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 | 4 Comments »
Races Like a Girl 