Philadelphia Distance Run Training, Week 9

"No one is unbeatable, and the fence protecting the seemingly invincible is more fragile than it may appear." 
- Jack Daniels

Monday, August 19th:

Rest.  Couldn't get myself up in the morning and ended up working a 12 hour day.  A run just wasn't going to happen.

Tuesday, August 20th:

7:30pm, 80 degrees, 56%, 0-5mph.  Cooper River and back.  Adidas Supernova Glide 4.

7mi easy - (7:50): 1mi warmup, 5mi@7:34-:47, 1mi cooldown

Again I couldn't get myself up in the morning.  I think the long driving to and from Ohio this past weekend finally caught up with me and my body needed extra sleep the past couple days.  Thankfully, I shook off the cobwebs and got out this evening for a comfortable 7 miler.  Like getting back on a bicycle, I felt good as new, like all the positive energy from last week suddenly came back.

Wednesday, August 21st:

1:30pm, 88 degrees, 40%, 0-5mph.  2x Tavistock Loop.  Nike Pegasus 29 USATF.

9mi total - 2mi warmup, 4x strides, 4MP@6:30, 2:30 walk, 1.5MP@6:32, 2:30 walk, 0.5MP@6:29, 0.5mi cooldown

Sometimes you need a good kick in the butt and today was that day for me.  Got out of work early and thought I would be able to do my 8mi tempo run as planned in the early afternoon, even though I knew it was warm and I am not used to running at this time of day.  Big dose of humble pie.  I could feel my insides getting cooked, so I tried to modify the workout to 4mi/2mi/2mi.  I found myself struggling to hold what should have been a comfortable pace, so I ended up doing 4mi/1.5mi/0.5mi and salvaging 6mi worth of the pace I had planned, even though I ran those segments at an effort much harder than I should have.  This is my first bad workout of the cycle, but I fully know the reason and have no one but myself to blame.  I'll take it as a small victory that I didn't too much damage, and stick to doing workouts in more reasonable climates at more natural times of day for me.

Thursday, August 22nd:

4:50am, 75 degrees, 87%, calm.  Maple Ave. out-and-back.  Adidas Supernova Glide 5.

6mi recovery - (8:42)

My body is still really beat up from yesterday's debaucle.  Today didn't feel like a recovery run at all.  Felt more like the last 6mi of a marathon.  The warm temps didn't do me any favors, either.  Hopefully by tomorrow I feel normal again.

Friday, August 23rd:

6:05am, 71 degrees, 84%, 5-10mph.  Moorestown.  Adidas Supernova Glide 5.

10mi easy - (7:30): short warm up, 2x100m strides (:20-21), 2x400m (:84) w/400m recovery jogs, 8mi easy

Tried to shake the heaviness out of my legs by doing some faster stuff before my easy run today.  The 400s didn't feel quite as smooth as I would have liked, but they served the purpose of making a 10mi run at 7:30 pace feel easy.  Legs were a tad heavy the last couple miles but aerobically I felt the strongest and smoothest at the end.  I think I'll be totally fine by Sunday's workout and next Wednesday's possible race.  It was nice to have extra company today to fall in line and get that positive reinforcement.  Ran with Tom and John, and had Colleen/Jamie/Steve for part of the run as well.

Saturday, August 24th:

7:00am, 64 degrees, 75%, 5-10mph.  Moorestown.  Nike Pegasus 29 USATF.

10.5mi easy - (8:06)

Had a great casual run with Mike and Steve.  Finally felt like I got my legs back under me.  The cooler temps really helped, as did the great company.  The run seemed to fly by fairly effortlessly as we chatted away.

Sunday, August 25th:

5:30am, 61 degrees, 81%, 0-10mph.  Kelly Drive-MLK Drive.  Nike Pegasus 29 USATF, Adidas Adizero Tempo 4.

12.5mi total: 2mi warmup, 4x strides, 4x1.5miHMP (9:01 8:59 58 53) w/0.5mi recovery jogs (4:06 3:59 54 58), 2mi cooldown.

Absolutely slayed this workout! Arguably my strongest workout of the cycle.  Each rep actually felt EASIER as the workout progressed - felt like I could have run TWICE this workout today if I wanted to. Interesting side note: for the 8mi of quality/recovery running today, my overall average was 6:29 - essentially the workout I had originally planned for Wednesday. Just goes to show that the "fence of invincibility" is definitely fragile - whether you are climbing out or climbing back in. :)

Weekly Total: 55 miles

Salvaged a disappointing 4 day stretch with great runs on Saturday and Sunday.  I am interested to see what I can run for a 5K but I have decided to not target a time if I race on Wednesday night - just run hard, compete, and see where the chips fall.  I am, though, now really excited to see what I can do for the half.  Today was a big confidence booster that makes me think 1:18-1:19 is definitely possible.