First things first: Since crying in my last post about having to skip a day, I've felt awesome! It was the best thing I could've done for my running. Since then, any lingering soreness has mostly eased up.... right ankle is the main culprit of any problems right now, and that's at least manageable. Shins and my quad all feel much better.
Since Wednesday, I doubled up on Thursday, and through today I've rolled 82 miles in the last 7 days. With the exception of tonight’s debacle, all of my workouts have gone as planned - if not better than expected. A couple more days of running, then it's off to Colorado to pound on the slopes for 3 days.
Bringing my recent workouts up to date:
Week of 2/8-2/14:
2/8 – 7 easy.
2/9 – Monday Funday w/ Fleet Feet Tempo - 10mi total w/ 6mi tempo. Awesome run! Easily my best tempo run this training season. Started out at about 6:00, then progressed to 5:35. Avg low 6:40’s. Jason, Mark Wehrman, and Ricky Britton all joined in the fun. They dropped me after 5 mi though.
2/10 – 5 very easy.
2/11 – SKIPPED because I was a p*ssy (turns out it was the best decision of the last month)
2/12 - Double up: 10 mi on the treadmill - 1.5mi warm up, followed by 5x 1mi @ 5:30 pace w/ .5 mi easy recovery, 1.5mi cool down. Later in the evening, 5 mi easier (7:15-7:30 pace).
2/13 - 10 mi 7:15ish pace w/ Chris Woods. Austin Bound kids have left me us to go sling some guns in the land of Bush.
2/14 - 19 mi w/ Chris Woods and Mark Wehrman. My goal was to treat this run similar to Jason and my 19 last week. Go easy for the first 8 mi (7:15ish pace), progress towards 6:30 for 6 or 7, then cut back for the last 4 mi..... The 3 of us ran together through about 9 miles, then Mark helped me get to work.... 8 miles worth of progression towards 6:15 pace, most of which was sub 6:30... 3 miles cool down. Only 2 drinks of water/gatorade and 1 gu. 19 @ low-6:50's avg. Seriously, after a run like that, I'm toast! But, this was such an awesome sense of accomplishment that I was basically glowing for the rest of the day. Happy Valentine's Day, Mofo. I heart the ability to hammer a 19 miler on any given Saturday!
(This completed 66 mi for the week).
Week of 2/15-2/21:
2/15 - 8 easy. Austin Bound crew all put up some solid numbers in the full + half marathons today. Congrats guys! I’m looking forward to getting you back in a few weeks.
2/16 - Tempo from Fleet Feet w/ Mark W again, and a couple other local elite guys. 10mi total, 6 of tempo at 5:41 avg (5:53 progressed down to 5:35). Mark basically dragged me the last mile and then dropped me w/ .5 to go in some wind, but I felt strong the entire way. This went better than last week's 6 mi (almost the same pace, but seemed easier). I probably could've choked out another mile or gone slightly faster without too much trouble… another great confidence booster!
2/17 - 11 easy.
2/18 - Tonight. UGH! Just when I think I’m doing fine, I go and do something like this… 9 mi total after warm up/cool down.... w/ 7x 800's + 1:00 rest. Only one word could describe it - ridiculous. The goal would've actually been for 8x800, but the weather was terrible. High 20's if you can believe that’s not terrible, but the wind and sideways snow were a pisser. By the end, it was very bad footing and very poor visibility. I was trying to hit about 2:40's on the south repeats, when the wind was at my back (lots of sliding), but I eventually settled into 2:45's. Going north had an 8-10 second difference going south. Sad. I hate speed in this weather! I hate speed in the f*cking zoo parking lot. I need a track.
For the next couple days, I'll keep my mileage up through Friday. That’ll give me 61 mi for the week, as Saturday’s off due to my ski trip in Winter Park, Colorado. I'm really looking forward to it - in spite of having to quit running for a few days. Something tells me that 3 hard core skiing days at altitude are probably going to help the cause though. Hopefully I don't go and throw myself and the last couple months of training off a cliff though (literally).
