I had planned to run daily last week but with travel and vacation that didn’t happen. Often times we get too upset and miserable by an individual day or week of training. Your results are a collection of all of your workouts (both good and bad). Even though I felt good on Sunday, a rest day is never a bad idea.
| Monday: | 10.5 Miles easy |
| Tuesday: | 10.7 miles easy |
| Wednesday: | 10.5 miles |
| Thursday: | 11 miles treadmill |
| Friday: | 10 miles easy around LI |
| Saturday: | 5 miles treadmill (8:34 pace) |
| Sunday: | Rest |
| Total: | 58 miles |
Thoughts:
As you can see, I didn’t race last week. On Monday I felt the soreness of my legs from the Trail 10k. It felt good to stretch my legs out though.
By Wednesday my legs felt really good and recovered. Everything about that run felt awesome. The weather was beautiful, my legs felt good and the run seemed to fly right by. I traveled to New York with my parents in the evening.
Since I was out of town, I ran on the treadmill on Thursday. I don’t like to run in unfamiliar areas outdoors. The treadmill doesn’t bother me but running in an unfamiliar area does. I am glad I ran on the treadmill because I was able to play with the pace and ran a negative split run (with the final mile at 6:58). It is nice to begin integrating speed work into my running again!
I became more familiar with the area on Friday so I ran outside. I ran around a golf course and school. It was an enjoyable and easy run. I didn’t get lost or hit by traffic so that was a win.
On Saturday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill at 5am. It was a nice short run before beginning a busy day.
On Sunday, we stayed at a different location. The hotel didn’t have a treadmill, it was pouring rain and it was located on a highway near the JFK airport. I’m not running on the highway in the pouring rain. I rested and that was that.
This week taught me an important lesson:
I am finally craving speed! I miss speed whether it’s in the form of a race or just running faster on my own. I know it’s the missing component to my training and I am excited to integrate it into my workouts!
My plans for the next week:
I want to begin integrating speed work to my runs. I don’t plan to go all or nothing and add races and track work. Next week, I want to add some fartleks and fast finishes.
Questions for you:
What kind of speed workouts do you like doing?
How do you plan your rest days?
I don’t normally plan them…there is normally a day that I don’t feel great.
That is an awesome pic! I agree with you about running in unfamiliar areas. It makes me super uncomfortable…I’ll take the treadmill any day!
Looks like you had a great week of training and good job getting some miles in with graduation and being out of town :).
that is a really great week, especially with your travel. i actually like running in new places, but typically i’m in big cities so it’s really easy to just hop out there!
I only plan rest days when I’m marathon training. Mainly because if I don’t, I won’t take them. Hi I’m stubborn and it’s so nice to meet you. I love doing tempo runs. Track repeats are the death of me, but I’m hoping to incorporate a few of them in my next training cycle. Great week of milage! Hope you have a fab day : )
I don’t always love speedwork in general, but I know it is what it takes to improve the times, so I try to do at least two “workouts” a week. One of those is typically my long run and either the whole run will be at a pace that isn’t easy, but isn’t too challenging, more of a moderate pace I guess or either I will pick it up to tempo pace for a certain number of miles at the end of the run. I also do track workouts and tempo runs (outside of the long run). I am a marathon runner, but for whatever reason I really don’t enjoy any repeats over about 400 on the track. I have recently discovered that I really enjoy doing speedwork on the treadmill, as it is so much easier to control the pace, but I try to keep a healthy balance of indoor vs. outdoor training. I’m with you on the rest days. I don’t usually plan them, but it does seem like there is usually a day where it just doesn’t happen. I think it is best for us to listen to our bodies and know when it is time for a day off instead of trying to plan it out anyway. Have a good week!
We’re totally on the same training wavelength with the rest days! I always take one each week (usually Mondays), and I’ll take a second one if necessary. I find if a rest day is incorporated into my schedule, I’ll work harder during the week … to “earn it” if that makes any sense.
I am impressed that you can run so many miles on the treadmill–I wish I had that in me, but I get wayyy too bored!! Rest days just seem to happen, I typically take 1 to 2 a week (usually in the middle of the week). Awesome speed work 🙂
I think it comes from swimming for so long. Now at least I have something visual to stare at versus the bottom of the pool!
Speed work is one thing that I really, really struggle with. As you know I can run a gazillion miles, no prob. I just check out and settle into a nice comfy slog. But speed just hurts. I know I need to do it, though. Yasso 800s are butt-kickers. I hate doing them but I feel like the queen of the world once they’re done. If I have to do speed on the treadmill then I like to do intervals of 2 minutes. So I’ll run 2 minutes at about 80% effort and then recover for 2 minutes at maybe 70% effort. It is tough, but it makes the run easier to get done and over with.
I’m the same way Suzy. I love to run easy miles but speedwork and faster miles are not my thing!
I love speed workouts! I found a bunch on Strava’s website when Lauren Fleshman was guest-posting. My favorite was warmup, 1 mile, 400 jog, 4×200 with 30 second rest between then repeat the cycle. It’s a good mix of speed and steady pace and was really fun/tough!
I usually let the weather dictate my rest days. Like that 96 degree t-storm day we’re suppose to have tomorrow. Not conducive to running…. Very conducive to staying inside and writing!
It’s already so hot this morning. I can’t believe it!
Haaaaaaattttttteeeeee speedwork…with a passion. This is because I once speedworked myself sick! Literally. Track repeats are no longer in my repertoire, so I will either run fartleks or just allow my body to dictate when it wants to go faster.
I am with you as far as rest days are concerned. I take them as needed, when I’m just not feeling a run.
I have been enjoying just being outside while running. My area is so hilly that I use them as my speedwork. It’s really convenient because I really cannot avoid going up a huge hill. I used to do 400 or 800 repeats on the treadmill over the winter, but when the weather gets nice, I want to stay outside 🙂
What a great running week you’ve had!! Track workouts and mile repeats on the road are probably my favorites. I always see a difference in my race times when I incorporate these. Tempo runs are a must, but these are not my favs (I get so nervous!) My next marathon cycle I will have a coach, so will be interesting to see what I end up doing for speed. Rest days during training in the past have been scheduled, but if I am dead tired on a Wednesday (even though Fri is the day off), I’m taking it!!
Happy Monday! 🙂
That’s awesome and good luck in your next training cycle. I think if I ever run another marathon I’ll get a coach too!