Broad Street Training, Week 12

Monday, April 2nd:

Off.

Tuesday, April 3rd:

7:00 pm, 63 degrees, 20%, 5-10mph.  Maple Shade Loop (S).  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

4m easy

Got extra sleep in the morning.  Regretted not putting in some miles, so I ran very easy this evening.  Groin still feels a little "off" - can't exactly pinpoint it.  Left heel situation still hasn't completely gone away either.  Don't think I will shake these chronic symptoms until I take extended time off in June (hopefully not before).  But despite these annoyances, the run felt pretty good.

Wednesday, April 4th:

4:30 am, 53 degrees, 60%, calm.  Neighborhood.  Adidas Adizero Tempo 4.

2m warm up, 4x strides, 4m wave run (1/2m waves), 1.5m cool down
Target paces: (5:45-50/6:15-20)
Actual splits: (5:46 6:22, 5:47 6:23, 5:46 6:15, 5:49 6:18)

Ran a very slow warm up - even strides felt slow.  Once I started the workout, though, I was able to just turn it on.  Aerobically felt reasonably comfortable, although it definitely felt more difficult to hit the "recovery" splits then the "fast" splits.  Developed a bad right side stitch in the middle of the 4th "fast" split - fought my way through the last "recovery" split.  I did, however, recovery quickly after the workout and felt solid on the cool down.  Overall solid workout.

Thursday, April 5th:

4:45 am, 42 degrees, 45%, calm.  Kilmer Loop.  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

6m easy

Did a bunch of hamstring stretching last night, which did wonders for my tight groin.  This morning was the best easy run on the day after a workout in a long time.  Felt fluid and strong from the start.

4:00 pm, 60 degrees, 30%, 10mph.  Neighborhood.  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

4m easy

Groin tight at the start of the run again.  Doesn't impede ability to run, but I am aware of it and that annoys me.  Will continue to stretch and do the old-fashioned Jane Fonda side leg lifts.

Friday, April 6th:

5:45 am, 38 degrees, 60%, 5-10mph.  Moorestown.  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

10m easy

Much better than yesterday.  Nice, casual run with Rich.  Seemed to get looser and stronger the longer I ran.  The side leg lifts are really helping.

Saturday, April 7th:

6:00 am, 40 degrees, 40%, 5-10mph.  Moorestown.  Nike Pegasus 28.

2m warm up, 10MP+ BOF 6:48 (6:38 47 52 53 53 51 54 50 44 34), 2m cool down

I should preface this entry by stating I had about only 4 hours sleep last night.  Janine wasn't feeling well, so I slept on the couch, but had a difficult time dozing off and never fell into a deep sleep.  Nonetheless, I felt surprisingly refreshed when I left the house this morning, and (having watched Apocalypto and been inspired by Jaguar Paw) decided I would run today based on feel versus obsessing over splits.  I had hoped to average 6:30-40 pace, and the effort surely felt like that.  The nice thing is I did fall into a pretty constant rhythm -- miles 2-8 varied by only 7 seconds -- but my groin did start to tighten up a little after 6 miles of pace running and I did my best to try to finish a little stronger in spite of it.  Glad I closed well, but again, I was surprised I ran about 10-15 seconds slower per mile than I thought.  I still think the pay off will come on race day, when I didn't overdo workouts like this one and let my body dictate the pace instead of the watch.

6:00 pm, 60 degrees, 15%, 5-15mph.  Merchantville Loop (S).  Nike Dual Fusion ST 2.

4m rejuvenation pace

Definitely the most ENJOYABLE run I have had in a long time.  Sun was just starting to set, light cool breeze blowing, trees in full bloom for spring, and the pace very comfortable.  Best news - no groin pain!  I totally focused on going as slow as I needed to while maintaining proper POSE stride.  Great way to end the week, as I am taking off tomorrow for Easter.

Sunday, April 8th:
Happy Easter!


Off.

Weekly Total: 50 miles

I would be lying if I said the workouts went according to plan this week, because neither one really did.  My groin flared up at times, some doubts crept in here and there, but my evening run Saturday (at 8:30-9:00 pace no less!) restored my love and passion for running.  As much as I do this to compete, to test my limits, to find out what I got - at the end of the day and week, I get up and do this activity because I love to do it.  Sometimes you need a week like this to put things in greater perspective.  4 weeks to go until Broad Street - and I am now more focused than ever on the task at hand.