Training Log – 08.02.20

Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!

Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:41 pace)

I did my standard easy run after work on Monday afternoon. I definitely had some remnants of the prior weekend’s back to back workout and long run combination. It’s been a while since I’ve had two big days back to back. Granted, the long run was at easy pace, but it was still the longest run I had done in a while.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 7 miles (8:50 pace) + PM – Easy: 3 miles (8:39 pace)

Tuesday morning I ran from home. There wasn’t really anything major to report from this run. I enjoy doing this route though, because my “Strava art” looks like a sailboat!

Tuesday evening I went over to my mom and dad’s house to visit and did a short run. It started to sprinkle almost immediately once I started running, but it wasn’t a hard rain and it felt quite lovely. Of course the sprinkle turned into a downpour once I got to the farthest point away from the house that I could possibly get on my normal loop. I don’t know how it always happens this way, but it really does! I was planning to do 5 miles, but decided to just turn around and head straight back to the house at that point.

Once I got back to the neighborhood, I heard a mysterious high pitched ringing. I guess no one else was outside to hear it (given that it was pouring rain, this made sense), but it was driving me crazy and I wanted to figure out where it was coming from. About thirty minutes later, a transformer blew right outside the window. I saw a big blue “explosion” and then another yellow “explosion.” This was quite a lot of excitement for a Tuesday evening!

Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 2 mi. @ threshold, 5 mi. CD

I had a workout on tap Wednesday morning and it ended up being a total flop. The workout was supposed to be a 2 mile warm up, 5 X 1 mile at threshold with decreasing recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. I don’t know why I attempted this one on the treadmill, but at the time it seemed like a good option (#regrets). Basically I didn’t want to get up any earlier than I had to and drive anywhere to do it, so … it seems that I am getting in my own way with laziness at this point. Usually I am pretty pumped about and look forward to workout days, but I didn’t have those feelings towards this workout at all. Since half (or more) of the battle is mental, this was definitely not a good sign of things to come.

My goal pace for the threshold miles was in the 5:45-5:50 range. The first mile (according to the treadmill) was 6:12 and I. was. dying. I’m not even being dramatic (okay, okay … maybe just a little). I felt like I had run a 5:12 mile and not a 6:12 mile. I tried to regroup, but the next mile was 6:20 and I knew at that point that something was majorly wrong. I know that the treadmill calibration is off some and that is definitely part of the problem, but I also think that perhaps my body was just not recovered from the weekend before. Either way, the workout didn’t go well, but that is part of the process. Can’t win them all!

Thursday AM – Easy: 6 miles (9:02 pace) + PM – Pilates!

Thursday morning I did a few driveway miles before work. My legs were still fairly tired and I was very content to take it easy pace-wise.

Friday – Easy: 7.5 miles (8:42 pace)

Friday morning I did another sailboat loop! See pic above (which is actually from Friday’s run anyway).

Saturday – Quality: 9 miles (3 mi. WU, 5 X 600/400, 2 mi. CD) 

I was a little bit apprehensive heading into the workout Saturday morning. It’s funny how one bad workout can really mess with your head sometimes. I wasn’t sure if that was just a fluke or if I had lost every single bit of fitness I had ever gained and was washed up forever. If you’ve been there, you understand. I’m happy to report that Saturday’s workout went really well, so I’m considering Wednesday’s flop to be a fluke … a fluke flop if you will.

This workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 5 sets of alternating 600 meter repeats and 400 meter repeats and a 2 mile cool down. The 600s were run at close to 5k pace and the 400s were run at close to 1 mile effort and thankfully there was plenty of recovery (1:30 after the 600s and 2:30 after the 400s). My pacing ended up being very consistent and I ran between 2:01-2:02 for each 600 (5:20 ish pace) and between 1:16-1:17 for each 400 (5:05 ish pace). What a relief to know that I still have it! Ha.

Sunday AM – Easy: 9 miles (8:55 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:45 pace)

I had 14 miles on the schedule Sunday. I’m pretty sure that the intent was that I would do it consecutively, but I had a presentation to give Sunday afternoon that I procrastinated preparing for until Sunday morning. In my mind, this made sense so that I would only be stressed about it for one day instead of worrying about it for several days.

I got up really early Sunday morning, but I didn’t actually get out the door to start running until about 9:30 when I finally hit a mental block on the presentation prep and needed to get out and clear my head. At that point, I didn’t have time to run for 2+ hours, finish up what I needed to do, get ready and still make it to the meeting on time, so I decided to split the run up and do the second part after the meeting. It was really nice to get out again that evening after everything was done to just relax a little bit.

Total – 62.5 miles

That’s it for now. Have a great week!