Last week was the Ashenfelter 8k, and going into the race I was feeling a little beat up. Although I had shown some signs of life, I also had some real slow recovery days in there.
Frankly, I was starting to think maybe I came back from the Chicago Marathon too quickly. Ashenfelter itself wasn’t disastrous. I did fine. But I didn’t PR, and frankly after a year of productive, hard work, I thought I should be ready for a breakthrough race.
Since Thursday, though, things have been looking up. I ended last week with good, easy runs on Friday and Saturday. So coming into this week, I was feeling optimistic again.
My last race of the season is the Rutgers Big Chill 5k on December 14. That means I’ve got a full week to focus on training this week, and I can even get in a little workout early next week to sharpen things up.
I had originally considered bumping my mileage to 70 miles this week, but given the fatigue a week or two ago, I figured it’s best to keep it low through the next race. So I’ll do 60 miles this week, along with a 14 mile long run and a couple of workouts. Once I get through the Big Chill and recover, I can bump up to 70 miles heading into preparations for Fred Lebow.
The quality of this week is going to be a big indication of how well that Rutgers race will go – but I think things are looking up.
The Plan for the Week
Overall, the plan for the week is a 14 mile long run, an I workout, an R workout, and a total of 60 miles. With the reduced mileage, there’s no need to work in any doubles. I can handle it all in singles in the morning.
Here’s the breakdown for the week:
- Sunday: 14 mile long run
- Monday: 6 miles easy, trail
- Tuesday: 10 miles I workout
- Wednesday: 6 miles easy, trail
- Thursday: 8 miles easy, trail
- Friday: 10 miles R workout
- Saturday: 6 miles easy, trail
And here’s how things went.
Sunday: A Fast Finish Long Run
With races the last couple of weekends, I haven’t gotten in a legit long run. So this morning I was looking forward to getting in a solid long run.
I didn’t get much sleep last night. First, the dog woke me up at 2AM to go outside. Then, I was up at 5:15 to take my sister in the law to the airport.
But I got back home, went back to bed for a bit, and by 9:30 I was ready to go. The nice thing about winter is that you can start long runs late in the morning. In fact, with the weather lately, I was better off starting late in the morning with the sun up.
I started with a ten mile out and back to Millburn and back. I was cold for the first couple of miles, but by about four miles in, the chill was gone. I passed a few other runners and people walking their dogs, an nobody else was wearing shorts.
The plan was to keep things easy for the first ten miles. I glanced at my watch a few times to check my heart rate, but otherwise I ignored the pace. By the time I got to the five mile turnaround, things were in check and feeling good.
The second half of the run is back uphill. I got to the steep part, and I pushed the pace a little bit – steady, but not hard. Time to get used to these hills before Fred Lebow.
About the nine mile mark, I got back to the Reservoir Loop. Two and a half loops would finish up my 14 miles.
I hit the 10 mile mark and looked down at my watch – 1:27. Not bad. A little slower than yesterday’s ten miler, but not slow enough to be a problem. After keeping it easy early on, I planned to pick up the pace to ~7:15-7:30ish for the final three miles.
I opened up my stride and sped up for the first mile. Felt good, although it was a bit windy around the Reservoir. At the end of the mile, my watch buzzed: 7:45.
Time to speed it up a bit. At the beginning of mile two, I passed a guy. He was running at a pretty good clip, but I was going a little faster, and I slowly pulled ahead. A quarter mile later, I heard some heavy footsteps behind me, and I thought it was the same guy.
Eventually, the footsteps caught up – and I realized it was somebody else. He pulled ahead, and I instinctively sped up a bit. Didn’t quite match his pace, though, and he slowly pulled ahead. I got to the end of this mile: 7:00.
Oops, too fast. I backed off the pace a bit, and I finished up in 7:15. Back on target.
At this point, I was feeling a little fatigue – but my legs weren’t too bad. I slowed down and jogged in the final mile for a cool down.
All told, a pretty good long run for the week.
I got home, ate some breakfast, had some coffee … and then went back to sleep for another hour.
Monday: An Easy Day on the Trails
After yesterday’s long run, today’s plan was just an easy jog on the trails.
It was pretty cold overnight – low 20’s – so I waited until the sun came up to head out. It was still chilly, but it was bearable. I wore the long sleeve shirt from Ashenfelter, some gloves, and my shorts.
Despite the long run effort yesterday, I felt pretty good. No stiffness to deal with in the beginning. I kept the pace easy, and I checked my watch a few times to make sure my heart rate was in range.
