This week featured more mileage but fewer miles of hard running as compared to last week. The recovery runs were longer, as was the second easy run of the week on Friday.
Some observations:
My recovery pace is starting to drop slightly on some days, meaning I’m going just a bit faster using the same effort as a week or two ago. I don’t care how fast (or slow) I run on recovery days; just something I’ve noticed.
I had a much better sense this week of what “8K effort” is for me. I no longer race five mile or shorter races, because I don’t like racing that fast. Or, rather, I don’t like the physical sensations that result from racing at 95%+ effort. It sucks. Give me a longer race any day — one in which I don’t feel like I’m either on the verge of puking or hyperventilating — and I am a happy racer.
I now know exactly where my left piriformis muscle is located. It was not happy yesterday, owing to the faster intervals on Friday followed by 17 miles on slippery footing on Sunday.
Running in sleet, rain, and heavy winds affects your time. I know this intellectually, but it’s so hard to accept when you’re actually running in crap weather. On Sunday, I ran in such conditions and was targeting a pace of 6:50-7:00 for the last 15 minutes. Alas, it was not to be.
So far, the hard days and easy days have been structured just right, so I’m pleasantly tired on the recovery days (but not totally exhausted like I was over the summer), yet ready to rumble by the time the next hard day rolls around.
We’re into week three already, and I’m heading out for a 13 miler with 25:00 at 10M effort.
Also coming up in Basebuilding Week 3: More long recovery runs, some very short intervals at 5K effort and an 18 mile run at around 8:20 pace on Sunday. Fingers crossed for good weather, or I’m doing this one inside on the treadmill.
Filed under: basebuilding, training |
Races Like a Girl 
Looks a good week to me. Was it sore on the Saturday recovery run?
I see Friday is 10 easy + speed. Is the speed bit in the middle of that? I’m just wondering about warm-down running. 2-3k (or more) after a session could help reduce muscle soreness.
The speed is indeed in the middle, weighted more toward the start. I do around 1.5-2 miles warmup, then the intervals, and then around 3 miles cooldown. I’ve learned that if I do intervals too late in a run, I don’t do them well (and, as you mentioned, the residual soreness is worse).
I’m also doing a half to full mile cooldown for the longer “fast finish” runs (such as Sunday’s effort).
I felt surprisingly fresh on Saturday. No soreness and only tired for the last mile and in fact had to hold back, since I knew what was coming on Sunday.
OK, that’s good. Must have been more to do with the fast bit at the end of Sunday’s run on slippery roads. As you mentioned, trying to hit a certain pace in such conditions is problematical.
What about say 12 miles outside, then 6 on the treadmill including the fast bit for such sessions? OK, so you get a break (5 minutes?) in the middle of the long run, but you’d be able to compare fast finishes and there wouldn’t be the temptation/risk of trying to run fast on a slippery surface.
I have done “half and half” runs like that in the past to cope with foul conditions. Unfortunately, our treadmill was disassembled to make room for guests, so it wasn’t set up. It’s getting put back together this weekend.