CSWS: Week 3

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

 

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My week started with some TIRED LEGS!! After a horrible long run last Sunday and a sluggish start to my week, I was certain this entire week would suck. I was then reminded of the power of slowing it down. Even though I felt like complete crap during those runs, keeping at the slower paces was exactly what my body needed to recover. When speed day rolled around, my legs were ready to go! I'm really trying to follow this method and slow down some of my runs to see if it allows my body to recover more quickly.

 

My body is not the same as it was 2 years ago. I've put in a lot of hard work to try and get it back to that point, but I'm not there yet. My body responds and recovers differently than it used to. Right now, I NEED those slower runs to survive! Plus, it really makes me appreciate the fast ones.

 

 

• 6/5: 5.03 miles, 9:28/mile; Bis/Tris, 30 min; Foam Rolling, 15 min. How many ways/times can I say that I felt SLUGGISH?! Oh my goodness. I'm hoping this is one of those "it will only make you stronger" moments! I felt really good going into my race on Saturday...legs not tired at all. I guess the race got me more than I thought because I was dragging on my long run the next day. Today, the trend continued. We ran pretty slow. I was hoping this would shake out the yuck. I guess I'll find out when I get ready to do my track workout! All I can say is I'm looking forward to my running rest day. Also, I typically don't foam roll for 15 minutes, but I really wanted to focus on a couple of areas. I rolled my glutes and quads. I just treated it like a deep tissue massage and cranked on those babies! Oh boy was it fun.
  

  

  Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

• 6/6: 7.5 miles, 8:24/mile. Track day, baby. Always a fav of mine. Oh Lord, did I dread this one. I thought for sure I'd die in the warm up. I mean, I've been so tired since Saturday. I'm not sure if it's because I expected the worst, but I felt good during my warm up. My legs seemed to feel normal again! Even though the warm up felt good, I didn't get my hopes too high...I still had to nail those intervals. This week I had to do 7x2 minutes hard with 2 minute recovery (2 mile warm up and cool down). I had an idea of what my distance goal was for the 2 minutes based on my fartlek workout from 2 weeks ago (1 minute intervals in which I ran 250-275 meters each). I figured if I ran at least 500 meters in that 2 minutes, I'd be doing good. I also wanted to focus a lot on my form. My quads were SO SORE a couple of weeks ago. I figured out it was likely because of my form. Today, I wanted to focus on decreasing my step length a bit and not feeling like I have to stretch my legs to their fullest extent when I'm doing my intervals. My first interval was a bit of a test that I completely failed. I ran 475 meters (6:47 pace). I figured it all out after that. My next four intervals were 500 meters (6:26 pace) and the last two were 525 meters (6:08 pace). I made a comment to myself after the fourth one that I felt pretty good so far. The next interval shut me up. That's when things started getting tough! I was so nervous about not hitting 500 meters for the last two that I actually ran faster and further. Woo Hoo! Anyway, I was super stoked about this workout considering how much I was dreading it. Looking forward to a rest day.
  

  

• 6/7: 1 mile, 8:47/mile; Glutes/Abs, 30 minutes. Global Running Day was today. I knew this first existed 2 years ago. I didn't run that day because I was on a 5 day hiatus from running since I just ended my spring running season. Last year, I was still rehabbing from my accident and not allowed to run. This year, I had a planned rest day! LOL. I couldn't go without running at least a mile. I did 17 laps around the track at the Y and followed it up with strengthening.
• 6/8: 8.1 miles, 8:40-ish average/mile. I forgot to start my watch and missed the first 1.15 miles of the run (had to do some calculations to figure it all out with map my run and Karen's stats...I'm glad I was always a math whiz). This was supposed to be my steady state run, but I decided I was too sleepy to desire to pay attention to my watch. I just decided I would warm up a couple of miles then try to pick it up just a bit. The intended workout was to get at least 4 miles between 8:22-8:32/mile. Looking back at our splits, we actually made that happen without a bit of thought! Miles 4-6 were in that range and mile 8 was faster. So happy I could do it without wasting mental energy! LOL. I need all the brain cells I can get.
  

  

  10 months old this week!

• 6/9: 14 miles, 8:43/mile. Amanda and I took it to the streets of Dublin to meet another friend close to her home. Our friend didn't make it, so we had the pleasure of a run with some elevation. It felt so much better than last week's long run!
  

  

  The face of those who like some elevation. [Amanda, ME]
  

  

   

  
  
• 6/10: REST. It was glorious.
• 6/11: 5.11 miles, 8:54/mile. I met up with some friends for another bRUNch! We did some easy miles followed by 4 strides. I can't believe I actually did them. LOL. I've been forgetting or avoiding them the past two weeks. Fortunately, I had the girls hold me accountable! After the run, a few of us made our way to Delaney's Diner for some coffee and grub.
  

  

  bRUNch crew. [Jen, Karen, Katie, Meg, ME]

 

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Overall, it was a solid week of training. This next week, I get to look forward to a race pace run and hill repeats. It will also be the final week of Block 1 of training. I just LOVE summer training and can't wait for the sweaty heat. Bring it on, summer!

 

James wanted to feed his sister. LOVE!