We're getting down to the nitty gritty now. Here's the Week 14 roundup!
Sunday 11/5: Planned - Rest / Actual - EQT Ten Miler (volunteer)
After a busy race day on Saturday we came back home and I got up extra early on Sunday for... another race? Yep! But in a change of direction, this time I was volunteering. Earlier in the prior week I'd seen a last call for volunteers for the EQT Ten Miler, which was my goal race last fall and my first double-digit race distance. I wasn't planning on running this year since my actual plan had called for a 10K on this weekend, but volunteering - that I could do! I've always wanted to but it seemed like most of the time I already had other plans made that conflicted. This time the biggest challenge was going to be waking up early, since they asked us to be in place around 6:30 in the morning before roads closed for the course. I was also concerned rain - when I went to bed on Saturday night the forecast called for intermittent thunderstorms basically for the entire duration of the race!
Luckily, it was the weekend of the time change and that extra hour really helped! When I got up not only was I feeling more refreshed than I expected, but another check of the forecast seemed to be indicating that the rain was tapering off and might stay clear for the race as well! So I made it to the North Shore dry and on time, but did have a bit of trouble finding parking that wasn't already blocked off in the area. Fortunately they didn't seem to be too far along by the time I did actually make it to my post. I'd signed up to help with the water stop near Mile 4, and they were just unboxing gallons of water as I arrived and handing out tubes of paper cups. After some brief instructions I introduced myself to a couple of ladies who were also volunteering and we started setting up cups and filling them.
It was absolutely perfect running weather as the rain continued to hold off. Cool, cloudy - maybe a little humid, but pretty great overall. The race started at 8 and not too long after we cheered the handcycles through and got ready for the runners. The elites had a head start in addition to their speedy legs, but we weren't really expecting them to take any water. Regardless, we were ready with cups aloft (there was a Gatorade table first, but I was the first person at the first water table!) and one of the elites did grab a cup from me. I didn't totally mess it up!
After that we had a very brief break and then the non-elite speedsters came through. The first few waves of bigger groups started with the 7-8 minute pacers, which were probably the most challenging. Not as many runners took water, but when they did they were moving fast and not really interested in slowing down. I did end up goofing up a couple times and dropping a cup or otherwise not getting the handoff quite right. As the pace groups continued into the 9-11 minute range the waves of people got much bigger and we were super busy! I was hoping to spot a friend who was running but never managed to look much past my cups of water and the people who wanted them until we were dealing with the 12-15 minute groups.
Lots of thanks were given to us (which was neat; I'm usually the one trying to force my runner brain to remember to thank volunteers), and we tried really hard to give lots of encouragement right back out. I'd use the names printed on bibs when I could read them, as well as cheering specific pace groups as they went by, or commenting on peoples' cool shirts or tights, etc. It went pretty well! It seemed like no time at all went by before the last runners passed and the sweeper bus came along - my first time seeing one, actually, which I guess is a good thing!
We started cleanup and since we had lots of help, the stop was pretty much packed up and ready to be loaded back onto the P3R truck in short order. A couple runners had tossed away clothing as they passed - a neon yellow shirt and a pink hat, which I thought maybe could go in a sort of lost and found, but the guy running the stop said they didn't really do that and whoever wanted them could take them. The shirt is pretty bright (so, visible) and the hat was nice, so in addition to my free race shirt (and volunteer lanyard) I got a couple bonus items out of this one, plus the knowledge that I will absolutely be doing race volunteering again - this was a great time and it felt really nice to participate even though I wasn't running that day. P3R made it super easy to sign up, and though I'm thinking I want to run again in this one next year, there will be other chances to help out.
Extra bonus (for me, anyway) - it waited to start raining again until I got back in my car, and by the time I got home it was thundering! Looks like I picked a good year to volunteer instead of run, as I'm not sure I would have been fast enough to avoid the downpour.
