Swamp Rabbit Half Training (Week 4 of 12)

Week 4 - Holiday weeks are always all over the place

Ended up doing Tuesday's track workout on Thursday, long run on Tuesday instead of Saturday, hilly moderate tempo on Sunday... but hey, I'm moving and working. 

Monday

3.2 mi @ 9:13/mi

Ran the XC course at lunch for my last in-office day of 2024! Have been focused on road miles so was nice to take an easy lap on the trails.

Tuesday

10.0 mi @ 8:25/mi

Met a group of fast friends for a Xmas Eve run on the Green Valley course. Did my best to keep up but after 7 miles of about 8:20 and below I had to dial back for the final 3. 

Jumping pic, of course

Wednesday

3.1 mi @ 9:07/mi

Easy miles in a loop at sunset. Peaceful.

Thursday

5.3 mi @ 8:22/mi

Went up to the old Trailblazer track for the interval work today. Warmed up with 1.5 miles through the Northcliff neighborhood then hit the track for 400m repeats. Target was 1:35-1:40 per repeat, and was able to hit that for all of them except one at 1:41. These felt tougher than expected but glad I was able to knock them out. 

Friday

1 mi walk + 60 min vinyasa yoga

Needed this yoga sesh. 

Saturday

6 mi Liberty Libations ruck (20#)

Met up with the ruck club for a group ruck challenge today and ended up with 6 miles and a nice new patch. Even had local Cadre Fagan join along with the club today! Fun times were had.

Sunday

6.5 mi @ 8:25/mi 

Decided on a solid steady effort with some hills for today's run. Feelin' good!

Swamp Rabbit Half Training (Week 3 of 12)

Christmas holidays got me a little off schedule with the blog-o, so catching up....

Week #3

Monday

3 mi race pace (0.5 mi warmup, 3 mi @ 7:16/mi, 0.5 mi cooldown)

Ran the frontage road out-and-back for this race pace and went a little hot, definitely felt it but was able to finish it out.

Tuesday

3 mi easy + 7x hills = total 10k Tuesday

Ran 3 miles with the pup at an easy pace in the morning.

Lunch time run with 7x hill repeats and finished out the 10k miles for the day.

Wednesday

rest

Thursday

5.03 mi @ 8:15/mi

3 mile progression run on the USC Upstate loop with a mile warm-up and cooldown on either side. Progression miles were pretty even splits at 8:15, 7:45, and 7:15 per mile.

Friday

2.4 mi pup ruck 30#

Saturday

Tacky Sweater 5k - 3 mi @ 10:31/mi

Sunday

NC Strong ruck workout

Did this workout with John, 20# ruck and 40# sandbag. Patch proceeds supporting Helene recovery efforts. Didn't push too much on pace but had a good time working hard.

Swamp Rabbit Half Training (Week 2 of 12)

Week 2

Monday

3.04 mi @ 9:14/mi

Easy out and back on the trail in the afternoon. Waited for a break in the rain and to give the legs longer to recover, but dang they are still super sore and tired!

15 min Ab Ripper X (P90X)

Felt like doing a little core work so I dug out my old P90X DVDs and did the Ab Ripper X video. I forgot how annoying Tony is. 😂

Tuesday

6.27 mi @ 8:37/mi avg - 7x400m @ 5k pace

Speed workout today in the middle of 10k Tuesday. Was able to get out during a break in the rain at lunch and ran on a segment of the frontage road I haven't run on in many years but used to do speedwork on quite a bit since it is long, straight, and mostly flat. I programmed the workout into my watch, set target paces for the intervals (6:30-6:50) and went for it! Turned out to be a challenge given the lingering soreness in the legs, but overall went pretty well.

Garmin gives some cool graphs - target pace bars vs actual (blue line)

A little fast on a couple, barely slow on one, the rest within target!

3.4 mi @ 9:26/mi moving avg

Rockers Run Club in the rain! Took it easy and counting this for the Wednesday easy miles on the training plan. Was supposed to have been the run with the Spartanburg Christmas parade, but the rain meant the parade was cancelled. We ran anyway and had a great time! Small crew but then we also won trivia after the run - what fun!

Rain!

Denny's building with Xmas tree office window lights

Moist green friends

Wednesday

walk/rest

Counted Tuesday's second run as today's planned easy 3.

Thursday

6.6 mi @ 8:52/mi

Ran the Santa Street run (Earle Street downtown) with some folks early in the morning for a festive fun time!

Friday

rest

Saturday

90 min long run = 9.85 mi @ 9:08/mi

Did an out-and back with a loop through Furman as the long run this morning, nice and chilly but overall quite good and peaceful!

