Week in Review

72 miles4 different states (OK, TX, KY, OH)16 mile long run1 high school graduation (700 students)Another great week of training capped off with a nice change of scenery. Our goal race will be here in exactly two weeks, and for the first time since my injury I'm actually feeling (relatively) fit and (relatively) confident. Now it's just a matter of getting in a few more quality workouts and fine-tuning things until the 13...

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Mason Long Run

120 mins.16 milesToday's run was so relaxed and enjoyable that it almost seems like cheating to give myself credit for 16 miles. After a delicious morning of sleeping in, drinking coffee and otherwise lounging around the house, we joined up with Jordan's uncle Dave around noon to begin this jaunt. Normally I wouldn't even consider starting a long run at high noon during the summer, but it was such a gorgeous day--sunny, warm but not hot, low humidity--that...

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Welcome To Ohio

45 mins.6 milesSo 24 hours later, we've traveled to three more states. These states include Texas, where we drove after work last night because we had to catch a flight from DFW this morning; Kentucky, which is actually where the Cincinnati airport is located (possibly the only airport located in another state than its name? Could be a good trivia question/answer); and finally Ohio, where we are visiting until Wednesday for Jordan's sister Whitney's high school graduation.After dropping our stuff off at the house and getting settled, we set off...

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Predator Run, Sort Of

22 min. w/u (~3 miles)Target: 8 mile PTR, 6:40 down to 6:10Actual: 51:35 (~6:26 pace)18 mile c/d (2+ miles)Total: 13-13.5 milesToday's workout was a predator run, which is a Simmons/Jeff staple that basically means you start out at a comfortable clip and gradually squeeze down the pace so that you finish faster than you started. In theory it is a grand idea. In execution it is sometimes hit or miss, as mine was today.As per usual, Jordan and I set out from Main St. with the plan to meet Scotty D. somewhere along Pickard. We'd spent considerable...

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Sutton Woods Recovery

59 mins.8 milesScotty, Jordan and I enjoyed an easy run from Main St. to Sutton Woods this morning. Today is the coolest day of the week thus far, and I have to say this was probably my most enjoyable run of the week thus far as well. Comfortable pace, soft surfaces, shade, cooler temps, little wind. Can't really ask for much mo...

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Windy Wednesday

72 mins.10.5 milesWind: 14mph gusting at 23mphLike last week, in keeping with our new "quality over quantity" mantra, today's recovery run involved an uptempo second half. Also like last week, Jordan joined me for my uptempo section as his warmup before embarking on his own faster effort, this time with Scotty in tow.You may have noticed that I included the wind speed up top for the first time in a while. That's because, believe it or not, the wind hasn't been much of a factor the past week. However, you can see that was unfortunately not the case...

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Norman High Solo Workout

2 mile w/uTarget: 4x1.5 miles @6:05-6:15 w/2 min. restActual: 9:05 (6:03 through mile), 9:08 (6:03), 9:10 (6:05), 9:02 (6:03)1.5 mile c/dTotal: 9.5 milesAfter a very restless night of sleep, exacerbated by several trains, a thunderstorm and some bizarre dreams, I awoke to our 6:45 alarm feeling slightly less than rested. Nothing appealed to me less than putting on the kicks and hitting the track a mere 30 minutes later, so I sent Jordan off to meet Scotty and immediately fell into a deep slumber. I didn't stir again until several hours later after...

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Memorial Day Merriment

AM: 61 mins.8+ milesPM: 90 mins. tennis dominationFor a day that started out with hardly anything on the agenda, our Memorial Day turned into quite an enjoyable affair. Jordan and I slept in and lounged for a bit before fielding a call from Scotty requesting a run. He swung over to Main Street and the three of us set off toward Sutton Woods, the 1.5-mile shaded trail loop about two miles from our place. Remarkably, this was my first time over there...

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Week in Review

70-71 miles3 soft surface runs<25 drunk dials from Campus Dance (laaaame)2 nights at Benvenuti's and Blu1 jug of apple juiceLooking back on this week, I'm pretty excited about how everything went. The schedule is much more intense than anything I've done recently: workout Tuesday, tempo-ish run Wednesday, double Thursday, tempo Friday and long run Sunday. Definitely more quality and less "filler" miles than I'm used to doing, and it's always nice...

