Week 3, Good Speed/Bad Distance

Sunday: 7 miles including 7x 1000 @ 8:59, 8:48, 8:42, 8:48, 8:48, 8:54, 8:40 pace (goal 9:00); What a difference in just two weeks! I felt much more in control than I did when I did the 8x 800 two weeks ago. And I even nailed every pick-up a little faster than planned.

Monday: 3.5 miles @ 10:27 pace; I ran up to the top of Strawberry Hill by Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park today. I have never done this before and am so glad I did! It is about a 0.5 steady incline up and around the little island to the top. There was a lot less pedestrian traffic which can be a major bummer about running around Stow Lake. It is also a dirt trail so easier on the shins. I will definitely be using this hill more in my training and am planning on doing repeats of it for future races. You can also choose to just run the perimeter of the little island which is fairly flat and also a dirt trail. I may move onto the island for tempo days when I want to run a fairly flat route but not have to tourist dodge.

Tuesday: 3.55 miles @ 10:16 pace; Wanted to run a little farther but am keeping to 3.5 mile runs this week on the "30-45 minutes easy" days.

Wednesday: 8 miles including 6 miles @ 9:05 pace; I decided to try to get as close to goal pace as possible for the pick-up and did a decent job. There were some moments it felt almost like a nice cruising pace, there were others I didn't think I could keep it up another half a mile. Not sure if doing these 6 miles at goal pace will make me more confident for the race or just scare me about the prospect of trying to hold it for another 7.1 miles further.

Friday: 14 miles @ 11:38 pace; This had to be one of the crappiest runs I have had in a long, long, time. Three things went wrong. 1) I wanted to start at 6:30 am to avoid the "heat wave" in San Francisco. I ended up hitting snooze a few times and left the house at 8 am. 2) I can usually run 10-13 miles after popping out of bed with no pre-run fueling. However, this is only when I start earlier than my usual wake-up time so my body doesn't have time to realize it hasn't had breakfast yet. I guess 8 am is too close to my usual breakfast to be able to skip it before a run. But if I had eaten I would have had to digest and then bake for longer under the sun. I decided on heading out. Mistake. 3) I didn't take enough fuel. The days I run 10-12 miles before work (without breakfast first) I only eat two bloks while on the run. I decided since I was doing 14 I'd take three. Obviously not enough, especially since I was heading towards early lunchtime by the time I got home. Plus, did I mention it was hot out there? And not just hot. It was humid, too. I died. I bonked. And then I baked. I was holding a pretty good 10:22 pace up until about mile 8 where the wheels fell off. I did a good deal of walking the last few miles. My legs felt pretty good but I just didn't have the fuel and electrolytes in my system to keep me going. I could barely run 0.3 miles continuously towards the end.

Thus ends week 3! Overall I am very happy with the way things are going. I am a little bummed at the failure of my long run today. This is mainly because my next long run in two weeks will be in Hawaii where there will surely be a repeat of heat-induced walking. I wanted at least one strong long run in the books for this race.

Check out the iFitness belt giveaway at Chic Runner. I have a SPIbelt but I think the iFitness would be a more functional solution.