Monday: Active recovery. Two of my roommates,
Hannah and Nicole, invited me to come play pick up soccer. I played soccer in
elementary school and middle school, but I was never any good. I spent more
time running punishment runs for talking too much at practice than I did
actually practicing soccer. Although I am not very good I thought it would be a
nice light and fun workout… Pick up soccer in Schenley park is no joke. Nicole
has amazing footwork skills and Hannah is a really good defender; I on the
other hand was really good at running in circles trying to keep up with the
ball. I had such a fun time playing, but I was exhausted afterwards and I will
probably be feeling it tomorrow.
Tuesday: Steel City Road Runners track workout — 1200 meter
repeats with 2 minute rest. I was really sore after pick up soccer, but I was very
excited for my first workout with the Steel City Road Runners. The track
workout was up at the Schenley Oval, which is about a 20-minute walk from my
house. My friends, Alison and David, were nice enough to walk me to the workout
since I did not know where I was going. Once I got to the track I left them and
went about finding my running club. There were a few different running clubs
there, but after asking around I finally found my group. The coaches were very
nice and ran a warm up lap with me before the real workout began. I was nervous
for the track workout because I haven’t been working on my speed and everyone
else looked like they could maintain a very fast pace for a very long time.
Luckily the coaches broke everyone up into groups based on our race paces. I
ran with the 8:30 min/mile group and had a great first two sets. By set 3 I was
feeling tired and my calves were cramping up, so I slowed my pace down a little
bit so that I could finish set 3 and actually run a set 4. Tonight was a great
experience running with seasoned runners. However, I don't think I will be
going out of my way to make track workouts in the future because I am not
racing for time at this point in my racing career. I am just looking to
maintain a pace similar to my training runs, so that I have an enjoyable first
half marathon experience.
Wednesday: Hot yoga. Hannah and I went to a hot yoga class
today in Shadyside. I have never done a hot yoga class and I had no clue what
to expect. I was not expecting the studio to feel like a 100 degrees, but I
guess that's why it is called hot yoga!! I instantly started sweating and by
the time the class started—10 minutes after we registered—I was dripping. The
class was very strenuous and surprisingly relaxing. I really enjoyed focusing
on my breathing because I think it will really help me when I am running. I
plan to make yoga a weekly practice!
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: 3.5 miles in 34:22 minutes. Today I found one of my
new favorite challenges…the Upper Panther Hollow trail in Schenley Park. I
started this trail on a nice downhill section with a smile on my face; however,
that smile soon faded as I quickly approached what looked like a never ending
hill. According to my TomTom Spark I climbed 527 feet, which might not seem
like a lot but considering that I am in a city that seems and FELT like a
really long climb. I was really happy to maintain a pace of 9:59 min/mile
considering I normally do not train on hilly trails.
Saturday: 4 miles in 37:09 minutes. I decided to run part of
the Upper Panther Hollow trail again before taking the Birdle trail for the
remainder of my run. Both of these trails have some nice rolling hills, which I
find very challenging. I was super happy that I ran negative splits for the
first 3 miles even though I couldn't maintain that pace for my last mile (9:53,
9:14, 8:34, 9:19).
Sunday: 10 miles. I
ran my first 10 miler. It was the most physically and mentally taxing run I
have ever been on. The first 4 miles consisted of constant hills and technical
terrain. My calves were screaming at me to quit and the heat was getting to my
head. I was ready to give up, but I kept telling myself just run one more mile.
Before I knew it was mile 9 and I was feeling good until the skies opened. I
have never had to run in a torrential down pour with thunder and lightening
being my motivator to finish. By the time I reached mile 10 I was soaked in
both sweat, rain, and tears. My legs were shot and I had nothing left in the
tank to sprint the last hill and half mile to get to my house. I ended up
walking in the rain feeling physically defeated yet mentally triumphant!
Running hills is hard, running in the heat is hard, running in the rain is
hard, running with chronic compartmental syndrome is hard, running alone is
hard, but I was able to overcome these obstacles to complete my goal. This was
the second to last long run before I begin tapering for my half marathon on the
18th!!
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