Tempo Run

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 41:22
Pace: 8:16 min/mi

Comments: I didn't check the training plan during the week and totally forgot I added a mile to the tempo run this week. I considered pulling back to the four miles I've been doing but decided to go for it anyway. That turned out to be a good plan.

I cruised through this one the whole way. I kept pushing the pace by focusing on cadence tempo but never found myself laboring too hard. The start was tricky, as usual but it eased into the tempo pace with little difficulty. The points I eased up on the effort were where my concentration wandered a bit. Gotta work on that.

Training Run

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 56:42
Pace: 9:26 min/mi

Comments: Out later in the morning again and paid for it today. It was hot and humid and highly unpleasant. Even though I kept the pace down, this one felt a lot like the RnR half debacle from spring.

My legs felt uneasy at the start but I warmed up and had no issues after that. Instead of pushing the pace on the fast side, I found it creeping onto the slower side today. That's almost certainly weather related.

Still, I got it done in the timeframe I wanted and the overall effort was good.

Training Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 37:50
Pace: 9:27 min/mi

Comments: The speed work yesterday really made itself felt in the afternoon. I was as tired as I typically feel after a long run. But not nearly the same amount of soreness. I was not surprised to want a bit more sleep this morning but the lack of stiffness on this run was not expected.

I wanted to hold this one right at 9:30 min/mi -- just over my long run speed. This was partly about keeping constant with my pacing but also with the heart rate. It was a struggle, I really kept wanting to go faster, but I hit both targets just about perfect. And I didn't feel exhausted at the end of it.

Interval Run

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 35:30
Pace: n/a

Comments: The first day in a week without rain or soaking wet shoes. Needless to say, I won't be taking either for granted any time soon. It was plenty humid out today though, so summer still has some fun left in it.

Interval day. So speed is on the menu. I tried to set up my Strava system to automatically record my performance on the segment I run these and it worked for about half. I ended up having to go back and figure them out from the heart rate info.

WU	0.75	8:20
1	0.5	3:18
2	0.5	3:15
3	0.5	3:19
4	0.5	3:19
5	0.5	3:17
6	0.5	3:22
CD	0.75	7:05

And, of course I messed up the first split by not having the damn watch on. Anyhow, it was a solid effort with pretty good consistency until the very end. 

Recovery Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:28
Pace: 9:51 min/mi

Comments: Rain. Rain. And more rain. I was hoping it would have passed through by today but no such luck. I woke up and it was coming down hard. So, once again, the run was pushed back. And, once again, I ran with soaking wet shoes.

The goal today was keeping it slow. No cheating up on the pace, keep it at that 10 min/mi mark. And I did. One thing I really dislike about these slower runs is it makes me feel like I am slogging through it even if I am running fine. Anyhow, got it done with no issues.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 7

Distance: 37.56
Time: 5:40:15
Pace: 9:04 min/mi

Comments: This was the first full week of work in two weeks, really. Last week was a recovery week and the week before that was abbreviated due to travel. I really wanted to get a solid effort the whole week and feel pretty good about that.

The Tuesday recovery run sucked but I rebounded for a strong interval workout and a series of very good training runs. The tempo run was faster than I expected but, upon review, in line with the one I did the week prior. The long run was substantially better than my last time at the distance almost two weeks ago.

Next week is going to be almost exactly the same with a slightly longer tempo and long run. I'm hoping for similar consistency.

Injury update: My quads have been sore since the interval effort but not in a particularly bad way. The balls of my feet were not happy at the end of the long run but that could be from using the shoes two days running.

Long Run

Distance: 15 miles
Time: 2:26:06
Pace: 9:44 min/mi

Comments: Welp. It's been awhile since I've done a long run in the rain and they are just about as fun as I recall. Which is to say they suck. I got five miles in before it started coming down. It never got really heavy (or with lightening) but it was constant.

The upside was that temperatures were unusually cool and there were hardly any asshole bikers out at all. It was the kind of long run where you crawl into that little ball of pain to get through it.

I did well most of this one until the last couple of miles which were pretty rough. Still, I finished almost 14 minutes faster than the 15-miler I did two weeks ago. And I felt less beaten at the end.