Good afternoon to you! My original schedule had me running on Sunday, but the potential aftermath of my 40th birthday party seemed to be a little more than I was willing to run through so I shifted things around a bit. So far, my 40s don’t feel very different! Do all of my shirts have to have collars now? Are there any words that I’m no longer allowed to use? I have so many questions.
We are 5 weeks in and everything is getting back to normal. I can’t quite hold my top speed for as long as I used to, but I think that will come. I have to force myself to push off a bit with my baby calf, since it still doesn’t quite come naturally. The baby calf is getting stronger though. Here’s what I did this week!
Monday – Planned 3 miles easy/Actual 3 miles easy
These miles were on location in Uncle Mike and Aunt Peggy’s neighborhood. Running somewhere new is always nice, but MAN is was nasty outside. I was a disgusting mess after just 3 miles. I shamefully ran inside and hustled to the shower. Nobody needed to see me like that. The neighborhood has a lot of identical houses, which made me think of A Wrinkle in Time. The reason we were on location was to catch a Cardinals game in DC vs. the Nationals. The Cardinals blew the game and of course it was the only one they lost in the series. Crap.
Tuesday – Planned 7 miles easy/Actual 7 miles easy-ish
I hate 7 mile runs. 6 is the perfect amount of miles without getting into “long run” territory. 7 is just one more, but it seems to make a difference to me. The heat definitely didn’t help. Of course, I had to roll right into work after a 4 day weekend and I was kind of a mess. My stomach was in overdrive, possibly due to dehydration. These are the runs that toughen us up.
Wednesday – Planned 3 miles/Actual 0 miles and cross-training
I’m sticking with Monday and Wednesday runs being optional and this was one of those days. The kettlebell workout was a killer and I didn’t have the time or the energy to put in the miles. I still think the cross-training is more important to my training that some garbage/recovery miles.
Thursday – Planned 40 minute tempo/Actual Track Thursday 5x800m
I switched this around to have some company at the track (thanks Brooke). Hal says it’s cool to switch these around as I see fit, so next week will be the tempo day. I had a pizza/calzone stomach try to interfere with my last couple of 800s, but I kept them all under 3:15! That just so happens to be the pace that correlates to my BQ marathon pace. I’m not giving up quite yet. 🙂
Friday – Planned Rest/Actual 7 easy
More switching things around this week. I got the blessing from a few experts to make these switches, so I feel ok with it. This was mainly to avoid running after my birthday party. I shifted everything up to give myself a rest day on Sunday. I had coffee with Wade and Alissa (hooray!) then ran at about 7:30. The sun didn’t bother me, but I feel like the mugginess of our usual 5:30 to 6:00 start time is worse. The steam coming off of me says otherwise though.
Saturday – Planned 7 miles/Actual 14 miles (40th birthday run!)
I’d hoped that I would have some company for this one, but everybody’s plans just didn’t allow it. I came up with a new route, because I can only run the Blackwater Creek Trail so many times. The route is AWESOME. The hills are kind of stupid though.
My Pegasus Turbos came (thanks for making that happen, Robbie), but I decided that I didn’t want to spoil myself on this run so I ran in Brooks Ghosts instead. Nothing against Brooks Ghosts, but they just don’t do it for me.
This run went SO WELL. It was hot and miserable and I climbed so many hills, but I got it done. It makes me very enthusiastic about where I am currently and about where I can get by December. 🙂
Sunday – Planned 14 miles/Actual REST
Now I know. I’m old. My birthday party consisted of too much to drink and not enough sleep. There was karaoke though. I spent most of my day curled up in the fetal position while watching football. I really had fun though and it’s nice to know that I have some friends that are willing to be dragged out to celebrate my birth. Here’s a mini highlight film.
This week I’m going to break out those Turbos, as long as it isn’t too wet outside. I hear a storm’s blowin’ in.
Run, Eat, Ralph 
I’m guessing – the guy with the tat on his hand 😀
What a great week you had! I think it was super smart to switch your runs around to allow Sunday to be a recovery day.
Happy birthday!
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Lucky guess haha.
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I’m glad you didn’t cry, even if you wanted to 🙂 Though it’s your party!
looks like a fun week with smart training choices, except for the birthday alcohol 😉
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Alcohol can be somewhat counter productive. I’m thinking about limiting that to 2 beers a week.
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I was kidding of course. But if you are serious about a PR and BQ in December, it’s been recommended to avoid alcohol in the intense part of training, to allow for good recovery and good efforts. When I was serious the last time, I didn’t drink except on my rest day before an easy day of running. It was worth it. And it was an excuse to bring up my running at parties 🙂
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Ha! Those poor people aren’t going to invite me to parties anymore if I talk TOO much. My rest day IS Friday so your plan might work for me. 🙂
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Those Depends might come in handy those days the ol’ stomach is in overdrive on the run!
Happy birthday! On the bright side, you’re now the youngest runner eligible for overall masters wins.
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I’ll forgive you for hating on my Brooks Ghost sneakers. I switched up my long run day last week as well based on the weather. I was going to run on Sunday but saw that it was going to rain for basically 2.5 days straight. Fortunately we returned home early Sat. morning from our mini trip and I worked a bit while it rained and once it cleared up I was out the door. My Garmin died around 9.5 miles but having used mapmyrun in advance I know I logged between 13.5 and 14 total. My run was hilly as well, but I know my half has some hills so I figured it was good preparation even if I did feel the after effects for 2 days. Much football watching and lounging was had in this house on Sunday too!
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Dead Garmins make me sad. I shouldn’t hate TOO much on the Ghosts. They really are a very good shoe. I guess they just don’t get me excited to run. In my mind, they are very good for everything but not great for anything haha.
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Yes, I’m starting to think my Garmin requires more frequent charging than my cell phone! It amuses me that shoes make you excited to run… I only get that feeling when I buy brand new ones. I liked your last line – reminds me of my husband sometimes – JK!
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