After that we had a very brief break and then the non-elite speedsters came through. The first few waves of bigger groups started with the 7-8 minute pacers, which were probably the most challenging. Not as many runners took water, but when they did they were moving fast and not really interested in slowing down. I did end up goofing up a couple times and dropping a cup or otherwise not getting the handoff quite right. As the pace groups continued into the 9-11 minute range the waves of people got much bigger and we were super busy! I was hoping to spot a friend who was running but never managed to look much past my cups of water and the people who wanted them until we were dealing with the 12-15 minute groups.
Lots of thanks were given to us (which was neat; I'm usually the one trying to force my runner brain to remember to thank volunteers), and we tried really hard to give lots of encouragement right back out. I'd use the names printed on bibs when I could read them, as well as cheering specific pace groups as they went by, or commenting on peoples' cool shirts or tights, etc. It went pretty well! It seemed like no time at all went by before the last runners passed and the sweeper bus came along - my first time seeing one, actually, which I guess is a good thing!
We started cleanup and since we had lots of help, the stop was pretty much packed up and ready to be loaded back onto the P3R truck in short order. A couple runners had tossed away clothing as they passed - a neon yellow shirt and a pink hat, which I thought maybe could go in a sort of lost and found, but the guy running the stop said they didn't really do that and whoever wanted them could take them. The shirt is pretty bright (so, visible) and the hat was nice, so in addition to my free race shirt (and volunteer lanyard) I got a couple bonus items out of this one, plus the knowledge that I will absolutely be doing race volunteering again - this was a great time and it felt really nice to participate even though I wasn't running that day. P3R made it super easy to sign up, and though I'm thinking I want to run again in this one next year, there will be other chances to help out.
Extra bonus (for me, anyway) - it waited to start raining again until I got back in my car, and by the time I got home it was thundering! Looks like I picked a good year to volunteer instead of run, as I'm not sure I would have been fast enough to avoid the downpour.
Monday 11/6: Planned - Easy: 40 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 40 minutes @ Z2 + 12:02 cooldown (3.51 miles)
Legs were still feeling a bit fatigued from Saturday's race, though not as sore or tired as I would have expected after a race, let along a PR one. I did make some effort to roll/use the Stick, and it seems to have helped. GPS glitched a little on this one so it was probably a little longer than indicated here.
Tuesday 11/7: Planned - Intervals: 10 minutes warmup + (5 minutes @ Z4 + 1 minute @ Z2) x 4 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 10 minutes warmup + (5 minutes @ Z4 + 1 minute @ Z2) x 4 + 7:58 cooldown (3.26 miles)
Hill repeats, though the shorter interval still made it hard to keep synced up as I eventually shifted to the faster portion being on the recovery part of the loop. No matter, still good for the legs and they seemed to be recovering well from the 10K.
Wednesday 11/8: Planned - Easy: 30 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 13:47 cooldown (3.51 miles)
I ended up sleeping in on Wednesday morning, and then Mike offered to bring over dinner so I could eat immediately post-run, so that's what I did! It was lovely - cool and sunny and felt pretty much like Spring despite the leaves on the ground. It's nice to not run in the dark all the time! And then we ate yummy Honeygrow stirfry (though they goofed up and put my sauce on his dish and vice-versa) for dinner.
Thursday 11/9: Planned - Rest / Actual - Rest
Admittedly, I was supposed to go to the gym, but this close to race day I have a hard time getting there as I start to want to avoid risking some weird injury. So I went shopping instead! Next week I have a run scheduled on my normal gym day, and then it's race week, so I'll get back in December and will probably hate the DOMS for a few weeks but for right now I want to play it safe.
Friday 11/10: Planned - Fartlek: 40 minutes @ varying pace (90% of max effort effort on 3-4 hills) + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 40 minutes @ varying pace + 7:56 cooldown (3.86 miles)
I'm pretty sure I won't be doing these on my next training cycle - the format is just too freeform for me. I need at least a little structure and one of the reasons I have a watch is so I don't have to think too much about how slow/fast to run! That said, I could tell my legs were pretty well recovered and this run felt nice overall.
