Training Summary: 4/7 - 4/13

Mon: 8 miles
Tue: AM – 4.5 miles; PM – 7.5 miles, including hill bursts
Wed: 11 miles, including fartlek workout
Thu: AM – 4.5 miles; PM – 7.5 miles
Fri: 5.5 miles
Sat: 13 miles, including 10k race
Sun: 13.5 miles
Total: 75 miles

After an impromptu down week last week, this was a good way to get back on track. I felt much better this week than last and had a good mix of both quality and quantity. Furthermore, I seem to be making at least a little progress with my achilles, and if I can get that to a more manageable state than it’s been in over the past couple months, that would be big when it comes to running fast.

Moving on to the details, Monday and Tuesday were pretty much the way I always start off my weeks. I had planned on doubling on Monday, but when I awoke to a pouring rain, I decided to pass, figuring a little extra rest wouldn’t hurt.

Wednesday was supposed to be a track workout, but the wind was just downright nasty. Since I get frustrated quickly trying to run fast on the track when it’s windy, I modified the workout to do essentially what was planned only converted to a fartlek on the road. That meant running intervals of 4X2 minutes, 4X75 seconds, and 4X45 seconds. The workout itself went well. I averaged 5:17 pace for the first set, 5:16 pace for the second, and 5:04 pace for the final. Overall I covered almost 5k in 16 minutes of hard running (5:11 average) and got in 11 miles for the day.

After easy days on Thursday and Friday, I ran my first race of the season on Saturday, the Chocolate Chase 10k in Lewisburg, WV. I wound up second in 35:17 and I’ll post a recap with more details in the next day or two. I finished the week with the standard long run in the hills of Fincastle Sunday morning and really didn’t feel too bad considering what I’d done the day before.

At this point I feel like I’m about as fit as I’ve been in since starting back running in 2011 after losing all of 2010 to twice breaking my foot. Based on how relentlessly hilly that course is, I feel my race effort over the weekend was good for mid-34’s on a more reasonable course (faster than that on the track, of course), and I felt about as good as I have in a while at that pace. However, that said, here’s my dilemma and challenge. I’ve gotten in similar shape to this a few times over the past couple years but just haven’t been able to break through. I need to figure out a way to push on to the next level. I spent some time thinking about that over the weekend and sent my coach an e-mail in regards to the topic this morning. I know my days of running PR’s are over, but I feel like I still have it in me to run relatively fast, certainly faster than I have in the past 4-5 years. However, the clock is ticking and I need to get the job done sooner than later. Onward!