This week was better, and not just because I actually remembered to post the August Monthly Wrap-Up on time.
I forgot to mention my non-specific goals in my Monthly Wrap-Up, but really, there’s not much to report. The slow easy runs/fast hard runs thing is still working well, and almost everything else (cooking, better diet, more blogging) isn’t. The one exception is non-running exercise. Late in the month I got better about doing some strength training. And while I did start foam rolling, I’m not 100% sure that should count towards my goal. It’s great that I’m doing it, and it really seems to help, but I need to make sure I get the strength training done more consistently over the next couple of months. I feel like foam rolling will help with recovery, but strength training will help me be a better runner.
Looking at the forecast, I think we’ve made it past the worst of the heat. Temperatures in the 60s are still about 10 degrees warmer than I’d like, and it’s still pretty humid in the mornings, but it’s much better than the low 70s. We might still see a couple of bad days here and there, but I think overall, it’s going to be a lot more tolerable.
Weight Check: 166.4 pounds, up 0.2 from last week. Well, that’s disappointing. I actually did reduce my Mountain Dew consumption by a very small amount. On Thursday, instead of a 20 ounce bottle, I only had a 12 ounce can. That’s still 12 ounces too many, of course.
The other thing, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned this previously, is Gatorade. Now, I’m always going to have Gatorade after my long runs, and that’s fine. I also generally have Gatorade after my workout runs, and I think that’s acceptable. What’s not good is having a Gatorade after a 5 mile easy run in anything other than 75 degrees with 100% humidity. I’ll try to cut back on the Gatorade and stick with water on my easy runs. With the slightly cooler weather, that will be a little bit easier.
| Day | Scheduled | Total Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 7 miles easy | 7.01 |
| Tuesday | Fartlek, 15 minute warm up, 5 x 3 minutes hard (8:35-8:45/mile), with 2 minutes easy in between, 5 x 1 minute hard with 1 minute easy in between, 15 minute cool down (until I reach 6 miles) | 6.01 |
| Wednesday | 6 miles easy | 6.01 |
| Friday | 5 miles easy | 5.01 |
| Saturday | 17 mile long run | 17.01 |
Total: 41.05 miles
Monday, the weather was much nicer, 64 degrees. My legs were still a little tired from my long run, but they felt better as I went along. It was the first day of school, so I had to run around the kids at the bus stops. Overall, a pretty good run, and a good recovery from Saturday.
On Tuesday, the weather was humid and it was breezy, but the temperature wasn’t terrible. I kept my pace fairly consistent for the first set of 5. I screwed up one of the recovery intervals, I had a brain fart and thought it was 3 minutes of recovery instead of 2. For the second set, I was a little faster, not quite as consistent, but it’s tough to find the right pace in just 1 minute. I did manage to get my fastest pace on the last interval, though. I didn’t really notice my legs until the cool down, then the fatigue kind of hit me all at once. I did manage to recover a bit, though, and I did unconsciously speed up on the last quarter mile, which isn’t necessarily good for a cool down. Overall, I was happy enough with the workout to give it a shout out in my monthly wrap up, so there’s that.
Wednesday, the weather was nice, and I didn’t notice the humidity. My legs felt a little tired when I was going uphill, but otherwise, they were OK, especially considering Tuesday’s workout. (I think foam rolling helped.) I kept the effort easy, except for the last quarter mile, but somehow managed to get faster on every mile.
On Friday, the bad weather returned, 70 degrees and 100% humidity. My legs felt fine, though. I kept the effort “easy” except for the last quarter mile. I was a bit faster on mile 2 than I expected, and I’m not sure why, but otherwise, a fairly unremarkable but solid run.
So, Saturday. (I think I’ve used that intro for my long run before.)
There was fog at the beginning of the run, but the sun came out eventually and while the temperature went up a few degrees, it also dried out, so it wasn’t too bad, and much more comfortable than any of my recent long runs. My legs were OK pretty much the whole time. There was a little bit of fatigue on the last mile, but I also picked up the pace, so that may have caused some of the fatigue.
I did have to stop at 7.25 miles to get my sunglasses, and I stopped around 12.2 miles to use the bathroom. I had Gu at 4.15, 8.3, and 12.2 (after my bathroom break, but before I re-started my watch). I stopped at some water fountains, usually once per mile, but didn’t take any walk breaks other than right before/right after getting water.
I added a few hills, but the last decent one was around mile 10. I probably need to try to add one in later during my next long run like this. Central Park has hills, so a few late climbs will help prepare me for New York City.
Overall, I think I did pretty well. Mile 4 and mile 10 were a little faster than I wanted, but otherwise, I felt like my pace was pretty consistent, and I still had enough left to push it on the last mile, which I ran in 10:31. A 10:31 on any other mile would have led to problems, but on the last mile, it’s pretty good.
Next week, it’s a cutback week. My “long” run is 10 miles on Friday, before I start my on call for work. My “workout” is just a 6 mile run where I should try to include some hills. (In my neighborhood, it’s harder to not include hills.) Also, Tuesday marks exactly two months until the New York City Marathon. Not that I’m counting.