Falling off the radar

[Day 151]

Exams will do that to you! I am pleased to report that I did in fact survive exam week. As of yet it is not officially known whether or not I actually passed all my exams, but I think I did fine, so I will just pretend that I did pass and that I am done with first year of med school for real. I came out to Boston on Thursday after my last exam and have been mostly adventuring with Henry. We went paddleboarding on Friday, hiking on Saturday, and ran stadiums with Tony and went to a movie yesterday! It's been good. I'm not gonna bother logging paddleboarding and hiking here, although it's up on Garmin Connect if anyone really cares. Here are the rest of the updates:

Yesterday's Workout: AM stadiums (~1/2 of Harvard stadium) + dryland circuit (5 rounds)
Summary: dryland reps

• Push ups: 19, 16, 14, 14, 15 (78 total)
• Sit ups: 14, 15, 14, 14, 14 (71 total)
• Dips: 24, 21, 22, 24, 23 (114 total)
• Squats: 21, 21, 21, 22, 22 (107 total)

Hit Rate: 15/20 (3 skipped exam week workouts; 75%)

Today's Workout: PM easy run, 4-5 mi

Summary: 4.88 mi, 43:38, 8:56 pace, 175 spm

Pace splits by mile: 9:21, 8:56, 8:45, 9:00, 8:34

Hit Rate: 16/21 (76.1%)

Notes/thoughts:

• I'm really sore today. Really hoping that fixes itself by tomorrow because I have a tough tempo run on the books (and I'm planning on swimming in the morning, so it'll also be a double day) and I'd like my legs to be functional for that. 
• The Harvard stadium is brutal. They were not kidding. I'm gonna try and work on that while I'm here, good way to try and keep some power/kick in my legs for the cycling while I'm away from my actual bike.
• For some reason my body was like, RUN FASTER RUN FASTER my entire run today. I was gonna go for an easy 9:30-10:00 paced run and the entire time my brain/heart/lungs were like ew this is too fast what are we doing but my body was like, nah this is good let's keep going. It was bizarre. But I guess that instinct is also exactly why I do what I do. Sometimes I think at the core of who I am is just this sort of crazy inexplicable desire to go faster all the time. I guess that's why I keep at it. 

So yup, master's swim practice in the AM tomorrow and a tempo run in the PM. Wish me luck! (And happier legs!)

Much love,

Jess

Sometimes I run fast!

[Day 141]

Took an interval run today. Needed more sleep last night lol. Opted to walk the 1/4 mile recovery intervals, no regrets on that front because the running was spectacular. I'm finally starting to see run training sort of like swim training and things are falling into place in a way I really wasn't expecting. Details first, then thoughts.

Today's Workout: Interval run, 4 x 1/2 mi @ 10k-5k pace descending (under 7:45/7:40/7:35/7:30) w/ 3 mins rest (jogging), 8 x 1/4 mi @ 5k pace (7:05-7:20) w/ 1:30 rest (I walked these)
Summary:

• Totals: 9.05 mi, 1:27:09, 9:37 pace
• 1/2 mile splits: 3:51.9 (7:44), 3:47.7 (7:35), 3:44.1 (7:28), 3:39.7 (7:19)
• 1/4 mile splits: 1:47.7 (7:11), 1:49.2 (7:17), 1:48.4 (7:13), 1:48.6 (7:14), 1:48.9 (7:16), 1:49.2 (7:17), 1:47.3 (7:09), 1:48.2 (7:13)

Hit Rate: 13/15 (86.6%)

The half milers felt real relaxed today. The pace just came real easy and I tried to ease into all the repeats so that I picked up speed as the interval went on. I also tried to channel the kind of focus I have during races into my running today and really worked on feeling smooth and strong instead of thinking too much about effort. There's a huge difference between trying to run hard and trying to run fast and I think focusing on the latter is what made my run today so good. For the first time I'm starting to see how this crazy pace I'm working around could be do-able for an entire 5k. It doesn't feel like I'm fighting the will of the universe every time I try to get up to that pace, it feels like a good aerobic pace instead of a push push push push push kind of pace, the breathing is much more under control now than it had been when I first started doing these interval runs. It's all coming together and I love that I'm finding a comfortable, smooth, AND quick stride. It's something I'm familiar with in the pool, that the key to swimming fast is feeling fast in the water. Turns out the same thing applies with running on land. In any case, been really excited about the progress I've been making with the running. Have no idea if this will translate in race conditions yet, but just knowing that I can hit workouts like this and throw around speed I definitely thought I didn't have makes me happy. Time for more studying!

Much love,

Jess

Rainy days

[Day 138]

Today's Workout: PM easy run
Summary: 4.90 mi, 46:40, 9:31 pace, 173 spm average
Pace splits by mile: 9:31, 9:38, 9:23, 9:37, 9:25
Hit Rate: 11/12 (91.6%)

Ran with Brian in the rain today. Took the bike path so we were a little short of 5 miles but whatever. Interval run on the schedule for tomorrow.

Much love,
Jess

It's a good thing the schedule is flexible

[Day 137]

Some days you got work to do and your long run has to be a not so long run. Whatever school's the priority.

Today's Workout: AM base run, 6 mi
Summary: 6.17 mi, 54:42, 8:52 pace average, 179 spm average
Pace splits by mile: 9:17, 9:14, 9:01, 8:46, 8:29, 8:27
Hit Rate: 10/11 (90.9%)

Easy run in the AM tomorrow. Happy Monday e'erbody! (:

Much love,
Jess

Suck it, expectations!

