Author Archives: Jessica

01.12.15
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Week of 1/5/15 – 1/11/15: Tom King Half Training, Week 8

Halfway through the training plan! This week marks my first voyage into double digits since last April. Oh, and this is also the highest weekly mileage I’ve ever done.

week of 1/5/15 to 1/11/15

Monday: 6.0 miles easy (11:21 avg pace)
Tuesday: rest day (Preds game)
Wednesday: 12x400m fast – 5.4 miles total (11:29 avg pace)
Thursday: 3.0 miles easy (11:17 avg pace)
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 5mi steady – 6.0 miles total (10:49 avg pace)
Sunday: 10.0 miles (10:33 avg pace!)

My schedule still isn’t completely normal this week. (My calendar says speed work on Tuesdays, easy run on Wednesdays, tempo/steady/goal pace run on Thursdays, easy on Saturdays, long on Sundays.) But I actually didn’t mind this rearrangement, even though it meant running six miles the day after a long run, having also run almost six miles the day before it as well (nearly 21 miles in 3 days…I think I’m ready for Ragnar). And I got to do my group run on Thursday!

The last time I did my 12x400m speed work (two weeks ago), I took a full 400m break between my fast intervals (I jogged, then walked, then jogged during that time, which averaged about 3 minutes, 20 seconds). This time I took a timed 2 minute break, only walking. I think this was too much. I was probably completely recovered after 1:30, so I’m thinking of shortening the break when I do these again in two weeks. I’m not going to say the fast intervals were easy, but…they weren’t hard.

My steady run on Saturday went well. I ran all five miles in my steady pace zone (or faster) without walking, woohoo!

I perhaps ran my long run a little too fast. I know I’m supposed to be running these at easy pace, but there’s some sort of satisfaction in running them faster when I have heavy, tired legs. Oh well.

01.08.15
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Happy Holidays!

This post is a little late, but I hope everyone had a good holiday season!

happy holidays!

The weekend before Christmas, my running group had a holiday party and we played Dirty Santa. I ended up with a goodie bag with epsom salt, Aleve, body glide, and hand sanitizer!

epsom salt and aleve

We also did an ugly sweater run that morning and then ate lots of yummy food.
ugly sweater group run

We spent Christmas Eve at Jonathan’s parents’ house, then went back to his apartment to open our gifts from each other. I was utterly spoiled this year! In addition to a new crock pot that I needed (handles and knobs have fallen off my old one…plus this one is fancy, with timers and everything!), I received “The Notebook” on DVD, Dragon Age 3 (my current time suck), the new She & Him album, and this gorgeous diamond infinity necklace.

infinity necklace

On Christmas Day, we headed up to Clarksville to spend it with my family. I got several running-related things from my parents, including a new Sweaty Bands headband, a super comfy Brooks hoodie, and some thicker Brooks running tights (with pockets!) that I had asked for.

new running gear

For New Year’s Eve, my friends Jason and Becka came down from Illinois and we headed out to the Five Spot in East Nashville, who was hosting a ’50s and ’60s themed dance party. So much fun! (I also apparently discovered that despite not liking Jack or Coke by themselves, I do enjoy them together.)

new years at five spot

Hope everyone else had a good holiday! Did anyone else receive any running-related gifts?

01.05.15
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Week of 12/29/14 – 1/4/15: Tom King Half Training, Week 7

week of 12/29/14 to 1/4/15

Monday: 6 miles easy (11:45 avg pace)
Tuesday: rest day (Preds game)
Wednesday: rest day (NYE)
Thursday: 5(ish)x800m fast – 3.4 miles total (10:42 avg pace)
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 4x1mi tempo – 5.6 miles total (10:50 avg pace)
Sunday: 9 miles (10:41 avg pace)

This was not an easy week.

Thursday’s speed work was uggh. I was supposed to do six intervals, but I had somehow forgotten to take my asthma medicine that morning, so I called it quits after about 3/4 of the way through the fifth interval so I wouldn’t, you know, die. You can tell I was getting progressively slower too; my average pace for the intervals were as follows: 9:00, 9:04, 9:16, 9:20, 9:25. Still, all faster than my prescribed 9:30-9:45 pace, which is kind of amazing considering how dehydrated I was after the previous night’s festivities.

I didn’t fare much better on Saturday. The training plan called for 5x1mi at tempo pace, which is 9:45-10:00. I struggled to reach that, despite being paced by Jonathan, and ended up stopping after four intervals. The paces for the ones I completed were 10:03, 9:39, 10:25, and 9:57. Can you guess which two had the hill?

Despite the rough time I was having, I did really well on my nine miler on Sunday. It was cold and rainy, but I managed to run my fastest run of the week and my fastest long run ever. My knees didn’t even ever hurt (possibly because it was mostly flat…my knees seem to act up more on hillier routes). I feel pretty confident that I will, at least, get a PR at the Hot Chocolate 15k next month.

01.02.15
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2015: Goals!

After conquering all of last year’s goals, I was ready to make some new ones! In 2014, I was mainly focused on my 5k time. But 2015 will be the year of the half marathon! (I’m already signed up for four!)

