long run

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 12 Recap

August 23, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

8/23/11
7 miles speed
*10 x 400m. The last time I did this workout (12 x 400m) I averaged 1:36 and ended with up with a sore hamstring for the remainder of the week (due to overstriding). I held back today and averaged 1:50. Much slower but I have a happy hamstring! Although I did run the last repeat in 1:34 just to make sure I still had it in me 😉

Let’s recap week 12…

MON: 7 miles easy
TUE: 11 miles tempo
WED: 7 miles speed
THU: 6 3 miles easy (thunderstorm)
FRI: 9 miles easy
SAT: rest/HLS
SUN: 15 miles long

A total of 52 miles for the week. After Thursday’s derailed run, I was hell-bent on getting my 55 miles in. That feeling faded quickly when life and the weekend got in the way. So I maxed out at 52/53 miles this training cycle. My intention was to max out at 60 but my legs had other plans. There is a reason why the FIRST training plan focuses on low mileage. It’s difficult to run hard 3 days, add in 2 easy 8-milers, and repeat week after week.

But my legs feel rested and ready for my 22-miler on Friday. I can’t wait. I always treat the last “long” run of a training cycle like a dress rehearsal for race day. I’ll wear the same clothes…and maybe even the same socks and hair bands if I have a particularly good run. I guess I’m superstitious?!

Question – do you treat your last long run (before the taper) like a dress rehearsal for the big day? Or do you just go with the flow?

A long run, HLS, and a delayed hangover

August 22, 2011 by Kristy 12 Comments

8/21/11 (Sunday)
15 miles / 2:13 / 8:52 avg pace

Let’s recap this weekend in reverse…

Long Run
My long run was supposed to be done on Friday but with all the thunderstorms we’ve been having I was terrified of getting caught in one (especially after Meggie commented that she knew 2 people that have been struck by lightning). So I stuck close to home and did 9 easy miles. I rested on Saturday and did the LR on Sunday. I am so happy to begin my pseudo-taper this week (decreasing my overall mileage). All I have is 22 miles on Friday and then I’ll be in full blown taper mode!

HLS
So this weekend I attend the Healthy Living Summit (HLS). Don’t worry, I’m not going into a detailed description of the entire weekend. I decided to attend since it was in Philly and I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet other bloggers, although my blog is a running blog rather than a food blog. I do think I promote a healthy (balanced) lifestyle and I hope my blog inspires people to run but I’m definitely not a foodie. I don’t really get excited about food and I could easily live off pizza, cereal, peanut butter, and green beans (such an odd combo, I know). My diet is more carb heavy than most (good carbs, of course) but I’m also running a lot. I left HLS feeling like all I eat is crap! Ha! I admit I could add more veggies and fruit to my diet but I just don’t think I could get on the tempeh band wagon. It’s just not for me…and that’s OK 🙂

The sessions were very informative and I had a great time hanging out with Holly and Alli. Am I happy that I went? Absolutely!

Friday night was the HLS cocktail party at Reading Terminal Market. It was so awesome to be at RTM when it’s empty and have the entire place to ourselves (it’s generally packed with people). We were provided with 2 drink coupons which I promptly exchanged for beer. We had 2 choices for beer (sadly no Miller Lite) and we made a wise choice and went with Kenzinger. It was yummy. So yummy that me, Holly, and Alli went back for many more. Followed by a round of beers at the hotel bar. Followed by late night pizza delivered to the lobby. We laughed at how we made HLS unhealthy.

On Saturday I woke up surprisingly not hungover and was pretty pleased with myself (remember, I drink Miller Lite, which is like drinking water). And then around 2pm it hit me…the delayed hangover. Ugh, I HATE the delayed hangover. You get this false sense of phew I made it only to get slapped in the face with a hangover 10x worse.

(via)

I came home Saturday night and went to bed at 8:30. I was amazed I was able to get up and run 15 on Sunday morning.

Ever experience the delayed hangover?

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Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 11 Recap

August 17, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

8/17/11
7 miles speed
*3 x 1600m with 400m rest interval between repeats – all done at 10K pace.

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We are getting to the very end here, folks. Last week went very well, probably because it was a drop week and my legs felt rested.

MON: 6 easy
TUE: 7 speed (and my new found love for 10K pace!)
WED: 7 easy
THU: rest
FRI: 20 (#4 – pretty close to MP too!)
SAT: rest
SUN: 7 tempo

47 miles for the week!

