Going With The Flow

AM - Beautiful Easter morning! Ran the SLC Half Marathon course with the JAJAF crew this morning - a really great course except for maybe the Sugarhouse turnaround point and the monster hill up State Street. It has a great downhill for the majority of the race and especially the last half mile. I've decided to run it, even though I don't feel quite ready for a half marathon yet. It should be fun to run a race on familiar streets!

PM - Did a shakeout run with Jake. It was so nice outside that it was too hard to say no. And I had to make sure that Jake wouldn't pad his mileage this afternoon :)

AM - 4.5 miles really easy, first half with Jake. Feel pretty exhausted and have a little pain in my foot, so I gotta be careful about not overdoing it.

PM - 3 miles easy around Sugarhouse. Was planning to do more, but felt so fatigued that I called it early.  It's probably about time to have a lower mileage week.

I finally bought some liquid iron. Then Allie told me on Saturday that it tastes like blood so I'm afraid to try it.

AM - Easy 3 miles this morning. I feel fatigued, but I might be okay by this afternoon for a workout...still deciding. I was planning to do 5k at HM pace, but I might have to change it to a longer MP tempo instead if my legs are lacking the pep to go really fast. We'll see. 

PM - Warmed up 2 miles. Ran 5k in 18:43 (LT/HM pace). Splits - 5:59, 5:59, 6:00, :45. Thankfully ACorn decided to do the workout with me and Jake was timing/taking pictures so I had to be accountable even when I wanted to stop after one mile! This felt hard - a mentally tough workout on tired legs. Now to reel in the JAJAF(A?) crew tomorrow morning for an easy run....

Today from Functional Path Training:

"Most people agree that speed wins, then why if that is the case isn’t it made a priority. You must work on speed first and foremost.  You must incorporate some elements of speed from the first training cycle through to the peak competition. That is true if you are training for a marathon or 100 meters, basketball or rugby. It must be part of every training cycle. I find it quite amusing when I hear a coach say that we have been working on base work, but I have not started speed work yet. What are you waiting for? The problem with that approach is that they are not training to be fast, they are training to endure, and then magically they hope that the fast will come. They are essentially training speed out that is easy. The inevitable result is undue soreness and greater risk of injury because of the abrupt change in the training program when they do start to emphasize anything fast. The key is to never get too far away from running fast. Always train speed in.  It should be part of the first training cycle of the year and be a part of each subsequent training cycle. Speed development work can be as simple as sprint drills, light acceleration drills, or for a distance runner simply finishing each run with 8 –10 x 100 meter fast strides, but it must be there all the time. Speed first to be first."

AM - JAJAFA Run. Recruited ACorn this morning - we are getting quite a Wednesday crew now! Since the gimps (James and I) are now feeling good again and Jake doesn't have to run to work, we were able to run farther than 1 mile away from Sugarhouse Park. We ran a nice loop around Millcreek with some decent uphill and downhill. 7:37 pace.

Yesterday I posted a quote about the importance of speed workouts. This is a great article about How Training for a 5K Can Help Your Marathon . A quick quote from the article -

"I am a huge believer in mileage and, in running easy. These are still, all things considered, the most important variables for distance running success. However, it's also true that you can't get fast without running fast in training. Running fast is a skill that can be practiced; you can get better at it. Volume is a huge determinative of distance running success, but so is balanced and progressive training. Taking an occasional break from the relentless slogging of miles to really think about how you can get faster will keep you mentally fresh and also allow your body a different stimulus for training."

AM - Extended horsepark loop with Jake. Short track session this afternoon.

PM - 2 mile warm-up. Track workout with Allie. 3 x (400m-200m-200m) with 200m recovery. Splits were 84, 41, 41, 83, 41, 41, 82, 41, 38. Kept it around 5k pace. I still have tiredness in my legs, but hopefully that'll be gone by Sunday.

In case you want to be really unproductive on Monday morning, the Boston Marathon will stream live for free on Monday, April 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST on the Universal Sports Network and UniversalSports.com.

AM - 5 miles with Jake, extended horsepark loop again. 

Boston, please be cooler on Monday!

AM - Early morning run in the rain before our flight to Boston.