Saturday, July 17, 2010

Training Week 7/11 - 7/17

More building. More mileage. More variation. Another very good week. The legs are getting used to the change, and some days I feel tired and others quite strong. I think that means I'm doing it correctly. This actually ended up as my second biggest week of the year in terms of mileage.

Onto the numbers...

7/11, Sunday: 7 total, Bradbury Scuffle.

7/12, Monday: 5 - 45:26, Homeplace Loop. A touch tired, but overall, pretty good. Better than I would have expected, especially considering how hot it was during this run.

7/13, Tuesday: 7 total, White Mountain Milers Inov-8 Summer Series, 5k - 21:44; 2 mile warm up / 2 mile cool down. Plan for the "race" was to take it out easier than last week, work the uphill middle mile and see how I felt on the downhill. That's pretty much how it played out. Felt very easy in the first mile and chatted with Paul Kirsch for a good chunk of it. We were both shocked to hear a 6:40 split at the mile. It sure felt a lot easier than that. As we hit the uphill, I deferred to Paul's Mountain Goat status (having completed all 6 USATF Mountain Races this season), and true to form he dusted me on the uphill. He claimed I'd catch him on the downhill, but I didn't really have the fire, nor the legs. I hit the two-mile split in around 14:00, and decided to just relax and cruise into the finish from there. Pleased with the time and the effort. May take a real shot at this course next week. Not that a fast 5k is a particularly critical portion of my training, but they sure are fun.

7/14, Wednesday: 6.75 - 1:05:48, 11x Mt. Ararat. More gettin' dizzy on Mt. A. I'm actually finding this run somewhat enjoyable. I'm probably ill. Ended up with 1,146 feet of vert. Good stuff. Legs were a bit tired, it was disgustingly humid and the deer flies were very aggressive. But, I viewed all this as good for training the mental part of my game. If I can circle Mt. Ararat eleven times in those conditions, it should bode well when I run/race in good conditions. Again, I'm probably ill.

7/15, Thursday: 0. Much needed rest day.

7/16, Friday: 10.75 - 1:52:41, Bradbury Mountain State Park (One lap of the Breaker course followed by a lap of the Scuffle course). Kevin Tilton was down in my neighborhood for work, so I offered to give him a tour of The Brad. He'd been looking to run there for a while, and I'd been itching to show off the goods. He's in a "restish" point in his training, so we enjoyed an easy spin around one lap of the Breaker course before he had to head out. It was a comfortable 50 minutes for the 4.5+ miles, and I know he dug it. Hopefully, I can guilt/berate/cajole him into racing in August. (Hint, hint, Kevin.) From there, I was on my own to battle the deer flies. We barely saw any on the mountain side, but once I crossed the road it was insane. The heat was rising and the sun started coming out...so were the bugs. (Cue dramatic music.) In the six miles around the Scuffle course, I killed at least 30 of them and missed countless others. On three separate occasions, I slapped my back and killed two with one swong. I crossed path with a pair of mountain bikers at one point, and their shock at the swarm around me was telling. By the time I hit the last mile of the Scuffle course, I was at my wits end and practically hitting race pace. I seriously considered bailing at the Link trail, but I hung in there to finish the whole course. That's that illness. Plus, the deer flies were so bad, I barely noticed the humidity. I was drenched, and thankful for the thin cloud cover and the shaded trails. All that being said, I felt very good on this run. Once Kevin left and I headed out on my own, I had a bit of a down spot, but pushed right through. My energy was good the entire way, and in many ways, felt strongest near the end. Good, solid long run.

7/17, Saturday: 5 - 46:53, Homeplace Loop. Another warm, humid morning. Legs were a bit weary, but it was exactly what I expected. Just took it easy.

Totals:
Miles: 41.5
Trail: 41.5
Road: 0

Second 40+ mile week of the year, and none of it on the roads. Forty is a milestone number for me, and one I rarely hit. My hope is that I can put in two more 40+ mile efforts in the next two weeks, followed by a mini-taper for the Breaker. I'm also going to up the length of the long runs. More importantly, as I've mentioned before, the variety of the runs is great: Race, Easy, Tempo-ish, Hills, Off, Long, Easy. That's much better than my previous weeks, which were 80% easy runs essentially. Of course, with the increased quantity and quality, I've had a few aches and pains: tight hip flexor one day, tight hamstring on another, but not a concern as they've gone as quickly as they've come. Again, I'm pretty happy with the week.

Tuneage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b99vu9bH2Zc
Neil Finn is the best pop/rock singer/songwriter ever. Doesn't get the credit he deserves.

4 comments:

Jamie Anderson said...

Well done, sir. Quality week indeed. The hay is piling up in the barn. We will have to have a party to celebrate the end of deer fly season.

sn0m8n said...

I wouldn't care about the heat, if the deer flies weren't so brutal. The combo makes me want to sit inside with my face in the air conditioner.

middle.professor said...

40+ is a great week. Keep it up. You're doing something right if you're running on tired legs.

Kevin said...

Thanks for the run on Friday. Looking forward to getting back over there for a race or two. Nice week of training.