Weekly Running Report: August 8, 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!

Couple reminders.. 

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My Week in Training:

Monday: 8 miles, 55 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core)

Sun recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched. Getting better on the days I relax, I tend to slack. Did offset hydration slightly with a couple beverages for SundayFunday. And resisted going to bed on time, but did. And actually got a decent night's rest. Which is usually hit or miss for me on Sunday night's. Up, a little tired, not too excited yet.. Coffee, workout, tired/ kinda through the motions. During my workout, took a look at the weather, 59 degrees! Yay! Got excited. Ended my workout routine early (got more in later), other "routine" done, a little anxiety if it really was done, but non issue. Out the door a few min early! My goal is to be out the door by 6, but recently discovered if I start a few min earlier and don't dilly dally after, I can get another mi in without being late to work. :)  Pacing.. well.. my run itself. Yeah, the air felt great, and I was excited to be out there, but two days removed from a 19 miler.. calves weren't so happy. Sore and throbbing a bit. Pace was slightly better than expected for a tired/sore Monday, did fade a little towards the end. Extra mi, I added extra hills. Calves may not have been happy, but I was pretty excited for a Monday. 

Side note: 

1. trash on the side of a busy road was a sink. Tempted to take a pic, but don't really pause on shorter runs. Would of tried to come up with a funny caption to let that sink in. lol..yeah, I know, corny. lol.. 

Tuesday: 7 miles, 50 min strength training. (chest/core)

Mon recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched, and in bed on time. Decent night's rest. Tired, not too motivated just yet. Coffee, workout, hydrate, and out the door by 6. I did notice the temp was similar to yesterday, maybe a degree or two warmer, but did not rush to do extra. A little tight still, going with the plan.. Pace was sub 8 till the 2nd midway hill, fading through the remaining hills per usual.  Tight and a little sore, but better than yesterday. Happy overall. 

No real side notes, other than the sun rise was nice before I went out, but was gone by my starting time. :(

Wednesday: 7 mi, 50 min strength training.

Tues recovery: hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled and stretched, and a decent night's rest. Didn't get up once, very rare for me! When I did get up from a dream, thought it would be middle of the night, nope, 15 min before the alarm. 'doh! So close. Relaxed for a min, but up before my alarm. Probably could of rushed out the door early if I wanted to. Nope. Coffee, got a good workout in, and out the door just a few min early. Temps gradually going up, and yup, humid! Off to a decent start, and felt even better than the day before. Pacing mid 7:40's for a bit. Fading as the inclines go, but maintaining better than recent. Hills start around 3 mi. Usually fade by the 2nd one by 3.5. Was a bit of a mind game rest of the way as well. I know I start letting go at points, I know I should a bit on the way up, but dont always attack as it levels or declines. Didn't over do it in a nice long incline in 4-5, but resumed as soon as I could. Maintained 8 longer than recent for my hills, but faded a little more in the last mi. Tough, but fun! I know I could of skipped a couple hills and accomplished it, but rather get hills in. 

Side notes:

Not many, but how about odd smells along the run? No animals or trash smells today but... 

1. In the first mi, I passed an area twice that a strong pancake smell! yum!

2. Coffee! Passed by somewhere that had some strong roast going!

3. Cotton Candy? I'm assuming I passed a vape?

4. cigarettes. blah. nothing new, but thought my run may be all good smells today

5. trash day, but nothing offensive. Thank goodness. (there are some stinky summer trash days!)

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

Wed recovery: hydrated, foam rolled and stretched, and an excellent night's rest! Coffee, workout, hydrate, and out the door by 6. Thursday seems to be one of my better midweek days, going to try to force it a bit. :)  Off to an excellent start. I did find myself losing focus as an incline levels out/declines. Made a point to refocus on form and breathing multiple times to pick up speed or maintain better later on. This helped maintain 7:40's longer. Starting to hit 7:50's in my second hill,  regrouped on the decline. Allowed myself to fade a little in the longer incline in 4-5, but still 7:50's after. Still two more hills to finish out on in 6-7. A battle, but success. Rough, but fun and done! 