Sunday

1.4 mi ruck 30#

Short ruck with the pupper

December! And Swamp Rabbit Half Training (Week 1 of 12)

December and winter have arrived in full force this week - temps in the mid-20s most mornings! BRR!! 🥶

This week also kicks off 12 weeks of training for Swamp Rabbit Half Marathon where I've got some big goals... been a while since I've tackled something like this, and I'm excited about it! My plan is based on Hal Higdon's Advanced half marathon training plan, which has been successful for me in the past. (Link)

Week 1 plan

Monday

2 mi pup run

Honestly hadn't looked at the plan for the week yet so I only did 2 miles.

Tuesday

6.25 mi @ 9:15/mi avg - 6x hill repeats

Ran super early due to chaotic day. Got in about 1.5 miles warm-up before repeating a ~60ft hill that took 62-66 seconds per repeat. Felt good and only pushed about 60-70% effort knowing I've got a pretty big race this weekend. Finished out the 10k Tuesday miles on nearby roads and was back before 6:15am!

Wednesday

2.98 mi @ 9:48/mi moving avg

Easy run with the doggo. She stopped just short of 3 miles and refused to run more (probably tired from doggy daycare yesterday) so we called it good enough. Beautiful lunch run though!

Thursday

40 mins tempo run

Plan said 40 min tempo run, which according to Hal Higdon is really more like a progression run in his plans. In my mind, there's 2 kinds of runs that fit in this category: sustained moderate-hard effort over time, or progression (get faster in a step-wise manner over the course of the run). Hal's "tempo" runs also include warmup/cooldown time

For this run, I decided to do a 10 minute warmup, 20 min hold at tempo pace (7:33-7:49/mi per the MacMillan pace calculator), then 10 minute cooldown. Did an out-and-back route towards USC Upstate, knowing there would be some hills but at least they'd be balanced out and the worst ones would be during warmup/cooldown. 

I'd call that successful! 🎉

Friday

rest

Returning to 5-6 days/wk of running is going to mean rest days are even more important. 

Saturday

Paris Mountain Road Race 20k

12.5 mi @ 8:25/mi avg, 1,700 ft elevation

Ran my third PMRR today, but first one in over a decade (previous 2 times were in 2012 and 2013). I've become familiar with this route, including Altamont climbs in many training runs (there was a time where I was running it weekly, but have not done that in a couple of years). I'm not sure whether familiarity with the route is a good or bad things, but it might have helped with pacing because I was pretty consistent today. I didn't have any particular goals, though I did look up my 2 previous finish times (1:50 in 2012 and 1:48 in 2013), however those routes were different - slightly longer (half marathons) but about 600 ft less climbing. Happy to say that I was able to get in a 1:45 finish today, good enough for 1st in Age Group!!

Coffee mug prize 😍

The hills were just as relentless as ever, and I definitely was feeling it in the quads and hamstrings by the last couple of miles. Still really happy with my performance overall!

Biggest hill, and lots of other big hills

3 year comparison - yes it was cold today!

Sunday

60 min yoga + 2 mile walk

Did not do the planned 3 mile easy run since legs are quite sore from Saturday's hard effort. Got in a nice hot yoga session in the evening with a couple miles walk around Unity park beforehand. 

Turkey Week

Monday

1.5 mi walk + 60 min candlelight vinyasa

Booked myself an evening candlelight hot yoga class and got to the park for a nice walk beforehand. Beautiful evening.

Tuesday

6.26 mi XC run

10k Tuesday on the cross-country course at work, did one full 5k course then perimeter loop to get the mileage. Another beautiful day where the morning started off rainy but by lunchtime was lovely!

Wednesday

rest

Thursday

4.2 mi warmup + Turkey Day 8k race

Got out for a few warm-up miles before the race, made it to the start line about 15 minutes before race start time. 

Spent the first mile of the race bobbing and weaving around folks - started way too far back, apparently. Passed the 9:00 pace group (???) about half a mile into the race. Even so, my first mile was still within the mid-range of my overall mile splits (7:35).

Second mile was through Cleveland park, third mile was a good climb out of Cleveland park.

Fourth mile was pancake flat around Unity park but was hard to keep pushing.

Final mile had a couple of decent climbs that were real kickers that close to the end, but was able to finish strong with my fastest mile split (7:25) despite second-most elevation gain per mile. 

Overall 7th out of 100+ in my age group, definitely not a PR but happy with the 37:32.

Heading to the finish

Run friends!

Friday

2 mi pup ruck 30#

Got in a little lunchtime ruck with the doggo once the sun warmed things up a bit. 

Saturday

5.3 mi hike

Took the pup up to the Blue Wall Preserve and hiked part of the Palmetto Trail Blue Wall passage. I'd hiked a portion with Dargan before, so Ivy and I did that plus a bit extra on the out-and-back section towards Vaughn's Gap. It was chilly but clear fall day, not too many people out but definitely passed folks here and there on the trail. Hopefully I'll get the ambition to go all the way to Vaughn's Gap and back someday - I've been told there's quite a climb in the last ~1mi before the turnaround!