[Day 134]

Lol I think I'm better at tempo runs than I am at intervals. Or maybe I'm just better at working out when my stomach isn't pissed off at me? Who knows. I had a great run today. Was expecting it to be tremendously horrible because the set was tough, but it was actually super great. Numbers first, then thoughts.

Today's Workout: Tempo run, 1.5 mi WU, 4 mi @ HM pace (8:10-8:25), 4 mins recovery (under 11:00), 1 mi @ 10k pace (7:35-7:50), WD (should've taken a longer WD but really didn't want to so...yeah...)
Summary: 7.53 mi, 1:06:01, 8.46 pace, 180 spm average (!!!!!!!!)
Interval Splits:

• WU: 1.5 mi, 14:33, 9:42 pace
• 4 mi @ HM:
• 1-2: 16:40 (8:20 pace), 105 ft gain, 10 ft loss
• 3-4: 16:30 (8:10 pace), 66 ft gain, 125 ft loss
• Recovery interval: 4:00, 0.41 mi, 9:43 pace
• 1 mi @ 10k: 7:42 pace
• WD: 0.62 mi (loooooool), 6:46 (loooool), 10:54 pace

Hit Rate: 8/8 (100%)

Notes/thoughts:

• Little bit of anterior knee pain in the R leg, probably related to the fact that my IT band on that side is really tight, but it's okay b/c I'm taking 2 days off from running (probably gonna ride my bike tomorrow and I'm also hitting up the gym with a friend who wants to get into lifting) over the weekend and will be sure to do lots of stretching and maintenance stuff to get that fixed up.
• Mile 2 of the 4 mi tempo was rough. It was mostly this long protracted low grade uphill and I was thinking that if I had to maintain that effort for another two miles I might die. Turns out it made the rest of those miles feel like cake because yay subsequent net elevation loss! Lol
• My brain is definitely adjusting its definition of "pick it up" pace. Like HM pace used to feel insanely fast to me and now it feels sort of just like generic quick running. Gotta focus to stay there, but not as destructive as it used to feel. 
• The 1 mi interval started off really great. The first like 1/4 mile-ish of that was fast and fantastic and then things started to gradually fall off. It's kind of like swimming I guess, the third leg is always the hardest, b/c the third 1/4 mile of that was bad. And then it was like, DON'T FALL OUT OF THE PACE RANGE RUN JESS RUN for the last bit so it all turned out fine in the end, but uh trying to figure out what a consistent 10k effort is is something I'm gonna have to work on.
• I didn't walk the recoveries! I walked a little bit after the 10k effort, but even then it was a tiny bit before I was back jogging again. I just didn't feel as generally wrecked by this run as I had been feeling after the last few fast runs, which is good. My stomach cooperating had a big role to play in that I think.
• The crazy thing is, I'm here like, omg I did so awesome yay! And then I look at next week's workouts and obviously they get harder because that's what workout progressions do and I'm back to freaking out. xD But not in a bad way. I actually felt really confident going into today's workout because I felt really good on yesterday's easy run and so I had faith in the ability of my legs to do what had to be done, which was nice. I'm going to try and carry this momentum forward into next week so I don't spend all my time cowering in fear of upcoming workouts. It'll be tough but I think I have it. And I'm getting back in touch with my inner age group swimmer who is all like "tough things are the funnest things to do ever!" and half of me is like "yeah!" and the other half of me is like "who is this crazy chick and why are we still friends with her?!" Lol crushing workouts is/are immensely satisfying though, I'm pretty lucky I get to do this in my free time. 

Work work work work work for the rest of the day now, followed by the screening of our med school class show!!!!!! Just listen to this awesomeness: click here. So pumped! Happy Friday everyone!

Much love,

Jess

Falling short

[Day 133]

I had a rough night last night, had a late start this morning, had to cut my run short so I could still make it to small group/lab. Disappointed that I wasn't on top of my sleep schedule, disappointed that I didn't suck it up and get up early enough to get my entire run in anyways, just generally disappointed with myself.

Today's Workout: AM easy run, 4 mi (planned 5 mi)
Summary: 4.05 mi, 39:31, 9:45 pace, 178 spm
Pace splits by mile: 10:23, 9:55, 9:23, 9:25
Hit rate: 7/7 (100%) - I honestly don't even feel good about giving myself credit for this run but I know that dropping a mile on an easy day isn't actually as atrocious of an offense as it feels like to me...

Notes/thoughts:

• That mile that I dropped this morning is probably going to haunt me for a while, especially if I fall short of my goals/expectations this summer. I'm not good at letting things like this go. It's probably a terrible trait of mine, but I can't help it. Cutting things short or not giving all the effort I want to give just doesn't sit well with me. I can't help it. 
• I started out real slow but was surprised that after about15-20 minutes my legs seemed to get into it and I actually felt real strong and smooth on the way home. It reminds me of in-season swimming. I need insanely long warm ups to get my body into it but it will perform if I give it time to warm up. Apparently this may be a thing that holds true for the running as well.
• Freaking out about tomorrow. The run is gonna be long and tough and ends on some real fast running and I just don't know what to expect of myself and the level of effort it'll take to hit all the paces right. And the thing is, I really don't think I can mentally take another disappointing day. I need a good day, I really need a good day, but I have to make those good days with my own two hands (or I guess legs in this case) and the pressure feels really crazy sometimes. I don't know if I can do it, but I know I have to try and I know that if I try and I fall short, Friday night will be a long one and I don't want that. Pressure pressure pressure.

Have a good Thursday folks (:

Much love,

Jess

Can't stop won't stop

[Day 132]

There's a lot I feel like I have on my mind but not so much that I want to write down. Let's talk numbers, then feelings.

