I’ve had better weeks.
Weight Check: 165.6, down 2.1 pounds from last week. Wait, what? OK, this was a pleasant surprise. I don’t think I ate differently this week, and as far as I remember, I drank the same amount of Mountain Dew. I guess the miles were the difference.
| Day | Scheduled | Total Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lactate Threshold, 2 mile warm up, 2 x 2 miles at Threshold pace (9:05/mile) with 3 minutes in between, 1 mile cool down | 7.01 |
| Tuesday | 7 miles easy (Due to treadmill time limit, I split it into 4 miles, then 3 miles) | 4.01/3.01 (total 7.02) |
| Wednesday | 7 miles easy | 7.01 |
| Friday | 6 miles easy | 6.01 |
| Saturday | 18 mile long run | 18.01 |
Total: 45.06 miles
Like I said last week, I planned on doing my workout on Monday. The cutback week before this one helped. I don’t think I’d be able to handle any kind of workout on Monday of next week after running 18 miles yesterday, but in the 3 days leading up to this run, I ran 10 miles, 5 miles, and 0 miles.
Irma was approaching, and we were starting to feel the effects. It was windy with a little bit of light rain. My legs felt OK until near the end. It was tough, especially the 2nd mile of the 2nd interval. I didn’t quite hit the target pace, but for the most part, I kept my pace pretty steady, except for the 2nd mile of the 2nd interval, where I slowed down a little bit early due to fatigue, but I rallied near the end, and it ended up being my fastest mile. My legs were completely drained, and I walked a good tenth of a mile before going back to a slow jog. I didn’t do a full mile for the cool down, I just stopped when I hit 7 miles total, mostly due to how my legs felt.
The worst effects of Irma came through Monday night. By Tuesday morning, there was still a little bit of wind and rain, but I wasn’t sure how much damage there was in my neighborhood, and I didn’t really want to try to find out in the dark, so, after getting a large branch out of my driveway, I drove over to the Y and got on the treadmill. The treadmill has a 60 minute time limit, and my 10K PR is 57:04. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get to 7 miles in under 60 minutes. (And even if I could, there’s no way it would possibly be considered an easy run for me.) So I split it up into two runs, 4.01 miles in 43:45 (10:55/mile pace) and 3.01 miles in 32:05 (10:40/mile average pace). On the second part, I started at a 10:43/mile pace, then sped up on last mile, ending at 10:00/mile pace. My legs felt fine the whole time, because the treadmill is generally easier on my legs. However, it’s still mentally excruciating, and that’s the main reason I sped up on the 2nd part.
Wednesday was just one of those days. Weather wasn’t an issue, and it was cool enough that I didn’t realize it was 100% humidity until I checked Garmin Connect afterwards. It didn’t help that, even after I used the bathroom before my run, I had to stop at around 1.25 miles and go again. I just couldn’t get into a good rhythm. My legs didn’t feel terrible, but there was a little bit of fatigue. All I could do was take a day off and get back out there Friday.
I did indeed get back out there on Friday. Again, it was cool enough that I didn’t notice the 100% humidity. My legs felt fine. It was a much better run overall. I may have gone a little faster than I should have on miles 3-5, which is why, even though I did speed up at the end, mile 6 still was a few seconds slower than those miles. But after Wednesday’s run, I’ll gladly take a run like this.
And then there was Saturday.
I figured that I’d need 3 Gu packets for an 18 mile run. I put all 3 of them in my pockets and drove to the greenway. But somewhere along the way, one of them fell out of my pocket and ended up between my car seat and the center console. I didn’t realize I had only two of them until after I had taken the other two at 5 and 9 miles. So I ended up having to run the last 9 miles with no fuel. Also, initially, I had assumed that the 3rd Gu fell out of my pocket somewhere on the run, and didn’t find out it was still in my car until after I finished. Add in to that the fact that it warmed up to 68 degrees at the start, the warmest it’s been in almost 3 weeks, and I had a really rough finish with several walk breaks. Also, I stopped to use the bathroom around 12.20 miles (that’s when I realized I didn’t have any Gu left).
My legs felt OK for the first half, but they got really tired after around 12 or so. Also, knowing I had no more Gu messed with me mentally, so that didn’t help.
I did manage to get a few hills in (mile 5, mile 7, and mile 9) before things went south.
Fun fact: My training plan from the last 2 years didn’t include an 18 mile run. There was a 17 miler, and a workout run that ended up at 18.75 miles (it was a 3 mile warm up, 4 x 3 miles at marathon pace with 3 minutes in between, and a 3 mile cool down), but nothing that was 18 miles even. So yesterday’s run, as bad as it was, is still my fastest 18 miler.
So, yeah, the run really sucked. Between that and Wednesday’s run (which now doesn’t look so bad), I’m not feeling really good about my training right now. All I can do is keep going and hope I can work things out.
Next week, I’ll have plenty of chances to work it out. I’ve got a hill workout scheduled. (Crap.) My long run is only 16 miles, but 8(!) of those miles are supposed to be at marathon pace. We’ll see how it goes.