Sunday

2 mi run w/ D

Got out for a run with SuperD at sunset - we ran a loop around the Furman lake, and it was perfect! He ran almost the entire time except for a bathroom stop, didn't complain once, and kept a good steady pace. He told me knock-knock jokes as we ran to keep us entertained. 😄

Golden hour

We did it!

Low-mileage week, but next week begins 12-week training for the Greenville Half on 2/22! 💚

New Routines

Monday

2 mi pup run

Morning run with Ivy was chilly and lovely 😍

1 mi pup walk

Midday walk just to stretch the legs while working remote.

Tuesday

6.3 mi @ 8:18/mi

10k Tuesday with the USC Upstate loop, and threw in a few miles in the middle of tempo work on a hilly section. Whew! Spicy but felt good. 

Wednesday

30# pup ruck 2.1 miles

Took pup out for a nice long ruck walk at lunch, explored some neighborhood roads and got in a nice loop with the 30# pack.

Thursday

5 miles with 8x hill sprint repeats

Decided to get a little aggressive with a workout today... headed over to the hill leading into USC Upstate and did 8x sprints trying to keep a hard but repeatable effort and going all-out on the last one to try to be the first lap time. Success!

Each lap was about 60 feet of elevation

Friday

1.6 mi pup run

Just a short run with Ivy after school drop-off.

Saturday

1.8 mi kiddo + pup run

Wanted to run more but neither child was cooperating. 😂

Sunday

8 mi @ 9:30/mi

Hilly loop in the foothills of Paris Mtn. Climbed nearly 1000 ft through this run! Definitely felt it but the weather was absolutely perfection. 

2 mi walk

Was in Charlotte for the afternoon with the family and took a walk in Independence Park with Mom. So pretty!

Too many office days

Weird week this week being in the office at least part of every single day. I do not know how I used to go to the office 5 days a week! 😵

Monday

1.6 mi ruck 30#

Wanted to do a longer ruck for Vet's day but only had enough time to squeeze in about 30 mins at lunch while at the office.

Tuesday

1.6 mi pup walk

Worked remote for a few hours in the morning since I didn't have in-person meetings. Morning walk with pupper after some cute firetruck howls in the car.

1 mi Wellness Walk

Headed into the office late morning and joined the corporate wellness walk lead by our CFO.

6.3 mi @ 9:53/mi avg 

Ran with the Rockers Run Club group after work. Took it nice and easy, enjoyed chatting with everyone!

Wednesday

nada

Thursday

30 min strength sesh

Friday

7.07 mi @ 9:37/mi

Early Friday long run was a challenge due to a late work dinner the night before but happy to log some good easy miles.

Saturday

2 mi warm-up + 3.1 mi @ 7:12/mi Zoom through the Zoo 5k

Warm-up miles easy on the trail followed by a good but not great 5k race. Felt really strong during the race but just didn't quite have the speed to push a sub-22 time (my half-hearted goal for the race). Still happy with the race overall and managed a 1st AG finish!

Sunday

a few walks

No real workouts just some walks here and there with kiddo and pup. 

Fall running

Monday

2 mi run/walk with pup & D

Midday took the kiddo and pup out to the swamp rabbit trail behind Furman to do our first official training run together for the Tacky Sweater 5k coming up in December. D has said he wanted to run with me, so I signed us up last week and we went for a run today while he was off from school. Ran 1 mile, walked a bit, ran a half mile, walked some more, then finished out 2 miles. He did great!

Tuesday

6.34 mi @ 8:24/mi 

10k Tuesday in the rain at lunch... ran the hills over in USC Upstate campus but felt surprisingly good with a little bit of speediness!

Wednesday

2.2 mi pup run + 2.2 mi pup ruck 30#

Morning run with Ivy along the foggy Swamp Rabbit Trail north of TR. 

Took her out for a lunch walk while I rucked with 30# and covered another ~2+ miles. 

Thursday

8.1 mi @ 9:16/mi 

Post run jump pic

Met up with a couple of ladies for some early miles around downtown Greenville. Haven't done long-ish mid-week miles in quite some time, so it felt amazing to knock out 8 before work! Was pretty tried by the end of the day though (that 4:20 a.m. alarm is 😴). Still really happy with this one especially considering I got hit hard with some allergies Wednesday afternoon and was not feeling 100%.

Friday

2.5 mi pup ruck 30#

Rucked around the 'hood with the pup and kept in the extra weight. Gonna try to keep it at 30# for now!

Saturday

9 mi @ 10:11/mi pace

Decided on a Paris Mtn Altamont Rd climb from the house this morning and man what a lovely fall-ish day. Breeze, leaves rustling all along the road, just perfect.

Sunrise

Sunday

rest

No activities but lots of movement. Tired from the weekend and a rainy drizzly day.