Weekly Running Report: August 22, 2021

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! 

How's training going? Any races (IRL or virtual)?  How's everything going? Anything exciting in or outside of the world of running, let us know! Shout it out!

Not sure if you saw my announcement this past week. I have been training for the NJ Marathon, which has been canceled. I had a couple backups in mind and signed up for the Steamtown Marathon. Steamtown has been on my list to checkout someday, and probably wouldn't have been able to until 2023 (hoping to do my Chicago deferral 2022 (usually the same week). The change of plans pushed my training up by one week. Week 13 of 20, done!  

Couple reminders.. 

As a #PhillyMarathonAmbassador, I have a discount code for $15 off the half marathon, full marathon, or any of the challenges, hit me up in the DM's for the code!

As a #BibRavePro, I have running gear and race discounts across the country! check out my blog site tabs for discount info!

My Week in Training:

Monday: 7 mi, 45 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core). Oh Monday.. we meet again. 

Sun recovery. Hydrated well. Failed to foam roll or stretch. Wasn't in the mood and never forced myself. Bad Joey! Offset hydration a bit, and like most Sunday's, not ready for the weekend to come to an end. Once in bed a decent night's rest. Up just before the alarm, but not in the mood. Coffee and got my work out in, through the routines and barely out the door in time. Good thing we set out everything the day before. lol.. Out the door by 6. Temps not as bad as last week, but still a little warm and pretty humid. Off I go. Pace wise, started out ok, but calves definitely still feeling Saturday's 18 miler and pretty much felt like I was doing weights through all of my hills. lol..  Whatever. Done!

Tuesday: 7 miles, 45 min strength training (chest/core). 

Mon recovery: hydrated well, foam rolled and stretched (although once winding down for the day, was really not in the mood, but got it done). A decent night's rest, but woke up around 3 and not sure if I go much more rest. Waited till the alarm. Coffee, got going with my workout, hydrate, routine, and out the door by 6. Beforehand, definitely felt slightly better than yesterday, hope that holds true once I get going. But guess what, it's still humid. Of course it is. Wouldn't want this to be easy, would you? lol.. Off I go. A decent start. Felt the humidity, worked on breathing. Legs feeling a little better than yesterday. Maintained an 8 ish pace until my second hill around 3.5. Not trying to over do it. More gradual hill in 4-5, pulled back a notch and try to recover after. Did slightly but was pretty much in maintenance mode remainder of the way. Trying to refocus on form and breathing whenever I caught myself daydreaming. Maintained sub 8:11 overall through remaining hills. Calves better than yesterday, still a little rough with humidity, but happy overall. Always happy when Tues is better than Mon. lol

Wednesday: 7 miles, 45 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core)

Tues recovery: hydration goal met, foam rolled and stretched (just not in the mood lately, lol..), decent rest. Coffee, workout, hydrate, and out the door by 6. backlogging.. no real side notes, except humidity got me early and hills got me later. A little frustrated, but done. Hate when I have a tougher midweek day than Monday. Monday my calves were sore, felt good today when heading outside and that went out the door early. lol.. 

Side notes: 

1. Trash day - it was a stinky one with this humidity! 

Thursday: 5 miles, 50 min strength training (chest/core). 

Wed recovery: hydration goal met, barely. Foam rolled and stretched, although I didn't want to. And in bed on time. Not a good night's rest at all...Tossed/turned to start. Crazy thunderstorms from 1 am for a few hours. Up at 1, maybe fell back to sleep, Flash Flood alert an hour later and then more cracking thunder. Eventually for a few more min of rest, but not much.. Coffee, plenty of that today, workout, and then out the door by 6. Humid, of course it is. 94%. ugh.. Still going to try to get some speed work in. Work on breathing and off I go. Successful start. 7:20's, down to 7: teens for a bit. Had some inclines, and one hill, but skipped the rest of the major hills. Feeling the humidity early and legs getting heavier by midway. Countdown of breath's per minute and refocusing as needed the entire second half.

Goal was to complete overall sub 8, rough, but success! 

side notes:

1. Passed a new runner in my hood several times. hope to actually talk to them at some point. lol

2. Got my new backup headphones yesterday! Not sure if you saw my last week's post. My fav headphones died last thurs, and my backup headphones died on Saturday. Been using 3rd string headphones that I hate for a few days. lol. Will provide an update on replacing my primaries when I get them. Being replaced free of charge! 

Friday: 4 miles, 45 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core).

Thu recovery: hydration goal met, foam roll and stretched, and an ok night's rest. Stayed up a few min to watch fake fb (preseason). Stayed up a few min past half time. And wasn't ready for bed. Up a few min early tho. Coffee and time to get my full workout in all at once (usually 30 ish min early, and a few sets later in the day). Hydrate, and out the door by 6. Yup, still humid. 4 mile day per the plan (actually 30 min). Decided to try to push it again today. Havent done too much speed work recently (due to the miserable weather) and taking advantage of the shorter distance today. Start working on breathing and off I go. Off to another decent start, but with the humidity and few inclines, feeling it by midway. Fading from 7:30's to 7:40's. Really tried to keep it at 7:45 but slid just past that. Last mi was rough. But done and fun overall.

