Hey friends! Trying something a bit new with the training log this week. I think I like it. I hope you do too!
Monday – 9.0 mile run (8:20 pace) w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:10 pace)
- Temperature: 82℉
- Humidity: 82%
- Listened to: I’ll Have Another Episode 399: Starla García – Cultural and Body Diversity in Running and Nutrition
- Ran at 10 a.m., which is a slower time as far as traffic is concerned, so I was able to venture off of our street and do a more interesting route (the one I like to refer to as my “sailboat loop”).
- Mile 7 of the run was 6 X 30 second strides. I do these on the pavement before I get back to the dirt portion of the driveway. I sprint for 30 seconds, then turn around, walk for 15-20 seconds and slowly jog back to the starting point & repeat 5 more times.
- On the episode Starla mentioned that she jots down notes in Strava and uses that as a training journal, which prompted me to change the format of these posts a little bit to more of a stream of consciousness format. If I can jot down a few notes each day as I go, I think that’ll be more helpful and I think I’ll ultimately have more to say about each run.
Tuesday – 9.0 mile run w/ 2 X 2 mile tempo (7:20 pace)
- Temperature: 79℉
- Humidity: 91%
- Listened to: Fuel for the Sole Episode 32: Blood Glucose Changes + Running and Types of Sports Fuel on the warm up and cool down and listened to music during the workout portion!
- Side note: I have learned so much from this podcast. Mainly re: carbohydrate intake & proper hydration.
- The football team was using the track, so I had to do this one on the roads. Darn football players really cramping my style. Ha. I made my route up on the fly!
- Pre-run I had a scoop of athletic greens w/ 8 oz. of water, 12 oz. of coffee and a bagel.
- The 2 mile tempos were 2 sets of 1200s @ 10k pace w/ 400 floats. I did a half mile of jogging rest between the two sets.
- Goal pace for the 1200s was 6:04 pace. Goal pace for the 400s was 7:00 pace. My coach said that he calculated those paces by taking my 5k time trial time and subtracting 15 seconds because he thinks in a race setting with other people I would’ve been a tad faster.
- Lap splits were 4:38/1:38, 4:36/1:41, 4:32/1:46, 4:33/1:41.
- Mile splits were 6:16, 6:17, 6:18, 6:14.
- I felt decent until the 3rd tempo mile. My heart rate didn’t really come down at all during the “float.” This was about 40 minutes in to the run. I want to track this a bit more and see if adjusting pre-run fueling or hydration impacts the point at which I start to fatigue.
- The 4th tempo mile was a grind. I was hot and ready to be done!
- This workout was more strength than speed focused. The strength based workouts are harder for me and are where I need to focus my training if I want to race longer distances.
- We do Moe’s Monday (Moe’s Southwest Grill) every week and I think that makes an excellent pre-workout meal. My sweat was very salty today and no bathroom breaks were required!
- Refueled with greek yogurt, a protein shake and Skratch sport hydration drink mix immediately post-run.
Wednesday – 9.0 mile run (8:40 pace)
- Temperature: 81℉
- Humidity: 91%
- Listened to: Some Work All Play Episode 111: Hardrock 100 Miler, World Track Champs, and Intergalactic Reflections!
- I ran a 3 mile out and back stretch from the house 3 times.
- Climbed 650 feet!
- My legs were definitely feeling the effects of yesterday’s workout and I wasn’t very peppy this morning.
- Three months ago, 9 miles was my long run for the week and now here we are on my third day in a row of 9 mile runs! So much progress in such a short time!
Thursday – 11.75 mile elliptical (5:35 pace)
- Temperature: 77℉ (indoors!)
- Listened to: Ali on the Run Show Episode 543: World Athletics Championships Recap, Part I with Jay Holder
- Average heart rate: 150 bpm
- Recovery day!
- Went to the gym after dropping Ward off at school. I haven’t been to the gym in a few weeks and enjoyed the change of scenery from the home elliptical.
- Alternated directions on the elliptical every 5k throughout.
Friday – 7.0 mile run (7:05 pace)
- Temperature: 78℉
- Humidity: 92%
- Listened to: Ali on the Run Show Episode 544: Ask Ali, World Championships Edition on the warm up and cool down and listened to music during the workout portion!
- Workout was 2 mile warm up, 12 X 200 w/ 200 recovery and a 2 mile cool down.
- Goal pace was 5:20 (40 seconds per 200).
- Actual splits were 39, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 39, 38 and 38.
- I went earlier than normal, before dropping Ward off at school and had the track to myself! Woo to the hoo!
- About three quarters of the way through the workout, I realized that I was letting off the gas ever so slightly in the last 100 of each rep. I started making a conscious effort to push once I got to the 100 meter mark (after coming out of the turn).
- I wonder how many miles the Saucony Endorphin Speed is supposed to last? This shoe is definitely one of my all time favorites. I’ve currently got 160 miles on this pair.
Saturday – 13.1 mile run (8:10 pace)
- Temperature: 80℉
- Humidity: 87%
- Listened to: Some Work All Play Podcast Sexy Shakeout #9: Caffeine Use, Cross Training Guidelines, and Supershoes! and The Drop Podcast Episode 99: World Athletics Championships.
- I love David and Megan’s podcast so much. I support them on Patreon, which is where this episode is found. They are so smart and I love their scientific approach to training and their positive outlook on life! I do, however, which their language was a bit more reigned in. When you have such an expansive vocabulary as they do, you should certainly be able to substitute a few choice words for something more meaningful.
- Richard went to the chicken auction in Atmore Saturday morning, so I took Ward over to my mom and dad’s and my mom watched him while I ran. Thank you, Pom Pom!
- It was fun to run through my old stomping grounds. I chose an out and back route with some gentle rollers.
- For some reason, I developed a side stitch (actually I think it was more in my rib cage area) around mile 9. This happens so infrequently that I always seem to promptly forget about it after the fact. Documenting it here this time so that I can refer back and try to determine what causes it.
- I saw a lot of female runners out, which was both nice and also a bit sad because everyone was running alone. I think we all need a good old fashioned group run every now and then!
Sunday – 8.0 mile run (8:55 pace)
- Temperature: 77℉
- Humidity: 91%
- I got to run with Rebecca Sunday morning! She was doing a longer run than I was, but we met up for 8 miles together. It’s nice to run with someone who truly gets you and who you can open up to and not feel judged by! This was a very nice way to finish up the training week.
Totals –
Running: 55.25 miles
Elliptical: 11.75 miles
Thanks for following along. Talk to you guys soon!