Traveling last week and over the weekend really put me behind in my personal pursuits, especially writing for this blog. It took everything I had just to get my runs in and get to work. I also had to feed myself and try to get my nutrition back on track after my traveling munchies. Returning to healthy eating is so hard after throwing caution to the wind and eating anything I felt like.
Monday, Day 64
Today was supposed to be the first day of my 6 week intervals and strength meso training block. However, we got home close to 11 P.M. and I didn’t get to be until nearly midnight. So, I decided to sleep in and run in the afternoon once I’d had time to adjust. Even then, I decided to make this a recovery run instead of my first tempo run. I figured the half marathon was my tempo workout and I could use a recovery day.
I ran 4 miles at an easy, conversational pace and although my pace was close to my easy run goal and I felt like I was running in a relaxed manner, my heart rate was slightly elevated. I took this as another sign that I made the right call in running easy today and that my body was still recovering from the race and altered sleep schedule, even if I thought I was fully recovered.
Tuesday, Day 65
Today I was back to running in the cold, dark morning. I had to get an early start since I was doing 8 miles before work. Temperature was 47 degrees and mostly coudy at 5:25 A.M. when I started my watch. I was feeling more recovered than I did the day before and my heart rate was back to normal for my easy pace. I didn’t have any beets prepped yet after returning from my trip so I ate a Bobo’s oatmeal bite, some almonds and a banana as my pre-run snack. Maybe the extra fast burning carbs helped my run today?
Wednesday, Day 66
New shoe day is always exciting. I found a pair of ASICS Novablast 3’s on the return rack yesterday and today I tried them out on my 4 mile easy pace run and strides. I figured that was the perfect workout to try them out since the mileage was relatively short and then I could see how they felt during fast running, too.
The shoes felt good and performed well. However, there is something about them that I think I prefer the version 2’s more. Kind of funny that I have the same opinion with the Saucony Endorphin Speeds, as well. I prefer the 2’s over the 3’s but ever so slightly.
My strides are getting faster and I’m feeling stronger when I run them. However, I hate the standing around part between the fast intervals. The idea is to let your heart rate and breathing return to normal before starting the next stride interval but it’s cold in the morning and I hate just pacing, stretching and standing around for a minute in between them. I do like running fast part though. That part is a lot of fun.
Thursday, Day 67
Thursday’s are goal marathon pace day’s, so that was my workout this frigid, cold morning (40 degrees and clear). The accumulation of mileage this week on top of Saturday’s half marathon race meant that I was really feeling the fatigue by today’s 8 mile goal pace run. My legs were heavy and tired. At times, I was willing my legs to keep moving and I had to really focus on my form and driving from my glutes to keep my legs moving at the right pace.
I started to find a groove around mile 4 but I lost it again around mile 6. After that, I just went back and forth with my energy levels for the last two miles. Some moments I felt good and the next I’d be willing my legs forward again. Throughout the run though my heart rate remained in my threshold zone which is where it should be for a marathon pace training run.
My cadence was especially high, even for me. My normal cadence is between 178 and 180 but today it averaged 186. All I can think of is that must have been from all of my mental urging of my legs to keep moving so my feet overcompensated with faster turnover. Overall, I finished the 8 miles just 4 seconds per mile slower than my goal pace. I’m counting that as a win!
Workouts
Day 64
- 4 mile recovery run at conversational pace
Day 65
- 8 mile run at conversational pace
Day 66
- 4 mile run at conversational pace
- 8 20-second strides
Day 67
- 8 mile run at marathon goal pace