Of Mice and Marathons

PM: Flourtown Tempo Loop + Springsdie Track - 9.25 miles. Failed workout.

I attempted the Drew Ladder workout (okay so he probably didn't invent it but he's the only person I've seen do it). I warmed up 4 miles with strides. I got through about 3/4 of a mile and pulled it. A bit of slush and some nasty wind on the backside and I just couldn't hold my concentration.

I cursed the air, cursed myself, my cat, and pretty much everybody's mother. Vowed never to run again, vowed to skip the rest of the spring season. Got back and I checked my watch. 5:12 pace. I'm an idiot. 5:25-5:27 for the mile and the rest around that would have made me happy. I'm both gunshy and anxious at this point and it's not making things go well. Obviously the pacing was the majority of the problem here. Might need to put the pace back on for workouts if I can't find it.

Drove over to Springside Academy and did some hard 400s in lane 2 1/2 (some snow on the inside)

5 x 400 @ mile pace with 60-70 seconds rest

73.7, 75, 76, 76, 74.6

I was okay with those. I mean it was lane 2 1/2 and all.

Noon: 8.25 miles easy. Core.

PM: 5 miles. Stretching.

Glorious weather today. Saw 4-5 runners today all in tights, jackets, hat, and gloves. It was 50+ degrees. I wore shorts and a light long sleeve this morning and a t-shirt this afternoon. V

AM: 5.5 miles.

Air quality warning. First time I've seen that (other than summer heat index /air quality warnings).

PM: 7 miles. Rainy and cold. Better than snow.

AM: Flourtown Tempo Loop - 12 miles, averaged 7:13 w/ 5-mile tempo

I kept changing the workout so that I couldn't get nerved up about it. I decided on a 4-5 mile tempo as I was headed down the hill. The workout went well, even if I wanted it to be a bit closer to half PR pace of ~5:55 or faster. Can't complain though (I'm not quite there). The real idea was to build confidence and regain focus. Think I achieved that. Started out slow, but I knew it was slow.

Feeling better today thanks to a number of excellent FRB coaches.

4 up/3 down

Splits were: 6:09, 6:03, 6:03, 6:01 5:53 (~6:02 average)

PM: 4.25 miles easy with Megan. I was very loopy around mile 2 until the conclusion of our run. Lack of calories or dehydrated or both. Trying to tighten up on food intake.

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 5.5 miles easy

Made white chicken chili for dinner. One of my new(er) favorites.

Late: stretching and rolling

AM: Signed up for Beach to Beacon in 2:47 (maybe a PR). 6:40AM is too early for this Rock Star.

Flourtown Tempo Loop (mostly) - 20 miles, averaged 7:31

I was going to do abut 15-17 miles w/ 8-tempo around 6:25-6:30 pace but decided maybe 17-18 miles with a long warm up and a longer tempo if I felt good. I warmed up 6 really easy and did 10 miles moderate down to marathon pace. I felt really comfortable and now that I checked have checked my splits I can see why :-) Well, after not giving myself at least two recovery days and it's been 5-6 weeks without a 20 miler, any substantial longer runs, and mostly 60 minute runs, this could have been a lot worse. I'm happy pretty much any day I can knock out 20 miles and feel relatively good at the end.

Averaged 8:36 for the 6 miles and averaged 6:42 for the 10 miles, but I started at 7:00 and ended at 6:28 for the last two. A nice long and controlled progression and just stayed relaxed and gave it a slightly uptempo effort. It pains me to count 6:50-7:00 as marathon pace but this was maybe a click or two of full marathon effort and I am trying to be more in tune with pacing and effort, mostly not taking splits, and not checking pace for easy runs.

PM: Treadmill - 4.25 miles. HR 141. Core and stretching after.

A good week. Mileage is up, workouts were decent. Feeling pretty good. More of the same the next few weeks and try to sharpen up for the Unite half in 4 weeks and try to PR in the 5k the weekend before. Then a few more weeks and it's Broad Street. Hard to beleieve that will more or less be the end of my usual spring training season. Feel like I just started this week.