Training Tuesday

Here's my training recap for this past week!!

Tuesday – After a 2.4 mile warm up, our Ten Miler Team workout was 4×1 mile repeats at the park that we run at. I ran my 4 miles in 8:21, 8:38, 8:52, and 8:53 – I really struggled with those last 2 miles, but it was hot and humid and I was dehydrated from the weekend (not enough water). Then we did a 2 mile cool down, but I only ran 1 mile as I was DONE. I didn't want to risk falling out on the second lap around the park.

Wednesday – I don't think I had an early morning at work, so I must have just slept in. I didn't do anything after work either.

Thursday – Our team workout today was an 80 minute run, broken down into a 15 minute warm up (1.48 miles at 10:07 pace), and then 10 minutes at 10 mile race pace and 10 minutes of recovery repeated 2 times (3 times of race pace and 2 recovery) and then a 10-15 minute cool down (had to get back to the start point). Here's what I ended up running: 10 minutes race pace – 1.07 miles at 9:20 pace, 10 minutes recovery – .94 miles at 10:40 pace (this included about a 30 second pit stop during which I didn't stop my watch), 10 minutes race pace – 1.06 miles at 9:26 pace, 10 minutes recovery – .95 miles at 10:31 pace, 10 minutes race pace – 1.1 miles at 9:07 pace (say what???!!!), Cool down – 1.17 miles in 11:49 (10:06 pace). It was a really good workout other than the horsefly that kept attacking me. I ended up with 7.77 miles overall!!

Friday – I slept through my alarm in the morning, but I wanted to get a few miles in today knowing that I had a luncheon at a Mexican place with a buffet and a baseball game (watching, not playing, so thus eating ballpark food) this evening. It was a nice run despite about melting. It was 88 but felt like 91 – at least the humidity was down. No mile splits because I realized halfway in that I didn't have auto-lap turned on. I ran 3.1 miles in 29:08. Definitely not my fastest 5K, but given the heat, I'm happy with it. (We had a great time at the Montgomery Biscuits baseball game that evening!!)

Saturday – Long run day! Or not. We stayed overnight in Montgomery after the game so we didn't have to drive back so late. I missed out on running my long run with the team, however. . .

Sunday – I got up early and got an 8 mile run done before church. I finished in 1:20:38. It was a very peaceful run. I only saw 4 cars (one of which was an MP out on patrol) and 2 other runners while I was out. It was 72 degrees and 100% humidity. Not a bad run, considering I didn't take water with me. My splits: 10:06, 10:25, 9:55, 10:23, 9:56, 10:19, 10:07, 9:19. Yay for a negative split long run!

Monday – Planned rest day, per our coach for the Ten Mile team. It turned out to be a good thing as I got called into work early to handle an emergency leave situation (a Soldier had a death in the family).

It was a really good training week, and I actually ran more than a marathon (26.2 miles) this week!!

Training Tuesday

Hopefully last week was my last week of not much training going on and I can get back to being more consistent again.

The only day I got a workout in was on Tuesday. Ryan and Robert were still at Cub Scout camp, so I had 2 choices – miss team practice Tuesday morning or take Thomas and run with the jogging stroller. Guess which one I chose! Yup, I ran with Thomas. We did our mile repeats again, but bumped it up to 4 from 3. I originally planned on just getting some miles in with the stroller, but I actually ended up doing the mile repeats! We did a 2 mile warm up and then 4 mile repeats with 3-4 minutes of recovery in between and then a 2 mile cool down (that I did a mile and a half of). My 2 warm up miles were at 9:41 pace and then my 4 mile repeats were 9:18, 9:37, 9:22, 9:34!! Awesome pace for running with the stroller! My cool down averaged about a 10:00 pace. It was a great workout, and I'm glad I decided to get Thomas up early and go run with him with the team.

Wednesday morning I slept in after being up late Tuesday evening picking Ryan and Robert up from camp after my softball game and Thursday morning I slept through my alarm and missed team practice. Friday morning I had early formation to march a Change of Command ceremony. Saturday was the Army Strong Triathlon and Sunday was much-needed sleep after Saturday.

It wasn't a very good week as far as training goes, but it was also a really good week.

Race Recap – Army Strong Triathlon

This past Saturday I participated in the Army Strong Triathlon here on Fort Rucker. It was my 3rd tri, but my first with an open water swim. The morning started early with me getting up around 5 to get ready. I had my English muffin with peanut butter and made my Pom-Blue Generation UCAN to take with me. I grabbed my bike water bottle out of the freezer and my bottle of UCAN and headed out the door.

I arrived at Lake Tholocco and easily found a parking spot. I got my bike and backpack out of my van and headed to the transition area and got everything all set up and drank my UCAN before heading to body marking. Everything was a very smooth process; all the races that MWR puts on here on post are very well run. I hit the bathroom one last time and headed back to the transition area for the pre-race briefing and then it was down to the lake for the swim start. I got in the water a little to check the temperature – I was very surprised to find the lake WARM!!!

Soon it was time for my wave (women 30+ – the smallest of the waves with only 20-30 of us!) to start and I began my first open-water swim. The lake was dark and murky and there was some seaweed kicked up at the start and I forgot about my breathing and had a mild panic attack about 100 yards or so in. I switched to breaststroke for a little bit and gave myself a pep talk – "You've swam in lake hundreds of times (I grew up on a lake). You are a strong swimmer. You can do this – just get your breathing under control." That got me squared away and I got my breathing to where I needed it and then I was fine. During the course of the 1/4 mile swim, I passed probably 20 or so of the age 30+ men from the wave that started 3 minutes before ours. That was a good feeling!! I got kicked a few times and I kicked a few people, but that is to be expected in a triathlon. Overall the swim went really well and I exited the water in 9:43, right under my goal time of 10:00!

