Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Week 7, Feeling Off

Saturday: 12 miles including 6 miles @ 9:12 pace; It was cool and foggy and I totally made the right call to cut the run short the day before.

Monday: 5.6 miles including 6x 800m @ 8:39, 8:36, 8:36, 8:25, 8:31, 8:24 pace (goal 8:40); What I've learned from the weeks of speed work is that it takes a few miles or intervals for my body to warm up. The last few intervals felt much easier and were faster than the first ones.

Tuesday: 4 mi @ 10:06 pace

Friday: 8 miles including 6 mi @ 9:17 pace; The numbers may not look so terrible from this run but what they don't include are the 6 or so walking breaks in shade to bring down my heart rate while Garmin was paused. My goal for this run was something close to 8:55 pace. I'm not sure what the problem was today. It was a little sunny & warm but nothing I can blame. My legs felt like heavy bricks. I considered just finishing the 8 miles at an easy pace. I also considered stopping at mile 3 and going home. I figured even if I couldn't get the speed, I could get the effort in this run. This is the last extended goal pace run of the training plan and it doesn't make me feel very confident for the race.

One thing I hate doing when I'm on a training plan is to rearrange runs. I did that twice this week which mentally throws me off a bit. And these rearranged runs carried on into the next week, too. Between the postponed runs, forfeited work-outs mid-run, and just plain crappy runs I am not feeling very great. I am halfway through Week 8 now and will get a post up shortly about my race goals.

In regards to the recent Monday Mario post, he sticks his nose out like that if you come up to his cage and he wants you to pet him. If you do he'll close his eyes and look utterly content. It doesn't look comfortable, but the way he acts it must be nice. The hind feet through the pen thing did concern me. I was worried he would get startled and not be able to jump up quickly enough. After I took the photo I tickled his feet to get him to pull them back through. I haven't seen it happen a second time!

8 comments:

Marlene said...

Hope you can find your way out of your little 'slump' next week. I get stressed out about re-arranging things, too, but sometimes it can't be avoided.

You're doing great!

ShirleyPerly said...

I think we all go through off weeks. The important thing is overall consistency in training. Running by effort is a valid way to train. In fact, I've been doing that all summer long!

Nicole said...

Nice running lady! Way to keep the runs at an amazing pace! :)

Mica said...

I'm sorry about your down day on Friday. It's funny how one bad run can cancel out a ton of good ones, isn't it?

I hate rearranging my training plans too. Bah, neurosis!

Anonymous said...

sorry you're feeling a bit off, but your runs look good! nice work and keep it up!

X-Country2 said...

Off weeks are pretty common. Way to power through, and you'll be back better than ever in no time.

EndorphinBuzz said...

Sorry to hear about that. Positive thoughts your way to overcome this slump. If you keep plugging at it, your strength will come back.

Alisa said...

Keep going! You've done everything right, this race is yours.