Week 15 - Training Summary

To be honest, I am feeling a little blahh. Physically, I feel just fine. Mentally, I am emotional, cranky, scared, scattered, anxious and excited. I am 5 days out from the JFK 50 mile race and I am sure all these feelings are pretty typical. I just need to keep myself busy. Besides concentrating on sleep, hydrating and eating clean, I am going to pamper myself a bit this week and catch up on things I have been neglecting. I have a hair and nail appointment as well as a 30 minute massage scheduled for the evenings this week. Someone asked me, "Aren't you supposed to pamper yourself AFTER the race to reward yourself?" Oh yes, and I fully intend to do that, but I think I deserve a little reward at this point too. 

TOTAL MILES WEEK 15 :  41.71 miles

11/7 (Monday) - Gym - 5:32am

I slept hard last night, going to bed a little later then I hoped. We are going to nip that in the bud right now. I will be in bed by 9 pm every night until the JFK race. I don't want to start that race tired or sore.

11/8 (Tuesday) 5:42am - 7 miles
I love that it is light out by 6:15am. I kind of like the first half of my run in the dark, but watching the sun rise makes for a good start to the day. I ran 7.02 miles out and back from Old Town towards Belle Haven. It was very quiet on the trail today. I passed 3 runners on the tail end of the run and about 5 cyclists. Even though it was fairly "warm" - about 45 degrees - there was an icy feeling in the air which made me wish I had worn gloves. My last several runs by myself, I have worn my watch just for kicks to see how slow I am actually moving. It's funny. Whether I run 14 miles or 7 miles my average pace stays at 8:32. No matter how hard I push it, or even if I try to slow down - it ends up being 8:32. I guess my body is comfy there.
11/9 (Wednesday) 6:15am - 5.44 miles
If I don't have everything set out and ready to go in the morning before I head to the gym, I tend to dilly-dally. That's what happened today but it wasn't a big deal because I only had 5 miles to run. I managed to crank out this run on the treadmill at an average 8:16 pace. I decided to flip back in my training log to see what I ran a year ago today. I ran 4.01 miles in 29:51 on the Mt. Vernon trail towards DCA. That is a 7:26 per mile pace and I remember feeling really good after that run too. I was still in BQ Bliss after MCM. Ha. I can't wait to start training fast again.

11/10 (Thursday) - 5:54am - 9.01 miles
I was thinking it was going to be colder on the Mt. Vernon trail than it actually was this morning. It was muggy too. Yes, muggy on 11/10 even though it was in the 40s. Weird. This race is starting to become more real to me as I start thinking about logistics. My brain is starting to get into race mode which means I feel really scattered. I am feeling a like I don't have everything under control. I am dropping the ball in some areas of my life and forgetting some silly things. I am feeling more emotional and sensitive. Things are annoying me a little more and I am more apt to snap. I just need to close my eyes and take some deep breathes.

11/11 (Friday) - Rest Day
I wanted my legs fresh for Richmond so I did nothing.
11/12 (Saturday) 7:30am - 13.26 miles - Richmond Half Marathon
I originally signed up for the full marathon but after MCM, I asked myself - Why? There is no training benefit for me to run a a marathon a week before my 50 miler. So, I switched to the 1/2 at the expo. It was a good decision. It was a pretty race. Freeeeezing at the beginning. My toes and hands were frozen until about the 4 mile mark. Frozen as in numb. I thought there was something wrong, but eventually the feeling a came back. The course was flat for the most part. I got scared last night when I went downtown to meet my best childhood friend, Dana, for dinner and saw these ridiculous inclines throughout the city. I finished in 1:48:40. It's not a PR, but that wasn't what I was going for. My next 1/2 marathon will be though :-) My splits looked ok. You can tell I was starting to lose steam around Mile 8, but it came back shortly after.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:48:40.9	13.26	8:11.7
1	8:19.2	1.00	8:19.3
2	8:18.4	1.00	8:18.5
3	8:11.2	1.00	8:11.4
4	8:06.9	1.00	8:07.0
5	8:08.7	1.00	8:08.8
6	8:17.4	1.00	8:17.6
7	8:12.3	1.00	8:12.4
8	8:26.1	1.00	8:26.2
9	8:17.6	1.00	8:17.6
10	8:18.2	1.00	8:18.2
11	8:09.1	1.00	8:09.1
12	8:12.3	1.00	8:12.4
13	7:48.8	1.00	7:48.9
14	1:54.1	0.26	7:14.6

11/13 (Sunday) 10:30am - 7 miles
I was so excited and so ready to go to bed at 10pm last night and sleep in today. But as I was getting ready for bed, I got a phone call, chatted some, then I decided to answer some emails, then do a few quick chores...before I knew it, it was midnight. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, which rarely happens. I didn't wake up until 7am, but quickly fell back asleep until 8:30am...then 9am...I was still in bed at 9:30am! Ugh. Remember earlier this fall when I would be finishing up a 20 miler by 9:30am? I felt like I slept my morning away. It made me cranky. It made me feel like a slug. Then, I opened up facebook and twitter reading about everyone's awesome PRs at Richmond and the Veteran's Day 10K. That is sooooo cool, but I couldn't help but have a little pity party for myself. I want a new PR. I want to run fast again. Sigh. It was hard to lace up the shoes, but I did and ran 7 miles at my 8:32 pace. Yawn. I never regret a run, but the endorphins were not flowing today. The good news for the day though? The 7 day forecast is out and 50 mile race day weather looks pretty perfect!