Hello Taper!: 9/11-17 Weekly Wrap

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

I love me some taper. Seriously. I am so ready for mine. Y’all, I started training for halfs in March of 2016 with almost no breaks at all since then. So many do more, but that’s a lot for me!

I’m joining up with the Weekly Wrap from Holly @ Hohoruns and Tricia @ Misssipppiddlin and sharing how my last peak week of training went down. Share along with us — we want to know how you’re doing!

WeeklyWrap

Workouts update

  • Monday: 5 miles easy, PB Arms, Dogwalk
  • Tuesday: Dogwalk, 5 miles (4 x 800s), Pilates
  • Wednesday: Dogwalk, PB HIIT, Swim 25 minutes
  • Thursday:  YFR Hamstrings, Dogwalk, 6 miles easy
  • Friday: Dogwalk, PB Core
  • Saturday: YFPR Knees, Hips & Digestion, 12 mile LSD
  • Sunday: Dogwalk

Mileage: 28 (+3 )

JY = Jasyoga
TM = Treadmill
YFR = Yoga for Runners*
WU = warmup
CD = cooldown
SB = Stationary Bike
YFPR = Yoga for Pain Relief
YTU = Yoga Tune Up Lower Body*

*Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links; I will make a small amount of money if you buy through these links

Running updates 

Loved the Wool Tee for a cooler day — too bad the heat came back!

Monday

Being 9/11, you’d think that would be on my mind for this run. Oddly enough, no, although of course it was on my mind on & off throughout the day.

I decided to do a grocery store run, so I took Bandit out with me the first 1.5 miles, dropped him off at home, tried to get Lola to do her business but no go, and then ran out & ended at the grocery store (I have an insulated backpack to carry home the groceries).

Nothing remarkable about this run except for its slowness. I am almost in taper town, so I am not pushing things (except for speed work). It was another beautiful day to run, too, and I enjoyed the run, it was just slow.

I did wear the Skirtsports Wonder Wool Tee for the first time. Love it! Normally I’d bring something to change into because I’ll get chilled walking home in my sweaty running clothes. You couldn’t even tell I’d sweated (except for the under arms). And it is actually way more flattering than it appears on the Website.

The heron’s made his home

Tuesday

Same workout as last week: 1 mile warmup; 4 x 800m fast with 400m recovery; 1 mile cooldown. I told Rachel @ Runningonhappy last week that I needed to adjust the paces. They just weren’t happening.

I went back to the same park I used for this run last week. It’s not as flat as the path I usually do speed work on, but heck, my race won’t be flat either (although net downhill). I kept the pace deliberately slower on the first repeat — I thought maybe I’d just gone out too hard the previous week. Except it ended up way slower than it ought to have been.

Never one to give up easily, the next three repeats just squeaked into the newly adjusted pace range and were, in fact, the exact same pace. And while my cool down mile was slow, it wasn’t as bad as the previous week; this run was still really hard for me, but it also didn’t suck the life out of me as much as the previous week. And it was a minute faster — I’ll take it!

Bandit enjoying the cool down

Thursday

I checked both weather apps and the radar today because yes, rain was in the forecast. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and it was hot and humid; been a while since I ran in that.

I’m keeping with the keep it easy (except the speedwork) theme. I didn’t sleep well the night before, I didn’t hydrate as well as usual, and I kept falling asleep while watching some tv after lunch.

So I just ran. The first mile was super slow — which kind of annoyed me — until I realized that I had to stop because I still had it on lap key instead of autolap and alerts for each quarter mile — left over from Tuesday’s speedwork — so I stopped and adjusted that and I think that accounted for the slowness.

The rest of the run was also on the slow side, but reasonable. I just wanted it done. I was tired and felt sluggish. Then I picked up Bandit for the last mile.

Yes, Fall’s here, even if it feels like summer now!

Saturday

This last really long run was another confidence booster, but in a different way from last week’s. It was much warmer and more humid than last week. Runners were complaining about the humidity up and down the east coast.

The run started out great. I had an average pace in mind, and while the first mile was slow, the rest all feel within that pace — all over the place, but actually a bit faster than that fast.

Until mile 9, that is. When I lost the cloud cover. This would be around 10 am or so (yes, I got out there a bit later than I’d planned on). I’ll admit it — I just couldn’t pull myself out of a negative funk. Not that “I’ll never run the race I want” place, but simply “I can no longer move my legs fast” place. I tried, but heat and humidity has a way of sucking the positive out of me.

