Monday:
Planned – 8 easy with pickups
Actual – still on mini-vacation in Vegas, so decided to take an unscheduled extra day off. If it’s good enough for Coach Caleb, it’s good enough for me!
Tuesday
Planned – PM: easy 7 miles with some pickups at the end
Actual – enjoyed the easy 7 miler, but the temperature was still too high to maintain a good pace for the planned HR. Ended up running the 7 miles in just over 49 minutes.
Wednesday
Planned – 40 min easy
Actual – the “down” week must be agreeing with me, as the legs are feeling great! Nice, enjoyable just-under-six-miler at 6:49/mile pace. Wanted to run more, but sticking to the plan.
Thursday
Planned – 5K TT, plus warm up and cool down
Actual – decided to switch the planned time trial to Saturday morning, when the [hopefully] cooler conditions will help provide some meaningful data from an all out effort over the 5km distance. Ran on the treadmill today instead, and was surprised how fast I needed to run to get my HR up to the easy zone. 6:36/mile pace for the 5.3 miles in 35 minutes.
Friday
Planned – rest day
Actual – ran a brisk 4 miler to prime the legs for the Saturday time trial. Added in 10 x 50m pickups to get the blood flowing. Feeling good!
Saturday
Planned – 10 miles easy, with 5 x 50 yard pickups in each even mile (2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
Actual – well the cooler weather didn’t get the memo, but the time trial went ahead as planned. Temperature 76?, humidity 94%, dew point 75° at the start. Nice! After a 2 mile warm up, I was ready to run, but set off at a far too quick early pace which I had trouble sustaining through the 3rd mile. Still, I ended up running 17:26 for the 5K TT, which was my fastest time at that distance since New Years Day 2011, and my 6th fastest 5k ever. Overall I’m happy with the effort, but it leaves me wondering what I would/could have run if the weather had cooperated. Hmmmm…. Anyway, rounded off the morning with an enjoyable 4 mile cool down, and treated myself to a refreshing fruit smoothie to celebrate.
Sunday
Planned – 19.5 miles (3 x 6.5 mile loops if possible)
Actual – Sunday’s run was quite a fun one. I made up a nice 6.5 mile out-and-back taking in the Bald Cypress, Cape Henry, Kingfisher and White Hill Lake Trails, which I ran 3 times. The goal was to run the first 2 “loops” in the easy zone, then pick up the pace for the 3rd and final 6.5 miler. Everything went to plan and I just about managed to negative split the out-and-backs — 47:30, 47:06, 45:50. I practiced refueling at the makeshift aid station (Ally’s car), and things worked out pretty well. Definitely a good test for the upcoming 12-HR ATR which also features 6.5 mile loops.
Summary
So, a pretty big drop in mileage this week – down to the low 50s from the mid 70s – but a necessary drop as next week will be quite challenging. Looks like the weather will be cooling off this week too, which will (a) feel fantastic after the recent high humidity levels, but (b) mean I’ll need to run faster to hit my target heart rate zones. All good fun though, and I’m excited to see what the next couple of weeks has in store.