I'm back, but just beginning.

The last time I trained for a 5k was in 2003 and it was a very low mileage program, mostly consisting of 200s-800s and one run over 5 miles once a week. Somehow that year I ran my "outdated" PR of 22:11. Seven years later, I significantly upped my mileage, starting the year out in the 30-40 miles a week range, then got injured (hmmm, I wonder why?), then cross trained for about three months, and now I have been running around 20-25 miles a week for the last two months. I would like to get up to 30 miles a week, with minimal foot pain, and race a couple 5ks, a Turkey Trot, and some time trials at the track (1600 & 3200) because my high school PRs are way outdated.

The Buckeye Half Marathon put on a 5k with their race today. It was my first 5k this year and judging on how it turned out, the first time I actually raced. My goal was to run a 22:45. With that time goal in mind, I felt like I had a little more left in me to surprise myself and I did just that. I didn't get much sleep the last couple of days but tried to stay positive. Taking it easy three days out proved to be beneficial. I felt as if I was resting the reserves of fitness I had built up in the last 2 months before turning loose today. I didn't wear my watch and splits weren't being called so I had to go off feeling. I felt strong in the first mile, a little exhausted after that, but tried my hardest to focus on form and feeling light. Mile 1.5-2 had somewhat of a downhill so I used it to my advantage to attempt to pass a female that had passed me right before the end of the first mile. I just kept focusing on her, knowing I could pass her. I wanted to race today and something I feel like I never did in a race was actually race. Funny as it sounds, I usually went out with no recognition of pace, died around 2 miles, and continually got passed. But armed with new knowledge and more fitness, I took a risk and passed her with 800 meters to go. When she got water, I told myself that I couldn't let someone taking water in a 5k or wearing a long sleeve shirt for that matter, beat me. As soon as she slowed to take a sip, I zipped right passed her. Immediately I heard her try to pick up and so I picked it up and started thinking, "Shit, what did I just do? Am I kicking it too early?" I quickly blocked out these thoughts and tried to remain focused on form, buoyancy, and the minor incline ahead of me. When we made the turn towards the finish, I was tempted to look back and see how much room I had between us but instead, I focused forward. As soon as I saw the chute, I picked it up as much as I thought I could (I could've picked up harder, mental note for next time). I squinted to see the clock, thinking it said 23 something and got upset, and slowed just a tad before seeing 22:10. I then picked it up (again, could've picked it up a bit more) and 7 seconds later I was done (22:17, 7:10 pace). Granted it was a little race but I felt that I earned my fourth place female overall and age group win because of my risk to pass long-sleeved water drinking lady.

My fall season 5k goal was to run a 21:40 but now I think I can go faster. Long term, my goals are pretty high. It's somewhat of a challenge to make a big deal out of my times now, knowing that in the racing community, they are pretty slow. But deep inside, I feel like I am armed with the knowledge that was missing before to run faster. Part of that knowledge involves being patient and starting with small goals. Plus, patience truly is a virtue, just kind of sucks sometimes because it takes a while. Duh. Deep down, I am celebrating after today's race but my head tells me not to get too excited.

My goals for the rest of this year

Run the following races and improve each time:

September 6th Aurora Labor Day 1 mile and 5k

September 12th River Run 5k (pending no foot pain)

3200 time trial week of September 20th

October 10th Jump Back Jog 5k

Time trial(s) between October 17th and October 31st

November 25th Turkey Trot 4 miler

December 4th Reindeer Run (depending on the weather, would like this to be my fall PR race but might be hard if there is snow on the ground)

My goals for next year

Build up to 40 miles a week

Race on an indoor/outdoor track

Run a few spring 5ks

Run a spring 10k

Run another summer/fall racing schedule, with a goal of breaking 19 minutes in the 5k

Run a longer fall race

Long term goals (2012-2013)

Build up to 50-60 miles a week

Continue improving 5k and 10k times

Train for a spring half marathon

Train for a fall marathon and reach the Boston qualifier mark

Weekly Recap (Racing Week)

Monday: 3.5 miles

Easy on trails

Tuesday: 4.5 miles

Fartlek-type run on Pine Hollow trails, focused on pushing the hills

Wednesday: 4.5 miles

Moderate track workout- 3 x 1600 at moderate/controlled paces, 90 seconds rest in between each, 1.5 miles of warm up and cool down. Hit my target goals of 8:00, 7:50, and 7:40. I had a terrible blister so I wore my trainers, felt heavy in the legs as a result. Overall, I was tired coming in to this so I felt like crap the entire time. However, for feeling like shit, I hit my time goals and so I'll use that as a good lesson the next time I don't feel all there.