Today's Workout: PM run, intervals

• 15-20 mins easy WU
• 4 x 1/2 mi @ 10k pace (7:35-7:50) w/ 3 mins rest (jogged the first three, walked the last)
• 4 x 1/4 mi @ 5k pace (7:05-7:20) w/ 1:30 rest (walked these)
• 15-20 mins easy WD

Summary: 7.56 mi, 1:16:28, 10:07 average pace
Interval splits:

• 1/2 milers: 3:53.1 (7:46), 3:51.4 (7:43), 3:40.7 (7:41). 3:51.7 (7:44)
• 1/4 milers: 1:47.6 (7:10), 1:48.3 (7:13), 1:49.0 (7:16), 1:49.7 (7:19)

Hit rate: 6/6 (100%)

Notes/thoughts:

• My stomach was really bothering me today. About 10 minutes into my warmup, I had some pain and nausea started up and I just thought to myself, Jess you've gone to swim practice on so much worse and cranked it out, there's no reason you can't do this. So I did it. With some amount of compromise. I let myself walk half the rest intervals because I felt like I had to to keep the contents of my stomach in my tummy. I felt pretty horrible, would have much rather gotten to just concentrate on the running instead of concentrating on fighting the feeling in my stomach, but you know what, it's been a while I think since I've been really mentally challenged and I always welcome that. I think you need to be mentally challenged regularly to remind yourself that you can dig deep and overcome that so I'm glad I was forced to be tougher today than I am on any other regular day. 
• I was really surprised by how easy the 5k paced 400s came. 1/4 mile is an incredibly short distance apparently. Honestly the first four 1/2 milers didn't feel great compared to last week, but I got through them fine, and I was just worried about not having any kind of speed in my legs but I shot through that first 1/4 miler and I knew I was gonna be fine. I would like to not be walking recoveries in the future but it let me do the important work on pace and kept me from having to throw in the towel early so I'll take it for today. 
• There's something qualitatively different about running at 10k pace versus 5k. It's really interesting to be finding run speed gears because I'm starting to learn the difference with my body in terms of how to maximize efficiency at each pace. The swimmer part of my brain turns on and that's just what it does. It's really amazing to have been doing sports my whole life and still get to learn new things about my own movement and feel those patterns form and shape and adjust as I get better. That's one of my favourite things about exercise and it's really awesome that intervals really bring that out for me when it comes to running.
• I've genuinely just missed working hard and getting my ass kicked by workouts. I feel like I had a lot of intensity the past few months on the bike trainer because that's something I've been really focusing on and trying to improve on, but I haven't been very intense in the pool and I have never been very intense about running. It's just really satisfying to lay everything you have out on the line during a set and then spend the 15-20 minutes of warm down willing myself to not drop dead on the side of the road or in the park somewhere because I'm almost too tired to even want to go home. That's fun, I get a kick out of that. 
• I want to be really proud of what went on today. I don't feel it as powerfully as I know I should. These paces are cake to so many people but this is insanely fast for me and is a level of running that I didn't think I was capable of doing. So I want to be insanely proud and insanely happy with myself. Instead I feel sort of meh because I walked some of the recoveries and I feel like I should've jogged them but I didn't. I don't want that to drag me down but it does. I'm a little too ambitious for my own good sometimes. I'm bad at just being happy when I do a good job. It wasn't a perfect job, but it was a good job and I should be proud. I am trying to just repeat that to myself over and over again and perhaps it will eventually cement in my head as reality. Who knows.

Easy run on the schedule for tomorrow, 5 miles on the schedule, I'll play the turn around point by feel because I feel pretty wrecked from today and I do want to actually recover tomorrow so I can hit another insane tempo run on Friday. In other news, have a running agreement with Henry that I'm going to try and do 10 minutes of core work and 10 minutes of stretching every night, so I'm gonna finish the work I have to do tonight and then go do that. Working hard, staying hungry. Happy Hump Day! (:

Much love,

Jess

EM II exam today help

[Day 131]

Today's Workout: AM easy run
Summary: 4.56 mi, 43:18, 9:29 pace average, 177 spm average
Pace splits by mile: 9:40, 9:43, 9:32, 9:23, 8:54
Hit Rate: 5/5 (100%)

Definitely feeling a little bit of residual fatigue from yesterday but nothing horrible. Freaked out about having to run fast tomorrow as always but I'm sure it'll be fine. It was drizzling a bit today and there was some lightning, which kind of freaked me out because EM II has made me really scared about getting struck by lightning. Evidently I didn't actually get struck by lightning, so it's all good lol. So much studying to do today. Interval workout tomorrow! Happy Tuesday folks!

Much love,
Jess

Long run (:

[Day 130]

Today's Workout: PM long run, 10 mi
Summary: 10.46 mi, 1:41:46, 9:44 pace average, 176 spm
Pace splits by mile: 9:47, 9:53, 9:42, 9:49, 9:48, 9:23, 9:50, 9:42, 9:50 9:41, 9:24
Hit Rate: 4/4 (100%)

Still marveling at the fact that I can take this distance at an easy pace and have it actually feel comfortable nowadays. There was a time where every 8+ mile run hurt simply by virtue of it being long, no matter what the pace. It's kinda cool to find progress in how far I can run comfortably. Legs are feeling it now, but in general I'm doing pretty well today. I was really hungry the last 3-4 miles though which was rough. Was really just thinking about running home so I could eat. Food = life.

Easy run on the books for tomorrow morning. Will probably take 4 miles but we'll see how I feel. Happy Monday everyone!

Much love,
Jess

PS - I just stretched! Yay good job Jess (:

The spring training post-mortem

[Day 129]

There's so much data from the past four months that the idea of going through it freaks me out. So know that I'm writing this as I'm looking through everything and I expect the post to be way sloppy because it's so unplanned. But honestly, if I had to put more effort into it than this, the reflection would never happen so I'm gonna do this and be satisfied with it.

