10k fitness test & 12 weeks to race day! (50M)

My legs finally started feeling better towards the second half of last week, but right about that same time I caught some sort of funny stomach bug. That or I have an infected, impacted wisdom tooth. I couldn't tell you the last time I took Advil, and yet over the past 72 hours I have been taking it religiously. Anyone who has experience with head pain around the ear, down the neck, and into the shoulder, feel free to offer advice! :)

This week we jumped into a last minute road race to get more practice with race morning simulation. I want as many chances as I can get to go through pre-race fueling trial and error now that I'm on such a restricted diet. The goal was NOT to race, but to practice patience and running half marathon pace. We're still a long ways out from my goal race, so I need to be ready to complete my workout successfully on Tuesday morning and get in all my miles healthily (it's an up week!). I've always had mixed feelings about training through races because if my name goes on the internet next to a poor time, that's never fun to see, but that's all part of the sport. You pick and choose your battles, which in a way allows you to pick and choose your victories. I choose November 4th this year. :)

Sunday, August 12th
2M warm up + 10k Hottest Half race (6:03 AP) + 1.5M cool down
COMMENTS: I felt very sick last night and this morning and was tempted to bail, but I'm so glad I didn't! I wanted to average 6:10 pace and was trying to stay conservative for the first half. It felt so easy going out that I had to make myself relax so I wouldn't get too far below pace. What a great feeling! I kept focusing on trying to get into a good rhythm and pass guys on the way back. Every quarter/half mile or so I would check my pace and as long as it said 6:10 or quicker I didn't care a bit... which it did! Very excited about the progression of my fitness at this point and even more excited that I have 12 weeks left to get stronger! Mile splits were 6:05, 6:02, 6:05, 6:00, 6:04, 6:05, 5:49 (last .4). The course was really long so I don't know my actual "10k" time, but it was 38:42 for the 6.38.

Monday, August 13th
6M easy + 4 x strides + 10' core
COMMENTS: I ran two relaxed loops at Memorial Park this morning, never pushed myself or picked up the pace at all. My muscles felt perfectly normal, but joints and such were really achy, particularly the bottom of my feet and my ankles. I cut the strides short to four just to get them a little less pounding. :) Other than that very good day. I'm going to need to hit the hay MUCH earlier tonight. Two days straight of a 4:40 wake up call is too much... And I still have the rest of the week left! :)

Tuesday, August 14th
3M easy + 4M of 90"/90" tempo fartlek (5:50-6:00/6:50-7:00)
COMMENTS: I definitely slogged through the warm up and felt real creaky and stiff, but made myself attempt the workout anyways. The first half went smoothly but starting about 3 miles in I pretty well fell apart. Paces were 5:55, 6:51, 5:52, 6:54 (long), 5:39 (short), 7:00, 5:56, 6:47, 5:51, 7:09, 5:53, 6:52, 5:56, 7:22, 6:07, 7:27, 5:57, 7:02. I ended up getting in 4 miles averaging 6:27 pace, so another hard, solid run is in the books regardless of the missed paces in that last mile!

Wednesday, August 15th
rest day

Thursday, August 16th
12M easy in the morning in 7:37 AP
Weights in the evening
COMMENTS: Got in 12 miles solo at Memorial Park this morning. Same aches I've had all week (nothing is a bone ache and it's not sore muscles), just achey joints and such. Other than that, it was a VERY relaxed and comfortable run; never got out of breathe or pushed things since Jake told me not to run this like a progression run. Miles were 8:26, 7:48, 7:49, 7:47, 7:44, 7:46, 7:34, 7:31, 7:27, 7:24, 7:20, 7:12.

Friday, August 17th
6M easy + 8 x strides
COMMENTS: Two untimed loops at Memorial Park. Still not feeling fresh or fit or fast by any means, but I'm getting everything in. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll pull out of the "slumps" and start flying. ;) Regardless, I'm super thankful for such a high mileage week (for me) and the soft surfaces!

Saturday, August 18th
2M easy + 6M progressive (7:30::6:15) (7:15::6:00)
COMMENTS: Very slow warm up but awesome workout. Katie and I were shocked by how easy the first three miles were... We just could not get the pace slow enough to match the planned progression. It worked out perfectly, though, as we were able to progress by the same increments anyways! Miles were 7:14, 6:55, 6:36, 6:24, 6:13, 6:02 for a 6:34 average pace. Good day!

Total Weekly Mileage: 50M