Saturday, August 1, 2009

Tough, Long Run

OBJECTIVE
16 mi.@ 7:46-8:36

ACHIEVED
15.25 mi.@ 8:43

5:42 AM 81° 87% 5 mph

"Enjoyed" a challenging long run with the group this morning. Randy, Stacey, and I tracked +15 miles (a bit short of my 16-mile plan). Biff and Jonathan started with us. Biff took a shortcut back after about 7.5 miles and Jonathan broke off when we were close to the cars before circling Memorial Park to end it. William met up with us shortly after Biff broke off and finished with us.

No one had a particularly good run today. Even talking to Wayne's group in the parking lot, it was a tough day for them too. It simply had to be the heat and humidity. The normal pace can't be sustained under the conditions. This run did, however, salvage the week for me.

I went to work from the run and felt lousier as the day progressed.

PRE RUN
water, oatmeal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast & water
Later, blueberry & cherry smoothie

Friday, July 31, 2009

Easing Back onto the Horse

OBJECTIVE
2-6 mi.@ 8:37-9:47

ACHIEVED
4.03 mi.@ 8:45

6:35 AM 81° 94% 6 mph

Just trying to put yesterday's debacle behind me and carry on. Two developing theories: First, I haven't put my body back on Central Daylight Time since my trip to California last week. Second, with the heat index around ~90°, it's just going to be much more difficult to hit my prescribed times.

PRE RUN
weight=163
water

POST RUN
weight=161
water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & 1% milk

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Abort, Abort, Abort

OBJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warmup
1.5 mi. warm up
4.5 mi. tempo run @ 6:39
1.5 mi. cool down

ACHIEVED
dynamic stretch
1.61 mi. WU
1.76 mi. tempo @ 6:45
1.32 mi. CD

6:40 AM 81° 94% 7 mph

I have no idea what happened this morning but it wasn't good. It was reminiscent of the Austin marathon when my goal just slipped away without being able to do anything about it. I was working hard right from the start of the tempo. Nothing was going to be easy today. The more I put into it the farther I fell off the pace. Less than two miles in, I bagged it. No injury, no cardio distress, no ... nothing ... other than I seemingly sucked this morning!

This week is turning into a disaster as far as training goes. This is disappointing on the heels of last week's solid training and next week's pull back for the 10K. I feel like I'm in some sort of training malaise that I hope to shake ... right away.

PRE RUN
weight=163
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & frosted mini wheats w/1% milk

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Kicking Through Intervals

OBJECTIVE
Dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up @ 8:37-9:47
4 x 1K intervals @ 6:25/mi. w/3 min. active recoveries
1.5 mi. cool-down @ 8:37-9:47

Total time = 6.95
Total distance = 59:00

ACHIEVED
dynamic stretching
1.54 mi. WU
5:59/6:01/6:05/6:03
2.13 mi. CD

6:13 AM 79° 89% 6 mph

Had a really good run today although I would not have guessed it would be a good one before I walked out the door.

My legs felt okay and I felt better rested than I have been in awhile. I hit the first interval hard and found that I dropped below 6 minute pace with surprising ease. I pulled it back a bit telling myself, "It's not how fast you run the first one, it's how fast you run the last one." I eased in at 5:59. The intervals became increasingly challenging but I still came in significantly faster than my 6:25 pace goal for each one. I realized today that this workout isn't all that different than the single weekly speed session I was doing last summer using Tinman's training concepts. Last summer, I would run 6 x 2 minutes at 6:26 pace and add an additional interval each week. This summer I'm effectively doing 4 x 4 minutes at 6:25 pace while adding an interval per week. The extended duration this summer seems to suggest I'm running better this summer. I remember last year's workouts being really tough.

Not to get too exuberant, I realize that my legs are feeling better than they should. I skipped yesterday's 8-miler. My body was telling me I needed rest (specifically sleep) to make up for lack of it while on vacation. Surprisingly, I chose to listen to my body and gave myself the day off. In addition, I juggled last week's schedule so my long run was Thursday rather than Saturday. This put more days recovery between my last long run and today's intervals. Of course, I did have a hard tempo run last Friday.

PRE RUN
weight=163.5
water

POST RUN
weight=159
SlimFast, oatmeal w/almonds, flax, brown sugar & 1% milk

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Training Schedule: July 26 - August 1

Proprioceptive Cue: Navel to Spine

SUNDAY - Rest

MONDAY - Base Run + Drills
8 mi.@ base pace
stiff-legged run 2x20 sec.
running no arms 2x20 sec.

TUESDAY - 1K Intervals @ 5K Pace
Dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up @ recovery pace
4 x 1K intervals @ 5K pace w/3 min. active recoveries
1.5 mi. cool-down @ recovery pace

WEDNESDAY - Recovery Run
2-6 mi.@ recovery pace

THURSDAY - Tempo Run @ 10K Pace
Dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up @ recovery pace
4.5 mi. @ 10K pace
1.5 mi. cool-down @ recovery pace

FRIDAY - Recovery Run
2-6 mi.@ recovery pace

SATURDAY - Endurance Run
16 mi.@ base pace

base pace = 7:46-8:36
recovery pace = 8:37-9:47
5K pace = 6:25
10K pace = 6:39

Given the fact that I was on vacation traveling most of last week, I had a good training week. Except for my long run being a couple miles short and a bit slow of the scheduled pickup, I hit pretty much everything else for the week.

I need to keep the momentum this week and have a good, solid week. I'll be pulling back next week in anticipation of the 10K race on August 8.