Long Run, TLC, and the Real Reason I Don’t Post Pictures of Food

I know I take bad selfies, but I don’t have anyone to take a picture of me at 06:00 in the morning, especially on the weekend.
I just had to take one to show you my new Mizuno top, I love it. Worked great on my long run today, very airy and fresh, no chafing whatsoever, and the racer back is so cute.

 



 
21.3K/13.2M at average pace 05:04 Min/KM (08:09 Min/Mile). Not bad for the morning after a race. I wanted to take it easy, which I did, I am trying to make speed runs not more than 15% of my weekly total running.

 


 
I’m good with my average pace for the run, but my pacing wasn’t the best:

 
2KM/1.2M – warm up at average pace 05:45 Min/KM (09:15 Min/Mile)
9KM/5.6M – taking it easy at average pace 05:14 Min/KM (08:25 Min/Mile)
10.3KM/6.4M – loving running, but not keeping the easy pace I intended, at average pace 04:47 Min/KM (07:41 Min/Mile)

 
The pace of the last 10K, that is my “happy” pace. My favorite pace to run, especially when I get there gradually, after a few KMs at an easy pace. My legs are warm and feel strong and I get to that pace so naturally. I feel fast, that is definitely not an easy pace for me, but I feel strong and not winded at the same time.

 
On weekends I usually come home after I run to shower and get ready, during the week I usually shower at the gym. It’s nice to come home and spend a bit of time with the kids before I jump in the shower, and especially not be in the usual rush that is the work week.

 
After getting ready, I hit the fridge big time. By then it had been over an hour since I finished my run, so I was starving. All I had after the run was water with NUUN.

 

I really don’t know why I used my daughter’s Hello Kitty’s plate

 
Recovery shake with banana, cacao, glutamine (yum), soymilk, flaxseed, and molasses.
The healthiest bread sold in Israel, at least that I have found, and the most delicious hummus, I did scrub that container clean.
A few almonds, my husband likes to soak them overnight, it makes them softer. I prefer them dry but I don’t really mind, I don’t eat them too often.

 
A couple of hours later I had another snack, and this is the reason why you don’t see a lot of food pictures in this blog, I remember to take pictures after I’m done eating.

 



 
I ate the whole pineapple, it really wasn’t too big, leftover apple pieces from my kids’ snack, and a Clif bar.

 
I took my knee high compression socks out of circulation for running because it’s officially too hot, but my calves were feeling a bit tight so I decided to use them for recovery. A bit of TLC can’t hurt: freeze spray, foot cream, tight socks, and lying down. Followed by a glass of water with apple cider vinegar, and Grid rolling.

 


 

What is your “happy” pace and why?

 

Race Recap – Liga 5K – PR 21:18

I wasn’t wrong yesterday about not knowing how to run a 5K.

 


 


 
My splits were all over the place.

 
KM 1 – 04:08 – Faster than I had planned, but feeling good.

 
KM 2 – 04:18 – What? I didn’t even realize I had slowed down that much.

 
KM 3 – 04:09 – A good split again, although my mind starts to wonder if I can hold this pace for longer. Thinking of a couple of Mizuno tops I saw at the booth and am planning to buy as a reward (or just because I want them) kept me pushing.

 
KM 4 – 04:24 – The “back” portion of a race is always the hardest, my legs are feeling it by now, and my mind is having an argument about ‘why do I need to suffer’ on the one hand, and ‘we are not quitting with a bit over 1 KM to go’. My slowest KM by far, bummer.

 
KM 5 – 04:14 – Telling myself that I’m taking a week off running after this race helps me push a little, besides I don’t want to make a fool of myself slowing down too much in the last KM.

 
Official Results:
Time: 21:18
Overall Place: 59 out of 266
Women’s Place: 2 out of 44
Category (30-39) place: 1 out of 15

 


 
I am satisfied with my final time, it is very close to what I was expecting fitness wise.

 
My pacing was bad and I need to work on that, but I’m not surprised because I never really train at the 5K pace of this race, except for intervals. Intervals are a great way to improve speed, but they are too short to teach us how to actually keep a pace for longer periods. I should have done some tempo runs with a few KMs at 5K pace in advance.

 
I wasn’t expecting to run this race because we were supposed to be overseas, and when we canceled the trip and I realized I could run it, I was tired physically and mentally from previous races that I decided to take this race easy, and therefore didn’t train or taper for it.
My final time shows I didn’t run it easy after all, but the fact that I didn’t train for it still shows.

 


 


 
This being my first 5K, it was a good experience for future races. A few things I did differently than for longer races, which actually worked out great:

 
Warm up: I tried doing strides at the end of a 3K/2M warm up, and I think this really helped me run fast from the start of the race. Usually it takes me a while to get my legs to move fast enough to reach goal race pace, not today.

