Vancouver Half Training – Week 3

This is coming a bit later than I planned. It’s been a busy week.

I had to make some tweaks to the training plan last week due to weather and my knee feeling “off.” Changed up the mileage a tad on a couple of runs and swapped a run for the elliptical for something low impact. Overall not too bad of a week for training.

Monday – 2.43 mile walk (40 minutes)

Just did a walk on this cross training day.

Tuesday – 3.5 miles (9:51/mile pace) 

Kate and I were planning to meet up for a run, but rain moved in, so we called for a literal rain check. I hit the workout room for an indoor run on the treadmill. Had some Olympic track & field for motivation.

It always happens that after running outside consistently I remember how much I dislike the treadmill. I feel like my form is different or I’m not as relaxed. My knee started to hurt a tiny bit during the run. It’s been a little off lately. Not sure what’s going on there.

I made it through the run and then looked out the window to see a beautiful, epic rainbow over the river. It had stopped raining so I darted outside to snap some pictures. My camera couldn’t do this thing justice.

Wednesday – rest day

I had a Spin4 planning committee meeting after work (an upcoming CCFA event!) and then I headed straight to book club, so I embraced the rest day after my knee feeling weird the day before.

Thursday – 35 minute elliptical

The weather wasn’t fabulous again, so I opted to swap my run for an elliptical workout to give the knee an extra break.

Friday – rest day

Saturday – 3.82 miles (9:42/mile pace)

I woke up about 7:30 and checked the weather. Looked like rain was coming in and it would be rainy most of the day. I decided to get up and try to outrun the rain. I had 3 mile run on my plan, but I wanted to do closer to 4 since I skipped a run during the week.

Of course it started lightly sprinkling as soon as I walked outside. The light sprinkle lasted most of the run and then the rain picked up in the last mile. It actually felt good to run in the rain for a little bit. I stopped at 3.84 miles and felt good about it. And the knee felt good, too.

That night I met up with some college friends to grab Chinese food at Village Wok one more time before it gets torn down. So sad to see a campus staple going away. All in the name of another apartment building. There’s a sign in the window that says Village Wok will be back, but I know it won’t be the same.

Sesame chicken

Sunday – 6.27 miles (9:36/mile pace) and 32 minute walk

It was a gorgeous morning, so I decided to head over to Lake Nokomis for my long run.

I felt good running around the lake. My knee hurt a tiny bit around mile 4.5 (grrr), but then it went away. Not sure what’s up with that, but it’s annoying! I’m got a plan to start doing more consistent strength training that I’m hoping will help.

I didn’t have much going on the rest of the day, so I got to relax. I was feeling restless in the afternoon and decided to go out for a walk before dinner just to get a little more fresh air and enjoy the sunshine.

Gopher to Badger 5K Race Recap

This was a new race for me to try and kind of fun since I’m originally from Wisconsin, but now live in Minnesota (go Gophers!).

Hyedi and I met up about 6:15 a.m. to head to Hudson, WI. We parked and got over to the finish area which is where we needed to hop on a shuttle to get to the start. It’s a point-to-point course since you start in MN and run to WI — hence the name of the race!

The shuttles were kind of a hot mess. It was really confusing as far as what time we needed to get on them and it seemed like they almost didn’t have enough shuttles for the number of runners. The shuttles left maybe 20 minutes later than scheduled. I was getting frustrated and annoyed just wanting to get to the start so I could use the restroom and get prepped before the race started.

We finally got to the start and again the organization was a hot mess. The 5K was supposed to start at 7:40, but it was maybe 7:30 when we actually arrived, so I knew they were not going to start on time. We hopped in a restroom line (there were only 4 bathrooms at the start). I wasn’t sure if we’d get through before the race actually started, but we just made it and lined up semi near the front.

The other bad thing was the 5K start was right on the Ragnar Relay course that was happening at the same time. I felt so bad for the Ragnar runners trying to get through the crowd of people waiting at the start line.

So, the pre-race portion was a bit frustrating, but once we got running things got better. I had a 3 mile pace run on my training schedule and came into the race aiming for a 9:20-9:30 pace. The race starts on a downhill, so you get some good momentum going. Had to weave around some people, but didn’t feel as bad as some races. Hyedi and I ran together for the first mile (my Garmin said 9:06) and then she picked up her pace a bit. Near the end of mile 1 the course narrows on the sidewalks/path, but it had thinned out enough that I didn’t get stuck behind too many people.

Mile 2 was also primarily downhill as you go across the bridge over the St. Croix river and enter WI. I maintained the faster pace (9:04) through that mile. As I came into mile 3, I was still feeling good and the course remained flat, so I pushed it towards the finish (8:46).

Photo credit: Hyedi

I crossed the finish line in 28:23! Definitely faster than I was planning to run, but it felt good.

The organization at the finish line was better. I got water and a little food and walked around for a couple of minutes to cool down. We snapped a picture by Goldy before heading out.

Overall, I’m really happy with how the run part of this race went–and I guess that’s the most important thing. I’d like to actually train for a 5K at some point and aim for a new PR.

