This was my first 7-day running week, if I’m counting this past Sunday as the end of the week (which I am). I probably won’t be doing that from now on though according to my new half-marathon training plan. Monday’s are off days, which is a change from Sunday’s, but there are also two other days in the week that are either off, cross training or a 30-45 min easy run. It just sounds weird to me that it’s possible to train for a half marathon with only 4 days of running. I probably won’t be taking those other two days off, but just go for an easy run instead. I contacted Caleb, a fellow Twitterer & DailyMiler who initially suggested this training plan and he actually planned out how fast I should run all my workouts, from my 5K to 10K pace as well as moderate to hard tempo pace. How great is the running community?
Tuesday/Thursday: Fast Runs
So there are a couple of runs that I ran this past week that I want to talk about, but will try and be brief. on Tuesday, I received a pair of Saucony Xodus trail running shoes to review, so I wanted to test those out right away. But I didn’t really know of any nearby trails to run on, so I decided to just run my regular route around the neighborhood. I ended up running pretty fast, despite running in trail shoes, 33:30 for 5 miles, only 4 seconds slower than my fastest on this route. But the thing is, I had to stop or slow down at least 4-5 times for red lights and cars. So if that didn’t slow me down, I definitely would have ran my fastest that day. I did hit a 6:01 on my last mile, which beats the mile time trial I ran a couple months ago, which is cool!
Two days later running in my regular New Balance running shoes, I ran another pretty fast 5 miler at 33:52. I wanted that run to be pretty comfortable, which explains the slower start, but I noticed that I wasn’t that tired after the first couple of miles, so I started picking it up at the end. Even though my overall pace for those two runs are pretty good, I think once my half-marathon training starts, I’m going to need to be a lot more consistent with my pacing. As in, it probably isn’t the best idea to run an 8 minute mile and then a 6 minute mile when the workout asks for a 7 min/mile pace. Pacing is going to be one of my biggest challenges during my training, among many other things.
Saturday: Trail Run
I planned to run on an actual trail to be able to write a fair review on my Saucony trail shoes. The really neat thing about running at UCSD (my former college) is that there are a number of different workouts I can do on that campus. First, there is the campus loop, which is a decent 4-mile loop around the 6-college campus. Then they have the very nice, all-weather track which is great for calibrating my Nike+ and doing super tiring interval workouts. And then to top it all off, they have a bunch of trails in the forest-like areas around the campus. They host quite a few high school and college cross country meets on those dirt trails including my first 5K: UCSD Grove Run 5K. So when I ran it on this day, there were athletes from different schools packing up to leave as I was starting my run on the trail. When I actually got onto the trail, there were certain parts of the trail that were already marked, probably for the race that they just had. So I tried to follow that path, but ended up getting lost a few times. I took some nice pictures, which I’ll put on a later post. The only issue I had was that I wasn’t sure how much I was running and it was really hot, which I was not used to.
Sunday: Long Run
So I heard about a long run on Lake Miramar on Sunday from a meetup group, which is where I usually do my brick ride and runs. I knew I was going to have to do these types of long runs sooner or later, so I thought I should see if I could do it, no matter the pace. I actually sat in bed when the alarms went off this morning contemplating whether or not to do this run, but eventually got the courage to get up and go! I ended up running 10 miles, the most I’ve ran since I started running again. I have to admit that it was pretty hard (and hot), and I am getting worried about whether or not I will be able to race the half that competitively. 13.1 miles is more than anything I have ever raced, I mean it’s over 4 times the distance of the 5Ks that I am more accustomed to. I’m hoping that once the training actually starts, my fears will soon go away..
Monday August 24, 2009
5.02 mi / 34:55, 6;57 min/mile
Felt really comfortable tonight, probably would have been a really fast time if I had run my regular route. Still happy with this run overall!
HR: Avg 168, Max 185
Tuesday August 25, 2009
5 mi / 33:30, 6:42 min/mile
Testing out my Saucony Xodus trail running shoes..on streets though! Felt pretty good at first, ended up running a really fast time, just 4 seconds slower than my previous PR on this route. But, I had to stop/slow down for red lights at least 3-4 times. I’m going to claim this as my fastest! Splits: 6:36, 7:08, 7:01, 6:41, 6:01.
HR: Avg: 170, Max 197
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
6 mi / 44:43, 7:26 min/mile
Had a full can of Arizona Iced Tea before the run, felt really dehydrated. Not a big deal since it was supposed to be an easy run. First two mile splits: 7:18, 7:16
HR: Avg 157, Max 177
Thursday, August 27, 2009
5 mi / 33:52, 6:46 min/mile
Felt really comfortable today, I’m thinking this would be around my tempo pace once I start my half marathon training. My HR did peak at 201 though, I don’t even hit that during races sometimes! But that probably happened during the last mile, which was pretty fast. Almost progressives: 7:12, 6:47, 6:51, 6:44, 6:15
HR: Avg 177, Max 201
Friday, August 28, 2009
5.01 mi / 39:03, 7:48 min/mile
Easy run today, felt really comfortable and breathing very easily too. Testing out my Saucony Xodus trail running shoes on actual trails tomorrow, hope the heat and/or hills don’t get to me!
HR: Avg 158, Max 183
Saturday, August 29, 2009
3.37 mi
Easy trail run w/ my Saucony Xodus trail shoes. Felt really good on the dirt, didn’t have any issues with the holes and branches on the ground. Great view too.
HR: Avg 168, Max 182
Sunday, August 30, 2009
10 mi / 1:28, 8:48 min/mile
Lake Miramar x2, really easy run, just wanted to see if I could run that great a distance. Met up w/ some other runners and took it really easy. Got kind of hot during the last 5 miles, but glad I did it. Last week before official start of half-marathon training. Getting scared!!
HR: Avg 160, Max 172