You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[col1]

The Princess Diaries, part 4: Reflections
In which I have numbers

You guys. I think I might be kind of fast now?

I know; I can hear you rolling your eyes from here! But being fast has never been part of my self-conception. I always just sort of thought of myself as an okay runner. And I really still am if you look at elite performances - I have not run even one mile at 5:20 pace, let alone 26.2 in a row. But if you asked me any time before last week if a 1:33 half was fast for a regular person, I would have said yeah, that's pretty fast. So I guess that means I must be pretty fast for a regular person.

I also do not have an exact definition for a breakthrough performance, but I think official PRs in the 5K, 10K, and HM, plus unofficial PRs in every distance from 2 miles on, plus four sub-7 miles when I had never run one in a race before, probably qualifies.

• 5K: 21:49 official (10-15K), 21:37 unofficial (previously 21:56)
• 10K: 43:54 official (5-15K), 43:25 unofficial (previously 45:50)
• HM: 1:33:11 official, 1:32:36 unofficial for 13.1 miles (previously 1:43:11 in the second half of the MCM)

If I step back, it actually gets weirder: a year ago I raced the Princess 10K and finished with an average pace of 7:23. This year, I raced more than twice as far and my average pace was 7:06 - 17 seconds faster per mile. That might be the wildest part to me.

Interestingly, while I did have a negative split, it was much less pronounced than it has been for most of my longer races. I wish there had been an official 20K time for better comparison, but I was at 44:30 for 10K and then Strava has my 10-20K time as 43:34. I actually think that's a good thing; starting out a lot slower than you finish means you're leaving time on the table. This time, my pace was actually pretty consistent, just speeding up a little throughout (except for mile 11 which, as I have already explained, was evil ).

View attachment 942543

Actually, if you look at the GAP, it's probably more consistent:

View attachment 942544

I'm happy with that, especially considering that, as usual, I didn't have much of a sense of how fast I could run going into the race. So my race strategy of "eh, let's just see what happens" continues to succeed!

This is the first time I've raced with my Coros armband, and I have more accurate HR zones now as well, so it's interesting to see the breakdown there. I spent the vast majority of time in Z4 and most of the rest in Z5:

View attachment 942545
At any rate, I can check off a few goals for the year now:


Um...yeah. I'd say I did this. 93 minutes for the win!


At least unofficially, this is also done. Strava says my new 10-mile PR is 1:10:12. (That 1:21 official PR is getting increasingly silly!)


Yup, my official 10K PR based on the 5-15K split is now 43:54.


I did manage this one unofficially (21:37 = 6:57/mile). Officially, I was close but not quite there, but if I could run a 5K under 7-min/mile pace in the middle of a half marathon, I'm pretty sure I can do it in a 5K race. The equivalency calculators actually put the potential time close to 20 minutes (20:08-20:18), which....

That leaves me with two more goals for the year, beyond officially snagging that sub-7 5K pace:

I guess this might be more achievable than I thought. The mile equivalents I'm seeing for a 1:33:11 half are about 5:48, so...yeah. Maybe I'll have to throw in a time trial soon just to see what happens.


And the marathon equivalents are something like 3:14-3:16. Even if that's wildly optimistic, that's like 15 minutes of wiggle room. Of course, you never quite know what's going to happen in a marathon, but...I might have to upgrade that prediction as well.

So that's where we are now! The race that kind of changed things. I've been really lucky to have been able to train consistently for almost three years now thanks to not getting seriously injured, flexible/remote work, and not having kids, and I have really, really seen the benefits of it. Just look at what's happened since I started training consistently until now. Big progress is possible!

May 2022, National Women's Half Marathon: 1:59:56
February 2025, Disney Princess Half Marathon: 1:33:11

View attachment 942577View attachment 942578

Yes you are indeed fast and it has been hard earned so congratulations. If it helps my very old book of running, first published 1983, (I have 2nd revised edition of 1999 which I purchased in 2004) had tables at the front which categorised runners by age and distance/time then provided training plans form 5k to Marathon for each of these groups.

Categories were

Beginner/intermediate
Basic Competitor
Competitor
Advanced
Local Champion
Semi Elite

According to the table below it puts you in the Local Champion Category

See table below.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Yes you are indeed fast and it has been hard earned so congratulations. If it helps my very old book of running, first published 1983, (I have 2nd revised edition of 1999 which I purchased in 2004) had tables at the front which categorised runners by age and distance/time then provided training plans form 5k to Marathon for each of these groups.

