I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a week like that. I can’t say it was a good week. The numbers are avert-your-eyes bad. But somehow, I may have ended the week on a somewhat hopeful note? I don’t understand it either.
Weight Check: 169.9 pounds, up 1.1 from last week. I didn’t eat well this week, either, but miraculously, I stayed below that 170 number that has vexed me most of this year.
| Day | Scheduled | Total Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 6 miles easy plus strides | 6.01 |
| Tuesday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Wednesday | 20 minute warm up, 6 x 1 minute hard uphill, 75-90 seconds jog back down/recovery jog, 15 minute cool down (or until 5 miles) | 5.02 |
| Friday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Saturday | 10 miles easy | 10.01 |
Total: 29.02 miles
Monday did not go well.
Miserable weather and dead legs are a really bad combination. I managed to get through the first four miles slowly but steadily, but by mile 5, I had to start taking walk breaks. I didn’t even attempt any strides, because near the end I felt like I wasn’t capable of anything faster than a really slow jog.
On Tuesday, the weather was brutal. My legs felt a little better. I still kept it really slow, due to both the weather and how tired my legs felt on Monday, but I got through it without any walk breaks. I’ll take it.
Wednesday sucked. I’ve said that hill workouts suck at any temperature, so I might as well do them when conditions are miserable. I found out this week that there’s a limit to that theory. 74 degrees with 90% humidity is probably too hot for a hill workout. I did get through all of the repeats (and managed my best pace on the last one), but I had nothing left for the cool down and ended up having to walk most of it.
On Friday, the weather was still brutal. I guess my legs felt OK, but it was hard to tell. I didn’t think it was possible to go that slow without walking (average pace 13:15/mile), and while I hesitate to call what I was doing “running”, it definitely wasn’t walking. It was also really demoralizing.
Somehow, I managed to get back out there on Saturday.
Well, I guess I finally found the right pace. I can’t say that I’m happy that it’s around 13:00/mile, but it made things a lot less miserable.
It was a couple of degrees cooler, and there was a breeze most of the time, so that helped, but mostly, I just did a good job of taking it really, really slow. I only had to take walk breaks when I stopped for water, roughly once per mile. I had Gu just after 5 miles. I had enough left to pick it up to a respectable pace for the last mile. My legs felt OK throughout the run, even near the end.
Overall, it was definitely slower than I had hoped, but I’m OK with it.
Next week, I head to Portland on Tuesday. It’s going to be in the 50s in the mornings. The running will be glorious. I’ll be reducing my mileage, since it was scheduled to be a cutback week anyway, but I’m going to savor each mile that I do run while I’m out there.
Oh, and next week’s wrap-up will be late.