Things took a turn for the better this week, and boy am I thankful!
A few weeks ago I hit a slump in my training. All of a sudden my running felt really flat. I didn’t feel terrible, but I didn’t feel great either. I almost felt more out of breath than usual and running took more effort than it had been. After looking back on it, I think it was either the vegan diet I did for almost two months or my vaccine. (I’m leaning more towards the vegan diet because I had a couple solid runs the week after getting the vaccine.) Either way, I seem to be past that now. I started out a couple runs at the end of last week feeling like I had hit a new level of fitness, which is always encouraging, so I’m back in the game now!
I had two track workouts this past week, four double days, but no long run. (I did that today and ran 16 miles.) Here’s how my week went down!
Monday, May 10 – Sunday, May 16, 2021
Monday
AM Run – 8 miles | easy stroller run | 8:41 average pace
I met my friend for a run on one of the greenbelt trails. I pushed Bjorn in the stroller, and my friend and I chatted away the miles. I don’t often use this trail in the morning by myself (especially in the dark!), so it was nice to run it with the company of a friend. Luckily Bjorn loved the stroller and was happy the entire time.
Noon – 30 minutes of weights
I don’t normally lift weights the day before a track workout, but I was supposed to lift the day before, but it never happened so I did it on Monday. However, then my coach had me do a “mini” workout the next day. Normally I know my schedule in advanced, but we were taking it a day-at-a-time because I wasn’t feeling the best after the vegan diet.
PM Run – 4 miles | treadmill run | 8:25 average pace
The only reason I did this on the treadmill was to test my new Coros watch on the treadmill to see how accurate it was. It was off by less than a tenth of a mile, but this still means the pace was off quite a bit. I never trust the accuracy of my watch on the treadmill, so I always go by what the treadmill says.
Tuesday
AM Run – 10 miles | 10 x 300meters (a ‘mini’ workout as my coach called it)
Splits:
65.1
63.6
62.1
62.1
61.8
61.2
60.9
60.2
58.0
56.8
Now those are some nice progressively faster splits if I do say so myself. My coach kept the intervals short on this workout because we both thought I wouldn’t be able to sustain anything longer. Luckily this was the perfect amount of distance/time to push myself without feeling like I was hanging on by one finger. The workout reminded me I’m really a mid-distance runner at heart.
PM Run – 4 miles | easy run | 8:22 average pace
I met my co-coach before Raven Run Club practice, and we ran the Chester Creek Trail before practice. It went by so fast, plus the sun was shining!
Wednesday
10 miles | easy run | 8:30 average pace
I ran a good portion of this with a friend, which is always nice for some ‘friend therapy’ on a run. This was the first day I noticed I was starting to feel just a tad bit better after the vegan diet. (By this time it had been about 10 days since incorporating meat and dairy products back into my diet.
Thursday
AM Run – 9 miles | easy run | 8:20 average pace
You will never believe what I saw on my run this morning?! (Okay, I can’t believe what I saw on my run.) I had just started out in my neighborhood, and within a few blocks from my house, I run up on what was about the size of a dog, but then I thought to myself, “That’s an odd-looking dog. Oh wait, it walks like a cat. Oh my gosh, that’s a lynx!” Never ever had I seen a lynx prior to this in the wild–only on videos of those who live more in the mountains. Then, not did I see just one, but there were two wandering around the neighborhood.
PM Run – 4 miles | easy run | 8:45 average pace
I pushed Bjorn in the stroller for this run. He was as happy as a clam soaking up the sights. Plus he loves being outside!
Friday
10 miles | 6 x 1000m – track workout
Splits:
3:46 (6:03 pace)
3:47
3:42
3:39
3:37
3:35 (5:46 pace)
This workout is when things really stared to turn around! I actually wasn’t that excited about this workout and even thought about pushing it off until later in the day or not doing it at all–two things that never cross my mind, but I knew I would regret it, and I knew even if I didn’t hit the prescribed paces I would still be stronger for it. I also knew this negative mindset wasn’t going to be good for my workout, so I quickly changed things around. Thankfully it paid off. I hit my goal paces, and I kept getting faster throughout the workout.
Saturday
AM Run – 8 miles | easy run | 8:16 average pace
I ran 8 miles before work at Skinny Raven Sports all day. This run went fine, and surprisingly I felt quite good after the previous day’s track workout where I ran hard!
PM Run – 4 miles | easy run | 8:04 average pace
After working 9 hours on my feet all day at the store, I then came home, laced up my shoes and went out for another easy 4 miles. Despite those things, it hit me how good I felt. It felt like I had hit a new level of fitness. This doesn’t happen too often, but when it does, it is always exciting, and it is a good remind that what I’m doing is working!
Sunday
7 miles | easy run | 8:22 average pace
I met a friend for some easy miles before church. Sunday morning runs are especially peaceful, and I love it.
Total: 78 miles
I went into this past week worried that I wasn’t going to feel better and left the week feeling like a new runner. And since I am in full marathon training, there was no rest at the start of this week with a long run this Monday morning of 16 miles, but it went really well, and it honestly doesn’t even feel like I did a long run today!
My next race is in two weeks–a 10K, and then I’ll be racing a 12K six days after that. I think that means summer racing season is almost upon us. Now if it would just warm up a bit in the mornings as it was 39*F when I started, and my hands were freezing!