Thursday: 4 miles

Easy and slightly achy run plus 5 x 200 meter grass stride-outs. I cut the run short because the foot was being a pain.

Friday: 1 mile, 40 minutes in the pool

Easy pre-race run with the team then hit the pool for a 1250 meter swim and 10 minutes of aqua jogging.

Saturday: 60 minutes on the elliptical

Cut back just a little on the running this week as my foot hurt a bit.

Sunday: 7 miles (1st RACE BACK!)

Buckeye 5k plus 1 mile warm up and 3 mile cool down

Goal time: 22:45

Actual time: 22:17

Total: 24.5 miles

Weekly Recap

Monday: 3.6 miles including 5k Cross Country race

Only time I will get to race with the team so I took my chances and rusted out a 24:16. Afterwards Gorby was showing me my times from high school and it's safe to say I beat my high school XC PR. Considering about a month and half ago a 7:49 mile felt hard, I'll take being able to run three 7:49 miles in a row on a somewhat hilly course. I didn't plan on going all out anyway and felt controlled the entire race. I was able to pick off quite a few runners throughout the race and accomplished my goal of remaining even. Looking back, I feel like I could've pushed the last mile a bit more so I will keep that in mind for the future.

Tuesday: 4 miles

Trail run in Sand Run park with strides and drills afterwards. Nice, refreshing run with some rolling hills.

Wednesday: 3 miles

Easy recovery run

Thursday: 6 miles (track workout: 1 mile warm-up, 2 x 3200, 1 mile cool-down)

1st 3200: 15:20 (7:45, 7:35)

3 minute rest

2nd 3200: 15:10 (7:40, 7:30)

Started the workout at midnight so struggled a bit during the warm-up but once I got going it felt great- even splits on each lap, except for the first mile, where it took a while to get locked in...but this is what practice is for. I didn't feel like I went all out and I was very happy that I could switch gears when needed and finish faster each time. I was right on time with what I wanted to do the workout in. This workout also helped me differentiate between what it means to race and what it means to train. James says you want to have a little left in you after a workout whereas in a race, it takes a little magic. Yeah, you want to aim for even splits and a powerful ending but you are also given the go-ahead to test your limits. If I can get a decent first mile in during a 5k that isn't a crazy fast pace, I think I can put what I have learned so far together to piece a nice finish.

Friday: 3 miles easy, 1250 meter swim

Saturday: 45 minutes on elliptical

Sunday: 7 miles

hilly, decent pace for a longer run

Total: 26.6 miles running, 1250 meters swimming, 45 minutes elliptical

Weekly Recap

Monday: 5 miles

approximately two miles were done at a tempo pace (14:06)- felt some lactic acid on this one! I didn't want to overwork my foot so I took the second loop easy.

Tuesday: 4.5 miles

track ladder- 400, 800, 1600, 800, 400 (90 seconds rest between 4 and 8, 2min rest between 8 and 16, and 2.5 min rest between 16 and 8)

400s- 93, 93 (felt controlled on the first one, the last one felt slightly more taxing but great finish wise.)

800s- 3:23, 3:30 (first one felt controlled. the second one I struggled with the transition to a faster pace after the 1600 but had negative splits for the two laps, 1:48/1:42, after realizing I had some room to make up- didn't hurt to do so either.)

1600- 7:25 (felt controlled the entire time. I question whether I am able to carry this pace yet for a 5k but looking at the workout overall, I believe I am strong enough to have a good first race back.)

Overall, the entire workout felt controlled. My times were right on target with what I planned on doing and nothing ever felt overly difficult. I do believe this workout solidified my theory that all my spring cross training paid off. I'm back to where I left off...and I haven't even reached my weekly mileage goals yet.

