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