Week of March 19-25: 30 miles in 4 days
Monday: off
Tuesday: 8.2 miles at 7:30/mi.
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 6.6 miles at 7:30/mi.
Friday: 8.2 miles at 7:24/mi.
Saturday: off
Sunday: Chris4Life Scope It Out 5k race
Bad allergies sidelined me this week. I took off Monday anyway, but already I was sleeping badly because coughing was keeping me up much of the night. By Wednesday I had lost my voice and was having trouble believing that allergies could be so bad. On the hypothesis that maybe I was sick, I took another day off from running. But no, it's allergies. From Thursday through Saturday I subsisted on almost no sleep. Finally I got some sleep on Saturday night, but not enough to offset the whole miserable week. So it's not surprising that I ran badly in the race on Sunday. I had intended to take a down week this week anyway, though not quite like this.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Week of March 12-18: 55 miles in 7 days
Monday: 7 miles with stroller at 7:58/mi.
Tuesday: 10.7 miles at 7:19/mi.
Wednesday: 5 miles at 7:33/mi.
Thursday: repetition workout on the track (see below)
Friday: 7 miles with stroller at 8:13/mi.
Saturday: 8.2 miles at 7:30/mi.
Sunday: 2 easy, 5 mile tempo run at 6:38/mi., 2 easy
I skipped the RnR USA half-marathon on Saturday for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post. Instead this week continued my pattern established last week of ok hard runs about every third day with recovery for the two days in between. But I took an extra day to recover from the 8k race the previous Sunday, in part because my Tuesday run was not quite easy, and it was 80 degrees. My track workout on Thursday was a ladder: 4x200(200), 2x400(400), 1x800(800), 2x400(400), 4x200(200), all at Daniels' VDOT 55 pace, which is about 5:24/mile. I didn't feel great, perhaps in part because it was 80 degrees again and I'm not used to either the heat or the Spring allergens yet. I was still a bit sore after the easy runs over the next two days but went ahead with my tempo run on Sunday anyway. It went fine, but my left lower leg and foot have been hurting ever since. So I'll take tomorrow off and then play things by ear this coming week, which I had intended anyway to be at around 75% of my usual weekly mileage these days. I'd like to get in one last repetition workout midweek, but my priority is to be healthy for the 5k race next weekend. The week after that will probably be all easy running leading up to the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, after which I'll switch from repetition workouts (mostly 400's at around 30/sec. faster than 5k race pace) to VO2 max intervals (mostly 1200's at 5k race pace) and more tempo runs. A few weeks of that should prepare me for a fast 10k at the end of April, if I manage to avoid getting injured.
Monday: 7 miles with stroller at 7:58/mi.
Tuesday: 10.7 miles at 7:19/mi.
Wednesday: 5 miles at 7:33/mi.
Thursday: repetition workout on the track (see below)
Friday: 7 miles with stroller at 8:13/mi.
Saturday: 8.2 miles at 7:30/mi.
Sunday: 2 easy, 5 mile tempo run at 6:38/mi., 2 easy
I skipped the RnR USA half-marathon on Saturday for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post. Instead this week continued my pattern established last week of ok hard runs about every third day with recovery for the two days in between. But I took an extra day to recover from the 8k race the previous Sunday, in part because my Tuesday run was not quite easy, and it was 80 degrees. My track workout on Thursday was a ladder: 4x200(200), 2x400(400), 1x800(800), 2x400(400), 4x200(200), all at Daniels' VDOT 55 pace, which is about 5:24/mile. I didn't feel great, perhaps in part because it was 80 degrees again and I'm not used to either the heat or the Spring allergens yet. I was still a bit sore after the easy runs over the next two days but went ahead with my tempo run on Sunday anyway. It went fine, but my left lower leg and foot have been hurting ever since. So I'll take tomorrow off and then play things by ear this coming week, which I had intended anyway to be at around 75% of my usual weekly mileage these days. I'd like to get in one last repetition workout midweek, but my priority is to be healthy for the 5k race next weekend. The week after that will probably be all easy running leading up to the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, after which I'll switch from repetition workouts (mostly 400's at around 30/sec. faster than 5k race pace) to VO2 max intervals (mostly 1200's at 5k race pace) and more tempo runs. A few weeks of that should prepare me for a fast 10k at the end of April, if I manage to avoid getting injured.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Week of March 5-11: 55 miles in 6 days/runs
Monday: 13.1 miles on a hilly course at 7:43/mi.
