Hey friends!
Here is what training looked like the week of 05.13.19 – 05.19.19:
Monday – Easy: 6 miles (7:20 pace)
Since my workout on Sunday was later in the afternoon, I decided to sleep in Monday and ran after work instead. I am almost exclusively a morning runner at this point, but I gotta say, there is something about an evening run that is quite lovely. For one thing, my legs are much looser and more ready to go and my comfortable “easy” pace is much quicker than it is in the morning. Side note: my VDOT “easy” pace range is currently 7:10 to 7:50, but most days I do not come anywhere close to that!
Another thing is that it is nice to get out and burn off some steam after a stressful day. While morning runs set you up for a great day, an evening run can help you decompress after the day is otherwise done.
Tuesday AM – Easy: 7.5 miles (9:22 pace) + PM – Pilates
Joy and I had a great run Tuesday morning and I went to Pilates Tuesday evening!
Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (7:40 pace)
I slept in Wednesday morning (you know … until 6 a.m. instead of the usual 4 a.m. wake up call) and got my run in after work. Two evening runs in one week?! Who am I?! The only thing somewhat noteworthy about this run is that my phone somehow managed to FaceTime an entire group of people from my text messages while I had it in my Koala Clip. I honestly have no clue how this happened and only realized something was fishy when my music stopped playing. Luckily it was just my running girls group! No harm. No foul.
Thursday AM – Quality: 10 miles (7:23 pace) + PM – Easy: 6 miles (8:34 pace)
Thursday morning I did actually drag myself out of bed and managed to get a workout in. Major score! The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 8 X 2:00 at interval pace with 2:00 recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. My current goal pace for interval work is 5:26. I did this workout on the treadmill, but in hindsight, it actually started to get light enough that I would’ve felt comfortable outside. Don’t you just love this time of year? So much light in both the mornings and evenings! Anyway … maybe I’ll get outside next time, but the treadmill worked just fine.
When I do timed intervals on the treadmill, I make sure to adjust my pace up to goal speed during the last 10 seconds of my recoveries so that I am already up to speed once the interval starts. Otherwise, you shorten your intervals a bit as the treadmill adjusts to your pace. I was definitely working hard during this one, but at the same time, the work felt manageable and I didn’t ever feel out of control with the pace. Sometimes I am hesitant to do speed work on the treadmill because it can feel a bit out of control, but it seemed to work just fine for me this time. I also ended up averaging 5:26 for the minutes on (which was the exact goal), which is pretty funny, seeing as how there isn’t an exact treadmill speed that correlates to that pace and I didn’t even do all of the intervals at the same pace.
Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:40 pace)
Friday was a dark:thirty run with my girls! I love starting my day that way.
Saturday – Easy: 10 miles (8:39 pace)
I ran with Jessica and Joy Saturday morning. Jessica had a 75 minute run with some 20 second hill pickups and I decided to tag along.
Saturday afternoon we got to go out on the boat for the first time this year! Brooks had a blast (I enjoyed myself as well :))!
Sunday – Quality: 14 miles (8:38 pace)
Sunday’s workout called for a 9 mile “warm up,” 10 X 1:00 hill repeats (with 2 minute rest in between each set) and a 2 mile cool down (so basically just a long run w/ some hill repeats thrown in at the end). The prescribed pace for the hill repeats was to run “hard as hell,” so not really a quantifiable, pace per say, but more of a qualitative, effort-based pacing strategy. Ha!
I am more of a rhythm runner than a strength runner and hills tend to be hard for me, but I know that it is beneficial to of add hills into your training. Hills are “speed-work in disguise” and they help you build strength, stride power and running economy. I had a plethora of hills to choose from and I settled on one that seemed steep enough, but not mountainous (as if we have mountains in lower Alabama). My Garmin shows that I climbed over 900 ft. during the duration of this run, which seems decent. My average pace for the hills was 6:45 and I’ll definitely take it! Hill work is all about effort and I put the effort in!
Total – 68.5 miles
Have a great week!