Three weeks in, and I’m still standing! While I still have a long way to go, the cobwebs are (sort of) shaking themselves out, and I’m working harder on getting the mind-leg connection going. This week’s focus? No more sandbags for legs when running 400s at CrossFit. Do my best to get comfortable opening my stride up a little more, and hopefully some speed will come with it.

Day 15 – Sunday 4/23/17

RW Plan: 6mi LSD | Actual Workout: 4.5mi mix of steady-state & intervals

I went 6.5mi the day before, thinking I’d be wiped out, a teeny bit hungover and in need of a rest day on Sunday. After 4 straight days of exercise that culminated in Saturday’s long run and a long night scooting around helping run a charity event that evening, let’s just say I felt like less than a million bucks when I woke up Sunday.

However, it was B-E-A-UTIFUL out. I couldn’t stay away from the solar Vitamin D.

In stark contrast to Saturday’s rainy run, the weather was just too nice to admit I spent all day indoors doing laundry & blog stuff. So, I laced up my shoes, filled my water bottle and said, just get outside even if it’s only 2-3mi. So I went outside, and then an unintentional slog turned into a not-half-bad session of steady running and some telephone pole intervals – Jog 2 Sprint 1 Walk 1.

Day 16 – Monday 4/24/17

RW Plan: Rest/Cross-train | Actual: CrossFit

Shoulder Press (Calculate percentages using 90% 1RM)
5 Reps at 75% – 65
3 Reps at 85% – 65
1+ Reps at 95% – 4 @ 75lbs
I suck at math. Whatever. This was hard.

WOD
5 Rounds For Time:
400m Run
10 Strict Presses (65lbs)
20 Hang Power Cleans (65lbs)
Result: 22:09 / Comment in WODify: I am molasses in human form

That WOD felt like absolute crap. I couldn’t run 400m at a decent pace to save my life. After 11 miles run between Saturday and Sunday, I had nothing in the tank before going into this workout, and was absolutely spent.

Monday night, it took a concerted effort to bring fork to mouth to eat dinner. Now THAT is tired.

Day 17 – Tuesday 4/25/17

RW Plan: 2mi easy | Actual: Rest Day

HOLY BANANAS, BATMAN. There’s taking a rest day because you think you’ve earned it, then there’s taking a rest because you unquestionably need it. Tuesday was a rest day of necessity, and with my first tempo run of my training looming the next day, there was no way I could go into it as a 7th day in a row of working out and expect it to go well.

Day 18 – Wednesday 4/26/17

RW Plan: 5mi – 3mi at HMP (Half marathon pace) | Actual: Joanna’s Plan! 5mi = 2 slow + 2 HMP + 1 slow

Side note: Wait, what? Who’s Joanna? In her words, she’s my “internet ghost coach” 🙂

I’ve been very fortunate in the lifetime of this blog to encounter very few cranky, negative women in my comments section. The vast majority of you are nothing but positive, supportive, and helpful to me and your fellow commenters when offering insight on sales you’ve seen, products you’ve purchased and situations experienced.

Upon reading my Seawheeze ramblings, Joanna, an experienced endurance athlete and certified coach, reached out and made a very generous offer to help me figure out what/how/when to do everything to get myself ready for this year’s race.

The first 2 weeks, I followed the RW plan, stubbornly continued with CrossFit and managed to bring myself to the brink of burnout. At that rate, left to my own devices, I probably would have ended up dispirited and injured by June.

Today was my first run as prescribed by Joanna, and it was also my first tempo run. I spent all day scared out of my mind. While doing a 9min mile doesn’t sound all that scary to most runners, It’s been 5 years and 20lbs since I’ve been able to knock off a 5K at an 8-something pace.

This may be the first time I’ve been THANKFUL for the opportunity to run 5mi on a treadmill. I am struggling to find my groove in the low-HR zone, but was happy to be able to set it and forget it at 6.6mph. I stared at a poster all the way across the gym and did my best to keep up and look ahead the entire time.

On a scale from 1-OMFG NEVER AGAIN, I’d give this one a 7. It was a mental challenge more than anything. I did it, I anticipate I’ll have to do it many more times, and I did my best not to let the treadmill run me. However, I will not go on record and say that run was easy, because it wasn’t.

Day 19 – Thursday 4/27/17

RW Plan: Rest/Cross-train | Actual: CrossFit

WOD
CrossFit Open WOD 12.2
10 Minute A.M.R.A.P.
30 Snatches at 75/45
30 Snatches at 135/95
30 Snatches at 165/100
AMRAP Snatches at 210/120
Result: 30/45lbs + 30/75lbs + 7/100lbs

*Rest 5 Minutes then…*

Post-WOD Strength
EMOM x 5 minutes
10 Rep Deadlifts at 50-65% of your current 1 Rep Max
Result: 125lbs – calculating of an estimated 250 1RM

YAY, finally a day at CrossFit where I didn’t feel like a slow, weak and useless piece of nothing! I believe the last 2x I’ve done this WOD were when I wasn’t even able to snatch a 100lb bar. I’d always get to the hundo with *some* time left in the 10min, but not much.

Today, I finished the first 2 rounds somewhere in between 6-6:30, and managed to snatch that 100lb bar under fatigue 7x. I only had one missed rep. That WOD was the confidence booster I was in desperate need of.

Afterward, who knew that a 125lb deadlift would be so spicy? Well, call that EMOM jalapeño because it WAS.

Day 20 – Friday 4/28/17

RW Plan: 2mi easy | Actual: CrossFit

WOD
Teams of 2, 1 Works : 1 Rest
45min Time Cap
150 Hand Stand Push Ups
2 Mile (broken into 400s/1 Mile Each)
300 Air Squats
4000 M Row (break into 250s/2k each)
500 Push Ups
(*break up gymnastic and metabolic work evenly to accomplish the reps*)

(It rhymes with) DUCK. THAT. WOD. Really, the obnoxious amount of HSPU. The 400’s were a nice piece of speed work for my run training, the squats were what they were, and while the 1ish minute sprints on the rower were enough for pain face, they were still doable. The excessive amount of HSPU are the reason that I’m still salty about this WOD 18 hours later.

At 45min, Jen and I were through 2250-2500ish meters on the rower. Some groups opted to keep going, and the fastest pair of people all day took over an hour to finish. Long story short, while I love our coaches, I’m not a fan of how unrealistic Friday’s programming was. There was even a strength piece originally written to do *before* starting the partner sh!tshow, which over the course of the day was moved to after the WOD, and marked as voluntary.

After resting a bit after hitting 45min, I hopped in with my friend Nichole who was on a mission to finish, so Jen & I took turns repping in with the pushups to get her to 250. I ended up doing something like 175 from my knees. Ugh.

Day 21 – Saturday 4/29/17

RW Plan: Rest/Cross-train | Actual: Joanna Plan! 6mi, best effort for HR not to exceed 145 bpm.

As predicted, that was annoyingly slow. It’s an odd feeling to be working out and try to figure out how to exert less effort, as opposed to more. For my entire life, it’s been faster, harder… and now, the opposite. With all those stupid hills I had to deal with, I was lucky I managed to keep my HR 1 beat above where it was supposed to be as a final average.

After seeing my run’s elevation stats, Joanna officially gave me the green light to throw 145 out the window a go a bit faster on my long runs. YAS!

This Week’s Mileage: 17.75 miles // #SeaKatyWheeze Cumulative Total: 42.25 miles