Revels of Peach Keane (Redux Part III)

You keep kicking butt in these races. Great job.

I've had a pretty busy couple of weeks with work, finalizing the purchase of our condo in Cleveland, running, racing, and having a bit of vacation time with my entire family. My husband was actually here from California for the last week (he left this morning for Cleveland and then San Diego), so I was only at the computer for work, and I tried to avoid that as well . I'm trying to catch up this morning, but I know that I'll never get through all the blogs, etc., so I hope everyone is training, racing, and running well (I did see that John hurt his butt in another post, and I hope that is nothing).

After racing a small triathlon yesterday morning on Grand Island (Buffalo, NY), my summer racing is over and I'll be turning my attention more to NYC starting the week I return to Atlanta. So this coming week is about recovery, one more long bike ride around the lake, a longer run in the cooler weather, and driving back south (next Sat/Sun) and back into the steaming heat. The weather has been wet, humid, but cooler here for the last week - so despite the humidity, temps in the mid-60s feel great.

I did race a small Triathlon yesterday which was a lot of fun (see race reports), and I had hoped to get in a long run today, but right now it is raining quite hard with thunder/lightening, etc., so I'm waiting. My daughter and I are going to see Shakespeare's Loves, Labors, Lost later this afternoon, and I hope it lets up after that so I can get in a few recovery miles. Right now; however, there is a flood and severe weather warning - ouch.

Picture from yesterday:



Sorry Kenny - the singlet is not a tri-top, but I might need one

Nice job on the tri yesterday. Were you able to get out today?

Looking strong across the finish! Great job.

great job on the tri!

I agree 60s and humid doesn't feel so bad now. Be careful in the severe weather and I hope you enjoyed the time with your husband! (and Shakespeare....I have his complete works and got about 20% through before having my little girl which put an abrupt stop to my Shakespeare time but we were on a first-name basis there for awhile. My husband would ask how "Bill" was doing).

Cleveland awaits you and I'll be glad to see you once in a while too! Hopefully I will be back to running by the time we get back from Snowbirding in the Keys February and March. AND hopefully the Huron Lighthouse won't be at the wrong time for your trip to Boston (did I mention that I wish I was going back to Boston this year? Oh well, I'll catch you and Judy there again one of these years).

Nice job on the tri! I must have missed that you're moving to Cleveland. Have you lived there before? I did a few races out there when I lived in Pgh, and it seemed like they have a pretty big running community.

Enjoy the cooler temps!

You have to love a race picture where there is absolutely no one in the picture behind you. Do you buy many race photos, as you do a lot of races of which I am jealous of. You always have so much going on, and yet still take care of everything, it's pretty impressive.

Trying to catch up after the trip back and a very busy week is very hard. I was a bit apprehensive about returning to training in the ATL, but the weather has been surprisingly cooler (in the morning) and less humid than I thought it would be. I struggled the first couple of days, but I think that was due more to the 12 hr drive than anything else. I did crash last night and sleep through my alarm this morning which was ok since I only planned on running a recovery 4 this morning. It was 9:30 by the time I got out there, but it was only 78F with decent humidity, so I felt stronger and fitter than expected. Of course, mileage and long runs are just starting to pick up, so we will see what I have to say in a week or two.

Mileage recap:

Monday - 5 easy miles after the long drive over the weekend as my daughter and I returned to Atlanta from NY state

Tuesday - 7 miles on the track done as 4 x 1 mile in 7:21, 7:14, 7:03 and 6:59. Nice breeze on the back stretch.

Wednesday - 5 recovery miles

Thursday - no running due to 45 min in the gym and 2 hrs of tennis

Friday - 14 miles in 9 min average pace. Brought the last 5 miles down to an average 8:35 pace

Saturday - 9 miles with 4 run harder in the middle

Sunday - 4 recovery miles

Total: 44 miles

Looking good!

That's a good week in spite of the travel. I know the ole dead butt thing acts up a lot more for me when I'm spending lots of time sitting on it in the car.

Great mile repeats. Would you say that would be a good workout for 10K speed? I'm looking for a way to bring down my time this spring.

That's a great week of training coming off the travel.

Peg Coover wrote:Great mile repeats. Would you say that would be a good workout for 10K speed? I'm looking for a way to bring down my time this spring.