Friday: 7 miles, 35 min strength training (arms/shoulders/core).

Thu recovery: hydrated, foam rolled and stretched. Proud of myself for this one. Participated in Thirsty Thursday, but was sure to foam roll and stretch. I would often slack on this type of day.. In bed on time and decent rest. Up before my alarm, but waited it out. Tired, wasn't in the mood to get started, but did. Coffee, workout, hydrate, and out the door by 6. 7 miles? usually do 4-5 on fri to take it easy before long run day. Not going too far tomorrow, doing a couple extra today. Pacing, after pushing to try to maintain sub 8 through my hills yesterday, not going to try to over do that two days in a row. Was comfortable. Did maintain 8 till midway hill and let myself fade a bit along the hills after. Felt good today. 

Side notes:

1. saw a restaurant's digital sign that must of had a system reboot or issue. Was displaying it's IP address and software version. Good thing I'm not an evil hacker to have the sign say something funny! lol.. 

Saturday: 11 miles. 

Long run day, trail day, yay! oops.. no trail day. But no sadness this time. Philly Marathon group run day, yay! An 8 mi group run, hosted by Philadelphia Marathon, Philadelphia Runner, with Sponsors Rothman Orthopaedic , AACR,. The group run started promptly at 7:30, with stretching/warm-up at 7 am. The Philadelphia Musuem of Art is anywhere from 30-60 minutes from my house, depending on traffic. Early weekends, tends to be closer to 30 minutes, but I always plan extra time, just in case. I was there by 6:40. If I was following my training plan for NJ Marathon, this would be week 10, a min of 8 miles. But I have been doing a little extra each week and also trying to do at least 50 mi per week. Early enough to get a couple in before hand. The training run would be on one side of the river, I did the opposite side beforehand. Paved trail along boathouse row. Haven't been over here since Philly Marathon '19! (boathouse row is just before the finish line!). Decent warm-up. Have never actually been on the paved trail. (race is on the road). Got to see a few monuments/statues/art  that I haven't seen before. humid out, minimul inclines, but claves a little sore. Questioning if I should be doing the extra. lol.. Back to the Museum right around 7:15. Met up with fellow ambassadors, race organizers, and social media followers IRL! always great to actually speak to people from the internet! Group run starting at 7:30. There were a few pace groups. I planned on doing 8:30 ish.. but I foolishly started out with the 8 min pacers. The group run was on MLK drive road, which was closed of to traffic. Hung with the pacers probably longer than I should have, but was fun. Started to feel it before the halfway point and pulled back a notch. There was plenty of sun out and warming up. Water provided on the course in a couple locations out and back. Summer weather is back, but fun times had! Glad I was able to schedule heading down for this organized group run! First time running in Philly since '19 and was great to meet and see everyone! There are a couple more organized runs before race day, will be sure to let you know!

Full pics on Facebook

Sunday: 4 mi

Sat recovery, hydrated very well. Failed to foam roll/stretch (at least t was my only day missed!), and also offset hydration a bit. A few miles for the streak to cap the week at 50+.  Supposed to be rest day, but always chasing numbers. May pull back extra miles in upcoming weeks to get scheduled rest in. We shall see. lol..

Planned on sleeping in, didn't. Up near my normal time. Coffee, taking my time, eventually out the door around 7:30. Yup, it's humid. 95%, blah! Whatever. Light stretch and off I go. Thought i would be a through the motion type of day. Tired, a little sore. Calves, right glute, but decent pace without over doing it. Did refocus a few times from day dreaming, refocusing on form and breathing. May of helped with pace, but was just trying not to be too distracted. and done. Plans in a bit. back to Philly I go. This time for a Phillies baseball gm. Full day in the sun. Will try to hydrate along any shenanigan's. ;)

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? One outing to dinner/drinks and one outing to a baseball game today! :)

Watched: Quiet Place 2, 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: 51.3 weekly  miles running 

Year to Date: 1553.3 miles running 

Hill Goal (for the yr):   88277/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k. 

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 235 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 10 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!