  1. Run a half marathon in 2:15:00 or less.
    This one kind of scares me, but I think I can do it! That’s chopping a little over 12 minutes off my half PR, so less than a minute per mile. I’m hoping to achieve this at the flat Tom King Classic Half in March, but I’m also signed up for another goal half in April and may do one in the late summer/fall as well!
  2. Run 1000 miles this year!
    It seems like so many, but I achieved my (secret) goal of running 750 in 2014. So that’s only about 5 more miles per week. Doesn’t sound so bad when you say it that way, right? Plus training for multiple halves will help with this, since I usually run 100 miles a month or more at peak half training.
  3. Coach a Couch to 5k Group.
    I only know of one group in the area that really does this, and that’s the East Nasties with their Potato to Tomato training. I really wanted to do this last year, but the timing wasn’t right because the training starts right about the time that Bonnaroo happens. I don’t know if it will be the same way this year or if I can find another group that does it during another part of the year, but I think I would super enjoy doing this.

I will probably sprinkle in some more volunteering this year, like I did last year, as well. I love giving back!

My non-running related goals this year include paying off all my credit card debt (I’m on track to do so in the fall) and reading more.

12.31.14
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2014: Year Two in Review!

2014 in review

Stats

Number of runs: 209
Total distance ran: 801.4 miles
– on pavement: 647.7 miles
– on treadmill: 129.7 miles
– on trails: 12.3 miles
– on track: 8.8 miles
– on beach: 3.0 miles
Total time ran: 160:43
Total elevation gained: 19,760 ft

January

Total mileage: 53.6 miles
Best week: 15.0 miles
Best mile: 11:21
Best 5 km: 38:42
I started out the year running my first half marathon, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon! I was ill prepared, but I had a lot of fun. After that, I began training for the Country Music Half Marathon in April.

February

Total mileage: 77.8 miles
Best week: 20.5 miles
Best mile: 9:55
Best 5 km: 32:41
Training for the Country Music Half continued, and I continued to get stronger. I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in the middle of the month in 1:46:48, which estimated I was on track to run the half marathon in a little over 2:30:00.

March

Total mileage: 101.7 miles
Best week: 28.1 miles
Best mile: 9:01
Best 5 km: 31:25
My first 100+ mile month! To put this in perspective, I had only run about 600 miles total (counting both this year and last!) so one sixth of my entire running mileage was done in this month. I ran the Fangtastic 5k mid-month to a new 5k PR of 31:25 and continued training for the Country Music Half.

April

Total mileage: 84.2 miles
Best week: 24.1 miles
Best mile: 10:01
Best 5 km: 32:05
Shoes Purchased: Skechers GoRun3
I started out the month with my first five mile race, where I performed better than my expectations. Half marathon training continued until the end of the month when I ran the Country Music Half Marathon and achieved a 40 minute PR with a time of 2:27:43!

May

Total mileage: 39.2 miles
Best week: 12.2 miles
Best mile: 10:39
Best 5 km: 34:08
Shoes Purchased: Saucony Kinvara 5
May started off relaxing, but soon geared up to train for a sub-30 5k! Unfortunately, my right knee started hurting early in the month, so my training was derailed to take care of it.

June

Total mileage: 46.5 miles
Best week: 13.9 miles
Best mile: 9:39
Best 5 km: 31:44 (treadmill)
This month started off with the Barrel Fest 5 Miler, but I was still having knee issues, so I was happy just to finish! Due to my ongoing injury and events like Bonnaroo, it turned out to be a lower mileage month. I decided to postpone my sub-30 5k training until later in the year.

July

Total mileage: 62.6 miles
Best week: 16.6 miles
Best mile: 9:29
Best 5 km: 31:29 (treadmill)
My knee was feeling better, so my mileage started to go back up this month. The Music City July 4th 5k kicked off July, but it was hot and I was dehydrated, so I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. After some ups and downs in training, I decided to start low heart rate training at the end of the month to start gearing up for next year’s half marathons.

August

Total mileage: 54.8 miles
Best week: 18.9 miles
Best mile: 8:53
Best 5 km: 29:15
After the fantastic sub-30 PR I got at the Smyrna Parks 5k at the beginning of the month, I focused on low heart rate training. No speed work. No tempo runs. Nothing with a heart rate about 148. It didn’t last long, as it drove me crazy to run that slow. It also seemed to really mess with my speed and endurance, which I struggled with at the end of the month.

September

Total mileage: 68.3 miles
Best week: 21.2 miles
Best mile: 9:22
Best 5 km: 32:56
The month started with a disappointing race at the Franklin Classic 10k. For most of this month, I was doing the 21 Day Fix program, so I tried to keep my runs a little slower. However, once I got to the beach in Florida for vacation, my feet took off, and I posted some of my speediest times for the entire month. I also got to run barefoot on the beach for the first time!

October

Total mileage: 69.3 miles
Best week: 22.5 miles
Best mile: 9:07
Best 5 km: 30:05
October started with a tweaked ankle. I rested it a week, but soon started on a 33-day running streak to celebrate my birthday. I had two races this month: Go Commando 5k and Halloween Hunt 5 Miler. While no PRs were achieved, both races were a lot of fun!

November

Total mileage: 80.9 miles
Best week: 22.0 miles
Best mile: 8:46
Best 5 km: 29:33
My running streak continued through the first half of November. In the middle of the month, I had a fantastic race at the Hammer Down 10k, where I got a PR of 1:01:49! After that, I began half marathon training for my goal race next March. I hit a bit of a snag at the end of the month, when a sharp pain started in my left foot on a routine 5 miler.

December

Total mileage: 59.7 miles
Best week: 22.2 miles
Best mile: 9:06 (treadmill)
Best 5 km: 31:02 (treadmill)
Due to my foot pain, I skipped out on the 5k I was signed up for at the beginning of the month (my first DNS). After the doctor confirmed there was nothing seriously wrong with my foot, I continued training for my spring half marathons.