Here's what the full schedule ended up looking like (if you click on the images, they should get bigger):

And here is the month by month breakdown via Garmin:

• Swimming: 
• Jan: 9 swims, 19.13 mi, 11:10 total hrs
• Feb: 9 swims, 18.52 mi, 10:15 total hrs
• Mar: 5 swims, 11.08 mi, 6:15 total hrs
• Apr: 9 swims, 14.82 mi, 8:21 total hrs
• Biking: 
• Jan: 9 rides (all trainer), 172.43 mi, 12:21 total hrs
• Feb: 10 rides (4 outdoors, 6 trainer), 250.59 mi, 17:59 total hrs
• Mar: 6 rides (5 trainer, 1 outdoors, 2 bricks - 1 trainer, 1 outdoors), 163.01 mi, 11:17 total hrs
• Apr: 8 rides (2 trainer, rest outdoors including 1 brick, 2 races), 185.08 mi, 10:59 total hrs
• Running:
• Jan: 10 runs (6 treadmill, 4 outdoors), 41.44 mi, 6:37 total hrs
• Feb: 10 runs (1 treadmill, 9 outdoors), 67.68 mi, 10:43 total hrs
• Mar: 15 runs (all outdoors, 2 bricks), 93.47 mi, 16:04 total hrs
• Apr: 11 runs (all outdoors, 1 brick, 2 races), 56.74 mi, 8:40 total hrs
• Other: 
• Jan: 11 sessions (6 lifts, others were core/rowing/etc), 8:50 total hrs
• Feb: 6 sessions (5 lifts, 1 other), 7:10 total hrs
• Mar: 6 sessions (5 lifts, 1 other), 6:57 total hrs
• Apr: 3 sessions (2 lifts, 1 other), 3:15 total hrs
• Total time by month:
• Jan: 38:58 hrs
• Feb: 46:07 hrs
• Mar: 40:39 hrs
• Apr: 31:22 hrs
• Totals: 
• Swim: 32 swims, 63.54 mi, 36:01 total hrs
• Bike: 33 rides, 771.11 mi, 52:36 total hrs
• Run: 46 runs, 259.33, 42:04 total hrs
• Other: 26 sessions (18 lifts), 26:12 total hrs
• Time: 156:53 hrs

Okay that was actually sort of cool to compile. On one hand, the numbers are too large for me to really comprehend so it's like, oh apparently I worked out a lot. On the other hand, it's cool to see what the swim/bike/run distribution looked like.

Overall thoughts:

• On the goals from back in these days: 
• Consistency w/o burnout towards the end of the big training block: Somewhat accomplished? I think I definitely did way better than I did in the fall and managed to keep up what was for me a very high volume of work both in terms of training and school and somehow stay on track for almost four entire months. There were some off days/weeks towards the end both because of inevitable schedule issues relating to travel and just mental things (some weird mix of burnout, anticipation, and anxiety) but it was a margin of error I am more than happy to accept. I feel like if I can hit serious training blocks like this every time I went for it, I would be in a fantastic place. Sure, there's always room to improve when it comes to consistency but given the constraints of reality and the fact that there's much more to my life than just this sport, I am 100% satisfied with what consistency looked like this block.
• Picking up the slack on the biking and swimming: Biking yes! Swimming no...Which I'm sort of okay with honestly. I think there's still room to improve on the biking. That's something that I want to continue working on moving forwards. My swimming hasn't been improving but it also hasn't been getting significantly worse and for now I'm willing to accept that while I focus on upping my game in the disciplines I'm weaker in. I've gotten a lot better as a cyclist these past few months and I really hope to keep that moving in the right direction as time goes on. I will say that the lifting supplement to my swimming did go phenomenally well this block, something else I hope to keep up as time goes on.
• Run mileage: goals were 20-25 miles per week which turned out to be waaaaay ambitious. I had a few kinks in the early parts of the year involving my knee and my IT band that kept that from being a reality, but I was there in that range in March (which was my highest volume month) so I would consider that a success. I'll be running a lot between now and July so we'll see where the weekly mileage lines up in the upcoming weeks/months. 
• Core/stability/mobility/stretching/recovery: Um no. Fail. I have always sucked at this and pretty much continued to suck at it this cycle. This is something I'm going to try and work on more in the upcoming months. 
• Being more present: I think I'm getting better at this. I think I still have a long ways to go before I am where I want to be. I think what has improved is my acceptance of myself and the things that I feel and the way that I think. I think I'm more okay with being who I am and having the quirks that I have and accepting that one of the consequences of just being me is that I'm maybe not going to be as happy as other people are sometimes and that's okay because it is what I want and what I choose. I think I'm better at being thankful for having the ability to do what I choose to do. That's valuable. Do I still have to work more at being present? Yes, but in terms of my mentality as a whole, I think I'm moving in the right direction. I hope the people who have been reading this madness agree.
• On the future:
• Honestly training is going to be way less serious in the upcoming year because I know I need to focus on other things like school. There are plenty of things that I want to work on because there are always plenty of things that I want to work on, but I think it's important to take it one step at a time and remember that it has to take a back seat compared to some of the bigger things happening in my life right now. So for the next few months, the two main things I'm going to be working on are as follows...
• Running: Most of my races are running races in June/July, so I'm going to focus on running for now. (After that, there'll be a mix of different races from August through October so I'll probably get back to a more balanced tri training schedule. By the time the winter rolls around, I expect to be switching over from endurance work mode to strength work mode because I've always wanted to put some work in at the gym just getting stronger. I've never really had the chance to focus on that specifically because I've always been doing one endurance type race or another. Since there really aren't races on the calendar after October, I expect to have some time to just hit the gym and have fun focusing on something that is normally more of an accessory part of my schedule.)
• Core/maintenance/stretching: I suck at paying attention to this and doing this and I really need to make it a more habitual part of my schedule so it's something I'm going to try and really tackle in the next few months.