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Lake Draper Long Run

AM: 88 mins.12 milesPM: 60 mins. tennisSo, sometime last night while Jordan and I were enjoying Pinot on the Patio at Benvenuti's with Coleman and Kristi (or maybe it was later at Blu...who can remember really), I might have mentioned (read: begged) to Kristi that I would love some company for a girl-paced long run on Sunday. Much to my surprise and delight, she needed little convincing, provided we could find some soft surfaces for the outing and that we didn't start too early in the morning. Since Jordan and I were hoping to get out to the dirt...

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Easy Run on the GT

AM: 45 mins.6 milesPM: 30 mins. tennisFor the first time in several weeks, I did this morning's run completely solo. It felt strange to be out there without Jordan or even Scotty, but they'd taken an early morning trip up to a local marathon to help pace a buddy through the final 6-8 miles of his run. Since I knew that I wouldn't be running their pace and I wanted to sleep in for a change, I slept blissfully through Jordan's 7am departure and didn't stir again until almost 9. Heaven.Wanting to be on some softer surfaces for the second time this...

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Tempoing the Streets of Norman

26 min. w/u (3.5 miles)Target: 6 mile tempo @6:15-6:25Actual: 37:34 (6:15 avg.; splits 18:46/18:48)20 min. c/d (2.5 miles)Total: 12 milesGiven the intensity of this week's training, today's tempo run went much better than I expected. My expectations were also low because summer seems to have arrived in full force today, bringing the heat and humidity that's more typical of May in the South than the weather we've had the past week or so. Jordan and I were out the door by 7:30 and already soaked a few miles into the warmup. We met Scotty at the corner...

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Finally Throwing Down a Double

AM: 62 mins.~8.5 milesPM: 38 mins. incl. 2x10 sec. hill sprints5 milesEaaaasy runni...

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An Eventful Morning

15 mins. core72 mins. (10.5 miles)According to Jeff's training schedule, the main purpose behind having so few double days is so we can go hard more frequently. So, instead of having a standard post-workout recovery day, Jordan and I both had ten mile runs on tap with the last five miles at an uptempo pace. For me, Jeff set this pace around 6:30, which I figured would be difficult but doable. Since Jordan's tempo pace is obviously much faster, he suggested that I run the first 4-5 miles solo, then pick him up so he could pace me on my uptempo portion...

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Ladder Workout

2 mile w/uTarget: 400 (82), 800 (2:50), 1200* (4:15), 1600 (6:00), 1600 (6:00), 1200 (4:15), 800 (2:50), 400 (82)all w/60 sec. rest*found out post-workout that the 1200 split was a typo and should've been a few seconds slower than 4:15Actual: 78, 2:51, 4:17, 5:55, 5:54, 4:18, 2:49, 7910 min. c/d (1+ miles)Total: ~8.5 milesI'm extremely pleased with how this workout went today. The splits didn't look too daunting on paper, but the rather perfunctory rest intervals didn't seem like they would provide ample recovery. In fact, as we were jogging over...

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Monday from Main St.

15 mins. core59 mins.8 milesWe started off this run super slow today, which I was grateful for after yesterday's long run and Wimbledon-esque effort. Scotty met us on Main Street for the second half of his run, so we spent our first 30 minutes meandering back to his house. We took a spin through campus, which was pretty quiet several days post-graduation, then headed back to Scotty's place.Jordan and I picked the pace up a bit on the return trip, and I was surprised that my leggies felt as decent as they did considering yesterday's aforementioned...

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Week in Review

61 miles (!!)7 days of running5 states (AL, MS, TN, AR, OK)1 hailstorm2 tornadoesThis is definitely the first week in several months that I can look back on my training and say I felt like a real runner. It's an encouraging feeling, and I can't wait to continue to build upon this over the coming weeks. Having a goal race in mind definitely gives me some focus, so although I'm bummed about missing Nationals I'm going to keep on keepin' on. Having Jordan, Scotty and a few others to run with daily will certainly keep motivation (and accountability)...

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OKC River Trail & Other Shenanigans

AM: 89 mins.~12.5 milesWind: 13-15mphPM: 60 mins. tennisScotty, Jordan and I were out the door and on the road early this morning for a field trip. Instead of hitting up the roads around Norman, we opted to venture up to the city for some new turf. Our decision was largely aided by the fact that Lake Draper, our preferred soft surface option, was still wet from the recent rain, and also that there was an international-distance (whatever that means)...

