GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Week 6 of 12

Miles run this week: 21.6
Plus, I actually finally registered for the GHS Swamp Rabbit Half (i.e. my goal race for this training cycle... derp).

Monday - home workout
stroller walk 1.8 mi
P90X Ab Ripper
strength routine
Starting off the week with a challenge: daycare is closed due to icy roads, so I'm at home, working, with a toddler... and I'm supposed to get in a workout? Yep, we make things work.
Took D out in the stroller (bundled up 'cuz it's in the 20s) for a neighborhood walk. He lasted almost 2 miles before he started to fuss - it was his naptime anyway, so we hustled back to the house and got him into the crib. Once he was asleep, I headed to the basement for a little workout routine. First did P90X Ab Ripper DVD for some good core strengthening, then did some bodyweight and light dumbbells exercises (3 sets of everything)
10x curls
10x reverse fly
10x jump squats
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10x pushups
20x jumping jacks
10x side arm raise
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10x walking lunges
10x chest fly
10x OH lat pull
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20x high knees
20x butt-kickers

Not too shabby for just making do at home! Just goes to show... when you want it, you make it work.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday
6.22mi w/ 3mi @ race pace (-ish)
Daycare was open today (yay!) so Scott and I were both at work. I headed outside for 10k Tuesday around 11, was met with bright sunshine and cold air with little to no breeze. Perrrrfect. Planned on 2mi warmup / 3mi race pace / 1.2mi cooldown.

Splits were off... but they got faster as I went, so... win?

Still can't seem to hit my 8-min/mi splits quite right or consistently, but these didn't feel quite as hard as last week's (also too fast). I'll chalk it up to a nice #10kTuesday and leave it at that.

Wednesday - XT
bike ride with Megan, 7.6 miles
Megan and I went out for a road ride through the USC Upstate loop. It was chilly, cloudy, and roads were quite wet, but it was a nice ride! I had to head back in early due to a meeting scheduled immediately after lunch (grrr), so only got a short ride in, but it was a nice 7.6 miles at average 13mph.

Thursday - #speedworkThursday
40 min tempo
An abnormally gorgeous day outside, so headed out on my standard tempo route. Warmed up with 1.5 miles at easy pace, then did 3 segments at gradually increasing paces, peak for a minute or two, then easy for a nice cooldown to round out the 40 minutes.

Appears that I was about :30 off of my target paces (in my head) for my 3 gradual increase segments... I was hoping to do 9/8:30/8 but for some reason I have a really hard time hitting an 8:30 pace. Grr! Still, it was a nice progression and the peak was on the right target pace. More work to do, but overall happy with the workout.

Friday - yoga
#yogaFriday
Did the lunchtime yoga class at work, as usual was a nice relaxing stretch session.

Saturday - long trail run
13 11 miles at Paris Mountain
Had 13 miles on the training plan for this weekend's long run, but since I have done zero long runs on trails, I gave myself a break when I pooped out after 11 miles. I started at the bottom ranger station parking lot at Paris Mountain right around 8:30am. I woke up tired after being stuffed up all night - it's weird, I'll feel fine throughout the day, but at night I get all kinds of stuffed up and end up mouth-breathing all night. It's been happening for like a week now! Ugh. Does not make for restful sleep.

Anyway...

Headed out on the Mountain Creek trail towards the climb up Sulphur Springs. I had to take several walk breaks during the climb but made it and felt ok. Continued up towards Firetower & Kanuga trails, then around the far side of North Lake.

Crossroads

North Lake with Paris Mountain in the background on a misty cool morning

It was about 50-55F with a slight fog/mist in the air. Very quiet and peaceful. I wish I'd felt better physically and more "into" the run, because it was really a beautiful morning. After a quick snack break on the other side of the lake, I continued on Pipsissewa and Brissy Ridge - Pipsissewa is probably the most technically challenging part of this entire run due to the large rocks on the trail. Again, several walk breaks were taken. Finally I started heading back down on Sulphur Springs and by the time my watch buzzed at 10 miles, I knew I was not going to make 13. I finished out the run and got back to the car just as I hit 11 miles and decided to call it good enough. Whew.

A couple little hills. Maybe I don't feel so bad about cutting the run short!

Sunday - Upstate SORBA Ladies' Ride
13.5 miles mountain biking in Pisgah
So, this morning started off rough for multiple reasons and I wasn't sure I was going to make it to this ride that I'd been looking forward to for weeks, but I was determined to make it so I put on my big girl panties and headed up to North Carolina this morning for the ladies' group ride organized by Upstate SORBA. We met at the North Mills River campground and started off with a hell of a climb up gravel roads - about 1000 feet over ~5ish miles of near constant uphill. Yeah, that was the first hour of the day. Woof.