There is so much more I could look at and so much more I could talk about and over-analyze when it comes to this stuff but honestly, I want to leave it at this: I did something in the past four months that I didn't think I was capable of doing. I think I've worked harder than I've ever worked in my life (not necessarily just in regards to training, but in regards to literally everything else too) and I've learned a lot about myself and my limits and my strengths and my weaknesses. Most of all I've learned a lot about how to make this life and my passions work within the constraints of reality and I've learned that I have the best support person in the universe who does so much to give me the best chance I have at reaching my goals. I couldn't have imagined any of this would go the way it had when I first laid out all my crazy plans at the beginning of the year. I couldn't have imagined that it would be so hard. I couldn't have imagined that I would realize that it is so hard and keep going. I couldn't have imagined that anyone would support my crazy crazy life and my crazy crazy dreams. I've been so lucky just to experience the things that I've been able to experience and come out the other side. Sure, there are a billion ways in which I've fallen short along the way but I really couldn't be more satisfied with my decision to try. I couldn't be more thankful to have had Henry standing beside me every step of the way. I couldn't be more proud of how far I've come. 

The lofty goals are getting laid aside for a little bit. You can bet I'll keep training and keep working and hopefully keep improving, but the priorities are definitely going to shift in the next few months and maybe even years. I'm going to try to be a little less uptight and a little more forgiving and a little more focused on school. I'm sure everything that's gone into these past four months will only help me even as things start to change. It's just another adventure and I'm sure it'll take me to just as unexpected places as this one has, even with all my overbearing planning. I hope you'll stay with me as I take it on. Happy Sunday everyone!

Much love,

Jess

PS - It was a rest day today. I didn't do much of anything, which was fairly glorious. Long run tomorrow! (:

Learning to train faster

[Day 128]

I psych myself out a lot when I try to run fast. I consider myself a slow runner. You can put any amount of distance in front of me and I don't generally find it too daunting because I just tell myself I can run slowly and go forever. Fast running freaks me out and for the most part I feel like I can't do it in contexts that aren't racing. I'm trying to work on that though because I want to be faster and today went a long way towards boosting my confidence in my ability to run fast on just a normal day of the week.

Today's Workout: PM tempo run, 1 mi easy, 4 mi @ half marathon pace (8:10-8:25), some amount of WD
Summary: 5.82 mi, 51:54, 8:55 average pace, 175 spm average
Pace splits by mile: 9:31, 8:22, 8:17, 8:17, 8:19, 11:07
Hit Rate: 3/3 (100%)

The run didn't feel as hard as I was expecting it to. Once I settled in, it took a lot of focus to hold the pace but it didn't really get painful until about 2.5 miles into the run. The last mile hurt but it didn't feel like I had to reach too hard to stay on pace, it was just that it was starting to get to me by then. I really tried to focus on my breathing because Henry had commented that my breathing yesterday was atrocious, and I think it helped today, both with my running and with keeping myself mentally calm so I could stay relaxed through what my body was feeling. Henry biked alongside me while I ran today and really helped keep me positive and keep my confidence up which was super key. I was definitely scared going into this workout and doubtful of my ability to do a training run at this pace and to have him reassure me as I was going really helped get me through enough miles to objectively look at my effort and say to myself, "everything is okay and I can do this". It's crazy that I still doubt myself even though I've done a half marathon at that pace but honestly I just never train at anything close to race pace so playing around with that on a normal day is still a new phenomenon for me.

Between yesterday and today, I'm feeling really good about everything that's coming up with run training. Seeing as I can't really bike or swim or lift for the time being with all the bike crash related injuries, I'll just keep focusing on my running and trying to make the best of this situation. I'm excited to spend a bit of time just working on getting faster and building confidence in my ability to train faster than the moderate pace I like to take all my running at. Happy Saturday! (:

Much love,
Jess

And so it begins again

[Day 127]

I should've written something yesterday but I didn't because it was a day off and I was busy doing other things, like watching the new Captain America movie with Henry lol. Don't judge me, it was awesome. In other news, I took the first interval workout of this block today! Yay! Henry came with and ran most of it with me and pushed me through the tougher moments. Here's the summary:

Today's Workout: Interval run, main set of 6 x 1/2 mi @ 7:30-7:50 pace (yeah, I know that's a wide range but I like to give myself breathing room - goal 10k pace) with 3 minute jogging rests and some amount of warm up/warm down
Summary: 7.83 mi, 1:15:15, 9:36 pace average, 170 spm average (not super informative b/c there was some walking and some stopping for water, etc. etc.)
Interval splits: 3:49.7 (7:39), 3:52.5 (7:45), 3:50.8 (7:42), 3:49.3 (7:39), 3:52.5 (7:45), 3:48.7 (7:37) - In the interest of full disclosure, I did walk a little bit instead of jog for some portion of the rest between rep 5 and 6
Hit Rate: 2/2 (100%)

Notes/thoughts:

• The first two felt so easy and so smooth and so good. And then it all went downhill from there. The last two were brutal, wouldn't have hit the last one if it weren't for Henry running next to me and telling me to stick with it. 
• The speed actually isn't hard to find surprisingly enough, what's hard is holding onto it as I get tired. It's nice to know that I have the pace, I just have to work on accessing it when my brain wants my body to slow down. 
• Running fast is fun. Hard, but fun. It's cool to really feel like I'm moving at some amount of speed, I don't do that very often so when I do it's a really awesome novel feeling. 
• Good start to running shorter and running faster, excited to see where things go from here. (:

Happy Friday folks!

