Mile Training: Week 2/6

Week-Beginning Thoughts:
Uh... idk.


Monday
Scheduled: 3-6mi recovery
Did: 19min WU @ 9:40/mi, 4x30s hills + 4x45s hills (7:04-8:30/mi), 15min CD @ 9:51/mi = 4.84mi @ 9:46/mi avg, Big 5
Wanted an easy conversational run with my 10KT buddies, so I opted to take advantage of the Memorial Day holiday to sleep in and do hill repeats with B at 6am instead of our normal 5am or earlier. 

Hill repeats are HARD. Man, we haven't done these in like 8-9mo, and both of us were feeling it. Oof.

the "Home Depot" hill

Tuesday
Scheduled: 10-20min WU, 4x30s hills, 4x45s hills, 10-15min CD, core x2
Did: 6.3mi @ 9:37/mi avg, Big 5
Really glad today was a recovery run. Felt slow and heavy to start, but got into the groove by mile 5. Looking forward to not running tomorrow, but feeling strong. I've been consistently running 6 days a week for the past few months, strength training, eating right, and I love being able to draw on these accomplishments for strength when life chucks lemons. 


Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: bootcamp
Kettlebellz FTW. 

 

Thursday
Scheduled: 10-20min WU, 10min tempo/5min rest, 4x200m/2min, 4x300m/2min, 10-15min CD
Did: 11min WU @ 9:46/mi, 10min tempo @ 7:18/mi, 4x200 (44,46,45,46), 4x300 (68,71,69,68),  10min CD @ 10:11/mi, Big 5
Thursdays are the HARDEST on this plan, but I love them so much... when they're done. :P

Tempo felt good, though I did hate remembering 3/4 of the way through that there was more to today's workout than "just the tempo minutes". 

200s felt GOOD. I focused on imagining myself as a strong runner, with kickass form, and found that my stride length got longer (cadence went down a bit), and I felt stronger. I didn't need to stop at the end of any of them. 

300s felt good, but harder. 300m seemed a LOT longer than the 200s. Probably because they're 50% longer. I found myself doing well for the first 100, then suffering from form on the second 100, and gritting through the last 100. That said, I wasn't absolutely dead on any of them and certainly could have forced more speed out of myself if I needed to.

My 200s were in-line with a 6min mile, but my 300s were more like a 6:10. Still, better than any of my mile times to date. It'll be interesting to see how this training cycle shakes out. 

blue = pace, grey - HR

Friday
Scheduled: 3-5min easy
Did: 3.06mi @ 9:18/mi, Big 5
Great stormy, rainy run with my husband. 


Saturday
Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 15min tempo, 10min CD, 2-3s strength
Did: 20min WU @ 9:30ish, 1.12mi with stroller @ 7:30/mi, 10min CD @ 9:30ish, Big 5... forgot strength
Today was the Braves 5K/1Mi race. SInce ATC was allowing strollers in the 1M this year, I opted to do that to show my support/gratitude. It wasn't quite the 15min tempo prescribed, but I ran for around half the duration at somewhere near tempo pace, pushing a stroller, up some sizeable hills.... so I"ll call it a workout, even if it wasn't what I was supposed to do. 

Race itself felt easy. Definitely not like tempo miles. To be fair, though, there was a significant downhill at the start of the race, which helped my speed. I didn't feel the hill nearly as much as I had last year, despite having a stroller this time. Finished strong, but not out of breath at all. 

Highlight of the day, though, was watching my little one in the 50m-- actually knew what to do, insisted on running "by self", listened to instructions, and ran the whole time! SO proud.

Finished the afternoon with a stretch session, focusing on glutes and calves, which both really needed the attention. 


Sunday
Scheduled: 7-11mi long run, 2xcore
Did: 13.1mi Peachtree Half Marathon @ 9:09/mi avg, Big 5, 2x strength, 2x core
I'd heard about a Peachtree course run meet-up through some friends and decided to join in. It'd be a nice change of scenery from my regular greenway/riverside runs, and a nice way to get double digit miles by doing an ONB on the one-way course. Definitely felt like an easy run throughout (I didn't even realize we'd climbed Cardiac until well after the summit). Pushed the pace at the very end to get a 2-hr half. 

Came home, recovered for a bit, and then did my 2x strength and 2x core sessions.

Total Weekly Mileage: 37.8

Week-ending Thoughts:

Everything I can control turns out great. I'm an incredibly effective planner and even better executor. Everything I can't control is absolutely sucking right now, and it's pretty rough. Grateful to be able to run through it all.