Vacation, training and hello 2013

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Florida, where we saw family and enjoyed some sunshine. I actually have a tan now, which is much welcomed - the older I get, the more having a tan helps:) Aside from a nightmare trip back, with a cancelled flight,  a 7 year old sleeping on the floor in the airport and a luggage that arrived more than 24 hours after our flight, we had a wonderful time. We managed to avoid Disney, and went to Legoland, Wet & Wild, the Science Center and a few mini golf places instead - my son's preferences! We spent a lot of time with family and my mom, which was truly the highlight of the trip.

The moment I stepped off the plane and felt the 80 degree weather I decided that I will completely abandon my training plan. I did not want to wake up before 8am (to avoid the heat) during vacation, and generally wanted to be relaxed and not concerned about fitting training in. The weeks before I had run 65 and 70 miles, so I felt comfortable looking at this week as  recovery. I still ended up with 61 miles and 3 solid progressions with last 3-5 miles sub 7, and last mile @ 5K pace. Good enough.

I ran on concrete the entire week. By the last day my L knee started hurting a bit. I guess going from doing 50% of my runs on trails to 100% on concrete pissed my knee off. So I took it to the elliptical on Thursday, and then ran 8 slow miles on trails yesterday. Today I wanted to do 13 (my longest run the past week was 10 miles), with 6 miles @ 6:30. Last night I used some KT tape on my knee, and by morning I felt awesome. The knee was fine during the run, and I ended up running 10 miles @ 6:55, with 5 @ 6:25 followed by 2x800m @ 6:05. I had to stop at 5 miles bc I got to an intersection/stoplight, and then .5 mile after I stopped to talk to a friend. Still happy with the run. Then ran 3 miles easy back home, for a total of 13 @ 7:05. Pretty happy with this. Now if only my knee would not give me grief!!!!. Running in the 30 degree morning felt so good compared to the 70-80 degrees of Florida. I think I am a cold weather girl at heart:)

I spent some time thinking about 2012. Not much racing for me due to 3 injuries, a bitter sweet 19:00 5K PR, but a lot of knowledge gained when it comes to running, and some great friendships through this blog. This year, particularly the last half was parenting heavy for me, as my son moved more into academics, and I've become the parent responsible for that. Running took a bit of a secondary place in my life - I do not need it as much to cope with things, and this has given me freedom and confidence. At the same time, I do want the PRs, and I do want the fast running. I just want it for different reasons now. The thrill of running fast, and the feeling I carry with me for the rest of the day is, for me, better than any PR.

Thanks for following along and have the 2013 that you want to have:)

Thoughts, training, life and news

With little time on my hands, here we go bullet point style.

* TRAINING  -is going really well. After a couple of weeks where my legs were terribly confused, heavy and sore, I am finally noticing that I am gaining fitness. And this is very motivating. My legs are adjusting to the increase in mileage (65 last week, 70 this week - I won't go higher than this) and feel great. I am not sure exactly what I will be going for at my first HM in February, and will let the workouts I do dictate that. So far comparing my training to 2011 (last time I trained for a HM), I am running more miles, faster average pace, faster intervals and faster tempos. This increases my confidence.

Some great workouts this past week:
 9 miles tempo, 3 @ MAF, 4 @ 10K-HM (6:20 pace), 2@ MAF.
13 miles progression, 6.5 @ MAF, 3 @ MAF+10, 2@ MAF+15, 1@ MAF+20, .5 cool down (7:12 pace)

Still taking it slow here, but working in HMP miles when I feel good.

* CORE CHALLENGE - I am in the middle of a 30 day core challenge. This means I committed to doing 10 min core exercises/day. I have 3 cycles I circle through, to keep things interesting. I feel so much stronger and able to keep my form when my legs get tired, that I think I will keep this in. I may have skipped a couple of days in there, but made up the time the next day, so it is all good.

* LIFE - going to Florida for a little vacation to see family, Legoland and Seaworld (happy that my son has no interest in Disney...I have no interest in spending my time waiting in line, ha!).

* PARENTING - I won't say much here, but do want to mention that all those people with babies who think that raising little kids is hard...just wait until school starts. Oh, my! Between homework, daily reading and activities I am finding that my free time is shrinking and shrinking. Parenting is more interesting, for sure, but much more demanding for older kids, at least for me.

* WHO's getting faster? Katie is! Holy Batman I am impressed on a daily bases by how fast she is getting and how quickly.

* NEWS - I am very excited to be part of the Brooks ID program again this year. I love Brooks and I love the opportunity they give to non elite runners through the ID program.

Observations

I've completed 2 weeks of training for my 2 upcoming half marathons. Things have not been going as smoothly as I would have liked them to go. My legs needed time to adjust to the increase in mileage. I had to slow down my pace on some runs due to higher HR. I was rather puzzled for a bit there, but kept track of the data (both HR, weather, sleep, diet, stress, etc). I now have clear proof that my HR is higher when under stress and/or when I don't sleep enough. Dah!!! But for me, having the data really made a difference. I have always been really good about sleep, but lately I have been staying up too late enjoying time with Chris at the end of some pretty stressful days. There isn't much to do about stress but to ride it out, problem solve and take care of yourself; I had been partly neglecting the take care of yourself part, the part that I have control over.

Anyway, I am out of the stressful patch. Went to bed at a reasonable time last night, got 9 hours of sleep, and today I had a really good run. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a simple progression, but my HR was lower than I have seen it in a long time, and I felt really strong. I ran 14 miles @ 7:20, 7 miles building up from MAF-10 beats to MAF (aerobic HR) @ 7:45, 3.5 miles @ MAF+5 beats and then 3.5 @ MAF+10 beats, which ended up being 6:52 pace. Nothing hard in this run, just a progression from easy to moderate, on a cool and rainy day, on rolling terrain. Happy!

And now I have to contain my enthusiasm and make sure I won't push it too hard too soon. I have a tendency to run myself into the ground by working too hard too soon. I love running hard and pushing my runs to the limit. But I know that I am not a spring chicken and need to be smart about how hard I push and when I push. My February HM is a B race. My goal race is in March. Plenty of time to push much later on! For now, my main focus will be on making sure I get enough sleep and don't run myself into the ground. Because the big goal is to run myself into a PR:) in March.