So, first let me give 2016 a proper farewell....
"2016, you started me off on a great path and by summer I had two trail marathons under my belt with a plan to run a 50 miler by Fall. That fell through, there were some good runs after that and I was getting faster. Final race of 2016 was Run with the Yeti 15k, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
By the 2nd mile my left toes were burning, even the ball of my foot hurt was painful. It didn't go away at all and made the trek very tough and miserable. But I finished 2nd place female in the 15k distance and I believe 3rd place overall. The following week I dealt with tight calves so I took 2 days off, came back and could barely lift my left leg and was having quite a bit of pain in my left quadriceps. I made the decision to take 2 weeks off, and it ended up being 18 days before my next run.
I ran 2.1 miles on Friday, December 30th. My quadriceps didn't complain much by my adductor muscle did feel tight.... I didn't want to hope too much but figured I'd just ease into 2017.
I finished 2016 with a total of 1,780 miles (according to strava), amounting to basically 300 hours.
I did two trail marathons, one half marathon and a few smaller distance races while winning 1st place in AG at the YMCA 10k race in August, 2nd place AG at the YMCA 15k in September. Then I blew my chance at placing well at the Evansville Half Marathon in October, by going out way too fast. I ran the Turkey Day 5k which was just chaotic, no race etiquette at all from people, almost 3,000 people total. I knocked like 42 seconds off of my PR or something like that, I didn't get below 24 minutes.
After the Thanksgiving Day race, I decided to register and run the Run with the Yeti 15k trail race. I wanted some redemption dang it.
I did well, except for the part I told you about above.... those shoes will never worn again. I did have to stop and use the bathroom which probably added 2-3 minutes so I ended up finishing around 1:20-1:21:00 or whatever.
So, goodbye 2016...
Hello 2017...
The game plan of running the Land Between the Lakes Marathon (March) again this year is gone, there is no way I can train enough and prepare for it.... which is pretty disheartening as I really enjoyed those trails last year. But maybe I still have a chance to run the Harmonie Trail Marathon if they have it... so far they haven't posted anything about the 2017 event.... which would be really disappointing as I very much enjoy that one as well. I guess I'll have to keep bugging the RD.
At this point, other than hoping there might be a marathon somewhere in 2017, I'll be doing a few 5k's, trying to place well and get a few trophies to make myself feel better. First one won't be until February (next month), then I know there is one in March and another in April. The Harmonie Trail Marathon isn't until May so I should be good.
Then 40 LB Sledgehammer Productions has some 5 race series starting this summer, one for each month I think... they're only 5k but that's alright, I can still enjoy it.
As for the Fall of 2017, who knows.... of course I'll be participating in the Evansville Half Marathon as usual.
Farewell for now guys.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Saturday, December 3, 2016
It's Been Awhile
My last post was my RR for the Evansville Half Marathon, so it's been like two months. I've been running but not exactly where I'd like to be, as far as mileage goes.
I've really just been taking it easy and getting in the runs as I can, I haven't really had much motivation to get out there and get in the high mileage. I consider getting in 12-15 miles for a long run to be a great run.
I had already registered for the Land Between the Lakes Marathon in March, but I'm not sure if I have the drive to put in the high mileage.... I guess we'll just have to see.
I've really just been taking it easy and getting in the runs as I can, I haven't really had much motivation to get out there and get in the high mileage. I consider getting in 12-15 miles for a long run to be a great run.
I had already registered for the Land Between the Lakes Marathon in March, but I'm not sure if I have the drive to put in the high mileage.... I guess we'll just have to see.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
2016 Evansville Half Marathon RR
First, let me just mention that I made some big, bad decisions at the start of this race.........
But, before heading to the start I woke up and took Jetta for a quick and easy 2 miler so that she wouldn't feel left out and to loosen my legs. It was very easy, then we got home, I finished getting ready and using the bathroom before I headed off to the start.
