Taking a Swiffer Duster to the Blog

Not sure anyone still has my blog in their feed reader and/or if blogging is still a "thing" anymore.

I'm still here! I'm still running! No new little humans and no plans at this point to add any more - one 2 year old is a lot of work!

So, since I last blogged:

• I ran Boston. It was warm (70s) so I ran conservatively and finished with a 3:43. 
• Changed jobs/employers after nearly 7 years and am now working in the mobile gaming industry (totally different world than genomics/biotech). 
• Requalified for Boston (2017) at Mountains 2 Beach 6 weeks later (3:37:23 - hope that holds)
• Ran Old Pros 10K a little slower than my PR but second fastest 10K for me
• Decided to run CIM in December
• Joined a local running group
• Ran the Balboa 8-Miler again (which I recapped here years ago) and got 3rd in my AG (well, technically 4th, but 3rd place overall was in my AG so I got the 3rd place award)

I want to try to recap my training, weekly. If I can keep it up!

This week marked the end of the first week of the plan prescribed by the head coach of my running group. It's a little different from what I'm used to with Pfitzinger. It starts with lower mileage than I've been doing but more speed/tempo days. I'm interested in seeing how it all plays out. 

Long runs with the group are Saturdays so Sunday's I've been working on getting back into yoga, in my garage. Seeing as I used to teach, I really have no excuse as far as practice. 

Sunday: Rest and Yoga

Did some garage yoga and boy am I rusty! Need to keep on that!

Then we went downtown on the Trolley for brunch (someone loves the trolley).

Monday: Easy

6 miles @ 9:02 pace. Ran on the treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness because it was over 80F outside and sunny. 

Tuesday: Hills

6 miles with 6 x hill

I was instructed to find a hill around 8% grade that would take me about a minute to get up at 90-95% effort. I found a hill around 6-7% grade that didn't have any intersections and was safe (i.e. not some road with no sidewalk and cars can't see you). I'm not sure I gave it 90-95% effort - looking at my heart rate, I hit only 180 at the top of the last repeat. My max heart rate is at least 196 (probably more like 198-200 or more if I were to really push to the edge) and I ran the 8 miler at an average of 176, so perhaps the next hill workout I do, I'll try to push a bit more at least in the last ones.

Wednesday: Recovery

5 miles on the treadmill @ 9:15 pace/ 141 bpm avg / 61% of heart rate reserve. Ran inside because it was like 80F out and sunny! Some strength training afterwards. 

Thursday: Tempo

7.26 miles @ 8:04 was the average, there were 5 miles of tempo in there ranging 7:17 o 7:41, though the accuracy of these numbers maybe slightly off due to both foot pod and treadmill. My foot pod is calibrated with the shoes I wore, but I don't really trust either the pod or the gym treadmill entirely, since I've recently seen another treadmill have less mileage than the foot pod. That's why having the heart rate strap on works best for gaging effort. I think I started too fast -- I haven't run a tempo in ages and I was following what the coach's pace ranges listed. But when my HR was at 180 at 3 miles (and the top end of threshold zone for me is 183), I knew I had to pull back a bit. And I had a tough/stressful morning at work, so it just panned out to be not the greatest feeling workout.

Friday: Rest!

Saturday: Long Run

14 miles @ 8:41, average heart rate 148 (66% max heart rate reserve).

Ran the first 5 at 6am with a runner in my pace group, then we met up with the larger group at 7am for 8 miles, and then one more mile on our own. The only thing I didn't like about this run was that we were stuck waiting around for the 7am for some of the pace group that was late. And running with a group means there are more bathroom and water breaks to accommodate everyone. So there was 15 minutes of stoppage time. Even considering that, it's a pretty low HR for me for that length and pace. 

Total miles: 38 miles!