Week 11: Finding my strong

Seriously, is it time to taper yet?! I have been training…and training…and training for what seems like forever. At this point, it is all downhill from here. 7 weeks left. I got this!

Monday:

Pulled another double. This one was not so fun. It ended in me almost puking.

3 x 3 mile repeats with 2 minute recovery breaks. Essentially three 5ks in a row?! YUCK. I started out with an easy 1 mile warm up before doing some stretching and some mental prepping.  I needed a lot of mental prepping.

Finished off a shaky leg cool down for 1 mile AND 15 minutes of core BEFORE heading to Farmgirlfit.

I wouldn’t say that I am hardcore, crazy sounds more like it.

FGF was TOUGH. This is the first time I ever felt like I was going to throw up. That last 800 meter run I was dying. My legs felt like bricks after the jumping air squats. Every step I had to tell myself to not throw up. I was so glad AND hungry when I was finished.

Tuesday:

Easy 4.5 mile run with the Lantern Run Club followed by 20 minutes of core. I felt pretty good. It is nice to have an actual “recovery” day. The weather was beautiful too. No long sleeved shirt required!

Wednesday:

Track day at the actual track. I looked online at work to make sure that kiddos had a meet somewhere else. I didn’t want to show them up or anything. The weather was perfect; it felt great to run in the sun. I even think my nose got a little burnt!

1 mile E pace + 4 x {2 x 200 meter R pace w/200 meter recovery jogs + 1 x 400 meter R pace w/400 meter recovery job} + 1 mile E pace

E pace- 8:00- 8:15

R pace- 5:40- 5:30

I am surprised at how relatively comfortable these repeats felt. The 200s went by fast, but the 400s did hurt a little.

My fastest 200 was 39 seconds

My fastest 400 was 1:22

I had a little over an hour before the 6:30 FGF class so I opted to make it another double day. Again, I felt like I was going to throw up because we had 200 meter sprints in our workout. We also had bears, and bears are really tough. I stepped it up and did level 4 so I was proud of myself.

Thursday:

Easy 3 mile run through the neighborhood plus 20 minutes of core work.

Friday:

OFF. Day of relaxation well earned!

Saturday:

22 mile long run

2 miles E, 3 miles T, 14 miles E, 3 miles T, 2 miles E

This run was the hardest long run of my life. I struggled going into mile 6. My 3 miles of T pace were not on target- I don't think that they were even close to a 7:00-7:05 pace. Hit mile 6 and I was done. Like I sat on the curb, shed a tear or two, called my husband, called my husband again, called him again and again to have him not answer. I thought about how I would feel if I didn't finish the run. I thought about how far I have come and how even at the moment I hated running, I really, really, really do love running. At that point I decided I had to at least hit 10 miles and then reevaluate. I got to 10 miles and figured another 5K couldn't hurt. At that point even though everything hurt, I knew that I could finish the run. I did finish that stinker of a run and I couldn't be more proud of myself. My paces were not on target, but I don't care about that. The sense of accomplishment I have for powering through another 16 miles after almost calling it quits trumps everything.

The dirty:

2 E (8:00- 8:15)	3 T (7:00- 7:05)	12 E (8:00- 8:15)	3 T (7:00- 7:05)	2 E (8:00- 8:15)
8:27	7:16	8:04	7:01	7:55
8:17	7:24	8:04	6:59	7:48
	7:16	8:09	6:56
		8:14
		7:59
		8:01
		7:55
		7:59
		7:48
		7:52
		7:45
		7:48

I definitely found my STRONG on that run!

Sunday:

Active recovery day! I thought about not doing anything, but the weather was too beautiful to not be outside! I decided to take Laney out for an hour (ish) ride around the south hill. Ended up with a fantastic sunshine filled 14 miles. Got home and finished up with 20 minutes of core. 

Questions for you:

How do you find your strong? 

Do you tend to give up easily or do you keep fighting for it? 

I hope that everyone had a HOPPY EASTER!!!!

--Tasha