The 1st Quarter Recap...

So much has happened so far in 2018! You probably could have guessed that based on my relatively scant blog posts for the past 3 months. It's not that I haven't wanted to blog, it's just that time has been so limited recently with lots of competing priorities. Anyway, it's the end of the first quarter so this is the perfect time to recap the last few months!

January started off with a big bang work-wise. I got a promotion (yay!) and took on a lot more work related duties. Running-wise I did 3 races (the Key West virtual half marathon, the Tropical 5K, and the Miami half marathon) and I started noticing the downward trend in my overall running pace (sigh). I did make it to my first "100 miles in a month" milestone though so that's something right?

February kept the same work momentum because we started off the month with one of our major events for the Trauma Program at the hospital where I work. The event actually started in January and continued through to Feb 2nd. I also travelled back home to spend some time with family and friends. February had 2 races, another virtual half and the A1A Ft. Lauderdale half, but I didn't make my 100 miles milestone for February (I only got to 75 miles). I'm blaming that on the fact that it was a shorter month (but the truth is I skipped a few runs).

March was a major travel month. The first trip was to Seattle and Portland for part vacation/part work. Seattle was the vacation segment with Marc... we went to visit some of his friends from college. Then we went down to Portland where I presented at the STN's Trauma Conference (it was amazing!). And, in case that wasn't enough travel, I went to Carmel, Indiana with my friend Niqui from work and we completed the Carmel Marathon Relay. I also ran the Miami Beach 1/2 at the beginning of the month, so I ended up with a total of 115 miles for March :)

So now that the first quarter of the year is over (so fast right?!), it's time to look forward to some of the major life stuff happening in quarter two:
1. Some big birthdays are happening - Kai; San & Me; Marc; my Mom)
2. The Pittsburgh Marathon will kick off month 2 of quarter 2!
3. College tours with Kai will be taking place throughout June!

Any major/exciting things happened so far this year?

What are you looking forward to in quarter 2?

When is your birthday? Do you do a big birthday celebration?

DNF...

At some point in our running careers most of us have had a DNF ("did not finish") for a run. Usually the acronym is reserved for not finishing a race, but for me I use it when I don't finish my designated mileage for my training runs as well. I've (fortunately) never had to DNF a race, but training runs... that's a completely different story.

Today was one of those DNF training run days. My legs felt like lead from the very beginning; and between not getting enough sleep last night and being mentally exhausted from a very long, equally frustrating work week, I just could not push myself to do more than 6 (of the planned 10) miles.

I've been trying different strategies to work on mental preparation for my runs and my races because 9 times out of 10 the problem is less of a physical limitation and more of a "I'm not confident that I can do this" limitation. Mental training is hard. Especially since I'm not one of those overly confident individuals to begin with. And when it comes to running I doubt myself a lot.

This morning there was an "awkward yeti" type battle between my various organ systems...
Brain: Can I get through 10 miles?
Legs: I'm tired
Heart: I want to go back to bed
Stomach: I'm hungry
Brain: Well...
Legs: I'm still tired
Heart: I'm really sleepy
Nose: *sniff*
Stomach: Is that fresh baked bread?
Nose: *sniff sniff*
Stomach: *grumbles*
Brain: Well...
Heart: If I was sleeping right now I would be so happy
Brain: Fiiine
Legs: No I think I can
Brain: Too late I'm done. Let's stop at 6 miles
All: YAY!!!!!!

So I stopped at 6 miles. I was running with Mimi who continued on to complete the remaining 4 miles (after we took a quick post-run pic)...

Considering I did a (virtual) half marathon last weekend and I have the Tropical 5K and Miami Half Marathon next weekend, I'm not upset that upset about my DNF training run today. I may do a few miles if others from my running group want to hit the road tomorrow morning. If not, I might just sleep, or swim, or sleep, or do some weight training, or sleep.

This week (so far) I've done two 4 milers and two 6 milers. The distance sets were almost identical...

