Week 2

Week 2 is done and I feel like I’m settling in well. Once again, I was able to run all the planned mileage. Being off earlier in the day is making this so much easier! Even on the long mid week runs, I’m done before the sun goes down and I’m usually home about the same time as Brian and the boys. When I trained for Lincoln, I ran so many miles in the dark and it felt like I got home so late. I’ve also noticed patterns in the training that are helping me break things down mentally and not get so overwhelmed with all the mileage.

Pace wise, things went well. I started out quick again on Monday with an 8:00 11 miler. No idea why I tend to run that one so fast but it is unnecessary. I’m not pushing the pace on purpose and the rest of the week went fine so I guess it is harmless. The tempo run on Tuesday started shaky. The first mile was 7:13. I was hoping to do more like 7:00 or 6:59. I was heading into the wind so I just kept pushing on. The next miles were 7:05, 7:03 and 6:51 so the overall tempo section was 7:03. The run was 9 miles and the overall pace was 7:37. Not setting the world on fire but a very good effort. The Wednesday medium long run was 12 miles and I did the hilly route again and ended up with 8:13 pace. Getting up on Thursday was hard, as usual, but it did feel better than week one and I ran 8:36 pace for 5 miles. I do love having the rest of Thursday and all day Friday off before hitting it again. I felt really good for the long run and ended up with 8:05 overall. I ran on the river trail because I had to meet Brian and the kids so that he could run a 15k. Our timing could not have been better. I set my alarm for 5 am. Seriously, getting up that early on Saturday was the hardest thing about this run. I drove his car to the spot on the river trail that I wanted to start at and got going around 5:45. I finished the run at the race course and he met me there with the kids in my car. I was in the last mile and I saw them drive in. My 17 miles finished right at their parking spot! Couldn’t have been more perfect. He left to warm up and the kids and I went for bagels. After the race, he ran to his car which was a little less than 2 miles from the course. Kid juggling at its best and sitter avoided! The river trail is really flat and wide open so I tend to run fast times out there. I just stayed comfortable and didn’t push the pace. It was tough (every long run is) but I was shocked at how good I felt during and after. I got tired but the pace didn’t slow and afterward, I could tell I’d worked hard but didn’t have the usually beaten up feeling that often comes after a long run. My 5 mile recovery run on Sunday was uneventful and came in a 8:13 pace. (BTW-Brian got 3rd place overall at his race and ran exactly what he had planned to run so kudos to him!)

Body is feeling pretty good. I do have a weird sensation on the outside of my left ankle. I call it sensation because it isn’t really painful. It just feels weird, almost like a weakness. The more I think about it, it is probably some sort of tendonosis/tendonopathy type thing. I’ve been icing it and it isn’t really a problem...yet. I actually felt less run down and tired this week so I seem to be adjusting well to the mileage!

Next week will be slightly different as I’m going to do a 5k on Saturday. Here is the plan:
M-Med Long Run 12 miles

T-General Aerobic + Speed 9mi w/10 x 100m strides

W-Med Long Run 14m

R-Recovery 5mi

F-Rest

S-Valentine’s Day 5k 5mi total

S-Long Run 18mi

The 5k is The Valentine’s Day 5k. It is a longstanding race here in Arkansas. It has a couples division and Brian and I have won the married couples division every year we’ve entered. It has become a tradition of ours and I feel ready to race a short distance. I haven’t done much speed work lately but what I did do a few weeks ago was faster than I would have expected. Depending upon conditions, I think I might be able to break 20 minutes so that is the plan. My PR is 19:42. If I have a great day, I think I could beat it but we’ll have to see. That PR is from 2008-pre kids. It is the only PR I didn’t set after Darwin was born. I’ve yet to PR at anything since Leo was born.

This weeks books were the last two of the Big Stone Gap series, Milk Glass Moon and Return to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. This was a really sweet series that was emotional without leaving me absolutely heart broken. I also got started on Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. It is entertaining so far. Seriously, audiobooks are the best thing ever to help pass all the miles!

Oh and one more random thing! I’ve added a training widget on here that always displays my latest run. It is on the right side of the screen so even if I don’t post, you can see what I’ve been up to running wise.