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Back in the Swing of Things

AM: 6 milesPM: 45 mins. tennisTrue to our word, we decided to take advantage of an easy single-run day to smack a few balls around on the courts. Given that neither of us have played since the last time we played together, which was, oh, about 11 months ago, let's just say things were pretty ugly at the outset. That said, we've made the commitment to play twice a week this summer in hopes of regaining some semblance of our former racquet-wielding prowe...

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Norman High Track Workout

18 min. w/u (2.5 miles)Target: (800 @3:00, 200 jog, 300 @55-58, 300 jog)x5Actual: 26:40 for 4 miles; 800s @2:53, 2:55, 2:57, 2:57; 300s @60, 61, 62, 612 mile c/dTotal: 8.5 milesWind: 13-15mphThe workout we had on tap today was sort of an interval session within a longer run, giving it the feel of an extended fartlek or a disjointed tempo. Jordan had the same effort planned (obviously at a much faster pace), so we decided to jog over to Norman High before work this morning and get 'er done.Though we arrived at the track just after 8:30, it was already...

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A Reason to Live

59 mins.8 milesAfter chatting with Jeff today, it looks like I have one more race on the agenda before taking a bit of a summer break: the Boomtown Days Half Marathon in Joplin, MO on June 13th. I found out about this race purely by coincidence; my mom met the race director at a hospital in Joplin while she was visiting my grandpa after a recent surgery. My grandparents have lived there for the past 10-15 years, so I've spent my fair share of holidays and "vacations" in the "Show Me State." The race offers a pretty sweet cash breakdown of $1000/$600/$400,...

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High Five

AM: 38 mins.5 milesPM: 29 mins.4 milesA quick look outside this morning told us that the sustained winds of 25 mph gusting 30-35 meant that we would keep things short and sweet on the run. As we neared four miles we made the executive decision to extend it to five...for me, five sounds legit whereas four is pretty lame. Like I was telling Jordan, if I ran five miles in the morning and then for whatever reason couldn't run in the evening I would still feel like a successful human being. On the other hand, if I'd only done four, I definitely wouldn't...

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First Norman Run

AM: 44 mins.6-6.5 milesPM: 28 mins.3.5-4 milesOur first run from the new home base almost didn't happen, as just a few minutes before go time the skies opened up and spit forth a storm of...hail?? Yup, pretty large pieces coming down at a pretty intense velocity. It was so distressing that I immediately sent Jordan down to hop in the car and find somewhere, anywhere, covered to dock for a few minutes (apparently backward through the ATM drive-through at B of A was the closest place). After 10-15 minutes of hail, the precipitation changed over...

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CLT-OKC Road Trip: Day 2

15 mins. core48 mins.~7 milesAfter a fun night hanging out with Brooke and Biscuit, Jordan and I were up early to get in a quick run before hitting the road again. We stuck to the streets of Homewood, the neighborhood where Brooke lives, and meandered around with no particular destination in mind. Jordan's keen sense of direction extended this run by about a mile when he took us down one street in the complete opposite direction of where we were...

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Week in Review

50 miles2 hours 30 mins. ellip.7 hours on the road6 trips to the storage unit4? AFDsMy running is starting to come around again and my foot is feeling good, which is a sentence I've been waiting to type for over a month. I was pleased with my long run on Saturday, and about being able to keep up with Jordy on Sunday despite him being over his post-marathon gimp. I'll find out early next week whether or not I made the cut for Nationals, a prospect that is slim but still possible, so I suppose I should at least keep up a semblance of serious training...

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CLT-OKC Road Trip: Day 1

AM: 15 mins. core51 mins.7 milesPM: 7 hours in the car3 states (SC, GA, AL)Jordan flew in late last night to help me load up the car and start the epic road trip to Oklahoma. We had a rather lopsided itinerary on tap, planning to only drive ~6-7 hours in Sunday which would leave us with almost 12 hours in the car on Monday. However, structuring the trip this way meant we would have the chance to hang out and spend the night with Brookelet in Birmingham...

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Put It On the Board

88 mins.12 milesDespite the fact that I was a good girl last night and caught a ride home with Jenny around midnight, I was still groggy and slow to rise this morning. Perhaps subconsciously I was putting off my slated 12-mile run, which, if successful, would be about four miles farther than the longest run I've done in, oh, about six weeks. By the time I made it out to McAlpine, it was just shy of 10. The sun was shining brightly and the heat and...

