Race Weekend is Upon Us! + Track Me!

You can track me using this link (find my name – Kelly Atwell): https://rtrt.me/ulink/RRSA/RRS-DALLAS-2021/tracker/RBRE5GLH/focus

I love races with real time tracking! There’s many cool things about tracking race participants, notably finding out if they finished, but also being able to receive real time stats (that’s my favorite!). And who doesn’t love a good stalker app. It’s literally permission to stalk someone. So weird.

So I don’t have a “real” post for today – this might be the only time I’ve ever said that. I’m really excited to race and then take an extended, forced break. More on that later. On Sunday afternoon’s drive home, I’ll re-cap the race, load photos, and give you all the ins/outs of racing the BMW Dallas Half Marathon for Monday’s post. I’ve tried to take it easy this week – doubling down on low stress, stretching religiously, eating well, and sleeping more to ensure I can meet my goal.

It may not be much to anyone else, but to me this goal is doable and a long time coming. I’ve really put my body to the test during this cycle – never before have I been so cognizant of tempo runs, cadence workouts, strides, and progression runs. Some of those have become dirty words in my vocabulary!

Wish me luck!

___________________

I ask you –

What are you currently training for?

How often do you use tempo and progression runs in your training?

Give me some words to use when it gets hard!

Wk 14, HM Training

Officially on the next-to-last week! My goals are to survive two full days of training mid-week, begin a successful taper, and end the week with a long conference.

Garmin says Monday’s 4 miles is just maintaining, so whatever. I think it was a solid effort!

Since the two days of training got cancelled, I went back outside for a tempo run on Tuesday. At first, I was disappointed because I only ran 2 miles, but then I realized it wasn’t so much about the miles…it was about the pace (avg 9:15-9:35). Duh, tempo run.

Did some cadence work on Thursday, then my final long run Friday! I had to shorten it by 30 mins due to lunch time constraints vs after work when I usually complete my long run. 5.84 miles with some tempo training toward the end. It was incredibly hot out.

Still stalking next weekend’s forecast. Hoping for mid-30s on the overnight! Trust me, I’ve never said that before.

Race Ideas

Brainstorming future race ideas led me to this one: the inaugural Rock n Roll Atlantic City event!

I’ve only ever seen New Jersey as I raced through it on the way to Connecticut, though I do vaguely remember vast toll areas. Perhaps that was a different state, like Oklahoma. Nonetheless, I’d like to enjoy a proper visit and run a little race!

I’m also very interested in the Blue Bell runs in Brenham, TX. Held annually in April, the finish line party includes Blue Bell ice cream, which is my most favorite ice cream of all time. Pecan Pralines ‘n Cream anyone? I want to explore more 10k distances so why not start there?!

I’m about over this training plan stuff. 15-16 week plans are just too long for me. Week 8 is about my cutoff. Maybe 10 if I’m feeling generous. Never before have I ever given a moment’s thought to running a virtual half marathon just so I can say I did the run and be done with it. A few weeks back – I hit that point. And I know that particular week was kind of a struggle, but I don’t feel like my fitness has increased much since. If I didn’t know that Morgan from Oregon was traversing the plains to attend, I probably would have called it quits awhile back. Alas, she has been training so I’m self-motivating to make it to the start line. My Garmin goal meter says it’s very confident I will reach it. My internal doubter has serious reservations. All I can do is run the race laid out before me knowing I’ve put in work to the best of my abilities.

Now, with all that said, I just want it to be over. Thankfully start line emotions are a very real phenomenon and 10 mins after I’m done I’ll be kissing strangers and hugging babies. Jokes, lots of jokes. To keep myself on track I’ve been brainstorming things I want to do post-race. For example…

Short Term –

Take a long nap

Eat copious amounts of Mexican food, specifically tortilla chips

Lay on the ground contemplating my life choices

Call everyone I know with the great news I have a shiny new PR

Long Term –

January run streak?

Train for a March/April half marathon

Train for a March/April 10k unrelated to the above half marathon

Resume keto

Survive the winter months

Fantasize about vacation

Surely I’m missing many additions to my listing endeavors. I’ll keep thinking and update you all soon.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving – filled with turkey and ham and as many rolls as you can stuff in your mouth at one time. And pie!!!

