Another solid week in the books, more progress and confidence is building – not to an asshole amount but to a “this race will likely not suck” level.  And with three weeks of workouts left before race week, I get six more opportunities to stoke the fire.  I’m rich, I’m rich!  What a welcome change from “OMG…only 3 weeks?  I need more time!!”

Mid-August Week In Review
Easy runs were slower this week, it rained just about every day and though I was able to avoid it for the most part, there was no avoiding the humidity – which matters naught since my quality runs were faster and that’s all that counts.

Monday: 15@8:36
Tuesday: 12.5@8:23 (6 hill sprints)
Wednesday: 9@7:37 (9x 3min on/1min off)
Thursday: 17@8:27
Friday: 11@8:55 (drills & strides…and found another dollar, woohoo! why won’t anyone drop a twenty?)
Saturday: 12@7:35 (9@7:17)
Sunday: 14@8:32
Total: 90.5 mi

The Fartlek
Wednesday was my 3rd on-off session, which actually didn’t start so well.  As usual I didn’t do any strides beforehand (my lazy casual approach to fartlek) and the first two “ons” were a little over 7:00, which was irksome.  But I kept whittling down so that by the 5th one, I was going faster than the previous week’s on/offs and held it to the finish.

The odd thing was that the recoveries ended up 30sec faster than usual, averaging 8:05s – I don’t know what that was about.  I only realized this after I got home since I don’t look at the Garmin on the rests, I just wait for it to beep.  So it was an admittedly messy session but a good workout, nevertheless.

I need to say here that I love, love, love that Adam talked me into keeping fartleks instead of switching to traditional intervals.  It’s solid volume each week (around 4 miles worth of fast), the work-to-rest ratio is great at 3-to-1, yet they’re so much easier for me mentally.  Unlike intervals, I don’t make a big deal about each split and if the first one or two suck, it doesn’t mean the whole workout is doomed, there are enough reps that I can find my groove and feel good about it.  I’m not saying I’ll never get back to intervals but it’s been perfect for where I’m at right now.

The Recovery & Drills
Friday was a very purposeful recovery run (“slow down!”) since I’d just had two quality days with the fartlek and a 17-miler and had a tempo the next day.  I closed up with drills and strides – a nice finish to a recovery run since your body memory’s left with a little zing.  In fact, I used that memory in the following day’s tempo, adjusting my hip alignment a few times and also recalling the propulsion that goes into them.

The Tempo
Saturday was the high point of my week with the same tempo I did a couple weeks ago, but better.  The workout called for 12mi w/1hour @ 7:20 (marathonish paceish).  Last time, the tempo portion was 9mi@ 7:22.  This time, it was 9mi@ 7:17.  The great thing about this run, aside from the faster pace, was my heart rate: it averaged a tick less than the last time and had a wonderfully flat profile which means I could have continued at that pace for a good long time.  Sweet.

Weight
Amazing how effective a little calorie counting and mindfulness can be. I’m down 2 lbs already, not hungry and feeling properly fueled.  It’s been forever since I’ve seen consecutive days of 120 so this is way cool.  I might just get to my favorite race weight of 115 after all.  Not sweating it but it’d sure be a nice cherry on this sundae.

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