Monday:
Planned – 45 minutes easy
Actual – almost 6 miles with HR under 140bpm and 5 x 50m striders towards the end. Pretty humid out!
Tuesday
Planned – 15 easy, 15 steady, 5 easy, 10 steady
Actual – managed just over 6 miles in total. Enjoyed the change of pace.
Wednesday
Planned – 60 minutes easy
Actual – fairly slow, but kept the HR under 140bpm for the first 50 minutes. Opened things up a bit in the last 10 minutes with 10 x 50m strides. Felt good!
Thursday
Planned – 10 easy, 10 x 2mins hard/2mins easy, 10 steady
Actual – struggled with this one to be honest. The temperature was about 20? higher than I thought it was going to be, so after the 4th hard effort I was already overheated and looking for shade. Thankfully I had the [good] sense to carry a handheld (rare for me) which turned out to be invaluable in the fight to stay cool. My hard effort pace slowed and slowed as the workout went on, but according to HR, at least I was able to maintain a consistent effort. Finally, the steady 10 minutes to finish off was more of a steady shuffle back to the house, but at least I stuck at it and finished the workout.
Friday
Planned – 35 easy
Actual – probably ran this a little too easy… In future, need to hit goal HR earlier, then maintain for the rest of the run.
Saturday
Planned – 2 mile WU, 5k Time Trial, 2 mile CD
Actual – warmed up for a couple of miles w/ a few 50m strides to get the blood flowing, then it was just a question of hitting a pace I thought [hoped] I could maintain for 3.1 miles. Mile 1 felt nice and relaxed in 5:52. With a fair bit of effort I managed to speed up a little into the breeze for Mile 2 [5:50], then from somewhere deep within dug out a slightly quicker 5:49 closing mile. The closing tenth of a mile was a bit of a blur to be honest. Really happy with the solo performance as I typically perform much better at races with people to chase and spectators cheering you on. Therefore this was as much a mental boost as a physical one. For the record, not quite as hot this morning, but still plenty humid. Max HR = 171.
Sunday
Planned – 10 miles w/ 5 easy, 5 steady
Actual – a nice easy out for 5 miles (kept the HR under 140), with a steady 5 miles back home. Probably should have kept things a bit easier on the way back, but got caught up in a little progressive race against the clock. Last 5 mile splits = 6:48, 6:45, 6:42, 6:33, 6:24. Warm but not so humid today, and the little bit of cloud cover was a bonus.
For the most part, pretty happy with the how the week panned out. I’m still learning all the time and am excited to try out some more varied stuff in training. Happy miles!