Sidenotes:

1. starting to see sunrises again! Had a beautiful sunrise the first 10-15 min. If it wasnt doing speed work I may have taken a pic. But hopefully they will start lasting longer soon!

Saturday: 20 miles!

Fri recovery: hydration goal met, foam rolled and a light stretch. Didn't have my stretch band, missed a set of stretching. Done before evening plans. Happy hr/dinner and drinks. Wouldn't normally do this on the day before long run day, but had plans I couldn't really decline. A laid back bachelor party. Behaved myself and excused myself early, but still lost an hr of rest. Bed time is 9, didn't get home till 10, and took a few min to fall asleep. But I digress. 

Had all my gear ready of course. Up a few min before the alarm. Coffee,"routine", a few min late, got to the trail around 6:15. My trail Pennypack Creek. Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd.  Doing the side to County Line Rd first. Guess what? Something new, it's humid out! ugh. Whatever. It is what it is. Started out a comfy pace, 8:30's, and pulling back to 8:40's, knowing I will most likely slow down more later. Humidity and slight overall soreness, but moving along fine. Hydrating every 30 minutes. New turn around point from this end has been County Line rd (3.5 mi), but they have been working on a new extension from there.. on/off being opened the past few weeks due to construction and storms messing with the construction, but open today! It may have been open last week, but already had my route planned. Had my route planned today, but with a longer run I could move a couple around. County Line Rd going towards Newtown. No idea where I ended up. lol.. But the trail ended I was 6+ in. A nice added addition! The extension near county line doesnt offer much scenery. This was similar, a couple warehouses and backyards (trees/overgrowth somewhat blocking views into their yards. lol) But some spots of wooded scenery. And saw a few young bucks! Return from this side. Hydrating at 1 hr and again soon. Passing my car at around 12-13 mi. Extra hydration! (Also fueled at 1:15, 2:15 hrs). Off to the more open side to Rockledge Park. The sun wasn't as bad today. Out at times, but not as bad as recent. Approaching Rockledge, off to the nearby neighborhood hill. Thought about skipping it, but decided to follow through. That hill got me last week, but survived unscathed this time. Also did a loop around Rockledge to add a couple mi. Trail back to the parking lot. Faded a bit in the last few mi, but wasn't concerned. Felt strong overall and didn't want to over do it just to save a few seconds off the avg. 

On my way back, could tell I would fall short of 20 mi as I passed certain landmarks. 19.6 ish at the parking lot, turnaround for a  few min and back. After last week's miserable 18 miler and having plans last night, definitely had some anxiety, but followed my plan and executed with success. Yeah, I may have been tired, but not as drained/exhausted like last week. 

Full pics on Facebook

Sunday: 1 mile. 

Sat recovery: hydrated like heck! Foam rolled and stretched before any shenanigan's. Was relaxing for a bit, but got it done before evening plans. Offset hydration a bit, but hydrated along. Stayed up way past my bed time. Don't usually watch the west coast baseball games, but made the mistake of turning the game on in the 8th inning, and of course it went into extra's. Up past midnight, very rare for me. Planned on sleeping in, up around 6ish, waited a bit, and gave up by 7. Coffee, routine, taking my time and out the door around 8:30. Just doing one for the streak. Think it's time I start taking rest days a bit more serious. Run went much better than expected tho. Not as much pain day after a 20 miler as I assumed there would be. Off to an excellent start 6:30's and tried to maintain. Rough towards the end and faded past 7. Will be sure to focus on recovery today to get back out there tomorrow!

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? One outing to dinner/drinks.

Watched:  Phillies baseball, Marvel's 'What If?", South Park, Family Guy, and some murder docu series.

Q: How about you? Anything exciting outside of running? Any adventures? Binge watching anything?

Weekly Summary:

Miles: 51 weekly  miles running 

Year to Date: 1661 miles running 

Hill Goal (for the yr):   93651/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k. 

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 226 minutes completed. What type of strength training do I do? Core: crunches, planks, leg raises. Weights: biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest. 

Hydration Goal:  7 days 

Foam Roll/Stretch: 6 days. Only slacked one day, yay!  

Training Plan:  Week 13 of 20 following the below plan structure. 

Image from Coach Jenny Hadfield

Race Schedule: 

10.10.2021 - Steamtown Marathon - NJ just announced they were canceling their race. Had two in mind just in case. Steamtown or AC. Going with Steamtown. Pushes up my training by one week, having to do a 20 miler a week after a rough 18 miler on the prev sched. May start taking those scheduled rest days to adjust! lol.

10.17.2021 - NJ Marathon - deferral from spring 2020. Canceled. :(

11.21.2021 - Philadelphia Marathon - deferral from 2020 (registered the day after 2019's race!). Definitely a fav! If you haven't registered yet, I have a discount code. Hit me up on a social DM! 

Be sure to check out my Race and Gear discount pages from my blog site. #BibRavePro ;)
Good luck to everyone with training! Kick some butt! If you do any races(virtual or IRL), please remember to review them on BibRave.com!