30, 40, How Much?!?!

Training is off to a great start this week. Coming off Sunday’s run, my longest in close to six months, Andrew, Matthew, and I put in a nice recovery day on the Hanging Rock Trail on Monday. Towards the end of that run, Andrew and I decided to meet at the same spot the next night for a hill workout. We were trying to find a “slight” uphill grade, and he said he thought Timberview Road, which is within sight of the Park and Ride where we meet, would be a perfect spot. About 60 seconds into the first repeat the next night I was cursing him and asking precisely what his definition of slight was. Regardless of the fact that it was a little more hill than I had in mind, it worked out quite well and in the end probably did turn out to be about the perfect spot for this workout. We did six repeats total (2 min each) with the last one the fastest and called it a night. I felt like I did a good job of getting some work in without crossing the line and pushing too hard. I’ve made a promise to myself not to cross the effort line too many times while I work my way back to fitness, but I especially didn’t want to do it considering what I had the next night.

That leads me to last night’s workout, which is one of many times where I’ve looked at a schedule Howard has sent me and thought “you want me to do WHAT?!?” The plan called for 30 min, 40 min up-tempo, 20 min for a total of 90 min of running. Andy, Andrew, and I decided to meet at the Ramada so we could do the up-tempo part on the greenway. My goal heading into this was simply to finish. With only two runs of 90 min or more in the last 6 months, I had serious doubts about my ability to have any quality inserted into a workout of that length. It turned out really well though. We were rolling by the 4th mile (6:46) then proceeded to run 6:32 for mile 6 and a total of 30:59 for the next 5, including 5:57 for mile 10 (which Andy ran in at least sub-5:50 as he blasted the last 10 min). We eased out and still hit the half marathon point in under 1:27 and covered right at 13.6 miles for the 90 minutes. It was a good confidence builder, especially coming off Sunday’s long run and Tuesday’s hill workout, but what was most important to me was the way I felt. I was able to do it without crossing the aforementioned line and everything felt very solid before, during, and afterward. I have a long way to go, but I am definitely making progress.

Anyway, the major work is actually done for this week, and based on how challenging it’s been, that’s probably a good thing. I’m definitely looking forward to an easy day today, and the fact that this weekend’s long run is shorter than usual doesn’t bother me the slightest. We’ll be headed to the beach this weekend, so it’s also time for some nice, flat running and a change of scenery. Looking forward to it!