November 2021 Training Summary
Running duration = 18:13 hours
Running mileage = 131 miles
Average Pace = 8:20 min/mile (about 60 sec/mile slower than recent Marathon)
Average HR = 130 (15 bpm less than recent Marathon)
Strength Training = 1:37 hours
Total Training Time = 19:50 hours
G miles = 3.9 miles
November was a good month. Made a triumphant return to six days a week run training, and capped it off with a second best marathon of 3:15:13 (
link). I was very pleased with the effort. I continue to make strides not only in the physical realm of racing, but the mental realm as well. A majority of the month was spent tapering, then racing, then a week off, and then a nice easy return to running. Both of my shins protested the return to running after a week off. Similar feelings to my Lakefront Marathon 2016 injury where I seem to have extra bone growth on both shins. Thankfully, as of yesterday things have calmed down and I feel more normal again. Eyes are on the 2022 Princess Weekend now. I detailed the new training plan here (
link). Despite the HM being the longest of the three races, my focus is on the 10k. I've never trained exclusively towards the 10k, so I'm excited to try that out. I'm also excited to try out five new to me workouts: Rat-a-tat, Vigil Miles, (Fast, Steady, Blast), Lumberjack, and Descending Special Ks. Several came from McMillan's data base of workouts. Since AG awards are gone at runDisney weekends, I've shifted my 10k goal from a Top 3 AG award to a Top 3 Overall finish. I'm more likely to fail than succeed, but that won't stop me from trying. My PR is 39:55 (which is my highest Daniels VDOT race making it my best performance ever) and the last six 3rd place male times were 37:41, 39:30, 38:41, 40:00, 40:47, and 40:09. But despite the PR, I still feel like a 10k in the 37-38 is attainable.
G's training got derailed a bit due to two colds, and my own time off from running. But she's ready to get back into the swing of things. She offered to bump her run training up a mile today because she's missed so much time (gotta make up for missed time, right?). But we talked about how it's better to ease back into things, and if anything we'll do a little less than we were doing and work our way back. We've got our eyes on the prize.