Hey friends!
Here is what training looked like the week of 06.07.21 – 06.13.21:
Monday AM – Easy: 3.75 miles (9:04 pace) + PM – Easy: 5.35 miles (7:47 pace)
Monday started off with a somewhat literal bang! My tire blew out as I was on my way to meet friends to run. I was less than a mile away from where I was meeting them, which was both good and bad. Good that I was close, but bad because I just kept driving and destroyed the tire. Long story short, the run got cut a bit short because I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.
I did, however, manage to get in a few miles after work to make up for what I missed. Not that it would’ve been a big deal to miss out on those miles, but I felt good and wanted to get it in, so that’s what I did. I did a few twenty second strides after the evening portion of the run to prime my legs for a workout Tuesday morning.
Tuesday AM – Quality: 9 miles (7:26) + PM – Strength
Tuesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 2 X 10 minute @ threshold w/ 3 minute recovery, 4 X 1 minute @ interval with 1 minute recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I certainly seemed to pick a heckuva week to add back some official quality miles to my schedule. Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. it was 75° w/ a dew point of 74° (rough for sure!). The two ten minute blocks were supposed to be at threshold pace (approximately 6:15) and the four one minute blocks were supposed to be at interval pace (approximately 5:45). With that being said, the goal wasn’t so much to nail a specific pace as it was supposed to be to run the appropriate effort. Theoretically that should always be the goal, but I think it’s even more important when coming back from an extended period of down time. I have been maintaining a really solid base level of running fitness, but I haven’t been doing any quality sessions, so I’m not as speedy as I once was and also my internal speedometer is a bit rusty.
I tried my best not to look at the paces at all during the workout. I glanced down a couple times on the threshold miles mainly to make sure I wasn’t taking it out too hot. I averaged 6:13 for the first set and 6:09 for the second set. I averaged 5:32 for the minutes on, which was definitely a bit too spicy, but the paces felt doable at the time. I will say that afterwards, I was cooked. My stomach also decided to revolt immediately after the workout, which is also likely a sign that I over-ran it a bit. Thankfully there was a bathroom really close by! Otherwise, that wouldn’t have ended well. It had been quite a while since I have pushed myself that hard. I had almost completely forgotten what those post-workout endorphins felt like! Ahh-mazing!
Thankfully, Tuesday’s strength session was chest and triceps. I don’t think I could’ve handled any sort of legs that day.
Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (8:56 pace)
I met friends again Wednesday morning for some nice recovery miles. I can’t believe that I went months without really running with anyone to speak of. I’ve missed this!
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles (8:44 pace) + Strength
I planned to get out before work Thursday morning, but right as I was about to run we had a little pop up shower. In hindsight, I totally should’ve gone ahead and run anyway, but in the moment, I decided to knock some chores out and enjoy extra coffee time at home with Richard before work. It was 87° with a feels like temp of 98° when I ran later that afternoon. Holy hotness! To say that run was a struggle would be a bit of an understatement.
After my run, I went to the gym for a 45 minute group strength training class. We typically do the class inside, but this week we were actually outside. It was actually shady with a nice breeze and felt so much cooler than it did when I was running. Thank goodness! I don’t know if I would’ve survived otherwise. This week’s class was a bit more cardio than strength focused (I think technically all the classes are high-intensity interval training (HIIT) style). We did 5 X 30 seconds of jumping jacks, push ups, high knees, mountain climbers, jump rope, sled pulls, kettlebell swings and battle ropes. The time flew by!
Friday – Easy: 8 miles (9:07 pace)
I struggled again on my easy run Friday morning. I think it’s going to take me a little bit of time to get used to incorporating quality runs and strength training into my regular routine. I’ve done Pilates in conjunction with heavy training volume in the past, but never anything with weights.
Saturday – Quality: 13 miles (7:45 pace)
Saturday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3 X 2 miles at threshold pace with a half mile recovery and a 2 mile cool down. The plan was to drop the pace a bit on each set (goal paces were 6:30, 6:20 and 6:10). Thankfully Rebecca and Kara convinced me to start at 5 a.m., because if I had gone any later, it would’ve been ugly. It was 79° w/ a dew point of 72° when we started. I just thought Tuesday was rough. Nope! Saturday was brutal. I think it’s more of an insult because May was so nice. We typically ease into the intense heat gradually, but this year it’s like a bit ole slap in the face.
I honestly didn’t have high expectations for this run, especially after struggling through my easy runs on both Thursday and Friday. I also know that I probably should’ve adjusted the goal paces a bit beforehand, but I just told myself to get into it and see how I felt. I surprised myself on the first two sets, averaging 6:32 and 6:21. Even though those were doable, I was also getting really hot. I paused my watch for a minute or two after the second set, got some water and let the cold water fountain water run all over my face. It was glorious! I think that gave me just enough of the pick-me-up I needed to go forth and conquer the last set. I guess I got a bit overly zealous and I ran the first mile of the last set in 6:07. Granted, this was close to what I was supposed to do, but it also turned out to be a bit much. I made it halfway through the last mile of the workout (so close!) and stopped to walk. I walked a tenth of a mile before convincing myself that I could indeed finish this thing. I finished it up with a really solid half mile (but forgot to lap my watch at the end of it (fail!)).
All in all, I am definitely considering this one major victory. This was a BIG workout in BIG heat and I did the dang thing. That was also my longest run all year. WOW! Welcome back, eh?!
Sunday – Easy: 6.5 miles (8:31 pace)
I finished up the week with some easy miles. I also did 30 minutes of Pilates at home in the afternoon, which seems like a nice, relaxing way to wrap up the week!
Total – 58.6 miles of running + 1.75 hours of strength