Weekly Running Report: August 1, 2021

 Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! 

How's training going? Any races (IRL or virtual)?  

My week started out with a rough Monday (tired/humid/Monday) and the week gradually got better. Happy with how most of the week went. Wasn't a "through the motions" week, but wasn't exciting either.. 'till long run day. Wasn't a blah week per se, just not exciting. Ever have one of those?

This coming Saturday (08/07), there is a free training run for all Philadelphia Marathon Weekend runners! I'll be there, hope to see you there as well! Broad Street Runners are invited as well. More info here on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PhiladelphiaMarathon/photos/a.256878304327235/4717517291596625

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)

Sun recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched. I tend to slack on this on SundayFunday, but made a better effort to behave today. Did have afternoon plans, a couple beverages, but behaved and adhered to recovery. Of course I didn't want to go to bed end of the weekend, but that's another story. Ok night's rest. Coffee, workout (35 min now, 10 later), hydrate and out the door by 6. Warmer and 95% humid. We had a few nicer days end of last week, but it's still summer. Tired and still a little sore from Sat long run. Off to a decent start, but was clearly not going to set any records today. Pulled back to a comfy pace and fought towards the end to hang in there for 7 mph. (barely). 

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

Mon recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched, and a decent night's rest. Tired Monday at work (as usual for a Monday), was sure get top bed early! Quality night's rest, but still groggy to start, but got moving. Coffee, workout (35 min now, 10 later). Hydrate and out the door by 6. Humidity, slightly less horrible. lol.. Backlogging Tuesday. There wasn't much noteworthy other than it was better than yesterday. Quads were heavy towards the end, but overall a much better day. 

Wednesday: 7 miles, 50 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core)

Tues recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched. In bed on time, decent rest. Coffee, workout (40 min now, 10 later), hydrate and out the door by 6. Legs not completely fresh, but off to an excellent start. Crazy how the week usually gets better as it progresses. Sub 8 'till about the second hill at the mid point. Fought to maintain for a bit, but pulled back in the next hill around 4.3. Pulled back to a more comfy pace up the hill and tried to bring back down or maintain till the next sets of hills. But still pretty happy with how it went overall. 

Thursday: 7 mi, 50 min strength training (chest/core)

Wed recovery:  hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched, and in bed on time and a decent night's rest. Coffee, workout, and out the door by 6. Feeling pretty decent, will try to get some speed work in. Thurs was pretty similar to Wed. Pacing well. Felt it by the time I got to the hills, but was able to maintain sub 8 through 3 of my worst hills by 5 mi. Fighting to hang on, but gradually fading a bit more through the remaining hills. Only 4 seconds avg faster than yesterday, but felt more balanced. 

Miscellaneous cardio: 30 min yard work on my lunch break. Only had to do half this week, rushed, but done and cleaned up in 45 min. 

Friday: 5 mi, min strength training (arms/shoulders/core)

Thu recovery: hydrated well. Failed to foam roll/stretch. Also had a few beverages for Thirsty Thursday, but somewhat behaved, and a decent night's rest. Up before my alarm, but waiting it out a bit. Up. Coffee, workout, hydrate, and out the door by 6. Slightly shorter run and trying to ease into the weekend with a comfy pace. Humid out.. of course. ugh.. lol.. Off to a comfy start. Started out a bit slow, picked it up and then pulled back again to get right in the middle ish. Humid out and still got most of my hills in. 400 ft in 5 mi. Could of easily skipped them to be more comfortable, but where's the fun in that. lol.. 

Saturday: 19 miles? (scheduled for 16)

Long run day, trail day, yay!

