Every Mile is a Miracle

[DopeyBadger]

Here's to another week done. When I first considered starting a @DopeyBadger plan, I worried that I wouldn't follow through. I would give up. I would skip a run and then another, etc. But I haven't. I have kept at it for a little over 4 months now and while some days it's hard to get out of bed, it's never because I don't want to run. Yesterday I couldn't wait to run. I need this so much.

 

[SarahDisney]

Starting with my next race, I'm going to be doing a bunch of shorter races (ranging from 5K to 5 miles) and I'm really nervous that I'm just going to be over it pretty quickly. I don't mind 5Ks, but I feel like they get old fast. So I totally get being over doing the local 5Ks.

Yay for Sunday's perfect run! It's always nice to have a run like that. Also, pizza and beer.

Here's to another week done. When I first considered starting a @DopeyBadger plan, I worried that I wouldn't follow through. I would give up. I would skip a run and then another, etc. But I haven't. I have kept at it for a little over 4 months now and while some days it's hard to get out of bed, it's never because I don't want to run. Yesterday I couldn't wait to run. I need this so much.

This makes me so happy. Finding that place where you want to run can be hard, but it's so amazing when you get there. Yay!

 

[LilyJC]

Just have to say that I love your sky pics - reminds me of my hometown in northern NM a bit. Technology is almost never my friend, so I feel you on your frustrating Tuesday run... Great job on your training week overall and congrats on falling in love with running!

 

[Bree]

Boo to wrong way runners! Great week even with tuesday's tech fail!

ETA: You've run a bazillion 5Ks so I don't blame you for being done with them! I've run two this year and I'm good.

 

[jennamfeo]

Great week! I am with you on the local 5K thing. I used to do all of them, but just cannot motivate myself to wake up early and drive into town for them now. Way to go on those T paces!!!

Thank you! Those speed workouts make me feel so strong, I love them. As for my local 5ks, they take me about 10 minutes to get to and they are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS the same course. It's so annoying.

I'm not a fan of 5k races usually (Disney being the exception). I think they are hard first of all, and I feel like I'm just getting warmed up when they are over. Great week of training and I love your pics.

Disney ALWAYS being the exception. <3

Starting with my next race, I'm going to be doing a bunch of shorter races (ranging from 5K to 5 miles) and I'm really nervous that I'm just going to be over it pretty quickly. I don't mind 5Ks, but I feel like they get old fast. So I totally get being over doing the local 5Ks.

Yay for Sunday's perfect run! It's always nice to have a run like that. Also, pizza and beer.

This makes me so happy. Finding that place where you want to run can be hard, but it's so amazing when you get there. Yay!

Thank you! I like where I am right now with running. I hope I can hold on to this for a while.

Just have to say that I love your sky pics - reminds me of my hometown in northern NM a bit. Technology is almost never my friend, so I feel you on your frustrating Tuesday run... Great job on your training week overall and congrats on falling in love with running!

Thank you! I feel like NM and AZ share a similar sunrise/set view point, so I could totally see that.

Boo to wrong way runners! Great week even with tuesday's tech fail!

ETA: You've run a bazillion 5Ks so I don't blame you for being done with them! I've run two this year and I'm good.

Thanks! Yeah that all day 20k really did it for me. Haha.


IN OTHER NEWS: I booked my hotel for Marathon Weekend, since runDisney wants to continue to suck at life, I figured I shouldn't sit around waiting and just book the other parts of this trip. I am staying off site and plan on Ubering to the races. The price of a hotel for 6 nights was so insanely cheap that I don't even care about Ubering. And since I am going solo to the race, I can go to bed as early as I want to help those early mornings during Dopey. Now I just have to commit to Dopey (and the Marathon), since my hotel basically just commits me to coffee hangs with @SarahDisney & @run.minnie.miles!

 

[SarahDisney]

IN OTHER NEWS: I booked my hotel for Marathon Weekend, since runDisney wants to continue to suck at life, I figured I shouldn't sit around waiting and just book the other parts of this trip. I am staying off site and plan on Ubering to the races. The price of a hotel for 6 nights was so insanely cheap that I don't even care about Ubering. And since I am going solo to the race, I can go to bed as early as I want to help those early mornings during Dopey. Now I just have to commit to Dopey (and the Marathon), since my hotel basically just commits me to coffee hangs with @SarahDisney & @run.minnie.miles!

Yay!! I'm so excited!! (For you being on the way to committing to Marathon/Dopey and for our coffee date).