I parked a mile from the start and did another easy run, then headed to the bathroom one last time.
They had corals, the first one was the 1:40:00 pace group which began after the runners who would be much faster than that. I got in the front of the 2nd coral (1:50:00 pace), looking back I should have started at the back of the 1:40:00 group and lagged behind a little. The original plan was to average an 8:20 min/mile pace for the first 5-8 miles, but when the horn sounded.... that plan went right out the window.... My survival plan was to stay ahead of the 1:50:00 group.
Miles
1 - 7:54
2 - 8:05
3 - 8:09
4 - 8:24
5 - 8:32
At this point I was beginning to feel it, my quads were beginning to ache and I am still not very good at forcing myself to keep a consistent pace..... that's a lot of mental focus damn it....
I really don't remember when I had grabbed a cup of water and dumped it on my head... maybe mile 3 or 4?? But I think I grabbed a cup of gatorade between mile 5 and 6, slowed just a little but managed not to choke (except I did get a little bit on my fingers.... damn it.
Miles
6 - 8:37
7 - 8:48
8 - 9:37
9 - 9:18
10 - 10:00
By mile 7 I was starting to drag, and my stomach was slowly declaring mutiny... which was worrying me, it was around this time the 1:50:00 pace leader had caught up to me, and then moved ahead and then slowly kept getting further ahead of me...... I wasn't seeing a port-a-potty until around mile 8 and I didn't stop for it. I wanted to walk so bad, each time I tried... someone would come up from behind and push me on.... damn them.
Miles
11 - 9:19
12 - 10:54
Between miles 11 and 12, I had to stop at a port-a-potty... because things were really threatening to get bad, which added like a minute to my already awful time. I was really suffering, and angry with myself.... my legs were shot to hell.... I hadn't felt this awful during a half marathon in a long time......... it sucked.
Miles
13 - 8:44
.1 - 8:31
I saw the finish line, I was about a quarter mile from it when my stomach sounded an alarm.... and I just begged God to let me finish without a humiliating memory..
I finished without incident, I didn't place well, I knew it by looking at my time so I slowly walked back to the truck and headed home..... Yeah, it sucked.... I went out too fast and the tires had blown off by mile 5... learned my lesson.
bib number:
941
overall place:
357
division:
F 25-29
division place:
13 out of 151
gender place:
104 out of 1154
5k:
(pace: , rank: )
10k:
51:28 (pace: 8:17 , rank: 218 )
15k:
1:20:30 (pace: 8:39 , rank: 286 )
last 6k:
37:03 (pace: 9:57 , rank: 550 )
net time:
1:57:33
pace:
8:59 (based on net time)
But, before heading to the start I woke up and took Jetta for a quick and easy 2 miler so that she wouldn't feel left out and to loosen my legs. It was very easy, then we got home, I finished getting ready and using the bathroom before I headed off to the start.
I parked a mile from the start and did another easy run, then headed to the bathroom one last time.
They had corals, the first one was the 1:40:00 pace group which began after the runners who would be much faster than that. I got in the front of the 2nd coral (1:50:00 pace), looking back I should have started at the back of the 1:40:00 group and lagged behind a little. The original plan was to average an 8:20 min/mile pace for the first 5-8 miles, but when the horn sounded.... that plan went right out the window.... My survival plan was to stay ahead of the 1:50:00 group.
Miles
1 - 7:54
2 - 8:05
3 - 8:09
4 - 8:24
5 - 8:32
At this point I was beginning to feel it, my quads were beginning to ache and I am still not very good at forcing myself to keep a consistent pace..... that's a lot of mental focus damn it....
I really don't remember when I had grabbed a cup of water and dumped it on my head... maybe mile 3 or 4?? But I think I grabbed a cup of gatorade between mile 5 and 6, slowed just a little but managed not to choke (except I did get a little bit on my fingers.... damn it.