___________

I ask you –

Anyone have an upcoming race or race potential near northern Texas?

How often do you make lists?

Please share some thing(s) on your short/long term list!

Random Thoughts

-My calves are sore. -I would like to do at least 15 min of foam rolling everyday. Wasn’t I supposed to do yoga 3-5 times a week? -LOL @ me in avitar form -Well damn, I guess someone told Airbnb that Turin, Italy will be the host city for Eurovision 2022. Left: prices the week […]
Random Thoughts Thursday

Borrowing the above from my good friend (he’s my friend even if he doesn’t know it) Run There, Drink That .

I now have a reminder in my phone to “Write Something” every single day this month. So far, it’s working well. There’s this neat gadget that schedules events in your calendar based on preferences and how often you tell it to shut up because you’re too busy. Unfortunately, no extra points for completing it early. Thanks, Google.

I’m doing all the right things:

Carbs
Hydration
Rest
Vegetables

So why won’t my legs turn over? Could it be the quality of workouts, i.e. I don’t respond well to speed and progression runs, etc? The only reason I mention this possibility is because I designed my own race plans the past 3 years and met (exceeded) my goals. Am I just not meant to run fast? Was the 2:18 the best I’ll ever run? I refuse to concede! I’m going to get this figured out.

Never fails – on the weekends I wake up early (hello, internal alarm clock), excited to have a few uninterrupted hours to work on the blog, but I’m thwarted by the update screen. It’s my own fault. I don’t think about this requirement until Friday night; by then, I’m tired and just go to bed, always telling myself ‘don’t worry, Kel, it won’t take long tomorrow’. Then here I am. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. You really need to learn.

___________________

I ask you –

Are you following Run There, Drink That? You should be, he’s hilarious!

Do you have a “Remind Me Because I’m Forgetful” feature on your phone? Bonus points if you use it daily!

Tell me about your regular sleep patterns!

Wk 8, HM Training

It started off rough and that’s putting it mildly. From getting out of bed approximately 5 mins before my butt should be at work (like, in seat at work)….I’m just reminding myself my standards and work ethic are much more strenuous than anyone else’s expectations of me.

forced smile pre-run

So of course I still had that frantic mindset when it was time for Monday’s run. Nonetheless, I managed to keep it within the guidelines. It just wasn’t pretty and I wasn’t feeling it.

Then Tuesday came around and kicked me some more. Once again, my watch died in the night, but at least I awoke earlier than the day before. (Garmin was really failing me at this time.) In my positive, uplifting way, I never thought it would do it again so of course I didn’t set a secondary alarm. Anyway, after a chat with Garmin, some sort of sync issue was identified as the culprit. Fast forward to mid-day and a prescribed 63 min workout of speed intervals. I thought I did really well. Garmin said otherwise. As if it had some room to tell me I was being unproductive when it hadn’t done its job two nights in a row.

To throw water on a proverbial inferno, Strava happily informed me I ran over 6.5 miles during the workout with an avg pace of 5something. Right. Like that’s ever happened. Upon calibration, it was more like maybe 4 miles at a not-too-shabby 8-or so pace. Unproductive, my foot.

Just pretend there’s a photo here because, by this time, I was livid.

Thursday rolled around, but at least my watch was working properly at this point. I thought I was doing well with fueling, but I missed the mark that day. I ate breakfast, then got busy during the time I would normally eat pre-run. Note to self: 4 hours between food and running is way too long. I slugged along, my legs hurt, and I couldn’t find a decent rhythm. Couple it with PMS = recipe for disaster.

In an effort to right the whole week’s wrongs and turn everything for good, I meticulously planned to complete my long run Friday night! Yes. Night run!

A little over 3 miles for my “long run”. It was a progression run, and although I feel like I did a great job, I don’t think it was exactly what the plan intended. Coupled with the fact my watch kind of gave up on me and wouldn’t register anything lower than a 10:34 pace, I’m just happy it’s done.

And I finally got a ‘you’re being productive’ message. Today I slept in and drank copious amounts of coffee. More than halfway through the training cycle now. Week 9 will be here soon!

Wk 7, HM Training

Fall is finally here! I’ve only been complaining about the heat for maybe 7 months. Holiday run with two bike riders. One of them crashed. You decide which.

