Last week my training was all over the place. I took two rest days but I still ran about the same about of mileage as if I took one rest day. In summary I took two rest days, I did a night time 10k and got a long run with personal friend Kevin.
| Monday: | 10 miles with fast finish |
| Tuesday: | 10 miles easy |
| Wednesday: | Rest |
| Thursday: | AM: 10.5 miles |
| PM: 5k (20:15) | |
| Friday: | Cross training AMT |
| Saturday: | 10 miles easy |
| Sunday: | 14 miles with Kevin |
| Total: | 64 miles |
On Thursday evening I ran a local 5k. Cliff notes version: I’m not a nighttime person. I had an enjoyable time with friends and used the run as more of a workout. I’ll have a recap soon! Thursday was my highest mileage day since the Phoenix marathon so I needed the day off after that too.
This morning I was able to run with Kevin in Philadelphia before running. I am so close to Philadelphia but barely make it over there. I’m glad I was able to do his long run with him! We started at 6:30am because of how hot it was.
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Thoughts:
On Friday I had an interesting conversation with Kevin about my personal training. Kevin and I have been great friends for about 3 years now. We were talking about training, speed and running in general. He was in town for a business meeting so it was nice to connect!
I believe my best shape of running was when I ran a 1:24 at the Nike Women’s half. I don’t believe I was in as good of shape when I PRed in Atlantic City.
In 2013, I was consistent with training and racing. I claimed my speed work came from races and to be honest, it did. As 2014 rolled in I still claimed my speed work came from races but realistically I didn’t race as often. It’s no wonder I wasn’t getting faster.
Now I’m back to racing a lot and my speed is slowly coming back. That is proven by race I did on Thursday. I ran a 20:15. At first glance, that isn’t as good as I’ve been. The race was on a harder course and I ran 10 miles in the morning. 20:15 is the same time I was racing in early June. Despite progress being slow, I am progressing. This is the happiest I’ve been with my running in the last 2 years.
Is it a coincidence I’m not training for a marathon? Maybe…but maybe it’s because I’m enjoying my lungs getting their speed workout in too.
Questions for you:
Do you race better in the evening?
What was your best workout this week?
I actually have only run a couple of races at night…. I think I run alright in the evening. If I can get a nap in between work and the run, then i’m great!
I had two best workouts heheh. Tuesday night was a great cardio/legs workout (soccer championship game!) and Friday was a great upper body work out (kayaking for 2 hours)
Congrats on the race! Slow progress is the best progress really.
“This is the happiest I’ve been with my running in the last 2 years.” <– this is HUGE and makes me so happy. At the end of the day, it's about personal progress and simply loving it.
Ahhh I do not envy that, night races are hard because of the humidity. Looking forward to the recap though, and good realization with the pattern in speed 🙂
I am shocked that I don’t race well in the the evening either! (I still had fun though.) I think that’s good news for both of us, since most races are in the AM anyway. That is pretty baller you ran 14 miles in today’s heat. I ran four and then went inside to eat ice cream in the air conditioning…
I have always wanted to do one of those midnight races, but yeah…..i am like you, not a nighttime person, so not sure I will ever actually do it haha. As for your training, it is funny to see that we are both trying to break the rust out of our joints to get moving again after marathon training. I have to agree with you though….I thought I would be more sad about marathon training, but right now, the speed workouts are kinda fun….shhh dont tell steve 🙂 Keep up the good work lady!
I was my fastest last year when I was racing very often. It’s how I hit 3:06 in a marathon, and then I hired a coach. Bad move – he had me race less AND running less miles! I believe that tune up races and high mileage are the keys to running faster. So I fired the coach and signed up for a whole host of races from now through November and started bumping up my mileage – slowly. I’m not quite where you are just yet but finally hit 50 this week. I’d like to get back to a sub-20 minute 5K by the fall…we’ll see. I’ve never come close to your half PR, but I haven’t raced a half since 2010 and have one on the schedule for September! I don’t think I’ll be in 1:24 shape but maybe sub-1:30. We’ll see! Do you train yourself? Your week was awesome. Congrats on the 5K.
Thank you for your insight Allison. I do train myself. That’s interesting about your coach. My ultimate goal is to work back down into half marathon shape too!
I’m excited to follow your training – I’m trying to break 3 hours in a marathon, but haven’t focused on a half…maybe ever. I would love to see a 1:25 half at some point. I’m shooting for 1:28 for the fall – Most of my half marathon splits in my recent marathons are between 1:30-34 so I think 1:28 is reasonable. We’ll see. You are a beast, it’s inspiring!
I’m pretty positive I’m totally incapable of racing in the evenings… especially after a day of work! I know I’m way too lazy to get up the kind of motivation to race hard in the afternoon. You did an incredible job and awesome week of miles : )