So here we go again.... Going into week 3 I feel good. My cold is mostly gone and no foot issues. I am feeling confident that this will be a good week of training.
If you only care about the true training, click on the day to see the garmin info! Otherwise, enjoy my ramblings! :)
Monday was a tempo run.
I was excited because it wasn't freezing outside. So I wore my new Lulu skirt that I got for Christmas (from the cast of the Attic....thanks guys!) Very exciting. It is amazing how fast I feel when I wear cute clothes... but I digress. My goal was to run 6 miles. 35 minutes of this 6 mile run was to be at tempo pace. My tempo pace is between 7:43-8:03. I ended up doing around 4.61 miles a bit faster than my tempo pace. I blame the skirt! Brian, one of the guys that runs with my running group found me and Michelle and ran with us. He had just completed the Frosty 50k on Saturday and still kept a fast tempo pace. AMAZING! It was a wonderful, fun run with my friends and my skirt. :)
Tuesday I swam.
Really nothing to say but I did laps. 1900 yards of back and forth, back and forth. I swim like a rock but it helps me recover from the hard runs and makes me feel like a triathlete. Well not really but it does make me a better runner.
Wednesday was a threshold workout.
This was supposed to be 6Xhill repeats. However, the pouring down rain and cold deterred me from attempting this run outside. So I decided to do a Threshold workout on the dreadmill. Three things about this workout. 1) It is HARD! Click on the garmin link to see the deets. But basically you run fast and on an incline 3 minutes at a time with a 1 minute recovery period. 2) It is on the dreadmill! I don't like the dreadmill (thus the name). It is boring and I feel like it is mentally harder than running outside. 3) However, it is a shorter workout. And I think I did not do it fast enough. My "fast parts" I did at a 7:41 pace with incline. I chose this because I did this pace last year in my training and it really pushed me. Now don't be fooled, I was pushed, but think I could have gone faster. I will know next time it rains. Ha!
Thursday was a rest day, but I did an easy swim.
No need to include the garmin info..... But I felt like I cheated yesterday because it was a shorter workout. So I swam an easy 1000 today. Plus I had some cool new bungee things to go on my goggles to hold them on. I got them because of Abigayle (my 13yo daughter). She is on a year round swim team and all the kids use them because they work so well. So I wanted to try them out. I LOVE them!!
Friday was my Long run of 13 miles.
Goal was to keep the first 10 miles around a 9:00 pace, then run the last 3 miles on the King Tiger Route at a faster pace.... While and after running UP David Taylor. This is to help me prepare for the uphill second half of Boston.
Now after saying all that, this run was amazing! However, it was COLD! It was also windy and this took my breath away while running. The only way I can describe it is, when I breathed in, it was like the oxygen could not get into my lungs. So I had to get used to this feeling. This was mainly the case when I was running to the Mallard Creek Greenway and after coming off of it. When I was on the greenway, I was more sheltered from the wind. I never warmed up though.
All in all, my plan worked. I only stopped my garmin 1 time when we had to cross Harris Blvd. Took a gel around mile 7 and stopped to walk at this point. However, I was trying to do this at a good and slow pace. At the end, I had enough steam (even with the wind) to speed up. This taught me a great lesson. Start out slow and build!
Saturday was a pace run.
Now Saturday I had to go back out and hammer out 6 miles at marathon pace (8:29). I have to be honest, I did not know if I could accomplish this. This meant running down and then up David Taylor. I started out a bit slower and started to build. I ran this run with the University City Road Runners. A great group who is very encouraging!!! By the second COLD mile, I was having fun and running way too fast. But I was having so much fun with the group that I continued on. I knew at mile 3, they would keep going and I would turn around. I knew I could slow down at that point. I sorta did, but not too much. I did slow up, going UP David Taylor, but not too much. I felt good, however, need to slow down on my pace runs so I don't get hurt.
Sunday is always the Big Attic!
Overall, I felt really good this week. I hope it continues as I start increasing my miles. Next week I up the mileage a little bit to two 7 mile runs, speed work, and a 14 mile long run!
Thanks for sharing this. I can't wait to read more!
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