Mon - 7 miles easy + weights after
Tue - 9.5 miles including 8X100m strides & 4 hill bursts
Wed - 10.5 miles including fartlek of 2/3/5/3/2 min on w/ 2 rec
Thu - 6.5 miles easy + weights after
Fri - 11 miles including 4.5 mile tempo
Sat - 6.5 miles easy with some on trails
Sun - 18 miles
Total: 69 miles
It left me pretty tired and dead-legged at times, especially coming off a race/fast-finish long run combo the weekend before, but this was probably one of my best weeks of training in quite some time. The volume was there; the quality was there; and I was able to complete everything without any major issues. I’m still not fast by any means, but things are definitely headed in the right direction, and if I’m able to keep doing what I’ve been doing, it can’t be that much longer before I start to get at least a little fit.
As for specifics, Tuesday was turnover day as usual. Andrew, Matthew, and I did 6 miles steady then hit the track for 4 laps of striding the straightaways and jogging the turns. We did a much better job of taking it easy in the turns this week and still managed to hit the mile in around 5:45. We followed that up by heading out to Sunset for 4 hill bursts then a short c-down. It was good to do some hill bursts again, and I definitely want to try to work them back into my routine because I think they produce a lot of bang for the buck.
Anyway, Wednesday was fartlek of 2/3/5/3/2 min on with 2 min recoveries over the Hanging Rock loop with Andy and Andrew. As usual, those guys blasted me, even though my pace for most all the “on” sections was in the low 5:20’s. In typical fashion, I pushed the first mile after the farltek (which happened to be mile 9 of the run), and hit a 6:04. That part felt really good and very much under control (almost easy), leaving me to wonder why I can run around 6 flat pace all day long but can’t go low-5’s to save me. I guess I just need to be patient while I get fit and rebuild all the speed I’ve lost over the last couple of injury-riddled years.
Friday was a 4.5 mile tempo on the greenway with Andy. We kept the effort right where it needed to be (comfortably hard) and ran lots of high-5:40’s to low-5:50’s. We were actually talking throughout, and I almost felt too good. I decided to push the last mile and hit it in just under 5:40. We finished 11 miles in just over 72 min feeling strong.
I already recapped the Sunday run, so that’s it for the week that was. I’m just going to keep on keeping on this week. I plan on backing the mileage down just a little and racing on the weekend, either a 5k or 4-miler, but either way I won’t be placing a lot of emphasis on it. I’m more concerned with doing what I need to do to keep progressing so I can be ready to run fast this fall. I’ll conclude with props to Andrew on his 2nd place finish at the Kiwanis 4th of July 5k in Charlottesville in 16:33. That’s 25 seconds faster than he ran at that race last year. He said he was “all about strength” and it obviously paid off. I see sub-16 in the not-too-distant future. Also, good job by David Angell defending his title at the Shawsville 5k in 16:10. Not too shabby for a guy who took some time off and hasn’t done hardly any formal speedwork in around 6 weeks. Keep up the good work guys!
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