TL;DR: I decided I’m going to start keeping a training diary here and sharing it weekly. This week I ran 16.09 miles – a 7 mile long run, and 3 miles on 3 different days. The weather was awesome, the running company was better. If you want all of the fun details, keep reading!
While I was out for my Easter Sunday morning long run with my husband, I was thinking, “I should really write about these runs more. What I saw, how I felt, what we talked about, what I thought about.” While running I tried to take mental note of the things I wanted to remember. I decided that I am going to try to write about each run and post a weekly training diary. Some may find it painfully boring, and you can just skip right over these blogs. Others might find it inspiring, or think, “Oh good! I’m not the only one who sings the same lyrics over and over again in their head to pass the time.” I think it will be a useful tool for me to not only do something creative, but also to look back on for guidance from my previous self.
April 9, 2023: Easter Sunday – Long Run
The idea for me to start keeping a weekly training diary came to me when Ken and I turned onto the rail trail and immediately saw a bunny to our right. I said, “Hey look! It’s the Easter bunny!” The bunny wasn’t the only wildlife we saw or heard during the 7 miles we did together. We saw a whole flock of Canada geese enjoying a flooded field, we heard sandhill cranes as they flew all around overhead, we saw AND heard a bunch of seagulls enjoying a different flooded field, saw lots of other little critters like squirrels, birds, and bunnies, and we heard lots of frogs, and even a couple of raccoons.
It was a beautiful day for a run-ride. The sun was shining with hardly a cloud in the sky. It was 46 degrees. I wore my purple/blue tie-dye Underarmour pants with my Indianapolis Monumental Marathon long sleeve shirt. I started the run with jacket over it, but that came off before I even hit the first mile, and I eventually rolled the sleeves of my shirt up. We did an out-and-back run on the Thomas Township and Saginaw Valley Rail Trails.
Run stats:
- Distance: 7.01 miles
- Total time: 1:40:01
- Average pace: 14:16
- Best mile: miles 6 & 7 at 13:43 pace
April 10, 2023: Easy Run w/ My Sister from Another Mister
Christine texted me earlier in the day on Monday and asked what my running plans were for the week, and if she could join. I said yes! Of course! So we planned to meet up after work and run at the local college.
It was so warm! It was 68 degrees and sunny. We figured out a shorter loop than what we were used to. Of course on the way back we had some wind to challenge us. We both commented that we felt like we were moving so slowly, and we were surprised by our pace when we got done! We had dinner together afterwards.
Run stats:
- Distance: 3.07 miles
- Total time: 41:32
- Average pace: 13:31
- Best mile: mile 3 at a 13:09 pace, we actually did negative splits!
April 12, 2023: Easy Run w/ Kenny & Christine
Wednesday evening Ken and I met up with Christine for another 3 mile run. It was another warm night, and it was super windy! Ken hasn’t run much in past years. He’s signed up for the April Kade 8k and we will be run/walking it together next weekend.
We started out with 1 min runs and 1 min walks, and hit some good paces. We went out a bit too fast and ended up extending our walk time to 2 minutes. Christine gave Ken some helpful advice and we decided that next time Ken and I ran together we would try something like 45 second runs and 1:15 min walks.
Run stats:
- Distance: 3 miles
- Total time: 45:31
- Average pace: 15:09
- Best mile: mile 1 at a 13:59 pace
April 14, 2023: Solo 3 Miler
Friday was the warmest day of the week. I didn’t end up running until almost sunset and it was still 80° when I went out. Since I started the run so late, I considered cutting my run short and only doing 30 minutes instead of aiming for 3 miles. I also realized too late that I still had my run/walk intervals set to 1/1 instead of my usual 1 min run/30 second walk.
Surprisingly I wasn’t dying of heat on this run. I was actually pretty comfortable in a tank top and running skirt. I didn’t have music to listen to because I didn’t want my phone to die (story of my life), so I spent a lot of the run thinking about things. My solo runs are my mental health runs. I can process a lot of crap in 45 minutes running by myself.
I felt really good so I decided to go for the 3 miles, even though I knew it would take me longer because of the different intervals. I was pretty dang hungry because of course I didn’t eat dinner before going for my run and it was closing in on 8pm. I got my mikes done and ended the week on a positive note!
Run stats:
- Distance: 3.01 miles
- Total time: 45:02
- Average pace: 14:58
- Best mile: mile 1 at a 14:46 pace – really racking up those positive splits
RD on the Run 