Weekly Running Report: July 18, 2021

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! 

How's training going? Any races (IRL or virtual)?  How's the weather in your area?

Hopefully, you saw my recent announcement that I have been selected to be a Philadelphia Weekend Ambassador! If you missed my announcement, you can check it out here. Or here on Facebook! Oh, and by the way, I have a discount code to share. Hit me up! 

Reminder, if you're just skimming my blog, lol..  reminder that I also have gear and race discount tabs/pages on my blog site to check out as well. :) 

My Week in Training:

Monday: 7 miles, 58 min strength training. (arms/shoulders/core)

Sun recovery: hydrated well, foam roll/stretch, and iced my shin. Did offset hydration a bit, didn't think I offset it that much.. Up a few min before my alarm. Coffee, workout (40 min now, 18 later), and out the door by 6. Warm and humid, 95%! It is what it is. Off to a decent start, but that didn't last long. Tired, miserable from the weather, stuffy/breathing was off, tried focusing on it a bunch but didnt get any better. I often have countdowns going.. ex to the midway point hill, just half way was rough, starting to let the doubts come in. Gradual incline in 4.2-4.8, wasn't sure if I woud even get to the top without a walk break. Seriously thinking about turning towards my house around 5.0 where usually turn the opposite direction. Continued on, tempting, but didn't cut my planned distance or hills. Ending may have been more of a shuffle, but done. 

Side notes: A couple David Goggins mantras

1. Don't quit when you're tired, quit when you're done.

2. If you were to record yourself as you don't want to do something or give up, how would it sound if you play it back.. I am ashamed of my neg thoughts during today's run. Appreciate the gift. Repeat 1. 

Side notes: 

1. In mi 6-7, crossed a busy street to run through a sprinkler system. Wish it was spraying a little higher, but still happy it was on. Submerged a shoe in the process, 'doh! 

2. Hey, check out how tall my neighbors sunflowers are! 

Tuesday: 7 miles, 52 min strength training. (chest/core).

Mon recovery, hydrated like heck! Took a while to cool down. And at one point drank so much in a short amount of time almost got sick. Iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched. In bed on time and up early. Coffee, workout (42 min now, 10 later), hydrated, and out the door by 6. 95% humidity yesterday, guess what? 100% today! wtf.  Trying not to think about pace, focus on form/breathing, and survive. Rough, but not as bad as yesterday. I also finally brought water with me! I have never done that for a regular midweek run. usually only pack hydration for longer trail runs. Rehydrated at 30 min and 45 min marks. May have helped. Was comparing how I was feeling vs yesterday (especially in hills at 3.3 mi and 4-5), definitely not as bad. Legs were sore, but not as miserable. Breathing was much better as well. 

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

Tues recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled/stretched.

Backlogging Wed, No real side notes today. 98% humidity, chugging along. 

Waste Mgmt drove by as I finished and are usually very kind with support. Impressed I'm done my 7 mi by the time they are just starting their day.. 

Thursday: 7 miles, 35 min strength training (chest/core).  

Wed recovery, hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled/stretched. Decent night's rest, but was not ready to get up. Groggy to start. Coffee, workout (25 min now, 10 later). A few min short pre run. "routine" took longer than usual. But at least it was pre run. lol.. Hydrate, out the door by 6. Only 92% humid, but poor air quality. Was concerned about that since I had issues breathing the other day. Pacing on point for these conditions. Hydrated at 30/45 min. Pace slowed through the hills and towards the end, but felt decent. Focus on breathing/form/strike, and pulled back slightly through the hills to survive a bit better. lol.. Happy with how things progressed since Monday. Not fantastic, but gradually rolling along. 

Today was also Run Streak Day 2000!

Friday: 5 miles, 45 min strength training(arms/shoulders/core). 

