Week-beginning Thoughts:
It's been a struggle to balance strength training, walking, workouts, time with my family, and eating right this past week. I can obviously do it all, but I think Sunday's workout was a good indication that my body needs a bit more recovery time if I want it to perform well.
Monday
Scheduled: 3-5mi easy or rest
Did: 10min stretching, 30min yoga
I hate rest days... but I could also tell I probably needed one (physically) today. I was really intentional about how I spent the day, and focused on giving my body opportunities to recover. I didn't set a morning alarm (and slept until 5:30), didn't walk at lunch, didn't lift, and had a relaxing evening before bed. Maybe the best approach for me is to make hard days hard and easy days easy. Gonna try that this week and see how it feels.
Tuesday
Scheduled: 10K, pushing up hills
Did: 10min "wake-up-your-body" yoga, 6.48mi @ 9:03/mi avg, weight lifting/HIIT
I woke up at 3:30am, did some work, and then decided to check out this "core and glute activation" yoga class I'd seen while scrolling Beachbody-on-Demand last night. It was only 10min long, but pretty perfect duration-wise for a pre-workout workout.
Today's workout was deceptive: normal 10KTuesday, pushing hard up hills.
For a Type-A planner, it was kind of the worst. Is this a hill? Where does it start? Where does it end? Am I going hard enough? When's the next one? Do I have time for recovery? It was like a fartlek, but I felt completely out of control when it came to knowing when the next burst was going to come, and how long it would last. (kind of surprising, considering we've literally run the exact same route nearly ever single week for the better part of six years)
Even though it was tough, I'm really proud of how I executed. Look at all those crazy jumps.
The theme of this week for me is intention. I want to be really intentional about everything I'm doing, and not just doing it to do it. This workout felt hard, but I also think I did what I was supposed to do, which is a huge change from how I felt about Sunday.
I continued on the "hard days hard/easy days easy" path and did a chest/triceps workout at lunch and a fun dance/kickboxing session in the evening, planning on making tomorrow a light day.
Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: LIIFT4 W5 back/biceps/shoulders
The rain and work got in the way of my weekly Wednesday Walk date with my husband over lunch, so I got in my lifting workout instead. Still struggled not to do more... rest days just feel so empty... and I want to eat all the time.
Thursday
Scheduled: 2mi WU, 1200 (5:20-5:35)/400, 1000 (4:30ish)/400, 800 (3:30ish)/400, 600 (2:15ish)/400, 400 (<90s)/200, 200 (<45s)/200, 2mi CD
Did: Sunday's workout (7mi total on treadmill @ 9:26/mi avg)
Ugh, thunderstorms: the only weather that'll keep me off the roads. Got up at 3:30am, and forecast had a pretty high chance of storms for the foreseeable future, so my training partner and I agreed to scrap the track. While it miiiight be okay, we didn't need worries about the weather distracting our thoughts from hitting splits.
I didn't really want to do this workout today. I mean, I wanted to have it done, but the idea of going down to the basement treadmill and having to pound it out alone was completely unappealing.
- first, I told my coach and my teammate my plan (I knew my teammate was going to get a short run in outside, and didn't want to be the slacker, and I knew my coach would ask about splits... and that both of them would probably check my watch data)
- second, I told my husband, who let me cuddle for a few minutes, and then said, "have a good run", because he knew I couldn't reply with, "uh, actually, I'm gonna stay in bed"
- third, I made sure to use the program on my watch to automatically beep/vibrate when it was time to change from hard to easy-- not having to think makes things SO much easier
- fourth, I downloaded some entertaining movies to my phone (treadmill runs are pretty much the only time I ever "get to" watch movies/shows)
- finally, I reminded myself that thunderstorms might cause the power to go out later, and then I'd really be screwed because I couldn't run outside or inside
I let myself run really easy for the warm-up and recoveries (like, 5.5mph easy), because it's what got me going and out of bed, and pushed the hards. I decided 8.0mph (7:30/mi) was a decent baseline, but then decided to go a little faster on the shorter intervals.
2min hard = 8.2mph
3min hard = 8.1mph
4min hard = 8.0mph
Wee, treadmill mind games
I'm really proud of getting this workout done, especially because I wanted to slow down on the last 4min burst, but didn't let myself, and made it just fine.
Nothing feels as good as completing a workout you didn't want to do at a level higher than you'd originally wanted to.
I also learned that these fartleks/workouts are much easier to do without parenting at the same time. I felt really focused today, and realized I haven't felt like that on my other stroller workouts this cycle. I want to finish workouts feeling strong and proud, not just "great, get to check that box". I might try to take my older kiddo if I stroller these in the future, or just take a few more weeks off from stroller running entirely in order to focus on the workouts (I don't like missing time with my kids, but it's only a few more weeks).
