Hey friends! It seems as if my weekly training log posts are the only consistent posts I can get done at this point, but hey, it’s better than nothing. I’m just easing back in and finding my rhythm with blogging (or something like that). Anyway, here is what this week’s training looked like!
Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:55 pace)
It seems as if Monday has become the day of the evening run. I’ve really been enjoying sleeping in lately. I feel like life in general has slowed down a little bit for everyone and I’m not sad about it. Without any races on the calendar, I don’t feel any need to get up and get the miles in before work. I have plenty of time after work to get it done, so it really works out quite nicely.
John (my coach) actually called while I was out running Monday evening, which was great. We chatted for over half an hour, which was also over half of my run. I figured if I couldn’t carry on a conversation while I was running, then I wasn’t doing my easy run easy enough (not that this is typically a problem for me at all). We talked about the workouts that I have coming up and kinda what the general plan would be for the rest of the summer and early fall.
We are going to build up my mileage some over the next six weeks, while still focusing on speed. I might do another one mile time trial and maybe a 5k time trial on the track at end of the six weeks, but nothing before that. After that, the plan is to move into more of a “specific” phase of training shifting the focus to threshold and half marathon work. If I can find a half marathon to race at the end of the year, that would be great! If not, it’s no big deal either as I’d probably choose to just do a time trial for that as well if it comes down to it.
Tuesday AM – Easy: 6 miles (8:58 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:53 pace)
Tuesday morning I got out and got 6 driveway miles in. Richard has been working really hard on the driveway and while the purpose of that is not to make it better for my running, that has been a nice unintended benefit. The road is much smoother now and the grade is more gradual. Obviously I still have to climb the same amount, but now the hills are just a little bit longer and less steep. I’m totally cool with that!
I did an easy double on the treadmill Tuesday evening. I get really excited when new episodes of the Up + Running Podcast drop on Tuesdays and I sometimes find myself wanting to run again just so that I can listen to the podcast. Tuesday also happens to be the day in my schedule that most easily allows for a double run anyway, so I guess it’s just meant to be.
I also got back into my core routine and did 5 minutes of planks and some stretching after my run. The next step is going to be to incorporate “drills” into my routine. I’ve never done drills before (even though just about every coach I’ve ever worked with has suggested them (insert facepalm)). It’s an area that I can definitely improve upon.
Wednesday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 16 X 200 w/ 200 float, 3 mi. CD
I did a decent job of getting up and getting out the door early enough on Wednesday morning to get my track workout in. I likely should’ve gone a tad earlier, given that my workout overlapped with the high school cross county practice a little bit. By the time they showed up, I only had 2 more repeats to go and I was totally in the zone, so I just went with it.
The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 16 X 200 meters at close to 5k pace with a 200 meter float recovery at “slower than marathon pace but faster than easy pace” and a 3 mile cool down. My goal for the 200s “on” was 40 seconds (5:22 pace) and my goal for the 200s “off” was 52-55 seconds (6:45 to 7:30 pace). I honestly don’t think I could do this again if I tried, but my first 12 repeats were all 40-41 seconds (the last 4 were slightly faster, but at that point I knew I had executed the workout properly and I had the ability to pick it up) and all of my floats were between 50-55 seconds.
I am really dang pleased with and proud of this workout, especially since my last workout before this one was such a flop. I was smooth and in control of the pace the entire time. I also had patience in the first few repeats to keep it in the prescribed range. Patience is not one of my virtues, so this was a big deal. In fact, I should probably mark it on my calendar as the day that I had patience and it paid off. Ha!
Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (8:47 pace) + PM – Pilates!
Thursday morning I got in some quiet driveway miles. I usually listen to a podcast or music when I run, but sometimes I like to just be alone with my thoughts. It was definitely a very peaceful way to start the day. I continued with my planks as well and got 6 minutes of planking done after my run.
Friday – Easy: 6 miles (8:52 pace)
Sometimes we get off work a tad early on a summer Friday. Granted this year has been a little wacky with the tax deadline in July … but that’s neither here nor there at this point. I got off early enough to get several errands knocked off of my list, to get 6 easy miles in and to get back home not too much later than I would’ve on a normal day. Sweet!
Saturday – Quality: 10 miles (3 mi. WU, 4 miles @ MP, 8 X 200, 2 mi. CD)
Saturday’s workout ended up being a bit of a “fly by the seat of my pants” sort of thing. I was supposed to have a track workout of alternating 600 and 400 meter repeats and I was actually really looking forward to it. Against my better judgement, I went to a different track than where I have been going recently and it ended up not working out for me to run there. Such a bummer!
I checked my training plan and found a workout two weeks out that was going to be on the road, so I made the executive decision to switch the workouts. The better decision, according to my coach after-the-fact, would’ve been to just do the workout that was scheduled based on time instead of distance. I really want to do that one on the track though, so I am still okay with my decision (as was he). If I had a big goal race coming up, I would not have switched the workouts like that, but during this phase of “base” or “fundamental” training, it’s not really a big deal.
My new and improved workout called for 4 miles at marathon pace followed by 8 X 200 meter repeats. My splits for the “marathon pace” miles were 6:13, 6:19, 6:05 and 6:06. The first two miles had some uphills, the third mile was pancake flat and the last mile had a decent downhill stretch. I’m thinking this is actually somewhere between marathon pace and threshold effort. I know that there is no way I could’ve run that pace for 22 more miles in those conditions (76 degrees and 95 percent humidity). I’m also not training for a marathon right now (or possibly ever again (I kid … kinda)), so obviously I shouldn’t be able to run 22 more miles at that pace. Duh! I do think I could’ve held that pace for at least an hour, but that would’ve probably still been a bit challenging. Either way, it was a solid four miles.
The 8 X 200 meter repeat portion of the workout was definitely far from perfect. I found a flat portion of road with minimal traffic that seemed to be about 200 meters and just went with it. I basically ran 40 second repeats each time and I’m not exactly sure what the distance was in meters. I did still have some turnover in my legs, which was a nice surprise (a real nice surprise!). I averaged 5:26 pace for those repeats, but the actual paces varied from 5:08 (the last one) to 5:58 (the first one). One thing is for sure and that is my legs were TOAST on the cool down. I basically shuffled 2 miles and called it a day.
Sunday – Easy: 13 miles (8:43 pace)
After my workout Saturday morning, John asked if I would be up for a run of close to 2 hours on Sunday. I told him that I could definitely try. I did one of those things where I do the opposite of what I should do and I started my run at 10:30 a.m. I mean, I did really enjoy sleeping in and piddling around the house before I started, but this was a bit excessive. If I’m being honest, the run really wasn’t as terrible as it likely should’ve could’ve been. It was 84 degrees, but the humidity was *only* 75 percent. My unprofessional opinion at this point is that if it is super hot, you are likely okay to do an easy run, but I would not recommend attempting any sort of quality session.
Total – 64 miles
That’s it for now. Have a great week!