Living & Learning
G'day & hello again! This week was an ever better one than the last (training wise), but still not 100% spot on. I guess when striving to achieve one of the ultimate goals in sports (or anything in life for that matter) one can rarely rest easy on their accomplishments.
It's because of that simple fact (and a few more) that I consider the week I had a good one, but not GOOD enough.
The "stats" (as in mileage/workouts ect...) are once again laid out just below. I kicked off the past week with a very good and FUN (an important aspect often overlooked) long run. I had planned on only about a 15 or 16 mile long run, but got "lost" in the mountains when I was surrounded by nothing but stunning views and unrelenting uphill after uphill climb. It was quite peaceful...if you don't mind running through Mountain Lion & Bear country!
Tuesday's workout was far better than I would've guessed before hand. I felt rather sluggish during the warm up. Lorraine switch things up a bit and had me do a 2 mile to kick things off, followed by 2 x mile. She had Danny Abshire (link and more on him below) come out to watch/scout/critique me. It was very exciting as he had a lot of positive feedback for me and saw some room for improvement.
Rest of the week was pretty much status quo. I was looking forward to Saturday's workout, but it didn't go as well as planned due to my right calf. We're hoping to sort a few things out with my biomechanics in order to seas the strain on my calves when I really get up on my toes and get into spikes on the track.
All in all I'm feeling very optimistic. It's only the middle or March, and I know that I'll be a lot stronger and faster in 5 months or so (August 17th to be exact) when the heats of the Steeplechase go off in Beijing. The job right now is to do everything right so I can 1st QUALIFY and 2nd get there in the right mental & physical state to do something special!!!!
The final piece to the week came when Lorraine analyzed my running log and went back weeks/months to see how my mileage was coming along. She was essentially looking for any patterns to see where we could be more efficient. We sat and spoke and decided that starting this week (the one I'm currently in, not the one I just updated about) I'll cut my mileage down to about 90 miles per week (or 145k). I've been averaging about 105 miles per week now since October. That's more than enough. She also mentions that by cutting back my long runs to say 16 miles max, on top of also cutting the other 15 or so miles per week extra (from about 105 to 90-ish) I'll have more pop in my step and be more recovered. This is both exciting and great news. The way I see it...I've had some pretty good/solid workouts as of late minus the last two track attempts (with Saturday's still not being the worst EVER) with all this extra mileage, so once I lose that baggage, I should really fly!!
Alright as usual below is the week broken down. Enjoy....
Week (#40) March 9th - 15th
Sunday: Distance: 22.00 miles @ 11:40PM (48 degrees), Pace: 6:21 Run Duration: 2h20
Fantastic Run. Headed straight up to Chautauqua Park. Lost track of time up in the myriad of trails up near 7,000ft with stunning views. Felt really nice. Could've gone for 3+ hours but cut it short cuz I'm not insane.
Monday: Distance: 11.50 miles @ Hog backs + Red Rocks + Mt. Sanitas (hilly trail run). Basically same run as two weeks ago, just a bit longer. Felt good and calves weren't too troublesome.
Tuesday: PM: Workout @ North Boulder. 1 x 2 miles & 2 x 1 mile Road Repeats. With Lorraine & Danny Abshire present to test out some shoes & get some feedback on my form and biomechanics. 2 miles in: 9:24 (pretty even splits); Avg pace for Miles = 4:27 (4:30 & 4:24). Distance: 13.50 miles total for day.
Wednesday: Distance: 13.00 miles @ 8:30AM (44 degrees & windy) out & back on creek path + north boulder. Pace: 6:18.
Thursday: Distance: 4 miles @ 8:30 AM, out & back on Creek Path (41 degrees). 5 P.M 10.00 miles + core @ Rally Sports Gym.
Friday: A.M 8:15 Distance: 5 miles out & back on Creek Path (38 degrees). P.M Distance: 11.50@ 4:45 miles up & down creek path with Ed Torres (for 35 mins). Felt good, just sluggish running into the wind @ times.
Saturday: A.M 9 miles @ 10:30 (43 degrees but chilly). Easy out & back on Creek Path + North Boulder park Legs feeling pretty good.
P.M: (47 degrees!) Workout @ Fariview High School: 3 x 1000 meters (600m jog recovery) & 2 x 800 meters. With Lorraine, Harlan, Jasmine & her best mate: Chloe. Avg: 2:51.67 for k's but pulled the pin (yest AGAIN!) about 600m into the 1st of two 800's. I felt my right calf start to go somewhere during the 2nd 1000 meter repeat I did, and then again 50 meters (1/2 way through the curve on the track) into my 3rd 1000 meter repeat. By the time I got to the 800's I knew it was just a matter of holding on and grinding through it. I stopped short, because I realized that it would do more harm than good to push through it and risk pulling a muscle. Lorraine & I are working on getting my calves right when I'm in spikes. We'll see what the next week or so brings. Otherwise fitness is good. I felt very much in control during the k's, just got to sort out my calves/shoes/biomechanic situation soon though.
Week's Total Mileage: 110 (avg: 15.72 miles per day)
Thanks for reading...
Peace & Love
