Toes, Underpants, and a PR

I don't know why I feel a need to share these things... but I do. Really... a need. They are inconsequential... like most of my blog. But the compulsion to dump it here... well, it is a compulsion and there's no stopping it.

This evening's ramblings... some people call this sort of deal "Three Things Thursday", but I don't really care for alliteration... anyway, this evenings ramblings are just that... ramblings. And of no real importance whatsoever.

Numero Uno

It's a first for me...

I'm going to lose it, aren't I? Will it hurt? Can you believe I'm a toenail-falling-off virgin?

Numero Dos

I am not a potty-training virgin, but this fourth time around is just ... I don't know... I guess I'm just not into it. My middle two kids were done with diapers before they turned two. Miss C is now 2 and a half. We have potties. We have a seat adapter. We have the undies. We casually talk about peeing and pooping in the little potty or the big toilet. She even tells me when she goes whatever in her diaper. We make mention of wearing the undies.

But she finds them to be infinitely more entertaining than wearable.

Numero Tres

Last night I ran a 5K "return-to-running" PR.

The workout was supposed to be 2 X 2 miles @ 8:30ish pace with a quarter-mile rest-jog in between. I started late (as usual). I just wasn't into it. As I was doing my warm up, I was complaining in my mind...

"stupid night running"

"darn kids... why won't they just go the *bleep* to bed?"

"i am sooooo tired"

"i think my hip hurts"

"i'm hungry... i don't think i've eaten enough today... maybe i should just go in"

"i wish we had real t.v."

I finished my 1.5-mile warm-up trot and stretched a bit. I toed the line at my mailbox and set off.

When my first lap was 10 seconds "too fast", and I just didn't feel like trying to slow down, I realized that if I held the pace, I could 5K PR. So I made a deal with myself... if I did it, I would be done for the night.

I could give you the blow-by-blow, but does anyone really care? It was dark. No skunks. Negative splits :) except that I was totally sucking it in the last 0.1 mile... no sprint for me... I was lucky to make it out alive!

Time:  25:20  (8:10 pace)

Three and a half minutes faster than my first 5K back in November.

Nearly a minute faster than my 5K 6 months ago in March.

Of course, I immediately plugged it into the McMillan Running Calculator.  *dork*

Looking at that Long Beach Half Marathon...

...and wondering how long it's going to take for me to really and for real run a new 5K PR... not just a "return-to-running" one.

Getting ready to shoot the moon :)

Have you ever lost a toenail? Did it hurt?

What does it mean when you almost 5K PR in the middle of your tempo run?

After kicking that PMS to the curb and getting more efficient support (I hope), I decided to tackle my tempo run last night...20 min/30 min/10 min....hr zones:  z2 /z3/z2 = around 141-154/154-160/141-154 based on my personal calculations.

But how fast was I supposed to be running?

I did all these calculations but don't have a heart rate monitor. I could just count my pulse periodically, but that seemed just too interrupting. So I needed a pace.

I looked up Rate of Perceived Exertion charts.... thanks, Patrick. And found that the appropriate heart rate translated into HARD. I recall this level of exertion from my rowing days... this heart rate zone we called Anaerobic Threshold, and it was my least favorite type of workout for years. It hurts. And it hurts for longer than you want to hurt. But unlike race pace, you can do it again. And now as a runner, I love this workout ... in theory.

Still needing to pick a target pace, I remembered that my blogger friend Danny at one point made a remark about "being able to repeat the workout at that same pace"... totally out of context, Danny, I know, I know... but bear with me :)

I figured that doubling 30 minutes would yield about a 10K, so I should use a projected 10K pace time based on that timed mile I ran last month. Using the Mcmillan Running Calculator, this gave me a per mile pace of 8:33 (which happens to be very similar to what Jill mentioned the other day). This made sense because a 10K is HARD. But if you run a 5K at 10K pace, you should be able to repeat it immediately :)

For some reason, I was scared. But I just reminded myself... what's the worst thing that could happen? Oh, right... I could be slower than I had hoped. I could crash and burn. And I would learn from that. So I shelved my anxiety, and I went ahead...

The first 20 minutes were completely consistent at 10:20 pace... which felt agonizingly slow... but I stuck with the plan. About 2/3 of the way through the 3rd lap I kicked into the HARD part. If you are new here, I usually run 0.75-mile laps... so keep that in mind when reading my splits. I settled into something that was slightly uncomfortable... if you can truly settle into uncomfortability. Here is what followed starting at the next lap mark:

lap #4  ... 6:28.95  (8:40 pace)
lap #5  ... 6:24.37  (8:32)
lap #6  ... 6:21.06  (8:28)
lap #7  ... 6:14.82  (8:20)
the little bit from my mailbox to a tree halfway around the block that marks 0.1 mile + 47.61  (8:00)
which yielded a 5K time of 26:16 (just 4 seconds slower than my "return to running" PR set in March)
the HARD continued for another 58 seconds and then...

I returned to that slower pace... the last 10 minutes were run at 10:30 pace.

Honestly, I probably ran it a little faster than I should have, but I felt great. I would have liked to run that last 10 minutes at a little perkier pace and with a little more spring in my step... I was having to work for that 10:30.

Half-marathon training feels so much different to me than marathon training. When I trained to run a marathon, it was all about building the endurance ... putting in the miles... and if some speed came, well, awesome. But I have picked a goal time for this half. And yes, I need to bank some miles but I also want to be sort of fastish. I'm not sure I am digging the self-imposed pressure :P

And how did the Seven Wonders work out? The jury is still undecided. It did what it was supposed to do, I think. Not so sure if it was comfortable... or if I am just used to my immobilizing, truss-like set up. I'll keep you posted.