Broad Street Training, Week 2

 Monday, January 23rd:

Unplanned day off.  Rough night of sleep, figured I would give my body extra rest.

Tuesday, January 24th:

5:10 am, 45 degrees, 95%, 5-10mph.  Maple Shade Loop (M).  Nike Pegasus 28.

6m easy

Not sure if it was the extra rest or warmer temperatures this morning, but it felt like I had a lot more spring in my step.  The knee wasn't really an issue during the run - had some mild soreness afterward while stretching.  But I felt much lighter on my feet with a stronger push off today.

Wednesday, January 25th:

4:45 am, 40 degrees, 60%, 5-10mph.  Cherry Hill West.  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

2m warm up, 4x strides, 6x800 w/400 jogs, 2m cool down.
Goal splits: 2:46
Actual splits: 2:44 45 44 45 44 42

Shocked how smoothly this workout went.  Again, I woke up feeling like I had more spring in my legs.  The first 3 reps didn't require much effort, had to work slightly on reps 4 and 5, and while I pushed the pace on the last rep, it was still very controlled and not all-out.  Cool down felt good also.  Minor knee soreness on the cool down and stretching again - I don't think it's my IT band but some other connective tissue (?) on the outside of my knee.  Obviously not affecting running for the time being or getting any worse.


Thursday, January 26th:

4:45 am, 39 degrees, 60%, 5-10mph.  Maple Shade Loop (L).  Nike Pegasus 28.

7m easy

Suffered horrible allergies (left nasal drip, left eye watery) all day yesterday, but it didn't seem to have any ill-effects on today's run.  Was a little tired from yesterday's workout, but my form still felt pretty strong.

4m easy

Very smooth and controlled.  Feel my legs getting under me on easy runs again.

Friday, January 27th:

5:15 am, 45-50 degrees, 95%, 0-10mph.  Hialeah-Valley Run (Wrong turn)-Kilmer.  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

9m recovery ~ 7:55 pace

Unusually warm, humid early morning - with temperatures noticeably climbing during the run.  Slowly picked up pace (started about 8:25 and ended up about 7:45) and felt considerably stronger at the end.  A couple of steps during the last mile I felt some knee tightness but not painful - came and went very suddenly.  Will do some more resistance training with the bands today to try to strengthen that side.  Overall solid run.

Saturday, January 28th:

6:30 am, 35 degrees, 70%, 0-5mph.  Moorestown High School.  Nike Pegasus 28 (5m), Adidas Adizero Tempo 4 (5m).

2.5m warm up, 4x strides, 10x400 w/400 recovery jogs, 2m cool down.
Goal Splits: 77 seconds
Actual Splits: (77 77 77 75 76 76 76 76 75 75)

Drove to the Cherry Hill West track first but the main entrance was locked and I didn't want to have to jog through the water-logged grass to get to the entrance on the far side of the stadium, so instead I drove to Moorestown High School to do the workout since that track is always open.  My second surprise of the morning was that many areas of the track had icy patches, despite 50-60 degree temps the last couple days.  Carefully navigated my way through the icy patches and still hit very fast splits - averaging 76's when I was targeting 77's.  I really like the fit and responsiveness of the new Adidas racing shoes.  Everything about this morning (warm up, strides, workout, cool down) ended up well despite the two inconveniences.  Felt much more comfortable at this pace then my first repetition workout last cycle.  Very pleased.

Sunday, January 29th:

7:30 am, 35 degrees, 60%, 0-5mph.  Haddonfield-Runnemede.  Nike Pegasus 28.

11m easy progression ~ 7:40 average (8:15-7:15).

Ran 5.5m with Terry Delaney and Jim Price as they were doing a long run and then turned around and ran the same way in solo.  Let them set the pace the first half, which included some nice gradual climbs - pace felt VERY easy.  We naturally picked up a few miles in and at the turnaround I was probably running around 7:45 pace.  Gradually picked it up on my own from there, and the course was definitely more downhill on the way back.  Comfortable and relaxed the last mile, which I was surprised to see afterward was 7:15.  Just felt so easy today.  Company definitely helped.

Weekly Total: 56 miles

Glad I decided to move my day off to Monday.  Felt much more refreshed going into Wednesday's hard interval workout.  Whatever the knee issue was seems to be going away.  Would have liked a few more miles this week but still very happy with how things are going.  Fitness returning quickly.