Post-run smoothie happened again. Mini and I added half of a banana, a whole peach, vanilla yogurt, and some leftover iced chai tea latte. I thought it was good; she disagreed.

When in Rome, you know the rest. I have tons of hot/cold options at home, so I was forced to improvise when I decided to do what I kind of knew needed to be done…at work. Soda cans happen to be the perfect size and shape for “icing” my hamstrings/ACL/MCL in the office. Then I resurrected my lonely heating pad when I got home. Yeah, I know; I’ll make a doctor’s appointment soon.

9.80 miles in 1:45:00 for my long run which puts me right on track to hit my half marathon goal. The cold temperature was my absolute best friend! Surprisingly, I kept my jacket on the entire time…really I’d expected to warm up faster and toss it. Legs were a little numb at first, but it felt good on that hamstring issue I’m having.

Update: I did make a doctor’s appointment.

Next week is another week for good things!

Observations

I get a small, evil thrill out of watching drivers run a red light or pass me then catching them at the next light or stop sign. You dumdum.

my nice face

Radio story: a man was reported missing 12 hours after he was last seen getting drunk in a bar and walking into the woods. Several hours into a search party looking for him, he notices people walking around the woods and decides to help search. He doesn’t realize they’re looking for him until they began to call his name. Then he says “It’s me!” More time passes before someone in the search party can accurately identify him.

Moral of the story: if something terrible happens to me, please include several people in each search party who can identify me before I’ve spent hours searching for myself! P.S. this happened in Sweden or Denmark or somewhere nowhere near me.

Texas is still very confused about its climate. Typical. We went from solid upper 80 daytime temps to low 50 nighttime temps. Beautiful! AND THEN… someone opened up the sun to full blast again and we nearly had a new record 100° day. At the time of this writing, I don’t know if we broke a record or not. Nonetheless, it was so hot and miserable and I was dreaming of cooler days.

Impatiently waiting. Still.

_______________________

I ask you –

What’s your evil thrill point?

Have you ever been missing?

Humor me: tell me the average daytime highs where you are right now!

Wk 5, HM Training

Remember that summer I ate a sandwich every day for months? Welcome to Fall 2021.

Think I’m figuring out the proper fueling techniques. I haven’t been taking anything mid-run (of course the longest until this week was only 70 mins). Afternoon pre-run, I do well with a banana and peanut butter. AM pre-run, I’ve been on an overnight oats kick…mixed with a little homemade peach jam… delicious!!

Not sure why Garmin just now has me doing strides, but I guess wk 5 is as good as any. Ideal cadence was 150-200 spm. Seeing as how I don’t typically train this way, I think I did well! (This was also day 3 of consecutive runs due to scheduling conflicts.)

Long run of the week (Friday): a little over 8 miles felt great! Post-run smoothie made an appearance again. This time I used strawberry yogurt, a whole peach, ice, and orange juice as the liquid base. HOLY CRAP! It was delicious!

Usually long runs are on a weekend due to time constraints, but because of my own time constraints, I ran on Friday instead…which meant I ran, I showered, I fueled, I stretched, and then ran (not literally) to have lunch with my mini.

Of course she requested McDonalds for lunch. Not ideal fueling, but we – my legs and I – survived. The new week will be here soon!

Wk 4, HM Training

Figured out how to calibrate my watch, whoohoo!

*You are worth taking the time to take care of yourself and do the things that make you feel alive. It isn’t selfish. We can’t help others if we aren’t taking care of ourselves too.

*Running outside in the shade in the upper 60’s is the best life for me!

*But what’s better than the 60’s? THE 50’s! Celebrated with a post-run smoothie after my final run of the week. Gorgeous Saturday morning, caught the sunrise and a fabulously cool head wind. Still got some work to do, but it’s getting there.

*Peach Banana Smoothie:

1 very ripe peach, cut into quarters, seed removed
1 ripe banana, peel removed
1 small container whatever flavor yogurt – I like to use low or no sugar
Some ice
1 shot of milk
Some water, to your desired consistency
- Whirl above ingredients in a blender until smooth (makes at least 2 smoothies)

*Today’s running friends – every duck in the state of Texas!

Hope you all have an incredible weekend!

Wk 3, HM Training

Outside run early in the week = small mistake 🥵