Slowly Getting Faster

I tried to keep this around 6 miles.  I'm attempting to do Brad Hudson's 1/2 marathon adaptive training program and the workout for the day called for 6 miles easy.  I am shooting for a 1:45:00 time, 8 min/mile, so I guessed that an easy pace would be around 9 min miles.  The pace didn't feel forced at all and I went up some steep hills so I think that pace worked out. On those hills I think a fast pace for me would be around 8:20 per mile.  I guess I'll find out what I can do when the workout calls for that. 

Today's workout called for 5 miles plus 1 x 8 second hill sprint.  I went a different route than normal tonight and the course worked out to be mostly flat.  Something like 150' elevation change. As a result, my per mile time dropped a lot. I went from a relaxed and comfortable 6 miles yesterday at almost 9 minute miles to 8:30 per mile today. I think that on this course a medium effort might be 8:20-8:15 and a fast effort would be MP (8:00). 

My hill sprint ended up being longer than 8 seconds.  I tried the 8 second version but it seems like I barely get started and the workout is over.  Almost anticlimactic and certainly unsatisfying.  I expect a good heart pounding, leg burning, gasping for breath effort if I'm going to spring up a hill.  The hill was 15% grade and the sprint was 6:03 per mile pace, which I feel pretty good about.  It will be interesting when the hill sprints become multiples instead of one single effort.   

The workout for today called for 5 miles easy.  I gather from the book that the purpose of all this slow miles is to build my aerobic capacity and my running volume.  Since I have been running 30 miles a week for a while now I'm not sure that the 25 miles on tap for this week is actually going to achieve that purpose.  For that reason, and because I was under time constraints tonight, I opted to do the 5 miles at my hoped for MP.  Until tonight, that was 8 min miles. I didn't know I even could keep a sub 8 min mile time up for 5 miles.

I started out and felt really good.  After about 20 seconds I looked at my watch to make sure my pace was on target and found that I was actually running a 6:30 pace.  So I slowed down as much as I could until it felt like I would be walking if I went any slower.  That worked out to be ~7:35 pace.  So I revised my plan and tried to just keep my pace under 8:00 for the rest of the run.  I was tired at the end but if my bowels hadn't started acting up I think I could of kept going.  Know I think I'm going to shoot for a 7:50 1/2 marathon average pace.  

It was easy run day today, which is good after yesterdays workout. The plan said to do 6 but the jog up city creek canyon was so pleasant that I pushed a bit farther than I had planned.  I passed several people on the way up, which felt great because I wasn't even putting much effort into my pace. On the way down I noticed that at points I was only moving at an 8:30 pace which felt really slow.  It's pretty nice to be able to say that. 

I gained 600', which isn't much to brag about, but I'm pleased that the effort, even up the steeper hills, didn't feel strained at all.  I think my body is getting used to this.  

Feeling fatigued today. Less than 24 hours between this run and my last run.  I know for some that isn't a big deal, but I'm not quite to that level yet. Today's run wasn't hard physically, but it was a challenge mentally.  I think the whole "find the zen" in running idea is apt. I've got to train my mind to deal with the fatigue every bit as much as I've got to train my body.  I read the other day that the hardest part of a 100 mile run is the mental aspect of the last 50 miles. I'm not planning on doing one of those soon, but I think the biggest barrier to my being able to run a sub 8 min mile half in a couple months is going to be the mental aspect as well. If I can train myself to not talk myself out of pushing hard, or putting in the miles, or just enduring, then maybe I can reach the next level. 

I tried to make the run interesting by taking the legacy parkway trail, but that trail is not interesting. I saw some friendly people out there today, always a nice aspect of running on saturday.