Saturday 11/11: Planned - 40 minutes @ Z2 + 40 minutes @ Z4 (race pace) / Actual - 2:23:11 @ Z2-Z3, hills route (10.26 miles)
I decided to completely disregard my plan as I mentioned last week, because I wanted to get in one last long run before my race. My legs felt good and overall I know the hill work has been beneficial, so I asked Mike if he'd join me for one more pass through the 10 mile route he planned and we ran a few weeks ago. He agreed, and we got up on a very chilly Saturday morning (and actually waited a few hours for it to warm up a bit) to give it another go.
He'd re-printed the turn-by-turn instructions and we pretty quickly figured out that the route was reversed this time around. Instead of trying to remember what we did before or reverse the directions ourselves we decided to go with it (though I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to directly compare the two runs on Strava), which I guess kept things a little fresh. Some of the cul-de-sac loops were the same, but we'd be running them in reverse order, which meant some big hills were now downhills, and vice versa.
Overall I seemed to have dressed correctly for the windy, cold weather - hat, Buff, vest, tech long sleeve (with crew neck, so no chafing!), full length thermal tights (though these are a bit looser than they were last year and probably need to be replaced), and my good gloves with the heat reflector material inside. I brought along another Gu for halfway and had eaten my bagel and PB and a Clif bar for breakfast. The Gu is all right for me, which is good to know, but I think I'll probably stick to Honey Stinger chews for race day as I like the constant flow of calories as well as how I can use them to count down the miles (I take a pack of 10 and start eating them one per mile when I finish Mile 3).
I decided to completely disregard my plan as I mentioned last week, because I wanted to get in one last long run before my race. My legs felt good and overall I know the hill work has been beneficial, so I asked Mike if he'd join me for one more pass through the 10 mile route he planned and we ran a few weeks ago. He agreed, and we got up on a very chilly Saturday morning (and actually waited a few hours for it to warm up a bit) to give it another go.
He'd re-printed the turn-by-turn instructions and we pretty quickly figured out that the route was reversed this time around. Instead of trying to remember what we did before or reverse the directions ourselves we decided to go with it (though I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to directly compare the two runs on Strava), which I guess kept things a little fresh. Some of the cul-de-sac loops were the same, but we'd be running them in reverse order, which meant some big hills were now downhills, and vice versa.
Overall I seemed to have dressed correctly for the windy, cold weather - hat, Buff, vest, tech long sleeve (with crew neck, so no chafing!), full length thermal tights (though these are a bit looser than they were last year and probably need to be replaced), and my good gloves with the heat reflector material inside. I brought along another Gu for halfway and had eaten my bagel and PB and a Clif bar for breakfast. The Gu is all right for me, which is good to know, but I think I'll probably stick to Honey Stinger chews for race day as I like the constant flow of calories as well as how I can use them to count down the miles (I take a pack of 10 and start eating them one per mile when I finish Mile 3).
I didn't have my HRM fussing at me constantly but I was keeping an eye on my HR and with the exception of one big hill towards the end where I did end up walking, it stayed below 160 and that was the only mile that ended up over 15:00 (by 3 seconds) - so our times were definitely better than last time! I thought maybe the elevation was somehow easier taking the route this way, but based on my GPS the total elevation gain was within 20 feet or so, so I guess that's good news for me. Overall our average time was 1:30/mile faster than last time, and my HR was only, on average, about 5BPM faster on this run. I'll consider that a win on the last long run until race day!
Weekly Total Distance: 24.4 (up 5:06 miles from Week 13)
Weight Lost: Impossible to tell! My body is very confused by my plans to eat ~300 calories more per day and has basically sat exactly in the same spot all week. And after Saturday's long run, Mike hosted a giant pizza tasting party at his house, so...who knows! I'm keeping an eye on my calories overall and as long as I don't overeat on a weekly basis, I'm confident everything will sort itself out in the long run (ha).
Next week: Week 15 is really approaching the heart of taper time, mostly in that my long run is only going to be an hour, which I'm planning on sticking to since that will be one week out at that point (hard to believe!). I'm a little sad to see my big (for me) mileage weeks fading away, but since I have pretty big plans for December and 2018 in general, I know it won't be long before I'm there again.
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