Fri recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, carb load, foam rolled and stretched, relax and in bed on time. Planned on a good night's rest.. That did not happen. :(  Work call at 2am. It's not even my on-call week, but it is what it is. Work 'till 2:45, and awake. Tried falling back to sleep, took a while, even thought about just getting up. Eventually back to sleep. A funky dream and then up just before my alarm. Tired, but not trying to go back to sleep. Enjoy beating the heat and getting done when I do. Coffee, routine, and over to my trail by 6:30. My trail Pennypack Creek. Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. Did the more wooded side to County Line Rd first. Temps were great to start and not horrible to end. Even a little chill on my drive over, not chilly, but perfect temp to start. Run felt great from the start! Trying not to go out fast, pulled back a notch. 8:20's, figured to settle in 8:30's. There is eventually a gradual incline and hill. Turn around at County Line (3.5 mi). Skipped hydrating at the 30 min mark, but made point to every 30 min after. On the way back, still feeling great and picking up speed a bit. 8:teens. Hydrated at my car around 7+. Off to the more open side, a more noticeable incline to Rockledge (9+). Rockledge end, left the trail for my strava legend hill. (pace 8:30's remainder of the way). Usually kicks my butt, I kicked back today. Sure, I felt it, but wasn't dying towards the top. lol.. Down their main street a bit, turned back at 10.5ish. Back to the trail. Returning towards the parking lot, but would need to add a little to hit my sched 16. Side trail from Lorimer to Pennypack Park. Well.. already had ideas of doing at least 1-2 extra to stay slightly ahead of plan a bit longer. Felt better than expected and decided on 18. I have some idea of where to turn around at, but I was apparently off at some point. lol.. Turn back. Back to Lorimer, back to the parking lot. Did start to feel it on the way back to Lorimer. Couple of the rolling hills, and one more at Lorimer. Feeling it, but surprisingly still felt decent enough. Hit 18 mi, and judging by the landmarks, knew I had at least .7 to go. 'Doh! Too long of a cool down walk. Continued on and went past my normal ending spot, on to the opposite end of parking lot hit 19. At least I didn't have to do circles at the end. Felt pretty decent. No regrets doing the extra 2 that turned to 3. 

Side notes:

Didn't have much of side notes during the week. a couple today..

1. Pick up after your dogs ppl! At least two "presents"

2. So you're supposed to pick up after your dogs.. what about horses? lol.. 

3. A park that is not fenced in, but several unleashed dogs.. grrr...

4. passed my speedy friend Adam that's training for Boston. Turned around for a couple minutes to b.s. since it's been a few weeks. He was doing speed work and going back to his comfy pace for an interval.. Still too fast for me, and I wasn't going to force it. Too early in my run to stray that much from my pace.. Could of ruined my run entirely. At least we caught up post run.

5. 19 miles PR. Guess that can happen when it is your only 19 miler to date.   

6. July monthly mi PR, 259.9 miles.. Proud of it, but not overthinking it. Just trying to do a little extra to push my comfort zone a bit till the 20+ milers are on my schedule. 

Full pics on Facebook

Sunday: 4 miles

Sat recovery: hydrated well, foam roll and stretched (usually slack on this if I don't get it in before relax mode after a long run, but got it in!). Did offset hydration a bit with beverages, but hydrated along the way as well. Decent night's rest, almost 9 hours! Up at my normal time but was able to fall back to sleep. Slept in and taking my time. Eventually out the door by 9:30. So late! Feeling yesterday's long run, going with a comfy pace for recovery miles. Light rain started midway, a little refreshing, but could of used more. I don't remember the last time it poured on me. lol.. Legs feeling it a bit, but didn't skip the hills. Done. Post run, did some light yard work. Weeding and cleaning up debris, blah! lol.. Will be sure to focus on recovery to be somewhat ready for Monday. 

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? 

Watched: American Horror Stories, baseball, 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: 56.1 weekly  miles running 

Year to Date: 1501.9 miles running 

Hill Goal (for the yr):   85629/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k. 

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 237 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 missed 1 day! getting better at doing it on the days I would usually slack on it!)

Training Plan:  Loosely following the below plan structure. (possibly doing extra till the 18+ milers show up)

Image from Coach Jenny Hadfield

Race Schedule: 

10.17.2021 - NJ Marathon - deferral from spring 2020. (week 9 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!