Miles
6 - 8:37
7 - 8:48
8 - 9:37
9 - 9:18
10 - 10:00
By mile 7 I was starting to drag, and my stomach was slowly declaring mutiny... which was worrying me, it was around this time the 1:50:00 pace leader had caught up to me, and then moved ahead and then slowly kept getting further ahead of me...... I wasn't seeing a port-a-potty until around mile 8 and I didn't stop for it. I wanted to walk so bad, each time I tried... someone would come up from behind and push me on.... damn them.
Miles
11 - 9:19
12 - 10:54
Between miles 11 and 12, I had to stop at a port-a-potty... because things were really threatening to get bad, which added like a minute to my already awful time. I was really suffering, and angry with myself.... my legs were shot to hell.... I hadn't felt this awful during a half marathon in a long time......... it sucked.
Miles
13 - 8:44
.1 - 8:31
I saw the finish line, I was about a quarter mile from it when my stomach sounded an alarm.... and I just begged God to let me finish without a humiliating memory..
I finished without incident, I didn't place well, I knew it by looking at my time so I slowly walked back to the truck and headed home..... Yeah, it sucked.... I went out too fast and the tires had blown off by mile 5... learned my lesson.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
2016 YMCA 15k Race
I haven't ran this race since 2013 I believe, although I might've ran it in 2014... I know that the last time was the same year I ran my first marathon so maybe it was 2014.
My speed/track/interval workouts have been helping quite a bit, I feel my speed and my stamina have both improved. I won't have a speed session this weekend but next weekend I'm going to try a 3x1200m interval, hoping to improve my stamina so that I can hold those paces longer.
This week I got hit with sinus issues, especially sinus pressure in my nose and head and a runny nose. So this morning I decided to take some Day-quil........ probably wasn't a good idea........
Jetta and I did a warm up run of 1.3 miles, it was a beautiful 61 degrees and the humidity wasn't really noticeable.
I got to downtown and parked, with about 40 minutes of spare time I took advantage of it by going to the restroom as many times as I could before the race start. From the get go I could tell my legs weren't having a great day, my hamstrings were tight, and other parts of my legs were feeling a bit like crap.
I had seen a lot of chicks up front, so I figured my chances of placing in the top 3 in my AG were gone. I just wanted to push myself and hold onto a good pace, my main goal was to PR, and to finish under 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Miles 1-3
Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 8:09
Mile 3 - 8:22
I had really wanted to hold the first mile pace, for at least the first 3-4 miles but apparently that isn't yet possible for me. I was also feeling the effects of that damn day-quil.
Miles 4-6
Mile 4 - 8:24
Mile 5 - 8:31
Mile 6 - 8:36
Around this time I did walk for about 30 seconds, to drink some water and pour it on my head. I really wanted to walk more, at this point I didn't give 2 flying fruitcakes if I finished beyond one hour and 30 minutes. I felt sucky, I wanted some gatorade and I just wanted it to be over. There were like 4-5 women in front of me, I know I passed 2 of them but one woman from out of nowhere did end up passing me when I had walked a second time to drink some water and pour the rest on my head.
Miles 7-9.3
Mile 7 - 8:24
Mile 8 - 8:21
Mile 9 - 8:41
Between mile 8 and 9, or around 8.6 I did walk for almost a minute after pouring water on my head again. Believe me, I wanted to walk even longer but I pushed myself to get moving.
Mile 9.3 - 8:03
I finished in 1:18:06 with an average pace of 8:23 min/mile, my goal was a pace of around 8:20 min/mile so I pretty close.
Results:
Bib # 610
Overall: 81 out of 673
Division Place: 2nd out of 42
Gender Place: 18 out of 417
The lady who beat me in our AG did so by 1 minute and 8 seconds.
Two pics that a friend took of me at the finish.
My speed/track/interval workouts have been helping quite a bit, I feel my speed and my stamina have both improved. I won't have a speed session this weekend but next weekend I'm going to try a 3x1200m interval, hoping to improve my stamina so that I can hold those paces longer.
