Not sure whether to laugh or be horrified at myself, because it's actually kinda true.
So this week marks the halfway point in training! I can't believe I'm already halfway there. I have seen a lot of improvement in fitness from when I first started, and I hope I can keep the momentum going over the next eight weeks!
Monday – Swim practice
Tuesday - Speed work
2 x (6 x 400) w/ 90 sec. RI
Total miles = 4.74 @ 7:45 (plus warm-up and cool down)
Set 1: 1:30, 1:31, 1:32, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34
Set 2: 1:32, 1:37, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:30
Total miles = 4.74 @ 7:45 (plus warm-up and cool down)
Keith came along again for this session. Poor guy, he keeps getting stuck with all the
hard workouts! On top of the workout itself being difficult (12 400s—eeeeek!), we had all the weather elements against
us. I checked the weather before getting
dressed for the track, and it indicated 62 degrees with rain coming in another
hour or so. I figured we’d have time to
get the workout in before the rain, and since it was a little toasty with temps
in the 60s I put on shorts and a tank top.
Once I got outside, I immediately realized I was underdressed—it was
very cloudy and extremely windy, so it actually felt more like the low 50s;
plus, it was already sprinkling a little.
I didn’t have time to change, but I did have some arm warmers in my bag
so I pulled those out and put them on as Keith arrived. We went right into the warmup because we could
tell from the look of the darkened sky that it wouldn’t be long before it started
raining, and we hoped it wouldn’t be bad enough to move us indoors to the
treadmills. The workout called for 2 x (6 x 400) with 90-second rest intervals
between speed intervals and a 2:30 rest interval between sets. I had figured
out how to program an interval workout into my Garmin (yay!) and had it all
ready to go. From the get-go, we knew the workout was going to be even more
challenging because the wind in one full direction of the track was vicious. As
in, it darn near pushed us back. So I conceded that it might not be possible to
hit the splits due to running into the wind for half of each interval. We would
just maintain effort and if the pace slipped, so be it. With 12 speed
intervals, we couldn’t afford to bust our tails trying to maintain pace while
running into that wind, if we were going to finish all the intervals and have
them be anywhere close to our goal time (goal time was 1:36 per lap or a 6:26
pace). No sooner had we gotten one lap in than it started raining. At first it
was a stinging rain just pelting us in the face, but then it started pouring.
In no time we were totally soaked and my shoes were squishing. It rained like
that for most of the first set, then it cleared out a bit, though it continued
to rain for the rest of the workout. The wind remained brutal (the upside being
that it actually dried us out considerably—ha!), but we pushed through. Both of
us were pretty tired and over it by the 8th or 9threpeat, but we managed to complete the workout on pace.
Wednesday – Cross-training
30 min. strength/core
50 min. spin
It was really cold outside, and the thought of getting out in the cold
and swimming in the cold pool for an hour simply was not appealing. So I hopped
on the bike and watched an episode of True Blood while I pedaled. I also
FINALLY got in a strength session—I have been terrible about doing my strength
and core sessions over the past few weeks and am determined to get back on
track!
Thursday – Tempo &
strength
2 mi. easy (7:48, 8:27), 3 tempo (7:10, 7:18, 7:13), 1.2 mi. easy
(9:05)
Total miles = 6.26 @ 7:53
30 min. strength/core
This one was a bit of a struggle. I felt great the first mile (which
was obviously way too fast), then noticed during the second mile that my legs
were already tired. Um, not good. I hit my tempo pace (target pace was 7:23),
but I felt like I was running as hard as I could to do it. Tempos are supposed
to feel hard, but not like you’re running all out. So something was off, I just
couldn’t put my finger on it. I’m thinking maybe the fact that I had done
strength the day before after being off my strength routine for a few weeks
meant I was a little more tired than usual; or maybe I still wasn’t 100%
recovered from Tuesday’s hard effort. Or maybe it was just an off day. I was so
tired after the run that I almost copped out on my strength session, but made
myself go ahead and do it.
Friday - Rest day
I packed my gym bag Friday morning with the intention of cross-training
on the elliptical—but overall I was feeling tired, especially my legs, so I
decided not to worry about cross-training and rest up for Saturday’s long run.
Saturday – Long run
18 mi @ 8:12
Race pace! Yay! The run was scheduled at an 8:40 pace, and I went into
the run with the mindset of staying on pace. But once I started running, I
found that even though I was running a
tad quicker, it didn’t feel hard and I didn’t feel like I was pushing, so I
decided to stick with what felt natural. The route I took was hilly, and at
times the pace slipped to the 8:40s and even the 8:50s, but overall I felt
strong. The splits were 8:20, 8:12, 8:18, 8:13, 8:27, 8:13, 8:05, 8:15, 8:18,
8:21, 8:18, 8:09, 8:15, 7:59, 8:11, 8:06, 8:05, 7:35. It was a pretty
evenly-paced run and I am super happy that I felt I could kick it up a few
notches there at the end. I am hoping that will be the same situation on race
day—that I’ve paced the run well enough so that towards the end I will have some
reserves if I need them.
Sunday - Cross-train
30 min. strength/cardio
Elliptical (4.2 mi, about 40+ min)
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