Somewhere towards the end of Week 4 I found a new mantra.
Train like you mean it.
It means buckling down on my runs and getting the work done, going after that BQ in September and trying to take care of myself.
Sunday 6/18 - 4 miles. Got up at 4 am (again!) to go to work and had to crawl onto the couch as soon as I got home. It was hotter than Hades. Then it rained... a little. By the time the rain stopped I decided it was now or never so got myself out the door and ran on the county road.
Monday 6/19 - 8 miles. Another 80+ degree day. I couldn't get myself out the door early enough to run in the morning so I did some yardwork instead and finally hit the county road at 6:30 pm. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't fast either. Also lost 5 lbs during the run.
Tuesday 6/20 - 4 miles. Morning weigh in showed I'd gained back 3 of the 5 lbs I'd lost. Ran the county roads again in the morning and lost another pound. It was off to work after that.
Wednesday 6/21 - Rest. Worked all day. Also found I was back to Monday's weight.
Thursday 6/22 - 3 miles. Original plan was to get up at 5:30 am and run 16 miles. Well... I got up at 5:30 and decided I was WAY too tired to go running and went back to sleep. I still needed an 8 miler and a 16 miler this week according to my training plan. I decided to do 16 tomorrow and 8 tonight. Got to the Monon in the evening and realized I was still really tired, even before I started running. Started running and felt exhausted. Plus, it was so humid I felt like I was swimming. SO wanted to walk!. Made it through the first mile and thought about turning around, then decided I'd do at least 3. Got to the turn around for 3 and felt better but decided to turn around anyway because I was afraid I'd be too tired to run 16 in the morning if I pushed out 8 tonight.
Got back to the Y, showered, changed, then discovered that the temperatures had dropped, it was overcast, a bit breezy and felt like perfect running weather. Go figure.
Friday 6/23 - 16 miles. So... up at 5:30 am as planned. Ate my oatmeal, procrastinated some, thought about running 5 mile loops by my house so I wouldn't have to carry my water and fuel, and scanned the skies. Then it occurred to me that maybe I should check the weather. Good thing I did. By now I had procrastinated long enough that I wasn't going to get out the door any sooner than 7:30 am and the forecast showed rain with thunderstorms by 10 am.
It was off to the fitness center after that. There was no way I was going to be done by 10 am and I didn't want to get poured on. Plan was to stop for fuel and water at 6 miles, then again at 11. Started running on the track and felt really good. Got to 6 miles and decided I really didn't need anything. I reasoned it was still pretty early in the training cycle and I didn't feel like practicing my fueling. Actually rocked out 10 miles before I decided to stop for some water and Gatorade chews. Well, after that the "great" feeling was gone and my GI system went into overdrive. Had to run into the bathroom twice in the next mile. Good thing I was running indoors! Managed to finish all 16 without too much trouble after that. Also glad I took the run indoors as it started POURING around 9 am and poured rain pretty much the rest of the day.
Saturday 6/24 - Rest. Hubs and I spent the whole day driving G to her summer dance program at the Rock School in Philadelphia. I passed the time by tracking the Western States 100 as it started the same morning. My friend John was out there helping out at the race so I got quite a few text updates. Early on, Jim Walmsley was tearing up the course so fast the joke became that my goal for the day was to get to Philadelphia before Walmsley got to Auburn (the finish). Unfortunately, after having a 45 minute lead at mile 62 he couldn't keep any fluids down for about 4 hours and ended up dropping out of the race at mile 78. John said it was 105 degrees in the canyons so it was a tough day for all. Only 67% of the field finished. It was a really really tough day.
Lots of inspiration to be found though. First off, Walmsley as well as the women's leader YiOu Wang wemt for it. Never mind that there was snow at the start at Squaw Valley this year and torrid heat in the canyons, both runners went out to win. Wang ended up collapsing at mile 70 and had to drop out too. I admire their efforts.
Next, Karen Bonnett-Natraj. She finished the race in 29:59:51. She made it with 9 seconds left on the clock. If you have never watched the final hour videos for Western States, it's something to see. It's amazing how hard these runners fight to finish after running 100 miles. Bonnett-Natraj hit the track with 50 seconds left on the clock and had to run 8:30 pace to finish. Runner's World did a nice write up of her race here. Hour 29 videos are on the Western States Endurance Run Facebook page. Having shared that final hour 29 with John in 2014, these runners always bring tears to my eyes.
Finally, Sara Vaughn. Western States wasn't the only big race going on in the running world on Saturday. The USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were also going on in Sacramento all week and Saturday was the women's 1500 meter final. Top three finishers make the US team that goes to Worlds in August. Sara Vaughn finished third and made the team. She's MomVaughn. Mother of 3 (her oldest is 10) and works as a realtor in addition to training at an elite level. She wouldn't give up her dream of making a World Team and she did it. Another tearful moment.
Totally inspired. Train like you mean it.
35 miles for Week 4. It was 5 miles short of my goal but I'm glad I listened to my body on Thursday.
Now onward to Week 5 where I ran none of my runs on the days I originally planned to run them but somehow managed to get all my mileage in. Small... never mind, BIG... victory for me! What I HAD on the training plan will be in parenthesis...
Sunday 6/25 - Zero miles (4). Plan had been to get up early at the hotel and run 4 miles before we had to check my daughter in at her dorm at 11 am. I work up plenty early enough but the hotel was next to a highway so I'd have to either run loops around the parking lot or get on the treadmill and neither sounded appealing so I reasoned that I'd run later in the evening, once hubs and I got to the bed and breakfast we were staying in for the night.
