Sat – 10 mi run, f&v = 11

Sun – f&v = 1

Mon – 3.1 mi run, f&v = 4.1

Tues – 1.5 mi walk, f&v = 2.5

Wed – 1 mi walk, f&v = 2

Thurs – sick :( = 0

Fri – sick :( = 0

Week 3 total = 20.6

Sat – sick :( = 0

Sun – sick :( = 0

Mon – sick :( = 0

Tues – 3.5 mi run, f&v = 4.5

Wed – f&v = 1

Thurs – 5.1 mi run, f&v = 6.1

Fri – 1 mi walk, f&v = 2

Week 4 total = 13.6

I love the Garmin I bought in August (610 for those curious). I’ve had a couple snafus uploading data, but I haven’t lost anything. I track my running on dailymile (though I wish they wouldn’t round tenths of miles) so I like that dailymile can pull data from the Garmin site.

I’m please with running this year. It’s my main passion, though I do enjoy biking, swimming, and yoga.

Running accomplishments:

1) I ran my first (3) half marathons this year

2) ~7 minute 5K PR – I was due for this by the time I got it (September), but it really took training for a half to get it. When I ran my first 5K in 2008 I eyeballed the sub-30:00 time with envy. I ran the same 5K in 2010 with a similar time to 2008 (running hiatus), but waited until I knew I could get the sub-30:00 to do another 5K. I got a very solid 28:31. PS – remember this graph? Not too far off (I predicted sub-30:00 in 10/2011; got it 9/2011). Pretty cool, eh?

3) ~11 minute 10K PR – similar to the 5K but with 60:00, but not nearly as strong a desire as the sub-30:00 5K. I surprised myself with the 57:45 (59:45 would have been great!). Upon reflection, I realize the advantage of warming up. My first mile was significantly longer than any of my others.

4) Settling into negative splits. This makes me happy. :)

5) Injury & injury recovery. I got runner’s knee while training for the half and lost a month to the injury. I hopped back into the training and pulled off the half. The injury affected my performance (mile 11 in my race report), but running Lake Sara (first real run after the month off) and finally completing the IL Half proved to me that injury doesn’t have to be the end of running. When I stopped running in 2008 it was due to injury, and it took a year and a half to get out of the mindset that you can’t run without getting injured so why bother. Of course I’ll get injured (currently staving off plantar fasciitis in left foot, post-tibial tendon pain in right foot, and runners knee in both knees), but it doesn’t have to be the end. It also reinforces the idea that I need to be proactive about injury prevention (stretching, foam rolling, strengthening).

6) I’ve begun consistently using running to fight depression, which I’ve struggled with on and off for more than a decade. It doesn’t always work, but it’s a tool. I love the endorphins and I’ve never regretted going for a run.

7) I’m having a great time easily getting run pace averages under 10:00/mile. When I started this year a particularly speedy run was low 11:00s average. Now I can get down to low 9:00s. Very very cool. :)

Sun – 10 mi run, f&v = 11

Mon – 1 mi walk, f&v = 2

Tues – 1 mi walk, 20 mins stretching/strengthening, f&v = 3

Wed – 1 mi walk, 5 mi run, f&v = 7

Thurs – 1 mi walk, 1.5 hr yoga = 5.5

Fri – 2 mi walk, f&v = 3

Week 2 total = 32.5

Sun – 14 mi run, f&v = 15

Mon – 20 mins stretching/strengthening, f&v = 2

Tues – 4 mi run, f&v = 5

Wed – f&v = 1

Thurs – 3.1 mi run, f&v = 4.1

Fri – f&v = 1

Week 1 total = 29.1

It was a lovely sunny day, just after the DST time change. My 10K PR (from last year’s race) was 1:08:21. In early June of this year I rocked a 1:12:54 in the first heat of the summer (I actually placed really well there compared to other races). In September I knocked 6 minutes of my 5K PR so I was hopeful I could get a decent 10K and *gasp* possibly even sub-60:00??

Here are my splits:

1: 10:08
2: 9:30
3: 9:19
4: 9:29
5: 9:09
6: 9:29
.2: 9:02 pace

Do y’all have any idea how insane those splits are for me? Ridiculous. I definitely see the value in warming up (why do I want to run 7 miles instead of 6.2?). This is also only ~40 seconds over 2x my 5K PR. AND those 40 seconds possibly could have been eliminated if I’d warmed up.

The wind was in-frickin-sane. There was a wall of wind and part of that was uphill as well. Headwind and hills. The gigantic hill I remember from last year was a breeze (thank you, San Francisco).

The website still hasn’t been updated with results (this seemed to take forever last year as well) but I came in around 57:4x. Ridiculous. I was so pumped! ~11 minute PR!

Also, I’ve officially lost 18 lbs in one year. :) Updated picture someday soon…. I look so different from the picture in last year’s post.

UPDATE – Time: 57:45 :)

And this happened….

so then this had to happen:

This running thing’d better pan out….

Cliff Notes version (I got loquacious):

I did the 40-mile route at Pedaling for Kicks, which was a blast! If that event is any indication of how the metric century will go (in 3.5 weeks!) I’m golden. Even though I was by myself the entire route and didn’t know anyone (won’t be the case for the metric), I had a good time. I’m really looking forward to the 62-miler now.

Logic dictates that I do a 50-mile ride at some point before the metric. When should that be? Do I need to taper like the half marathon? I’m guessing I should get it out of the way soon.

I did the level 2 Monday night ride this week. I think that’s a better ride for me. I leave the beginner rides hoping for more, but it’s been challenging convincing myself I can handle the next level. I’m told there’s a secret Thursday night ride that’s a touch harder than the Monday one that I’ll have to try at some point too.

We’re experiencing a heat wave in the Midwest. The weather websites warn “Dangerous heat index. Outdoor exposure should be limited.” Don’t they know that’s where the good running and biking is? I did a solo mini inverse duathlon last night by biking to the running club’s workout, running 4 miles, biking to get groceries, and biking home. The heat index was 105.

All this biking means my running base sucks right now. This changes this week. I have a half in 4.5 weeks. NOT COOL. My endurance fitness is great and I can handle heat & humidity like a champ, but as someone prone to running injuries, this isn’t such great news for my various tendons and tissues.

Finally, my half training buddy was at the run last night and we somehow formulated this plan to possibly tackle the full next April. Hmm. Thoughts? The only way I can pull this off is by being incredibly proactive about the injury business (I already ice regularly, but add foamrolling and stretching to that list).

This week I will PR a 5K in awful Illinois heat & humidity.

• Goal A: under 34:41 which is my current official race PR
• Goal B: under 30:00 which I crave (my serious goal – a stretch but doable)
• Goal C: under 29:41 to make it a solid 5-min PR

Next week I will refocus on training for my half on August 20.