Taper
I’m taking a different approach with my taper this cycle. I’m doing the traditional 3 week taper in terms of reducing my overall mileage but I’m doing a 2 week taper in terms of my last long run (22-miler). This week I hope to hit 55 miles (that will be my max for this cycle) but I’ll only be running 15 miles on Friday. Next week I’ll keep my mileage in the low to mid-40s but I’ll do a 22-miler. I think this is going to work out way better mentally for me. I hate the 3 week lag time between your 22-miler and the race. I always begin to doubt myself.

Question of the day: What’s your go-to mantra during a race? What are you most likely to repeat over and over again to finish strong? I’ve gotten much better but I used to battle negative thoughts all the time so I began to say “let go” (as in let go of the negativity). Sounds so silly but it really worked. I also like “if you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t”. So true!

20 Miles, Take 4

August 12, 2011 by Kristy 19 Comments

8/12/11
20 miles / 2:52:52 / 8:38 avg pace

It’s a beautiful day! When I got back to my car post-run the temp was 67?! Wow. Further evidence…my shorts were (somewhat) dry after my run! If you can’t tell, I’m holding up 4 fingers because this is my 4th 20-miler…obviously.

I felt pretty good throughout this run, aside from some GI issues around mile 14. This is odd for me, usually business is taken care of pre-run (sorry, I mean how else can you talk about this topic?). Isn’t funny how your GI tract knows exactly where the bathrooms are and notifies you? OK, movin’ on…

Splits – the first 10 miles. I was in complete awe of the sunrise this morning (I need to bring my camera – it’s unreal) and you can tell I didn’t start getting serious until mile 6.

The second 10 miles. I’m happy to see I picked up the pace at mile 14. Mile 19 was an awful hill…but I rebounded nicely with mile 20 🙂

So. Happy. To. Be. Done! Beer and pizza tonight with friends…and we all know how much better it tastes after a long run!

Unrelated question of the day: I’m thinking of switching to wordpress.org but I need to choose a web host. Anyone have suggestions? How is Blue Host? Has anyone used Revive My Blog?

Happy Birthday Matt!

August 5, 2011 by Kristy 9 Comments

8/5/11
15 miles / 2:09 / 8:36 avg pace

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Amazing canine daddy…

Son…

Uncle, brother, and brother-in-law…(Matt’s family: lots of brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, brother-in-laws, and sister-in-laws)!

Friend…(Matt doesn’t wear his collar up, he was making fun of the kiddies that do)!

And retired runner…

We are headed out to happy hour/dinner tonight!

Today’s long run was pretty unremarkable, except that it was cooler! However, my shorts were still soaked (blurry picture due to foggy lens…my camera got too close to the cold chocolate milk).

Long run plans for the weekend? I’m running easy tomorrow and then have a 11 mile marathon-paced tempo on Sunday.

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 9 Recap

August 2, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

8/2/11
8 miles speed
*3 x (2 x 1200 in 5:18): 1st set (5:10, 5:05); 2nd set (5:04, 5:09); 3rd set (5:13, 5:16). Not great in terms of consistency but I did beat 5:18 on each interval.

MON: 7 speed — total fail. I think I eeked out 3 miserable mile repeats and called it a day. My legs were so tired.
TUE: 12 total — 8 tempo AM (ended up being a decent run) + 4 easy PM
WED: 7 easy
THU: ~~easy~~ unplanned rest day
FRI: 20 long — very happy about this run!
SAT: 4 easy
SUN: rest

So 50 miles for the week. I wanted to do more but my legs would not cooperate. I was going to force the easy run on Thursday but I’m glad I didn’t. I think Friday’s 20-miler would have suffered.

I’ll end with a funny story. Yesterday I was running and I ran into (pun intended) someone I used to coach last summer (I worked with Fleet Feet Sports to train a group of runners for the Philly Rock ‘n’ Roll Half). We chatted about what we are training for, etc. When I told him I was trying to BQ he asked what time I needed.

Me: 3:45.
Him: Oh, that’s not so bad.
Me (sarcastically): Oookaayyy.
Him: Well I guess that’s fast for you…
Me: (more sarcastically): Thanks a lot.
Him (sensing my increasing sarcasm): Well, a guy would have to run it in 3:15.
Me: You are comparing apples to oranges. Guys run faster.

Apparently BQing is easy! Don’t you love when people who never ran a marathon make comments about pace and time?! I don’t encounter this often but I would love to tell people to go run a marathon and then come talk to me. I’m sure they’ll change their tune!

Have you ever received any comments from the peanut gallery of non-runners? Does it irk you?