Woah, I'm already done with two weeks of Ottawa Marathon training!
Let's back up a bit. After the Wineglass Half in October, I had a hip flexor and adductor issue- it wasn't really painful but everything was really, really tight. After thinking it would go away on its own with rest and some anti-inflammatories (and it not getting completely better), I finally started going to PT and noticed immediate improvement. I was able to still run, fortunately, but my mileage was really low for a few weeks. Finally in November, I was able to get my mileage back up to 15-20 miles a week and 20-25 in December. After getting a solid few weeks of base mileage in, Derek sent me my training plan for January and off I went!
For now, I'm just building up my base a bit more and getting back to tempo runs and speed. Week 1 (28 miles) occurred while on vacation from work so I got to ease back into it. Week 2 (30 miles) was a bit of a challenge with the ridiculously cold temperatures in NYC, but thanks to Jen, I was able to get my Tuesday easy run in on the treadmill in her building. Lifesaver!!
In addition to running, I've been trying to be better about doing core work and little maintenance things- even if it just means doing 5 minutes of exercises while watching TV at night. I've also come to terms with the fact that I'm not good about going to strength or cross training classes, so I need to take advantage of things that I WILL do, like some shorter strength workouts I can do a once or twice a week at home.
I have another person on my "team" this year- Kim is helping me make sure that I'm eating well and enough to support my training. Even just having someone to report back to makes me eat better. I don't think I focused nearly enough on nutrition during Philly Marathon training so that's a much bigger focus this time around and I'm glad to have Kim to help me!
On Saturday, I ran my first race of 2014! I ran the Joe Kleinerman 10k with some friends before going out to celebrate Steph's birthday with a boozy brunch! Happy birthday, Steph!!
I really wasn't expecting much from this race. 7:45 felt hard during my tempo run earlier in the week, so I figured that I could probably average around there for a hilly 10k. I was pleasantly surprised that the race went much better than that! Derek thought I should hold back for the first 3 miles then pick it up. I knew I wasn't going to PR this race, so my goal was to run sub 48:00 (7:44 pace).
The first mile had a big downhill and a big uphill and it was slippery in places. Fortunately, only one of my feet slipped once, but I saw a lot of people in front of me that were sliding around.
Mile 1: 7:47
During mile 2, I found that I was trying to hold myself back a lot and finally just let myself go after that.
Mile 2: 7:47
Mile 3: 7:23
Mile 4: 7:23
I was totally shocked every time I looked down and saw 7:2x. I hadn't run these paces in so long but yet they still felt comfortable. At least while runinng a race with 5000 of my closest friends. I'm sure if I had been out there doing this as a workout on my own, it would have been awful!
Mile 5: 7:17
Mile 6: 6:49
Now, mile 6....where did you come from?! I don't think I've ever seen a 6:xx during any race longer than a 5k before. Maybe I just really wanted to be finished?! I also realized that I was going to run sub 47:00 so I think that motivated me as well. It felt fast, but not like I was going to blow up at any second, which was good for my confidence!
Mile-I-overran-the-course-AGAIN-0.28: 6:26 pace
Official time for the race: 46:18, 7:29 pace
This leaves me really excited for training this Spring. Fingers crossed that everything goes well and that I get to the starting line healthy (hmm, guess I should also officially register for the race!) and feeling good! I have a few other races on the schedule before the Ottawa Marathon so I should be able to get a good sense of my fitness level. I have a bunch of numbers floating around in my head for "A" goal time, but obviously it's way too early to guess what I'll be able to run at the end of May. But here's to hoping for a PR & a BQ!
Happy training to everyone!!!
What's your Spring goal race?
Let's back up a bit. After the Wineglass Half in October, I had a hip flexor and adductor issue- it wasn't really painful but everything was really, really tight. After thinking it would go away on its own with rest and some anti-inflammatories (and it not getting completely better), I finally started going to PT and noticed immediate improvement. I was able to still run, fortunately, but my mileage was really low for a few weeks. Finally in November, I was able to get my mileage back up to 15-20 miles a week and 20-25 in December. After getting a solid few weeks of base mileage in, Derek sent me my training plan for January and off I went!
For now, I'm just building up my base a bit more and getting back to tempo runs and speed. Week 1 (28 miles) occurred while on vacation from work so I got to ease back into it. Week 2 (30 miles) was a bit of a challenge with the ridiculously cold temperatures in NYC, but thanks to Jen, I was able to get my Tuesday easy run in on the treadmill in her building. Lifesaver!!
In addition to running, I've been trying to be better about doing core work and little maintenance things- even if it just means doing 5 minutes of exercises while watching TV at night. I've also come to terms with the fact that I'm not good about going to strength or cross training classes, so I need to take advantage of things that I WILL do, like some shorter strength workouts I can do a once or twice a week at home.
I have another person on my "team" this year- Kim is helping me make sure that I'm eating well and enough to support my training. Even just having someone to report back to makes me eat better. I don't think I focused nearly enough on nutrition during Philly Marathon training so that's a much bigger focus this time around and I'm glad to have Kim to help me!
On Saturday, I ran my first race of 2014! I ran the Joe Kleinerman 10k with some friends before going out to celebrate Steph's birthday with a boozy brunch! Happy birthday, Steph!!
I really wasn't expecting much from this race. 7:45 felt hard during my tempo run earlier in the week, so I figured that I could probably average around there for a hilly 10k. I was pleasantly surprised that the race went much better than that! Derek thought I should hold back for the first 3 miles then pick it up. I knew I wasn't going to PR this race, so my goal was to run sub 48:00 (7:44 pace).
The first mile had a big downhill and a big uphill and it was slippery in places. Fortunately, only one of my feet slipped once, but I saw a lot of people in front of me that were sliding around.
Mile 1: 7:47
During mile 2, I found that I was trying to hold myself back a lot and finally just let myself go after that.
Mile 2: 7:47
Mile 3: 7:23
Mile 4: 7:23
I was totally shocked every time I looked down and saw 7:2x. I hadn't run these paces in so long but yet they still felt comfortable. At least while runinng a race with 5000 of my closest friends. I'm sure if I had been out there doing this as a workout on my own, it would have been awful!
Mile 5: 7:17
Mile 6: 6:49
Now, mile 6....where did you come from?! I don't think I've ever seen a 6:xx during any race longer than a 5k before. Maybe I just really wanted to be finished?! I also realized that I was going to run sub 47:00 so I think that motivated me as well. It felt fast, but not like I was going to blow up at any second, which was good for my confidence!
Mile-I-overran-the-course-AGAIN-0.28: 6:26 pace
Official time for the race: 46:18, 7:29 pace
 |
| Post race with Steph and Beth, after Steph paced Beth to a sub-60 10k PR! CONGRATS!!! |
This leaves me really excited for training this Spring. Fingers crossed that everything goes well and that I get to the starting line healthy (hmm, guess I should also officially register for the race!) and feeling good! I have a few other races on the schedule before the Ottawa Marathon so I should be able to get a good sense of my fitness level. I have a bunch of numbers floating around in my head for "A" goal time, but obviously it's way too early to guess what I'll be able to run at the end of May. But here's to hoping for a PR & a BQ!
Happy training to everyone!!!
What's your Spring goal race?
