After a couple of weeks' worth of pretty chilly weather (for Texas), I was happy it was going to be warmer this week. The forecast called for a lot of rain, so I was a little nervous about having some runs cancelled due to inclement weather. My schedule is pretty packed, so even though it's nice to sleep in on a rainy day, it does frustrate me when multiple runs get called off or have to be worked in later in the day! Fortunately the weather cooperated (for the most part) this week.
I added some New Balance 880v10's to my shoe rotation this week. Always fun to try on new shoes! I purchased them for recovery days and long runs as my current rotation does not contain a good long run shoe. This is my first pair of NB's, and I look forward to logging some miles in them.
Monday: Rest Day.
Tuesday: This week's workout was a tough one - we were supposed to run for 7 minutes at lactate threshold pace for 4 reps, with 1:30 rest in between each rep. Lactate threshold is the pace where your body is just able to utilize the lactic acid your muscles are producing without getting overloaded. A correlation sometimes used is a pace you can hold for about an hour. For me, that's right around 15K pace. We ran this as an out-and-back, and on both "out" repeats, my pace was fine - but on the way back, things were a little rough. Some days, you're just happy you made it through. I also did my PT exercises for about 30 minutes in the evening. (7 miles total)
Wednesday: Easy 5 miles.
Thursday: Normally on Thursdays I do about 8 miles with some strides. Unfortunately this Thursday, I had an incredibly poor night of sleep. Sleep is one of the weaknesses I'm working on right now, and even though I could have gotten up and probably muscled through a run, I opted to sleep in instead of forcing things. So on the up side, I got more rest. On the down side - I had to make up miles in the evening. I didn't have time for 8, so I ran 6 and worked in 7 strides near the end. I really don't like running in the evenings as there is a lot more traffic and I usually don't feel great, but I'm happy I managed to get a run in. Unfortunately the run backed up my evening so much that I didn't have time for PT. (6 miles total)
Friday: I managed to get a decent night's rest and did my usual easy miles. I was very stiff from running literally 11 hours beforehand - not something I recommend if you can avoid back-to-back runs! On Friday evening I took some time to foam roll and complete some easy hamstring exercises to loosen things up. (5 miles total)
Saturday: Long run day! This was a gross, chilly weather day complete with drizzle, fog, and slick sidewalks. I had originally hoped to run 14-16 miles, but thanks to my crappy sleep this week and how stiff and achy I felt on Friday, I opted to cut it down a little bit. I'm always happy when I have a good long run, and today turned out to be great. I ran a decent negative split and felt strong at the end - exactly how you want to finish a long run. (12 miles total)
Sunday: Recovery miles. Another chilly, foggy, damp day around here, but I had my new shoes to motivate me to get out of bed! PT in the afternoon. (5 miles total)
Weekly mileage: 40.2
Positives: Skipping a run to prioritize sleep (yes, this is a positive!); Good pacing on my long run
Negatives: Not going to bed early enough most of of the week.