 
Taking a GU in advance: I’ve been taking a gel before races, just a few minutes before start time. This seemed to make sense for longer races, where I’d need the extra energy to last longer into the race. I knew the 5K would take less than 23 minutes, so I figured I could eat the GU half an hour before the race, and see if it made a difference. I really think it did, more time to digest it before the race, and no side pain whatsoever, which I did get in past races.

 
Mind games: Every race makes me mentally stronger. I still have a long way to go, somehow on the 2nd half of the race I start to consider slowing down, even DNFing, it becomes harder for me to push through. Although my body is getting tired by that point, I can feel it’s more mental than anything. I hate to think that I’m weak, but then I’m still racing, and I will get stronger.

 
Peeing: This is not a new thing, but I went to the porta-potties four times before the race, about 20 minutes apart, the last time being 3 minutes before start time (the perks of small races). This was perfect to avoid that horrible feeling of having to pee while running. I had 2 big glasses of water and 2 cups of coffee before I left home, so going to the bathroom regularly helped take it all out.

 

 
About the Mizuno tops I was thinking of during the 3rd KM, I saw these cute tanks that I wanted to buy, the fabric is so light, the cut is awesome, they are sleeveless which I love, just perfect.
I couldn’t buy them before the race because there was a problem with their credit card machine, but I bought 2 after the race, same model, 2 different colors.

 


 


 
I had to rush home right after the race because my son was celebrating his birthday at his kindergarten today (actual birthday was 2 weeks ago, and although the party is only for the class children without the parents, I still wanted to take him myself (usually my husband takes him on Fridays and I do my long run).

 
Overall this was a nice, relaxed, fun, small race. Great way to start the weekend.

 


 
That promise my mind made my body about not running again for a week, so not needed. I am not sore at all, and although I had postponed my Friday’s long run to next Wednesday, I will be doing it tomorrow. Works much better for me to do it on a weekend day than on a week day, and I feel perfectly fine. Definitely makes me wonder if I could have run harder.

 


 

I Don’t Know How To Run 5K

Ab work this morning at the gym, followed by a 2250 meters (2460 yards) swim. Taking it kind of easy for a 5K race tomorrow morning. I’ve never raced one, and I can’t remember the last time I ran just 5K, but it’s been at least 2 years. Usually my training runs are at least 8K.

 


 
I’m really excited about tomorrow, although at the same time if I have to use just one word to describe how I feel about this race, it would be confused. I will think of this race as a training tempo run, where I do the last 5K at a faster pace, and try to copy that tomorrow. After a warm up run, 5K tempo will be the race.
The possibility of going out too fast when it’s a shorter race seem even more probable than usual, at the same time going too conservatively and then having the race be over too fast, without never making the hardest possible effort, would suck a little.
In the end, it will be a good experience, if only learning wise.

 


 
This will be a small race and there will be a few people I know, so I am looking forward to hanging out and talking to friends. I wish I could run a great time, but I’m not feeling it too much. I haven’t tapered, except for taking it slightly easier after my 5 day running streak late last week, and my nutrition and sleep have been lacking due to same late nights.

 
I need to work on my playlist, I will need only a few songs, and then I’m going to bed to watch some TV. I may lose your respect, but I’ve been watching Devious Maids and it’s so entertaining. I’m so tired when I go to bed that I can only watch light stuff, and this show is doing it for me. The maids and the families they work for have some interesting stuff going on.

 

What is your favorite low quality entertainment?

For me it’s reality TV.

Any 5K race tips?

 

Training Goals for the Off Season, and 2 Races

After my last 10K I thought I wouldn’t be racing for some time, summer is approaching and it’s getting too warm, there aren’t many races happening.
However, I have found 2 races I want to run in the coming month, one is a 5K this Friday organized by a “Run at Work” group, that’s my loose translation of the name of the group in Hebrew, but basically a few runners from different work companies in Israel.
The other is a 10K night run in the park, I’m not very excited about racing in the park, especially at night, but both these races I want to run for fun. Yes, I want to concentrate on training and taking it easy for a few months, and I don’t want a race to take away from that.

 


 
I want to train hard but also light… if that makes sense, or at least lighter/smarter than I’ve been training. Stay strong, build some speed, but at the same time find the balance to get some rest, so I can start marathon training in September.
I haven’t decided on a marathon yet, but I want to run one this winter, and since I want to run it in Israel as opposed to flying somewhere, my options are relatively limited. But then I only need one.

 
A few of the main points I’ve built my upcoming training around:

 
• Distance: I want to stay steady with 65K/40M a week, which is not a distance I’ve been running for long, although I was at 60K/37M for a while. I’m feeling fine with 65K, and want to get even more used to it during the summer, so I can safely go up a bit come marathon training.