This week I got hit with sinus issues, especially sinus pressure in my nose and head and a runny nose. So this morning I decided to take some Day-quil........ probably wasn't a good idea........
Jetta and I did a warm up run of 1.3 miles, it was a beautiful 61 degrees and the humidity wasn't really noticeable.
I got to downtown and parked, with about 40 minutes of spare time I took advantage of it by going to the restroom as many times as I could before the race start. From the get go I could tell my legs weren't having a great day, my hamstrings were tight, and other parts of my legs were feeling a bit like crap.
I had seen a lot of chicks up front, so I figured my chances of placing in the top 3 in my AG were gone. I just wanted to push myself and hold onto a good pace, my main goal was to PR, and to finish under 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Miles 1-3
Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 8:09
Mile 3 - 8:22
I had really wanted to hold the first mile pace, for at least the first 3-4 miles but apparently that isn't yet possible for me. I was also feeling the effects of that damn day-quil.
Miles 4-6
Mile 4 - 8:24
Mile 5 - 8:31
Mile 6 - 8:36
Around this time I did walk for about 30 seconds, to drink some water and pour it on my head. I really wanted to walk more, at this point I didn't give 2 flying fruitcakes if I finished beyond one hour and 30 minutes. I felt sucky, I wanted some gatorade and I just wanted it to be over. There were like 4-5 women in front of me, I know I passed 2 of them but one woman from out of nowhere did end up passing me when I had walked a second time to drink some water and pour the rest on my head.
Miles 7-9.3
Mile 7 - 8:24
Mile 8 - 8:21
Mile 9 - 8:41
Between mile 8 and 9, or around 8.6 I did walk for almost a minute after pouring water on my head again. Believe me, I wanted to walk even longer but I pushed myself to get moving.
Mile 9.3 - 8:03
I finished in 1:18:06 with an average pace of 8:23 min/mile, my goal was a pace of around 8:20 min/mile so I pretty close.
Results:
Bib # 610
Overall: 81 out of 673
Division Place: 2nd out of 42
Gender Place: 18 out of 417
The lady who beat me in our AG did so by 1 minute and 8 seconds.
Two pics that a friend took of me at the finish.
And my reward.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
I'm Converting Him!!!!! Slowly......
Yes, it is slowly.... or I'm trying not to be too pushy or since I don't want to scare him away, but it sure seems to be working out that way, he's only been running a week and has put in a total of 7.4 miles this week already, of course by incorporating walking into his running.
Last night during our 2 miler, I mentioned that maybe someday he could be doing 5k's and place pretty good in his AG. He kind of scoffed at it, saying that during school the longest he ever ran was a 1 mile and that was with an all out effort, he just didn't believe that he could put out a 7 mm pace for a 5k by the end of this year. I didn't push more on the subject.
BUT.. ... earlier this afternoon he asked me exactly how far a 5k is and I told him 3.1, only a mile more than what he is up to so far. He asked if I could find one in Evansville that him and I could do together, run/walking!
A Good Week, Race and Soreness
So this week wasn't going to be a high mileage week, my focus was making sure I was fresh and ready for the race.
Hubby and I had a 2.2 mile date night on the track Monday, then I ran 6 miles with Dorian and Jetta Tuesday night. Wednesday was a rest day for both of us, mainly because I had bible study.
Thursday night we had another 2.2 mile date night at the track.
Friday was another rest day, I picked up my race packet and then later that evening we went to see Suicide Squad in IMAX (it is a very entertaining movie, ignore the reviews, but the ending might frustrate you as much as it did me, or you'll laugh at it).
I couldn't sleep Friday night, even though Dorian slept through the night peacefully.
I was up at 4 AM, had some coffee then took Jetta out for a warm up 1.5 miler, very easy run.
It was going to be humid morning, and that made me a little nervous.... okay a lot nervous. I didn't like that at all.
Fast-forward to 7 AM and we started off, the first mile was at the pace I wanted and I was already feeling the humidity....