 

[run.minnie.miles]

IN OTHER NEWS: I booked my hotel for Marathon Weekend, since runDisney wants to continue to suck at life, I figured I shouldn't sit around waiting and just book the other parts of this trip. I am staying off site and plan on Ubering to the races. The price of a hotel for 6 nights was so insanely cheap that I don't even care about Ubering. And since I am going solo to the race, I can go to bed as early as I want to help those early mornings during Dopey. Now I just have to commit to Dopey (and the Marathon), since my hotel basically just commits me to coffee hangs with @SarahDisney & @run.minnie.miles!

BEST NEWS EVER!!!

 

[jennamfeo]

Week 7 DBP#2 Report 4/9 - 4/15
Mon 4/9 - Rest Day
Tue 4/10 - 5 mi @ EA
Wed 4/11 - 5 mi @ EB + Strides
Thurs 4/12 - 1 mi @ WU + 2 mi @ T Pace (9:17) w/3 min REST + 1 mi @ T Pace w/90 sec REST + 1 mi @ T Pace + .5 mi @ CD
Fri 4/13 - Rest Day
Sat 4/14 - 7 mi @ EB
Sun 4/15 - 7 mi @ LR

Monday: Rest Day!

Tuesday: Easy morning run. Kept pretty close to pace.
Plan: 5 mi @ EA (11:57)
Actual: 5.02 @ 11:50
Splits: 11:34, 11:34, 12:07, 12:09, 11:39



Wednesday: For a while, I was doing really good with changing up my run routes to keep it interesting. I stopped for a while, but with the sunrise happening during my runs, I decided to head back to our island for this run. Totally worth it. Pace was all over the place though and I miscalculated my distance.
Plan: 5 mi @ EB (11:10) + Strides
Actual: 5.31 @ 10:38
Splits: 10:38, 10:52, 10:38, 10:53, 10:12 (Strides)







Thursday: Track day! I knew this workout was going to be a little more difficult. I got in my head a bit. Tempo runs can be a little intimidating but I think I did them pretty well. I was still too fast. Tempo is supposed to be a comfortable hard pace, but when I would pull back to what it should have been it felt more comfortable medium, so I just pushed through and hope that coach understands I was working off effort.
Plan: 1 mi @ WU + 2 mi @ T Pace (9:17) w/3 min REST + 1 mi @ T Pace w/90 sec REST + 1 mi @ T Pace + .5 mi @ CD
Actual: WU @ 11:21, 2 mi @ 9:04, 3 min REST walk, 1 mi @ 9:06, 90 sec REST walk, 1 mi @ 8:59, CD @ 11:50

Friday: Rest day!

Saturday: Does anyone else just think about their next scheduled run when it is their rest day? Like anticipate it? Can’t wait for it? Friday rest days got me crazy like that. We planned this run to have me meet my family at our favorite breakfast spot. It worked out perfectly as we had a busy little Saturday planned. The weather was perfect, my legs felt great. I smiled a lot. It was a good run.
Plan: 7 mi @ EB (11:10)
Actual: 7.05 @ 10:50
Splits: 10:40, 10:45, 10:35, 10:49, 10:54, 11:12, 10:52

Sunday: Busy Saturday turned into late night drinking at a friend’s house. While I didn’t wake up with a hangover, I was dehydrated and that ruined my run for the day. I didn’t get my run in until about 2:30pm and it was pretty hot and humid. I started off strong, but had a huge flight of stairs to conquer after the first mile and it was all downhill after that (not literally). I walked, then ran, then walked, then ran. I ended up texting my husband who was meeting me at a park with my DD, to meet me closer than that park because I knew I wasn’t going to make it to him in time and he had to go to work. I walked the last mile with my DD to the park and that was fine. I found a shop selling Gatorade and chug the ever living crap out of it. Not my best moment for my training, but I finished the miles.
Plan: 7 mi @ LR (10:48)
Actual: 7.01 @ 12:14
Splits: 10:28, 11:20, 11:19, 11:58, 11:15, 10:50, 18:24

I won’t let Sunday’s run discourage me. It was basically my fault anyway. I will just do better in my choices in the future. With only 3 weeks until my “A” goal 10k race where I am aiming for that sub:60, I want to focus on making sure I achieve that by doing all I can to get it.
This coming up week I have two interval sessions scheduled. Working on that speeeeeed.

Upcoming Training Schedule:
Mon 4/16 – REST
Tues 4/17 – 1.5 mi @ WU + 4 x 4 min @ I Pace w/3 min RI @ WU + 1 mi @ CD
Wed 4/18 – 4 mi @ EA
Thurs 4/19 – 1 mi @ WU + 4 x 1 mi @ T Pace w/90 sec REST + .5 mi @ CD
Fri 4/20 – REST
Sat 4/21 – 7 mi @ EB
Sun 4/22 – 10 mi @ LR (Nutrition)

 

[jennamfeo]

There are so many great reasons to donate blood, if you can, but I love that I can watch my health get significantly better over the past 6 months.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Awesome week of training. Those pictures are beautiful!

