The Fall – Week 10, Speedwork

Workout: Warm [1.25 mi.], 2×800 @ 2:41 w/ 400 jog  Weather: 75 degrees, sunny.

Recap: Not good.

Didn’t bring the stuff out there today. No real mystery. Gotta eat. One of the most frustrating things about training is the constant need for fuel. When I slack on my carbs, fluids, protein…bad stuff predictably follows. Also didn’t do the regular easy run yesterday either. Actually got off to a decent start today, but I wasn’t feeling it. Experimented with keeping my arms high as well. I’ve had some success (fun) swinging low, but I want to give ostrich-style another chance during a meaningful run. See what goes on Saturday.

Rep 1:  2:40

Rep 2:  2:43

Bad runs ain’t the end of the world. Gonna do it right in the kitchen and come back to finish the week. 5K goal still in sight.

The Fall – Week 7, Speedwork

Workout: Warm [1.25 mi.], 3×800 @ 2:44 w/ 400 jog Weather: 75 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: Stopped halfway through.

It was a nice run, that is, a nice stretch of successful runs, but suppose everything comes to an end. Pretty much the same workout as last week, except I added 0.5-mile extra of warm-up.  Plan was 6×800 at the same pace. The idea with repeating workouts is to own the pace. Should start to feel a little more comfortable.

A little muggy out there (90% humidity). Still, the warm-up went well to be honest. The first rep was a little more work than I thought it should be. Second rep was even harder. After the third rep, I decided to back out. HR hadn’t maxed out by any means (185 bpm at the end of the third rep), and I probably could have finished the workout with a great effort. The idea for me though is that these workouts are supposed to feel easier over time. If something’s more difficult this week than last, then I’m better off resting. I think.

Rep 1: 2:43

Rep 2: 2:45

Rep 3: 2:45

Quitting isn’t great mental training – no doubt. But I’m more interested in staying healthy. Not changing any plans. 8 miles easy tomorrow and the 12 mile long run on Saturday. See if I can limit the damage to today.

The Fall – Week 2, Long Run

Workout: 7.75 miles Weather: n/a

Recap: Not bad.

Worst thing ever happened before the run…the Garmin read “Battery Low”. Then the thing absolutely died about a mile into a planned 12. It’s OK. I just didn’t charge it the last few days. So, something happened that hasn’t happened during a run in a long, long time. I ran without knowing time or pace. I just ran by feel, asking myself if I could survive 12 at this pace. It was a good thing I was at a park where I know the distance markers pretty well. That said, I still didn’t make it as far as I wanted to. Quit at just under 8 miles. Not sure how fast I was going.

Again, there’s good news from runs like this. While my speedwork appears to be on-point, my stamina and endurance pretty much suck. Why is that good news? Because when you are that bad at something, any effort towards improvement should generate exponential results. I didn’t do long runs all summer, and I’m just starting now. By December, I want to be able to run a marathon at a decent pace, even though I’m not training for one. I just want to put in the time on my feet. That will require some humility right now because I can’t work at the speeds that pump up my ego. Just have to get the time out there and plan to slowly improve. Next week, I’ll shoot for 9 miles.

The Fall – Week 1, Tempo Run

Workout: Warm [1 mile], 2 miles @ 6:10 pace, Form Drills  Weather: 73 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: So nice to be back at my home park again. I think of my great-grandparents when I run there. It’s like the place hasn’t changed in 40 years. There’s nothing wrong with that. The plan was to run 3 miles at 6:10 pace, and I didn’t make it as far as I wanted. Then I had to do damage control. The first instinct is to change things up, blame myself, feel inadequate, but I wanted to think differently today:

Positive thoughts

“I still trained the correct system.”

“Trained to failure today. Now I get to recover.”

“It’s a good idea to stop when form breaks down.”

“Next week, I will do better.”

“2 miles is better than 0.”

“Good job doing the form drills at the end of the workout.”

“I’ve run faster than this before. I’ll do it again.”

