Thursday, August 30, 2012

UPDATE!

I apologize that I've been absent for the past two weeks or so. Things have been pretty hectic lately.

HOWEVER, I have exciting news! On October 21st, I will be running the Rock & Roll St. Louis Half Marathon. While I have ambitious goals to PR, I really just can't wait to run another race. The energy and excitement around race day just makes me so happy :). That being said, the next two months will revolve around running fast and shorter distances. I hope to make it out to my school's track (hopefully the track kids don't intimidate me too much...) and bust out some speedy intervals.

My running for the past week since I got back to school has been pretty inconsistent. I forgot how hot and humid it gets in St. Louis... note to self, never move away from California. I successfully completed a 10 mile run my first day here, but that's because I ran early in the morning. Late afternoon runs here are impossible. With temperatures reaching the high 80's, I struggled to keep my pace and had to stop multiple times at water fountains in the past few days. Next week marks the start of my half-marathon training plan so I hope to get my water/heat problem sorted out before then. I'm thinking that I might have to get a fuel belt for the first time...

Stay tuned for a more thorough update tomorrow! I don't have classes on Fridays so I'm hoping to wake up early for a long run of 14-16 miles or so.

Friday, August 17, 2012

It's Play Time!

Recently I've been switching things up a bit which has made running 1381904810x more fun.

Yesterday. 7 total miles! I went to a local trail that overlooks the bay. You know how wind makes you feel like you're working hard and running fast, only to see that your pace is like one full minute slower than your usual easy pace? That's pretty much what happened, except for the lovely fact that headwind followed me even after I switched directions. So after two slow miles I decided to pack it in...and found myself on a treadmill at the gym instead.

So beautiful. So little motivation.
I was in a grumpy mood; it was so nice out and I bailed on a beautiful run. So, to make things more fun, I decided to run mile repeats to avoid treadmill boredom! I wasn't going incredibly fast, but I did a total of 4 7:30 miles with quarter mile jogs in between. I'm hoping to sub 1:40 in a fall half-marathon so I have to start practicing running at a 7 something pace again. (During marathon training I mostly ran in the 8 minute mile pace because my goal pace was an 8:12 mile.)

I definitely think the treadmill has its place in training. While treadmills are sometimes not calibrated correctly, they are great in keeping you right on a target pace. I, for one, have a hard time pushing myself to do an outside tempo run; it's too easy to slow down when I'm feeling tired. However, once I punch in a goal speed on the treadmill, I am more likely to stick it out.

Today. I went on a 3 mile hilly hike with my friends Emma and Deborah. It was great to get out and soak in a little sunshine.
Me and Emma!

Me and Deb!
Despite the being in the 70's, I wore my compression socks. My mileage has been a little higher this week since the marathon. I averaged 40 miles Monday-Thursday so it was important to get in a little recovery today.

The highlight of my week?

Well, that's to come. I have yet to try them out yet but I can safely say that I'm a total sucker for new running toys. It's play time!


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Getting Back into the Groove

Ah the post-marathon blues... are surprisingly non-existent! I run for pleasure, not punishment so I still embrace my daily runs.

This morning I ran 7 easy miles on the treadmill at a 8:34min/mile pace. The past few days I've been exploring the trails and streets around my neighborhood without any goal distance/pace. I live in a pretty hilly area, so the relaxed pace was welcomed. I tend to avoid any significant elevation changes during training for fear of getting burnt out and not finishing a workout, which is silly. Hills and tempos are meant to be challenging and will help me meet my goals.

For example, this was my run yesterday.



The downhill was fabulous. However, I definitely took the lazy way out and walk/ran the 2 miles uphill back home.




For some, post-marathon recovery requires lots of rest and no running. I took the following Monday and Tuesday off, but resumed with a 3 miler last Wednesday. My breathing was a little rough; I couldn't quite catch my breath, but within a few days everything resumed to normal. I probably could have used one or two more days of rest but I'm glad to be moving again!