The Week that Was

This week was probably my best training week of the year, and not coincidentally, it happened when I recommitted myself to the early morning routine. Thursday was a solid tempo run followed by a short recovery run in the afternoon. On Wednesday Ryan mentioned that he thought my recovery pace was a little too fast, and kind of defeating the purpose of what a recovery run should be. I completely agreed with him and in case I needed further proof, I just had to look at Thursday 5 mile tempo, where I was really struggling to keep the pace down and wound up averaging 5:44 for the entire run. This workout should really be done at or below 5:40, so I think if I take my recovery Wednesday a little more serious, the times will take care of itself.

On Friday I did a 9 miler, with a real focus on keeping the pace over 7 min/miles. I was going fine until about mile 7 when something must have clicked and I wound up taking the pace down to a 6:58 for the run. Close but no cigar. I will admit though that I felt absolutely great following the run, so I think that slower pace did help. I did do another run in the afternoon and felt so good I through in some strides at the end just to keep the legs sharp.

Saturday was a 23 miler scheduled with Dave, an occasional commenter of this blog. It isn't often that I get to do long runs with someone so when I get the chance I usually will jump at it. Also, since 23 miles is the longest I have run since April of this year, having someone there to fight the boredom, and keep my pace in check was definitely a big plus. The temps plummeted on Friday and Saturday morning there was almost a chill in the year. I think it was probably around 60 when we started and never got over 70 the entire run. It was definitely a nice break from the summer heat.

Regardless the first 5 miles or so things were just off. My breathing was labored despite the pace being around 7 min/miles, and I could hardly even carry on a conversation. Thankfully, that passed after about mile 6 and things finally started to click. The run was going so good that I was getting a little nervous as we approached the turnaround point at 11.5 miles. Often when running on the lake, your aided by a tailwind without even knowing it and then are in for a rude awakening when you turn around. Not today though. While there was a slight wind in our face heading home, it was nothing that would slow us down and actually probably helped to keep things cooled off. The only real challenge on the return trip was the air and water show spectator traffic, which was all over the north end of the running path. We clocked the entire run at a 6:38 pace, and other than those first 5 miles or so, I felt great the entire time. It was definitely a nice confidence booster.

Sunday was just a general aerobic 10 miler in the pouring rain. I left the garmin at home because I didn't want to risk taking it out in the rain.

It looks like rain is going to be all over the place for the next several days so it will be challenge to motivate myself to crawl out of bed in the morning. Here is the week that was:

Mon: 10 miles with 7 at 5:50 pace
Tues: 17 miles @ 6:28 Pace
WedAM: 9 miles @ 6:40 Pace
WedPM: 7 Miles Untimed
ThursAM: 10 Miles with 5 @ 5:44 Pace
ThursPM: 6 Miles Slow
FriAM: 9 Miles @ 6:58 Pace
FriPM: 6 Miles slow with strides at the end
Sat: 23 miles @ 6:38 Pace
Sun: 10 Miles

Total: 107 Miles in 10 Runs

So while this was a nice week, the real challenge is to start stacking these weeks on top of each other. I have 5 more training weeks until taper for Chicago. I hope to make them all top quality.