“Remember at one time, I couldn’t finish a 3×1600 workout.”

“It’s going to feel so good when I finish this workout.”

Payback Tour – Week 14, Friday

Workout: 3 miles @ 83 to 88%; core work. Weather: 61 degrees, sunny.

Recap: Mildly disappointing, but lesson learned…too many short runs at too high intensity. Received a helpful tip in yesterday’s comment section. The idea is that certain runs force certain adaptations. Time to mix it up a little. Going with the Runner’s World SmartCoach plan to finish off the summer. Good mix of easy runs, speedwork and long runs. Gonna see if 17:30 is possible in two weeks. If it works, I’ll use the SmartCoach again in the Fall. Fun times ahead here.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 13, Thursday

Workout: 1.17 miles @ 5:50 pace. Weather: 57 degrees, sunny.

Recap: Not a bad short run, but I’m going to have to rest. Great weather outside, but I still had to cut it short at 1 mile. I get the point. Legs are sore top to bottom, and it’s probably going to take time to heal. Core work and reading until it’s time to come back. Hopefully, I can get back out there in good shape before the middle of August.

Down time isn’t such a bad thing, I think. Going to try to learn something from this summer as well and prepare another plan for the fall.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 13, Sunday

Workout:  1.57 miles @ 5:50 pace. Weather: 68 degrees, cloudy.

Recap: “Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first: your spirit …. or your body.”

Bane = Running — Batman = Me

Ok. So it’s not that bad. But I am getting a little tired. With that, I’ve had a change in heart. Failure ain’t so bad. In fact, I kind of like the battle. My body is changing, I believe. Just not on my schedule.

The show goes on. Moving from 6:10 to 5:50 pace this month. I’ll try the time trial again in late August.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 12, Saturday

Workout: 2.41 miles @ 5:44 pace. Weather: 77 degrees, cloudy.

Recap: Didn’t quite have enough today. But I did learn a lesson about relying on the GARMIN.

Needed 5:37 pace for this run. First mile was right on 5:37. I started feeling fatigue in mile two. Then the treachery began. The GARMIN told me I was moving at 6:07 towards the end of mile two, and then didn’t give me me a split for that mile. I assumed I ran the second mile at 6:07. I tried to speed up a little at the beginning of mile 3, but figuring that I was already 30 seconds behind, I stopped running.

After getting home and uploading the splits to the website, I saw that the second mile was in 5:44. A lot better effort than I thought. Excuses aside, I was genuinely tired at the end of mile 2, and I don’t think I would have made it much further before crashing.

Here’s the plan:

1) Repeat this week of training with 2-mile runs.

2) Make sure the nutrition is on-point (I did OK last week, but I can do better).

3) Try again next Saturday.

*If it doesn’t work out next Saturday, I’ll start taking every other day off.

 

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 11, Wednesday

Workout: 3 miles @ run / walk pace. Weather: 72 degrees, sunny, wet.

Recap: Brutal. Even walking is hard. I love what I’m seeing on the scale though. Lowest weight since December. In complete control of what I’m eating – not really hungry.

 

Decision Time:

A) Continue losing weight (down 5 pounds in 2 days) OR

B) Re-fuel and finish the summer running plan.

 

Compromise:

1) Re-fuel immediately and continue the summer running plan through August AND

2) Resume weight loss in September, taking the month off from running AND

3) Start a heart-rate based training plan in late-September or early-October.

 

That’s all. Disappointed. But I can set a PR next week if I stay the course. Not ready to throw the summer away just yet.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

 

 

Payback Tour – Week 9, Tuesday

Workout: 1.67 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 68 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: Well…couldn’t make it to the end this time. Legs are pretty tired. Cutting intake probably isn’t helping either. Pretty tired all the way around here. Liking the drop in weight though. In the past, I got to moments like these, and I abandoned my plans altogether in favor of something slower and easier. This time, I’m going to keep going. 6:10 and nothing slower, even if it means stopping. Going to keep eating healthy and trying to get some rest. Have a great day and thanks for reading!