Much love,

Jess

The home stretch

[Day 112]

I've been spending the week trying to keep my life together. Less training hours for sure but also a lot of school work and wedding related tasks has kept me really busy. Not an excuse to not have been here logging, but oh well. Let's get caught up.

4/16 Saturday: Rest day

4/17 Sunday: Open water swim practice with Brian C. in Rolla, MO
Summary: 2696 yards, 1:07:22, some laps of the lake punctuated by sitting around on rocks and chatting. I touched a fish with my hand for the first time. It was in a quarry generally used for scuba diving, which is pretty cool.
Lap paces: 1:38, 1:38, 1:32, 1:34, 1:38, 1:35 for the efforts
Hit Rate: 106/116 (91.3%)

4/18 Monday AM Workout: Spin biking at the gym (b/c my bike is gone...)
Summary: 23.60 mi (hahahahahahahahaha sure spin bike computer...), 1:00:36, 23.4 mph
Hit Rate: 107/117 (91.4%)

4/18 Monday PM Workout: Rec swim, punctuated by lots of conversation w/ Jeremy lol
Summary:

• WU: 600 as 150 swim/50 kick
• Main set: straight through unless indicated
• 4 x 50 free @ :50
• 3 x 200 free @ 2:50
• 100 easy
• (break)
• 4 x 50 free @ :50
• 3 x 150 free @ 2:10
• 50 easy 
• (break)
• 4 x 50 IMO @ :55
• 3 x 100 IM @ 1:40
• (break, that was supposed to be free but I decided I wanted to swim IM so I did)
• 8 x 75 free pull @ 1:15 (no paddles)
• WD: 200 choice easy
• Total Distance: 3500 SCY (~1:10)

Hit Rate: 108/118 (91.5%)

4/19 Tuesday: AM run

Summary: 5.02 mi, 44:09, 8:47 pace, 179 spm

Pace splits by mile: 8:43, 8:51, 8:53, 8:44, 8:45

Hit Rate: 109/119 (91.5%)

4/20 Wednesday: Tri team practice w/ Brian, showed up without a plan, sort of did whatever

Summary:

• WU: 4 x 200 as SKIP
• Main Set:
• 4 x 100 free @ 1:30
• 4 x 50 free kick w/ board @ 1:00
• 5 x 200 free
• 2 @ 3:05
• 2 @ 3:00
• 1 MAX
• WD: 200 easy
• Total Distance: 2600 SCY (~50 mins)

Hit Rate: 110/120 (91.6%)

The general trend the past couple of days has been feeling not super great on the workouts but churning out decent paces given what that felt like. The run on Tuesday felt particularly rough, maybe because I was hungry going into it, and although it wasn't a super quick run, it wasn't a super slow one either so it turned out fine. Same thing with the 200s at practice yesterday, didn't feel great, but for the effort that I was putting in I was really happy with what I was splitting. So...things are going okay I think?

Today is off (travel day!), tomorrow will be whatever on course training and shake out workouts we choose to do as a team, Saturday is race day! Wish me luck!

Much love,

Jess

A double? What?

[Day 106]

Today's AM Workout: Rec swim
Summary:

• WU: 600 as 150 free/50 kick
• Main Set:
• 6 x 50 descend 1-3, 4-6
• 4 x 250 free @ 4:00 as 150 sighting drills/100 fast
• 4 x 200 pull
• 1, 2 - w/ paddles @ 3:00
• 3, 4 - w/o paddles @ 3:20
• WD: 200 easy
• Total Distance: 2900 SCY (~50 mins)

Hit Rate: 104/114 (91.2%)

Today's PM Workout: Easy run w/ Brian

Summary: 4.98 mi, 45:59, 9:14 pace (there was some starting and stopping, Brian's first post-half marathon run, he wasn't feeling too hot in the middle)

Hit Rate: 105/115 (91.3%)

Much love,

Jess

Haven't forgotten how to ride my bike...yet...

[Day 105]

Today's Workout: Moderate ride, laps of Forest Park
Summary: 23.98 mi, 1:29:49, 16.0 mph
Speed splits by 5 mi: 15.7, 16.8, 16.2, 15.8, 15.6
Hit Rate: 103/113 (91.1%)

I've still got some residual back pain/soreness/don't really know what it is but hoping it'll clear up. My IT band is really tight, worse on the right than on the left, really need to stretch tonight is all. Can't wait to race! Sorry for the short posts but life is happening lol. Studying time!

Much love,
Jess

Wings drop game one of the playoffs ):

[Day 104]

Today's Workout: AM easy run
Summary: 7.07 mi, 1:08:43, 9:43 pace, 176 spm
Pace splits by mile: 9:31, 9:47, 9:48, 10:01, 9:32, 9:46, 9:36
Hit rate: 102/112 (91%)

No words tonight, it's late and I need to get to bed. Happy hump day!

Much love,
Jess

Why is 4:25 am so early...

