Among other things, last week marked the season debut of tights in my running wardrobe! Photo credit: Sangudo)
Bonjour, le Salty readers! Geez, it’s been a while! A crazy late-October Ragnar road trip temporarily derailed both my blogging and training schedules. (So totally worth it though.) But don’t you worry your Salty little heads! I am back on the blogging/ running wagon just in time to tell you all about my final week of training before tapering for my big goal race, the Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday, 11/16! It’s almost go time, y’all!
According to the nice people over at Daily Mile, I ran 51.19 miles last week, and you can read all about each and every one of them right here in the latest edition of my Salty Running Training Log!
Monday, 11/4: Just Another Monday Runday, 4.25 miles. Just a dark, but fun run around the campus at work with the few Monday Runday-ers that did not do the local marathon/ half marathon yesterday. (About 50% of my little run group ran this race.) I ran the last hideously hilly miles of it myself as part of a relay team, and I was very glad and relieved to feel decent running after that soul-crushing experience. And those Monday Runday alums who did do the race totally rocked it! Hooray! Super-proud of them!
Tuesday, 11/5: Reclaiming the Running Mojo, 8.51 miles. After Sunday’s utterly demoralizing long run at ye old local marathon relay I needed to get my mojo back, so I begged fellow Salty Saffron to keep me company on today’s run. Thankfully, she obliged. Her company, plus special guest appearances by a few other fab running besties helped me stay out of my own head so I could mostly enjoy the run and still hold a decent pace. It will be most interesting to see how a little speedwork goes tomorrow. Here’s hoping I’ve still got a little fitness left for Richmond and that I am just bouncing back from a little mental bump in the road. We shall see!
Wednesday, 11/6: 4x 800m/ 400m, 8 miles. Last Vo2max workout before Richmond! Coach Saffron prescribed 4x 800m/ 400m. Needless to say, I’ve been feeling a little sluggish since Ragnar TN, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I definitely felt pretty un-enthused as my warm-up buddy turned around, leaving me to do the workout on my own, but in the end I think it went mostly better than expected. Here are the splits…
2:48/ 1:25, 2:58/ 1:21, 2:53/ 1:29, 3:05 (this one was uphill, I swear!)/ 1:24.
I’ll have to check back to make sure, but I feel like that may be a little faster than I ran this workout a few weeks ago, although I did 5 repeats last time, so maybe that makes it a wash. In any event, it left me feeling hopeful that my Double Ragnar October hasn’t left me totally doomed for Richmond. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, 11/7: Guess what day it is! Guess. What. Day. It. Is. RRRRREEESSSTTT DDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY! (That was a Hump Day Camel commercial joke in case you didn’t get it.)
Friday, 11/8: Tempo Day! 9 miles. And now there are officially no more tempo runs left before Richmond. Today I met my primary training partner BFF for some tempo work on our usual little stretch of greenway trail. Her plan was 5 miles at 7:05 pace and my plan was 4 miles at LT (6:40 ish). I figured I would run one mile at 7:05 with her and then my 4 LT pace miles just a little faster. Sadly, my workout bud’s ankle was really bothering her by mile 2, so she decided to bail. I hemmed and hawed a little over what to do next before settling on running to the nearest bathroom, making a pit stop, and then starting the workout. This ultimately turned into an extended 3 mile warm up, plus the pit stop, but whatever. I think my nagging stiff, grumpy right calf needed all the extra warming up it could get.
Things felt pretty good once I got rolling. The 6:40-ish pace felt really manageable until I got to the hilly part, but even then I managed to keep it sub-6:50. I found myself getting a little less comfortable in the last mile, but then again I was running faster than my LT pace by this point so there is that.
Here are the splits in case you’re interested: 6:43, 6:40, 6:49, 6:27.
I also felt encouraged by the fact that I ran my final cool down mile in 7:22 without thinking twice about it. Not being reduced to 10 min. miles at the end of a workout definitely seems like a good sign. I am quite Relieved that the last week of training before the taper is turning out to be a successful one!
Saturday, 11/9: Easy Donut Shop Run with Friends, 8.01 miles. Just an easy hour plus some strides at the end. Good Miles with good friends, and good donuts to follow!
Sunday, 11/10: Sunday Funday Long Run, 13.25 miles. There are no more long run left until Richmond! Nice to check the final one off of the list with Oiselle teammates Saffron and Allison, plus some other local run club friends.
I feel pretty good about the speed and strength stuff I’ve done to prepare for Sunday’s race, but I haven’t done any long run over 14 miles which makes me feel a little uneasy. Alas, there is nothing I can do now but rest, think positive, and hope for the best. Ready or not, Richmond here I come!
Get excited for my very first Salty Running race report, coming soon!
Cheers, and happy trails to all!
~Wasabi
Posted by Wasabi. Check out more at Salty Running.