Spring Training - Phase 1 - Week 9.2/13
Running is such a roller coaster. Flying high, feeling invincible one week and then absolutely slugging along the next. This past week was a tough one. It was likely a combination of things. I started Monday already exhausted because of the busy weekend before and just could never get caught back up. I was also abnormally sore and irritable. Questions of overtraining were frequenting my head but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Monday - Easy 6 - Did the first 12 min with my partner. The rest of the run was a slog and my glutes were noticeably sore. Actually, they’re still sore over a week later
On the bright side, Hattie has been doing this adorable thing where she cuddles up next to Bucky in the same bed. I don’t think Bucky finds it as charming as I do but she willingly puts up with it.
Tuesday - I 4x1200 - Naturally, I was nervous. It was my first time with I this cycle since I had missed the others due to sickness and recovery. I tried telling myself not to worry since I is slower than R and those workouts have been going fine. Goal for I is 7:14. The first interval was 7:32 but the first interval is a liar so I tried again. 7:23. Closer but still not there. 7:43
7:31
. Blegh. Not a good run at all. I was pushing as best I could but just could not get there. I was more excited than usual for my rest day the next day.
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Easy 6 - mixed up the run a bit to try to find the joy again. Ended up 1/4 mile over and still not loving it.
Friday - R 4
5x600 - As you can see, and probably would have guessed, this was another tough run. My legs felt like concrete. I was surprised the first two intervals were fairly close. Then I hit my turn around point and realized I had been running with a nice tailwind. The wind was now hitting me straight on and my pace suffered. When my 4th interval was at a 7:31 pace, I knew I was done. Unfortunately, I still had to run home but I did so at an easy pace instead of one more interval.
Saturday - Easy 6 - This was another slog. My pace was over a minute slower than prescribed. This is something that I usually don’t even bother to worry about on easy days but it amplified how slow I was feeling. I seriously started questioning why I decided training for a mile race was a good idea.
Sunday -
Easy 9.5 - I’m still feeling guilty about missing this one. I’m not sure 9.5 would have been right, but I could have done something. However, based on the weeks events, I could not get motivated. Looking back, my rHR was 52
. It’s usually low 40s when healthy and rested. It will creep up to mid 40s when training ramps up but never above 50. Was my body fighting off something? Was I overdoing it? I’m still not sure but I am taking a conscious step back on my strength training. I had been pushing myself because stronger muscles could make me faster but not when it’s impacting my running performance.
And now for the .2
. We’re already 2 days into this week, my rest day is tomorrow, and my big race is on a Tuesday so my plan is to shift to Tuesday/Wednesday posts for the next 4 weeks
Monday - Easy 6 - I really wasn’t into this run. It took a lot to even get me out of the door. Then when I was on the run I realized how tired my legs felt and debated walking home. I tried to tell them they were strong and we would make it. Step by step we kept moving. It wasn’t pretty but I felt much stronger having finished the run.
Tuesday - Mile Time Trial - With how things had been going, I was very nervous for this.
. Last time I did a time trial in February 2022 my time was 7:26. Slower than my fitness would have indicated at the time, but my best (maybe only?) timed mile. My big scary goal for this training block is to break 7 min at the Grand Blue Mile. I spent most of the warm up telling myself that anything between those two times would be an excellent result. I even told myself that I should not expect to go sub 7 since we’re still weeks away from race day.
I ran to an open floodgate approximately 2 miles from my home to use as a start line. Then I spent a few minutes doing some stretches and trying to get my hr under 100 but when I realized nerves were not going to let that happen, I decided it was time to let it rip.
With all of the R workouts, I have a pretty good idea of what a mile pace should feel like. Regardless, I started at a pace too quick for me to keep and was huffing and puffing. Not wanting to get in my head anymore than I already was, I decided to run this blind so I had no idea how I was doing but knew I still had over half left and had to keep pushing. I focused on my breathing and cadence and kept digging. Getting my breathing under control was difficult but I managed to keep moving forward. I even had a little baby kick at the end (not much, sprinting has never been my strength). Relief swept over me as my watch buzzed at the end of one mile. On the one hand, I couldn’t breathe and thought I might vomit but, on the other, it still felt like I had something left in the tank.
I spent the mile cooldown in pep talk mode. I was determined not to let it negatively impact my mood. My watch has been congratulating me on false mile PRs nearly every run so I was anticipating a congratulations. When it didn’t buzz immediately, my heart sank a bit but then this beauty popped on the screen and I was over the moon.
6:51!?!?! I didn’t even think that was possible.
The app officially says 6:56 on the lap. I’m not sure why it’s different but I’m still pleased with that result and having a hard time believing it’s real. On the afternoon dog walk I nearly had myself convinced that I must have misread the numbers and it was actually 7:5x.
So maybe training for a mile wasn’t crazy Maybe I can do this. Right now, I’m just hoping this upswing lasts for a few weeks and I can ride this wave until race day.
Happy running y’all!
. I delayed this run to the afternoon because we had a few errands to run, including bathing these fluffs. 
. Hattie’s is still a work in progress 
. I checked the training plan no less than 17 times to make sure I didn't make an error. 3800 meters of "mile" pace. Obviously not continuous but I was still scared. The 600s had a goal time of 2:33 and the 200s were 51 seconds. I was within 3 seconds on all the 600s except for one which was straight into a headwind. Surely that counts for a few seconds? The 200s were all shockingly right on pace except for one where I had to slow down for ice
. Very proud of this one. It was tough and I was tired afterward but I snuck in a quick core workout anyway. 
. The run was good. 
There was no more pace running but I did manage another mile for cool down. To make matters worse, I lost a piece to one of my earbuds. Definitely should have done this one inside. 
. These things are pure magic. I could hear runners footsteps coming up behind me and my music. I was a little nervous about the sound quality but I have no complaints. Honestly, they sound better than what I had been using anyway. 
. On top of all that, I thought last Tuesday may have been a fluke and I was in for a repeat of Friday. Thankfully, things went my way and my pacing was solid. Except I did finish the last 3 reps at 6:30 pace… whoops. At least some of that was wind assisted. 
