Monday - Cross train
Swim practice (1 hour)
30 min. strength/core
This was my first time in the pool in almost two weeks, so I was thankful I did not drown :) Lots of kicking!!!
Tuesday - Speed work
Prescribed:
1200 @ 6:42
1000 @ 6:38
800 @ 6:34
600 @ 6:34
400 # 6:24
(200 RI between sets)
Actual:
1200 @ 6:32
1000 @ 6:34
800 @ 6:24
600 @ 6:32
400 @ 5:51
(200 RI between sets)
5 total miles including warm up (1 mile) and cool down (1 mile)
Keith and I did this workout on the outdoor track. It was cold! I thought the temperature was supposed to be in the 40s and didn't bring my gloves--luckily Keith had a spare pair because it was only in the 30s and I definitely needed them!
I was nervous all day about this workout. The times got faster for each interval, and I thought there was no way I would be able to get faster the longer I ran. However, I ended up doing each interval faster than the prescribed pace! On the one hand, this made me happy because going into it I thought there was no way I would be able to hit the paces--it was nice to know that I had totally under-estimated myself. But on the other hand, the point of the workout was to get faster with each interval--and as you can see my splits were not at all consistent with that goal, so I'm not really sure I can count the workout a complete success. I spent the middle three intervals trying to slow down and match the prescribed pace; every time I thought I had slowed down, I would check my watch and there was no difference in pace, or if it was slower it was still significantly faster than where I should have been. I REALLY need to work on pacing!
Wednesday - Rest day
Thursday - Tempo
Prescribed: 1 easy, 5 @ 7:53, 1 easy
Actual: 1 easy, 5 @ 7:53, 1 easy
This tempo felt way harder than it should have : \ I did this run on the treadmill during my lunch break because I had other things going on in the evening and didn't wake up on time to do it before work (back to the whole working-on-doing-better-at-taking-advantage-of-Thursday-mornings thing). I thought it would somehow be faster/simpler to do the run on the treadmill (I'd already be in the gym and could immediately/quickly take a shower and get back to work, as opposed to bundling up for the run, going back inside to my office after the run to get my bag, going over to the gym, unbundling and showering, etc.). However, as soon as I walked outside to go over to the gym I regretted not bringing "outside" running clothes because it was a pretty nice day and I suddenly really did not want to be on the treadmill. But, due to being short on both time and cold-weather running gear I had no choice but to stick to the plan; so treadmill it was, at a .5% incline.
From the get-go, even the warm-up mile @ 8:34 felt hard, and I really had to focus to stay in the last two miles of the tempo. Thank goodness for this song, which was on repeat for the entire 4th and last .25 miles of the tempo. By the time cool-down got there I was beyond ready to be done running PERIOD, much less running at that pace. I slowed down to a 10:00 pace for the first quarter of the cool-down mile and, quite frankly, would have just walked the rest of the cool-down except I didn't have enough time, so I forced myself to pick it back up to finish the cool-down at 8:34.
I was disappointed that this run didn't go better. Especially on the treadmill, 7:53 should not have felt as hard as it did. Perhaps my faster-than-prescribed intervals on Monday had something to do with the sluggishness I felt on this tempo; maybe it was my mindset (I think I would have enjoyed the run more if I had done it outside, and thus probably would have had a better time with the pace); or maybe it was just an off day. But, nothing to be done except move on to the next run so I decided not to dwell on it.
Friday - Cross-train
Elliptical (10K)
30 minutes of strength and core
I remembered my shoes ; ) and did the elliptical on my lunch break. I watched an episode of Fixer Upper on my phone while I ellipticaled (real word??) and the minutes flew by. I did strength/core later that evening at home.
Saturday - Cross-train
30 minutes of strength and core
30 minute spin
My husband did a trail run with our running group Saturday morning, and the afternoon was booked with kids' activities; so I opted to cross-train while my husband ran and do my long run on Sunday. I have one of those tripod thingies on which you can dock your bike to make it stationary (see how technical I am with my terms?), and my bike is set up in the living room--so I watched AFV with the kids while spinning. Good times : )
Sunday - Long Run
Prescribed: 17 miles @ 8:57
Actual: 17 miles @ 8:44
This run felt pretty good. When I went to bed I hadn't decided if I was going to do the run early in the morning or mid-afternoon; I'd just see how I felt when I woke up. When I woke up (by 7:00 a.m. thanks to my son, the early riser), I decided to go ahead and knock it out so I would have the rest of the day free and was on the road by 7:45 a.m. I didn't want to take extra time before starting the run to drop water along a route, so I decided to run a 7-mile loop twice and add miles on to the end; that way, I could carry a small bottle with me to drink from at the park and then use my front porch as my other water station. So I had water at (approximately) miles 2.5, 4.5 and 10 and 12 and Nuun at approximately miles 7 and 14. I had an energy gel one hour in and another 30 minutes after that. I did not push the pace at all but still ended up going faster than the prescribed pace, even though it was pretty windy out for most of the run. My legs were definitely feeling the distance by mile 15, and I had a few moments between miles 15 and 17 when I really didn't want to be running anymore--but overall it was a good, even effort and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I was also very grateful to have a few hours of down time during the day to just stretch out my legs and rest : )
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