Thursday Tempo

8.64 mi, 1:06:24, 7:41 min/mi

• Nailed it!  Goal was 8 mi @ 8 min/mi…I’m 4 for 4 on my training runs this week…which I consider my most important training week for my marathon in just under 4 weeks.
• 170 bpm avg but felt great…breathing was always under control and didn’t feel super hard… it only became more pronounced during the small climbs.  And, instead of “recovering” after the climbs, I kept the effort consistent which got me around mid-to-low 7 pace
• I’m starting to find my niche again in running…ironically, it’s got some Pliska in it…but feels good and natural to me… and more important, efficient.  It’s got some bounce in it and the strikes seem very hard but it works.  I imagine my cadence is right around upper 160.
• All I could think about was sub-8… nothing else entered my mind.  And, every time my watched clicked off a sub-8 mile, it just fed me to keep it up.  I wasn’t sure how I would fair with the hills that have historically kicked my ass since changing jobs here… but today, I owned them.  There were only two times that I held a low-8 pace but it didn’t last long… I just switched back to my stride
• I thought about experimenting (with my stride), specifically, lengthening my stride whilst still striking under my center… but I ditched that… everything was working today.
• Nice and cool…57 when I left, and 68 now.  Stiff breeze at the 4 mi mark and kept on me for the duration…I imagine it was 5-10 mph headwind…which didn’t help my uphill efforts
• Lots of runners out today… at least 6 by my count
• Saw a snake on the bridge again… this one was a baby one though and it uncurled after I passed it.  Cute.
• Chaffed nips…no bueno… I can still feel them.  Maybe I’ll be hunched over for the rest of the day

Up Next: 10 mi on Saturday, 8 min/mi

Track Tuesday

7.96 total mi

1.74 mi, 16:07 (9:15 min/mi), easy warmup
3x2000m, 8:17 (6:37 min/mi), 8:30 (6:48 min/mi), 8:27 (6:45 min/mi)
1.73 mi, 15:29 (8:56 min/mi) , easy cooldown

• Great workout for me and really proud of myself for pulling it together for this important week
• Held upper 6:30′s for most of the intervals, breathing was excellent, effort felt efficient…I felt light today
• With the way this felt, I think I can pull a sub-20 5K… “think” being the key word
• The warmup and cooldown distances are longer than what I was used to and more technical than a simple 4+ laps around a track… but I think I’ll benefit from them… kind of a stepping stone to putting more mileage into my runs
• Middle-schoolers were out today… track was empty when I got there but they came out of nowhere when I started my first lap.
• Hit the wrong button after completing the first interval and hit the Start/Stop button instead of the Lap button…ugh… but I saw that I did 8:17 for that one… it was easy enough to spot on the graphs too.
• Wow, my HR didn’t even go past 175 bpm….wow!
• To the weather’s credit, it was really really nice out today… very cool breeze and the sun was never a factor.

Up next: 7 mi, 8:45 min/mi, base run