Trust The Process

Tempo run today at the lodge fitness center in Lake Placid.  not sure if it was the temperature in the fitness room and no fan on the TM, potentially the altidude compared to philly or that i didn't sleep well on the pull out couch, but I had to cut the tempo portion .5 miles short since I was putting out way too much effort for the pace.

2 mile warm up

4.5 miles @ 6:31 pace

.5 mile cool down 

6 miles on the TM (1.0 incline).  avg pace was 8:08

Interval workout on the TM (1.0 incline).  

2 mile warm up

6x.5 miles @ 6:00 pace with .25 mile recovery jogs at 8:06 pace

.5 mile cool down 

Noon - Yoga Class

8pm - 6 recovery miles on the TM at home.  Avg pace was 8:55.

6 easy miles on the TM (1%) during lunch.  avg pace was 8:00

8.5 miles in 1 hour on the TM (1%) including 6 tempo miles.

2 mile warm up

6 miles @ 6:31 pace

.5 mile cool down

I was only scheduled for 5 tempo miles, but I was feeling good and wanted a confidence booster by going at tempo pace close to 10k race distance since I have a 10k race next Sunday.

Overall I am feeling good and think I can hit my goal next weekend assuming weather conditions are ok.

6 very easy miles on forbidden drive with my wife and son.  This was the first time running with him in the jogging stroller.  it was a good time for all and the weather was great.  avg pace was 10:34. 

Yesterday was an unplanned day off as my son was admitted to the hospital again late Saturday night with a respitory virus.  I spent all day at the hospital, but he was released today. 

On a positive note, I got confirmation of a corral A start for the Chicago Marathon today.

6 easy miles at home on the TM (1%).  Avg pace was 8:09.

Post run, my right knee is really sore.  It feels similar to runners knee/ITB syndrome that I have felt in the past, but it came from nowhere.  Yesterday, everything was fine and almost immediately after the run today, I started feeling pain.  Need to be better with stretching before/after my runs.  I will have to see how I feel tomorrow before attempting a speedwork session.

Interval/Fartlek session on the TM during my lunchbreak (1%)

15 minute warm up

4 x 5 minutes (6:00/mile pace) with 3.5 minute recoveries (8:06/mile pace)

5 minute cool down

This workout was similar to two weeks ago, but I reduced the recoveries to 3.5 minutes from 4 minutes.  I guess I cut the recoveries  too short because I had to cut the last speed interval to 4 minutes from 5.

Total: 7.25 miles in 53 minutes.

I took advil about an hour before the run and two hours post run, my knee feels ok.  We will see how it feel once the medicine wears off.

7 miles on the TM in about 53 minutes (1%).  The first five miles got incrementally faster starting at 8:30 pace and ending at 7:30 pace.  Mile 5 - 5.5 was at MP.  Mile 5.5 - 6.25 was around Sunday's 10k goal pace (6:15).  Mile 6.25 - 6.5 was at 5:00 pace.  I picked up the pace quite a bit at the end to practice to work on my kick for the race on Sunday. 

6 easy miles on the TM (1%) with 5x50 meter strides.  stride pace ranged fro 6:00 to 5:00/mile.  total avg pace was 8:03.

The 10k is in about an hour.  It's 32 degrees outside and partly cloudy with light winds.  Since most of my training has been inside this year, I have opted to wear tights with a short sleeve shirt, arm warmers, gloves, and a warm hat.

I wanted to put a few thoughts down on strategy pre race.  Hopefully writing my thoughts down ahead of time will help me stick with my goal during the race since in the past I have had a tendency to start out too fast in 10k/5ks.  The plan is to run the first two miles at 6:20 pace.  The third mile has a significant downhill for about a quarter mile so I figure this mile will be faster (around 6:05).  Mile 4 should be around 6:15.  The 5th mile has the same hill that mile three had except we need to run up it so I figure this mile will be around 6:40.  From there, hopefully I have saved some energy to put in a fast final 1.2 miles. 

Off to the race.

It felt good to be racing again.  The race was a little delayed at the start, but no big deal.  The wind today played more of a factor than expected when I left the house, especially miles 2.5 - 5 when we were close to the river.  I ended up racing most of this race by myself as I was inbetween the lead group and the people behind me.

The first two miles went almost exactlly according to plan.  Mile 1 was in 6:19, mile two in 6:23.  The third mile was going according to plan as we hit the large downhill toward the river, but we then hit a big headwind and I started to struggle a bit.  Mile 3 was in 6:18 and the 5k was around 19:40.  The headwind was still very strong for most of mile 4 before we hit the turnaround.  Mile four was 6:45 pace and I was not in a good place mentally.  I tried to dig deep during mile 5 getting the benefit of the tailwind, but I couldn't quite get back to goal pace.  Mile 5 was 6:27 pace.  Shortly after the 5 mile mark, we hit the big hill that we bombed down during mile 3.  The hill killed me (not surprising since most of my training this year has been inside on a treadmill).  Once the hill was complete, the course joined back up with the slower 5k runners so I spent the last .7 miles weaving in and out of slower runners.  Mile 6 was 6:51 pace and the final .24 miles (course was 6.24 miles according to my watch) was in 6:23 pace.  Overall my time was 40:34 for the 6.24 miles (6:30 pace). 

I was a little upset that I didn't hit my goal, but I still officially PRd by over a minute for the race distance.  I have run tempo runs recently on the TM at the same pace as today's run which suggested to me that I wouldn't have a problem breaking 40 minutes today, but I guess there is a big difference between running on a TM at a consistant pace and running a race with hills, colder temperatures, and wind to deal with. 

The next race is a 5k on 4/6.  Hopefully I can get my mileage base up a bit before the race while still getting in my harder tempo/speedworkout in.

6 recovery miles on the TM (1%).  Avg pace was 8:46.

6 easy miles on the TM (1%).  avg pace was 8:31.

4.76 miles on the TM (1%).  avg pace was 8:30.

Took Friday off unplanned as I didn't really sleep Thurs night since I had to take my dog to the vet hospital in the middle of the night.  She had a pretty serious seizure.

7 very easy miles with my wife outside along the banks.  Avg pace was 10:15.  Started breaking in my new FT 5s.

Two more unplanned days off Sun/Mon as it was my son's turn to be really sick again.

Speed session today to let out some steam/stress from the last 5 days or so.

2 mile warm up

4 x .5 miles (5:52 pace) with .25 mile recoveries (8:00 pace)

1 x .5 miles (5:42 pace) with .25 mile recovery (8:00 pace)

1.25 mile cool down

Total time was 52 minutes.  The speed pace was probably faster than necessary, but I was really looking to let out some steam.

Progressive tempo run on the TM (1%).

1 mile warm up

2 miles @ 6:31 pace

1 mile @ 6:27 pace

1 mile @ 6:22 pace

1 mile @ 6:18 pace

1 mile cool down

I felt really good today.

4 easy miles.  avg pace was 8:15