Friday, August 28, 2009

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.

9 comments:

Alisa said...

Sorry bout the long run. Proper fuel is key but it's also super hard not to sleep in when we runners get the chance!

Here's to week 4!

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I'm sorry you had that bad run. Isn't it funny how finely-tuned the balance is? The only time I ever bonked on a run, I had done something different. Good lesson to learn; sucky way to learn it.

Marlene said...

Nice speed!!

Sorry to hear about the long run, but you know what went wrong. The next one will be better - earlier and properly fueled.

RG said...

Great improvement. Hills Speed ... great additions! Hawaii ... best idea yet!!!

Whoa .. a consolation prize! Thanks ... I'll send an address.

ShirleyPerly said...

Man, I don't think I could even run 6 miles w/o breakfast ... But we all have runs where we learn lessons. Great job on the speedy ones earlier in the week!

Mica said...

Bah, sorry about the bad long run. That always gets me down--just remember all the good speedwork you had this past week!

PunkRockRunner said...

Your long run sounds like my long run. I went from a 10-minute pace through 8-miles to an 11-minute over all pace for 14-miles. I can confirm that it was super hot outside though.

Great job on the training!

All the best,

Ron

Runner Leana said...

Oh no! Sorry to hear about the bad long run!! At least you know what to do differently in the future.

Hawaii, eh? Have fun!

Aron said...

gah bad long runs just suck... but they happen. you still had a GREAT week!! i mean look at your intervals :) you are doing awesome!!