Week 1 is officially in the books. It finished yesterday with a rest day. I like taking my rest day on Sunday. It always feels right to take it then.
The week was fairly uneventful. It felt good to finally “officially” start training again for a race. I had been running for the last month but my plan did not officially start until New Year’s Eve.
Weekly Stats:
Runs: 6
Miles: 54
Total Time: 06:13:00
Avg Pace: 00:06:54
Longest Run: 14 miles
Key Workouts: 8 mile run with 6 @ 6:00 tempo pace & 14 mile run with 7 @ MRP (6:17)
The tempo run was the first such run I had done in probably 6-8 weeks. After the IMM Half Marathon in early November I took some time away from “structured” workouts and just did what I felt like doing and used the month of December to build my mileage back up for the marathon training so when this workout rolled around it had been a while. The workout went pretty well and I think this is probably due to me taking the month of December and committing to running again six days a week. I have been able to get my body somewhat ready for the training I have in front of me.
I made sure to get outside for the long run of week, as I had 50% of the run to do at MRP and I wanted to get the feel for that. It is hard to get the feel of a certain pace on  a treadmill for me. I actually had a hard time  hitting my pace for the long run. I ended up running slightly faster than I had wanted but kept all the splits within small range of the race pace so it was a good workout.
My foot has felt slightly “off” recently. I can’t tell what it is. It does not bother me when I run and I have full range of motion. It does not hurt to touch but I have been having some residual discomfort in the hours after I run. It kind of feels like a sprained ankle. I don’t even notice it most of the time so hopefully it will work itself out. If it creeps into my running…a couple days off might be in order to head it off before it becomes a bigger issue.
On Deck this Week
Runs: 6
Miles: 57
Long Run: 16
Key Workouts: Â Wed: Speedwork 9 miles total with 5 x 1mile @5:30 &Â Fri: 8 miles with 6 @ 6:00 tempo
This week features two “speed sessions” during the week with no race pace work for the weekend as I didn’t want to overload the week so early into the cycle. The repeats should be a good challenge. I don’t know about everyone else but I was struggle with that second to last one. It is like the “no-man’s land” repeat. Past half way but not the last one. I will probably run them on the Monon or the treadmill depending on how the week goes with everything.
I’d like to get up to the course this weekend for my long run. I plan on doing a lot of my long runs on the course. Being a local race, I want to take full advantage of being able to train on the course. I didn’t make it up to Carmel this past Saturday so hopefully this Saturday I can. Once again, we’ll see how everything goes. A baby and Lindsey training for her race usually make a juggling act most days for our running.
Looking at the long range weather forecast we could be in store for some thawing out here in Indy…so hopefully the tights can be put away again…at least for a week.
Anyone start training recently? What do your key workouts look like?
Glenn