Monday, February 29, 2016

5k Training: Week 4

My legs felt better than last week, but training still felt slightly harder than I would like, especially towards the end of the week. However I think it was the strong winds this weekend that played a large part in how exhausting my weekend runs felt. That and the fact that I ran a mere 52 miles in January and jumped that up to 134 miles in February. Fortunately week 5 is a cut back week.


Monday

Distance: 6.85 miles
Pace: 1.26 miles @ 9:37, 6 x 60s hills @ 6:45 [4:00 recovery], 2.95 miles @ 8:59
Comments: I brought my running gear to work with me Monday morning so I could take advantage of a large hill on the medical campus. The pace felt very manageable for each hill climb, probably because of the substantial recovery period between each interval. I easily could have managed another 2-3 reps.

I could tell it was a good run day for me since my cool down run was fairly hilly and it felt effortless. I couldn't believe the pace I saw when I uploaded my run data. After feeling so out of shape last week this was a huge confidence boost.

Tuesday

Distance: 3.33
Pace: 9:49
Comments: Tuesday is usually my rest day but with a winter storm warning for Wednesday and Thursday I wanted to take advantage of the good weather while it lasted. This put me at 7 days in a row of running and I could definitely feel it on this run. I could tell my legs were very tired so I focused on just keeping it slow and easy.

Wednesday

Distance: 0
Pace: 0
Comments: Snow storm. I knew it was coming. I was hoping to get out for another quick run Wednesday night, but decided to pass. It snowed all day but the temperature was slightly above freezing creating a blanket of kind of wet, heavy snow and kind of slush on the roads/sidewalks.

Thursday

Distance: 6.1 miles
Pace: 9:09
Comments: Another confidence boosting run. My first mile was just under 10:00 pace but as I warmed up the pace dropped without any extra effort. Last three miles were all sub 9:00. Things were really clicking in the first half of this week!

Also I have to share my love for my local parks! It snowed all day Wednesday and continued to snow through Thursday morning, but by the time I was out running at 4 PM the running/biking paths had been plowed. Awesome!

Friday

Distance: 5.02 miles
Pace: 9:07
Comments: Easy run with my favorite Ironman, Ty.

Saturday

Distance: 11.1 miles
Pace: 9:23
Comments: This run felt harder than I would have liked due to half of it being into a strong headwind. Even into the headwind I managed 1.5 miles at tempo pace (7:31).

Sunday

Distance: 4.1 miles
Pace: 9:45
Comments: Recovery run. 20 mph wind with gusts up to 37 mph. On top of already tired legs it was a pretty terrible run.

13 comments:

  1. It sounds like a great week of running. It was windy around here too, sometimes all you have to do is put your head down and run through...sometimes. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hollie! That's what I try to do. That and remind myself that at least it is making me a bit stronger.

      Delete
  2. Wow... 52-134 is a lot! Plus, the wind! You deserve a cutback week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah being sick for most of January really took a toll on my running.

      Delete
  3. Geez, don't link to me. A)that makes me feel obligated to read your blog (I usually just glance it over) and B) I should probably write something on mine.... Actually I've been feeling the itch to write recently. We'll see. :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First I peer pressure you into signing up for races and then I pressure you into blogging. That is how our friendship works :P

      Delete
  4. I have a hill run scheduled this week..not looking forward to it. I'll use your week as my inspiration :) Great job! Enjoy the cutback week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you'll crush it! I'm really looking forward to an easy week.

      Delete
  5. Great week! It was windy here too. Sounds like you had a great week though with a ton of running. Those hill repeats sound pretty tough!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kerry! Sorry you were stuck dealing with the wind too.

      Delete
  6. Great job this week! I didn't miss the wind and snow last week ;-), but I doubt I would have wanted to do hill sprints in 100 degrees and blazing sun, either.

    Hang in there. The end of winter and shorts season are very near and soon enough we'll all be complaining about the heat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to run in 100 degrees! I would probably die if I tried to go from winter to those conditions!

      Delete
  7. WOW! You were facing strong winds!! Here in south Georgia it was in the 70s today.... I ran at lunch and it was almost too warm. I prefer cooler temps. I am actually running my first marathon on Saturday,,,, should be 40s at start, but by noon in the big 60s.... praying I get done prior to it getting too warm.

    ReplyDelete