Crazy temperatures this week. I still ran fairly well.
I retired my 2nd pair of Adrenaline 16s. I only wore them in one race, but that race was somewhat significant. (Understatement.) They were a good pair of shoes. I didn’t like the black with yellow trim at first, but it grew on me. I’ve got one more pair of 16s left, and next week I’ll start wearing my first pair of 17s.
Weight Check: 167.9, up 3.7 pounds from last week. Yikes. I started the week Sunday evening watching the Super Bowl. I still don’t want to talk about the game itself, but I do need to mention that during the game, I ate like a pig. I closed out the week at a friend’s birthday party, which was a lot of fun, but I did way too much grazing. In between, I went out several times, drinking beer each night, and oh yeah, at work I drank too much Mountain Dew. It was a pretty terrible week for my diet. I hope I can do better this week.
| Day | Total Miles |
|---|---|
| Monday | 6.01 |
| Tuesday | 5.51 |
| Wednesday | 5.01 |
| Friday | 5.52 |
| Saturday | 11.01 |
Total: 33.06 miles
Monday was kind of cold, 34 degrees. My legs felt fine. I tackled the big hill in my neighborhood. Somehow, I managed to do a reverse split for the whole thing. It wasn’t intentional, but I’ll take it.
Tuesday was 52 degrees, so it was pretty nice. It was uneventful, which isn’t necessarily bad, and my legs felt fine.
Wednesday was 72 degrees and mentally excruciating, because I went inside for the treadmill. It was actually really foggy outside. I ran well. My legs felt fine, but my mind did not feel fine.
I was expecting Friday to be even colder than it was, but 29 degrees is still pretty cold. Again, my legs felt fine, although it’s possible that they were just numb.
Saturday was my longest long run since New York City. It was also my last run in my 2nd pair of Adrenaline 16s, which, as I alluded to earlier, are the shoes I wore in NYC. There was a 5K going on near Freedom Park, which made getting there and finding parking a little tricky, but I managed, and once I got on the greenway, I was OK. It was around 50 degrees, and warmed up during my run, but it wasn’t humid at all, so I was OK. It would have been nice if some more of the water fountains were working, but I survived. I ran pretty well, and once again, my legs felt fine. I was even able to get a 9:12 on the last mile of the run, so there’s that.
Overall, I was pleased with my mileage this week. I was hoping I’d be able to get in an 11 mile run the week before a 10 mile race, and I succeeded. My legs seem to be pretty well rested, so I guess as long as I don’t go nuts this week, I’ll be ready for the Charlotte 10 Miler next Saturday.
This week, I hope to get in around 20 miles before my race. I’ll try to front-load my mileage (6 miles is a very good bet for Monday). I’m still not sure if I want to run Thursday or Friday. Schedule-wise, a Thursday rest day would work better, but I’m not sure I want to run the day before the race. We’ll see how it goes.
So, yeah, I have a race next weekend. This is where I’ll find out how my slow easy run/fast workout run routine affects my race performance. I’ve been doing it for about a month and a half. I’ve noticed my runs are very slowly getting a little bit faster. And I’ve definitely noticed that my legs aren’t tired and don’t feel beat up.
Still, last year’s Charlotte 10 Miler is the best race I’ve ever run, so comparing this year’s race to last year might not be a fair comparison. Well, all I can do is give this race everything I’ve got, and see what happens.