Long May You Run

Hi friends. Happy Monday! It’s *finally* October 16th! WOO to the HOO! Today is the official last day of second tax season and I’m pretty dang pumped about that (if you didn’t pick up on that already). An added bonus is that fall is coming. We’ve been tracking its arrival for quite some time now and it is scheduled to make an appearance early this week!

Here is my training log for the week of 10.09.17 – 10.15.17!

Monday – Easy Run: 5 miles (8:44 pace)

I ran an easy 5 with Daniel Monday morning before work. This week at work was bananas, thanks to the above-referenced tax deadline, and I actually had to be up and out the door earlier than normal. It’s worth mentioning that Daniel actually woke up at 3:50 to run with me (and that is not something he would voluntarily do on his own). Early morning quality run time is my love language. I was oh so appreciative of this gesture.

Tuesday – Tempo: 11 miles (7:48 pace)

Tuesday’s workout was a tad brutal and not because of the workout specifically, but rather because of the dang weather. A temperature of 75 degrees combined with a dew point of 74 degrees = a misery index of 149. The air was so thick and muggy that it really felt like you could cut it with a knife. See pic above of foggy track … that’s what we were dealing with Tuesday a.m.

The workout was a 2 – 3 mile warm up, followed by 3 X 2 mile repeats w/ a quarter-mile recovery in between and a 2 – 3 mile cool down. The goal pace range was between 6:20 and 6:30, which is probably between my 10K and 10 mile race pace currently.

Actual paces per mile and times per 2 mile repeats were 6:50/6:37 = 13:27, 6:31/6:29 = 13:00, 6:35/6:56 = 13:31. While I didn’t specifically calculate a heat/humidity pace adjustment beforehand, looking back I kind of wish that I had. I think a fair adjustment would’ve put me in a 6:35 to 6:45 range. I was working too hard on the second repeat to hit the target paces and I definitely ran out of steam on the third repeat.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (9:15 pace)

All of my typical morning running buddies bailed Wednesday morning and so I ran on the treadmill. I listened to a podcast and the miles flew by. I love it when that happens!

Thursday – Easy: 5 miles (8:43 pace)

I was feeling kind of worn down Thursday morning, likely due to some lingering tiredness from Tuesday’s tempo workout and longer than normal days at work (or some combination of the two). I called it a day after 5 miles.

Friday – Easy: 10 miles (8:09 pace)

Friday morning’s run called for 10 X 30 second pickups with one minute recovery between each set. I did the pickups between miles 4 – 5 of the run. I’ve come to really enjoy these little 30 second pickups. Honestly, I used to just skip this entirely when it showed up on my schedule (sorry coach), because I thought to myself, “It’s only 5 minutes. Why even bother?”

It turns out that these quick repeats improve your stride power and train your body to get used to quicker paces and effort levels. The quick pickups make your regular pace seem easier by comparison. I usually end up running a little bit quicker than normal after the pickups, which is definitely what happened Friday morning.

Saturday – Long Run: 18 miles (7:38 pace)

I decided that this run-race combo deserved a post in and of itself and so feel free to check that out here. If you don’t feel like reading all of the details, the TL;DR version is that I made a last-minute decision to hop in a 10K for miles 10 through 16 of my 18 mile long run. I was actually |thisclose| to missing the start. I started chatting with a friend during the warm up miles and completely lost track of where we were and what time it was. We ended up having to basically run race pace for two miles to make it back to the start of the race, which we did (with about one minute to spare)!

My splits for the 10K were 6:49, 6:57, 6:33, 6:32, 6:33 and 6:39. I didn’t have any specific goals as far as the race went, as the main focus was getting the long run done. I was pleasantly surprised that my legs felt decent and I was able to maintain a respectable pace for the race. I finished it up with a two mile cool down and called it a day.

Sunday – Easy: 7 miles (9:52 pace)

After Saturday’s shenanigans, I wanted to take it easy and get in a true recovery effort. I was able to run with Jessica and we did the usual post-run breakfast + coffee thing, which was wonderful!

I hope everyone has a great week! Talk to you soon! 

4 thoughts on “Long May You Run

  • I’m going to try the pick ups in one of my runs this week. I’ve gotten pretty bad about doing any sort of short intervals so maybe just a few toward the end of a run will help. The weather here is still miserable, at least through today. It is supposed to be nice starting tomorrow though.

    I have done a few workouts where you could see the humidity and it is brutal. One of the bloggers I read called this “Aug-tober” and she is right!

  • I’m going to try the pick ups in one of my runs this week. I’ve gotten pretty bad about doing any sort of short intervals so maybe just a few toward the end of a run will help. The weather here is still miserable, at least through today. It is supposed to be nice starting tomorrow though.

    I have done a few workouts where you could see the humidity and it is brutal. One of the bloggers I read called this “Aug-tober” and she is right!

  • Pickups are a great little sneaky workout. They are about the only workout left I can manage anymore…and even so, they are so slow now! I both enjoy and not so much enjoy watching all my running friends get faster this fall! I miss it! Ooooh but fall finally came today so maybe I’ll have a chance to go out for a run today! Well….run stop, use the bathroom, run stop rearrange the belly, run, stop bathroom again.. haha! Podcasts get me through a lot these days though…and your doggy’s face… love it!!! Chessin for sure.

  • Pickups are a great little sneaky workout. They are about the only workout left I can manage anymore…and even so, they are so slow now! I both enjoy and not so much enjoy watching all my running friends get faster this fall! I miss it! Ooooh but fall finally came today so maybe I’ll have a chance to go out for a run today! Well….run stop, use the bathroom, run stop rearrange the belly, run, stop bathroom again.. haha! Podcasts get me through a lot these days though…and your doggy’s face… love it!!! Chessin for sure.

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