Categories were

Beginner/intermediate
Basic Competitor
Competitor
Advanced
Local Champion
Semi Elite

According to the table below it puts you in the Local Champion Category

See table below.

View attachment 945360

Possibly still a few minutes away then...but thanks!

 

[col1]

Possibly still a few minutes away then...but thanks!

To quote Jeff Van Gundy "within striking distance"

 

[WillRunForPizza]

February 24 - March 9, 2025
In which pineapples are better with alcohol

• M: off
• T: yoga
• W: upper body strength
• T: lower body strength
• F: easy 4 + core
• S: easy 5 + upper body strength
• S: off

• M: easy 4 + lower body strength
• T: easy 4 + core
• W: off
• T: easy 5 + upper body strength
• F: easy 5 + lower body strength
• S: Pilates
• S: easy 6 + upper body strength

I did not intend to come back from the race quite so slowly. However, my ankle did not cooperate with my plan. The ankle/outside of my foot was not a new problem, precisely - it had been bugging me on and off for a couple of weeks, though never while running - but it got significantly worse after the race. I had a day or two of being quite uncomfortable just walking around, and as a result running on it didn't seem like a great idea.

After a couple more days, it felt slightly better, and I tried a run which wasn't a total disaster. I could definitely feel my foot and it wasn't pleasant, but it didn't hurt enough to affect my stride. And it actually felt better afterwards. Unfortunately, on the second day of running, it hurt more, so then I took another day off.

It's been gradually getting better over the past week, to the point where now it feels just a little tight at certain angles. Hopefully that means I am nearly recovered. I think in a day or two I'll feel okay trying a few strides, and maybe the next week I can do a short workout. Le sigh. At least it turns out that I don't feel the need to panic about an issue if it happens right after a race.

Anyway, I have gotten in some good strength work in the meantime. That first lower body workout after the race was something - I think I was sore for three days. Although I have been struggling with some of the unilateral exercises - they make my ankle very cranky. I imagine that will improve eventually as well.

I got some Disney time in too. We saw the baby tiger playing with the water spout:

It was very cute to watch him pawing at the water, but hard to get a good photo.

Then I tried Trader Sam's for the first time! It was a lot of fun; highly recommend if you haven't been.


Making sacrifices to Uh-Oa.

While we were waiting for the bar to actually open, we also tried Lapu Lapus upstairs.


Because how can you say no to a cocktail that comes in a pineapple and has TWO tiny umbrellas?

Oh, and I had a Dole Whip for the first time! It was...fine. I guess it would be refreshing on a hot day. But I'd rather have ice cream.

Week 1 totals
Running: 1h 32m, 9.4 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 48m
Total: 3h 29m


Week 2 totals
Running: 4h, 25.3 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 18m
Total: 6h 18m

 

[WillRunForPizza]

March 10 - 16, 2025
In which I had not realized you could catch a fly ball mid-backflip

• M: off
• T: easy 5.3 miles + lower body strength
• W: easy 5.3 miles + core
• T: off
• F: easy 6 miles with strides + upper body strength
• S: easy 9 miles with strides
• S: easy 5.5 miles with strides + lower body strength

My ankle is gradually improving. This week I did an actual long run and three runs with strides in a row, and none of it seems to have had any negative impact, so yay. It's still a little sore but definitely better.

Otherwise, it's been a pretty boring week in terms of training. It got hot this weekend, so my runs have been kind of a struggle. But I did go to a Savannah Bananas game on Saturday, which was an experience for sure. My friend called it "baseball for people with ADHD" and I feel like that's a pretty good description. My favorite part was the dance-off in the outfield.


And that is a sold out crowd in what's normally the Buccaneers' stadium. Who knew baseball extravaganzas were so popular?

This did mean that I got back quite late on Saturday and got up late on Sunday, which made my run even warmer. Oh well. Seems worth it.

Totals
Running: 5h 10m, 31.4 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 30m
Total: 6h 40m



We're getting there.

Coming up
Hopefully next week will look a little more normal. I think I'm going to do some 60 second reps on Wednesday as a way to sort of ease back into actual workouts. Then on Saturday I head back to DC - should be just in time for cherry blossoms.

