Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles, including hill bursts followed by a mile at MP
Wed: 11.5 miles, including 10X30 sec
Thu: 7.5 miles
Fri: 10.5 miles, including 4.5 mile controlled tempo plus 4X200
Sat: 8 miles
Sun: 17.5 miles
Total: 71 miles
I won’t say this was an ideal week, but it went according to plan and I’m pretty happy with it. I struggled at times with being tired and having dead, slightly beat-up legs, but when you’re training hard, that’s exactly the way you’re supposed to feel. I can say that with confidence because I would guess someone like US Olympic Marathoner, Shalane Flanagan, has just about every possible recovery tool available to her, including the fact that running is her job and therefore she can take naps during the day, yet I read an interview with her this past week where she said she knew there would be stretches of training where she felt like a zombie day in and day out. Glad to know it’s not just me but even the elites!
Looking at the specifics, Tuesday was a 6.5 mile run followed by hill bursts (up to 7 now), a mile at marathon pace, and a short c-down. I think the hill bursts are a great addition to my training and have the potential to make me faster as well as stronger and less injury prone. I know I definitely “feel the burn” while doing them, but at the same time, I’m feeling less soreness and fatigue afterward. Wednesday was a medium long run that included 10X30 sec strides with 60 sec recovery thrown in between 46 and 60 minutes. I don’t know what the deal was, as it really wasn’t any worse than usual and probably less than it was the next day, but the heat/humidity really got to me and Andrew both in this run. Overall I think I got in a good workout, but the pace wasn’t what I was looking for and it was a struggle to do what I did.
Friday was a controlled tempo over the Wildwood Short loop in Salem followed by 4X200m strides on the Roanoke College track. The idea was to run the tempo at marathon effort then the 200’s at 5k pace. I got a little carried away the last 2+ miles of the tempo, running a little faster than I was supposed to, but I was still able to hit the 200’s on pace and felt pretty good about the workout. Of course when I got home that evening I spent an hour cutting brush, which might could be considered good cross-training, but definitely isn’t ideal post-workout recovery! After a nice easy run on the Greenbrier River Trail in Caldwell, WV, (GREAT place to run!) Saturday morning, I finished the week off Sunday with the Lee’s Gap loop in Fincastle plus some add-on. As Andrew said, this type of run is the difference between training and marathon training. Lee’s Gap in and of itself is a challenging long run, but when you add a hilly 3 miles on top of it, that’s doing some work!
Anyway, it’s hard to believe, but there’s now less than 5 weeks to go until CDR. I’m really not sure I’m going to be completely ready, but I believe I’ll be able to give it a decent effort, which is really all I’m after. I have no plans to run a flat out, full effort there, as I believe doing so could have a negative impact on my fall season, and I definitely don’t want to do that, especially since I think things are setting up for me to have a good one. I like the shape and direction my training is starting to take, and I have some things to implement yet that I think will make it even better. I’ve pretty much come to the realization that I’ll never be as fast as I once was, but I’m going to do the best with what I’ve got left and try to have some fun with it along the way. Hope you have a great week, and go Team USA in the London Olympics!
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