Every Run is a Great Run!

This week's workout plan will be similar to last weeks so I mostly just cut-and-paste the stuff below. The main differences include adding to the number of hill repeats and striders on Tuesday and Thursday. Also I'll be pacing Kim on Saturday as we run a 5K at our daughter's Elementary school. This is a very flat, potentially fast PR type course if the wind isn't blowing. So I think Kim will be going for a PR and possibly a sub-25 min race.

Shooting for 65-75 miles this week.

Current pace zones:

Kim: 1MP = 7:25-7:35, 3KP = 7:45-8:00, 5KP = 8:00-8:15, 10KP = 8:20-8:30, HMP = 8:45-9:00, MP = 9:00-9:15, BP = 9:30-10:40, RP = 10:40-12:00

Tom: 1MP = 5:15-5:25, 3KP = 5:35-5:45, 5KP = 5:50-6:00, 10KP = 6:00-6:15, HMP = 6:20-6:40, MP = 6:40-6:55, BP = 7:10-8:00, RP = 8:00-9:10.

Tentative plan for this week:

Mon: AM 5-6 with Kim @ RP, PM 6 @ BP. Dork drills: High Knees 2x20s, Bounding 2x20s

Tue: AM 5-6 with Kim @ RP, PM 4-6 @ RP w/ 6x30s hill "relaxed sprints" in the middle (4 for Kim). 2 min active recovery in between hill repeats.

Wed: AM 5-6 with Kim @ RP, PM 6 @ BP. Core workout in the evening.

Thu: AM 5-6 with Kim @ RP, PM 6 @ BP w/ 6x30s striders "sprinkled" in the middle (4 for Kim) @ 1MP

Fri: AM 5-6 with Kim @ RP, PM 6 @ BP. Core workout when convenient.

Sat: AM 8 miles @ BP, 5-10 miles @ RP including pacing Kim during IceBreaker 5K.

Of course this is all subject to change if the body/legs/nervous-system says we should be doing something different on any given day.

AM: 6.1 miles with Kim. We did the river bottoms loop to avoid the brunt of canyon winds which were pretty fierce when we first started out but by the time we finished the winds had died down. All-in-all a nice start to the week. Also did some dork drills: high knees and bounding, 2 sets of 20 secs each. Ave pace 9:35.

PM: Ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill around 7:30 pace. Then met up with Paul and Nate for 4.5 more miles on a shortened Eagleview route. Paul is nursing an injury and turned around just after a mile. Nate was running pretty well after just running Boston a week ago. May have been the hottest run of the year so far with temps around 70 and feeling pretty toasty. I felt OK but not great.

Ave pace 7:33. Felt harder than it should have. Guess I can blame it on the heat.

Did core workout in the evening.

AM: Ran 6 miles with Kim including some hill fartlek. Today was probably our warmest morning of the year so far, but of course we had canyon winds to spice things up so we did the river bottoms loop again. Kept the pace nice and relaxed but in the middle I worked with Kim getting in what was supposed to be 4 hill repeats of 30 seconds each with 2 minute rests in between. Except that "Coach Tom" messed up on the second repeat and made her do it for 1 minute instead of 30 seconds. So we decided just to do one more 30s repeat after that.

Late AM: Went out earlier than usual so I could enjoy the nice comfy temps. Did 2 mile warmup then did similar hill workout as I did this morning with Kim except that I did 6 repeats instead of 4. Felt better than last week for most of the repeats but I was feeling a twinge in my left hamstring toward the end that I need to watch closely.  Ave pace 8:55.

Noon run today. With running 12+ miles the last 2 days on the 2-a-day schedule and with the hill repeats yesterday I needed a bit of a break, so Kim and I skipped the planned early run and did our stuff separately later in the day.

Got to the gym a tad early so did 1 mile on the treadmill slow waiting to see if any of the other guys would show up. But alas nobody came so I went out solo and did the Lakeview 10K route backwards. I was pleased that the weird hamstring twinge I felt yesterday was gone. I'm still waiting for the lower ab and groin pains to go away but they are slowly getting better.  Ave pace 7:55.

Core workout in the evening. 

AM: Nicer morning than we thought it might be so that was a nice surprise. A bit nippy around freezing but very little wind. Went 6 miles with Kim including 4 striders of 30 seconds each thrown in here and there. Since Kim went a bit too fast yesterday Coach Tom forced her to run a bit slower than usual this morning. Ave pace 10:14.