Got G all settled into her dorm room, had lunch together, the hubs and I started driving to the Annville Inn which is the bed and breakfast I'd chosen about 1.5 hours outside Philadelphia. Got to within 30 miles of the B & B when G called to say she couldn't find her phone... which we found... in the back seat of the car. Arghhhh! It was back to Philly. After that, we didn't get back to the B & B until after 7 pm. Of course we were starving by then so we had to go find food, then it was 10 pm. Ya, run didn't happen.
Monday 6/26 - 4 miles (rest). Today I really did get up at 6 am and went running. Explored the road in front of the B & B for a mile and decided it was pretty much a highway as there was a surprising amount of traffic for 6 am and it was a shoulderless county road. Ended up turning onto some less busy shoulderless county roads with rolling hills and pastures (heck, felt right at home by now) and finished the run. Got back to the B & B by 7 am. Breakfast wasn't until 9:30 am so I explored all the gardens and pretty much the whole place by myself until people started stirring around 8:30 am. Drove back to Indiana after breakfast. Didn't get home until almost midnight as hubs had to stop in Pittsburgh to test drive a car (don't ask...) and we had to swing through Columbus, IN to pick up the dog.
Really glad I got up at 6 am and got my run in!
Tuesday 6/27 - 7 miles (8). Got up and felt sore from being scrunched up in a car all weekend. Tonight was Run Club. Workout was a 2 mile warm up, then 2 x 400 meters with a 200 meter recovery in between, 2 x 800 meters with a 400 meter recovery in between, 2 x 400 meters with a 200 meter recovery in between, then 4 x 200 meters with a 200 meter recovery in between, then a cool down. It wasn't quite as hot as it had been last week but it was still hot on the black asphalt track. I got through my first 800 and was ready to call the workout. I sounded like a freight train but felt like I was running in place with NO speed at all. It was incredibly frustrating. Completely miserable workout, plus I was thirsty and my water and Gatorade were back in my car. I kept going though and finished all the sets. I'm pretty sure I was the last one done. Then the cool down. I got to the water cooler on the Monon outside the Athletic Annex with 6.75 miles on my Garmin, only to find it EMPTY. That did it. Brain went into nuclear meltdown and I simply could not do another mile, no matter how slow. Finished out 7 miles and went to my car.
Wednesday 6/28 - 9 miles (16). Original plan was to get up at 5:30 am and do my long run (why do I feel like a broken records right now?) Well, my mom calls at 12:30 am, feeling sick. We go back and forth on what she should do until 1:30 am... then I can't go back to sleep. Finally turned my alarm off at 3 am and decided to reschedule the long run. Due to some appointments during the day I'm not free to run until after 3 pm. Meanwhile... I'm watching the temperature climb into the 80's again.
Finally got free around 3:30 pm and went to the fitness center. Training logic says you shouldn't do two speed sessions in a row. Well, I felt so crappy about Tuesday night's workout I wanted a better speed session. Plus, I felt better today. So, did a 1 mile warm up on the hamster track, then 3 miles on the treadmill; set it at 7.0 mph and ended up doing it in 25:48 (8:36 pace). Recovery mile on the track then hit the treadmill again at 7.1 mph. I really didn't know how long I'd last at this pace and I'm not sure whether it was boredom or fatigue but my brain decided I could only do 2 miles. Ended up running exactly 17:00 (8:30 pace). Two mile cool down on the track after that. Ran an extra mile today for the mile I wimped out on on Tuesday.
Thursday 6/29 - 4 miles (rest). Ran easy on the county road in the morning before my massage at 11 am. I haven't had a massage in quite some time and I was so tight all over I was almost afraid to go because I knew how much it was going to hurt. In fact, when Craig hit my calves it hurt so much I almost told him to stop... but I didn't. Now I'm sore from the massage, but MUCH looser.
Friday 6/30 - 17 miles (8). Work up feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I don't think I've ever been this sore from a massage before. The only "have to" I had on my agenda today was my long run.
So... it was deceptively cloudy. It was supposed to storm today. I watched the skies all morning and finally decided on some loops around my house. I parked my car at a church 2.5 miles from my house and left PowerAde in my car. I left water and GUs at the end of my driveway. Plan was to start at my car and run to my house, do another 2 mile loop back to my house, run to my car, do a 2.5 mile loop around a subdivision by my car, stop by my car, run to my house, then run back to my car and do the subdivision loop again to finish.
Of course I didn't get around to running until noon... I just don't learn, do I?
Like I said, it was deceptively cloudy... but as soon as I started running the sun kept peeking out... and it was 80 degrees with about 80% humidity. Plus, I'm on the shoulderless county road and there's a LOT more traffic than I expected. At one point there were cars stopped 6 deep waiting for me to pass because I was coming down a hill and they couldn't see past the rise in the road to drive around me. Other times I had cars pass within 2 inches of my foot because there were cars in the oncoming lane and they had no place to go and I had no place to go either.
I didn't even make it back to my house. I had sweat pouring into my eyes before I'd even gone a mile and it took me 11 minutes for the first mile, plus I was totally stressed out. At 1.5 miles, at the top of another roller, I had had enough. I turned around and ran back to my car.
Drove 5 minutes to the fitness center and retreated to the safety of the air-conditioned track. Took me another 3 miles to cool off. Crazy thought... running to cool off. Anyhoos, ended up running 14 miles on the indoor track. Not the run I had envisioned but I got the miles in. Good thing I had nothing else to do today.
MUST MUST MUST get out earlier in the day!!!
Saturday 7/1 - Rest (4). I'm calling this an active recovery day. Got up at 4 am to go to work and ended up staying 2 hours over due to a couple social nightmares. Good thing I didn't have to run today. Got home and, yup, crawled onto the couch for a couple hours.
41 miles for Week 5.
Next week is a drop down week and I am looking forward to it!
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