Sunday:
I really gotta get this skipping days and rearranging days under control. Yesterday's 13 mile, above race pace, run and the wedding really tired me out. I slept in and I had to work so no way I was getting in 8 miles before work. So after work it is. Well, Mandy's cousin came over for dinner and I totally forgot about the run till after I ate a big dinner. Plus I had a major bee problem and had to go to the store to get some bug spray to try and take care of it.
Monday:
Today's run was amazing!! The temp was in the mid 40s, so it was quite cool when I headed out. Since I didn't get 8 at my easy pace yesterday, I planned on doing 4 at my 8:20 tempo pace. My first mile ended up being a 8:30 and I was feeling great, so I pushed it and the last 3 miles were between 7:25 and 7:40 per mile. The reason I don't have the exact times is because I got to button happy and deleted it off my Garmin. Rather convenient huh! Well despite no proof and no data to really analyze my run I will just tell you it felt freaking fantastic! I seemed focused while my form and my stride felt good as well. When I got back I did 2 sets of 15 and 1 set of 10 pushups
Tuesday:
I have been feeling a little run down lately. We have a cold virus going around work and I am trying not to catch it. I double dosed on the vitamin C to help fight it off. I got up with 5 miles scheduled and I headed out for an easy pace run. I pretty much paid no attention to my pace on this one, but I would glance at the watch just to see where I was at mileage wise. I really didn't want to do 5 miles so while I was running I talked myself into just doing four. I really didn't want to cut back on my mileage anymore this week so I justified it by adding it to tomorrow's race pace run of 13 miles. So 14 miles it is!!
The run was a 2 mile out and back route on the bike trail. It was a cool morning again, but a little more moisture with all the rain we had last night. I had to keep my eyes and my headlamp focused on the path because of some tree debris that was laying on the path that tripped me up a couple times.
The run was a 2 mile out and back route on the bike trail. It was a cool morning again, but a little more moisture with all the rain we had last night. I had to keep my eyes and my headlamp focused on the path because of some tree debris that was laying on the path that tripped me up a couple times.
Wednesday:
My running schedule is all kinds of jacked up this week due to some rearranging I had to make the last couple of weeks. Normally my run today is my long run which usually is the longest mileage, but it also means I would be running it at 9:50-10:00 min per mile avg pace. This week my Wednesday run is my longest mileage, but it is also wound being my race pace run for this week. Now I am sure my regular readers have noticed I've been getting faster during this training cycle and that my original race goal was between 9:00 and 9:10 per mile Lately I have been running slightly above race pace at 8:50-8:59 avg mile which, one, I think will better prepare me, and two, my body just naturally seems to wanna go faster.
Today's run was 14 miles and it felt pretty darn good. I did the same route I did for Saturday's 13 mile run, I just turned right instead of left towards the end to add that last mile. The weather was really nice today, almost a perfect day to run. It was a little chilly when I left so I wore a thin pair of gloves to keep the hands warm, but between my long sleeve tech shirt and the sun doing its thing, I warmed up pretty quickly. By the end of the run it felt really comfortable out.
when I sat down to write this I uploaded my Garmin to see how my splits were. I was really happy with how close and steady they were. With the exception of the last mile, where I pushed myself to have a strong finish, my slowest mile was an 8:57 and my fastest was an 8:51. The other thing I liked about it was the fact that there was no big swings in pace. Its not like one mile I ran an 8:51 and the next was a 8:57 or vice versa. The whole run felt rather smooth while I was running it and it shows in the numbers.
Today's run was 14 miles and it felt pretty darn good. I did the same route I did for Saturday's 13 mile run, I just turned right instead of left towards the end to add that last mile. The weather was really nice today, almost a perfect day to run. It was a little chilly when I left so I wore a thin pair of gloves to keep the hands warm, but between my long sleeve tech shirt and the sun doing its thing, I warmed up pretty quickly. By the end of the run it felt really comfortable out.
when I sat down to write this I uploaded my Garmin to see how my splits were. I was really happy with how close and steady they were. With the exception of the last mile, where I pushed myself to have a strong finish, my slowest mile was an 8:57 and my fastest was an 8:51. The other thing I liked about it was the fact that there was no big swings in pace. Its not like one mile I ran an 8:51 and the next was a 8:57 or vice versa. The whole run felt rather smooth while I was running it and it shows in the numbers.
A gladly accepted rest day.
Friday:
Today's run went ok but not great. I had 4 miles at my tempo pace which I have been doing between a 7:45 and 8:00 minute pace lately. Today's run I just couldn't get things moving and the entire run I felt like I had a parachute strapped to my back slowing me down. It seemed like no matter how hard I pushed myself I couldn't go anywhere. Even on the last mile when I gave it everything I had. The positives I can take away are; I still ran at a faster pace than what I originally set for myself when I started this training schedule and I could and I kept my per mile pace pretty even.
Saturday:
I woke up this morning and was just to damn tired to run. I was up a little to late last night and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I thought I can run after work so no harm no foul. The whole way home from work I kept thinking of excuses not to run, but by the time I got home I told myself "you are going to run you lazy ass." I made myself a deal that if I got out and ran I only had to do 4 instead of 5 miles. I know, what difference does it make, but in my head it made a lot. It was a little windy and the humidity had dropped a little bit so it wasn't to bad to run in. I headed out and I immediately felt so much better. I got into a nice rhythm early and quickly decided to just run the full 5 miles I had planned to do. Today's run was one of if not the best feeling runs I have had this entire training cycle and I almost missed out on it just because I wanted to be lazy. Looking back I feel like when I skipped the run this morning, that was my body truly telling me no, but on the way home was the old me just trying to get a win and I wasn't going to let that happen.
Week 12 begins now
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Haha, I am very familiar with the "get your ass out there you lazy piece of s--t" speech in my head when I am coming up with ways to convince myself not to run. Good work this week, you sure are getting fast. Honestly my training has not been much faster, if any, than yours... you are going to rock sub 4!
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