[Day 103]

Today's Workout: AM CSP Practice, mid-distance free day
Summary:

• WU:
• 2 x 300 free @ third person rest
• 4 x 50 free @ :50
• Main Set:
• 4 x 200 free @ 3:15
• 1 - 50 strong, 150 smooth focused on technique
• 2 - 100 strong, 100 smooth focused on technique
• 3 - 150 strong, 50 smooth focused on technique
• 4 - all strong
• 4 x 250 free @ 4:00, 200 smooth focused on technique, broken for 5-10 secs, 50 sprint
• 4 x 100 kick w/ fins @ 1:30-1:40, 25 fly kk on back/50 choice kk/25 swim free
• 8 x 25 free @ :25, FAST breakouts then easy swim
• 200, 150, 100, 50 free MAX @ 60SR
• WD: 100 easy
• Total Distance: 3800 SCY

Hit Rate: 101/111 (90.9%) - Worth noting that I will not be putting any hits on the hit rate from here on out until we're done with Wildflower. We're getting into that taper/rest period and at this point it's really not the plan I care about, what matters is getting the right balance of training and rest (which is like almost impossible to do but I'll try my best). Having the freedom to be flexible and listen to my body will be important so I'm forgoing the structure for the home stretch. 

Updates:

• I literally threw a fit this morning when I had to get up for practice. I have to grow up a bit. But also honestly the work is getting a bit wearing. Pumped to race but also pumped to have some time to decompress in the coming months. 
• Forgot I had my selective this afternoon, had planned to bike during that time but I had to be in class instead so dropped that workout. Then spent a lot of time looking at the schedule for the rest of the week and freaking out about not getting enough outdoors time on the bike. (Just one more outdoor ride left on the schedule officially before we'll likely have to ship our bikes out.) I know it's silly but I'm just worried about things like not being able to clip in during the race or something like that since my shoes have been giving me issues lately. Fingers crossed that won't be something I'll actually have to worry about come race day. Maybe I'll calm down a bit after the next ride I take. Maybe I won't. Who knows.
• I think in general I'm hitting the point of OMG THE RACE IS SO CLOSE I CAN'T DO THIS I'M GOING TO DIE. It's going to be okay. But I'm going to spend A LOT of time freaking out.

Run tomorrow morning, that'll be it for the day. Will hopefully get more schoolwork done than I've managed today because it's been pretty abysmal on that front. Gotta get my act together! Happy Tuesday!

Much love,

Jess

I have the best fiance

[Day 99]

Henry drove me out to practice this morning in a car borrowed from a friend. Friends with cars are wonderful. Having a fiance who is willing to get up at an ungodly hour in the morning to drive me to practice is the best kind of blessing in the universe. He's taking a well deserved nap now lol.

In regards to practice, I really should've worked harder given that someone else gave up many hours of their morning to get me to and from practice. It's hard though without really aggressive pace times to push me and I wanted to keep pace times reasonable for the lane because towards the end of the set people were falling off the pace so it was a weird balance to try to strike. (It was IM day so I was leading.) My knees hurt a little bit, my left knee specifically, from breaststroke so I'm gonna try and keep an eye on that. Here's the set.

Today's AM Workout: CSP Practice, IM day
Summary:

• WU: 
• 500 swim
• 2 x 250 @ 3rd person rest
• 1 - alt. 50 IMO kick/50 free swim
• 2 - alt. 50 IMO drill/50 free swim
• 4 x 100 free pull w/ paddles @ 1:35
• 4 x 75 IM no free @ 1:20, descend 1-4
• Main Set: straight through unless indicated
• 5 x 100 IM @ 1:45
• 4 x 50 IMO @ 1:00
• 4 x 100 free @ 1:35
• 4 x 50 free @ :50
• (break)
• 3 x 100 IM @ 1:40
• 4 x 50 IMO @ 1:00 (pretty sure this was supposed to go down to :55...but we just didn't...)
• 2 x 100 free @ 1:30
• 4 x 50 free @ :50 (again, pretty sure this was supposed to be :45...)
• 1 x 100 IM @ 1:35
• (there was supposed to be 4 x 50 IMO MAX @ 1:00 or 1:10, but we didn't have time)
• WD: 100 easy
• Total Distance: 4100 SCY (4300 SCY as written)

Hit Rate: 97/107 (90.6%)

Originally had a long run with a big tempo effort in the middle scheduled for today, but might be shortening that down because honestly I need to do the rest of life too. It's fine. I'm ready, I don't need the extra distance, I know that. It's just hard when I want to do more but I know that I can't without compromising my schoolwork. We'll see what comes of it. I'll be back. Happy Friday everyone!

Much love,

Jess

Why am I so busy.

[Day 97]

I don't know why my life is so crazy but it is. I skipped a gym workout this morning and got up at 5 am literally just to study and get life errands out of the way. And everything still feels like a disaster. :\ I also moved around some of the workout planning for later in the week so I can squeeze another gym session in and actually take a rest day at some point. We'll see how it all goes. Turns out the whole being a triathlete and going to med school thing is just a huge struggle. Here's the late update from yesterday.

Yesterday's Workout: AM CSP practice, mid-distance free day
Summary:

• WU: 550 swim (600 as written)
• Main Set:
• 5 x 200 free @ 3:15
• 1, 5 = normal
• 2, 4 = broken at the 100 for 10 secs
• 3 = broken every 50 w/ 45 sec send offs
• Straight through:
• 100 free @ 2:00, 90%
• 2 x 50 free @ :55, 95%
• 4 x 25 free @ :30, MAX
• 4 x 150 free @ 2:20
• 1 = normal
• 2 = broken at the 100 for 5 secs
• 3 = broken at the 50 for 5 secs
• 4 = broken each 50 for 5 secs
• 8 x 50 alt. 25 fly/25 kick @ 1:00
• 4 x 75 kick w/ fins, middle 25 is swim with <8 strokes @ 1:10
• Straight through:
• 3 x 100 free MAX @ 2:00
• (extra 15 SR)
• 2 x 50 free MAX @ 1:15
• WD: 4 x 75 swim @ 1:15
• Total Distance: 3850 SCY

Notes: I really didn't want to be there in the morning but am finding out that I'm a lot more fatigue resistant than I used to be. Not fading towards the end of practice means I've been finding myself getting more and more into practice as it goes on, which has been nice. I also definitely said to myself in the locker room before practice "I would give anything to not be here right now" and realized that all I would have to "give" is being slow and promptly changed my mind. I guess that means I'm still motivated to do something lol.

