go fast, and the rest of me felt the makings of maybe working a bit too hard. But any time that I tried to slow up, my legs felt heavy and almost like I was tripping over my own feet getting them to move at all. So, I opted for a kinda-higher effort level because my legs said so, and I did OK on keeping mostly even splits.

6 miles, 1:01:22 / 10:13 overall pace
9:56 (1) / 10:02 (2) / 10:01 (3) / 10:13 (4) / 11:01 (5) / 10:07 (6)

(I have no idea what happened in Mile 5 because at four miles in was when I was eating a GU and slowing up to intentionally digest it). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 14.2
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 27.3 miles

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon:: Training Week #1

- Mel

Doing something a little different this training cycle — besides upgrading my running watch and running in Iowa — I hired a coach! My big, hopeful goal for the IMT Des Moines Half Marathon in October is based on time, but I’m focused on seeing through this 12-week training plan and its required weekly workouts to see what happens when I really put my feet where my mouth is. Or something.

And I feel more motivated than ever.

My week at a glance:

  • Two easy run days
  • Tempo Interval run
  • Long run
  • One strength workout
  • Two core workouts

The training plan for Week #1 worked well with my schedule, and I didn’t need to flip around any workouts. On the weekend, I *still* could not wake up early enough for the local run groups (though I was out of bed by 7am both days), even with one of my running friends texting me.

MONDAY
Scheduled rest day, and I had my 4th golf lesson. I’m getting so much better that I’m almost in shock over it. I’m making more consistent contact with the ball — and some of them even go 80 yards and straight! 😉

TUESDAY
30-minute easy run. Tuesday’s workout was also a good test recording my treadmill run on my new Garmin. I still have to read up about the accuracy of the distance and pace — but it’s a pretty sweet feature (among others) of the Forerunner 230.

WEDNESDAY
Strength workout — with the realization that I need to get some heavier weights at home for squats and deadlifts because I don’t intend to go to the gym only for those two things. But I am sincerely considering putting my gym membership on hold for a few months.

THURSDAY
I took Thursday’s run outside, for a tempo intervals workout, which… SUCKED. I know much of the suckiness was due to the heat, but I sincerely wanted to quit everything after my second repeat. But it’s new, so I’ll suck it up and continue to do the work (and hope that it gets easier, which… HAAAAAA!). I followed up with a core-focused workout and foam rolling.

FRIDAY
Rest day!

SATURDAY
Afternoon on the treadmill again (outside is back up to, like, 80% humidity again) – an easy 2 miles. Afterward, I repeated my core workout and did some upper body reps on my TRX.

SUNDAY
Prescribed was an hour-long hilly workout that I did on my treadmill again. I didn’t feel well for most of the morning (and early afternoon), and I wasn’t sure it was best to run outside — in case I REALLY didn’t feel well, and I was a couple miles away from home feeling dreadful. But I maintained a pretty easy pace and managed the inclines OK (I inadvertently picked a map that went to 12% incline OMG).

iowa running blogger treadmill training
Tales from the Treadmill

All said, I’m happy with my first week of training AND my commitment to following my training program. Despite my speed work needing some work, I feel good and I like the variety in my weekly workouts.

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 4
WEEKLY/TOTAL TRAINING MILEAGE: 13.1 — hey, that’s kind of an awesomely-ironic number!