Of Mice and Marathons

AM/Lunch; Flourtown Tempo Loop - 20 miles, averaged 7:14

Big Workout: 5 up, 10 mile tempo, 5 down

10 mile tempo in 62:05 (6:13 average pace)

Warmup was "fast" easy at ~7:45 pace, straight into the workout. They are back working on the tempo loop doing some street milling so there were some rough spots but no workers given that it is Sunday. Not much of an effort increase throughout the workout but I did start to get tired after 8 tempo miles. I was able to keep it rolling and could have dropped the pace if I needed to but wanted to keep things under control as I was already running ahead of plan. I checked my pace until the half mile mark then only checked individual splits when the autolap went off.

6:23, 6:24, 6:19, 6:16, 6:13, 6:12, 6:14, 6:10, 6:13, 6:08

5 miles pretty slow (8:45-8:00) with a good chuck back up the hill to Philadelphia. I am very pleased with this to say the least. Effort wasn't super easy but it was managable and I dropped the pace without too much change in effort and finished strong. I expected to run around 6:20-6:22 pace and be satisfied with that.

AM: 7.25 miles slow. Felt pretty good.

PM: 7.5 miles not quite as slow.

Had to add on a few miles for de-stressing. Managed to run my recovery pace and not get too charged up. Worked beautifully.

AM: Off. I was up until 2:00 working on course prep after doing online tutoring late last night. Decided I would sleep in this morning as I have been extremely tired, more tired than I've been in a long time. Mileage is a contributing factor, but I'm just not getting in a solid 8 hours, which I need whether I am running or not.

PM: 10.25 mile easy. Did some strides.

AM: 14 miles. Springside Track Workout. 6 x 1600 w/ 400 recovery jogs

I had an excellent workout today. I'm running a good deal faster than I ever have, which is good. I was going to do 25 x 400 @ ~10k pace but I'm just not sure about that workout. It sounds good for keeping the legs sharp but I am not sure it can tell me much about my LT. On the other hand, a set of mile repeats is a workout I've done in the past and it gives me a pretty good sense of what I can handle in a half marathon and for other workouts such as 4-5 mile tempos and 4 x 2 miles (which I will do in 2-3 weeks).

Warmed up 3.75 feeling just okay, did some strides on the straights, then went straight into the workout. Plan was 5:46-5:36. I ended up running the following splits

5:40, 5:37, 5:37, 5:38, 5:38, 5:35 (Averaged 5:37)

My watch got caught in the net with 300 to go on the last one, splitting the lap but I managed to think to just keep going and split at the 1600 mark and add. I'm glad the net didn't snag my watch worse.

I ran the last two without checking my lap timer (much easier to do on the track than the tempo loop).

Cooled down 3 miles slow.

PM: 4 miles.

AM: 5 miles slow. Feel tired but good.

PM: 7.25 miles easy. Had a Sasha-approved nap this afternoon. I haven't been getting in my naps during the week.

+ rolling, stretching, and core (very late).

Need to fit these sessions in earlier. As September has got crazy I just haven't been able to fit in my auxillary stuff. Usually I say that and I'm lazy about it but I've been going to one campus to the next, tutoring online late in the evening (or early morning), grading and prepping for teaching, and trying to get the last chapter of my dissertation written. Job market stuff is rolling in to. That's an impossible endeavor. Running is going extremely well and my more rigid schedule is to thank for that. Some mornings and most evenings I can barely see I'm so tired though.

Lunch/PM: 13.25 miles.

I pulled something in my back when I pulled my shirt off to weigh myself this morning. Mostly just stiff and uncomfortable. Did notice it running other than turning to look for traffic.

Did a mile pickup on Forbidden Drive in 6:27. The GPS was hindered by the tree cover. Did a fast downhill mile in 5:42 through traffic, over sidewalks, and on cobblestones. Not the safest idea but I survived.

Just kind of a blah run. Should have just slowed down and enjoyed it. Not that most of it was that fast but I woke up pretty tired still even though I got a good night sleep. Need more good nights' sleep in a row.

Lunch/PM: 8.5 miles. Did some strides.

My breathing on the recovery was very labored for running 5:10-5:00 pace for 35-40 seconds at a time. Probably #ipaphlemn. Not so much out of breath as not getting the normal volume of oxygen (if that makes any sense)

Back felt stiff in the night and this morning but it's fine to run (as near as I can tell) and it's loosening up now. I can still knock out my pushups, so it's fine. Running with Megan this afternoon. We only have 5 miles together for the month of September. I think we will get more this fall with the cooler weather.

PM: 5 miles with Megan.