C Mile Plan: Week 4/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Week 4 of 6? Already? 

Monday

Scheduled: 3-5mi easy or rest

Did: 1mi walk, 5mi run @ 9:34/mi avg), 2mi walk-- all with stroller

Sick day for baby = afternoon at the river for us. It was nice to get some easy stroller miles in today, and spend time outside with my little one.

and we spent SO much time afterwards hanging with the geese :)

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KT, 6x15s striders

Did: 7.07mi @ 9:40/mi avg

I loved this workout so much more than last Tuesday's. I got a nice easy 10K to talk with my friends, and then pushed the pace for a few short bursts towards the end. Garmin must not be loving the short intervals, though, because I know I was faster than the paces it reported... 

9:00/mi? That's some BS. I was hauling on all of these.

definitely faster than a 7min pace for those striders... 

Continued the "hard days hard/easy days easy" philosophy by doing some back-to-back chest/biceps/back/triceps lifting with a HIIT component at lunch. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest

Did: LIIFT4 W6 shoulders, 3.6mi walk

Today was not a great day. I didn't do a good job planning food, and ended up eating a TON of carb-y things this morning, without any real satisfaction. Blergh. Walked at lunch with my husband, and fit in a quick shoulder-focused weight lifting/HIIT session before getting the kids. Definitely did NOT set myself up for success on tomorrow's time trial... oh well. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 800m Time Trial, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled 5.0mi total @ 9:31/mi avg (2:47 800m TT), LIIFT4 Leg Day

Today's warm-up flew by. One minute, I was talking with my teammate, and the next, we felt our watches notify us that we'd finished our second mile. Guess it's time to knock this out, eh?

I did zero mental prep for this run. I didn't even know what my last time trial was/ought to be. I read through Coach's instruction to my teammate (who'd had the foresight to actually ask about pacing/goals). For a goal mile of 15s slower than mine, she'd be instructed to run 3:00. I figured I'd probably want to be in the 2:50ish range. I think I was around 2:50 last time I did an 800m TT. Maybe?

When I started off, I remember having a loose goal in my head of being around 1:25 for each 400m split. I hit the 100 in 18s, the 200 in 39, and decided I should probably cool it a bit... but tried to balance that with the idea that this was my race, and I needed to leave it all out there.

I crossed the first 400 in 1:23 and felt pretty solid, continued that to the 600m and then tried to let it fly. I did, but I also realized that, when I crossed the line, I had so much more left in my tank. For a moment, I was tempted to keep running, just to see how much faster/further I could go, but I opted against it. Today was an 800m trial, not any more. Trust the plan. 

I wound up with a 2:47, and was pretty pleased. I didn't recall it at the time, but that's a PR by 4s over what I ran for Miler Method last year... and I felt like I could've run it faster. 

During our cooldown, my teammate pointed out that I should be really proud of what I did do, especially since I hadn't really set myself up for success yesterday. I joked back, "Actually, not setting myself up for success is how I set myself up for success." 

When I "try" and put any sort of pressure on myself to perform, it rarely goes well. When I don't stress and just "show up and run", I get days like today- one of the easiest PRs I've ever run. Maybe I'm actually a lot fitter than I think? 

My first 800m trial, when I was attempting to hit 6 for the first time (very unrealistically, I might add, though I didn't know it at the time), was 3:02. (end result: 6:19 mile)

My next was 3:00 (end result: 6:08 mile)

And then I tried again and got 2:51 (end result: 6:06 mile)

I feel oddly optimistic about where I'm at right now... 

Also did a leg/HIIT workout in the evening. How am I feeling this good after a PR 800m? 

Friday

Scheduled: rest or 3-5mi easy 

Did: 4.07mi @ 9:07/mi avg, 2.9mi walk

I felt great this morning and took advantage of some beautiful running weather. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 10-12mi long run

Did: 12.23mi @ 9:20/mi avg

Mid-60s at 4:30am? Sure! Today's run was nice. I'm always amazed how much faster our average pace is on long run days from some other "easy run" days, especially since today's route wasn't exactly greenway-flat. We planned on 10, with an optional +2. My legs were pretty tired, but I was enjoying myself too much to cut off at 10. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 15min WU, 8x 2min @ 5K or 10K pace/1min recovery, 15min CD

Did: as scheduled with stroller = 6.1mi @ 9:07/mi avg

Heeey, I think I might've figured out this Sunday workout thing. :D Today's weather was absolute perfection, and I couldn't wait to get started. I took only the older kiddo today, and that was the right call. I was able to focus on my workout, but still really enjoy being with my baby. I had a few big gusts of wind, which were hard with the stroller, and it took me a few intervals to really hone in on what my recovery pace ought to be to keep pace on all the intervals, but this workout felt really satisfying and successful. 

Gorgeous Morning :) SO grateful for these moments with my littles.

Total Weekly Mileage: 39.4

Week-ending Thoughts:

• SUCH a change from last week. I feel really confident in where I'm at after some really successful workouts, and great other runs. I seem to have found a schedule that works well for my body, and am looking forward to the last two weeks of this training.