21 March 2011

7 wks 2 IAT50k

Monday - 8.2 miles. My Garmin died halfway through the run. I'm just proud of myself for getting out and running after realizing my watch hadn't been charging and that I would only have 1% of my battery available. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was considering not running at all simply because my watch wasn't charged. Yikes!

Tuesday - 45 minutes basketball. There were enough guys there this morning to divide the gym in to an 'old guys' court and a 'young guys' court. I was a young guy. I definitely worked more this morning than in the previous two weeks, but my morning ended early after a knee-to-knee hit.

Wednesday - Rest.

Thursday - 16 miles, 1:50. I ran a 4 mile warmup, then ran a tough 12 mile loop at tempo pace. Only one mile slipped over 7 minute pace, and it was a tough mile that included wind, rain, and a decent sized hill in my face. My legs felt really heavy, and my gut wasn't feeling all that great either. Despite that, my heart rate was a decent 156. To be able to run 12 miles at sub 3 hour pace despite such heavy legs was promising!

Friday - Ellie's birthday. Rest.

Saturday - 10.76 miles, easy. I was up early to get in this 10 miler, and my stomach protested the majority of the run, but I was happy with a decent pace (7:30's) at a low HR (140's).

Sunday - 17 miles, easy. Rainy/slushy weather forced me to start this run on the Treadmill. I was going to simply put in 2 hours on the treadmill watching basketball. That idea lasted all of 30 minutes. I simply can't run on treadmills. So, I got outside, wandered around town at a very leisure pace and put some miles under my legs. Again, my legs felt good during this run, and I feel like I'm bouncing back and recovering faster and faster.

So, overall, a good week. I'm really happy with Thursday's run, not only because of the pace, but because I battled some rain, some wind, and some voices in my head telling me to cut the run short. I even ran PAST my car and put in an extra two miles when 95% of me wanted to just stop at the car.

This week I am travelling to Chicago for a seminar Thursday thru Saturday. I still want to get in 60 miles, so it's going to take some work to pull it off. This week will really show me where I am in preparation for St. Louis (can I break 3 hours?) and will likely determine how I set up the next couple weeks of training. Bring it on!

2 comments:

SteveQ said...

The pace of your runs has been impressive. The Saturday and Sunday runs show that Thursday's wasn't too hard and not a fluke. Breaking 3's in the cards, if you hold up the next 7 weeks.

(and Happy B'day to Ellie!)

Grellan said...

Very solid week Nic. Thursday's run was epic (6:53 pace including the 4 mile warmup!!!). Your form is back.

I feel naked without my Garmin too.