Training Summary: 8/4 - 8/10

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 7.5 miles, including strides
Wed: 10 miles, including fartlek
Thu: 7 miles, plus drills
Fri: 10 miles
Sat: 0 - off
Sun: 14 miles
Total: 55 miles

This was a transition week for me as I regrouped from a very frustrating week the week before. Coming into the week, I felt like I needed a bit of a break, both physically and mentally, before doubling down and getting back to work, and overall things turned out well. I got in a fairly solid week, but also felt like I recovered a bit and put myself in a good position to move forward.

I was a little beat-up the first few days of the week, with some tightness in my left calf being the main problem. Accordingly, I was a little hesitant to do the strides on Tuesday and the workout on Wednesday, but I went ahead with both and everything turned out well. In fact, the workout on Wednesday was pretty solid all considered. It consisted of a fartlek of 4X2 min, 4X1 min, and 4X30 sec, all on the Salem 5k course, which for those who might not know is very challenging. The paces ranged anywhere from 5:40’s to sub-5:00 depending on the length of the interval and the terrain, and by the end I could tell I’d done some work.

I intended to do another workout on Friday, but after a long day at work, I was actually considering taking the day off altogether, especially since it looked like I’d be running by myself in the rain. Fortunately fellow RVE teammate, Sam Lev, got in touch with me and having someone to run with made a huge difference. We wound up running miles 4-13 of the original Star City Half Marathon course at a decent clip (lots of 6:40’s from about the third mile on), making for a solid run on a hilly course.

I decided to take Saturday off. I kind of felt like I needed a rest day, and the fact it was pouring rain was all the encouragement I needed to take one. I finished the week off with a 14-miler in Fincastle Sunday morning, most of which was at a relaxed effort before picking it up for a 6:15 final mile.

This week I hope to get down to business and have what will basically be a model week for what I’d like my training to look like the rest of this year. The plan will be somewhere in the 75-80 mile range with two workouts, a long run, and some strides and drills thrown into the mix. I need to get back on my strength and flexibility routines as well. I’m hoping to be ready to race by mid-September if not before. I actually feel like my general fitness level is decent, but I’m not sure how it would translate into a race because I’m certainly not sharp and I’m lacking in 5k-10k specific work. I may need to do a time trial in a couple weeks to get a better idea of where I’m at, then go from there. Regardless, fall is coming quickly, so it’s definitely time to get to work if I’m gonna salvage much of anything out of this year.