Mon - 9 miles
Tue - 10.5 miles (Stride Workout - 10X30 sec)
Wed - 13 miles (Medium Long Run)
Thu - 7.5 miles
Fri - 10.5 miles (Hill Repeats)
Sat - 7.5 miles
Sun - 18 miles (Long Run)
Total: 76 miles
This was what I would call an “ok” week of training. Volume was good and I did everything I wanted to, but the quality wasn’t quite as good as it should have been thanks to being tired and dead-legged most every day. I’m sure the time change might have been a factor, but looking back, I’ve done a lot of work over the last several weeks, so a little bit of cumulative fatigue is to be expected. I just need to make sure it doesn’t get to a point where I’m overtrained and/or injured, and I’m taking a step towards preventing that with a recovery week this week. Actually I’m guessing my training over the next 3-4 weeks will be reduced from what it’s been over the last several, which probably won’t be a bad thing. It’ll give me a chance to recover and adapt before hitting it hard again in December and January when I hope to really start to build some fitness.
The first thing on tap for this week was a standard stride workout on Tuesday. This was the first week of the fall with all my runs in the dark, and that always takes some getting used to, particularly when it comes to faster paced running. I felt like I moved ok in the strides, but overall the run seemed longer and slower than usual. Wednesday night I did my medium long run downtown with Jim and Matthew. We ended up hitting a solid pace throughout with the fastest running towards the end, and this was one of my better feeling runs of the week. It was great to have Jim back out there! Friday Jim joined me again for his first ever foray into Sunsets. For those who might not know, Sunset is a hill behind the Roanoke College track. The way we run it, it comes out to be about .43 miles to the top, starting out steep, leveling out, then getting steep again near the end. I know I’m fit when I can do 5-6 repeats and keep them all under 2:40. Friday night we only did 3, and the fastest one was the last one in 2:41, so a long way to go. We threw in a 400/300/200 downward ladder up Hawthorne/High Street to finish off the workout. Sunday’s long run was the Lee’s Gap loop. Lee’s Gap is anything but flat (just over 4,600’ of net elevation change), but I really like it and hope to make it a more frequent part of the long run rotation. We wound up averaging 6:48 pace with the last 2 in 6:31 and 6:22, so a good, solid run. I took a gel at 12 miles, something I hadn’t done in a while, and it really made a difference. I was feeling super strong at the end and wanting to run more/faster, which is the way to finish a long run.
Anyway, like I said, this week will be a recovery week. If I can keep myself out of the woods, I may race on Saturday. We’ll see. I’m looking forward to doing a little less running and letting my body catch up some. I think it will be very beneficial on many levels. I also need to stay on top of an annoying pain I’ve developed in my left shin/ankle. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it doesn’t cause me to alter my stride and doesn’t get worse as I run, so I’m guessing I just landed funny at some point and strained something. I’ve always had a weak left ankle thanks to way too many sprains in my basketball and soccer playing days, so it’s just one of those things. Some days it will even click and pop while I’m running. Still, I don’t want it to develop into something major, so I’ll be treating it diligently, and the down week should help as well. Hope everyone has a good week!
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