AM: (9.5 miles, 1:17:11). 33:53wu + 5 x 100m strides/30:53cd. 5 x 200 w/400 recovery (47,48, 47, 48, 45/2:20, 2:13, 2:15, 2:09, 2:22). It was not bad today, weather-wise only 88F (and sunny -- that is what makes it hard). So, I had a big back-and-forth with my devil-runner-Bonnie and my angel-runner-Bonnie today. My devil-runner thought that 5 x 200 was not enough and I could do 8 or even 10. My angel-runner-Bonnie knows that at the very least, Greg knows what he is doing and that I have never done as well when I second guess his workouts as when I follow them; and at the very most, I knew why Greg has me doing these and 8-10. So, after a mile or two reflection on training and timing in training (e.g., not peaking early) I did what the coach said to do. Then, on the way home I thought about this even more and remembered a conversation that we (Greg and I and Dean) had at dinner one night. Some of his elite runners have had some remarkable times lately off of base training (Stephanie ran a 31:43 6 miler - approx 32:30 10K) off of base training (2 workouts/week, mainly focusing on leg turnover and stamina -- short intervals with long recovery and steady state runs, which are ~ 1/2 marathon to 1/2 marathon + 15 secs/mile) and he told me this summer that he can tell his athletes are ready for international competition when they can continue to race well on shorter actual "race specific" training (usually the last 8-12 weeks before a key race). Food for thought. It certainly is true that the more you broaden your running paces (meaning you have several "gears" to work from) you definitely better room for adapting to racing situations (weather or surging, etc). Anyway -- the main thing is that I can wear my halo for today ;-) ... AND, I don't feel like I ran 9 miles, I feel pretty good, despite a long, hot, uphill cool-down home!
PM: (4 miles). Whew, what a busy week! I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far bloggers! Run far and run fast! Just for fun, here is a photo shoot from some of Greg's elite athletes doing a steady state run at Buffalo Park (I blogged about this place when I was in Flagstaff last month, ahhhh, I miss it).
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