Since Wednesday, I doubled up on Thursday, and through today I've rolled 82 miles in the last 7 days. With the exception of tonight’s debacle, all of my workouts have gone as planned - if not better than expected. A couple more days of running, then it's off to Colorado to pound on the slopes for 3 days.
Bringing my recent workouts up to date:
Week of 2/8-2/14:
2/8 – 7 easy.
2/9 – Monday Funday w/ Fleet Feet Tempo - 10mi total w/ 6mi tempo. Awesome run! Easily my best tempo run this training season. Started out at about 6:00, then progressed to 5:35. Avg low 6:40’s. Jason, Mark Wehrman, and Ricky Britton all joined in the fun. They dropped me after 5 mi though.
2/10 – 5 very easy.
2/11 – SKIPPED because I was a p*ssy (turns out it was the best decision of the last month)
2/12 - Double up: 10 mi on the treadmill - 1.5mi warm up, followed by 5x 1mi @ 5:30 pace w/ .5 mi easy recovery, 1.5mi cool down. Later in the evening, 5 mi easier (7:15-7:30 pace).
2/13 - 10 mi 7:15ish pace w/ Chris Woods. Austin Bound kids have left me us to go sling some guns in the land of Bush.
2/14 - 19 mi w/ Chris Woods and Mark Wehrman. My goal was to treat this run similar to Jason and my 19 last week. Go easy for the first 8 mi (7:15ish pace), progress towards 6:30 for 6 or 7, then cut back for the last 4 mi..... The 3 of us ran together through about 9 miles, then Mark helped me get to work.... 8 miles worth of progression towards 6:15 pace, most of which was sub 6:30... 3 miles cool down. Only 2 drinks of water/gatorade and 1 gu. 19 @ low-6:50's avg. Seriously, after a run like that, I'm toast! But, this was such an awesome sense of accomplishment that I was basically glowing for the rest of the day. Happy Valentine's Day, Mofo. I heart the ability to hammer a 19 miler on any given Saturday!
(This completed 66 mi for the week).
Week of 2/15-2/21:
2/15 - 8 easy. Austin Bound crew all put up some solid numbers in the full + half marathons today. Congrats guys! I’m looking forward to getting you back in a few weeks.
2/16 - Tempo from Fleet Feet w/ Mark W again, and a couple other local elite guys. 10mi total, 6 of tempo at 5:41 avg (5:53 progressed down to 5:35). Mark basically dragged me the last mile and then dropped me w/ .5 to go in some wind, but I felt strong the entire way. This went better than last week's 6 mi (almost the same pace, but seemed easier). I probably could've choked out another mile or gone slightly faster without too much trouble… another great confidence booster!
2/17 - 11 easy.
2/18 - Tonight. UGH! Just when I think I’m doing fine, I go and do something like this… 9 mi total after warm up/cool down.... w/ 7x 800's + 1:00 rest. Only one word could describe it - ridiculous. The goal would've actually been for 8x800, but the weather was terrible. High 20's if you can believe that’s not terrible, but the wind and sideways snow were a pisser. By the end, it was very bad footing and very poor visibility. I was trying to hit about 2:40's on the south repeats, when the wind was at my back (lots of sliding), but I eventually settled into 2:45's. Going north had an 8-10 second difference going south. Sad. I hate speed in this weather! I hate speed in the f*cking zoo parking lot. I need a track.
For the next couple days, I'll keep my mileage up through Friday. That’ll give me 61 mi for the week, as Saturday’s off due to my ski trip in Winter Park, Colorado. I'm really looking forward to it - in spite of having to quit running for a few days. Something tells me that 3 hard core skiing days at altitude are probably going to help the cause though. Hopefully I don't go and throw myself and the last couple months of training off a cliff though (literally).
