The answer to last week's question is YES - fall seems to finally be here, more or less. Here's what happened in Week 11...
Sunday 10/15: Planned - Rest / Actual - Spirit Run 5K (3.1 miles @ 30:45)
I didn't want to miss the opportunity to dress up and be sparkly in public, so off I went! Fun race, a bit warm (as opposed to the polar vortex two years ago), and not sure if I'd repeat it since there are so many other opportunities in the fall and I like trying new things. I looked cute, though!
Monday 10/16: Planned - 40 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - Rest
Swapped this easy run for the 5K; not an even trade but after running many days in a row, having one off was much needed and greatly appreciated!
Tuesday 10/17: Planned - Threshold: 10 minutes @ Z2 + 25 minutes @ Z4 + 5 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 10 minutes @ Z2 + 25 minutes @ Z4 + 5 minutes @ Z2 + 10:37 cooldown (4.01 miles)
A very chilly morning, finally, and a slight modification to my normal neighborhood route to include a single trip up the giant hill I've started running. Enjoyed this run a lot, as I usually do when I get to be a bit more speedy in my neighborhood. Pulled out the gloves and actually needed them, too!
Wednesday 10/18: Planned - Rest / Actual - Rest
Another rest day Wednesday, but in this case I had an actual run scheduled for Thursday so that made a little more sense. Still throwing off my schedule to not run, but I enjoyed sleeping in.
Thursday 10/19: Planned - Intervals: 10 minutes warmup + (10 minutes @ Z4 + 2 minutes @ Z2) x 2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 10 minutes warmup + (10 minutes @ Z4 + 2 minutes @ Z2) x 2 + 11:36 cooldown (3.51 miles) AND Random gym session (PM)
Hill time! This run was a little shorter than the week before so I only got four repeats, but it was a good run. Still fairly cool but didn't bring the gloves since I knew I'd be working pretty hard, which I did.
I almost didn't go to the gym in the evening, but decided that I had to do it here or on the following Sunday, and I'd rather sleep in on Sunday than be lazy on a random Thursday evening when I didn't even have anything specific going on, so off to the gym I went, a bit later than normal as I ran some errands and had dinner after work before going home to change. Errands were fun, though, as I went to GNC and stocked up on Quest Bars for the next few months, as well as these tasty treats which I'm completely obsessed with. Our GNC is right next to the running store, so I also stopped in there to buy a few more packets of Skratch and decided to pick up a few other things to try, including some Gus! I figure it's time to start playing with nutrition since I'm almost a month out from the race and my long runs are long enough to need a little something, so it works out well.
Once I got home and changed, I pulled out the original leggings I'd planned for my unicorn costume and had a decent workout: squats, bench, sit-ups, leg extensions, and rows/biceps/triceps on the TRX. Progress is being made on the renovations (check out the new mural)!
Friday 10/20: Planned - Recovery: 30 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 10:33 cooldown (2.78 miles)
I was more than happy to take this one easy, as my legs were still feeling a bit trashed after the hill workout the day before, and I knew Saturday's run was going to be (intentionally) challenging. Kept it slow and easy.
Saturday 10/21: Planned - 120 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 120 minutes @ Z2 + 39:19 cooldown (10.28 miles)
In my effort to find more good hills to run on, I asked Mike (who loves coming up with running routes) to see if he could find me a good hilly run of about 10 miles. Midweek he sent me a few options and offered to come along to keep me company, and I agreed! So early Saturday morning he showed up and we drove a little ways out into the countryside, printouts in hand, to unknown adventure! I ate my bagel and PB, but since I didn't have any bananas I also took along a bar from the sample box I mentioned last week, as well as Skratch in my handheld and a Chocolate Coconut Roctane Gu, which I planned on taking before, during, and midway through the run, respectively.
I'd checked the forecast, which was supposed to be mid-fifties and clear/sunny, but it was definitely too cold for the t-shirt I'd picked, and I would have appreciated the gloves I'd left at home, too. Luckily Mike had a spare long-sleeved shirt in his car which he loaned me. I'd still end up being much too cold for most of the run (until the sun really got up and we were almost finished, really) but it was better than what I'd come with!
The sun was barely up when we started, running up a residential street and straight up a hill into a park for a brief trail segment. After that it was all streets, some with no shoulder (thankfully very little traffic that early in the morning), subdivisions with much-welcomed sidewalks, dogs (some more aggressive than others), and of course, most importantly... hills! I came to run those hills so I didn't stop to walk unless my HR got up past the middle of Zone 3, even though I was supposed to stay in 2. There was still a fair amount of walking - this route didn't mess around! On one of the streets we spotted a worksite with portapotty, which we didn't need but noted for later. In the subdivisions there were actually a lot of really good and clever Halloween decorations, which was good for keeping up visual interest and even maybe some ideas for next year.
Once we hit the 5 mile mark I popped open the Gu and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was basically chocolate frosting with bonus caffeine. I have no idea why people dislike this stuff - but then again, I'll probably stay away from the fruit flavors because I could see that being kind of weird. Regardless, for me it was quite enjoyable and gave me some extra pep to keep going. Definitely looking forward to trying the other flavors I snagged.
The biggest downside of this run (other than being a lot colder than I would have liked - my hands were pretty stiff by Mile 8 or so) was that because of the hills, it was slow going, which meant we were out for a lot longer than the planned time of ~two hours. As we passed the portapotty we spotted on the way in, I debated it for a minute before Mike talked me into taking advantage of it, which was the right choice. At some point I started talking about all the cheeseburgers I wanted to eat because my stomach was getting kind of noisy. The good news is that my legs really only started complaining on the big downhills near the ten-mile mark, and we still were able to open up and run fairly hard on the last straight stretch to the car - at that point it felt pretty good to move a little more quickly so easily!
When we got back to the house I had the best shower I can remember having in my life, and after finally hauling myself out of there, got dressed (yay compression socks, again) and we headed out to join some friends at Triple B Farms for some fall festivities. And while I didn't get any cheeseburgers, I did have some amazing funnel fries with pumpkin caramel sauce (shared with the group because those things were dangerous), a pretty good pulled pork sandwich, and a yummy apple cider donut with cinnamon sugar. Plus, we toured the fields on a hayride, hung out with and fed some goats, and didn't get too terribly lost in the corn maze! A pretty good day, overall - I was super pleased that I had the energy for all that after our hilly morning adventure. After that, it was time to settle in and work on finalizing my actual (non-running) Halloween costume, as the big day was approaching fast!
Weekly Total Time: 5:26:52 (up 9:28 from Week 10)
Weekly Total Distance: 23.68 (up .47 miles from Week 10 and still slow but that's okay)
Weight Lost: Down another pound and a half. I ate a lot after D&D the Sunday of the Spirit Run (plus all the post-race goodies) but the rest of the week was solid and it shows on the scale! I'm getting pretty close to goal now, and with one more planned race coming up I'm going to have to work on transitioning to maintenance calories to get the most out of my training and race potential.
Next week: Week 12 will be pretty much more of the same - hills, intervals, and more than likely, another trip around that same 10-miler for Saturday's long run because it's good practice even if it takes me a long time to get it done! Keeping mindful of my body and its limitations as I ask more and more of it, but so far the easier paces have definitely been beneficial. Getting close... next week will be one month to go!
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