 

[Bree]

Those sunrises are gorgeous!

I have not donated blood since we moved. Did it affect your training in any way?

 

[jennamfeo]

Those sunrises are gorgeous!

I have not donated blood since we moved. Did it affect your training in any way?

Not that I noticed. I ran the morning of, donated that afternoon, had tempo training the next morning -- all felt fine.

 

[DopeyBadger]

There are so many great reasons to donate blood, if you can, but I love that I can watch my health get significantly better over the past 6 months.

View attachment 317090

That is a phenomenal improvement. You should be very proud of yourself!

 

[SarahDisney]

Awesome training week! Good job recognizing that you can't let Sunday's run get you down - we all have bad runs, and the important part is to learn from it if you can and then move on.

I haven't donated blood in a long time ... the last two times I tried they didn't let me, and the second time they weren't particularly nice about it, so that kind of scared me off. I probably should try again. Those improvements in your health are really something amazing to see!

 

[ZellyB]

Amazing health improvements! I've seen the biggest improvement over time with my resting heart rate. Last year at our wellness check-up the person do BP and pulse rate asked if I was a runner based on those numbers. Made me irrationally proud that someone asked that unprompted.

 

[jennamfeo]

Just a few random Tuesday thoughts:

• It's been super windy the past few days, so at the last minute I grabbed a long sleeve shirt to wear to the track this morning and I am so thankful I did. It was freezing to me and the whole drive to the track I just kept saying "if these people could run Boston yesterday, I can handle this." And I did.
• The Tuesday track people were there again today (good for them!) going the wrong way on the track again today.
• I wish I was better at holding a pace.
• My I Pace isn't even fast enough for me to qualify for Boston and I can barely run it for 4 minutes at a time before I want to die. It's gonna be a fun trip if I really wanna BQ eventually.
• I was supposed to be signing up for Dopey today and I am still salty that registration got postponed.
• We finished the last Harry Potter movie last night. The books were better.

 

[DopeyBadger]

My I Pace isn't even fast enough for me to qualify for Boston and I can barely run it for 4 minutes at a time before I want to die. It's gonna be a fun trip if I really wanna BQ eventually.

When I started running in 2012, my best mile was around an 8-9 min/mile. Maybe something with a 7:5x. I didn't crack my middle school mile PR (7:12) until many years later. I ran my fastest mile ever at the time in Dec 2015 HM in 6:52ish and said to myself, now I've finally completed 1 mile at the pace I need to do 26.2. Don't give up and enjoy the fun trip you've set yourself on. You can and will, if you want to.

 

[FredtheDuck]

Solid training week with beautiful pictures. And I really like what Coach said above. This board is full of people who have surprised themselves by what they're capable of doing after they put in the work. You're pride, passion, and work ethic are clearly evident to all who follow you. Like Coach said, you can and will, if you want to.

 

[jennamfeo]

Week 8 DBP#2 Report 4/16 – 4/22
Mon 4/16 – REST
Tues 4/17 – 1.5 mi @ WU + 4 x 4 min @ I Pace w/3 min RI @ WU + 1 mi @ CD
Wed 4/18 – 4 mi @ EA
Thurs 4/19 – 1 mi @ WU + 4 x 1 mi @ T Pace w/90 sec REST + .5 mi @ CD
Fri 4/20 – REST
Sat 4/21 – 7 mi @ EB
Sun 4/22 – 10 mi @ LR (Nutrition)

Monday: REST DAY

Tuesday: This week was a double speed workout week. I like the speed workouts, but they really exhaust me by the end of the day. I keep overshooting my paces and struggle with slowing down STILL. So I basically made this workout harder than it should have been. I finally slowed down on my last interval and that one actually felt good and right. One day I will learn…
Plan: 1.5 mi @ WU (12:42) + 4 x 4 min @ I Pace (8:32) w/3 min RI @ WU (12:42) + 1 mi @ CD (12:42)
Actual:
1.5 mi @ 11:18
4 min @ 8:15
RI @ 11:44
4 min @ 8:10
RI @ 11:11
4 min @ 8:13
RI @ 12:53
4 min @ 8:28
RI @ 11:33
1 mi @ 12:01

Wednesday: Nice and easy morning run.
Plan: 4 mi @ EA (11:57)
Actual: 4.03 @ 11:42
Splits: 11:30, 11:29, 12:11, 11:35