Transition 1 was 4:13, a little long but I couldn't get the sand off my feet. I need to remember a small bucket of water next time. I got my bike shorts on and socks, cycling shoes, helmet, and sunglasses on, unracked my bike and headed to the bike mount area.

I got clipped in on my bike and got a drink of water and went to check my Garmin. That's when I discovered that it wasn't working right and I only had total time elapsed, time of the current leg, and calories burned on the current leg. There was no pace or distance data! Way to go $300 watch. (I've already sent an email to Garmin to hopefully get this figured out.) I knew that the bike course was hilly, and I was a little nervous, but I did fine, especially when it sunk in that I have leg power on the upstroke as well as the downstroke of my pedaling!! Since I'm clipped in, I'm one with my bike and I need to remember to use my strong quads on the hills. Boy, once I figured that out, the hills were a *little* easier to climb. I also decided that my bike needs to go in the shop for a tune up. On the way out, just 5th gear was slipping, but on the way back, pretty much all the gears were slipping. That was fun. But I finished strong and I feel that I had a great ride! My goal time for the 10.6 miles was 45-50 minutes, and I was happy to finish in 45:46! And I even remembered to unclip at the end and I didn't fall off my bike. 🙂

Transition 2 was 2:41 – not bad, but it could have been quicker. I switched out my bike shorts for my sparkly skirt which had my race number already pinned to it. I got my running shoes on and headed out on the run course.

The run course had some hills on it, but not too bad, and I've run this route several times before so there were no surprises in that aspect. Again, I had no pace or distance data on my Garmin, but I could kind of judge my pace since they had all the miles marked. I think I might have started out a little too fast out of transition and about 1/2 mile in, my right leg really cramped up. I was able to walk and stretch it out and then I was fine. There was a water stop at the turn around point, and I grabbed a cup of gatorade (very watered down). I headed back and soon the finish line was just off in the distance. I picked up the pace and had a really strong finish! My goal time was 28 minutes and I finished in 29:51.

My overall finish time was 1:32:14, and I finished 4th in my age group (Again. And awards only go to 3rd.) I was 141 overall out of 195 – not bad considering the lack of training I did on the bike!! I'm really happy with the race and I learned a few things for next time. . .

— I need a swim warm up. Had I gotten in the lake prior and swam a little, I would have seen how dark & murky the water was.
— I need to invest in a tri suit so that I don't have to change clothes during transitions. I could probably take 3 or 4 minutes off my total transition times.
— I need to ride more so I can get better at climbing hills and I need to learn to use my big gear. I only used 7 of my available 14 gears.
— I need to remember to not go out too fast on the run.

Training Tuesday

Here's my training recap for this past week!!

Tuesday – After a 2.3 mile warm up, our Ten Miler Team workout was 3×1 mile repeats at a local park. I ran my 3 miles in 8:33, 8:31, and 8:31 – awesome workout despite the hilly course. Then we did a 2 mile cool down, but I only had time for a mile as I needed to get home, changed, boys to school/daycare and to work for 8:00 formation for marching band practice.

Wednesday – I had an early formation to march/play at a change of command ceremony so I went to the pool after work. I had no plan other than to swim and enjoy being in the outdoor 50 meter pool! So I swam 1500 meters straight (no stopping!) in 36 minutes. It was a really nice swim and felt good to go so long!

Thursday – The Ten Miler team met at the local high school and did 2 laps around the campus for a warm up – 2.14 miles. Then our workout was a ladder of 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, 400. My times (actual time followed by the pace): 400 – 1:48/7:30, 800 – 4:05/8:17, 1200 – 6:28/8:43, 1200 – 6:34/8:54, 800 – 4:08/8:24, 400 – 1:57/7:52. It was nice running on grass (we used the high school's practice field), but I need to work on my pace consistency a little. Cool down was 2 more laps around the school campus perimeter, but I only did 1 lap for just over a mile.

Friday – SUPER early morning to drop Robert off at the School Age Center a little after 0530 and have Thomas to the surgery center by 0615. Thomas got tubes in his ears and his adenoids taken out, we were home by 9:30, but I didn't get any workouts done since Ryan went to the craft center to work on a couple of projects he's working on.

Saturday – Long run day! We met at West Beach here on post and ran toward one of the gates that's closed on the weekends so there was no traffic for part of the run. Our goal was 80-90 minutes, which for most of the team was around 10 miles. I opted to turn around at 45 minutes and head back. It was getting hot out and I didn't want to risk falling out. I completed 8.79 miles in 1:29:11. It was a nice HILLY run, but the heat really started getting to me toward the end and I ran out of water about a mile or so from the end. After everyone had finished, we stood around and chatted for a while and that was really nice! I love the team dynamic and camaraderie we have this year!

Sunday – I had planned on going for a 10+ mile bike ride before church and riding a good part of the bike course for my upcoming triathlon, but Thomas was waking and fussing throughout the night. I can't complain – poor little guy just had surgery and probably had a little discomfort. So I slept in an extra couple hours and that was nice. I was going to go in the afternoon, but by the time we got home from all our errands after church, Thomas didn't take a nap because he'd napped in the car and it was 90 degrees out so we went to the neighborhood pool instead!

Monday – Again, I had planned on going for the ride, and again Thomas was up several times through the night so I slept a little longer. Oh well – rest is good, too!!

Overall, I'd say it was a really good training week and I'm really happy with all the workouts that I did get in!