June 2016 Running – Week 1

The week started with a lot of easy running.  I’ve been trying to keep the pace truly comfortable.  On Wednesday, I ran a workout with mixed success.  I finished the week with a surprising time at Lawyers Have Heart considering my recent speed work.

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Training Schedule
June 5th – June 11th

Sunday: 12 miles easy.
Monday: 5 miles recovery.
Tuesday: 6 miles recovery.
Wednesday: Interval Run. 7 miles w/2 x 200m, 2 x 800s, and 2 x 400m.
Thursday: 5 miles recovery.
Friday: 5 miles recovery.
Saturday: Lawyers Have Heart 10K.

Mileage Total: ~46 Miles

Adaptations.  I ran a little further in several of my workout this week, so even though the schedule should have resulted in 46 miles, I completed exactly 50 miles.  In general, it was a good training week.

Workout Details

Medium Run.  12 miles easy [Log Details].

I went to bed early the night before and got up at 4:30am.  I ate a Luna bar, some coffee, and water.

I really tried to keep the pace easy, thinking about the recovery portion of the fartlek run I did last week.  My goal was to finish the run no faster than 9:00 pace and not go down to my knees anytime I stopped.  (A co-worker mentioned he saw me out on a run a couple of weeks ago.  I asked him how I looked and he said something like, “Good!  But…  Then you went to your knees at the top of the hill.”  So, that’s been my easy run test – stand upright like you could continue running.)

I felt very sluggish at the start – my legs were like tree trunks and my ankles hurt a little – but, I chalked it up to the off day and my new shoes.  Everything felt better about 2 miles into the run.

I felt a little hungry during the early and middle parts of this run.  I’ve been trying to shed a few pounds and figured maybe I was feeling the effects of the calorie reduction on this run.  But, most of the run was uneventful.

I ran into a club teammate about mid-way through the run and we ran together for maybe a half mile.  I enjoyed her company.  I haven’t been running with my club regularly recently so it was nice to see someone I wanted to catch up with.  I sped up a little when I ran with her but settled back into an easy pace when she turned back.

I ran pretty comfortably for the second half of the run.  Even though I was tired,  I was focused on running with good form and most of all NOT bending over any time I stopped to wait for a Walk Signal at an intersection.

This run definitely felt easy.  But, was it too easy?

Overall pace=9:06.

Interval Run. Fartlek Run. 7 miles easy w/5 x 200m, 2 x 800m @ 5K pace, 4 x 400m @ 5K pace.  [Log Details].

I spent the morning working on my mid-week blog post.  As a result, I quickly reviewed the training notes from my coach for the workout and rushed to enter the distances into my Garmin since I would be running this workout on the rail trail.

I felt good out the door during the warm-up.  I treated the 200m intervals as long strides – just as my coach directed in my training plan notes.  (I started the workout next to a section of trail that goes under the freeway.  Unfortunately, my Garmin malfunctioned and the first recovery was short – 44 seconds instead of at least a minute.

 

I ran the first 800m by feel and low-7:00 pace came easy.  I thought, Maybe all the recovery running is doing my legs good!  The second 800m was a little more labored.  I hadn’t thought about 5K pace before the workout but 7:20 pace seemed a bit “slow”.  By the time I got to the 400s, I couldn’t remember what the training notes said as far as pace.  I decided to just run them “hard”.  But, I did recall something about the workout shouldn’t feel too taxing, so I tried not to run all out.

I was pretty tired after the workout, so in some sense, I felt like I might have failed.  I definitely felt like I’d put out a good effort.  Did I run the early repetitions too fast?  Am I recovering enough?  Surely the terrain and wind were factors…   Ugh!  Why am I even going there?!  I’m not training yet!  My coach is just trying to introduce a little speed into my runs.

200m splits=0:59, 0:57; 800m splits=3:38, 3:42; 400m splits=1:59, 1:50, 1:56, 1:53.  Average=7:30 pace.

Lawyers Have Heart 10K. 6.24 miles @ 10K pace [Log Details].

I ran 45:22 (7:17 pace)!  I’m a little shocked.  (And, also wondering if the course was a little short since my Garmin measured exactly 6.24 miles at the end but I know we also ran under some highways.)  It’s so much faster than what felt like 5K pace a few days earlier.  A full race report will follow but I think I have some mental training to do.  I may be capable of running much faster than what I think am.  In any event, for the numbers crowd, I was the 183rd finisher for the 10K (top 11%), 31st woman (top 2%), and 2nd in my age group.

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Racing Schedule 

Next race: Wild Horse Trail Half Marathon on June 18th.  (My Complete Racing Schedule.)

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The Week Ahead

I’m looking forward to a good training week after tomorrow’s off day.  Then, I’m heading to San Diego on Friday for a friend’s wedding on Friday.  I’m a little excited about running my first trail race while I’m out there next Saturday!