The last couple of miles were very slow and a huge struggle, but you know what? In the end my average pace was the pace I had in mind to run this run! Glacially slow for most of my readers, but it’s actually speedy for me — not as speedy as last week, but that’s okay.

There’s hope for this race!

Favorites of the week
The weather was wacky again. I got to try out the Wonder Wool Tee from Skirtsports on Monday (love it!) and by yesterday’s long run I was back in a skirt and tank. Code BDAY13 gets you $20 off your order through tomorrow, 9/18.

Not a favorite? Hitting my foot on the sharp edge of our wooden platform bed last weekend. You should’ve seen the goose egg and bruise. While it hurt like a mother when I did it, thankfully it didn’t hurt to walk on and didn’t effect running.

And then there were the gnats on my long run. Holly @ Hohoruns had talked about being covered with them when she got through with a run — which had never happened to me — until yesterday. It was disgusting!

And can we talk about the fact that my knee was tight after swimming this week? There was no question about taping for my long run and I’m happy to report it wasn’t an issue (and I already have a massage and chiropractor appointment booked before that happened — long overdue anyway).

Today I’m relaxing, recovering, and spending the night with my parents because a couple of my West Coast cousins are in town on Monday.

And that’s a wrap 

link-up-badge

This week I am also linking up with the Sunday Fitness & Food Linkup brought to you by Ilka @ Ilka’s Blog and Angela @ Marathons & Motivation.

Let’s get the conversation started:

Do the gnats stick to you?

Have your leaves begun to change (if they do in fall)? 

Sad to see summer go or happy for Fall? 

31 thoughts on “Hello Taper!: 9/11-17 Weekly Wrap”

  1. That’s a holottamiles. Yes, it was like summer this week. My body had a hard time adjusting.

    That top looks nice but I don’t buy tops (except tanks) since I get so many from races (and I like to wear them if they fit.)

    I tapered by running a half marathon. My bad!

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    1. The humid long run wasn’t actually that terrible. Just the last few miles.

      Today was still hot but far less humid and of course 5 miles vs 12, LOL! And almost no gnats — on the same path! Go figure. Maybe I killed them all the previous sat!

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    1. I don’t use dryer sheets. The visit was definitely tiring & a whirlwind, but it’s been a long time since I’d seen them, so it was nice to briefly catch up. And it was extremely nice of them to go out of their way to visit my parents.

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    1. I enjoy the taper — if only I didn’t have all these appointments the next couple of weeks! But really, I only have myself to blame, I’ve been putting a couple of them off and now I can’t any longer.

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  9. I haven’t come across any gnats in Colorado, but there were some in Texas. I wear sunglasses, no matter if the sun is out, because I’ve had gnats fly into my eyes. I wore my sunglasses during my entire run on Saturday, with so much cloud cover.

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  10. I’ve been lucky this summer to have very limited contact with gnats, but OMG are they awful!! Great job with your runs this past week. The humidity came creeping back and made us all miserable. My 12 mile run was a real challenge and I felt like I wasn’t even moving at points, plus breathing was tough b/c the air was so thick.

    I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

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  11. Ouch on your foot! Glad it wasn’t serious. Doesn’t it make you wonder how many gnats we inhale if they are stuck all over us!?!? We see a lot of herons on the lake. They have a very distinct sound. Enjoy your taper time and good luck with the race. Thanks for linking!

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  12. The gnats are so very bad here too and if they’re not sticking to me while running, they’re eating me up when I linger outside for more than a couple of minutes! Yes, to say that I’m ready for fall is an understatement! I’m so over this heat and humidity. Good luck with your upcoming race Judy ..sounds like a fun one!

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  13. Yay for taper!
    It is always so hard to find the right paces for speedwork. I often go out harder than what I can sustain, so I tried to switch to building up the pace so I can hit and try to hold but I have a time trying to do it that way too lol
    Consistency is good 🙂
    It was so bad with the humidity here too on the weekend.
    I constantly swallow gnats…it is gross lol
    Rest up, you are ready to run your race! I hope you get good weather.

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    1. Speed work is just hard for this turtle but I think I finally nailed it this week — which is my last week with speed work, LOL!

      Thanks Karen. I’m trying to rest today, got a busy weekend on tap and a busy week next week too.

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