Wk 1 - Sprint Triathlon Training

Monday - Endurance Swim - 40:00
Warm Up: 4 x 50 with 30" rest; Main Sets: 400 TT (8:19 / 2:05 pace); 100 Kick; 4 x 100 at TT pace + 20" rest (2:25). Cool Down: 200 bilateral breathing. Felt really good throughout my swim and couldn't believe how fast the workout went. The bilateral breathing is getting easier as well. Still struggling with flip turns though and often I'm too far from the wall and can't get a descent push off.

 

Tuesday - Progression Run - 35:00
Warm Up: 5 min walk/easy jog. 10 minutes at easy effort. 10 minutes at easy to moderate effort and the last 10 minutes at moderate to hard effort. This run was hard mainly because of the strong wind gusts that just about stopped me in my tracks. I started out up hill and into the wind so I thought at least on the way back I would be with the wind...wrong! It was one of those swirling winds where it was blowing in every direction.

 

Wednesday - Easy Bike - 45:00
It was still a bit chilly, high 50s but with the wind, it felt even colder so I opted for the indoor bike trainer instead. Started off with a 10 minute warm up before doing 30 minutes with a few 30" sprints mixed in.

 

Thursday - Easy Run - 4 miles
Tough run! It's been a long week at work so I was tired before I even started but I was hoping it was mostly mental fatigued and not physical fatigued. I was wrong. A mile into my run, my legs started to feel like bricks and it was all I could do just to put one leg into the other. The downhills and flat sections were okay but I had to walk up every hill.

 

Friday - Intensity Swim - 40:00
Warm Up: 200 easy. Main Sets: 8 x 50 fast w/ 20" rest; 400 (25 fast / 75 easy). Cool Down: 200 easy.

 

Saturday - Morning Bike + Evening Run
Rest day.

 

Sunday - Easter
I actually did run 2 miles with my parent's puppy. She was full of energy and had two speeds...sprint and sniff!

Recovery Week #2

Second "off" week so I pretty much did whatever I felt like it on whatever day I felt like it. No structure workouts, no goals, just have fun with whatever I was doing.

 

Monday - Nothing

Well, I was going to swim at lunch but got super busy at work.

 

Tuesday - Group Ride

This was my first group ride of the season. It was slow paced so my heart rate never got out of zone 1 except for the occasional hill. Rode for 18 miles and averaged around a 12.5 mph pace so not a bad way to start the cycling season.

 

Wednesday - Nothing

Another day of doing nothing.

 

Thursday - Nothing

Daytime sleep attacks! I hate when they get so bad I have to leave work early. It just becomes impossible to work through them so I headed home at 2:30 pm. I put on my pajamas and took a nap from 3 pm - 4:30 pm. I felt so much better when I woke up but still ended up skipping my evening run and going to bed at 9:30 pm.

 

Friday - Lunch Swim

Just a fun lunch time swim. I did mostly 50s and 100s and a lot of 3 and 5-stroke breathing to practice breathing on both my left and right side. Finally starting to feel less awkward.

 

Saturday - Nothing

Rainy and cold. Didn't do anything.

 

Sunday - Strength

The weather was still cold and rainy so I opted for a very short 15 min strength workout.

 

Triathlon training officially kicks off tomorrow. I will be my own coach so we'll see how it goes.

 

Recovery Week #1

Monday - Lunch Swim

Active recovery from the half marathon. Did two sets of 8 x 50 with 15 seconds of rest between the 50s and 1 minute rest in between the two sets. Focused on technique instead of speed. Then spent 10 minutes in the other (warmer) pool stretching and 5 minutes in the hot tub which felt really good.

 

Tuesday - Walk/Run - 2 miles

Legs still felt fatigued so I just walked 2 miles with a few 30-60 second jogs thrown in.

 

Wednesday - Rest Day

Rest day.

 

Thursday - Group Run

I had planned on only running 3 miles but we ended up running 4.25 miles. The last mile was a bit tough and probably was a bit too much. At least it was on the flat rail trail.

 

Friday - Lunch Swim

My daytime sleep attacks were in full force today so instead of swimming, I ended up going home and taking a much needed nap.

 

Saturday - Rest Day

Woke up with extremely painful neck and shoulder pain. I have no idea what caused it considering this was an easy training week. Alternated between ice and heat but it seems if I stay idle, it hurts more than if I move around.

 

Sunday - Bike Ride + Run

Shoulder still hurt but because it hurt less if I moved around, I decided to go for my first bike ride of the season. Rode for about 45 minutes (9.6 miles) and felt pretty good. Shoulder never gave me any issues. Even came back and went out for a 25 minute (2.24 miles) run afterwards. Didn't plan on a brick workout but with the weather absolutely beautiful (77° and sunny) and my body feeling better when it's in motion, it sort of just happened.

