Firsts

There were several “firsts” this week which made the training exciting and interesting.

Firsts:
Weekly Mileage was just a hair under 85 miles. I don’t think I have ever run that much in a week of training…not even prepping for VT100 2 years ago.
I ran with my sister, Amy, at the Gunks. It was fun (more on that coming soon).
I ran to Lake Awosting in the Gunks.

There may have been another “first” in there somewhere, but those are the keys.

After Northern Nipmuck, I wanted to get back on track with some high mileage. I also wanted to get back into my hill training and speedwork. The key would be to do all of this without getting injured. My ankles were a bit sore after the race, and a few other items are teasing me. Here’s the weekly rundown:

Monday, 4/7/08

6.8 miles on the cinder path at work (approx. 4 laps with some variations). This is a fairly flat course. The weather was beautiful, and I got the pace going pretty well considering I had just raced 2 days prior. I averaged about 7:10/mile without too much effort.

Tuesday, 4/8/08

11.25 miles in 1:38. This was my hill repeat day. Rather than do 10 repeats on the road, I combined the road with the trail to the top of Pinnacle Rock. I think it’s about 500 feet of vertical and I ran it 4 times. By the way, I love the Garmin Forerunner 305, but I do not trust the elevation measurements on it. Reviews have confirmed that it is not accurate, but everything else works well. My heart rate was pegged in the first mile and I was going slow. It settled down a bit and I chugged up the first hill. My goal was to run hard, but my heart rate stayed in the 140-150 range on the uphills. Actually, I’m still trying to figure out my max HR. IT could be anywhere between 176 and 185 depending on the method of calculation.

This was a great run. I felt good afterwards and felt that I ran fairly controlled.

Wednesday, 4/9/08

11.5 miles in 1:36 (8:22 pace). This was intended to be a recovery run at the Reservoir. I tried to keep the pace easy and my heartrate under 130. My average HR was 131, but I got into the 140’s on the uphills. It was great having the place pretty much to myself and I did a little exploring on some new terrain at the end.

Thursday, 4/10/08

Rest Day – The plan was speedwork, but I couldn’t fit in a workout.

Friday, 4/11/08

Speedwork – Ran to and from the track from home (approx. 2.7 miles each way). Did four 1600m intervals in 6:00, 6:08, 5:54, and 5:57. I jogged 200m in between the first 2, but felt I needed to walk to get my HR down in between the next 2. Heart rate was peaking out around 159 and averaging low 150’s during the first 2 which puts me around 85-90% effort. I should be hitting 90% on them.

Total: 10.2 miles in 1:20.

Saturday, 4/12/08

I had been wanting to run out to Lake Awosting from the Gunks West Trapps parking lot for awhile now, and this would be the day. I’m planning to write up a detailed post with pics on this run, so let’s just say it was a great for now. First 5 miles was slow with my sister, Amy, and then I picked it up a bit. My legs were tired from the speedwork, so Amy’s pace was perfect for getting me back in the groove.

Total mileage: 25.5 miles in approx. 4:25. I walked a bit (0.6 miles) after icing my legs in the cool water at the end.

Sunday, 4/13/08

I knew I needed about 15 miles to hit 80 miles for the week. This was new territory, and I was excited about it. I ran 2 hill loops at the reservoir and really cruised the downhills. I felt very good afterwards.

16.3 miles in 2:12 (8 min/mile avg pace).

Total weekly mileage: 84.61 miles in 12 hours.

Wow! If I could hold that pace at VT100, I could win! J

It seems like I spend a lot of time running, but 12 hours in a week doesn’t seem like all that much.

Overall, it was a great week, and I feel strong. The key will be to maintain this level for the next 10+ weeks without getting too fatigued or injured. If things go according to plan, we’ll have some fun in Vermont!