83 Days to Go (Sometimes I Question My Sanity... But my Unicorn told me I'm fine!)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workouts (Intervals within desired pace)
7/9/18 - M - OFF
7/10/18 - T - 14 miles @ EA (8:14)
7/11/18 - W - 7 miles @ EA (8:14)
7/12/18 - R - 14 miles @ EA (8:14)
7/13/18 - F - 7 miles @ EA (8:14)
7/14/18 - Sat - 12 miles @ EB (7:42)
7/15/18 - Sun - 17 miles @ LR (7:25)
Running duration = 9:16 hours
Running mileage = 67.5 miles
Indoor Virtual Biking duration = n/a hours
Indoor Virtual Biking mileage = n/a miles
Total (training) duration = 9:16 hours
Total (training) mileage = 67.5 miles
Number of running SOS intervals within pace = 13/14 (93%)
Monday
Nothing comes to mind.
Tuesday
Took the day off to get the run in in the nicer morning temps. T+D of 136 to 139. As always, because of the heat I decided to follow the scheduled duration instead of the scheduled mileage. If I continuously followed the mileage, then after a hot week I'd be way over the intended training duration for the week. And since this was to be a pretty heavy mileage duration (9+ hours) week, I wasn't interested in adding unnecessary training load.
So 14 miles became 13.18 miles instead. Average pace was an 8:14 min/mile. I kept an eye on the HR instead of the pace for this run since the goal was to make sure it stayed on the faster side of easy (HR of 137). Final average HR was a 136, so a successful easy run.
After the run, we checked out some tile and then met with the builder and developer of the land. The corn field to our west (and future sight of G's middle/high school) is at a little of a higher grade. So they want to make sure we bring our house up a touch too. This means while we purchased a lot with no basement access, because of the hill grade we're actually going to get a full window down there in the northeast corner. So that's a big win since that allows it to be a bedroom space some day in the far off future. Lots of other aesthetics discussed about the home's plot of land and exterior choices. The developer wanted to know what color we wanted to go with, and he said hopefully not grey or blue. We were actually thinking of a grey house which is relatively common in the neighborhood (maybe 30%, with blue being another 25-30%).
Wednesday
Just another easy run at 7 miles. This time on the slower side of easy at a HR of 132. Ended up at a an average pace of 8:47 min/mile with a HR of 131. The T+D was 146.
Thursday
Took another day off from another long easy day. T+D of 135 to 145. Again aimed to keep the duration of the workout on target, so ended up with 13.6 miles instead of 14 miles. The average pace was a 7:54 min/mile with a HR of 137. Kept an eye on the HR throughout and nailed the fast side of the easy (137). At about the 9-10 mile mark is when the run really took a turn. It's been a while since I've had that leg endurance burn. Not out of breath, not running out of leg energy, but simply could feel that medium level hum of fatigue. That's the feeling I've been missing, even though it definitively makes things harder. Didn't help that I had a quick turnaround on the Wed/Thurs run at about 13 hours between runs.
Afterwards, we went driving around a neighborhood quite a bit west of Cottage Grove. And that's when we found it.
A house with the right color green siding. We quick ran over to the building supply store and showed them this picture and asked them to find the siding. And after about 30 min of searching through stacks of samples, they found something quite similar. Success! I played around with the siding website and created my own mock-up of the house (it's a rough mock, but I tried).
The builder is going to get back to us about price on the siding. So fingers crossed.
Friday
An absolute scorcher! It was a T+D of 168. Another easy day (aiming for 60 min). Ended up averaging a 9:00 min/mile with a HR goal of a 132. Averaged a 132, so I was able to stay on target.