I'm trying to focus on incremental measurable goals for each week so that I can track my improvement (and not get thrown off by any one run). This week, for example, the group increased our run:walk intervals to 90s:30s and my personal goal was to maintain a sub-12 mins/mile average pace for all my runs (mission accomplished). Next week the running duration won't increase, but the new pace goal will be sub-11:45mins/mile. Each week will have a new goal and I will continue to set new weekly goals once I have accomplished the goal of the current week.

I'm doing the same for cross training. My goal was to swim twice this week for a minimum of 30 minutes each session. I only got through one 30 min session (on Monday) so next week I will aim for the same 2 swim session goal 💪.

What are your plans for this weekend?

Any races planned for the rest of January?

Did you accomplish all your training goals this week?

Tropical 5K {Race Recap}

The weather was nice and cold for the Tropical 5K this morning! Of course, it feels amazing when you're running, but when you're waiting to start it's a lot less fun 😉. Andy, Jani and I met at 5am to head down to Miami for the race and once we got there we stayed in the car with the heat on for as long as we could. After we braved the elements while waiting in line to pay for parking, we made our way to the start shoot....

At the start we hung out for a bit and tried to keep warm while taking selfies...

The Tropical 5K & Miami Half Expo...

This year the race expo for the Tropical 5K & Miami Half (and full) marathon was held at the Marlins Park (baseball stadium). This is a new location for the event (at least I've never been to an expo held there before) and required some adjusting and a lot of patience. But it was nice to be there for the pre-race festivities of their 15th anniversary...

The expo started outside and then runners needed to make their way through the outside vendor section, through security, and up the ramp to the bib pick up area...

(picture of outside vendors taken from the ramp)

Once we were inside chaos ensued. The entire bib pick-up process was disorganized and they didn't have enough people giving directions and providing instructions on where to go... 

The Numbers: 1 day at a time

Today makes 25 days that I've been doing this running (& blogging) streak...

19 days since my cousin and uncle went missing...

And even in the presence of profound sadness, it's been 5 days since I found this...

source

The First Race Week of 2017!!!

It's hard to believe I'm less than a week away from the Miami Half Marathon (and of course the Tropical 5K). In 2016 when I signed up for the 2017 full marathon I was confident I would be ready. And even though a part of me (a very small part) wishes that I was properly trained for the full, I'm really glad I decided to do the half marathon instead. 

I love the Miami Half Marathon experience! I've enjoyed this race the past two years that I've done it. The race truly feels like a party from start to finish line. The vibe is incredible and the weather even more so (it's been cold for the past 2 years, so therefore amazing). 

Going into the race I know I'm going to have the same pre-race jitters I normally do when I'm aiming for a specific finish time. But I'm trying to figure out how to turn that nervous energy into speed since I'm hoping for a course PR this year. In previous years I was able to shave off a few seconds off my Miami Half time. In 2015 my finish time was 2:39:59, and in 2016 my finish time was 2:39:22. My goal for this year is a finish time of 2:38:59 (or faster). 

I know it won't be easy because I haven't been running at that pace over long distances, and my muscles are already tired from this running streak...

 

+The Awkward Yeti 

In Desperate Need of Good News...

Today was one of those days that can be perfectly illustrated in "The Awkward Yeti" comics...

That's pretty much how I felt after my 5K training run this morning. I did 90s:30s intervals and was able to achieve a 10:42min/mile pace with negative splits...

My legs were definitely feeling it after! I'm going to try and slow my pace for the next few runs just to give my muscles a break. I don't want to risk getting injured on a training run so if I can maintain an 11:30min/mile pace for the rest of the week I'll be happy... 

In Search Of A Good Day...

I woke up this morning completely exhausted...

Apparently I was in and out of deep sleep last night, and so despite getting about 6.5 hours of sleep, I still wasn't well rested...

Needless to say when I woke up this morning I decided to postpone my run until after work. I'm determined to stick to my 2017 running streak (it's only day 4 after all), and after putting out figurative fires at work, I was in dire need of a run (and a good day)...