You could tell it was cold out. The dirt was frozen, and the leaves were frosty. Despite days of rain last week, the forest looked pretty dry again.
I got to the halfway point without seeing anyone, and I turned around. Quiet day on the trails.
On the way back, I passed one guy walking his dog. I think that was it for the morning.
Once I got warmed up, I was hitting 9:30-9:40/mi in the middle. A few times, I felt myself speeding up a little and I pulled back the reigns.
It was a good day, nice and easy. Time for a tougher workout tomorrow.
Tuesday – A Great Workout Around the Reservoir
The last few days, I’ve been trying to get a little extra sleep where I can, and I think it’s helping. So I didn’t set an alarm Monday night. I hoped to be up around 6:45 or 7:00 – but I ended up rolling out of bed around 7:15.
Just in time to get in my workout before work.
Went about my morning routine and hit the road. The plan for the day was an I workout – 7×3 minutes hard with 2 minutes jogging recovery. I was hoping to run low 6:00’s for the pace, but I left the broader range of 5:55 to 6:20 programmed into my watch.
I jogged the first lap around the Reservoir, stopped for some leg swings, and then finished up with a couple strides. Everything felt pretty good. It was ~30F, but there were some lingering clouds making the sun play peak-a-boo. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t quote comfortable, either.
After last week’s aborted workout, I was worried about starting off too slow. So I launched into the first rep at a pretty solid effort. About halfway through, I noticed I was breathing a little harder than I should. I was worried for a second, and then my watch buzzed … it said 5:50. Yikes!
Definitely too fast. Eased up a bit in the second half, but didn’t slow down too much. 5:58/mi pace overall. Huge confidence boost. But I had to take the jogging recovery extra slow.
After 90 seconds, I had caught my breath and my legs felt alive again. Into the next rep … and again, my watch briefly buzzed. Got things under control and averaged 6:01/mi.
The next two felt better. More controlled. ~6:10/mi. But I was breathing much easier in the recoveries. With more than half of the workout done, I was feeling great. The clouds were also gone, and it was warming up. No signs of a chill anymore.
The next one, I started out kind of slow. I also noticed the wind starting to kick up. It had been calm at first, but now it seemed to always be in my face. I still managed 6:06/mi for the rep, but I had pushed hard to get there.
The final two reps, I started off a little slow, got on pace, and finished at ~6:15/mi. I took a minute walking recovery after the last rep, but after I jogged it out for a half mile I felt great. I was running at a regular easy pace – ~8:15-8:30/mi – for the rest of the cooldown.
Average pace for the full workout: 6:08/mi. I’d have preferred a little bit slower on the last two reps. But I’ll take it.
Solid workout and a confidence boost. Now to take it easy for two days and put in another solid workout on Friday.
Wednesday: An Easy Trail Run
No more extra sleep for me. I had to drive down to the office this morning, so I was up bright and early … and out while it was still a little dim.
It was still cold, too. Low 20’s. So I bundled up with a tank top underneath and a long sleeve shirt on top. That felt pretty good.
I felt fine at the start. Not too tight, sore, or fatigued from yesterday’s workout. The first mile was slow, and then I eased in and got warmed up. It was a quiet day on the trails, and I think I ran into one guy walking his dog.
Otherwise, it was just me and the squirrels.
After the turnaround, I was hitting ~9:20-9:30/mi. Overall, 58 minutes for 6 miles. I padded a little mileage to hit 6.5 – making up for being slightly short (9.5) yesterday.
Easy, uneventful recovery day.
Thursday: An Easy Run and Strides Around the Reservoir
I woke up Thursday morning, and there was snow on the ground. Not a lot, just a little dusting. But this is the first snowy day of the season.
I also needed to charge my car a little bit to make the commute to the office, so I drove it over to the Reservoir and parked it at the charger there while I did my morning run. Oddly enough, today was the warmest day this week – despite there being snow on the ground – and I was very comfortable in shorts and a short sleeve shirt (with gloves).
The view of the reservoir was beautiful. In the northern, shallow end, it’s still partially dry from the drought. But that dirt was covered in light snow, and the shallow water was frozen over. The geese were having a great time.
When I got started, I was feeling pretty stiff and slow. This might be from the workout, or it might be from being in the car a lot yesterday. Either way, the first mile was well above 10:00. Yikes.
I slowly loosened up a little with each lap, though. By mile 4, I was down to ~9:00/mi, which is still a little slow but not terrible.
