Week 5 August 29 — September 4

Monday: First day of senior year!! Today I started my senior year at the University of Pittsburgh. I had Afro-Caribbean dance and one of my museum studies classes today. Last year I took West African dance and loved it; I really enjoyed studying the historical significance of each dance and then learning how to perform the dance we just studied. I am excited to learn about dances from a different region in the world and eventually perform them for our class recital! Catch me at my recital on December 10^th!!

Tuesday: 4.10 miles on the elliptical at a 9:25 min/mile pace. After my 10 miler I was feeling a very sharp shooting pain in my left foot, plus my calves were still very tight and swollen; I decided to take it easy today by running on the elliptical. I tried to make the workout more intense by running with resistance and switching up the incline every once and a while. Overall it was a great workout that did not further aggravate the pain in my feet and calves.

Wednesday: Dance class and 3.75 mile HIIT workout on the treadmill. Ice and rest truly work miracles when you sustain overuse injuries; when I woke up today I noticed that my calves were no longer swollen and the sharp pain in my foot was subsiding. I was super happy to finally be feeling better because there is nothing in the world I love more than letting my inner goofball out and dancing to the beat of my own drum. Every Monday and Wednesday I literally get to dance to the beat of a drum in my Afro-Caribbean dance class!  Later in the day I did some cardio on the treadmill because I still wanted to actually RUN, but not exacerbate my injuries.

Thursday: Rest Day.

Friday: 5.2 miles on the treadmill at an 8:46 min/mile pace (splits: 8:51, 9:28, 7:50, 8:50, 8:03). The weather in Pittsburgh is very unpredictable. I swore the weather man said it was going to be nice all day, but it stormed in the afternoon when I was supposed to be running. I guess the storms were a blessing in disguise because I was able to do one last workout on a soft surface before my 11 mile run this weekend.

Saturday: Rest Day.

Sunday: 11 miles in 1:48:27 (splits: 11:31, 10:10, 10:02, 9:40, 9:53, 9:45, 9:13, 9:05, 9:40, 9:34, 9:19). All day I put off running. I knew I needed to run 11 miles, but after my 10 miler last weekend I was not looking forward to doing it all over again with an added mile. I am happy to say I ran 11 miles and actually enjoyed every minute of it! The weather was beautiful and I had no pain in my calves. I listened to my favorite podcast (shout out to the schmoesknowshow!!!) which had me smiling the whole time. I was able to comfortably run a 9:49 min/mile running alone. I am cautiously confident to officially set my race day goal pace at 9:30 min/mile. Like most people I tend to run a little faster on race day. The atmosphere gets me so amped up to run to the best of my abilities, and in 17 days I will get to see what I am really made of!!

Week 4 August 22 — August 28

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!!

Week 3 August 15 — August 21

Monday: 7.10 mile run. I started week 3 how I was supposed to end week 2, with a long run. I felt so good and probably could have gone for 8 miles if it weren’t for the fact that the sun had set...

*I do not have night running gear

Tuesday: 5k at 80% speed. Today I wanted to run a 5k a minute or two slower than race day. I was trying to gauge where my pace was at the 3-week mark. I am happy to say I was able to maintain a sub 8:30 min/mile only going around 80%. My goal for next week is to work on maintaining this pace for longer distances.

Wednesday: Active rest day walking around Dorney Park. I took the girls to Dorney Park for our last big field trip of the year. We went with some of the neighborhood girls and my boss came along as well. We got to the park at 10:00 am and did not leave till 8:00 pm. We walked 8 plus miles, rode roller coasters, water slides, and ate lots of junk food. I told my dad I ate a ice cream and funnel cake since someone had to celebrate his birthday the right way. Happy Birthday Dad!

Thursday: Rest day. I should have run today, but I was so busy packing I forgot to get outside and get my workout in. Oops…

Friday: 5 mile hike in Fairmount Park! Today was my last day working and my last day at home. I took the girls hiking in Fairmount Park. We went for a 5 mile hike and topped it off with a picnic lunch. I could not have asked for a better last day at home!

Saturday: Rest day. I moved back to Pittsburgh! Shout out to my OG roomies Alison and Emily for moving my stuff from our old place, to a storage unit, and finally into our new house! These girls are life savers and part of the reason I am on this running journey. Emily runs 10ks and half marathons like a boss and Alison is supposed to be my training buddy for the Philadelphia Marathon in November!

Sunday: 8 mile run. Today I ran my second long run of the week! I totally forgot how hilly Pittsburgh is until I was about halfway through the run. I haven’t done hills since my Spartan training and I was oh so pleasantly reminded just how hard they can be when your hot, tired, and sore. Although this run was not easy it felt good to be running again in Pittsburgh!