Yup, this week gets an “A” for effort and performance!
I posted earlier in the week about Intensity, how I’m doing a lot of quality workouts. They continued and I also wracked up the miles. I’m excited to see how things continue to come together.
As a recap:
Monday – Denver Sunrise Run with Trent and Matt – we did 5.13 miles at a 7:28pace. Also hit up the gym – did a 30 minute Mad Abs class and then a 30 minute Dirty Thirty circuit training class.
Tuesday – Did a good ladder workout with the RBB. (8.6 miles)
Wednesday – easy morning run (6.7 miles), harder evening run (4 miles)
Thursday – easy 3 mile evening run, also chest, tris abs at the gym
Friday – easy 6.45 miles in the morning
I already had some good mileage in before I hit the weekend!
Saturday
We had a “PAARLAUF” workout – a pair run. The coach split us into A and B runners based on if he felt our mile repeat speed would be over or under 6:30. He said I was an “A” runner and guessed I’d run them in 6:20s. At first I balked and said I thought it’d be closer to 6:40s, and then acknowledged that for repeats with recovery, I may be closer to 6:20-6:30s. He marked out a mile loop (my garmin claims it was .98/.99) and we alternated running with our partners, like a relay. The winning team got their 2012 training dues paid for! Alas, my team didnt win but it was a good run. The first few laps I was too concerned with how others were doing but eventually fell into my own groove.
I forgot to hit the lap button for the first mile, but after that went 6:14, 6:17, 6:26 and 6:13. I had a pretty good finishing kick most times: one guy would catch me at about .75 but in the final straight-away I was generally able to recover and catch up with him.
It wasn’t fun at the time but I know it was a great workout. There are a few different articles out there about how mile repeats can help your marathon time. However, I’ll admit that our paces may have been off. According to the McMillan calculator, an optimal training pace for the mile distance is 6:48 to 6:57, though to balance it, we had more time to recover as it was the entire time your partner was running. (Pace based on a 3:20 marathon)
Later that day I went out for another easy 3.5 miles.
Sunday
Long run time! I decided not to worry about my watch and just get the miles in. I carried my gel and water although I didn’t bring enough gel and ended up stopping at the gym at mile 12. I filled up my water, got an apple and bought a VegaSport Endurance Gel. It was sweeter than I would have liked, but I did feel a bit of a pickup afterwards.
I finished the 18 miles in 2:44, which is a 9:08 pace. This is a lot slower than my other 18 milers thus far (2:29 and 2:30). However, I’m not disappointed. This was a HUGE week for me, mileage-wise, and I also haven’t taken a day off running in over a week.
In some schools of thought, your weekly long run should be 1:30/mile slower than your marathon goal pace. My goal pace is 7:38, so 9:08 is actually right on. McMillan’s calculator also says long runs should be done between 8:08 and 9:08. So, even though I didn’t watch my watch at all through the workout, I managed to narrow right in on an acceptable pace. I also stayed pretty consistent through the run, not fading ridiculously near the end (my last mile WAS slow, but that’s b/c I climb 70ft in the last mile)
I finished the week with 64 miles. Um, so it’s possible I’ve NEVER run over 60 miles a week, ever. And I can’t believe I did it at an average 8:44 pace!
I will admit – I had to go someplace that was 3 miles away, and I was tempted to run it just to hit 70. But the more I thought about it, I realized my body may appreciate the break. I’m not going to gain any extra fitness through those miles, I think it’s more important for me to refuel and rehydrate to reap the benefits of what I DID do!
So yeah, I give this week an “A”. If my pace in my long run today were a bit faster, it would probably have been an “A+” week. But I’m feeling darn good and content with how things are going. A month to Houston – about the time when I’d generally be feeling creaky and burnt out. Instead, I’m excited and eager to train and see what comes of it!
Love the idea of the partner runs! What a great way to shake it up and get a good workout. And good for you for sticking to the slower long run pace. It’s so hard to do, but so smart!
it was a fun way to do the run, although I was a bit worried about the pressure initially. The coach did a good job at matching up runners so it was actually pretty competitive.