March 8th, 2009
I’m tired. Even with my day off on Monday, I ended up with 60 miles for the week.
It was also pretty dense as far as workload. Every other day had something: Wed had the fast fartleks, Friday had the 6-mile tempo run and today was a 15-miler (my longest run in a while) that included those same fast fartleks, then 2 miles easy, 2 miles “hard”, cooldown.
I started out quite slow today, 9:15s, knowing I was going to have to produce some energy midway through. When the fartleks started (15x1min on, one min off) I gave up the idea of shooting for 5K pace and was satisfied with doing them at 10K pace. It was still tough, I felt the fatigue of the week in my legs, and as I was running the fartlek portion, I was already writing my blog in my head about how I bagged the “hard” section, because just finishing the run was hard enough.
Then wonder of wonders, I’d completed my fartleks, almost done with my 2 easy and ready to ignore my Garmin beep signaling the Hard portion, when Kev appears on a bike next to me (Kev’s the guy I mentioned in last Sunday’s race report). He asked what I was up to, I said I was supposed to do 2 hard in a couple minutes but planned on bagging it, he said “I’ll pace you”. And he did!
It was so much easier having him there to chat with, I was able to do that part of the workout without thinking about it and while it wasn’t officially fast, I got a couple 8:07s out of it (hard enough considering I was planning on skipping it entirely). Thanks, Kev, much appreciated!
The only aggravation was I’d brought my 20oz. handheld and a gel but halfway through the run I knew I’d be dying for water at the end if I had to wash a gel down too, so I skipped the GU. It wasn’t missed, though I definitely could have used more water, here’s hoping the water fountains get turned on soon.
See how I’m already bitching and moaning about water and it was only 65 degrees? I’m doomed, I tell you.
Looking ahead, tomorrow is easy with 8 hill sprints, Tuesday is Hill Repeats (8x1min. uphill @ 5K effort w/jog-back recovery), Wed-Fri is easys with some strides, 5-mile race on Saturday, then 15 or 16 on Sunday. I don’t know if I mentioned it but I’m also doing a 5K the weekend after that (might as well start getting all my PRs lined up).
So that’s it for now, time to wash the salt off. Have a great Sunday night, folks!
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oh bike pacing is so nice!
I’m with you, I’d like to have the fountains on all year.
Hey, funny how we always seem to be out on our runs at the same time! By anyway, yesterday I stopped at the bathrooms at Loyd Hall and it was a mess, the poor lady was trying to clean things up so I said something to her about how dirty people can be. She was like oh it just gets worse the warmer it gets… now to the point of this all… she mentioned how with the budget cuts they will not be turning the fountains at Loyd Hall on anymore and I assume that might also mean the rest of them!!! So we might be some thirsty philly runners this summer :/
Sounds like you had a solid week! Time to ramp up the mileage, like you discussed on RWOL.
A race, with it’s attendant taper and recovery, should be just the ticket if you’re feeling fatigued. It forces a step-back. Two weeks of that will hopefully set you up for a ramp-up if you’re planning one.
I’ve never run a 5-miler. A strange in-between distance. All the fun of a 5K with added bonus length?
I had a 19 miler today – I ran with my 20oz handheld in one hand and a small 8oz bottle with water in my other, for washing down my precious GU Roctane. At mile 11 I reach for the Roctane and to my horror realized it had jumped from my Race Ready shorts at some point. The expletives were loud and plentiful – glad I was 11 miles from home so my kids couldn’t hear me. Freaking $2.50 down the drain….
Enough about me – read about you thinking about upping the ante to 70 mpw! You go – just don’t burn yourself out please, we still need to run a marathon together.
I love you all today, great goodies to read.
Christine, you’re shitting me!!! Are you serious? No water fountains? OMG OMG OMG. Horrible news. Oy. Must bring money for Citgo now…aargh. I am so hoping that isn’t true. I know, funny how we’re running into each other alot, and sometimes even at the same spot! Btw, you are one fast chick, fun to see you fly by.
Doggie, I may have to come to New York to drink from your fountains, let me know when they turn them on. Whhaaaaa.
Rebecca, I just went to your blog, congrats on winning the whole race!! You guys, go read her race report. As for the mileage,you are helping to get me all excited. I’ve been mulling it over and it seems a great thing to do after the Half, before August marathon training. Hats off to you girl, doing 85 miles weeks while teaching school and winning races!! Amazing.
Jim, I totally agree, it’s like race weeks are treats because I get to be lazy for the couple days preceding it. And yeah, 5-milers are strange distances.
Progman, that is awful! I’d be so pissed. Did you end up skipping the Roctane or did you have enough water? Lol, we’re running that marathon together, no two ways about it!! Though I may not be able to find you, you’re so skinny now.
So Progman, when you actually get to gulp down the Roctane, is it worth the money?
I was wondering about the ‘density’ (good word) of Hudson’s workouts. I keep trying to plug in some quality from his plans and I keep finding I have a hard workout the next day I don’t want to sacrifice (I’m weak). Way to pump out tough workouts one after the other. That’s not easy when your legs are screaming. Excellent work Flo! Oh and the pool…1:35:xx.
Jackie, it might be hard to integrate Hudson into a plan you’re already doing, though adding some of his quality bits into your LRs (15 minutes moderate or hard at the end, for example) would be an easy addition, though on the other hand, you’re only weeks away from Boston, so you could just save him for whatever you do next. LOL on your prediction, though I love it, it takes all the pressure off since it’s so ridiculous. Hugs!!
Hi, Flo,
I have been reading about your awesome progress with great interest.
I am a 45 year old who just started running in August. I run my first half on May 1st and first full in the fall. I am curious about what your stretching routine is like….I read about your speed work with envy…I’m a bit too paranoid about getting injured, so I haven’t done any yet. Since I am trying to run a sub 4 marathon, I know that speed work will need to come in to play… I think that if I stretch properly, I’d be less likely to get injured.
So, if you don’t mind sharing….what kind of stretching do you do???
Thanks!
Hi La Casalinga, congrats on the fast progress to a full marathon, that’s excellent! As for the stretching question…I don’t. At least, not on a regular basis. If something feels tight, then I’ll stretch that particular muscle but that’s it. Also, the one injury I got was due to waking up and doing a cat stretch in bed (my ankle went twang and ended up messed up for over a month), so stretching scares me.
Hi La Casalinga. Whan I decided to do my first marathon – jeepers, less than a year ago- my goal was 4 hours too. And I was scared of speedwork as well. It didn’t matter. Like most people running their first marathon, I needed endurance more than I needed speed, so putting in those long easy runs paid dividends. I followed the online RW SmartCoach program, which had one quality session each week, but nothing very hard. I did more easy miles than it called for, mostly because i was enjoying myself. The end result – 3:46 on a hilly course. I hope you find this useful.
Oh and stretching? Everyone has different answers. Yes I do, but not as much as I used to.