Tuesday: 8.2 miles at 7:27/mi.
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 3 easy, 2x2miles at 6:21/mi. avg. (with 2 minutes rest in between), 2 easy
Friday: 8.2 miles at 7:40/mi.
Saturday: 7 miles at 7:45/mi.
Sunday: St. Patrick's Day 8k race
I got in the right kinds of runs this week, though all but one were just ok. I finally got a medium-long hill run in again, did some slightly longer tempo intervals at a faster pace, and ran an 8k race. The tempo intervals went the best. I ran the second mile of the first interval a little too fast (6:17) and paid for it at the beginning of the second interval (my first mile there was 6:26). But I was able to bring the last mile back to 6:21 without, I think, pushing too hard for a workout. My pace for these tempo intervals was only 9 seconds per mile slower than my pace in the 8k race a few days later. But I don't think the intervals were too fast - or at least not by much. They didn't wear me out very much, and I'm sure that I could have run the 8k faster (see below). The hilly medium-long run caused me to bonk a little, presumably because it had been too long since I did it. It's clear that I'm not in good half-marathon shape. Since I'm also going to be really busy for the next few weeks, I may skip the RNR USA half-marathon next weekend. The only good reason not to skip it seems to be that I paid a fair bit of money for it - I originally registered for the full marathon but switched to the half after getting injured in January. But I'm not up to running a very good time anyway, and skipping it would both give me more time and energy to get non-running work done in the next couple weeks, and even just from a running perspective it would enable me to do 2-3 workouts that otherwise I'd have to skip or postpone. I'm thinking it may be smarter to focus on shorter races (maybe up to 10 miles, but mainly 10k and under) in the Spring anyway, and transition in the Summer toward training for a Fall marathon. But I hadn't worked that out yet when I signed up for this half. It would be the second (and most expensive) half I've skipped.
St. Patrick's Day 8k: my time was 30:51, which is a 6:12/mi. pace. It was a PR by 14 seconds, but just ok relative to my current training. My mile paces were uneven: 5:58, 6:11, 6:09, 6:17, 6:16. (My Garmin says I ran exactly 5 miles.) My 5k split was 18:52, which is fine. The second mile has some uphills and several sharp turns, so it's hard to run that fast. But after that I couldn't pick things back up enough. To be honest, once it became clear around halfway that sub-30 (my goal for the race) wasn't going to happen, I failed to muster the guts to finish out the last two miles as strong as I could have. That goal may have been over-ambitious for now. But if I had slept better the night before (my son kept me up) and kept pushing hard to the end, I think I could have run 30 seconds faster. This race suggests that I may be up for a fast 5k in two weeks, especially if I skip the half next weekend; and that I need to emphasize tempo runs to improve my stamina for maintaining a hard pace beyond 2-3 miles, which I knew already.
Monday: 13.1 miles on a hilly course at 7:43/mi.
Tuesday: 8.2 miles at 7:27/mi.
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 3 easy, 2x2miles at 6:21/mi. avg. (with 2 minutes rest in between), 2 easy
Friday: 8.2 miles at 7:40/mi.
Saturday: 7 miles at 7:45/mi.
Sunday: St. Patrick's Day 8k race
I got in the right kinds of runs this week, though all but one were just ok. I finally got a medium-long hill run in again, did some slightly longer tempo intervals at a faster pace, and ran an 8k race. The tempo intervals went the best. I ran the second mile of the first interval a little too fast (6:17) and paid for it at the beginning of the second interval (my first mile there was 6:26). But I was able to bring the last mile back to 6:21 without, I think, pushing too hard for a workout. My pace for these tempo intervals was only 9 seconds per mile slower than my pace in the 8k race a few days later. But I don't think the intervals were too fast - or at least not by much. They didn't wear me out very much, and I'm sure that I could have run the 8k faster (see below). The hilly medium-long run caused me to bonk a little, presumably because it had been too long since I did it. It's clear that I'm not in good half-marathon shape. Since I'm also going to be really busy for the next few weeks, I may skip the RNR USA half-marathon next weekend. The only good reason not to skip it seems to be that I paid a fair bit of money for it - I originally registered for the full marathon but switched to the half after getting injured in January. But I'm not up to running a very good time anyway, and skipping it would both give me more time and energy to get non-running work done in the next couple weeks, and even just from a running perspective it would enable me to do 2-3 workouts that otherwise I'd have to skip or postpone. I'm thinking it may be smarter to focus on shorter races (maybe up to 10 miles, but mainly 10k and under) in the Spring anyway, and transition in the Summer toward training for a Fall marathon. But I hadn't worked that out yet when I signed up for this half. It would be the second (and most expensive) half I've skipped.
