Workout Recap and Weekly Goals: 5K Joy and The Best Weather Ever

Hi guys! 

Hope you had a great weekend. Despite spending 90% of my weekend studying, I actually had a pretty nice couple of days. The weather being sunny and in the low 60s to mid 70s with no humidity definitely helped -- that's my happy spot for weather!

On Friday, I ate at an awesome healthy grocery store and cafe that I'd never been to before (while being quizzed using flash cards) and randomly got to cheer on Ragnar Relay runners (while walking along the cafe being quizzed using flash cards). There are a lot of flash cards in my life right now, guys. 

My mom has been great about quizzing me using the roughly 1,000 flash cards I've made during studying. It's really helpful, although I can get kind of pissy, in all honesty. I'm irritable and can snap at little things, which makes it even more amazing that she keeps offering to help. Sorry, Mom, and thank you so much! 

I'm kind of a stressed-out mess over the bar right now. I've had some anxiety stomach aches this past week that are 100% bar-inflicted. Really can't wait for it to be over! But being in such a calm environment really does help.

Another thing that helped was the delicious salad I got at the awesome local market I'd never been to before: Terra Organica. It's basically several small restaurants, a grocery, and a book store all in one large building! Apparently it was built seven years ago, and I moved to the East Coast for undergrad seven years ago, which is why I wasn't really aware of it. 

There was a produce section, lots of discounted health foods, a vegan chocolate counter and gluten-free bakery, a juice bar that had amazing salads and sandwiches, pizza and sushi restaurants, and more! I will definitely be back when I have more time to explore next time I'm here.

After being quizzed over lunch, my mom and I moved the study party to the bay. I studied by the water, which was lovely, then we walked along the waterfront path while my mom quizzed me some more. On our drive to the bay, we saw Ragnar vans, and then we saw actual runners while we were walking! 

The Pacific Northwest Ragnar Relay took place this past weekend, and it turned out we were walking along part of the course. I cheered on the runners who passed us since I love cheering at races. It was interesting to see how spread apart individual runners were -- very different from a normal race. I want to run one of these so badly. Next year?

Luckily, I could satiate my racing hunger the next day. I ran the Northwest Raspberry Festival 5K Run and Walk in my hometown of Lynden, WA, on Saturday morning. I checked out races and saw it'd be happening while I was visiting my parents, so I knew I had to run it. I've been wanting to run a local race where I might have a chance of placing, as opposed to NYC races where thousands of people are running.

I'm going to have a proper race recap for y'all tomorrow, so for now:

First place in my AG, fourth place woman overall, and a big PR with the most exciting part being that my average pace was 7:59. I am STILL riding the high of this race, can you tell???

The rest of my Saturday was spent studying. Obviously. I studied until 11:45 PM then woke up at 6:30 AM on Sunday to study some more. Studying for the bar is awesome, kids. Definitely go to law school. Couldn't possibly be a bad idea.

Part of the reason I woke up early on Sunday was so that I could take a break in the evening to go to my sister's fiance's pop-up dinner. Jason and his friend host special dinners every few months at a local cocktail bar. I wasn't in WA for the last one, but I got to attend this one! The mozzarella in the appetizer salad was perfect -- soft, slightly salty, and all around delicious. The prawns in the pasta were also really fantastic and the panna cotta was one of the best I've ever had. 

Aren't they the cutest couple? I'm so excited for their wedding next year! Priyanka is going to start dress shopping this September, while I'm in WA :) Can't wait!

So, on to the workouts.

Workout Recap
x 3 yoga classes
√ Easy run (4 miles)
x 3 strength workouts (30 min. each)
√ Long run (15 miles)
√ Local WA 5K race!!

This was the first week where I really didn't meet the assigned workouts, getting in only one yoga class and two 30 minute strength workouts. However, Coach Jess emailed me today telling me not to worry, that I need to focus on studying for the bar exam right now and a week or so of lackluster workouts due to studying will not affect my marathon training.

Rationally I knew this, of course, but it was really comforting to get an email from her confirming that yes, things will be ok if I can't get in every workout until the bar exam.

Monday: Rest day. Light stretching.

