Running Log - Week Ending May 13

Hello Fellow Runners,

Another week down, another small step back to fitness.

As I build back fitness, I'm pretty much doing some kind of workout on Tuesday and LR on Saturday.  Add in easy mileage four other days of the week, and do LOTS of strength and mobility work and that's pretty much it.

I'm not concerned about paces, more focused on how each run feels - being super vigilant about taking the progress slowly and scaling back on mileage as needed.  Every little tiny niggle gets immediate attention.

Sunday is usually my "off" day - I normally just of a 2-3 mile walk just so my legs get moving and help recovery from Saturday's LR.  The last couple weeks I've added a few drills at the end of the walk (A and B skips, high knees, karaoke, etc.  Then, I finish by putting in a few minutes on TM barefoot.  I figure this will help with form and foot strength.

Mileage:          42
Tue Workout:  2 x 20' Tempo (Tempo pace around 6:57 - 7:00 / 1' standing recovery)
Sat LR:           11 (no speeding up....legs are more fatigued than they should be)
Weight:          143 (holding at this weight for a few weeks now).


Tuesday's workout - was supposed to be a Progression run (20' steady / 10' faster / 10' faster / 5' fastest).  The idea is to learn how to pace myself based on feel since I'm not yet back into shape and I don't know what my "paces" should be.  Well, I took it out too fast.  After the first 20' section, I had to give myself a quick "breather" and stood on the side of the trail for about a minute.  So, I changed the workout to 2 sets of 20' tempo work.  I ended up running all 40' just under 7:00 pace, so that's good (for reference 6:50 was my MP last Summer) - I am getting back into shape.  I still need realize where my fitness is, and reacquaint myself with the "feeling" of how hard I'm working.  Last year, 7:00 pace would have been about right for the first 20' of this progression....but not early May 2018.  Live and learn.

Also - my left ITB got "tight" at the end of the workout.  I had trouble with the left ITB a few years ago, so this is the "check engine" light coming on.  Time to back off some / do some extra ancillary work to make sure it doesn't actually become something.  No reason to push it.

For Saturday's Long Run - my legs were tired right from the beginning.  The run went fine.  No major issues, but it took more effort than it should have.  So...I would consider this the second "warning light".  

The two "warning lights" are enough for me to take a step back and plan lower mileage next week along with no workouts.  Once I made this decision Saturday night, I felt a little "relief" come over me, which also tells me it's time to take a "cut back" week.

Looking back - I've made significant progress in my fitness.  Last 3 weeks have been about 40 mpw.  Just 6 weeks ago, I was having trouble running 30 minutes without pain.  Good progress.  Time for a "breather".

 Onward....