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That's Right, I'm Actually Going Out

AM: 50 mins.6.5 milesPM: 4 milesNormally I would give myself the benefit of the doubt and say that 50 minutes is closer to 7 miles than 6, but I was moseying along pretty slowly this morning. My legs still aren't quite recovered from Wednesday's track workout, plus this is the first week I've started incorporating consistent doubles back into my training, so I think overall my body is in a state of confusion.In non-running news, tonight is commencement for the graduate school at Queens. My friends Jason and Clint (of Great Harvest 5k fame) are...

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Thursday Double

AM: 15 mins. core4 milesPM: 51-52 mins.7 milesYup, I'm pretty sore from yesterday. Embarrassing.This morning I meandered down to Freedom Park to check out the scene post-flooding. The park looked a bit...waterlogged, but surprisingly otherwise seemed none the worse for the wear. In the afternoon I headed to McAlpine with Jeff, Mike and Futsum. Jeff appears to be serious about getting back into this whole running thing, and we ran stride for stride the entire distance (which was actually supposed to be closer to 6 miles, but I misjudged the distance...

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Back on the Short Bus

AM: 2 mile w/u + drillsTarget: 6x800 w/2:30 rest @2:50Actual: 2:47, 2:51, 2:49, 2:50, 2:50, 2:501 mile c/dTotal: 6 milesPM: 2 milesI have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about getting on the track today for several reasons. This would be my first attempt at a workout since I effed up my foot five weeks ago while doing, well, a similar workout. I was nervous about how my foot would handle the added stress of running on my toes, and I was also dreading the opportunity to quantify exactly how slow I've become in a matter of weeks. I know that's...

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Moving Day

AM: 30 mins. ellip.Moving!!!PM: 45 mins. ellip.I was up and at 'em very early this morning, as there was a ton to be accomplished on the day. Namely that involved Tanya and I (with our trusty male assistant) moving virtually the entirety of our apartment into a storage unit, a chore which would end up taking most of the day and many trips to and from Public Storage. As I type this on Wednesday, the mission is 90% complete, and I should probably be...

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Elliptical Double

AM: 50 mins. ellip. (incl. 10x2 mins. on, 1 min. off; 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off)PM: 15 min. walk30 mins. ellip10 min. walk, 5 min. jog (1/2 mile, count it)I decided to play it safe and give my foot a break today, opting instead to bang out two elliptical sessions. After an incredibly productive afternoon, I decided to do my part for the environment and for my health by walking to school rather than driving. Naturally, the skies opened up on my walk home and I got absolutely soaking wet. Despite having just put down a substantial dinner in the dining...

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Week in Review

45-46 miles2.75 hours ellip.3 special visitors2 final exams2 5k "races"A few members of the girls team before last Sunday's awards receptionL to R: Leslie, Amanda, Katie, me, Tanya, HollyI didn't get in as many miles (or elliptical "miles") as I would've liked this week, due to a combination of having Jordan and his fam in town and also being swamped with final exams and projects. I've got one more week in Charlotte before embarking on the epic road...

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Recovery Sunday

AM: 60 mins.8 milesPM: 30 mins. ellip.Foot was a little sore today, but runnable. I did a super easy session on the elliptical this evening to shake out the le...

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5k x 2, or "Getting My Mojo Back"

AM: 1 mile w/u5k "race" in 23:xxTotal: 4+ milesOriginal Pancake House15 mins. corePM: 2+ mile w/u2.5 miles of 5k "race" @6 min. pace2 mile c/dTotal: 7 milesSo, at the risk of calling this prematurely, I'm marking today on the calendar as the day when I kinda-sorta-almost turned a corner and felt like my old self again. If the next few days go well, I might actually withdraw from my funk. Fingers crossed!Now for the recap. First of all, this morning's "race" was super fun. Tanya and I were up fairly early for a Saturday so we could jog the easy...

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TGIF

AM: 45 mins. ellipPM: 5 milesNothing whatsoever notable about today's outings, except that my foot felt halfway decent on the afternoon run. I'm supposed to pace Holly at the High Point meet tomorrow night and she's looking to run ~18:50 for 5k. Given that once upon a time (i.e. a month ago) I went through the 5k of a 10k approximately a minute faster than this, one would think I should view the pacing duties as a walk in the park. However, if one would also kindly remember that I am now woefully out of shape, one would be (as I am) crossing their...

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