 

[nancipants]

Oh sure, leave Florida just as it's getting warm.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Savannah Banana tickets have a lottery. That's how popular it is. They're playing a few hours south of us this summer and I looked at the whole process of trying to get in, and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

March 17 - 23, 2025
In which I'm in a car

• M: yoga
• T: 6 miles easy/strides + core
• W: 4x4x1 (8.3 miles) + lower body strength
• T: 4.2 miles easy + upper body strength
• F: 11 miles easy
• S: yoga
• S: 5.8 miles easy/hill strides + core

I have made it back to DC. And it's raining. Yay.

Backing up, I tried to do some drills on Tuesday, but my ankle did not like them. It particularly did not like skips. So still not 100%.

However, that did not stop me from doing a workout on Wednesday. Did I take it easy? Of course not. The good thing about not having a pace target is that you can't get it wrong. The bad thing about not having a pace target is that sometimes you accidentally end up running like 3K/mile pace and it's really hard. Although knowing me, I could have done that even if I had a pace target, so maybe it doesn't matter.




So, I actually did run 4x4x1, but somehow my watch messed up on the last interval and tracked it, the recovery, and the cool-down all together:



But hey, first workout since Princess and my ankle didn't feel significantly worse afterwards, so I'll take it.

Back to self-guided routines for lower body strength, though I'm still limited on the single-leg exercises.


The return of the Wednesday workout meant that the Thursday shuffle was also back. I was at least a minute per mile slower than Tuesday. I didn't really feel like doing strength, but I managed to just do some basic supersets so I could say I'd done something.

My last run in Orlando was not very exciting (other than being my longest since the race), but that's probably a good thing. It was a little windy but otherwise pretty pleasant.

We spent Saturday on the road back to DC - fortunately (and surprisingly) a smooth trip without too much traffic. I did some yoga after my parents left for the airport just to stretch out the kinks. Still have lots to unpack...

It's a lot cooler here, so I did my run on Sunday afternoon between basketball games. There are also many more people here. My HR was significantly higher than normal, which I'm blaming half on running a bit too hard and half on having to dodge a lot more walkers/runners/cyclists/scooters/cars than I'm used to these days. (Or really ever; I don't normally run on weekend afternoons!) I did a bit of core work during the men's game.

Totals
Running: 5h 44m, 35.5 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 53m
Total: 7h 37m



Looking a bit closer to normal training! Let's call this week 0 of 5K training.

Coming up
Week 1 of 5K training! Do I have an actual plan? Not yet, but I'm actually okay with that at this point. It was hard to make a plan when I didn't really know when I would feel comfortable getting back to training with my ankle. I'm working on it now that I'm okay with eight weeks to go.

So for this first week, now that I have hills again, I'm going to do some hills again for my workout. The rest of it is all pretty standard, so I don't really need a full plan yet. Probably later this week I'll have something to share for that.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Spring 2025 5K training
In which I feel like I'm just doing pretty much the same thing I always do

My ankle is better, ish, so I've now turned my thoughts towards spring racing. I'm signed up for the Hero Dogs 5K9 on May 17, which is just over seven weeks away now. Even though I just finished my 5K plan today, I'm wrapping up week one now because that's how I roll. (Okay, actually I was making sure my ankle was ready for 5K training before I started and I wanted to know how many weeks I had before I wrote the plan.)

Here's the basic layout:

• M: easy + core
• T: workout + lower body
• W: recovery + upper body
• T: easy + core
• F: medium-long + total body
• S: long
• S: off (light yoga)

In terms of workouts, there's really not that much new. I've gradually found my way to some workouts that I like, so most of the ones I'm using are making reappearances from previous training plans. Because the 5K is more speed-focused, I have more speed work than I did for marathon or half training, which were my two most recent training blocks, though still some lactate threshold and a little bit of aerobic threshold.

However, I'm still doing some pretty long runs, including a couple at 2.5 hours. I do not actually expect this to help with my 5K training (if anything, it's slightly counterproductive due to the increased fatigue). Instead, it's about the bigger picture, which is that I'm running a marathon in the fall. The more available I can keep those marathon-level long runs, the better I'll be able to train for the marathon when the time comes. Plus, I'm told that it's okay to have a big jump in mileage as long as it's very easy. So for those weeks, the long run and medium-long run will both be easy other than maybe some hill strides.

For similar reasons, I'm keeping the medium-long run and long run on back to back days. Not sure how much it will help me in the 5K, but will help down the road.

The biggest difference from my previous plans is that I haven't generally prescribed exact mileage/time for my runs. I thought to myself, "Why I am pretending that 6 miles or 45 minutes or whatever is exactly what I do?" So instead I decided I would put in a range and just go with what felt right on that day.