 
• Lighter weeks: I’m planning on making a week every 2-3 weeks a lighter week, about 50K/31M. Replacing my long run with a shorter run will take care of that, and hopefully my legs will feel and appreciate the rest.

 
• Speed: There’s a line that kept coming up in the running articles I’ve read in the last few weeks: “keep your slow runs slow, and your fast runs fast”. I haven’t been good at doing this in the past, I can push at the fast runs, but then the slow runs become moderate or even fast-ish sometimes. I admit this gives me a confidence push, but it’s just not smart training. I’m aiming for my speed time to be no more than 15% of my total weekly running time (although I am taking it up a notch speed wise on my intervals and tempo runs so I can gain some speed), and the rest will be mostly easy, with some moderate runs as well. I must learn to keep an eye on my watch and slow down when I have to.

 
• Strength: I don’t usually skip workouts, but when I’m low on time or have to skip a session, it’s strength training that I give up first. I need to keep a balance between running, swimming, strength and core work, and not always skip (even if for good reason) what I like the least.

 


 
On the home front, I stayed home from work today because my boy is sick. Wish he didn’t have to be sick for us to be able to get a quality time day together. I took him to the doctor and walked around the mall for a bit when we went to buy his medicine, since he was feeling well from the effect of the fever reducer.
I bought him the World Cup sticker album and we’ve been pretty busy with that all afternoon.

 


 
And new earrings for his sister, because we couldn’t come home without something for her as well. He’s such a good brother.

 


 

Any training mistakes you’ve realized you were making?

For me, not enough runs at an easy pace.

Who are you rooting for in the World Cup?

Uruguay!

 

Long Run, with Phone and Stops: Unheard Of!

I knew there was a triathlon going on this morning starting at the Tel Aviv Port, part of my running route, so I decided to do my long run with my phone and take some pictures.
I never run with my phone because I prefer to run as light as possible, but actually hardly felt it. My favorite running tights, I have 4 of the same type, slightly different models, have mesh side pockets which hold the phone in place perfectly.

 


 
I started running at around 06:00 AM to beat the heat, it was already light out, and the weather was perfect. I put my sunglasses on my head because I knew I’ll be needing them soon, and put sunscreen on my arms and shoulders. Glad I did because my shoulders felt crazy hot by the time I finished running.

 


 
I stopped to take a few pictures along the way, I always feel like stopping in the middle of my run is like giving myself an unfair advantage (against myself?), but figured taking a few pictures of the triathlon was worth it. It was just a few seconds here and there, nothing major.

 



 
There was an incredible energy at the port with everyone getting ready for the swim when I ran by. People were waiting to go in the water, getting their things ready at the transition stations, warming up, etc. Of course my thoughts were “I need to do one of these”. I’m an OK swimmer and I have a relative who will lend me a bike for a while, so I can try things out and see how it feels. Not too sure about the actual “competing” part, but I could do it for fun.

 
My run today was 20K pretty easy, changed my route a little because I didn’t want to run on the course where the bike/run portions of the triathlon would be.
Total time of the run (not counting stops, I stopped my Garmin each time), was 01:37:20, average pace for the first 16K was 04:58 Min/KM (08:00 Min/Mile), average pace for the last 4K was 04:30 Min/KM (07:14 Min/Mile).
I wasn’t planning on finishing faster, but it happens to me often that I get a lot of energy at the end of the run. It’s a great feeling, and I enjoy running faster, but it bothers me that I can’t stick to the plan. I had scheduled a 12K run for next Wednesday with 4K at tempo pace, and a fartlek run for Thursday, now I’ll switch one of those runs with an easy run. I don’t want my fast speed runs to be more than 15% of my total running, each week. For the last few months I’ve been doing speed work around 20%-25% of my total weekly running time, and I think that was too much. It somehow worked, because I know I improved my speed, but I also dealt with tired legs on a regular basis. Sometimes they were just a little tired, sometimes they were very tired, but I’m thinking my legs shouldn’t be tired 90% of the time for months and months.

 
I was back home early, around 8:15. Another advantage of starting my runs at dawn, so I can be home early during the weekend and make the most of our family time. We stayed home all morning, and had a late breakfast on the balcony. That’s my big salad with cauliflower on top, my husband loves fried cauliflower (so do I), and I asked him to leave me some on the side, not fried, so I could add it to my salad. There are a lot of veggies under there too, so healthy.

 


 
Went out in the afternoon for a longish walk with the hubs and kids in Tel Aviv, had coffee and hot chocolate, and then we had pizza in the evening to make up for all that healthy food from earlier. Best pizza place in Israel. I had the four cheese pizza, and another one with eggplant and Bulgarian cheese, so delicious. I’m not a huge fan of pizza, but when it’s really good, then I love it.

 


 

How much speed work do you do? Any tips on how to do it without overdoing it?
Do you have a favorite pizza place or is any pizza delicious to you?