Mile 1 - 7:53 Min/Mile
The course was now on some old, nasty concrete along the highway (closed off) and by mile 2 my feet were beginning to tingle and go numb due to this nasty concrete. The humidity was just nasty, and there was no wind, I just kept pushing but knew my pace had dropped back. These next 3 miles sucked major balls.
Mile 2 - 8:11 min/mile
Mile 3 - 8:17 min/mile
Mile 4 - 8:20 min/mile
I really wanted to stop and walk, so badly. I didn't drink any water, instead I just dumped the water on my head, but it didn't really help because the water was luke warm. I kept going though, there were a few women around me and I just wanted to stay with them.
Mile 5 - 8:35 min/mile
I really wanted to walk, but then a facebook friend/woman by the name Sarah came up behind me said some encouraging words, I kept moving, maybe even picking up the pace a little. Then another facebook friend/man by the name Cao
came up behind me and and ran with me a little bit before going ahead. Yeah they stayed just up ahead, I just didn't have the energy to push harder to catch up with them. My head couldn't fight past the humidity, I just pushed on and fought to look good at the finish.
Mile 6 - 8:27
.2 - 7:53
I finished in 51:45 according to my chip, with a pace of 8:20 min/mile while my garmin said 6.26 miles in 51:47 with an average pace of 8:16 min/mile, it was a small PR from my last 10k race but not my A goal of under 50 minutes. I then had a few other runners stop me and congratulate me and one thank me for helping to push her and that I looked really strong out there, I must have a really good poker face.
I decided to stick around and wait for the results, not getting my hopes up because I figured I'd be let down.
Results:
Hubby and I had a 2.2 mile date night on the track Monday, then I ran 6 miles with Dorian and Jetta Tuesday night. Wednesday was a rest day for both of us, mainly because I had bible study.
Thursday night we had another 2.2 mile date night at the track.
Friday was another rest day, I picked up my race packet and then later that evening we went to see Suicide Squad in IMAX (it is a very entertaining movie, ignore the reviews, but the ending might frustrate you as much as it did me, or you'll laugh at it).
I couldn't sleep Friday night, even though Dorian slept through the night peacefully.
I was up at 4 AM, had some coffee then took Jetta out for a warm up 1.5 miler, very easy run.
It was going to be humid morning, and that made me a little nervous.... okay a lot nervous. I didn't like that at all.
Fast-forward to 7 AM and we started off, the first mile was at the pace I wanted and I was already feeling the humidity....
Mile 1 - 7:53 Min/Mile
The course was now on some old, nasty concrete along the highway (closed off) and by mile 2 my feet were beginning to tingle and go numb due to this nasty concrete. The humidity was just nasty, and there was no wind, I just kept pushing but knew my pace had dropped back. These next 3 miles sucked major balls.
Mile 2 - 8:11 min/mile
Mile 3 - 8:17 min/mile
Mile 4 - 8:20 min/mile
I really wanted to stop and walk, so badly. I didn't drink any water, instead I just dumped the water on my head, but it didn't really help because the water was luke warm. I kept going though, there were a few women around me and I just wanted to stay with them.
Mile 5 - 8:35 min/mile
I really wanted to walk, but then a facebook friend/woman by the name Sarah came up behind me said some encouraging words, I kept moving, maybe even picking up the pace a little. Then another facebook friend/man by the name Cao
came up behind me and and ran with me a little bit before going ahead. Yeah they stayed just up ahead, I just didn't have the energy to push harder to catch up with them. My head couldn't fight past the humidity, I just pushed on and fought to look good at the finish.
Mile 6 - 8:27
.2 - 7:53
I finished in 51:45 according to my chip, with a pace of 8:20 min/mile while my garmin said 6.26 miles in 51:47 with an average pace of 8:16 min/mile, it was a small PR from my last 10k race but not my A goal of under 50 minutes. I then had a few other runners stop me and congratulate me and one thank me for helping to push her and that I looked really strong out there, I must have a really good poker face.