In the final two laps, I mixed in a bunch of strides. They weren’t particularly fast, but the goal was to use them to loosen things up before my workout tomorrow. And that worked.
After I finished the final set of strides, I was easily jogging at ~8:45/mi. After I fully recovered from those little bursts of speed, the final mile was 8:30 with a nice, low heart rate. Much better than 9:00/mi for an easy run.
Hopefully I’ll feel just as loose tomorrow morning when it’s time for my workout.
Friday: An R Workout for Speed
The plan today was around 10 miles with an R workout. I stuck with the same one that I did two weeks ago when I was out of town in Delaware – 4 x (40s, 40s, 80s) with generous rest after each rep. This is essentially 200m and 400m reps, with 200/400m jogging recoveries.
I got down to the Reservoir and felt pretty good. It wasn’t too cold, and once the sun came out from behind the clouds it should be nice. Jogged two laps to warm up, finishing up with some strides and some leg swings. The strides felt ok – not super fast, but not restricted, either.
After a quick pit stop at the bathroom, I got ready for the first rep. Pressed the watch and off I went. Zoom! I felt great! And I love 200s because they are just so short. They’re over before you really even get tired.
I jogged a minute to recover, then another 200. Still feeling good. The 400 wasn’t bad. I could tell I was a little slower – especially towards the end. But I wasn’t fading. It was more like I was pacing myself.
I also felt the wind start kicking up. It had been going on and off during my warm up, but in the 400m rep the wind hit me in the face. Mental note not to be too harsh when I see the stats later.
That first set felt great. I jogged out the recovery and did two more. By the end of the third set, I was still feeling good. I could tell things were going better than the last workout, for sure.
Time for the fourth and final set. The first 200 felt pretty good, but my legs were feeling a little tired towards the end of the rep. Good thing I’m stopping at four sets. I’ve done six before … but it’s a lot.
In the final 200m rep, I passed by an older woman who I often see walking around the Reservoir. She was with two of her friends. As I ran by, she yelled, “You make me feel cold!” Ah, yes, it’s that time of year.
I doubled back on the recovery and jogged up the path a little bit. That way, I could do the final 400m rep on a straightaway and not have to worry about a curve and a hill.
I got halfway through the rep and glanced at my watch. It said something like 5:35/mi for the pace. Nice. I bore down and tried to speed up a little. When I looked again towards the end, I think it improved by 1-2 seconds. But, basically the same. Still, holding on and not slowing down in the second half is a minor win.
It took me a couple minutes after that last push to jog it out and catch my breath. But once I did, I felt fine and everything was under control. I finished up the cooldown and got back to my house at 9.75 miles. I’ll just add the extra quarter mile to tomorrow’s run.
When I got home, I checked the data on Garmin Connect. Every rep was in the 5:30-5:45/mi range, with an overall average pace of 5:38/mi. If I do a few more of these workouts before Fred Lebow, I’d like to see that drop down to 5:20-5:30/mi. But for now, it’s a pretty good day.
Saturday: Back on the Trails
Saturday morning, I slept in a bit. When I got out to the trails, the sun was already up. The temp was pretty mild – I think in the low 30’s.
But apparently, it snowed a little overnight. There was a light dusting along the trails in a few parts.
Otherwise, it was an uneventful run. I ran out three miles, tacked on a little extra, and then turned around. I passed by a guy with a hood on – and probably some headphones. He got spooked when I ran by him.
Oh well … you should be paying attention on the trails. It’s not like I was sneaking around like a ninja. There are enough leaves on the ground that it’s impossible to be quiet.
I got back towards the start and passed the 6 mile mark at about 58:30. So not fast, but not terribly slow. Good day for a recovery day.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
After a few weeks that weren’t so great, this was a good week. Maybe I wasn’t quite fully recovered yet, or maybe the early races were taking it out of me.
But I notched three solid efforts this week – starting with the fast finish long run on Sunday, then the I workout on Tuesday, and then the R workout on Friday. The workout paces were a titch slow, and ultimately I want to see them improve a bit over the next month. But they’re the best I’ve run since Chicago, and it’s a sign things are going in the right direction.
Next week will end – on Saturday – with the Rutgers Big Chill 5k. So I’ll have time for one more brief workout on Tuesday. After that, I’ll set a game plan for the race, but I’ll probably try to go out around 6:00-6:05 and hold on for a 18:XX finish.
That’d be a big PR for me. Fingers crossed.