Mon: 4.5 miles (AM); 7 miles (PM)
Tue: 9.5 miles, including turnover work
Wed: 4.5 miles (AM); 6.5 miles (PM)
Thu: 4 miles (AM); 10.5 miles, including fartlek (PM)
Fri: 9 miles
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 16 miles
Total: 78 miles
This was a bit of an odd week, but a good one nonetheless, and I’m just gonna dive straight into the details. With Monday off from work due to President’s Day, I was able to get my evening run done on the trails and cross-country course at Greenfield. I thought that would be a good idea, since the soft surfaces would be a break from the usual pounding my legs get while running on the roads, but in hindsight, I don’t think it’s a move I would make again. Soft surfaces are definitely nice, but uneven, hilly surfaces, not so much. In the end, I think it actually took more effort that it would have to have run on the roads, and when recovery is the name of the game, you want the least effort possible.
Tuesday started out with some questionable winter weather in the morning then turned into a wind-fest in the afternoon. As a side note, I don’t know what the deal is around here anymore, but I’ve heard several people commenting on how it seems to be windy all the time. It’s like we live at the beach or Chicago or someplace. Anyway, I was planning on some 600’s, 400’s, and 200’s that night, but changed the plan to 12X200 instead with the hope of being able to keep the wind at my back. As it turned out, it was a crosswind on the Roanoke College Track so there was no hiding from it. The workout still went well though, and while my turnover continues to need a lot of work, it’s coming along.
After a recovery day on Wednesday, I attempted to run my second workout in three days on Thursday. I knew this would be pushing it, especially for where I am right now, but between the weather forecast and my schedule, I really didn’t have a lot of choice. My expectations were pretty low, but I ran hard and was pleasantly surprised. The workout consisted of a mile, 5X1 minute, another mile, and finally 5X30 seconds. The first mile was covered in 5:19, which is pretty fast for me over the past couple years (I’ve actually opened 5k races slower many times), and the rest of it was solid as well. Considering I was running on tired legs, I was pleased and took it as another sign that things are headed in the right direction.
I had to turn around and run again on Friday morning since I was working the ODAC Indoor Track and Field Championships all day, so I expected to be in for a rough one. However, I actually felt pretty good and rolled through it with most miles under 7 min pace. After an easy day on Saturday, I concluded the week with a very solid long run Sunday morning. In windy (yes, again) conditions and on a course that had over 2,000’ total elevation change, I covered the last 10 miles in 64:45, with the last three in 6:26, 6:24, and 6:14. The best part is I was well within myself the entire time, and only towards the end did I feel like I was pushing a little. I felt good afterward too.
All that said, based on this past week I feel like I’m at least close to a small breakthrough. At the same time, I’m almost nervous that something is going to blow up on me at any time, but so far so good. I’m healthy, feeling good, and definitely making progress. I’m also getting the itch to race sometime soon. Right now I’m hoping for a couple more weeks of good training, then a cutback week with a race in mid-March. After that, I hope to start racing fairly consistently, although with some work and personal items filling my late-March and early-April schedule, it might be mid-April before I can settle into a good pattern. For now, I just want to keep the momentum going. I feel like I’m probably about as fit as I’ve been in the past couple years, but I also feel like I can get much fitter, and that’s the goal.
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