Swim, bike, run... Oh My!: Week 18: Set goals then kick ‘em in the face

PR Medal

This week has definitely been a post 20 miler week. Exhausted and body feeling torn down. But continued to push through and stick with the plan. The highlight of the week, was breaking the 1 hr mark on a 10k. Its been a goal of mine for several years, and 2 years ago, is when I felt it seemed achievable. I wasn't expecting it to happen this year due to the long slow marathon training runs, but all the hard work have officially paid off. Went from my previous PR of 1:02:47 to 59:00. Woot Woot! More to come below.

Last weeks plan was the following:

Day: Updated Plan Actual Comments

Monday: 30 Minute Run 54 minutes 2.5 miles 12:13 pace

Tuesday: 2x20/3min rec 2x20/3min 5.5 miles

Wednesday: Cross Train Trainer Day

Thursday: 60 Minute Run 55 minute 5.0 miles 11:04 pace

Friday: Off 59:00 5.0 miles 11:40 pace

Saturday: XT Ocean Swim

Sunday: 10k race 6.2 miles 9:30 pace (PR)

Monday was definitely a recovery run. Stretched for about a half hour prior to my run. My legs felt okay, but my endurance felt like I have never ran before. Luckily it was a 30 minute recovery run. I was inspired from a lady at the gym who accomplished her goal of doing a pull up, and I was curious if I could still do one. So I ran to the park, went to the pull up bar and successfully managed multiple pull ups, then decided to run to the monkey bars and go across, followed by another set of pull-ups. Then continued on my run back home. I was quite happy to know I could still do pull ups.

Monday Night Recovery Run

Tuesday was track night. I was still lagging from the weekends run. My legs were feeling like cement. And track night got to be 2x20 minute interval runs. Managed to keep my intervals at at a 9:28 pace. Not quite sure how.

SBRC Track Night: 2x20 min

Due to the holiday on Monday, training session was pushed to Wednesday. Wednesday morning I woke up feeling completely dead. My body was just feeling torn down, especially my legs. So we focused on upper body.

Thursday was SBRC run from Sketchers was a mix of the strand and wood chips. I wasn't feeling it. As soon as we took off, I was definitely lagging behind everyone. So I just stayed on the strand and took it easy. Another SBRC lady, caught up to me on the strand after she took a detour down the pier, and we ended up finishing the last mile strong.

SBRC Sketchers Run-Thursday

Friday was a lazy day per plan. Followed by Saturday gym class. It was a mix of legs and upper body. During the 2nd round I felt my left hamstring tightening up on Burpees. Not sure how burps and hamstring relates, but decided to take it easy the rest of the leg exercises (including doing plank one all together).

Sunday was the Santa Monica Classic 10k. Went with a group of SBRC people. Took some advil in the morning prior to the race to help with some soreness. I had the elusive 1 hr goal on my mind, but still hadn't figured out if today was going to be the day. The race started congested, I had my watch set up to alert me if I went over a 9:30 pace. It was alerting me a lot. My first 4 mile splits were not to pace (all uphill), by mile 3, I had officially decided that today was not going to be the day. Reached the turn-around and it was all down-hill from there. I just decided I would let my legs determine the pace and they weren't ready to give up. Ended with the last 2 miles and awesome splits. Overall finished with 1 minute to spare.