Tues: 4 sets of 800-400-400 (800's: 3:10-3:15, 400's: 90-94)
Wed: 6.5-miles
Thurs: 8-miles (North Hills Drive, easy)
Fri: 5-miles
Sat: 13-miles
Sun: 6-miles
Total: 50.5 miles
It was freezing in the beginning of the week. Literally. Tuesday brought an "Arctic blast", making it the coldest it has been in quite some time. The end of the week brought a tornado warning. When we ran Saturday morning, it was 60+ degrees and 100% humidity. I went from doubling up everything I wore on Tuesday to debating if I was going to take off my t-shirt and run in a sports bra on Saturday. I didn't. I'm too pale and I really need to start working on core strength!
I decided to try and not attack all of my New Year's resolutions at one time and basically just get back onto my regular training schedule this week. However, I did try and still keep #3 in place and not eat a whole bunch of crap late at night (well, for most of the week... I fell of the band wagon Thursday and Sunday). I need to find some good deserts though. I think that is my greatest source of refined sugar. I eat pretty well other than that.
Monday night was pretty cold and windy, although it was still above freezing. The run went pretty well, but my watch cut out at some point. Alan Culpepper was also at the Hibernian Harriers run to kick off the Rock 'n Roll events. He was pretty interesting. Wednesday's run from Trophy was also fun... got to catch up with some people I haven't seen in a while. Friday's run was uneventful, although I did try and pick it up the last quarter(ish) mile so my average pace would be around 8min. Sunday's run was also uneventful, although a lot hillier than I was expecting! I usually run on a flatter, main street in Rural Hall, but there is only a sidewalk for about a mile, and then it's frogger for the rest of the run. The Cravers told me about a nicer, less trafficey back road. It was much nicer and much less trafficey, but holy hills! I wasn't expecting that. I had to stop a few times on some of the steeper ones. I wasn't feeling great (hence why I was running after lunch and not at 7am when I was planning to)... I need to figure out why I've been so tired lately!
Tuesday's track workout went reasonably ok considering everything. First off, it was my first track workout after 2+ weeks of not doing any real speed work, making hitting 10k pace and below challenging. Secondly, we were experiencing an "Arctic blast", with temperatures in the low 20's (and lower with the wind chill). I was wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of tights, a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve shirt, my Boston Marathon windbreaker (which is lined), and a headband and gloves. The biting cold makes it much harder for me to breathe, and wearing all of those clothes doesn't help with speed. Plus, coach had said there was no official workout due to the weather, so it was just Matt and I. We did start earlier than normal (around 5ish), so we got some light, but it's hard to fight paces when it's only the two of us fighting. The "advanced" training program had 7-9 miles on the schedule with 3 sets of 800-600-600 at 5k pace. I hate 600's, and there was no way I was running an extended warmup/cooldown in the freezing cold, so I opted for 4 sets of 800-400-400. I was hoping for 10k pace and below (6:35), but wasn't sure. 5k pace (6:20) seemed like it might be a bit quick, especially for the 800's. This proved to be true. The 400's were at 5k, and the first lap of the 800's was probably on pace, but holding that for two laps was challenging. I did manage the sub-10k that I was hoping for though. And, according to the McMillan website, I wasn't far off my 5k pace given my marathon goal (my 800's were 3:10,15,13,13).
Thursday's run, according to the "Boston" schedule was supposed to be 2 x 20min MP with 8min recovery, for a total distance of 8-11 miles. Well, I got the distance part ok. I decided to run on North Hills though and get used to the hills again. Running this route gets me in shape. Katie and Jennifer were running easy as well, so I ran with them for the first 3.5 miles (they were doing 7 total). Looking at my splits, I am happy that I stayed relatively consistent on the way back (which is a net uphill with some pretty good inclines) with no one to pace off of.
Saturday's run was pretty miserable after the first half. It was so freaking hot and humid (weather.com had us at 60+ degrees and 100% humidity). I'm not good at switching between 25 degrees, windy and dry to 60 degrees and humid in the course of a handful of days. Plus, 13 miles is actually the longest I've run since the City of Oaks half marathon back in the beginning of November (that's kind of sad). I was pretty dehydrated for the rest of the day. I could definitely feel it the last three miles of the run. Katie and I were pretty much dead. It was good to run with her again though! Later in the day, the rain moved in. It was kind of weird. All of a sudden, around 1pm, all of the iPhones in Raleigh Running Outfitters started making this sireney sound. Apparently that indicated a tornado warning. Within a few minutes, the rain started. And then the wind started. And then the wind started blowing the rain diagonally. It was all over within 5-10min, and there was no tornado, but it did catch all of our attention.
Other than that, Matt's achilles has been bothering him more this week due to a knot in his calf. This sidelined him from Wednesday on. I hope it gets better soon. I miss running with him.
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