I decided to stick around and wait for the results, not getting my hopes up because I figured I'd be let down.
Results:
| bib number: | 759 |
| overall place: | 64 out of 583 |
| division place: | 1 out of 36 |
| gender place: | 13 out of 364 |
| time: | 51:45 |
| pace: | 8:20 |
Here is my hard earned prize.
Monday, August 1, 2016
A Break from the Heat Wave, Runs and a Very Enjoyable Date Night
Okay, so last week we had a little bit of a break from the heat wave. I was able to do one double day, and got a total of 40.5 miles in.
Tuesday - 6.3 miles, Thursday - 7.2 miles in the AM and 3.5 miles in the PM, Friday - 5.1 miles, Saturday 8.3 miles in the AM and 1.1 miles on the track with DH in the PM, Sunday - 9 miles on the track (6x800mm)
So, I don't think I mentioned last week or the week before that DH had his feet looked at for a good pair of running shoes and wanted to start running as a form of cardio and to lose weight. Nothing big, his current goal is to just reach a point where he is running 5-10 miles a week. Saturday evening we went to the track and the original plan was for one lap, but the first two laps involved some walking, he had to loosen his shoe strings and tie the known towards the inside of his feet as he was noticing burning sensations on the outside of his right foot. It seemed to help, we did 1.1 miles total and he did really good - I call that a date night and hopefully we'll be hitting the track again tonight.
At the track Saturday night
Sunday night, the plan was 6x800m, first a 2 mile warm up and then the intervals and then a 2 mile cool down which should give me 9 miles. After I realized I would be reach 9 miles by the first mile cool down, I called it a night and was happy with it.
According to my garmin, I had two PR's - a 5k time of 23:57 and a 10k time of 48:48, so hopefully this Saturday's race will be an exciting and tough one.
Tuesday - 6.3 miles, Thursday - 7.2 miles in the AM and 3.5 miles in the PM, Friday - 5.1 miles, Saturday 8.3 miles in the AM and 1.1 miles on the track with DH in the PM, Sunday - 9 miles on the track (6x800mm)
So, I don't think I mentioned last week or the week before that DH had his feet looked at for a good pair of running shoes and wanted to start running as a form of cardio and to lose weight. Nothing big, his current goal is to just reach a point where he is running 5-10 miles a week. Saturday evening we went to the track and the original plan was for one lap, but the first two laps involved some walking, he had to loosen his shoe strings and tie the known towards the inside of his feet as he was noticing burning sensations on the outside of his right foot. It seemed to help, we did 1.1 miles total and he did really good - I call that a date night and hopefully we'll be hitting the track again tonight.
At the track Saturday night
Sunday night, the plan was 6x800m, first a 2 mile warm up and then the intervals and then a 2 mile cool down which should give me 9 miles. After I realized I would be reach 9 miles by the first mile cool down, I called it a night and was happy with it.
According to my garmin, I had two PR's - a 5k time of 23:57 and a 10k time of 48:48, so hopefully this Saturday's race will be an exciting and tough one.
I was aiming for a pace between 7:30-8:00mm as that is my goal pace for this coming Saturday, and I figured it would be relatively tough but easy....ish.
That didn't happen, with the beginning of each hard lap, I found myself around a 7mm pace 
WTF!!!
WTF!!!
Anyways....
Splits Time
1 18:33 9:17mm
2 3:30.4 7:01mm
3 4:25.4 8:51mm
4 3:21.1 6:42mm
5 4:39.0 9:18mm
6 3:25.6 6:51mm
7 4:29.1 8:58mm
8 3:27.8 6:56mm
9 4:14.1 8:28mm
10 3:19.5 6:39mm
11 4:21.7 8:44mm
12 3:24.5 6:49mm
13 4:13.5 8:27mm
14 8:35.4 8:35mm
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