Wednesday: 1 mile, about 20 minutes of walking as well

Easy recovery day. Wish I could've gotten a swim in as well but not too down as I haven't had a day off in a while and it was probably a smart thing to do for my rehabbing foot.

Thursday: 4 miles

Trail loop- 200 meter stretches of strides with a slow, rolling recovery.

Friday: 75 minutes of cross training

30 minute swim- improved my 1000 meter time by 1 minute, swam a total of 1250 meters. Biked to and from campus (utilizing hills) and a little after the swim for a total of 45 minutes.

Saturday: 4 miles

Nighttime run around Aurora while James biked- tables turned, unfortunately.

Sunday: 6 miles

At 6:30pm, I had three pieces of cake. At 7:30pm, I ran these 6 miles. At 8:30pm, I didn't puke. It was a nice run into the sunset on the Towpath section near my old 'hood in Cleveland

Total: 24.5 miles

Weekly Recap

Monday- 3 miles easy

Tuesday- 1.8 miles easy- odd distance, practice was rushed for parent meeting but provided a chance to save miles for later in the week.

Wednesday- 4 miles

Thursday- 3 miles- 2 easy, 1 at 7:48 pace which also felt easy. Went to Sand Run after practice to add more quality to the day and told myself to run at a pace that felt efficient. Apparently 7:48 felt efficient. Strides afterwards.

Friday- 1.5 miles- an easy mile with sprints and strides during camp workout

Saturday- 7 miles- early morning 5 miles with team at camp followed by pool work, an easy run in the afternoon, and some Yoga. Foot held up.

Sunday- 3.5 miles- early morning run to end camp, which went well!

Total: 23.8

Tried to focus on form a lot this week and awareness of fitness level during each run. On the shorter runs, I tried to hold a faster pace to see if it felt manageable. That little experiment proved beneficial because it made me realize that I could run easy in the 8-9 minute range just fine. I used to think that if I did that everyday I would burnout. But holding that notion was another form of anxiety taking control. Running efficient may hurt a little at first but with practice it becomes the norm for the body. Just working out the kinks right now. And if the foot continues to hold up, I'll be one step closer to where I want to be.

Weekly Recap

Monday: 3 miles

Trail run to prove Sunday's run was a fluke. Foot felt fine. Went on some nice, challenging trails/meadows in Pine Hollow.

Tuesday: 4 miles

Varying 800s and 400s (3:30mod, 2:58hard, 3:33mod, 3:15mod-hard, 3:30mod, 1:40hard, 2:00recovery). Alternated between moderate and hard pace. The 2:58 came as a surprise. When I went to do the 2nd hard 800, I about died at the 2nd half but looking back, I just got scared at what my body was feeling and slowed down. Next time, I'll test it a bit more.

Wednesday: 2 miles

2nd stab at a late night run = success! A lot of my pain issues might possibly stem from a psychological standpoint.

Thursday: 5 miles

Easy trail run

Friday: 1.5 miles running, 4 miles walking, 30 minutes biking, 1000 meter swim (2.5 hrs activity total)

1 mile hard in 7:20, wanted to see where my mile time was at. About a month ago it was at 7:46 on this same route so I did improve. I didn't feel too exhausted after a 7:20 and in fact, I tried to stay at this somewhat uncomfortable/anxiety-provoking state when my mind wanted to do otherwise, which proved to be very insightful for me. I probably could have started a little slower but overall, satisfied, especially considering I still haven't done as much distance training yet because of the foot.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 5 miles

Sand Run out and back. Started off rough but picked it up on the way back (8:38 pace). Best part is that my foot felt fine during and after the run.

Total: 20.5 miles running, 1000 meters swimming

Added a little more mileage this week and felt some pain mid-week but after Friday, it subsided. A rest day on Saturday also helped. On Friday, I cut caffeine from my diet again. Right now, I am just testing it out. My anxiety seems to have been a lot higher lately and I am looking into caffeine having an effect on this. It's not necessarily causing it but since I am sensitive to it, eliminating it can only make the situation better- you would think. The past few days I have felt the withdrawal effects- the headaches seem worse this time around and I feel cranky. We'll see how long it lasts. I wish I could just have a cup every couple of days and not feel withdrawal. Maybe I'll have to make friends with decaf soon.