Workout Fail

Goal:
2x3 Mile at GHMP

Actual:
10x1 Min on/off at McAlpine

"Why do you always plan big workouts after vacation?  They never end well!"

That's exactly what Aaron practically spat out to me as he joined Laurie and I as we finished our adjusted workout of minuters.  And he was exactly right.  He also added that I never learn.  Maybe it's just that I am an overachiever and hope that each time it will go well.  Well, it didn't. 

Upon my return from California, I struggled to wake up in the morning and the humid air seemed like a shock to my system.  I, along with other Charlotteans, am probably adjusting to the full onset of summer weather that has arrived.  It's hot, humid and sticky.  Beads of sweat form all over my body and drip continuously down when I run; that's how I know it's summer.  All of that being said, the workout probably should have just been scrapped, but we decided to do minuters instead and to put all of our marbles in the bag for a hard long run Saturday.  This plan has worked for me in the past, and I just have to trust that all of my hard long runs since March will give me what it takes to run sub 5:55 at the USA Half Marathon Champs in 3.5 weeks.

Week in Review

75 Miles
0 Days Off
8 Runs
10x1 Min Workout
16 miles w/ 4 miles @ 553 pace

This week surprisingly did not start off with sore legs.  In fact, since I ran so slow at my race on Saturday, my legs felt rather spritely, so I decided to jump into a workout on Tuesday.  I didn't write a blog this week for my minuter workout because there really wasn't much to report besides the facts.  I ran with Caleb and Laurie in the morning, with no focus on the splits or the paces, and finished feeling like I got in some good speed.  After more runs with fellow CRCers, my week culminated with a 16 mile long run with some tempo miles at goal half marathon pace thrown in.  Brad and Laurie accompanied me on the faster part, and we shot off a little too quick, but ran 4 miles in 23:35, gradually dropping the pace.  I pulled away from Brad in the end (he has a marathon next week), feeling the strongest at the finish.

As Meagan noted to me on phone earlier this week, we've got five weeks to get into good enough shape to run enough consecutive miles at this same pace to earn a PR.  I'm encouraged that things are headed in the right direction, and I'm crossing my fingers that the air in Duluth will be much dryer than the air here in Charlotte.  Summer is coming on full force as the humidity levels are beginning to finally reach what's considered normal.

Minuters on the DSL

Goal:
3x2 Mile

Actual:
3 mile warmup
12x Min (@ 4:50-5:15 pace)+ 400m in 74
3 mile cool down for ~ 10 miles total

I felt like I had done 2 mile repeats only a couple weeks ago and I realized that I hadn't done any speedwork lower than 800m in a while, so I decided to keep Billy company on a pre-race workout.  I've also felt a little run down, so I figured this switch would be a good move.  We ran really fast for the first 6 intervals, around 4:50 pace and then slowed up a little bit towards the end.  However, the average for the total run, with rest, came out around 6:06 pace, so it shows that we basically ran a decent tempo for 4 miles.  After we finished 12 minuters, we did a 400m with Caleb and the guys flew past me, making me feel like I was for sure running an 80 sec quarter.  Instead, I came through in a surprising 74, even after slowing up considerably as I neared the finished line.  In all honesty, this workout felt ridiculously hard.  It was nice to get some speed in the legs because I am focusing on some of the shorter distances in the upcoming month.