Thursday: We had been fighting wind all week, but mostly on my two speed workout days. Typical, right? I wasn’t feeling this workout. There was wind, my mental game was off, it felt hard. But I did it. And the thing about doing it, is that you still give it all you got. I also don’t really know my splits until after my workout is complete and I hit end on my Runkeeper app. So I finish my cool down. I plop on the track for a photo. I upload my workout and check out my splits… oh! Okay. I actually nailed this terrible workout. I guess life isn’t so bad.
Plan: 1 mi @ WU (12:42) + 4 x 1 mi @ T Pace (9:17) w/90 sec REST + .5 mi @ CD (12:42)
Actual:
1 mi @ 11:30
1 mi @ 9:03
90 sec walk
1 mi @ 9:07
90 sec walk
1 mi @ 9:07
90 sec walk
1 mi @ 9:08
90 sec walk
.5 mi @ 11:49

Friday: REST DAY!

Saturday: This was one of those runs that makes me feel like I could run forever and rainbows and unicorns and glitter and beer that doesn’t make me fat….. Yeah one of those. Plus our city was holding this event called Desert Storm, where it's basically big, huge, expensive boats taking over the place. It was super awesome to run by.
Plan: 7 mi @ EB (11:10)
Actual: 7.02 @ 10:53
Splits: 10:58, 11:16, 10:46, 10:42, 10:44, 10:50, 10:55

[The London Bridge]




[After run Coronita Margarita]


Sunday: Stayed up late, drank too much, had lots of fun, slept in, got out later than I should have, sun was up and hot, didn’t have enough time to get the full 10 miles in. OTHER THAN THAT, I ran almost 9 miles, I should have fueled midway with my gel I brought but I didn’t. Mostly, it was just hot and also the end was uphill. I ended up getting my last 1.3 miles in a little later after I stopped this. Meh.
Plan: 10 mi @ LR (10:48)
Actual: 8.70 @ 10:54 & 1.33 @ 10:19
Splits: 10:41, 10:35, 10:47, 10:52, 10:59, 11:05, 11:06, 11:36 & 10:25, 9:59

We also took the kids out for a hike behind our house. It got me and my husband talking about trail running. Our city has a lot of these paths all over the desert around us. I think I might have to go explore on one of my easy runs this week. We shall see.







All of these PR’s this weekend has me excited but mostly scared for my 10k in two weeks. I feel like I set myself up with an impossible feat. Like, who am I to think I can run a 10k under an hour? My mental game is messing with me and my anxiety is getting the best of me. I have two weeks left of training to work on this and feel prepared. I haven’t missed a workout. I haven’t gotten injured. I have been doing pretty well hitting my paces. I am just scared that I can’t actually do this.

Anyway, reading everyone’s successes is amazing. We are a powerful group of people, with an amazing coach, and I love watching everyone crush their goals.

Upcoming Training:
Mon 4/23 – Rest day
Tues 4/24 – 5 mi @ EA (11:57)
Wed 4/25 – 5 mi @ EB (11:10) + Strides
Thurs 4/26 – 1 mi @ WU (12:42) + 2 miles @ T Pace (9:17) w/3 min REST + 2 mi @ T Pace (9:17) + .5 mi @ CD (12:42)
Fri 4/27 – Rest day
Sat 4/28 – 5 mi @ EB (11:10)
Sun 4/29 – 3 mi @ LR (10:48) + 4 mi @ M Tempo (10:02) + 2 mi @ LR (10:48)

 

[DopeyBadger]

All of these PR’s this weekend has me excited but mostly scared for my 10k in two weeks. I feel like I set myself up with an impossible feat. Like, who am I to think I can run a 10k under an hour? My mental game is messing with me and my anxiety is getting the best of me. I have two weeks left of training to work on this and feel prepared. I haven’t missed a workout. I haven’t gotten injured. I have been doing pretty well hitting my paces. I am just scared that I can’t actually do this.

Look, I'll be honest here (like I'm not all the time)... The Daniels I paced workouts are described as literally "THE HARDEST ENDURANCE WORKOUT" in the book. The fact that you continually crush these gives me the upmost confidence in you. When I did this similar workout back in Spring 2017, it handed my a** to me several times. Be proud of crushing these workouts, because these are experienced level workouts that are tough for even the most seasoned veteran.

As for the race. What's the worst that can happen if you finish healthy and don't hit the sub-60? You brush yourself off and try again next time. Don't be scared of it. Cherish the moment ahead of you. I've been reaching for a sub-3 for almost 6 years now. I KNOW I can do it. It just hasn't happened for me yet. But I've truly enjoyed all the ups and downs of the journey and the many many many learning lessons along the way. Embrace the day, don't fear it. It's not impossible. You can do it.