 

Week 12: Half Marathon Training

It's race week!

Monday - Easy Run

Just an easy 3 mile run in the neighborhood. My "easy" pace is getting faster and even the hills are getting easier! Very enjoyable run.

 

Tuesday - Rest Day

Rest day.

 

Wednesday - Stretch / Yoga

Staying loose. Did some stretches and yoga.

 

Thursday - Easy Run

Just an easy 2 mile out & back run. This run was a bit tougher than I thought it would be but then again I was tired from a long day from work. So ready for the half marathon on Saturday though!

 

Friday - Rest Day

Rest Day. Just some light stretching.

 

Saturday - Swamp Rabbit Half Marathon!

Woohoo! Finished my first half marathon! - Race Report

 

Sunday - Rest Day

Woke up really sore but quickly learned that I felt better if I stayed moving so I cleaned the house, did laundry and cleaned out my closets. Used the foam roller about 4 times today!

 

Race Report: GHS "Swamp Rabbit" Half Marathon

Pre-Race:

8 weeks of 5K training + 12 weeks of half marathon training got me here! Friday evening, I checked the weather forecast and then tried to figure out what to wear for a 2½ hour run (temperature range was 33° - 48°). I decided to wear capris, a long-sleeve tee under a short-sleeve tee, a pullover, gloves and hat. I also had two carb boom gels (apple cinnamon flavor). I set my alarm for 5 am and went to bed at 9:30 pm but I didn't really sleep much, I tossed and turned all night long. I left my house at 5:40 am and arrived at the race start (Gateway Park in Traveler's Rest) at 6:30 am. I got my bib number then sit in my car to stay warm until 7:10 am where I got in line for the porta potty then headed to the start line. I found a spot near the back knowing that I was going to be using run 5 minutes / walk 1 minute intervals. Plus I didn't care what my time would be as it would be an instant PR since this was my first half marathon so there was no point in slowing down those actually there to "race".

 

The Race:

At 7:31 am, we were off. I quickly settled into a very easy pace knowing the first 2 miles would be my warm up. The first 4 walk breaks were hard, simply because I really didn't want to take them, but I knew they would pay off later on and sure enough they did! The first two miles were done and over with before I even realized it and to my surprise I was actually able to keep a sub 11 min/mile pace for almost 8 miles. It didn't even feel like I was running that fast but it had to be the most enjoyable 8 miles I have ever run!

Then during mile 9 everything changed. My right calf just cramped up unexpectedly. It hurt like hell and if you ever had a charlie horse you know how bad they hurt. It stops you dead in your tracks until you can stretch and massage it out and that's exactly what I had to do. I stopped on the side of the trail and stretched it out as best as I could. It sort of made me angry because I was doing way better than I had ever dreamed of and was feeling so great up until then.

[caption id="attachment_1890" align="alignright" width="224"] Finishing the GHS Half Marathon with a smile on my face![/caption]

Miles 10, 11 and 12 were brutal and it was all I could do to maintain run 2 minutes / walk 1 minute intervals. I was in so much pain but at the same time I was determined to finish and wasn't going to let a leg cramp prevent me from doing just that. Once I got to the top of the hill near the baseball stadium and headed down Markley St, I got a surge of adrenaline...maybe I was excited that I was so close with a little over a mile remaining or maybe it was the fact I wasn't the only one hurting. I could tell the girls and the one guy around me was hurting too. So I ignored the pain and just ran. I didn't care how slow I was going, I just wanted to keep running to take advantage of this slight downhill knowing there was one final hill left and I was pretty sure I would have to walk up it.

Once I turned the corner onto McBee Ave and actually could see the finish line, I couldn't help but smile. When I did, it was like the pain just disappeared and I just gave it everything I had left (which wasn't much) and crossed the finishing line at 2:32:00. My husband was there waiting for me at the finish and he was able to capture a few pics.

[caption id="attachment_1891" align="alignnone" width="300"] Finished the GHS Half Marathon![/caption]

Final Thoughts about the Race

Would I do this race again? Maybe but only if I get the same DealChicken.com (similar to Groupon) deal. To me, it just wasn't worth $70 and I'm so glad I only paid $35. Here are my reasons:

1. They ran out of water at 3 of the 6 water stations but luckily there was water at the two I needed the most...around mile 5 and 10 (right after I had consumed a gel). But I'm used to running up to an hour without water so it didn't really affect me all that much.


