A POSSIBILITY

I’m currently 3.5 weeks out from Grandma’s and the roller coaster continues. After the 22 miler that I mentioned in my last post, I only did 1 workout the following week. I even cut that a little short by cutting out the last 4 minutes of CV work. Then on the following Saturday I was signed up for a 15K race. Being a little conservative, as well as wanting to prepare for race day, I decided to run this at marathon pace. I figured I’d go out in 7:40 pace and make it feel as comfortable as possible. This race ended up being way smaller than I thought it’d be and after the start I found myself with the first two women. We were running 7:30 pace, so I just went with that. The only problem was that it felt much faster than marathon effort. It’s hard to imagine running 7:40 pace for 26.2 miles when 7:30 pace feels hard for 9.3 miles. 

However, weeks 13 and 14 have me thinking that 7:30 pace is possible. Week 13 included 2 solid workouts, plus 20 miles that included half at marathon effort. That long run included hills and wind, so I wasn’t too concerned when my splits were anywhere from 7:38 to 8:26.

I think the real confidence boost came 3 days later when I was scheduled to run 10 miles, including 6 at 10K pace + 5%. As my friend Evan pointed out on Strava, “Isn’t that basically HMP?” Yes, that’s what it turned out to be. While I like these types of workouts, I often stress about hitting my splits. The goal for this workout was 7:05 – 7:15 pace. This scared me a little because 4 weeks ago I ran a 6-mile steady-state run at 7:30 pace, which felt hard but doable. Anyway, I decided to “just run” and not check my splits. Once I finished, I was pleasantly surprised to see; 7:15, 6:59, 7:00, 6:57, 6:59, 7:14 for a 7:04 average. It really did feel like I could hold that pace for a half marathon in a race situation.

All of this has me thinking that 3:17 or 7:30 pace is at least a possibility. I’m trying to wrap my brain around that, so that if I find myself running that fast at Grandma’s, I won’t freak out.

WEEK #12

RECAP OF WEEK 4/30 – 5/6

Sunday – 22 miles w/ Derek
Monday – AM: Strength
Tuesday – 6 miles w/ Nordica
Wednesday – 7-mile progression run (:16 at steady-state, :08 at LT – skipped :04 at CV)
Thursday – AM: Strength, Noon: 6 miles
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Scott and Pat
Saturday – 14 miles total – Rochester 15K

Summary: 62 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #13

RECAP OF WEEK 5/7 – 5/13

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 8 miles including 4 x (3:00 @ HMP, 4:00 @ 10K pace, 2:00 easy)
Tuesday – 6 easy miles
Wednesday – 8 miles
Thursday – AM: 7 miles, Descending Intervals at Max Aerobic Speed; PM: 3-mile shakeout
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat and Scott
Saturday – 20 miles (10 miles easy, 10 miles at marathon effort)

Summary: 65 miles and 1 strength session
 

WEEK #14

RECAP OF WEEK 5/14 – 5/20

Sunday – Day Off
Monday – AM: Strength + 4-mile shakeout, NOON: 6 miles
Tuesday – 10 miles, including 6 at HMP.
Wednesday – 4 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength – skipped run/workout due to track meet
Friday – 9 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – 12 miles, including 2 x 3M at HMP w/ 1:00 jog

Summary: 45 miles of running and 2 strength sessions

 

Quote of the day;

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

GOLDILOCKS

What do we do when things are going well and we’re “motivated and ready for more”? We keep pushing to find out where “the line” is. “The line” being that hard-to-define limit between ‘just right’ and ‘too much’. I’m not sure if I’ve crossed it, but I feel like I’m getting close.

I had a very hard session on April 24^th – I lifted in the morning, followed by a 3-mile shakeout. Then at noon I ran 10 miles that included 7 x 4:00 at CV w/ 2:00 rest. I remember looking forward to that workout because I have a nice 10-mile loop that I haven’t run in a while. The workout went well, and the rest of the week was supposed to be high volume. However, I ended up skipping my Thursday workout and even took a day off on Saturday (that was mainly due to being on my feet at a track meet all day – and having a long run planned for Sunday).

Sunday’s run was the longest of the program, 22 miles. I ended up running with my buddy Derek who’s a little bit faster than me. I also ran my last 20 miler with him and that felt good, so I didn’t hesitate to run with him again – especially since it was 40 degrees with 25 mph winds, and no one what’s to run solo in those conditions. I remember getting to mile 12 and already being rather tired. At 16 I reminded myself that I only had a 10K left. We did finish the run and energy-wise I felt okay, I just didn’t have a lot of pop in my legs.

Since then, I’ve been focusing on recovery while trying to get in some harder work. All while reminding myself of what Alexi Pappas’s coach told her about the Rule of Thirds; if you’re training for a big goal, 1/3 of your workouts should be awesome, 1/3 should be so-so and 1/3 should be bad. If they’re all awesome, you’re not pushing hard enough. If they’re all bad, you’re pushing too hard. I’ve also been thinking about Scott Fauble’s training in Inside a Marathon and how exhausted he says he is in the middle of his marathon cycle. Granted, he’s a professional runner, but I should feel some residual tiredness after a 22-mile run.

 

WEEK #10

RECAP OF WEEK 4/16 – 4/22

Sunday – Day off
Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 7 miles
Tuesday – 10 miles w/ 6 miles at 7:30 steady-state pace
Wednesday – 5 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, PM: 5 miles including 8 hill repeats w/ trac team
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Scott
Saturday – 14-mile depletion run w/ Nordica (no calories before or during)
Summary: 51 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #11

RECAP OF WEEK 4/23 – 4/29

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 10 miles including 7 x 4:00 @ CV w/ 2:00 jog
Tuesday – 6 easy miles
Wednesday – 7 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – Day Off
Summary: 39 miles of running and 2 strength training

Quote of the day;

“All the preparation you’ve done will finally be paying off!” - from a fortune cookie a received recently