Lately, my speed workouts haven’t always hit the paces I’ve wanted. To be fair, my effort has been there, but I’m often running in undesirable elements or on hilly courses. I haven’t been running workouts on tracks or even flat ground. That being said, road races aren’t on the track, and there is a hardly ever a perfect day. Practicing these things is good.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’ve been having a few issues with antibiotics. There hasn’t been any drastic improvement this week, but I was still able to get my workouts accomplished.
During the month of December, I’ve also raced far less frequently and honestly I miss it. My wallet and budget don’t miss the races, but I do!
| Monday: | Off |
| Tuesday: | Easy 12 mile long run with Liz |
| Wednesday: | Easy run |
| Thursday: | 6X1 mile repeats (6:40 average) |
| Friday: | Easy run |
| Saturday: | Easy Run |
| Sunday: | 14.5 miles with 10k tempo (40:40…6:34 pace) |
| Total: | 74 miles |
On Monday, I woke up, and my body hurt. I felt tired and not wanting to move and I am glad I rested. I did get a deep tissue massage that I needed.
On Tuesday, Liz and I ran her longest run ever together. We are trying to run more Tuesday mornings together. Part of my plan to get out of my running rut is to find more people to run with.
I pushed a workout back one day because my legs were sore from the deep tissue massage. It takes me, personally, 2-3 days for my legs to feel good afterwards.
6X1 mile repeats average (6:45 pace)
(7:05, 6:16, 6:44, 6:15, 6:43, 6:16)
The first mile it down poured. I couldn’t get a good groove. I got to the end of the first mile and looked at my watch and thought: Are you effing kidding me? To be honest, I nearly through in the towel but since I was a mile out I had to run at least one mile to get to the start. I ran back and felt better, so I continued the workout. It poured rain throughout the entire workout, and I changed clothing for my cooldown since I was drenched.
Taking out the first mile, I averaged about 6:30 pace which is more/less where I would like to be.
My mile repeats have been done lately on a significantly hilly section of a local road. I like it because it includes hills. It’s a slower pace, but harder workout. It’s helped my races that have hilly portions because I feel like I can surge the hills better.
Sundays Workout: 14.5 miles with 10k tempo (40:40…average 6:34 pace)
Today’s workout was my best workout all month. I warmed up 4 miles, ran my tempo and cooled down another 4 miles. Throughout the entire 14 miles, I felt strong. Since I haven’t been racing, this was an excellent motivational workout.
My splits were 7:01, 6:29, 6:34, 6:27, 6:31, 6:29. To run out of my neighborhood any direction, the first mile is all uphill. The incline has been good for training, and I’ve found quite a few hills throughout various routes as well. I’m happy with the workout and was surprised I was able to maintain that pace. I felt as if I could have gone further.
It was great to end my highest mileage week on this note and bonus my stomach didn’t act up today either.
Thoughts of this week:
It’s another high mileage week with rainy but solid workouts. This work is going to pay off in 2016. I might not set PRs through the winter but similar to summer training when I plateaued, I’ll break through another plateau.
On another note, Women’s Running featured an article that I wrote about starting to run. I couldn’t be more honored.
I hope everyone had a Happy Holidays.
Questions for you:
How has the weather been where you live?
Are you training for anything in particular right now?
Well weather been kinda crapy,nothing but rain, and it was warm last couple of days for December. Right now I’m on my break,i start back up in January.give my legs and mind a rest.
I think I’ll train for better 5k times , half marathon for the next 3 MONTHS.
I wanna be ready for the ADRENALINE 5k in March.
Happy running,
And safe new years holiday.
Love the bow!! It’s been pretty rainy here in Rhode Island… Not training for anything right now, except I have a 5-miler on January 1st. I made my sister sign up with me haha.
I don’t know which I find more impressive…your blistering 10K in the middle of a long run, or that amazing bow. I seriously want a black version of said bow, although I don’t think I’d be able to run in it!
It has been raining non-stop here for a long time. Today was the first day in what seems like forever that we actually saw the Sun! There’s so much flooding around and I ended up stuck in ankle deep water on my Xmas Day run. The rain was so cold that my fingers were freezing and I couldn’t phone for help. It was pretty scary…at least for someone as anxious as me anyway.
I have felt the opposite to you: I’m really enjoying the break from racing with others. I shouldn’t get so comfortable with my virtual races, because I’ll have to bite the bullet and face a normal racing environment if I ever want to run a marathon again.
I bet they have them! Honestly the now was 5 dollars on super clearance at the local craft store Michaels!
It’s funny, the weather here in Virginia is SO WARM (it was like 70 something today) but we just flew back from Minnesota so it feels even warmer compared to there!
That bow is AMAZING. h
Our weather has been so nasty! Humid, warmer, and LOTS of rain. It’s ridiculous. I was going to start marathon training last week and follow an 18 week plan but my plans got a little derailed so I’ve decided to hit it hard first week of Jan! I’ll race this Friday to see where my 5k time is and use those numbers to train with. I’ve been focusing on cross-training and strength work a lot more than running this month so I’m curious to see where my 5k fitness is. I’m a little nervous to be honest! Great week of training for you! I think it’s smart to run some speed work on a hillier terrain.
SO much rain here in NYC too! At least it isn’t snow … ?