Peg - for 10K speed, I really think you need to do shorter repeats like 400s. I even do 400s and 800s for half marathon training as I keep trying to see if a kick is even humanly possible anymore. I'd start by doing the repeats at 5k pace.

Good first week of training back at home Michele. I hoped you enjoyed your summer in Western New York.

Nice week of training! Glad to see things are going so well.

Patiently awaiting the rain which changed my weekend plans, but we need it so very badly. Had an interesting week with a broken sewer line here in Atlanta (tree root), a successful closing on our property in Cleveland, and the cancellation of a long awaited weekend at the beach due to Tropical Storm Lee, but all in all it was good from a running perspective. I got my mileage up over 50 mpw for the first time since back in the Spring as I'm ramping up for NYC, and although the legs felt like toast for a few days, I'm am feeling very good today. I am/was supposed to run a 10K tomorrow morning where I was going to do my repeat mile workout, but I think I'll be hitting the dreadmill as it is supposed to be really raining by then. Normally, I do not mind running in the rain at all, but when the workout has a purpose, I think it better to accomplish the workout - which, well, will mean repeat miles on the dreadmill. I have to be happy that the rain will be coming though as my yard is so dry it is like a dust bowl. My husband asked me why my running shoes were so dirty and the reason is that I sweat a lot (so they are wet) and the trails I run on are so dry that I'm covered with dust that turns to mud when finished.

Legs were definitely stressed in the middle of the week, but by the end of yesterday's run, they felt very good. To me that is a good sign. I did finish August with one of my higher monthly totals in a lot of years, and I'm at 1306 for the year already (last year I was at 963 at the end of August and 1612 for the year).

Recap of the week:

Monday - 8 total miles done as 8 x 800m (3:36, 3:32, 3:32, 3:31, 3:28, 3:32, 3:27). Repeats were tough, but not too bad.

Tuesday - 6 easy miles with striders; Core and agility work

Wednesday - 7 miles with 10 x 30s hill repeats

Thursday - 5 easy recovery miles with striders

Friday - 18 miles in the warm temps (78F) and humidity (65-70%) Legs felt very tired, but was able to do the last 5 miles at MP

Saturday - 10.5 miles (1st 6 at recovery pace with Half Marathon Training group that I coach; last 4. 5 at a comfortable pace)

Sunday - Day off

Total: 54.5 miles

Great job in the week and month of training. Certainly have upped the mileage which will pay dividends!

Michele, that's a really good week. I'm finding that one rest day a week is OK now too. For your 800s, what was the recovery period? The program I'm in does 2 minute recoveries (or 90 seconds if fewer repeats) which seems to be just enough.

Great week Michele...a few really challenging looking workouts and an overall solid high mileage week. It looks like you'll be peaking at the right time and have timed your training for NYC really well.

Kenny B. wrote:Great job in the week and month of training. Certainly have upped the mileage which will pay dividends!

Thanks, Kenny. That is the plan, but I have to be careful as well.

JohnP wrote:Michele, that's a really good week. I'm finding that one rest day a week is OK now too. For your 800s, what was the recovery period? The program I'm in does 2 minute recoveries (or 90 seconds if fewer repeats) which seems to be just enough.

I usually do 400m of recovery between the repeats and I find I usually walk about 10-25m of that if it is real warm and humid. As the weather gets cooler, I often do closer to 90 sec even with 8-10 repeats. I love track running so I honestly have to be careful not to overdue. As for a LSD run, that is another matter.

Seth Harrison wrote:Great week Michele...a few really challenging looking workouts and an overall solid high mileage week. It looks like you'll be peaking at the right time and have timed your training for NYC really well.

Thanks, Seth. I hope so. As I said above, the key is just making sure I recover which I did this past week.



I did indeed punt this morning's race in favor of the dreadmill, but I also knocked off 5 x 1 mile repeats in 7:25, 7:20, 7:15, 7:05, and 7 min with a mile warm up/cool down for a total of 8 miles. I also took a 400m rest between each mile at 9 min pace.

Nice looking mileage for the month and YTD, Michele.

Hope the uptick in mileage continues to go well as you aim for NYC! Looks like your workouts and racing is going very well Michele. Sounds like you keep very busy outside of running as well.

Nice mileage and 800s! I am impressed with your times. I push with everything I have to get 4:00.