Last week was my first week transitioning from recovery to training. Sunday’s race (the Giralda Farms 10k) went well enough.
This week is another chance to get out there and test out my legs. I’ve got an 8k cross country race on Sunday, and after that I’ll try to get in a couple of workouts towards the end of the week.
I can’t believe it’s already almost Thanksgiving. Time flies, and it’ll be time to run Ashenfelter soon.
Another challenge this week is that I need to be up early to take the train to the city on Wednesday. I’ve got a one day work event there, and I won’t have time for a workout. So I’ll have to schedule around that and shift my workouts to Thursday and Saturday.
Plan for the Week
The plan for the week is to put in a good effort at the race on Sunday, get in one or two good workouts, and hit 60 miles for the week. Enough to work on my speed a bit, but not enough to leave me too tired for next week’s race at Ashenfelter.
Here’s the plan:
- Sunday: 8k XC Race (10 miles w/ WU & CD)
- Monday: 5 miles AM treadmilll, 5 miles PM treadmill
- Tuesday: 7 miles easy, trail
- Wednesday: 5 miles treadmill
- Thursday: 10 mile I workout
- Friday: 10 miles easy
- Saturday: 8 mile R workout
And here’s how things went.
Sunday: The Last Chance 8k XC Championship
Sunday morning was the 8k XC championship race. I’ve run a few cross country races this year, and I enjoyed them. So I was looking forward to this. But it’s also a team race, so I wanted to make sure I was there so we could score some team points.
You can read the full race report here.
The short version is that it went well enough – but not amazing. I finished in 32:23, which is a little slower than my best 8k time. But, that’s somewhat to be expected for a cross country race.
I misjudged the pacing a little, and I went out too fast in the first mile. I paid for that in the back end, and I struggled a little in the final miles. But I still placed well (enough) and finished about where I expected compared to some other runners that I’ve seen at other races. And despite being a little slow in the back half, I wasn’t fading hard.
Immediately after the race, I was wiped. But once I got home, showered, ate, and napped, I felt a lot better. I spent the rest of the day doing some yardwork, cooked dinner, and relaxed with a glass of wine to watch some TV.
Monday: Treadmill Doubles
I had initially planned on doing a longer trail run Monday morning, but then our new microwave was scheduled to be delivered early in the morning.
So I shifted gears, split the mileage into doubles, and woke up early for a quick jog on the treadmill.
At first, I was extremely tired, and it was a struggle getting out of bed. But once I got down to my gym, I felt pretty good.
I fired up the treadmill, quickly broke into an easy jog, and went through my usual routine. I watched two episodes of Star Wars: Rebels, slowly increased the pace, and got to my usual speed by the end.
The running part felt great. When I tried to do my usual post-run yoga routine, though, I was stiff. But overall, I felt better than I expected to feel the day after a race.
After I got done with work for the day, I did a little more yard work. It seems like every time I get done blowing the leaves out of the yard, they’re back.
Then, I hopped on the treadmill for my double. Another 45 minutes and two more episodes of Star Wars: Rebels on the treadmill.
My legs felt pretty good. My heart rate did get up into the high 140’s, and I was working a little harder than usual. But I didn’t feel like I was struggling at all or that I had trouble warming up.
It was a good recovery day with decent mileage.
Tuesday: An Easy Morning on the Trails
Tuesday was a better day.
It was good to get back outside and hit the trails. The weather was nice. It even rained a little bit – and we haven’t gotten rain here in New Jersey in a long time.
I didn’t feel that bad when I started … but I was still a little slow. I looked down at my watch at the six mile mark, and I was surprised that I was already over an hour. A couple of the middle miles dipped just under 10:00/mi, but it was a pretty slow recovery day.
Wednesday: Early Treadmill Miles Before the City
I had to leave the house early on Wednesday to take a train into the city, so I woke up at 6AM and immediately hopped on the treadmill.
When I walked into the gym, I noticed it was a little warm. The heat had kicked on, and the furnace room is attached the gym. I made a mental note to adjust the schedule so that it the temperature would drop lower in the morning.
I felt fine when I started, but my heartrate started drifting up much more quickly than usual. On a typical treadmill run, I spend a lot of time in the 120’s and 130’s, and I might hit the low 140’s at the end – but only after I’ve fully sped up.
Today, my heart rate was already drifting up into the 140’s in the first 15-20 minutes. By the time I was done, I had spent a considerable amount of time in the 150’s and topped out around 160.
I wasn’t running that fast, and I wasn’t breathing hard, either. So I think it may have been heat related. But the run was definitely more draining than I otherwise would have expected for an easy five miles on the treadmill.
I took a quick shower, caught a Lyft to the train station, and went about my day.
Thursday: A (Failed) Workout At the Reservoir
The plan today was to wake up and do a ten mile I workout – 7×3 minutes at I pace with 2 minute jogging recoveries.
Unfortunately, I made the unwise decision of drinking too much beer the night before. After the conference, we hit the circuit of cocktail hours. I didn’t go crazy, but after four or five hours of sipping on beer, I’d had quite a bit.
