Daily details:
We: 8
Th: 9
Fr: fartlek: (5, 4, 3), (4, 3, 2), (3, 2, 1) min. with equal recoveries
Sa: 8
Su: 9 plus strides
Mo: 7
Tu: 18 @ 7:17/mi. average, pushing the last 3 miles in 6:44, 43, 40
Week total: 70
The decision to redirect my focus from Turin to Pisa helped me turn things around this week. After last Tuesday's steady 18-miler, my recovery runs were a mile or two longer than they had been in previous weeks. I felt it for the first few days, but mostly I think it just required a mental adjustment to put in a bit more time each day. Friday's fartlek was slow because it was my first non-easy paced run in two weeks since before I got sick, but as usual it snapped me back into form. The next few easy runs were quicker and felt more comfortable, even though by the weekend I had accumulated more miles in any 7 day stretch yet this year. The real highlight of the week, though, wasn't finally hitting 70 miles but nailing Tuesday's long run. One week after averaging 7:38 pace for 18 miles (that is, starting slower and finishing faster than that), this time I started out at that pace and gradually squeezed it down to the 6:40s over the same distance, averaging 21 seconds faster per mile than last week. My coach's instructions were just to run 6:40-50 pace for miles 16-18, but the whole run ended up being faster from the beginning. I suspect that this jump in fitness may be a combined effect of bouncing back from being sick (and resting), and of adapting to the increase in (mostly easy) mileage this week. The plan now is to do a couple more weeks of the same volume with more of the usual types of workouts: another (hopefully faster) fartlek and then a long run with two sets of faster push miles next week. Even though it's late October now, it has felt like summer for the entire two months I've been in Rome. The temperature is usually still in the 80s (fahrenheit) when I run - sometimes upper 70s, sometimes low 90s. But there are signs today that Fall may finally be approaching here. Today I wore (short) sleeves on my run for the first time in months!
We: 8
Th: 9
Fr: fartlek: (5, 4, 3), (4, 3, 2), (3, 2, 1) min. with equal recoveries
Sa: 8
Su: 9 plus strides
Mo: 7
Tu: 18 @ 7:17/mi. average, pushing the last 3 miles in 6:44, 43, 40
Week total: 70
The decision to redirect my focus from Turin to Pisa helped me turn things around this week. After last Tuesday's steady 18-miler, my recovery runs were a mile or two longer than they had been in previous weeks. I felt it for the first few days, but mostly I think it just required a mental adjustment to put in a bit more time each day. Friday's fartlek was slow because it was my first non-easy paced run in two weeks since before I got sick, but as usual it snapped me back into form. The next few easy runs were quicker and felt more comfortable, even though by the weekend I had accumulated more miles in any 7 day stretch yet this year. The real highlight of the week, though, wasn't finally hitting 70 miles but nailing Tuesday's long run. One week after averaging 7:38 pace for 18 miles (that is, starting slower and finishing faster than that), this time I started out at that pace and gradually squeezed it down to the 6:40s over the same distance, averaging 21 seconds faster per mile than last week. My coach's instructions were just to run 6:40-50 pace for miles 16-18, but the whole run ended up being faster from the beginning. I suspect that this jump in fitness may be a combined effect of bouncing back from being sick (and resting), and of adapting to the increase in (mostly easy) mileage this week. The plan now is to do a couple more weeks of the same volume with more of the usual types of workouts: another (hopefully faster) fartlek and then a long run with two sets of faster push miles next week. Even though it's late October now, it has felt like summer for the entire two months I've been in Rome. The temperature is usually still in the 80s (fahrenheit) when I run - sometimes upper 70s, sometimes low 90s. But there are signs today that Fall may finally be approaching here. Today I wore (short) sleeves on my run for the first time in months!
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