Week 13 actual: 55.5
Key planned work: Two track workouts and a 15 mile long run
Week 14plan: Recovery week, 39 miles
Week 13 actual: 39
Key planned work: 8x400 m repeats and a 12 mile run with 6 miles at tempo/6:45 pace.
Week 13:
MORE EFFING SNOW. All easy runs were on a treadmill. My 1000m repeat workout was on the treadmill. This actually went much better than I was expecting. I would say the biggest issue was not being able to go through my pre-workout routine of a/b skips, strides, etc. Really no place for that in the gym. Was not supposed to have any off-days this week, but a) I had banked some miles earlier in the week (7 miles vs scheduled 5, for example) and b) we got lots of snow Saturday night so Sunday was a shovel day, with no access to a treadmill (YMCA was closed.) This winter has been incredibly bad. We're on the verge of setting the season snow fall record in boston, and it isn't even the end of February yet...and as for February, we're on pace for the second coldest Feb in Boston history. Every single day this month has been blow average temp...I was shocked to see that the average temp this time of year is close to 40 degrees! At this point, when it gets into the 20s, it feels like the 40s.
I had to take PTO time off from work Friday afternoon to get in my track session at Reggie. Thanks to state track and field championships every single night that week, I had a window of about 2 hours on Friday I could get my run in. It was rushed, but I hit my 800 and 400 paces...I was feeling it the next morning though on the long run.
The long run for Week 13 was done with the FHR group of 5-6 folks, doing 2 eight mile loops from JP Licks down to MFA area and back up the SW corridor. The night prior hit negative temps, and when we started running it was around 5 or 6 degrees...I carried my new handy water bottle with gatorade and 4-5 miles into the run, the nozzle froze over. Marc from FHR weighed his clothes afterwards and they weighed 8 lbs! We started off sub 7:20 the first two miles and I was feeling clunky (I guess from the previous days track sesh.) So, I let the other 4-5 runners get ahead of me...I would catch them at some stoplights, but not on the second loop. It was fine, I ended up at 7:51 pace for the 16. Not great, but better than where I was at in the Philly training (see image below.)
Oh, I almost forgot, I got a massage from Nicole on Wednesday. This turned the conversation to the groin pain that has been lingering since the Philly taper. She suggested pubic bone irritation, which caused her tons of problems, and eventually a surgery related to the issue. Like every other injury I've ever researched online, that sufficiently freaked me out. Coach Alan suggested that or possibly a sports hernia...either way, I'm hoping this is just "the one thing I'm going to worry about at any given time." Nicole (who ran at the Athens and Beijing Olympics!) talked to me a bit about my pre-track workout and suggested a) a series of lunge movements: forward/backwards/side w/ pivot and b) walking over low hurdles to open up my hips. Good input, I think.
Week 14:
Still doing all my easy runs on the treadmill. Which is a wonderful convenience, but even with the incline at 1% to replicate wind resistance, it still feels like cheating. Also, this week's track workout was 8x400 and without anyone to pace me, my track speed inexperience was on full-display. Was shooing for low-mid 80 seconds times, and my first one out was 77 seconds. Everything else was fine, but I'm sure I put in more effort than I should have, and my runs the rest of the week (that was Tuesday) were harder than they should have been as a result. Glutes and Hamstrings definitely still feeling the track session--not injured, just sore.
Long run this AM by myself...i settled in on a 1.5 mile out&back in JP that has minimal traffic. I woke up this AM feeling great, but I struggled wiht my first up-tempo session (shooting for 6:45) and couldn't keep it below 7min pace. The second 3 mile up-tempo was clear from the downhill start (7:15 range) that I was toast. Soon after I changed the view on my watch to show my the total runs average pace, not the current lap pace...so was a bit surprised after the run ended to see the drift end up so close to 8 min/miles.
I would say that I'm as worn down mentally as I am physically. Not broken....just drained. After 2 really good long runs with Maartje, the last two weeks have been disappointing since I haven't been able to maintain the target pace.
And, one week from my first B race in Arizona, I'll hopefully (weather permitting) be on a plane tomorrow and I'm obviously looking forward to the week in the desert. A few weeks ago I was very confident I would crack 1:30 at this race, but now I'm not sure. My legs just aren't feeling strong right now. We'll see how the next few days go, but I may only be able to aim for low 7 min pace in the race.
But, when I'm feeling down about the current state of my body, it is nice to look at the progress I've made over the last year. Through the first 4 weeks...40 more miles, 8 lbs less than Philly (18 less than Boston!) and stronger paces across both the week total and the long run pace. All good.
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ReplyDeleteYour pace improvement is impressive. Good luck in the half next week!
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