Category Archives: Weekly Update

11.10.14
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Week of 11/3/14 – 11/9/14: #streakfor33, days 20-26

week of 11/3/14 to 11/9/14

Monday – 3.3 miles on the treadmill (10:30 avg pace)
Tuesday – 3.68 miles (11:43 avg pace)
Wednesday – 3.3 miles on the treadmill (11:17 avg pace)
Thursday – 3.0 miles (9:42 avg pace)
Friday – 1.04 mile (10:37 avg pace)
Saturday – 3.6 miles (11:04 avg pace)
Sunday – 3.8 miles (11:30 avg pace…approximately…all four of my apps gave me a different pace average because I kept stopping for photos, so take your pick between 10:31, 11:30, 11:39, and 12:39)

Kind of a speedy week! My run on Thursday was the fastest 3 miles I’ve ever run in training (my third fastest if you include races). I went out with the group, and it was cold and not a lot of people showed up. Not wanting to run alone in the dark, I stuck with some ladies who regularly run a little faster than I do. But I was able to keep up, even if my quads could really feel it the next day! Pretty good for having some 17-20 mph winds blowing at us!

I found a new place to run on Sunday: Bells Bend Park. It consists of mostly grassy and some gravel trails through the country in one of the bends of the Cumberland. Hardly anyone else was out there, so it was pretty peaceful! Well, it would have been if my Garmin hadn’t started beeping about a low battery almost as soon as I got on the trail. It kept saying the battery was dead, then restarting itself, resulting in four ear-piercing beeps about every three seconds. I was very close to throwing it into the surrounding fields. It continued to beep the entire ride home. I don’t understand how it had the power to keep restarting itself and beeping so much if the battery was as low as it claimed.

pheebs-fire-alarm-o

So I probably would have done more mileage on Sunday, but I was about to go insane because of the watch after 3.8.

11.03.14
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Week of 10/27/14 – 11/2/14: #streakfor33, days 13-19

The streak continues…

week of 10/27/14 to 11/2/14

Monday: 3.3 miles (13:22 avg pace)
Tuesday: 4 miles (12:42 avg pace)
Wednesday: 3.3 miles (11:26 avg pace)
Thursday: 3.3 miles (11:38 avg pace)
Friday: 1 mile (10:19 avg pace)
Saturday: 3.3 miles (11:14 avg pace)
Sunday: 5.25 miles (11:24 avg pace)

I did good keeping it easy-paced at the beginning of the week! I did intervals (mostly 3:1, but I did 1.5:1 on Monday) on all my runs this week, except for the one mile on Friday that I ran straight through. I think this has helped keep the runs easier, although my legs still feel pretty tired and heavy.

Sorry it’s been kind of quiet around here. I’m not doing any super interesting runs right now. Only two more weeks of streaking left!

10.29.14
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Week of 10/20/14 – 10/26/14: #streakfor33, days 6-12

week of 10/20/14 to 10/26/14

Monday: 3.3 miles (11:14 avg pace)
Tuesday: 3.1 miles (11:57 avg pace)
Wednesday: 3.3 miles (11:41 avg pace)
Thursday: 3.3 miles (11:52 avg pace)
Friday: 1.3 miles (11:43 avg pace)
Saturday: Halloween Hunt 5 Miler (10:29 avg pace)
Sunday: 3.3 miles (12:04 avg pace)

I did better with slowing down this week. However, I may be starting to show the beginning signs of overtraining, so I probably need to cut my mileage and slow down further for the next week or so. My legs are super heavy; even climbing stairs is a chore, although I’m not sore at all. I’ve been a little irritable and anxious, which I don’t know is from my training or from not sleeping well (which could also be from overtraining).

It’s also the end of October, which means I’m experiencing the Halloween and birthday stress that always comes with this time of year. (Why did I decide to time this running streak during this period? The same thing happened last year without a streak!)

In short, you probably don’t want to be anywhere near me right now. Ha!

10.21.14
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Week of 10/13/14 – 10/19/14: #streakfor33, days 1-5

week of 10/13/14 to 10/19/14

Monday: rest day
Tuesday: rest day
Wednesday: 3.3 miles (10:39 avg pace)
Thursday: 3.3 miles (10:51 avg pace)
Friday: 1.2 miles – shakeout run (11:34 avg pace)
Saturday: Go Commando 5k (9:38 avg pace)
Sunday: 5 miles (11:54 avg pace)

The first two days this week were rest days in preparation for my 33 day running streak, which started on Wednesday.

Do you see any average paces beginning with a 12 up there? No. I have got to slow down or this running streak is going to end with injury. I even deliberately tried to make my five miler slow by doing 1.5:1 intervals. Even then, I still came under an average 12 minute mile! Help!

My ankle still hurts.

10.17.14
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Week of 10/6/14 – 10/12/14: One Lonesome Run

week of 10/6/14 to 10/12/14

After the Warrior Dash, I took an entire week to rest my gimpy ankle. And by rest, I mean I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary except not run. I didn’t ice it. I didn’t elevate it. I didn’t wear compression gear. I walked a lot.

It still felt about the same a week later. I still took it for a run on Sunday.

The 6.2 miles I ran weren’t bad (especially considered the gluttony I had exhibited earlier in the day on some Domino’s stuffed cheese bread and pizza). I did 3:1 intervals, hoping to keep it easy and not put any undue stress on the ankle. Except you know I’m not good at keeping things easy. I managed to negative split every mile: 12:33, 12:05, 11:38, 11:37, 10:46, 10:37, and 10:23 pace for the last 0.25. It’s pretty safe to say that, while I could definitely feel my ankle every time I landed on my right foot, it wasn’t bothering me too much to run on it.

I practiced some bad running form and stared at my feet a lot on the run to make sure I wasn’t landing weird or doing something else to compensate for the ankle. My feet seemed to land just fine.

It definitely felt worse the next morning though. I remember with my last ankle injury, it was always more sore in the mornings, and this one was no exception. It gradually improved as the day went on, so by the end of the day, it was no worse and no better than it had been the previous week. Therefore, I still have no clue if it’s a good idea to run on it.

I decided that I’d start my running streak as planned, but any indication that my ankle was getting worse, and I would immediately pull the plug on it. Starting half marathon training injury-free is more important than a silly running streak!