track fan

10 x :25 w/1` recovery

30` wu 30` cd

Beautiful morning (as usual!) - clear and perfect weather (about 71F).  Haven't been sleeping well because I have been staying up late watching the World Championships -- TeamUSA is fairing very well - All 3 guys made it to the 5000m final - Yea!  (although the Russians did well in the W's steeple -- I am pointing this out for Maria and Sasha's benefit ;-) ).

Slightly uphill on really nice service road near Red Butte Garden, decided to run a couple slightly downhill too since Big Sur has both uphill and downhill parts ... felt pretty nice on the faster bits, tried to work hard without making them feel too hard. Next week starts the stamina/speed portion of my training ... this week is going to be lower on the mileage side. My past training has suggested that I need to ramp up pretty quickly on speed, I can't handle it for too long without burning out. Although, I have been consistent with higher mileage for longer than I have ever done before, so I am hoping that it will make me stronger for the speed part of the training. Am hoping the hills and altitude are compensating for the fact that I am running much slower than I was when I left Tennessee ...

43:47, very easy recovery run.  many weeks my recovery runs are actually pretty painful because they follow tough workouts or high mileage weeks.  today was really not bad, and my legs felt really good.  I did concentrate on making it easy though, I am pretty sure that my coach wants an easy week, and I really do *try* to follow the plan for possible rewards down the road.  Though my legs felt really good, my body is super tired ... lack of sleep and a more-than-usual stressful work week is starting to take its toll.

I estimate (most of the time underestimate, I think) my miles ... I actually run by time not miles and have adopted the idea of "Bonnie miles" -- this is stolen from the U of Wisconsin team that runs "Badger miles" -- the rumor is that they basically run for time (on their non-track workout days) and then divide the time by 7 min/miles to estimate mileage.  Obviously, I don't divide by 7 min pace (though I wish) - but rather just estimate how I feel and guess miles by that (e.g., recovery days I try keep my heart rate/breathing nice and easy and estimate that to be somewhere between 8:45 and 9 min pace -- long runs and easy days I try to drop down to 8:30 - 8:45, adjusting for hills, heat, etc.).  I follow the concepts of the fast runners, and adjust it for my pace/level of training -- or at least try.  I am not sure that this translates into faster times yet, but I certainly feel stronger than when I ran all of my mileage the same pace, and mostly too fast, all of the time. 

Mixed news on the track front -- Tyson Gay and Allison Felix had great runs!!  Both Nick Symmonds and Khadevis Robinson did not make it out of the semi's ... I haven't seen the race yet but the heat that Symmonds was in looked to be pretty tactical, it wasn't like it was unheard of fast (unlike the womans 800 final -- that was impressive).

Happy Friday!

 

somewhere between 3.5 and 4 miles (certainly wasn't running sub 8 min pace but probably faster than 9 min pace) 31:34 -- really easy run. Last of the "down week" -- about 44/45 miles this week.

Next week marks the beginning of my race specific speed training ... cruise intervals, more tempo runs, and some fast finish long runs. I am both excited and somewhat nervous about what these workouts will show in terms of fitness. September is going to be tricky, a little more intense running and a whole lot of work travel (with early mornings and all day meetings).

Tomorrow we are planning to run in Mill Creek and then on Monday do a hiking/running combo somewhere near East Canyon - it is time to really enjoy our new home!