Tuesday: (1) 4 mile easy run (40:48). (2) 60 min. yoga class. (3) 30 min. strength workout.

Easy run after a 6 hour plane ride and 2.5 hour car ride felt a lot better than I expected it to! It was hot for WA but felt cool by NYC standards. Just ran down my road and back, enjoying the country scenes and mountain views.

Great to be back in my dad's class again! I think he's such a fantastic yoga teacher -- his cues are really great and his flows always seem intuitive to me, which I love. Moving from one pose to another always makes sense, so it feels seamless.

At my request, he made it extra easy and restorative since I had a long run the next day. It was so great to stretch out after a long plane ride!

Completed a Nike Training Club app 15 minute core workout that had me sweating by the end. After yoga, I did an arm circuit at home while my dad made dinner :)

Arm Circuit (x2 with 8lb weights):

• 20 bicep curls
• 20 shoulder presses
• 20 skull crushers
• 20 flys

Wednesday: 15 mile long run (2:42:34).

Midweek long run. Kept it extra easy since I did 14 miles on Sunday and had a 5K that I wanted semi-fresh legs for on Saturday. Ran with my dad for the first 8.5 miles and it was great to have his company!

Splits: (1) 10:26, (2) 10:37, (3) 11:30 - large hill, (4) 11:00, (5) 11:01, (6) 10:45, (7) 10:38, (8) 10:35, (9) 10:25, (10) 10:49, (11) 10:46, (12) 10:45, (13) 10:50, (14) 11:23 - tired + hill, (15) 11:03

Fueled with Picky Bar for breakfast, half a Clif shot blok before starting, Vega gel at mile 7, and half a Clif shot blok at mile 10. Could potentially do a bit more but didn't feel like energy was an issue -- more of an issue was tired/tightening legs!


Thursday: 30 min. strength workout and light stretching.

Totally forgot to do the rows somehow until the third round. Oops! Next time... Put this off until the end of the day and was lifting weights at 11:45 PM. Not ideal, but hey, I got it in, right?

Adapted Five Minute Abs (1 min. each, 3 rounds)
• Back crunches
• Right side plank
• Left side plank
• Revolving plank
• Plank

Upper Body Circuit (3 rounds, 8 lb weights)
• Bicep curls (x20)
• Shoulder presses (x20)
• Tricep dips (to exhaustion)
• Push-ups (to exhaustion)

My preference is for heavier weights and fewer reps, but my parents only have 8 lb weights, so I made do!


Friday: Rest day. Foam rolling and light stretching.

Saturday: Raspberry Festival 5K (24:23) + 1.03 mi w/u.

Course was slightly short, according to my Garmin, but still a big PR (7:59 avg) that got me 1st in women 19-29 and 4th woman overall!!

Coach Jess's race plan for me was to go 85% for mile 1, 90% for mile 2, 95% for 2/3 of mile 3, and 100% for the last bit. Didn't realize how fast I was going for the first mile since I wasn't paying much attention to my watch and thought that the 7 I saw was just the Garmin messing up. Luckily I didn't bonk after that so I guess it worked out?

Splits: (1) 7:49, (2) 8:20, (3) 7:54, (.05) 6:32 <--- sprinting to beat what turned out to be a 13 year old girl. She took off and left me dry heaving in the chute. High fived her after for being freaking awesome -- third place overall at age 13???

If I dry heaved at the finish line, I think I ran the 5K right?

Sunday: Rest day, but fit in three 1 minute planks.


Total Mileage = 23 miles


This Week's Training Schedule
Like I wrote above, I might not be able to get in every workout this week because of studying, and that's totally fine. We specifically made this my cutback week so that I wouldn't be too tired going into taking the bar exam on July 30 and 31 (AKA not running 16 miles two days before the test!).

With that said, if I feel like I have to take a break so that my mind doesn't melt, here are my goals:

• 3 easy runs (30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 4 miles with strides)
• 1 "long" run (6 miles)
• 3 mini strength workouts (30 minutes or less each)
• 1 yoga class


Do you love local races? Have you run a relay race? Do you find cool new places when you go back to where you grew up? How do you handle "real life" conflicting with your training schedule?