Reintroduction to Mile Pace

Hi, everyone. No rambling philosophy blog today. The plan for the week was to 1) reintroduce mile-paced stuff into the training mix and 2) cut down on volume by a little bit to accommodate my class schedule and keep the legs fresh for workouts and racing. I did both of those things, but forgot an important component of in-season training. During your base building periods, there's nothing wrong with running at a fairly moderate effort most days because there's nothing to recover from. In other words, because the aerobic fartleks and the like don't take too much out of me, I can run 6-6:30 pace and have that be a pretty easy run. However, in season, when the workouts are more specific and challenging, my easy days need to reflect that increase in intensity. Peter Snell, for example, has said that his weekly 22-miler over mountains might be 5:45-6:15 pace in the base building phase but that he would cover the exact same course a minute per mile or more slower when he was doing it during the hill and coordination phases.

This lengthy explanation is a long-winded way of saying I got caught up in a commonality of large group training, which is to say that due to a combination of cutting volume a little bit and a large group of guys to run I ran too fast on my rest days this week, and am paying for it now. I was able to run 6:20 pace or so on my "recovery days" (keep in mind the footing in Boston is pretty bad right now- on firm ground it was probably more like 6:00 pace) and hit the workouts fine, but the tank is empty now. I pushed my workout yesterday back to today and still had to cut the workout short. Bruce isn't overly concerned. With some extra sleep, a few good meals, and a couple days rest, I'll be fine for Terrier in 6 days.

The log:

Monday- 3:30PM- 8 miles easy indoors, forgot my winter gear and wasn't too sad that I got to stay wahm and dry.

Tuesday- 7AM- 4 easy before class. 3:30PM 58:34 easy/moderate with a big group through Cambridge. Added on a little indoors for insurance, but probably covered 9mi in about 56 minutes. Didn't feel too good doing it, either.

Wednesday- 5pm Long day of class, then to the track for a solo workout. 3 up, then 2x600 4 min rest, 2x400 with 2 and 3min rest, 2x500 with 3min rest, 2x200 with 2min rest.

600 1:31.7
600 1:29.6

400 59.7
400 61.0

500 1:18
500 1:18

200 29.5
200 28.0

3+ cooldown. Pretty tough workout to do solo! I felt ok, relaxed a little too much on the 500s but it's better to be slightly conservative, I think. Bruce said I looked pretty good, so that's something. It was nice to feel that acidy burn in the arms again.

Thursday AM- overslept til noon (went to bed at 12:30). 3:30PM- 60:22 easy, Marky Mark loop plus add on. Didn't feel so hot. 9:30PM- 31min easy with James indoors after work. Felt good to run slow- wish I had been as disciplined on Tuesday and Friday.

Friday- 3:30PM- 10 easy/moderate downtown, 65min total for what was likely, again, 10.1-10.2. I had planned on running a slow 90 min, but after running pretty hard from 40min to 65min, I just gave up on adding on.

Saturday- 11am- Slept 10 hours, warmed up 20min and had no legs for a workout. Just felt terrible- kind of achy, sluggish, sore all over. Talked to Bruce, who told me to push it back a day, then jogged a few minutes for 4mi.

Sunday- 9:30AM- slept 9 hours, felt pretty decent when I woke up. Warmed up and didn't feel good or bad, did some strides, didn't feel fast or slow. The planned workout was 1200 at mile pace + 2 seconds/400, 800 at mile pace, then 1000 with the first 800 at 2 seconds slower /400 then close the last lap in the 29-30 range. Bruce gave me conservative targets for "mile pace" based on how I felt and I still felt like I was pressed too hard through the 600, so I stopped and jogged a little. Then I asked Bruce if I could run some 600s at 34/200 with the longer distance guys. I did 2 of them and even those felt too tough for appropriate workout effort, so I just stopped. 5 tot

Week tot 63

So, basically, if I were to email myself with this week's log, I would fire myself back an email scolding me for getting caught up in my teammates' "feeling good days" and running too steady during recovery, especially given the increase in intensity of the workouts. I think the hole I dug for myself isn't very deep- my last two days have been very light. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll decide whether complete rest or a slow 45min shakeout will benefit me more, then do a nice easy day Tuesday afternoon after student teaching, then try a lighter workout on Wednesday. I'm not particularly concerned because unlike my past reactions to this crap, I'm listening to my body this time and playing it safe. I'm definitely going to lose the "most impressive log" this indoor season, but I'm hoping some good races are the consolation prize ;)

Good luck to everyone who's racing this and next weekend! If you're going to be at Terrier, say hi!

-Craig