Thu recovery: hydrated very well. Skipped ice/foam roll/stretch. Out to dinner, couple beverages, and vegged after, skipping recovery. Hydrated a bit more. Hoping I didn't offset it too much. Decent night's rest. Up before my alarm, but groggy. Coffee, workout (35 min now, 10 later), hydrate and out the door by 6. Warmer out and yup, still humid! But it's new show day, Saucony Speed2's. Sad that my Speed's are near retirement, but the Speed 2's feel great. Going to try to push it today, but know it will be rough. Off to a good start. Even had a pace alert start with a 6! First mi was faster than it should of been, knew I would eventually regret that. lol.. Started to really feel it by the halfway mark. Was about a minute ahead of goal pace. That was the first half. Would of loved to maintain, but that just wasn't happening.  But still on target for sub 8/40 min. Rough, but done!

Friday was also new shoe day, yay! Sad that my Saucony Speed's are near retirement, but the Speed 2's feel good! 

Saturday: 17 miles.

Fri recovery: hydrated very well. Failed to foam roll/stretch. Had family plans after work, about an hour away. Was out later than preferred and home at least an hour past my bed time. Not the best of night's rest, but up at my alarm. Coffee, "routine" and over to my trail by 6:30.

My trail . Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. Doing the more wooded side to County Line Rd first. Settled into pace. Very humid out, who knows what we'll be maintaining today. TMI time.. before heading out, definitely has my morning "routine". 10 minutes into my run.. uh.. oh oh. Passed the first portable restroom in hoping it would pass. (knowing the next one is 15 minutes further. 15 min further, definitely needed it. Hate taking breaks, especially so early into the run. But was the right call. One good thing about these restrooms.. They get serviced in friday and are usually still clean on Saturday. enough about that.. I resume... Turn around at County Line rd end. 3.5 mi.  About .5 back, bumped into my friend Michelle! we usually pass much later. this was good. Turned around back to the end and back. (extra mi over here I forget to take account later). We paced each other and had great conversation. Took my mind off the misery of the weather. Hydrated at my car (almost 8 mi, usually 7). Off to the more open side to Rockledge. More open, and the sun is starting to beat down. Rockledge end, off to my strava legend hill and turn back. (usuallu do a little more in Rockledge, but Michelle has to return soon). Return from Rockledge, still needed a few extra, take the side trail from Lorimer to Pennypack Park. (Michelle and I part ways here). Passed a water fountain at 14 mi and pulled over for a break. Probably a bad move. It was a nice break. Filled my bottle, soaked myself, relaxed by the stream for a min. Did not want to resume! But was a couple miles out. I head back to Lorimer. Full sun for remainder. And.. also discovered my math was off.. lol.. I usually go so many minutes to Pennypack, etc, and forgot about the extra mi I did earlier in turning around. Figured I'd be 16, plus a little, but was an entire mi more. oopss..  The last 3 were misery, and 1 wasn't part of the plan. If I was only a little extra, I may have a cool down walk, but completed it shuffling. lol  Glad I had company for majority of the run. I'm sure I would of had more misery if I was alone with my thoughts for more.

Full trail pics on Facebook!

Sunday: 5 miles. 

Saturday recovery: hydrated very well. Offset a little bit, but hydrated along the way. A decent night's rest. Tried sleeping in, but also have plans in a bit. Didn't really sleep in much. Adjusted my alarm for an additional hour but was up before that. Coffee, "routine" and out the door. Temps going down a notch soon, but not yet. Still warm and 97% humid. Planned on doing a comfortable pace for about 30 minutes for streak day/rest day, but felt decent and did a little more. Not much of a rest day, but not bad. Did a few minutes of yard work post run. Just cleaning up debris from last night's storm and a few minutes weeding. Sweat was pouring down.

Off to a Phillies baseball game in a bit. Will be sure to hydrate along any shenanigan's.  

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? One outing to dinner, one outing to a Phillies gm! :)

Watched: Loki. So sad the season is over already!, cant wait for the next phase of marvel! 

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

Weekly Summary:

Miles:  weekly 55 miles running 

Year to Date:  1389 miles running 

Hill Goal (for the yr):   79301/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k. 

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes,  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: 4 days 

Training Plan:  Loosely following the below plan structure. (possible adding extra mi until week 9)

Image from Coach Jenny Hadfield

Race Schedule: 

10.17.2021 - NJ Marathon - deferral from spring 2020. (week 7 of 20 training, done)

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!