Tuesday: 5.10 Miles (42:26)
At the beginning of my training, the thought of running on the treadmill conjured up many negative thoughts. Reflecting over these last few weeks has made me appreciate these sessions more and more as I believe the treadmill has sharpened my focus and made me become more intentional and helped me persevere when others runs have come about. Though I will always prefer running outside with friends, the treadmill has consistently helped me build my base while also increasing my pace. I constantly am struggling to back off increasing the speed but ultimately find myself wanting to push myself to see what I can do. With paces in the 7’s for 5k’s and 10k’s I desire to hit that pace for half marathons as well and ultimately in due time get there for marathons, I know I have a ways to go. But to think that I have gone from 8 min paces at the start of the year, to low 7’s and at times high 6’s in shorter races, the potential is there.
Quote of the Day:
“Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.” PattiSue Plumer
Wednesday: 5 Miles (40:41)
The Saucony “Pop Up” run of death. What was supposed to be a great event sponsored by the Wellness Store in Lee’s Summit quickly became the I hope I can make it back to the store before dying event. The paces below reflect times that I typically can maintain without a problem. But today was unlike any other. I began running with Hanna and after the 2 mile, Stephanie joined us and we increased our pace slightly. The heat was tumultuous but it was manageable, but somewhere between the end of mile 3 and the beginning of 4, I got a knot in my chest that almost took me to my knees. I spent the last mile “acting” as if nothing was wrong but I truly struggled to keep moving forward, especially with mile 4 being predominantly uphill. I am not for sure what happened with this run, but i spent that evening struggling to catch my breath and stomach anything, including water. This led to a missed run Thursday, but I knew if I pushed too hard, I would be in trouble for my weekend run. The silver lining of this run was my ability to push through the pain and use this as an opportunity to try to ignore the discomfort I was feeling know that in the near future I will surely be faced with something similiar and I will need the mental fortitude to push through, even when my body is telling me otherwise.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 8:14
Mile 2: 8:15
Mile 3: 7:55
Mile 4: 8:09
Mile 5: 8:04
Overall Time: 40:41 & 8:07 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”
Friday: 4.10 Miles (29:56)
Tempo Run at Gym
Quote of the Day:
"“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”
Saturday: 15.16 Miles (2:13:31)
Before kicking off the 7 am run, Several of us met at 5:15 to get in extra miles, 10 to be exact. I always love the early morning runs as we tend to begin to log miles as the sun breaks the horizon off in the distance. I have always been a morning person, but there is something surreal about being able to run and watch the sun rise that makes every problem, ache, and pain seem minut and irrelevant. Fortunately, this was the feeling as the sun first shown itself as we climbed a hill along our route, something I needed at the moment to keep things in perspective as the day was already blistering warm.
Reflecting back over this run, I noticed a pattern. While I was maintaining a relatively decent pace for the first 10 miles, after we broke off with our 7 am group, I struggled to keep my times in the low 9’s. I don’t eat prior to running, maybe a banana or protein shake, but it's minimal. This is clearly affecting my body as my base continues to build, the multi digit distance runs are presenting the problem that my body can’t sustain the speed when it has nothing to burn. I am going to attempt to see what I can eat, that my body won’t reject prior, and see if this affects my time in the future.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 9:03
Mile 2: 8:38
Mile 3: 8:23
Mile 4: 8:15
Mile 5: 8:23
Mile 6: 8:26
Mile 7: 8:28
Mile 8: 8:19
Mile 9: 8:35
Mile 10: 8:34
Mile 11: 9:07
Mile 12: 9:15
Mile 13: 9:22
Mile 14: 9:29
Mile 15: 9:40
Overall Time: 2:13:31 & 8:48 Pace
Quote of the Day:
“Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way. Run often and run long, but never outrun your joy of running.” Julie Isphording
Sunday: 3.14 Miles (32:57)
#NationalIceCreamDay with Jennifer. What better way to start a Sunday then with a race and ice cream afterwards!!! I have enjoyed watching Jennifer progress in her running. She is stubborn as a mule, and yes she would agree, but she is making progress. The mental barriers that she faces are precisely the same that I had when I began, but day by day and mile by mile she is slowly shedding those barriers. Though we did have to walk at the race today, she made it much further and with some stubborn talk along the way, she was able to speed across the finish line. The quote today speaks to Jennifer and really us all as runners. We can go only as far as our minds will allow us, this not only applies to running by life. As each day of training passes I am finding more and more parallels between running and life and I couldn’t be any happier.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 10:17
Mile 2: 10:41
Mile 3: 10:42
Overall Time: 32:57 & 10:29 Pace
Quote of the Day:
“Part of a runner’s training consists of pushing back the limits of his mind.” Kenny Moore
Final Thoughts:
After 4 weeks, my training total is With 3 weeks down, I have increased my training total to 128.2. This was my shortest week to date only logging 28.4 miles. I use the word “only” but I know that this mentally also needs to change. I am averaging roughly 32 miles a week at this point and know that the mileage is going to increase. I am consistently impressed with the others runners I have privilege to run with as the speak of 50, 60. And 70 mile weekly mileages and know that one day, much sooner than later, I will begin to be able to push my body to those limits and not feel as though my body is going to give out.
No comments:
Post a Comment