Broad Street Training, Week 4

Monday, February 6th:

Day off.  I find that Mondays seem to be a good day to take a day off.  Especially since I work 11+ hours on most of them!

Tuesday, February 7th:

5:00 am, 36 degrees, 60%, calm.  Maple Shade Loop (L).  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

7m easy

Lower back felt a little tight and left ankle started out feeling a little weak, but I felt stronger as the run progressed.  Nice and smooth at the finish.

Wednesday, February 8th:

4:45 am, 34 degrees, 70%, 5mph.  Cherry Hill West.  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

2m warm up, 4x200 2x400 1x800 2x400 4x200 w/EDR, 2m cool down
Goal splits: 38 38 38 38, 77 77, 2:34, 77 77, 38 38 38 38
Actual splits: 40 39 38 38, 76 77, 2:32, 76 76, 38 38 37 38

Eased into the pace of the workout and hit a nice rhythm after the first 400m.  As expected, the 800m was tough, but held form and dipped under the split.  Controlled 200s at the end.  Amazing workout for this early in the season and this early in the morning!

6:50 pm, 33 degrees (light snow), 90%, 5-10mph.  Neighborhood.  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

3m recovery pace

Nice and slow in a light snow fall.  Legs felt fairly nimble after this morning's fast workout.

Thursday, February 9th:

2:20 pm, 40 degrees, 45%, 10-15mph.  Kilmer-Hialeah-CHW-Hialeah-Kilmer.  Nike Pegasus 28.

8m easy ~ 7:40 average (8:10-7:30).

Eased into the run the first twomiles, very strong the last three miles.  Nice form, foot strike.

Friday, February 10th:

5:30 am, 30 degrees, 70%, calm.  Moorestown.  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

10m easy

Conversational run with JP, Rich, and Colleen.  Very strong the entire run, felt really smooth last two miles.

Saturday, February 11th:

5:10 am, 33 degrees, 90%, 0-5mph.  Light snow.  Neighborhood.  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

2m warm up, 4x strides, 3x2mT w/.25m jogs (6:00 5:54, 57 57, 59 56), 2m cool down.

As a runner, nothing gives me more pride than punching in my work ticket at 5:10 am on a Saturday morning, during a cold light snow, when the rest of the world is still asleep and dreaming of a day off or a cozy treadmill run later in the morning, at an hour when no other runners or dog walkers or even newspaper delivery people make an appearance (just two men in the work trucks setting off on their blue collar days), so that I can not only get in the tough 3 x 2 mile tempo run I had on the schedule, but to do it faster and feeling stronger than I had planned, and punching out my work ticket after 11 miles by 6:30 am.  Runs like this even make the post-workout chocolate milk taste even sweeter.

Sunday, February 12th:

8:00 am, 20 degrees, 70%, 10-20mph.  Moorestown.  Nike Pegasus 28.

13m easy ~ 7:17 average (per Denning's Garmin)

Very cold, windy day.  Thankfully had Tom and John to keep me company.  Wind chills started out around 8 degrees!  Warmed up nicely, hamstrings were both tight throughout the run, but felt very strong the whole way.  Took turns doing the work in the wind.  We flirted with 7:00 pace for miles 11 and 12.  Hot chocolate at Starbucks after!

Weekly Total: 61 miles

The workouts are becoming more and more impressive.  Saturday's solo tempo effort in the early morning cold is a great sign for Broad Street.  Tom Elliott ran a 17:06 5k and Colleen Tindall ran a 17:44 5k yesterday.  When it's my turn to finally race, something special is going to happen.