St. Patrick's Day 8k: my time was 30:51, which is a 6:12/mi. pace. It was a PR by 14 seconds, but just ok relative to my current training. My mile paces were uneven: 5:58, 6:11, 6:09, 6:17, 6:16. (My Garmin says I ran exactly 5 miles.) My 5k split was 18:52, which is fine. The second mile has some uphills and several sharp turns, so it's hard to run that fast. But after that I couldn't pick things back up enough. To be honest, once it became clear around halfway that sub-30 (my goal for the race) wasn't going to happen, I failed to muster the guts to finish out the last two miles as strong as I could have. That goal may have been over-ambitious for now. But if I had slept better the night before (my son kept me up) and kept pushing hard to the end, I think I could have run 30 seconds faster. This race suggests that I may be up for a fast 5k in two weeks, especially if I skip the half next weekend; and that I need to emphasize tempo runs to improve my stamina for maintaining a hard pace beyond 2-3 miles, which I knew already.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Week of Feb.27-March 4: 55 miles in 7 runs
Monday: 7.3 miles pushing a stroller at 7:53/mi.
Tuesday: 4x1mile at 6:30/mi. with 1 min. rest in between
Wednesday: 8 miles on the treadmill at 7:30/mi.
Thursday: 8.2 miles at 7:23/mi.
Friday: 7.2 miles pushing a stroller at 8:01/mi.
Saturday: 10x400meters at 1:21-22 with 400 meter jogs in between
Sunday: 8.2 miles at 7:44/mi.
My cold came back mid-week, so I didn't get in a medium-long run (again) and needed to run 7 days in order to get back up to 55 miles for the week. But easing back into faster running went well this week, with some slowish tempo intervals on Tuesday and another repetition workout on Saturday. That very rep. workout (a bit faster) precipitated a hamstring injury several months ago, but I think the more general cause was that I suddenly went from having never done regular speedwork to doing two track workouts and often a short race every week. I made it about two months before getting injured. Now I realize that I need to ease more slowly into speedwork, and that I need more easy days between speed workouts, at least for now. If my cold stays at bay this coming week, I hope to get in a medium-long run (on Monday) and more tempo intervals before an 8k race next week - the first of four weekend races in a row.
Monday: 7.3 miles pushing a stroller at 7:53/mi.
Tuesday: 4x1mile at 6:30/mi. with 1 min. rest in between
Wednesday: 8 miles on the treadmill at 7:30/mi.
Thursday: 8.2 miles at 7:23/mi.
Friday: 7.2 miles pushing a stroller at 8:01/mi.
Saturday: 10x400meters at 1:21-22 with 400 meter jogs in between
Sunday: 8.2 miles at 7:44/mi.
My cold came back mid-week, so I didn't get in a medium-long run (again) and needed to run 7 days in order to get back up to 55 miles for the week. But easing back into faster running went well this week, with some slowish tempo intervals on Tuesday and another repetition workout on Saturday. That very rep. workout (a bit faster) precipitated a hamstring injury several months ago, but I think the more general cause was that I suddenly went from having never done regular speedwork to doing two track workouts and often a short race every week. I made it about two months before getting injured. Now I realize that I need to ease more slowly into speedwork, and that I need more easy days between speed workouts, at least for now. If my cold stays at bay this coming week, I hope to get in a medium-long run (on Monday) and more tempo intervals before an 8k race next week - the first of four weekend races in a row.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)