Tempo Thursday

Did 6mi with 4mi tempo today. I like having a fairly flat path to do tempo runs rather than having to use the treadmill or a track. I ran at an average pace of 8:17/mi which I would call "comfortably hard" although it is faster than my 1/2 marathon goal pace. At the end I felt like I could have kept going but was very happy I didn't have to.

I really need to get back in the gym. I planned to go this afternoon but I was so tired I took a nap instead. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. I have been doing fairly well with my push-up routine. I'm flirting with the idea of doing the strength class rather than lifting on my own. I know I'm more likely to go to a class than to work out on my own, but I also know that the classes don't make you stronger like focusing on a few good lifts will. It'll probably depend a lot on how difficult it is for me to get to the classes after work, but I'll at least try it out when they start in a few weeks.

Madison

We are now in Madison. Our stuff joined us yesterday. Running took a backseat during the move, but I was able to run a few times while we were traveling and I have run three times since we moved in. I think I've found a good regular daily route through campus, and a friend has pointed me to a good place to do long runs on the weekend.

Last week was basically worthless as far as quality workouts go, but I did try to pick up where I left off in my training program this week. The funny thing is that I ran the loop yesterday (which has some minor rolling hills) one minute faster than I did the same distance just on the flat part with two fast miles. But a good run is a good run- I shouldn't complain if it comes on a quality day or a regular day.

Last Albuquerque long run

I did my last Albuquerque long run along the Bosque Trail yesterday. It was hot and quite humid for Albuquerque but I ended with a 9:26 average pace. I was even able to speed up- actually speed up, not feel like I was running faster but actually running slower- at the end. I'd give my total time for the run, but for some reason my Garmin skipped a mile somewhere in the beginning. Very strange. And it's not like I could have skipped a mile. It's an out-and-back course. I ran from mm8 to mm2 and back- 12mi.

Last Thurday I did a tempo run on the treadmill that also went very well. I did 2mi at 6.8, then 2 at 6.9, .5mi recovery, then 1mi at 7.2, moving down to 7.1. The second mile was definitely tougher than I thought it would be, I think because my brain was "done" after the 4mi tempo. The good part is that I know next time I can do the entire 4mi at 6.9. My goal will be to be able to run the tempo run at 7.0 by marathon training time because that's what the RW Ultimate Training Plan suggests as the tempo pace for a 9min/mi goal pace marathon.

Friday I went to spinning and today I'll be packing all day. I'm actually glad I have something physical to do because this has been such a great training week, I want to go out and run more. But I know I have to resist or else I'll be back to slogging along.

Speedy Monday

I did my Monday speed workout on the treadmill today. 2mi warm up followed by

2x [1200 CI, 800 CI, 400 PI] with 400 rest in between each. I did the CIs at 7.2 and the PIs at 7.7 at first and then backed off to 7.5, which is more in line with 5k pace rather than goal pace.

The thing that I noticed about these intervals is that they start out feeling harder than on the track, but once I get going, they aren't actually any harder. I think I sometimes psych myself out of doing speedwork on the treadmill because it will be "too hard" but now I have confidence that if I just hang in there during the adjustment period, it won't be too bad at all. Plus, a little practice dealing with discomfort is not a bad thing.

The coming week

Here's the plan:
M- 8ish miles inc. 1200 CI, 800 CI, 400 SI, 1200 CI, 800 CI, 400 SI
T-6 mi
W-6 mi (may swap with Thurs)
R- 8ish miles inc. 4mi PI followed by 1mi CI. This may get swapped for Wednesday due to time constraints. I have to take D to work every day this week because we only have one car now (yay!). I should try to do it on the treadmill, but I find it harder to stick with a tough pace on the TM than on a flat road or the track. We shall see.
F- XT. Probably my last spinning class at the gym.
S-12 mi
U- rest

That ends up as 42mi- sounds about right to me.

July in review, August prospective

I relized this afternoon that August had snuck up on me.

YTD mileage= 1096.7- Slightly more than 35 miles per week on average.

So July in summary:

The good-

• 143.8 miles. Averages out to about 29mpw. I'm putting this with good and needs improvement. It's good because we traveled so much, and I was able to keep up with running on both trips. It needs improvement because I dropped long runs basically all month, and I really need to get my milage up if I want to hit 2008 miles this year.
• Kept up with speed training. I'm not feeling intimidated by it anymore, and I actually kind of look forward to the workouts to see what I can do.
• Kept up strength training (for the most part) despite being busy with the move and traveling.

The not so good-

• 143.8 miles. I said it all above.
• I need to get back into long run shape. Lots of 12-14 milers between now and the 1/2 marathon- maybe a 16 in there too just for good measure.
• I skipped a 5k I'd been training for. Granted I had an ache and I really enjoyed seeing friends that evening instead, but I am a little dissappointed I didn't do that race.

Ahead for August:

Goals are-

• Keep up the speed and tempo workouts.
• Keep up with strength training.
• Keep running while we travel.
• Keep up with stretching.
• Run a 10k (or maybe a 5k) at the end of the month.

New Workouts

Friday I did my first tempo run of the training cycle. I was supposed to do one last week, but it got skipped due to being out of town for Rockygrass. I did 4.09 in 35:37- an average of 8:42min/mile. I know I started out a bit fast and slowed down after the first could miles, but I the pace never felt too hard.

Today was my first long run- 12mi. Again I started out around 9-9:30 pace, but slowed down quite a bit by the end. I'm hoping that it's partially the heat, but I know part of it is being out of long run shape. It's kind of daunting to think about running at my tempo pace for 13 miles, but I have 6 more weeks of tempo and long running to work on it.

Tomorrow will be a rest day. I'm going to help at the finishing area of the La Luz run. It's a pretty tough race, and they have a lot of great athletes show up for it, so it's a fun thing to be part of.