Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like!
Monday – Easy: 6 miles (7:57 pace) + PM – Pilates!
I was on a mission Monday morning to get my run in outside before what was forecasted to be a super rainy week. The rain was supposed to start Monday morning, so time was of the essence. The imminent rain threat made for my fastest driveway run to date. Basically, it turned into a progressive easy run (splits were 8:44, 8:15, 8:11, 7:54, 7:29, 7:12). I don’t usually pay attention to all of my splits, but I knew I was picking it up as I went along and then it kind of just turned into a little game. Whatever it takes I suppose!
I got in a good Pilates session Monday evening. I am planning to do Pilates every other week going forward and to work with my form coach on the opposite weeks of Pilates. This makes my overall budget for whatever this category even is [I think I have it listed as “Running – Other”] stay the same. My nerdiness and responsibility get the better of me sometimes.
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:16 pace)
I ran on the treadmill Tuesday evening. I’ve been meaning to replace the battery in my Garmin foot pod for quite some time. I’m pretty sure it’s been dead for all of 2020 at this point. Good news is … it hasn’t missed much. Ha. I was messing with my watch, my phone, my headphones and all the paraphernalia necessary for an enjoyable treadmill run and I managed to forget to actually start my watch. Of course, I didn’t realize this until it started beeping to alert me that it was going into power save mode. Such a bummer. I want credit for every mile, especially on the treadmill! After I got everything up and going, I had a good run. When I run on the treadmill, I like to vary the pace every couple of minutes to keep things interesting.
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 6 X 300/200/100, 2 mi. CD
Wednesday’s workout was a 2 mile warm up, and six sets of a 300, 200, 100 meter ladder and a 2 mile cool down. Not to brag, but I am super proud of myself for getting up and getting to the track early enough to get this in before work. This is something that I used to do without a second thought, but has been a major struggle for me recently. I even got to go back to my regular track for the first time since March. They kept the track closed all spring and summer because of COVID, which totally makes sense. I was just super thankful to be back. It’s funny how much appreciation we can have during this time for things that used to feel completely mundane and ordinary.
The workout went really, really well! Basically the goal was to run FAST for all the reps. The pace was essentially supposed to be the same for each distance. I got a 2 minute walking rest after the 300s, 1:30 after the 200s and 1 minute after the 100s. Embarrassingly enough, I managed to run a little bit over 300 meters on the 300s and a little under 100 meters on the 100s because it was dark when I started and my early morning, pre-coffee brain couldn’t figure out where the 300 meter mark was on the track. Either way, I kept it consistent the whole time so each rep was the same distance, even if it was the wrong distance.
My averages were 56 for the 300s, 36 for the 200s and 16 for the 100s (basically somewhere just at or under 4:50 pace for all of them). John said that he thinks I am ready to go for another fast one-mile time at this point. I just might be ready to go for it sooner rather than later. We were originally thinking that we would wait until it cooled off some, but who knows … there’s no time like the present!
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles (8:15 pace)
I decided to give my legs 12 extra hours of recovery and not run until Thursday evening. Either that or I just wanted to sleep in … but let’s go with the former. I went over to my parents’ house after work and did an easy 6 miles from there. The temperature was 84 with a feels like temperature of 97! Mercy! Despite the heat, I felt fine. I feel like my easy pace this week has naturally started to drop down some. I don’t know if this means anything at all, but I’m going to pretend like it’s a good sign.
Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:21 pace)
I did a sailboat loop Friday morning and ended up with an extra mile because I ran back and forth trying to get a dog that was following me to go back to his house. Secretly, I just wanted him to run with me the whole time, but I figured his owner might not be too thrilled with that … or maybe he would be fine with it! I need to ask. Once I retire from public accounting, I want to be a professional dog runner. I’m sure people would pay me to run with their dogs, right?!
Saturday – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 4 miles at marathon pace, 3 mi. CD
Saturday’s workout called for a three mile warm up, four miles at marathon pace and a three mile cool down. Just to be clear, I am NOT training for a marathon, nor do I think I could run 26.2 miles at the pace that my coach prescribed for this workout. Since it was on my calendar, I just went with it! I got started right at 8 a.m., which is pretty typical for me on the weekends these days. I’m still loving my sleep!
I did the warm up at a bit of a faster pace than I typically do my easy runs and I went straight into the workout afterwards without any sort of break. I wouldn’t do this before a track workout, but I like doing a progressive warm up and working my way down before marathon pace efforts. I don’t think this changes the overall intent of the workout itself, which is the most important thing.
My goal pace for the marathon miles was 6:10 and my splits were 6:16, 6:11, 6:17 and 6:10. There was a massive downpour during mile three of the marathon pace miles. I was slightly annoyed for like two seconds and then quickly realized that the rain felt AMAZING. That’s gotta be the coolest temperature I have run in in quite some time. I was drenched from head to toe from a combination of sweat and rain at the end of the run, but man that run felt good! Once I got back home, I realized that my shirt was inside out the whole time. I swear this happens to me more often than I feel like it should. Most of my running shirts are very thin and they obviously look the same to me both ways. Does anyone else have this problem?!
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles (8:28 pace)
Sunday afternoon (or perhaps evening would be more accurate), I ran 12 miles on the driveway. I ran out and back 4 times and got 990 feet of climbing in the process. I’m kinda glad that I waited until later in the day to run because my legs needed some extra recovery after Saturday’s workout. I had to go in to work for a little bit in the morning anyway, so that worked out nicely. My schedule is so weird right now. I know so many of you can relate! We are all just doing the best we can, day in and day out. Gotta keep on keepin on!
Total – 56.5 miles
That’s it for now. Have a great week!