week of 2 February

Monday, Feb 2

Rest. Still sick and happy for a scheduled rest day. Fever was down to 99.6 before I went to bed Monday night and I still didn't feel well, so I didn't set the alarm.

Tuesday, Feb 3

Scheduled. 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit. Slept in. Glad I did. I wasn't over the bug yet.

Wednesday, Feb 4

Scheduled AM: 12-13 mile total moderate run including 4 x 2 miles @ 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:40 w/3-4 min jog rests
PM: 4 mile jog

6:29 AM 9.63 1:22:41 8:35 143 (71%)

On the two mile warmup to the track, I felt like my old self, like I'd finally caught my breath after the HM. I shot for 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:50 w/600m rest. The first two miles (1600 actually) were 7:39, and 7:39. My heart rate averaged something like 148 on the second mile, which I thought was very good for the pace. I felt a twinge in my hamstring on the 3rd laps, but it quickly went away and I forgot about it. I stepped up the pace for the second two miles and could start to feel my hamstring. After the first mile (7:26), it started to build (tugging sensation) pretty quickly and I could tell I was favoring it, so I decided to shut it down and jogged away from the track. I took the long way home from the track (4+ miles) and ended up at 9+ instead of the scheduled 12-13. Bummer.

5:00 PM 4.00 0:38:00 9:30. Four boring miles on the treadmill. Hamstring was stiff but OK for jogging.

Thursday, Feb 5

Scheduled 6 mile jog.

Did 6.04 0:59:56 9:55 130

Friday, Feb 6

Scheduled 8-10 mile moderate run including 5 uphill then 5 slight downhill strides. Run over rolling hills

Did 9.20 1:19:33 8:39 144

My hamstring was a little stiff, but felt pretty good and then about 0.5 miles in, I had a sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee. Ugh. Well, it subsided pretty quickly and I did the rest of the run. I had to stop at a light though without about 2 miles left and it stiffened up and I could really feel it as I jogged the rest.

Saturday, Feb 7

8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit

Did 7.77 1:19:38 10:15 147

Slow pace is from the rock circuit. Splits were 9:08, 8:24, 8:43, 8:37, 8:32, 8:30 with HRs between 142 and 153. After the rock circuit, HRs/paces were 9:11/150, 8:55/153. My heart rate always goes up after the rock circuit. I could still feel the weird twinge from yesterday but it was muted and didn't get worse. I've been doing these on the upper end of easy recently but was a little more rambunctious with this one. It felt good to run off my frustration after losing to go 0-5 in basketball. (I'm the coach of my son's team.)

Sunday, Feb 8

Scheduled. 19-20 mile total moderate run including 3 x 3 miles (run the first 2 miles @ GMP then run the last mile @ 10k effort). 5 min jog rest between reps

Sunday 19.81 2:53:38 8:46 153 (76%)

The plan was just to pick it up for the 3 x 3 and not press. The good news is that my hamstring was completely fine and my new niggle didn't cause a problem. I was "off" from the start though and my 8 miles before the fast parts were at right around 9:00 pace, but my hr was kinda high for that pace (138-143).

The first segment went 8:22/153, 1:42/158 -- bathroom break :-). After the break I jogged 5 minutes rather than restart immediately and did the other two miles in 8:07/155, 8:11/162. 5 min jog. 8:04/162, 8:06/166, 7:43/172, 5 min jog, 8:15/171, 8:22/172, 8:08/176. On the second intervals, I tried to up it a little in the last mile. Not 10k effort, but harder than MP. I was very tired and it was pretty tough just to jog that last cooldown mile. As you can see, my heart rates were pretty marathon-like even though the paces were snail like. I just didn't have it today. Also, the trail was very slow. The snow melted and the normally firm dirt/crushed gravel was very spongy and there were lots of muddy spot. It started out at a pleasant 47 degreses, but got to 69 degrees by the end of the run!

In summary Mindi totally kicked my ass on long run pace today. I had an accounting error for January mileage though. I was looking at the 216 in December. I actually did 229 in January. Not even close. So, there!

Week - 56.5. Scheduled for 69. Ouch.

Thinking back, I'm kind of hoping my tough run today was for lack of endurance. If it was then I did my half on something else and maybe I have room to improve? There has to be a silver lining :-)