Saturday
A super quick turn-around. Steph scheduled us with the appliance guy at 9:00am and the flooring guy at noon. So there wasn't much wiggle room in terms of when to run. Unfortunately the weather wasn't going to play nice either. Woke up at 4am and checked the forecast. There was some heavy rain in the area, but there was a chance I could get my 90 min run in if I was willing to have periods of rain throughout. So rolled out of bed and got ready. Was ready to head out the door at 4:45am and looked outside. I couldn't even see more than 10 feet out the window because it was raining so far. So I gave it as long as I could that would allow me to still finish the run so I wouldn't be late for our appointments.
Got the run started at 5:13am. It was a T+D of 140-146 with periods of light, moderate, and heavy rain. Never know what race day will bring. Thankfully no lightening otherwise it would have made the decision for me. Goal was 90 min of easy running with a HR on the fast side of easy around 137. Ended up with a HR of 135 and a pace of an 8:14 min/mile. I was starting to drag at the end of the run. Not surprising since the turnaround was less than 12 hours and I got minimal sleep. But all in all the paces were tight.
AND it marked a significant milestone in my running journey.
10,000 career miles! The first day I ran was on June 27th, 2012. That was 2208 days ago. Which means I've averaged 4.5 miles per day since I started my journey (obviously not actually running 4.5 miles per day). Can't say that's what I thought I'd be doing when I took those first steps all the way back then. But after 10,000 miles, here I am. On to the next 10,000 miles!
Spent a good deal of the morning with the appliance guy and ended up going ahead with our decisions. I had some choices in mind and felt even more comfortable after the meeting with the choices. I've spent quite a few hours researching each individual item to try and maximize performance while balancing reliability. You never know, but I'm trying my best.
We confirmed our flooring choices with the flooring guy except the tile. I saw some slick tile at the tile store on Tuesday and wanted to show Steph to get her opinion.
Sunday
This was to serve as the culmination of the heavy training week with a 17 mile (125 min) run. Since the T+D was 144-156, then the pace would need to be adjusted and the duration of the workout meant it was more likely a 15.5-16 mile run.
Long Run pace = 7:25 min/mile + 10 seconds (because still in the 1st half of the plan) + 4-5.5% adjustment (because of T+D) = 7:53-8:02 min/mile goal pace.
The sun was also out so it made for a steamy morning. I got up at 5am to eat my pre-run breakfast (bagel+PB+honey and banana). Then I also took in the Maurten Drink Mix 320 again (still working well in my opinion). Out the door at 7:08 am.
Almost immediately, I got the feeling of being mid-race rather than the beginning of the run. Quite a bit of cumulative fatigue going on. But I was determined to push through as will be necessary come race day.
Splits = 8:06, 7:54, 7:57, 7:44, 7:52, 7:55, 7:59, 7:54, 7:54, 7:58, 7:57, 7:56, 8:06, 7:55, 8:00, 8:19 (0.5 mile).
Solid pacing overall while dealing with the rolling hills.
GAP wise = 8:14, 7:44, 7:37, 7:51, 7:42, 7:46, 7:51, 7:56, 7:44, 7:40, 7:50, 7:57, 7:46, 8:01, 7:45, 8:07 (0.5 miles).
I was definitely dragging towards the end. It definitely felt like the last moments of a tough race experience. All in all, ended up with 15.5 miles at a pace of a 7:57 min/mile (with 7:56 not including the first mile which is always slow for me). Hit 13/14 intervals within the pace window. HR of a 139 average. So overall, a solid day.
Highest duration week (9:16 hours) since September 2016. Big difference is this week was exclusively easy. But was able to wrap the 9+ hr week with 67.5 miles.
Took Steph to the tile store and she liked the options better at this place. So hopeful everything lines up with those choices.
Lastly, but not least. Meet Scout!
https://kidtraxtoys.com/products/scout?variant=12815523348523
https://kidtraxtoys.com/pages/rideamals
https://www.romper.com/p/kid-traxs-...ds-eats-talks-walks-yes-youre-jealous-9719164
https://www.walmart.com/ip/12-Volt-...Interactive-Ride-On-Toy-by-Kid-Trax/769580543