Have you ever dealt with a poorly organized start?

Vancouver Half Training – Week 2

Week 2 of training is in the books! It was a good week. The mileage isn’t very high yet, so I’m just focusing on getting in my runs.

Monday – rest

Technically, I had 30 minutes of cross training on the plan for Monday. I had to walk to and from a meeting at work (about 10 minutes each way) and walked to dinner with my sister (about 10 minutes each way), so I used the short walks as justification for skipping a more formal workout. My body was a bit tired that day, so felt ok to take it a little easy.

Tuesday – 3.06 miles (9:37/mile pace)

Got in my run after work and spent the rest of the night watching the Olympics. I got in some foam rolling while watching the U.S. Gymnastics team finals. One of my favorite sports to watch during the Olympics! They are so amazing!

Wednesday – 3.03 miles (9:35/mile pace)

It was hot and humid and just plain gross out. The downside of summer running. But I got it done.

Thursday – 4.05 miles (9:24/mile pace)

This 4 mile pace run was actually on my plan for Wednesday, but I swapped it with the 3 mile run because of the weather. I went out aiming for a 9:20-9:30 pace and felt pretty good about hitting that for most of the run.

Friday – rest

Saturday – 3.1 miles (9:09/mile pace)

I had a 3 mile pace run on my plan, which worked out great because I was already registered for the Gopher to Badger 5K. A full race recap is coming, but I ended up running a bit faster than I planned, but felt good the whole way.

Saturday afternoon was spent with my family. We headed to Irish Fair MN (even though we’re about 0% Irish :)). It was a gorgeous day to be outside. We listened to some music, ate some food, watched Irish dancing, and enjoyed the sunshine.

  

Sunday – 5.03 miles (9:32/mile pace)

I got up early to cheer on a few friends who were participating in the YWCA women’s triathlon. It was the first tri for a couple of them. So great to see them out there killing it on the course! So proud of them.

After cheering, I headed out to meet up with my family again for church and brunch to celebrate mom’s birthday. We wrapped up the afternoon with presents and a short walk with the dog before they headed home.

With lots of stuff going on throughout the day, I waited to do my long run until the evening. It was still a little steamy, but nowhere near as bad as earlier in the week. I tried to keep a nice, easy pace and still ended up going a little faster than planned. My legs were a little tired, but not as much as I thought they might be after a fast run the day before.

I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead of training. I actually like when mileage starts to get longer. And I’m looking forward to another week of Olympic coverage!

Thanks to Jessie for alerting me to her linkup with another Jess! Check out more weekly recap posts.

What’s your favorite Olympic event to watch?

Vancouver Half Training – Week 1

Here we go again! Another training cycle, another half. This will be my third of the year. Each one has gotten better, and I’m hoping to run a sub 2:05 in Vancouver. I’m trying out a new training plan that has me running 5 days per week with one day of cross training and one rest day on most weeks. It will be a little different for me, so we’ll see how my body does. Here’s how the first week of training went…

Monday – 20 minute walk

Mondays are the cross training day on my plan. It was a nice day, so I just did an easy walk to kick things off.

Tuesday – 3.67 miles (9:09/mile)

Group run with Kate and Hyedi. We did Tuesday runs training for Garry Bjorklund Half in June and have tried to keep them going through the summer. A pretty quick, hard run for me. I was feeling it by the end.

Wednesday – 3.07 miles (9:49/mile)

It was a hot day, but I wanted to get in a run. I had 4 miles on my plan, but the weather and my knee feeling a bit “off” had me keeping it at 3.

sweaty selfie

sweaty selfie

Thursday – rest

Friday – 4.01 miles (9:37/mile)

I got in the 4 mile run that I didn’t do on Wednesday. Was nice to have Thursday off cause my knee felt better and the temps had become more comfortable.

Saturday – 30 minutes of HIIT, 30 minutes of Zumba

A friend belongs to a gym that does high intensity interval training (HIIT) and they were holding a free class at an Athleta store, so I decided to go check it out. We did 30 minutes of circuit training with a few exercises focusing on core, a few on legs and a couple on arms. It was a really good workout, but definitely tough. Proof that I need to do more strength training! My body definitely felt it the next day, so I know it was working.

The second half was a 30 minute Zumba class. I’ve never done Zumba, but had always wanted to try it. The class was fun. A bit hard to pick up on some of the moves for my first time, but it was fun. 🙂

Sunday – 4.04 miles (9:39/mile)

I set my alarm to get up and do my “long run” for the week before brunch plans. Since we’re at the beginning of training, the long run was only 4 miles. I felt good, but my muscles were feeling that HIIT workout from Saturday.

After running, it was time to eat…and drink. Hyedi and I went to brunch at Saint Dinette. They make mini everything bagels to go with their Bloody Mary, so I had to try one!

We also tried the biscuits & gravy and pork carnitas tacos.  Both were absolutely delicious!

  

We finished up the meal with something sweet–beignets with lemon curd!

Overall, a good first week of training. I’m looking forward to getting this training cycle going and seeing what I can do in Vancouver!