While we were taking a break at one crossroads, there was a group of guys also taking a break and waiting for one of their friends. Look closely at the guy in the bright yellow helmet... that's retired professional cyclist George Hincapie out for a ride on the trails. Celebrity sighting!!

After all of the climbing at the beginning we got to do some fun downhill sections. The first was quite rocky and some slanty ("off-camber") roots which got me a little shaky, but after that section I was fine and was able to enjoy the other two big downhill sections. Overall total of 13.5 miles with 1600ft of elevation gain. Felt pretty good at the end, but definitely tired!

GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Week 5 of 12

Miles Run this week: 31.9mi (first 30+ week!)

Monday - New Year holiday
Run
Got the day off from work today for the New Year holiday, but unfortunately it was pretty rainy most of the day. Didn't have any specific plans for today's run, but knew I needed to get out since I didn't yesterday. Scott took D out in the bike trailer so I could get in a non-stroller run. Would have liked to trail run but with the recent rain everything was pretty muddy. I took the opportunity to run an out-and-back through Green Valley. Felt good to do some hills and took it at an easy pace. Total 5.25 miles.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday

Plan: 2mi warmup, 3mi race pace (8:00/mi), 1.2mi cooldown

Since I didn't get my 3 mile race pace run on Sunday, I figured I could work it into today's 10k Tuesday run. It's coolish (50) and misty rain out, which turned out to be perrrrrrfect running weather. Warmed up with a couple of easy miles, then cranked up the pace for 3 miles with a target pace of 8:00/mi. Finished out the 10k with an easy cooldown.

Woohoo!

Sooooo yeah... pretty pleased with the "race pace" splits there! A little overeager, and no wonder it felt hard to hold that pace.

Wednesday - XT
bike ride
Finally got back on the bike for a lunch time ride! Thanks to Megan for suggesting we start lunch rides again. She and I did the Upstate Loop, 10.5 miles at average 13.8mph. It was windy which made the ride tough but felt great to get out on the road bike.

Thursday - #speedworkThursday
7 x 400 intervals
This run went exactly as planned! Hit the treadmill early to avoid the January gym crowd. Warmed up with a 9:20 mile, then kicked into the intervals. Pretty simple quarter mile speed / quarter mile recovery alternating.
3x intervals at 6:30/mi
2x intervals at 6:45/mi
2x intervals at 7:00/mi
Finished with a nice three-quarter mile cooldown at 9:20. Total of 5 miles covered and feeling good and strong! Mandy Moore helped me through the final bit of the run...

Friday - yoga

Sometimes I don't really feel like going to yoga - I'd rather just power through the rest of my work day and get stuff done before the weekend. But then I finally convince myself to go, and it feels so much better. #namaste  

Now let's see how much snow we actually get this weekend... (and how badly it's going to screw up my training plans).

Saturday - long run
Typically my training plan has long runs on Sundays, but given the weather situation, I figured I'd go ahead and knock out my 12-miler at the first opportunity. I headed out Saturday right after lunch and the sun had just really started shining about 11am. Most of the road snow had melted, but some spots that didn't get any sun were still icy. I ran from home over to the Swamp Rabbit trail, took a loop through Furman's campus, and then headed home.

On the Swamp Rabbit Trail

The Furman belltower with beautiful snow-covered Paris Mountain in the background

As fast as my 11-miler was last weekend, I was surprised how difficult this run was. Maybe it was due to having to pay extra attention to my footsteps in the ice, or maybe it was just running at a different time of day (afternoon instead of morning). Who knows, but by the end, I was pooped!

Sunday - recovery run

Was supposed to be a race pace run, but didn't have it in me to do 8-min miles on icy roads. Instead, I took a short 3-mi trot out in the neighborhood to check on some road conditions for Scott before he headed out on his bicycle. 

Still icy!

Legs were still tired from Saturday's efforts, so I took the opportunity when I got back to do a bit of rolling on the leg muscles (while sitting by the fire - very nice!).

My training buddy helped with the rolling. 

Overall, everything this week went pretty much as planned... trying to not get discouraged that my effort on the 12-miler felt hard and slow. Being my first week above 30 miles, I'm sure it's just a bit of adaptation to the added training volume. Here's to another week to come!