I don't actually know if this way will be better. Part of the benefit of having a plan is not having to think about what you're doing on any given day, and this approach requires a little more thinking. But it's also more flexible, and flexibility can be good. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, here's the plan!


This week has mostly already happened. Hills are hard. And I took an extra day off to get back to the right schedule after traveling last Saturday.


Here's one of those mainly aerobic high-mileage weeks.


Some speed work and a fast-finish long run in week 3.


In week 4 I have a rehearsal 5K in the form of a parkrun. It's not exactly a race - I've got a full, pretty hard week of training leading into it - but it'll give me a chance to practice pacing and effort. Also a chance to practice not-quite-racing, which I might try during my marathon training prep races as well.


Week 5 features one of two workouts in the whole plan where I actually run at 5K pace. Six reps should be a little less than a 5K total; eight would be a little more. Hoping I can do eight. Then threshold intervals on the hill, and hopefully by then my ankle will be okay for the floats downhill.


I'm bringing back the threshold Ks/mile time trial with a tweak: instead of six reps before the mile and two after, I'm doing four and three. Maybe this time I can squeak under 6 minutes! But if not, there will be other opportunities.


The second of two 5K pace workouts. This is a new one, so I'm interested to see how it works out. The goal of the 10K sandwich is to give a sort of break, but not really.


Race week! Tuesday's workout is still legit; you don't need much of a taper for a 5K. Just a shakeout the day before and hopefully my legs will be ready to go (though if I do feel especially tired, I could always adjust the workout).

And, uh, here are the paces I'm supposed to be using.


Okay, yes, you can't run faster than you can run, and I really did run a half at that pace. But also...I might die.

So there it is! Thoughts? Ideas? Unusual pizza topping suggestions? Drop a line.

 

[col1]

Your training plan looks great my limited knowledge means I have nothing to add but I did see a pizza with aubergine and pesto in the supermarket yesterday. I was not tempted

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Your training plan looks great my limited knowledge means I have nothing to add but I did see a pizza with aubergine and pesto in the supermarket yesterday. I was not tempted

I would eat it.

 

[avondale]

I love "the hill" in some of your workouts. LOL I know what you mean though, because I have certain hills of specific grades/lengths that work well for certain types of workouts.

Can't wait to see you crush this 5k!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I love "the hill" in some of your workouts. LOL I know what you mean though, because I have certain hills of specific grades/lengths that work well for certain types of workouts.

Haha, yup, there is the short rep hill and the long rep hill and various hill strides hills. Benefits of doing your own workout plans!

 

[GollyGadget]

No comments on your plan but here for the pizza talk. Would absolutely eat aubergine & pesto pizza. I'm attempting to grow some from seeds this year so if that works out, I'll definitely give it a try.

Friday night I had salami, artichoke, banana peppers, and spinach on my pizza. Salami & ricotta are two of my favorite toppings...also burrata, yum. I need a trip to Italy

 

[WillRunForPizza]

No comments on your plan but here for the pizza talk. Would absolutely eat aubergine & pesto pizza. I'm attempting to grow some from seeds this year so if that works out, I'll definitely give it a try.

Wow! So impressed - I cannot grow things.

Friday night I had salami, artichoke, banana peppers, and spinach on my pizza. Salami & ricotta are two of my favorite toppings...also burrata, yum. I need a trip to Italy

On board with all of these except maybe banana peppers. I like them but don't know if I would enjoy the texture on pizza. (I don't love onions on pizza either unless they're fully caramelized and jammy.)

 

[RuntheMouse]

No comments on your plan but here for the pizza talk. Would absolutely eat aubergine & pesto pizza. I'm attempting to grow some from seeds this year so if that works out, I'll definitely give it a try.

Friday night I had salami, artichoke, banana peppers, and spinach on my pizza. Salami & ricotta are two of my favorite toppings...also burrata, yum. I need a trip to Italy

OMG I had to google Aubergine. I know it as a color. Here in fancy Wisconsin, we call that eggplant

Your Friday pizza sounds delicious though!

 

[GollyGadget]

OMG I had to google Aubergine. I know it as a color. Here in fancy Wisconsin, we call that eggplant

Your Friday pizza sounds delicious though!

I also call it eggplant but i was just sticking with the previous reference

Wow! So impressed - I cannot grow things.

