Training Summary: 4/8-4/14 and 4/15-4/21

April 8-14
Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 7.5 miles
Wed: 8 miles
Thu: 3.5 miles (failed workout)
Fri: 8.5 miles
Sat: 8 miles
Sun: 7 miles
Total: 50 miles

April 15-21
Mon: 4 miles
Tue: 3 miles
Wed: 0 – Day Off
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 6 miles
Sat: 10 miles, including combo workout
Sun: 7 miles
Total: 37 miles

Ugh! That’s about all you can say for my training right now. After having things go so well for 6-8 weeks, I’ve hit a bad patch and am now working on six weeks of sub-par training. There are various reasons for it, some of which I’ll get to shortly, but reasons and/or excuses don’t matter when it comes to fitness. Either you get the work done or you don’t, then the results speak for themselves.

The first week above is basically what can be defined as blowing up. I’d been feeling rougher and rougher for several weeks in a row, and things finally came crashing down that week. It culminated with a failed workout attempt that Thursday where the plan was to run two sets of 800 on, 400 easy, mile on, 400 easy.  Well, I knew in the warm-up I was in trouble, and I only managed to make it through 400 meters of the first repeat, run in a stellar 82 seconds, before I just jogged the short distance back to the Bast Center and called it a day. It was a slap in the face that made me re-evaluate any number of things, and in the end it was probably a good thing. However, two days later I left for a business trip to Las Vegas, and that leads to the second week above.

Let me just say that Las Vegas SUCKS for running, at least if you have to stay in the city itself, which I did because I had no vehicle. Before I left, I heard lots of people say you could run on the Strip as long as you did it early in the morning, so that was my plan. Well, in terms of people, the Strip is fine for running as long as you’re out early. You might have to dodge the occasional drunk and/or “lady of the evening” (morning in this case – ha), but otherwise you’re fine. However, what I learned is the Strip crosses major highways (think anywhere from 4-8 lanes) multiple times, and even in the early mornings it’s hard to get across these without using the crosswalk. That would be fine, except the crosswalk involves running up and down flights of stairs. Talk about breaking your rhythm and being frustrating. Furthermore, the whole Strip isn’t that long. I’m not sure about the total distance, but I would guess five miles max. If you veer off the Strip, which I attempted to do several times, you get into some pretty shady areas quickly, so that’s not the best idea. Anyway, I know people don’t go to Vegas to run, but it’s just very poorly laid out if you do want to run. I guess if all you wanted to do was 3-6 miles at 10 min per mile, it might be ok, and I did see others out running, but if you’re looking to run an hour or more at 7 min pace or better, you will get aggravated fast.

That said, the first three days of the week were basically ruined as I got progressively more and more frustrated with the whole Vegas scene, and I wound up taking Wednesday off altogether, partially since that was a travel day. It was more than good to be back home, but I’m still recovering from the trip. I did manage a decent workout on Saturday when I ran 4X60 sec hill repeats followed by a 15 min tempo. The problem is that workout not only showed me how much fitness I’ve lost but also took way more out of me than it should have. So, heading into May, which is basically the second best racing month of the year in my opinion behind only October, I’m out of shape and way behind where I’d hoped to be. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is, and I can either sit around and sulk about it or get to work. I choose the latter.

More to come tomorrow on a number of things, as I hope to revive my blog in addition to my running. Stay tuned.