STAYING FLEXIBLE

As of today, I’m 13 days from Grandma’s and feeling fit and confident. I’m probably over-analyzing the numbers, but I still feel very good about going after 7:30 pace, which is right around 3:17. Of course, if that feels too quick on June 17^th and 7:40 pace feels better, that’ll still get me in at 3:20-3:21, which was my original ‘A’ goal when I started this training cycle. 

A few notes on my recent training;

I jumped in a 5K race on Memorial Day and was very pleased to run 20:21. I never thought I’d sniff sub-20 again and this race left me feeling like that’s possible.

It feels like there was a flick of a switch and we went from nice spring weather to rather hot and humid. One thing I’ve always felt is that poor weather conditions are less of a concern the fitter you are. But still, I’ve been doing some of my training in the middle of the day to get used to the heat.

Last Saturday my schedule called for my last long run, a 19-mile tune-up with 16 miles at MP. That seemed very aggressive to me considering that I was only 2 weeks out from my race. I looked back at Scott Fauble’s training, and he did a similar workout, but it was 4 weeks before his race. Then 2 weeks later he ran 8 miles at MP. With this in mind I went into the workout with the main goal of getting in some solid work at marathon pace but being flexible – especially since it was the most humid day we’ve had so far. I ended up with 14 miles total, including 6 miles at 7:34 pace. I feel like I could have gone further and/or faster, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. 

WEEK #15
RECAP OF WEEK 5/21 – 5/27

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 8-mile structured fartlek ladder 1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1:00 ‘on’ w/ 1:00 ‘off’ [1s at ~6:20, 2s at ~7:15, 3s at ~7:45]
Tuesday – 6.5 miles
Wednesday – 7.5 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, Noon: 7 miles, including 5 x 2:00 hills w/ 3:00 jog
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – 16 miles
Summary: 59 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #16
RECAP OF WEEK 5/28 – 6/3

Sunday – Day off
Monday – 8 miles total, including the Brian Kraft 5K in 20:21 (6:27, 6:30, 6:35)
Tuesday – 5 easy miles
Wednesday – AM: Strength, PM: 6 miles
Thursday – 7 miles, including 3 x (10 x :30 w/ :15 jog)
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat and Scott
Saturday – 14 miles (1 mile easy, 6 miles moderate ~8:10 pace and 6 miles at MP, ~7:34 pace, 1 mile easy
Summary: 46 miles and 1 strength session

Quote of the day;

“It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.” – Arthur Schopenhauer