2. There were no technical t-shirts left by the time I finished (you got them at the finish, not during packet picket on race morning). Nor did they have any smalls left in the remaining cotton tees so I just got an XL for my husband. He can wear it mowing grass or whatever.


3. Where was the food? I was wanting a banana or some sort of fruit but all I saw were cheez-its and chips. Really? Maybe I missed the food table but my calf was hurting and I sure as heck didn't feel like walking around looking for the food table.

I did confirm one thing though. I find sprint triathlons way more fun than half marathons and probably won't be doing another half marathon anytime soon. I love local charity 5Ks and 10Ks so I'll keep doing those between triathlons but running for 2+ hours just isn't my thing. Still I'm happy I was finally able to finish one and it's one more thing I can't mark off my bucket list.

Race Report: Reedy River 10K

Pre-Race:

Woke up to some nasty weather. It was in the mid 30s and a cold light rain. Of course with very little expectations with this race, I was ready for whatever mother nature wanted to give me. My game plan was to take it easy as I would any other long run in order to avoid injury before next Saturday's half marathon. Of course knowing my long run pace is around a 12 min/mile, I was expecting around a 1:15 finish.

Woke up at my usual "work day" time of 6:30 and was out the door at 7:00. Arrived at the race start at around 7:40, got my number and tech tee (once again, it's unisex and way too big so Goodwill is getting another one) and went back to my car to stay warm until about 8:10. By this time, there was a nasty rain/sleet/snow mix that was just plain miserable. At 8:15, I stood in a line (all of 3 people ahead of me) for the porta potty then headed to the start where I did a very light jog and stretching to stay warm. I had on my fleece-lined pants (they are water resistant), long-sleeve tee, rain jacket, gloves and hat. I was slightly chilly at the start which is a good sign I was properly dressed.

The Race:

At 8:30, we were off. I started near the back of the pack and settled into my easy pace and pretty much just held it there for most of the race. The first few hills were nothing and I was able to get up those without any problems. The hill right before Greenville County used to give me problems but not this time but I ended up taking a walk break anyway because I was getting too hot and had to take off my rain jacket. It was just too warm, especially once the wintry mix had stopped. Not sure why I get so much hotter in a race then in a training run. Adrenaline perhaps?

After that, it was smooth sailing until I got to the first water station which was on a downhill (really?) so once again I slowed to a walk and grabbed some. I quickly got back into my easy pace  and breezed through miles 3-5. I definitely didn't have the struggle as I did in the previous two times I ran this race or the last time I ran through here. In fact those two flat miles through Cleveland Park seemed effortless to me this time around and I was feeling really good and even passing other runners (which this late in the race used to be very rare for me).

Mile 5 is where everything started to change and I ended up walking some up the two final hills. That last hill before the finish is awful and I did my best to conquer but only was able to make it about ½ way. But once I hit the 6 mile marker, I got back to running again and picked up the pace for a final kick for the downhill finish and cross the line in 1:09:56, a solid 5 minutes faster than I expected to.

Weather: 36° with 4 mph N winds. Rain/Sleet/Snow mix at the start. A very light drizzle during the race.

 

Week 11: Half Marathon Training

Monday - Rest Day

Rest day. Still mourning the loss of my dog, Kelsey.

 

Tuesday - Easy Run Rest Day

Zero motivation today and with it being cold, overcast, and windy, I decided to put my run off until tomorrow when it will be warmer and sunny.

 

Wednesday - Lunch Swim Easy Run

I was going to hit the rail trail at lunch but it was still a bit chilly for shorts and a t-shirt which is all I had packed, so I hit the treadmill and the indoor track instead. Ran 2 miles on the treadmill at an easy pace while adjusting the incline throughout to simulate hills. Then hit the indoor track for 1 mile of very light speed work, increasing the pace every quarter mile (4 laps).

 

Thursday - Group Run

Easy 4 miles on the rail trail. We kept the pace easy which was good since the only purpose of this run was to stay injury free. Feeling really good about the 10K this Saturday although the weather forecast isn't looking too good. Mid to upper 30s with a 40% chance of snow or rain. I just hope it isn't significant enough to cancel or postpone the race.  As long as it's nice and sunny next Saturday for the half marathon, mother nature can bring whatever she wants this weekend!

Weather: Cloudy 50°, winds 5-8 mph N. Feels like 48°.

 

Friday - Rest Day - Race Prep

Laid out everything for my race in the morning.

 

Saturday - Reedy River 10K

Treated it as any other long run. Read the race report.

 

Sunday - Rest Day

Scheduled rest day. Just 6 days until my first half marathon! Yikes!