Weekly Training Log: Week Ending Dec. 29th

Hello Runners.

Sort of boring, this week.  Just building back mileage and trying to get some speed back.  I think I'll be running shorter races in Jan/Feb, and want to get my mile to 5k speed cooking again, so focused on that in this week's workout.

Tuesday's Workout:
This week I went back to a workout that I started doing earlier this year. It includes 4' reps at CV pace (Critical Velocity as coined by Tinman), and 1' reps at mile pace.  I give myself a 90" jog between the CV reps and 1' jog between the mile pace reps.  All reps are based on feel, and I ran on the C&O canal towpath (flat dirt path along the Potomac River).

When I downloaded the results from my watch, I found my paces were slower than last Summer - 6:22 for CV reps, and 5:43 for the mile reps.  When I did these last Summer my CV reps were around 6:05 pace, and mile reps were around 5:30 pace.  I don't know if I'm that much more out of shape, or the faster paces just "feel" too fast.  Not fretting about it (too much).  I know I'm better off running these workouts on feel than trying to hit a pace and fading....

Saturday Long Run:
Hit the C&O towpath Saturday for my long run - nice and flat (and big change from last weekends' hills).  Did 13 miles again, this time I sped up the last couple miles, and added a couple 'extended strides' (I like to do some strides that last about 45" at 5k speed or a little faster to get the speed going, but not get too tired).

This week was also nice in that I worked from home all week.  I didn't get a complete vacation, but cut my hours back quite a bit.  Nice to sleep in some, and get my run done with no commute to the office.  I could get used to this!



Week Summary:

• Mileage: 52
• Workout:  4 x  (4' @ CV / 90" jog) + 4 x (1' @ mile pace / 1' jog)
• Long Run: 13 miles with with a faster finish and extended strides.

 Daily:

• Monday: 7.2 miles Easy with Strides.  Hip / core maintenance.
• Tuesday: 8.2 mile workout with CV / mile reps.  Hip/leg big strength moves.
• Wednesday: 9 mile MLR.  Hip / core maintenance.
• Thursday: 4 mile recovery jog.  Upper body strength.
• Friday: same as Monday.
• Saturday: 13 miles with faster finish. Hip/leg strength moves.
• Sunday: 2 mile walk.  Lotsa foam rolling and stretching.  Upper body strength. 

Gonna run a 5k on New Year's Day - Rust Buster to get the legs moving and start the year.  I don't expect a great result, but want to get back into the swing of racing.

Onward.