Last week, due to work, plus wedding bookend weekends, E's broken foot and necessary trips to urgent care, and a quick 30 hour trip to Disneyland with my Bro, Niece and K, my mileage took a serious hit. I substituted some cross training (including 50 bicep curls that left me unable to straighten my arms for a few days), but the running was nothing to write home about. Total miles: 15. Quality? Not much, most of it was just miles on my feet in the slow lumbering pace range. Saturday, I did manage to fit in some treadmill intervals at target race pace: 1.5 miles, 0.75 miles, and 1 mile all at 9:05/mile pace w/0.5% incline and 3 minutes recovery. But really, it was a lame running week.
This week was also less than stellar, but somehow, it managed to help my confidence quite a bit.
M: 5.6 miles @ 11:07 pace. These slow paces are the result of the broken garmin and running with the audiobooks. I just relax and go at whatever pace feels easy. Part of me comes home and calculates the paces and thinks? "Why am I so slow?" But, part of me knows that there are multiple training plans that call for training miles at much slower paces than I usually settle for, so I tell myself, "Relax." You're training without a pace watch for this segment. It's science.
T/W -- 30 hour disney trip. OFF running, although I think I may have walked up to 7-8 miles with all of the various park activities (including some unplanned speedwork chasing and racing my niece to various rides).
Th: My track group was doing the Cooper Test on Wed in my absence, so I decided to do it by myself. So, I busted out a 2 mile 10 min/mile w/u, then 1.46 miles in 12 minutes (8:13/mile pace), then 10 minutes walking cooldown. I was pleasantly surprised. I figured I was in 8:10 mile pace for a full mile, so to realize I was close to this for 1.5 miles made my day. Maybe there is something to this run by feel approach after all...
F: OFF.
Sa: I got up at 5:20 AM to drive and pick up C, so we could drive to Jen's and then all drive together to the Zoom Point Pinole Half. I was disappointed in my recent running, so my goals were quite simple. Run the whole thing. That's it. So, I headed out conservatively and slowly stepped it up throughout. I only stopped at aid stations, I ran the whole thing, and I did a great job of pushing myself the last couple of miles because I'd passed a woman I'd been jockeying with about 2 miles before the finish and I *really* didn't want her to pass me. Overall, it was a great day. 2:09 half on a trail course with hills (albeit in perfect overcast chilly weather). No complaints. The post-race breakfast at tacubaya was to die for. BEST CHILAQUILES I'VE HAD IN THE US. (Oh, and FYI -- that Blue Bottle Coffee is not fucking around -- I had the jitters and was slightly nauseous after half a cup with cream. Be Aware!)
Su: I was worried about fitting my run in today. We had a big, full day. My bookkeeper was showing up at 9, we had brunch at 11, we were buying E a new suit after that, and then I had a huge chore/to-do list centered around taxes and general family administrative stuff. But I woke at 5:50 (thanks to the day before's 5:20 AM wake-up call, I'd wanted to go to bed around 11 PM.). I went back to sleep, but when I woke again at 7:20, fully rested, I took advantage. I headed out for a *very* slow 4 miles (11:33/mile) plus another 0.5 mile walking cool down. But I got it all done, plus a shower before my bookkeeper showed up. This, my friends, is how I define my own personal version of success.
Total this week: 26.85 miles. Most important -- a solid half and good cooper test have led me to believe that perhaps limiting my speed concerns to a couple of workouts a week is best.... I'll let you know.
2 comments:
You ran such a solid half on Saturday! And yes, that coffee was soooo strong. I didn't get the jitters, but I wasn't able to take a nap. Boo.
@Jen -- thanks. I was pleasantly surprised by the half and negatively surprised by my inability to handle the coffee. All in all, the half totally out-weighed the coffee nausea. Thanks again for the inspiration, wouldn't have registered if you hadn't, so I owe you.
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