End of Week 6 Training

Remember how it was sunny and in the sixties Thursday and Friday? Well, it is snowing right now! I guess it was too good to be true that winter was over already and the track was finally cleared! Oh well we have survived this much of Winter already.

I was looking forward to waking up and running Saturday morning because Friday night, I got these new shoes at Dunhams.



I get Asics every time I buy myself running shoes. My last (approximately) 24 pairs of shoes have been Asics. Sometimes I vary the model I get, but they are ALWAYS Asics. My scientific reasoning for choosing them is because the feel very 'springy' to me. What is kind of ridiculous is that Friday I discovered that a size 7.5 fits SO MUCH BETTER than a size 8 does. I have very long, skinny feet (they are not my best feature) and sometimes I would notice my feet slipping if I wore thinner socks. It's kind of embarrassing it took 24 pairs of shoes to figure out that it was because I was wearing the wrong size.

Although Saturday was chilly, the sun was shining and from running in Pittsburgh all winter, 30 degrees really isn't that horrible. North Park was filled with lots of runners at 8:30am, and I guessed a lot of people were training for the Pittsburgh half/full marathon, since many of them had hydration packs on. I really need to order a new one before it gets warm again, since my bad dog chewed on the caps of the bottles this fall...

My workout was a somewhat long run/tempo run rolled into one. I wanted to do a total of 15 miles, and needed to run 4x 10-12 minutes at tempo pace (at least 6:51/mile) with two little minutes of rest in between. I also need to mention that parts of this run would include running into the wind and trying to move but not really being able to. I wore spandex tights and a top with a vest on top, which was a little large for me. When I was running into the wind, the vest would blow out to the sides and I felt a little like a hot pink kite.

I started the first four miles too fast for a warm-up, but I blame the sun and wearing 'springy' new shoes. I averaged 7:52 pace, when I should really be running closer to 8:30. I decided to do my tempo segments near the boathouse area, where part of the run would be sheltered from the wind. Sometimes that was true, but there were definitely times when I felt like the pink kite.

Splits for each 10 minute segment (I decided on just doing ten minute segments when I became annoyed with the wind):

1.46 miles @ 6:50 pace
1.48 miles @ 6:45
1.48 miles @ 6:45
1.50 miles @ 6:40

During the first repeat, I was very negative and hard on myself for having to exert more effort than I wanted to reach my pace goal. Knowing that I planned on writing about the workout here afterwards really motivated me to keep going, because it would definitely be more embarrassing to write that I gave up completely on the workout than writing that I wasn't able to get the times I wanted, but pushed through the workout. The last four miles I ran at about 8:20 pace and was so tired! I did some yoga/abs when I got home to help reduce soreness.

Running this morning, I could tell that the yoga helped my muscles recover from Saturday's hard run. My dad and I ran at the North Allegheny Intermediate track. It was so nice to run on a clear track, I cannot remember the last time I did so. We both felt good this morning and the run went by very fast, especially considering that I never really picture 10 miles as a short run.

I am pretty pleased with how week 6 training went. I ran all planned workouts, all planned miles (my peak - 70) and lifted twice. I even decided to be an overachiever and do a little bit of yoga. I remember reaching my peak mileage in college and feeling very worn down the whole time. I'm so glad that is not the case.

Parent-teacher conferences are this week, the 2o mile Spring Thaw race is Saturday, making this an ideal cut-down week. I'm a little sad that I have to take a day off of running this week, so that I don't go over my assigned miles....maybe I will do something like biking or spinning instead. This week:
Monday: AM lifting, PM 4 x 1 mile repeats (can't do anymore repeats, or else it will be too many miles)
Tuesday: AM 5 miles easy
Wednesday: AM lifting, maybe some cardio, too
Thursday: AM 5 miles, strides
Friday: AM 4 miles EASY!
Saturday: 20 mile race! Spring Thaw @ 10am
Sunday: Easy run! about 5 miles.

Packing our whole week's of lunches this afternoon while Penny supervised.


I started this method a couple weeks ago, when I decided Jordan should pack his lunch and that I hated packing one for myself every night. Sunday afternoons, I pack enough sandwiches/wraps for both of us the whole week, along with cottage cheese, a fruit, veggie and power bar for after school for me. I am a fan of our new system!