PM: Ran just over 6 miles on Kuhni road just after noon. Did 6 30 second striders somewhere around 5:20-5:30 pace. Average pace overall 7:32.

Our sweet little Tia was sick with a nasty ear ache last night. Since I'm mostly dead when I sleep and don't tend to hear any noises in the night like loud explosions, screams, sirens, etc., let alone my gentle daughters quiet sobs, as usual it ended up Kim being the one to be up throughout the night taking care of Tia.  As a result Kim and I thought it best to scratch the planned morning 3 mile run. Kim had to work today and has a way busy day and I know she hates to miss but since she is racing the 5K tomorrow I put my "coach" hat on and told her she would be fine missing today and might gain some advantage by having fresher legs tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to pacing Kim, I hope she still likes me and keeps me on as coach (and husband) after all is said and done with the race :)

Went 7 miles solo at work in the early afternoon on Kuhni road. Legs are starting to get some zip back and feeling fresher every day the last 2-3 days. Pretty much uneventful run, although I did see some cool migratory birds out in the fields and marsh. Ave pace 7:39.

Fun morning of running today. Kim and I went out at 6am and met up with the SF running group. Since Kim was running the IceBreaker 5K later she only did couple of miles while I ended up getting in 11 prior to the race. Ran with Hal and Allison for a little over 2 miles but then as I was rushed to get to the race I ended up pushing the pace a bit and running solo the last 7 or 8 miles. Most miles in the 7:40-8:00 range.

Then it was off to the Elementary to try my hand for the first time at being a pacer for Kim. I knew Kim had potential to go under 25 minutes for the 1st time ever so that was the primary goal. Backup goal was to get a PR (these may just have been my goals, not necessarily Kim's). The course is potentially fast the and the temperatures were OK for racing (40 degrees?). However, with the canyon winds being very nasty this morning I was thinking the sub-25 was probably not in the cards but I was pretty sure the PR was in the bag with all the great training Kim has gotten in lately.

As we started out we knew the wind would be pretty much directly in our face for the first half of the race. I tried best I could to stay in front of Kim enough to block the wind somewhat but I don't if it helped much as I think we weren't close enough most of the time for me to provide much wind block. We started out around 8 minute pace but it was too fast with the wind so we settled into around an 8:15 pace, finishing the first mile at 8:17. This was well off pace to finish under 25 but on pace for a PR so I felt OK. I was a little concerned because Kim seemed to already be hurting a bit after 1 mile and I didn't know if we could hold the pace for mile 2.

However as we turned the corner during mile 2 where we got the wind at our back for maybe a quarter mile it seemed to give Kim a boost that carried through the mile and we finished mile 2 in 8:15. Well off a sub-25 pace but still on pace for PR and now the wind was mostly at our back the rest of the way.

As we turned the corner for the last .8 miles and the wind squarely at our backs I decided to test the sub-8 pace waters just to see how Kim would respond. Although Kim wasn't a real happy camper at this point she took the speed increase in stride and mostly stayed by my side. The pace kept sneaking down, closer to 7:50 now with .5 miles to go. I told Kim the PR was in the bag and that sub-25 was actually a possibility. She didn't say much, just mumbled something about how she didn't really give a hoot about the sub-25 or the PR. I tried to keep the encouraging comments coming, telling her to only worry about getting to the next corner or next landmark. She responded very well and we held the 7:50 pace.

As we turned the corner where we could see the finish I knew the sub-25 was well within reach without a major collapse. I told Kim as much and encouraged her to start her final kick, which she did in impressive fashion, leaving me in the dust as she blazed her way to a superb effort and time of 24:46! Yahoo! Big congrats to you Kim you did great, great, great!!! I'm really proud of you!

Afterward I ran the 1-mile run with Tani where she did a great effort also finishing in around 10-10:30. Jansen also ran the mile and was pleased to actually be the overall winner, finishing with a time of 6:25. Tia was going to run the mile but is still recovering from a cold so she stayed home with Tyler.

Even though only about 40 runners did the 5K I notice even if I would have raced I still would have only been perhaps 2nd in my AD as the speedster Carl H would have whooped me. I think I may have been able to give John A a run for the money however. This will have to wait until next time.

All-in-all it was a great morning of running and spending quality time with family and friends.