Week 6: school starts, I got no smarts

(Monday, 1 October)
Exciting day today. First day of school, first day of weightlifting. Pretty pumped about all the strength I could gain from doing an hour in the weight room a few times a week, but also a little wary that I don't get too tired/hurt myself/have bad workouts from not recovering. Dow seemed positive that it could help me out, especially the core stuff and lats and tris.

PM: tu Madre, relatively fast, legs a little tired. The memorable part about this run was that, unbeknownst to me, a few miles in Perrin had some sort of an allergic reaction, and had to get picked up by security! However, the health center was closed, so she and Sairyann got taken by security all the way to the hospital, where they pumped her full of benadryl and stuff. Scary! Shit. At least the gang handled it really well, so I know that if that ever happens to me I'm in good hands! She seems to be okay, thankfully. But scary.

(Tuesday, 2 October)
AM workout today. New Susan-invented workout. Here's how it works: break into teams of 3. you do 2 on 1 off laps of the NF staggered such that person 1 does 1 lap (10-15 seconds slower than race pace), after person 1's first lap they're joined by person 2. After that lap, person 1 is done and person 2 is joined by person 3. After that, person 2 is done and person 3 is then joined by person 1 again, and so on. So you never have to run alone.

Splits were: 1.57/2.02, 1.54/2.03, 1.53/1.59, 1.53/1.59, 1.54/1.55, rest then 1.51 single.
So we did 5 rotations of this. (5x ~4 minutes on). I ran with Stephanie and Susan (who ran together as one person) and Justine. The problem for me was that S&S ran faster than I was comfortable (note faster first splits) and Justine would kinda sit on my tail unless I was aggressively prodding her not to. However, it might not have been as bad as it looks, because S&S tended to run a much shorter course (cutting corners, etc) than I did when I was leading Justine.

Verdict: it felt really tough, but then again, so is racing.

(Wednesday, 3 October)
AM: 1 mile barefoot before weightlifting. That bench press bar is going DOWN, BETCH! Crunches on big green ball, leg lifts, dips, leg press, shoulder press, lats pull down, tri curl, military and incline bench.

PM: Quickie run around Orlando/Lombardy/the block trying to get some minutes in before I ran off to Hollywood to see Dave and go to the Arclight. Glad to take it easy this afternoon, because I want to feel fresh again after being tired and stressed this week.

(Thursday, 4 October)
AM practice with the ladies. Intervals at Lacy: 3 x light post to bottom of stairs via outside hill (4.21, 4.14, 4.10) about 1k; then the outer loop (so 1k flat) in 3.58, then a shorter ~800m loop in 3.23.

The hills were tough, and I definitely didn't realize I was running them negative splitting (they definitely were feeling slower as I got tireder). I felt much better on the flat stuff. Legs not feeling nearly as tired as they did yesterday.

(Friday, 5 October)
Weights and a little barefoot running in the AM with I. Right knee a little funny.

PM run called "antiflat" by Susan, but seemed pretty flat to me. Maybe this was the original flat run. Marengo, Glenarm, Hillcrest, Orlando, Sierra Bonita, Lombardy. About 5.5. Nice and relaxed, and very pleasant because Diana joined us. She seems like she's doing well, but really what should happen is she should come back to Tech and use up the rest of her eligibility. Legs liking the easy day.

(Saturday, 6 October)
Arroyo tempo run, 2.5 laps with the goal being 2 at slightly slower than race pace (uncomfortable but maintainable) and then the half at as fast as possible. 22.00 @ 5k, 28.00 total for 2.5 laps (the .5 must be slightly longer than 1k though - Gmaps says 1.4, so that's 6.53 pace for the last half lap.) So, about 7 minute pace throughout. Felt uncomfortable but in control, kept thinking Susan and Perrin were going to get away, but I held on. HR 204 at the end, which felt hard but not like I was about to die or anything.

I think mentally this is the best kind of workout for me - practicing not falling off when it gets tough. Bagels afterwards, which was really pleasant. Then I went skeet shooting with Will and Ruby, which I'm terrible at. But loads of fun regardless.

(Sunday, 7 October)
Off, rode the tandem around a bit. Nice day - hung with Dave, sat on the squirt.