Penny

I SURVIIIIIIIIVED. My one week off running. I strength trained and yoga-ed and cross-trained instead. It was naaaasty. 

This was an 8-miler in 28 degree weather. Usually too cold for me, but I needed to get out! 8:05 pace around the hilly Central Park big loop. Felt a little tired and that was not 100% easy pace, but I think my legs were probably burnt out from all the strength/cross training... in a good way :)

First speed session of this cycle! Did it on the treadmill, because I just find speed easier that way (I dont have access to a track, otherwise that would be the best option).

 1.5% incline.

1 mile easy. 12 x 400 repeats at roughly 5K pace (6:18min/mile or 9.5mph on tready), with 400m recoveries at around 8:30-9 pace.

Tough workout (though not as bad as 800s!), but really felt strong. My leg began to lock up at one point but after stretching my hip a little and focusing on allowing my hips to rotate with each turnover, it completely stopped. Reinforces my theory that tightness in the front hip flexor muscles is forcing my glutes to work harder than necessary, which makes them seize up and grab hold of the sciatic nerve, causing the leg lock. It only ever happens when I have been lazy about stretching those muscles....

My other niggles - namely posterior shin splints and some ITB tightness - are gone gone gone.

Im about 12 weeks out from NJ marathon. Im really happy that I took a break from running, as I am reeeeearing to go.

40 mins easy elliptical

Easy 8 on slliiiiiiippery paths. It would have been about 8:00 pace, except for all the sliding around attempting to avoid falling on my ass. 

 Going to see sports doc today re hamstring/butt. Its still about a 0.001 on the pain scale, but marathon training is going to be a big ramp-up from where I am at currently. I want a proper diagnosis on this thing now so that if there is a gait issue or muscle imbalance, I can correct it now before it becomes a chronic problem that prevents me from training hard. 

This was to be a tempo run.... but quads were still sore from my first speed session.

Marathon tempo attempt #1.

 Ok so two things to note.

(1) marathon tempos are easier than HM tempos. That's nice.

(2) My body got pretty good at finding and holding HM pace (6:50-6:55) in tempos.

(3) My body has absolutely no idea where marathon pace (7:10 ish) is.

 So I did 2 easy miles to warm up... by mile three my toes were still numb. I attempted my first tempo mile, but decided to run slow toward the end, as I wasn't able to hold pace (still cold and running into the wind). Turned around, and did 4 miles of "tempo" running. The award for uneven splits goes to......

 7:30, 7:13, 7:06, 6:52, 6:55.

Hmmmm. They all felt pretty much the same, effort-wise, so I guess its fine, because effort is what matters with tempo running, right?

It might take a little longer to find my marathon pace. HM pace was easy; it was really just below lactate threshold, and I felt like it was the hardest pace I could hold while still being mostly aerobic and not building up lactic acid too quickly. Marathon pace is hard because its a slightly lesser effort, and I have to hold that pace for 26.2. It'll be interesting figuring this out as my tempos get longer.

 In other news, I went to the sports doc, who said my butt/hamstring problem was simple: I have "white girl weak butt" syndrome (his words). Haha! Apparently my quads and hamstrings are very strong, and are just overpowering my backside. Easy to fix, and should be fine with about 6 weeks of some strength training focusing on the gluts, hips, piriformis etc.