Also did a leg-focused lifting workout at lunch.
Friday
Scheduled: rest or 3-5mi easy
Did: 3.01mi @ 9:30/mi avg
My legs were beat today, and I almost didn't want to run, but the idea of short, easy miles in some beautiful 55-and-breezy weather was attractive enough. I felt like I was slogging the entire time, but pace ended up being pretty good.
Saturday
Scheduled: 8-12mi long run
Did: 10.14mi @ 9:19/mi avg
The first 400m of this run were uphill, and I remember thinking, "omg, how am I ever going to make it 10mi?" I was tired, had tired legs, and was really grateful to be running with someone today, because that's totally the reason I got out of bed. By the end of the run, though, I felt great, and even toyed with the idea of extending the run (but opted out 'cause track day is tomorrow). actually went really freaking fast for this sort of elevation and distance. Had a lot of miles around 9:00 (and some under), which is pretty great for a run that felt so easy.
I normally lift on Saturdays, but opted for a nap over the little one's nap instead... and sitting down to finally read a bit of a book in the evening. Little one is sick and I'm just really hoping I'm not going to get it...
Sunday
Scheduled: 15min WU, 2x (2min hard/2min easy, 3min hard/3min easy, 4min hard/4min easy) @ 5K pace, 15min CD
Did: Thursday's worked, and NAILED it (8.29mi total @ 9:17/mi avg)
Woke up at 3am with the little one... and that kind of set the tone for my morning. Normally, after the 2mi warm-up, my training partners and I are both feeling ready to hit the intervals. Today, we both looked at each other and shared how much we were not feeling it.
I'd calculated my splits earlier (and re-did them a few times), and wrote my goal 200s for each interval on a slip of paper, intending to use that to help me pace myself. Turns out, I really need to write bigger and thicker if I'm going to read a paper in the pitch-black of 4:30am on the track. I ended up walking part of each recovery (or even stopping in most cases) to use the one light near the track to review splits for the next interval.
It was colder than expected- 48 degrees, but pretty constant 10-11mph winds. I was actually grateful for my tights, long sleeve tee, lined jacket, gloves, and earband.
I tried to just keep this one comfortable, knowing that this was supposed to be the slowest of the intervals. It ended up being a bit faster than my goal, which made me a little nervous about staying on pace for the rest, but it felt good?
1000
After the recovery, I thought I'd be feeling great on this one, but, after the first 200m, I knew this was going to be a bit longer than I wanted. The winds picked up a LOT on this interval, and were hard to fight against, but I made it in under goal time again.
800
I really liked going down the ladder, and knowing that the distance dropped every time. Only having to make it through two laps here felt nice.
600
This was probably the hardest interval for me. It was a short-ish, but long-ish distance on tired legs. My calves were definitely working here. I was technically a second over my goal pace, but it was also on this interval that I kept my arms and form going until I crossed the line, meaning it took me a second to get my hand up to lap my watch.
400
Only one lap. That was a really nice thought to start this off. I was a little slower by the clock than I wanted, but, again, I'd focused on running through the line instead of having my hand at the ready at the lap.
200
I was tired here. Really tired. I loved how things shook out with my training partner, though, because she ended up being juuuuust ahead of me on the last half of her 400m when I started my 200m. It was that perfect distance where I could tell myself 'just catch her", even though it was a physical impossibility. That, and starting on the not-so-windy curve of the track, gave me the drive I needed to power through and hit this split beautifully.
Nothing feels as good as nailing a workout you didn't think you were going to execute so well.
Also did some yoga during the latter part of the day. Trying to stay balanced because I'm certain we're going to have to keep at least one if not both kids home from school tomorrow due to the runny nose, and that's always a stressor with work...
Total Weekly Mileage: 34.9
Week-ending Thoughts:
- I can't verbalize why, but I've had the feeling that I'm not going to hit that sub-6 mile this cycle. I just feel like things aren't "clicking" the way they're supposed to. Then again, it always seems like when I feel like that, things happen really nicely for me.
- After last week's disappointing Sunday, I had three really well-executed workouts this week, and that's been huge for my confidence. I've been thinking a lot about what's been different between the two weeks:
- More rest
- More intention (I've always planned track workouts well, and carrying that mentality into the Fartlek-y Sunday workout, which I did on Thursday, sans stroller, was a huge difference-- I think this means I'll take the next two weekends off from stroller running, which'll be a tough change, but worthwhile for the short-term)
- I'm kind of nervous about this time trial on our schedule for Thursday... Guess we'll see how it goes, eh?
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