This is my first time with seeds. We successfully grow tomatoes on our patio every summer. Everything else is much less successful but the library had a free planting class, so why not try eggplant again?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

March 24 - 30, 2025
5K training week 1 | 48 days until Hero Dogs 5K9
In which there's a lot of people here



Monday
Easy/hill strides: 5.8 miles (9:59), avg. HR 151, max 183, 89% Z1-2
Upper body strength

Cold and rainy is the weather where I feel least motivated to run. I did manage to do some strength in the morning, but for the run, I kept putting it off and putting it off all day. Finally I took the dog for his afternoon walk and it wasn't that bad, so I got myself out the door after that. Overall fine; I was slow uphill and not that fast downhill. It's going to take me a bit to get used to having hills again.

Tuesday
Workout: 10 x uphill hard (~75-80s) + 1.3 miles @ MP
7.5 miles, avg. HR 157, max 186
Lower body strength



OMG. Hills are so freaking hard. I went out thinking I would do 10-12 reps of the hill. I managed 10, and I felt like I was dying on every. single. one. How can hills be this difficult??

Running uphill is good for when you have a lingering issue because you get all the aerobic and neuromuscular benefits with lower impact. However, then you have to run back down the hill, which even at a shuffle is much higher impact. After the first couple of reps, I ended up jogging back down on the grass. (Except after rep #5 when I walked to give myself a longer break.) Lower impact, good; higher chance of twisting an ankle on the uneven ground, less good, but I remembered an article I read recently about running technical downhills with extra quick, light steps, and that seemed to help. (Even if this was only "technical" compared to running on asphalt.)

Anyway, because the hills were only like 12 minutes of work, even if it was really painful work, I ran the rest of the trail back at M pace (or slightly faster) until I got to the hill up to the road home. In terms of HR it looked more like threshold, but I had just done a bunch of hill reps, so it's probably fine. And it was mostly flat, so it still felt way easier than the hills.



I was going to do a few more things, but my ankle was grumbling more than I liked.

Wednesday
Recovery: 4.8 miles (9:45), avg. HR 145?, max 161
Core

I actually felt okay. Could have done without the wind though. And without the jerk who stopped to yell at me for popping into the bike lane for 0.03 miles so I didn't run into all the tourists in the scaffolding tunnel.

Thursday
Yoga

Because I traveled last Saturday, to get back to a Monday-to-Saturday schedule, I could either run 7 days in a row or take a random day off in the middle of the week. Normally there wouldn't even be a question, but since my ankle is still not completely healed, I opted for the safer choice.

Friday
Easy/pickup: 8.2 miles, avg. HR 157, max 189
Total body strength

Nice weather for a run. My ankle started making itself known a few miles in, but not too bad. I picked it up just a bit for a couple of miles - got down to about M pace (and threshold HR ) before jogging the rest of the way back when I got back up to the street.

Other than that, just kept it easy - except for the hills, which kept pushing me into Z3. This is what happens when you don't have hills all winter!

Saturday
Long: 13.7 miles (9:50), avg. HR 156, max 170

Oy. I did not think to check the event schedules for the weekend, and crossing the Mall to get to Mt Vernon Trail, I ran into a truly ridiculous level of crowding for the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival. Clearly a poor choice of route for me.

I didn't feel quite as tired as the first time I did a stacked medium-long pickup/long run, but I definitely wasn't fresh, and the crowds only added to the effort level. Things did clear up a bit once I got past Gravelly Point, so that bit was nice, if only for a few miles. And I did take a different bridge back so I wouldn't have to go through the Mall again.

My ankle was really feeling the effort - not quite painful, but certainly sore. I put some ice on it after walking the dog.

Sunday
Yoga

Totals
Running: 6h 30m, 40.2 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 1m
Total: 8h 31m



My ankle still kind of aches. How long does it take to get over a self-diagnosed strain? I would like to be fixed now.

I can still run; it's just annoying. I ordered some athletic tape so I can try taping it up next week and see if that helps.

Coming up

Just gonna dive in headfirst on the mileage here...

 

[avondale]

I ran into a truly ridiculous level of crowding for the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival.

I always think it would be nice to come downtown and see the cherry blossoms, but then I remember all the crowds and almost never do it.

My husband pointed out a news story that a plane landing at National apparently ran into a kite...during the festival. Apparently someone's kite got away! No issues with the landing.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I always think it would be nice to come downtown and see the cherry blossoms, but then I remember all the crowds and almost never do it.

I definitely would not have gone that way if I had thought about it!