Hit Rate: 95/104 (91.3% - this includes this morning's skipped gym sesh)

Brick on the books for this afternoon. Loooooong day coming. Let's get it. (:

Much love,

Jess

Blogging "every day" amirite?

[Day 95]

Tired right now. Break was great. Too lazy to go into all the details. Here just have the summaries.

Monday's Workout: Gym sesh w/ Henry
Summary:

• Back squats: WU 12 @ 75#, 3 x 8 @ 115#, last set drop set for 12 @ 95#
• Pulldowns: 3 x 12 @ 90#
• Flat bench: 12 @ 55#, 3 x 12/8/6-2 @ 85#
• Trap bar deadlifts: 3 x 8 @ 165# (split 6-2 or 5-3 just sort of depending...) - we just googled it and found out how much the bar weighs, turns out that's why those were sort of rough lol
• Legs superset: 3 x 
• 15 goblet squats @ 45#
• 15 split squats @ 15#/side (DBs)
• 15 reverse lunges @ 15#/side (DBs)
• Dips: 3 x 12 @ 50 lbs of assist
• Seated cable rows: 3 x 12 @ 70#

Hit Rate: 87/95 (91.5%)

Tuesday's Workout: Run

Summary: 8.66 mi, 1:23:24, 9:37 pace, 171 spm average

Pace splits by mile: 9:11, 9:31, 9:43, 9:43, 9:47, 9:38, 9:42, 10:13, 8:57

Things worth noting: I had really bad period cramps that started about a mile in, I ended up stopping at 1.5 mi and thinking that I would just have to walk home and call it a day, but the cramps faded and I ended up deciding that I should try and get through it anyways and if I had to, I would just walk when the cramps acted up. They didn't come back, so I got the rest of my workout in nice and smooth. Was glad I decided to stick it out. (:

Hit Rate: 88/96 (91.6%)

Wednesday's Workout: Indoor brick at the hotel gym

Summary: (continuous)

• 20 mins biking as 10 mins @ 6-8 warm up, 5 mins @ 9, 5 mins @ 10, all at 95 rpm
• 10 mins running @ 2% incline, 6.2-6.4 mph speed
• 20 mins biking as 5 mins @ 10, 5 mins @ 11, 5 mins @ 12, 5 mins @ 11
• 10 mins running @ 2% incline, 6.5 mph speed
• Summed totals:
• Biking: 11.50 mi, 40:06
• Running: 2.19 mi, 20:42

Things worth noting: So sore from the gym sesh...but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Hit Rate: 89/97 (91.7%)

Thursday's Workout: Stadiums at Princeton w/ Henry

Summary: 2 rounds of stadiums with rest between rounds, lower level only, alternating singles/doubles by staircase

Hit Rate: 90/98 (91.8%)

Friday's Workout: Indoor biking at the hotel gym

Summary: 17.68 mi, 1:01:03

• All at 90-95+ rpm
• WU: 10 mins @ 6-8
• Main Set: 9 x 5 mins @ 9/10/11/12/13/12/11/11/10
• WD: 5 mins working down from 10 to 6

Things worth noting: Henry had to kick me out of bed so I would do this. I really didn't wanna do it, but I'm glad I did. Stadiums were really bad to my ankles so I stuck with non-impact work.

Hit Rate: 91/99 (91.9%)

Saturday's Workout: Gym sesh w/ Henry, upper body only

Summary:

• Flat bench: WU 12 @ 55#, 3 x 12/8/8 @ 85#
• Pulldowns: 4 x 12/12/12/10-2 @ 90#
• Incline bench: 3 x 12 @ 65#
• Single arm DB rows: 3 x 12 @ 40#
• Shoulder press: 3 x 8-12 @ 25#-15#
• Bicep curls: 3 x 12 @ 20#
• Dips: 3 x 12/12/10 @ 40# of assist
• Superset: 3 x
• 12 lateral raises @ 12.5#
• 12 front plate raises @ 25#
• Leaning lateral raises, one set of 12/side @ 7.5#
• Skull crushers: 3 x 12/12/6-4 @ 15#/15#/15#-10#
• Machine flyes and reverse flyes: 3 sets of each, 12 reps, the weight was whatever Henry set the machine to (I think I did the same for normal and reverse flyes, which I guess says something ridiculous about my front/back strength ratios), alternating exercises

Hit Rate: 92/100 (92%)

Sunday: Rest day! Ah glorious rest days.

Today's AM Workout: Base run, 5 mi

Summary: 5.04 mi, 46:20, 9:12 pace, 175 spm

Pace splits by mile: 9:09, 9:18, 9:18, 9:09, 9:06

Notes: Felt sluggish, but got through it. Probs b/c I hadn't run fasted in a while and last week is catching up to me fatigue wise, but it's fine. I'm happy with this for a normal run of the mill run.

Hit Rate: 93/101 (92%)

Today's PM Workout: Outdoor ride w/ Hoang (who puuuuuushed me, it was awesome)

Summary: 28.87 mi, 1:43:33, 16.7 mph

Speed splits by mile: 16.2, 16.9, 16.3, 20.9, 16.5, 14.2

Notes: New 40k PR today, 1:25:44, kinda cool.

Hit Rate: 94/102 (92.1%)

Yayyyyyy. Swim tomorrow. Sleep now.

Much love,

Jess