This is the first of several stepback weeks. Stepback weeks are relatively easier weeks that allow your body to recover a little more than normal and help prevent injury and burnout. It is good to through them into training every now and then, especially as mileage ramps up. I do feel a little fresher at the end of the week, but having my bike mileage ramp up during the week made me a little sluggish during the middle.
Monday: Cross-training day I started the week off with 300 yards of swimming at the YWCA. It felt a little easier than last week but I still get tired out pretty quickly by swimming. This is also not a continuous swim of 300 yards but I was able to swim longer without stopping this time! I again alternated between freestyle and back stroke.
Tuesday: Run 3 miles. I am typically a morning runner, but I had an early morning conference to attend so that made it a little harder to fit in the run. So I opted to run in the evening and took my wife along too! We rode our bikes 2.5 miles to Lake of the Isles and then I ran 3 miles around it and she ran for 15 minutes (this was her first run in a long time). It was a gorgeous evening about 78 degrees. I felt really good and ran 21:27 which felt comfortable. Isles is a lot less crowded than its neighboring Calhoun so it was an enjoyable run. We then tried feeding the ducks and rode our bikes home. Don’t worry no matter what it seems like I’m not training for a triathlon!
Wednesday: Six miles at a comfortable pace. Back to a morning run I ran 6 along the Greenway towards the river. It was an excellent morning with temps in the low 60’s and the sun was out. I ran this in 47:45 and felt pretty comfortable the entire way.
Thursday: Another easy 3-miler. This was a very sluggish 3 mile run around Powderhorn Park. I think the combination of Tuesday’s run and all the extra bike miles made this tougher than it needed to be. But I finished the 3 miles in 25:32 and called it a day.
Friday: Day of rest. A glorious day of resting! It was also a good excuse to take the car to work today!
Saturday: Run 6 miles at marathon race pace. My marathon goal is 3:10 which is a 7:15 pace. So 6 miles at race pace would be 43:28. This is actually my first run at race pace since I did an actual race for the first one. It is pretty hard to keep at a certain pace over time. I thought I did a pretty good job of it but looking at my splits I didn’t do as well as I’d thought. I drove to Fort Snelling Park and ran around Pike Island, which is a pretty much flat loop just over 3 miles long. I set off and ran the first 2 miles right over the 7:15 pace (7:21 and 7:14 respectively). Shortly after the 2 mile mark the trail was flooded over and either side was pretty swampy. I tried to carefully go around it but gave up and just cut right through back to the trail. During this section I also saw a fawn (baby deer) but didn’t see any of its relatives. When I got back to the beginning I took the trail that cuts through the center of the island and had to run through another swampy area. This time it was impossible to go around and I just ran straight through it. I ran miles 3 and 4 in 7:26 and 7:27. I then cut back out to the main trail at the next opportunity and started heading back, I went through mile 5 in 7:23. The last mile took me back off the island and for fun I decided to run up the bluff trail to Fort Snelling which my Garmin say is a 40 ft elevation gain at a 10% grade over a 1/4 mile, so its short and steep. I finished the last mile in 7:45. I went through the first 5 miles at 7:20 pace so I think that was a pretty good showing for the day. There weren’t a lot of runners out but a few dedicated soles on a gorgeous 63 degree morning.
Sunday: Run 8 miles today at a comfortable pace. It was gorgeous this morning when I woke up. It was 59 and sunny at the start with a slight headwind while I ran down the Greenway. I ran towards and around the Lake of the Isles which is a perfect 8 mile course. I ran the 8 miles in 63:04 which felt pretty comfortable all the way through. Pretty much each mile was faster than the last one, starting with a 8:17 mile and finishing with a 7:32. I started off feeling a little sluggish maybe through the first half of the run but then everything loosened up and the last half felt really good. I enjoyed the early morning run around the lake. The sun was already up but it looked neat coming off the water.
Weekly Totals:
Running – 26 miles
Biking – 50 miles
Swimming – 300 yds
Hal’s Tip of the Week: Be flexible with your training, particularly while traveling. Don’t be afraid to modify workouts occasionally when it seems appropriate. The general pattern of the program–the steady buildup–is more important than what you do on any one day. Don’t get so hung up on your training schedule that you are unwilling to make adjustments when an opportunity for an interesting run develops.
[tags] Marathon, Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]