Of Mice and Marathons

PM: Flourtown Tempo Loop - 17.2 miles, averaged 7:12. HR 158.

Workout of 3 x 3 miles steady state w/ half mile recovery jog. 3.5 up/3.7 down

Given my tempo last week I thought maybe 6:30 for the first trio, 6:20 for the second, and 6:15 for the third. I ended up running a good deal faster. My watch was slow to respond on current pace (moved increments of 5 second, which was odd) and the average pace jumped around but Strava iron things out a bit and I beleive those to be closer (about 10 seconds slower than Garmin for each three mile segment). In any event, the effort was right: upper 160s to low 170s, which is about what I wanted. I turned off my HR monitor screen because it's all just too much feedback for workouts and you don't need it.

(6:11, 6:09, 6:06) 18:26 (6:09 avg) HR 171

(6:06, 6:13, 6:09) 18:28 (6:09 avg) HR 170

(6:11, 6:11, 6:09) 18:31 (6:10 avg)  HR 168

AM/Lunch: 10 miles easy recovery pace. HR 135.

Some snow coming in this evening into tomorrow. Hopefully I can find some clear roads on Wednesday to do my mid-week workout.

AM/Lunch: 10 miles. HR 147. Did some strides at the end.

AM/Lunch: Springside Track - 13 miles, averaged 7:23. HR 157

6 x 1600 w/ 400 recovery jogs

I planned to tack on some 400s and 200s, but about 40% of the track had a half inch coating of snow. I was excited when I warmed up to see the home stretch clear but quickly realized the rest of the track wasn't entirely visible, so I knocked off the corner a bit to find the 200 hash and did some strides over the snow to check the footing. Not ideal, but I was able to run fairly fast. It ended up being a solid workout even with a bit of wind. I did not want to run all 6 repeats so I knew I was running pretty hard. I ran the last two repeats blind.

5:48.1 (173), 5:46.1 (176), 5:45.9 (175), 5:46.8 (177), 5:45.6 (175), 5:46.4 (177)

In peak shape last fall I ran the same pace for 4 x 3200. I'd like to get better and faster than that this buildup but I' not going to force it. Last fall I also hit my first 6 x 1 mile session at this pace (but with a cutdown approach) and 4 weeks later dropped off 10 seconds running 5:37 average. I'm always so anxious to get back to where I was but I know this was a solid barometer session today after a few weeks of fartleks, which I'll get back to the next few weeks.

PM: 30 minutes elliptical. Core and stretching.

AM/Lunch: 10 miles recovery pace. HR 133.

A little colder today than it's been. Another dusting of snow. Some upper 40s and low 50s in the 15 day forecast.

AM/Lunch: 13 miles hilly easy to honest easy. HR 145.

Cold on there. Resting HR was 38/39 this morning, which should mean I am recovering well and I am getting in shape. I think running once a day, despite not always "truely" recovering given the time I spend on my feet, is giving me enough rest to knock out ~80 a week with some higher quality than normal. I'll have to see what happens with my races.

I think I am in a good pattern of long run Sunday, easy recovery Monday, slightly moderate Tuesday depending on feel, hard midweek workout, easy recovery Thursday, medium long hilly easy to moderate Friday, and whatever on Saturday. It's bascially my marathon schedule without doubles and a bit more moderate running and different midweek workouts and a shorter but typically quality long run.

PM: Treadmill - 60 minutes easy to moderate. HR 140. Did core, light stretching, and weights after.

Enjoyed watching the Olympic Trials today. Too bad the weather was so warm. Some folks had really, really rough days. I kept yelling at the screen when Flanagan and Cragg were holding hands at mile 25.

It's going to be a cold long run tomorrow. Planning to mix in a decent amount of quality. Perhaps some 2-mile intervals on the track between which I sandwhich an aerobic tempo. I figure for half marathoning I need my marathon-inspired strength with a little more mustard sprinkled on.