When I got home I was mildly drunk, and it definitely impacted my sleep. I woke up at 6AM, and I wasn’t hungover … but I also wasn’t 100%, either.
I slowly started my warm up, and I hoped a little jogging would loosen me up. I did feel better after a couple miles, and I did some leg swings and strides.
I started the first rep, and my watch buzzed that I was too slow. But I managed to get in the zone partway through. ~6:15/mi, so a little slow, but not horrible.
Often, the first rep is slow and then I settle in for the rest of the workout. But the next two reps were the same. And when I started the fourth rep, I couldn’t get on pace at all.
So about halfway through the fourth rep, I decided to bail on the workout. No sense beating myself up more for a subpar workout. I jogged home and hit six miles for the morning.
In the evening, I hopped on the treadmill for an easy 45 minutes to round out my mileage for the day. I felt a lot better. My heartrate was back to normal, unlike Wednesday morning.
I’ll chalk this failure up to some unfortunate drinking decisions.
Friday: A Cold, Rainy, Snowy Morning
After several months of no rain, it’s been raining for 36 hours straight. Thursday was a steady, light rain. And Friday when I woke up, it was still going.
I was originally planning to do a ten mile easy run, but I decided to switch things up a little bit. Instead of the ten mile out and back, I went to the Reservoir for four loops (8 miles).
I settled in and felt fine throughout. No lingering stiffness or anything. It was also very windy, and I could feel myself slowing down and speeding up based on the direction of the wind.
For the first time this winter, I really had to dress for the weather. It was in the 30’s, and there was a mix of light rain and snow. I threw on a compression tank top and layered it with a quarter zip. Add in some gloves, and I was good to go.
The run was slower than I expected, and I averaged ~9:00/mi for the last few miles. But otherwise it was a decent morning. I’ll (hopefully) have a good workout tomorrow and salvage an otherwise unimpressive week.
Saturday: An Out of Town Speed Workout
We went down to Longwood Gardens Friday night, and we stayed in downtown Wilmington afterwards. So when I got up for my workout, I jogged down to the greenway by the river.
The plan was to do an R workout – 4 sets of 200m, 200m, 400m, with full recovery in between. Since I’m on the road instead of a track, I converted the distances to time – 40 seconds for the 200s and 80 seconds for the 400s.
The first mile wasn’t great. But then I realized it’s because I was going up hill to get through downtown. Once I crested the top of the hill, I felt a lot better.
I jogged down to the river, did a couple of strides, and finished up my warm up with some leg swings. At this point, I was a little over 2 miles in. I was ready to start the workout, but there was a group of five or six women up ahead and they were using up the whole path.
I didn’t want to sprint by them in the middle of a rep, so I picked up the pace a little to jog past them. They were all bundled up for the cold. As I passed, I could hear them talking about my outfit – shorts and a tank top. I chuckled. Never fails.
Once I was past them, I sped up for the first 200m. Oh yeah, this felt good. Jogged 90 seconds and then launched into the next one. Felt great.
In the first 400m, I got a little tired halfway through and slowed down a titch. But overall, it felt fine. This is the first time since Chicago that I’ve really felt that I could run at speed without anything holding me back.
Did another set, and that Put me at the turnaround point. Still feeling good. Third set, uneventful.
On the fourth set, I did the 200s. And then I was determined to really push through the final 400. I was counting down the paces … And my watch never buzzed.
I looked down, and I realized that when I started the rep, I must not have fully pressed the button down on my Garmin. It never started the lap … Doh!
So I jogged another couple of minutes to catch my breath and settle down my heart rate, and then I added one extra 400m to close out the workout.
Everything felt pretty good throughout. It was windy, and there were some inclines, so I expected my pace would be a little inconsistent. But as I jogged out the last two miles, I was very satisfied with the workout.
Got back to the hotel and checked Garmin Connect. Most of the reps were under 6:00/mi. I would have liked to see some 5:30s, but there were plenty of 5:40s. Given the conditions, though, this is just fine.
Good way to close out the week on a high note.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
The week started off ok. The cross country race went well enough – but it wasn’t amazing. But I’m still a little too close to Chicago to expect a great race effort.
My failed workout on Thursday was disappointing. But I’ll chalk that up to bad decisions and unfortunate timing. I wish the conference had been Tuesday – so I i could take an easy day Wednesday and still hit a solid workout Thursday.
But Saturday’s workout was a little bit of redemption. It felt good to speed up, and my legs and lungs felt great. It’s a little confidence boost going into Ashenfelter next week.
I also got some good news on Thursday. I put in for the lottery for the NYC United Half – and I got accepted. I’m excited for the race, which is perfectly timed for a tune up before Jersey City.
It’s also a second (and better) opportunity to hit the NYC Marathon qualifying time. So that takes a bit of pressure off me for Fred Lebow in January. I’ll still try to hit 1:25 there – but if the hills hold me back, it won’t be the end of the world.
All in all, it was a good end to the week. And I’m ready for my turkey trot on Thursday.