The themes of my training for the past few weeks have been hill repeats and tempo/steady state miles. Overall, I’ve been feeling good and have been trying to take things one workout at a time. If I’m given a goal range for my workouts I’ve been trying to keep things on the low end. I figure I have plenty of recovery miles to relax, so as long as I’m feeling good I try to stay focused and push my pace a little, but I’ve also applied that same focus to making those easy miles easy. I’ve also found myself naturally pushing at the end of tempo blocks, making my last mile my fastest. I haven’t forgotten how bad those final 3 miles of November’s half marathon felt, so I’m trying to prepare myself for that final uncomfortable surge. Sometimes it’s more of a game; I start to imagine coming down that final stretch and being close enough to out kick someone. So far I’ve out run every stop sign.
Here’s what I’ve done for the past week:
Sunday – 5 miles easy
Monday – 7 miles easy
Tuesday – 8 miles including 2 miles of shorter hill repeats (50-60 seconds uphill)
Wednesday – 6 miles easy
Thursday – 10 miles with 5 miles at steady state (7:10-7:30 pace); actual splits – 7:10, 7:13, 7:07, 7:01, 6:58
Friday – off
Saturday – 15 miles, pushing the pace a little on the second half as I felt
Total miles: 51
I didn’t intentionally try to run Thursday’s steady state miles as a progression, but it just kind of happened. My effort felt within my goal range, so even though I was a little faster I was feeling good, wasn’t pushing too hard for the purpose of the workout, so I went with it. Saturday’s run ending up being hillier than usual, so I didn’t get my pace under 8:00 for the second half, but it was optional based on how I was feeling. I was very happy with my overall pace given the terrain, and the last 3 miles were close to 8 as my route leveled out on the way back home, so I was happy for that too.
I don’t want to jinx myself, or anyone else within my larger geographic region, but I feel like the weather has turned a corner this week. The super cold temperatures are no longer forecasted, and things are looking more and more mild. For the past two mornings I’ve run in a t-shirt and capris. I’ll take it! It’s been easy to forget that nicer weather inevitably comes, and the transition from winter spring is probably my favorite, especially those first weeks when everything explodes in color.
My non-running hours have been filled with books, food, movies, and being my nerdy self with the mister. If we sit down to have a drink together in the evenings we’ve started playing games (Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble). It’s been nice to do something fun together that doesn’t involve a screen, and relaxing to sit and have fun for an hour or so. Added bonus in having to think a little, another added bonus in laughing at each other’s silliness. Yes, I’m far enough into my marriage to consider Trivial Pursuit romantic, and the homebody part of me likes it as a cozy, and inexpensive, thing to do. Besides, an ideal date for me involves yoga pants and a sweatshirt, so win/win. We’ve also been watching American Crime Story, which has been so good! I was in high school during the trial, so it was very familiar to me, and from the quick research I’ve done the show sticks to real events and real conversations almost verbatim. It’s really intelligently put together and while you’ll be infuriated for the prosecution, you’ll also come away in awe of Marcia Clark and her persistence in the face of the heinous sexism that went completely unacknowledged. I will be binge-reading her autobiography in the near future.
Marcia, my next strength session is dedicated to you.
Kickin’ it like Clark,
Sarah
