Trust The Process

8 easy miles after work today

It was about 50 degrees and very windy outside.  The first 4 miles were into a very strong wind and the average pace was about 9 minutes.  The last 4 were in about an 8:30 pace.  My legs felt dead today.  Not sure if it was the strong winds or if I am still tired from Saturday's long run.  I will see how tomorrow's run goes and will cut it short if things aren't going well.  I want something left in my legs for Wednesday's speedwork. 

Ran 4 easy miles at lunch today (treadmill).  Pace averaged 8:20.  My legs felt much better today, so I am feeling good about tomorrow's speedwork session.

Speedwork session at the gym this morning on the treadmill.  This was my first interval/speedwork session since late last year I think.

1 mile warm up with strides

2 x 1 mile @ 6:07 pace, 4:30 jog recovery (9:00 pace)

2 x 1 mile @ 6:00 pace, 4:30 jog recovery (9:00 pace)

1 mile cool down

I know this was on the treadmill (1% incline) and not as hard as it would have been outside, but I was very satisfied with today's workout.  My training has clearly paid off this year as I used to struggle to finish 800m intervals at this pace late last year.  For future speedwork sessions, I will plan to keep a similar pace but will try to add reps and cut back a little bit on the recovery time between reps.  I took some advil for my ankle afterwards, but I am not feeling too much pain post workout.

I have been making a conscious effort this week to focus on nutrition and will hope to do so leading up to the marathon.  At the beginning of the week, I was 185 pounds (6'1").  I am looking to drop 10 pounds before the race in 8 weeks.  I have some body fat to loose so I am optimistic that this drop in weight should have a big impact on my race times.  I just need to make sure I don't cut back on the calories too much to negatively effect my training.  I will give weekly updates going forward.

8 miles outside after work.  It was about 55 degrees and not too windy.  I wore my tights and a long sleeve technical shirt and got a little too warm but not bad.  Avg pace was 8:08.  Had to hold back my pace and I was moving along well.  Wanted to save my legs for tomorrow's long run.  It's forecasted to rain tomorrow morning so I may need to run on the treadmill tomorrow.

15.5 miles outside in a light rain. It was a terrible run today. I don't think my body fueled properly as I was really stuggling. As my last few miles were barely under a 10 min pace, I called it quits 1.5 miles early. I learned two things this week. I cut my calories too much this week and I shouldn't do a long run in the morning when I had just done a fairly long run (8 miles) the evening before. I am going to forget about this one quickly and focus on my 10k in New Orleans next Saturday.