Changing Gears - Weekly Report July 28-August 3

Well, this past week I decided to throw my 100 miles in 7 days challenge under the bus in favor of some quality workouts. Yup, I'm admitting I didn't rise to the challenge, but the 100-mile weeks will come when I'm ready. Lately, I've felt my training has been uninspiring and unmotivating. I feel like I'm just plodding along and putting in miles. In addition, I'm chronically fatigued and rarely feel good on any of my runs, especially the long runs on Saturdays and/or Sundays. Therefore, I've opted to cut back on the miles Monday through Friday in favor of intervals and hills and will slowly increase my mileage. Here's how last week's training panned out.

Monday: 5.4 miles in 50 minutes. Just a quick run out to Terrace Oaks on the trails to stretch the legs out after a busy day at work and at home.

Tuesday: 7.4 miles in 1:04:00. Nice tempo run at Hyland. Very hot but not too humid day. After a slow start, I loosened up and finished strong. Did a 1-mile cooldown and did some stretches. A very positive run in the heat for a change!! Great day!! Avg. pace = 8:38....WOOT!

Wednesday: 3.1 miles in 23:44 (5.7 total). Did a 1.3 mile warm-up run to Terrace Oaks, then ran a 5K loop time trial at a good hard pace, followed by a 1.3 mile cool-down. I definitely could have run the 5K much faster, so it was motivating to see I could run a 7:38 pace without much trouble.

Thursday: 6.8 miles in 1:04:00. Did a 1.3 mile warm-up run to Terrace Oaks, then 7K of intervals (4K hard, 3K easy), followed bya 1.3 mile cool-down. Another great workout getting those legs turning over faster. I was pretty pooped out after this workout but felt good about it.

Friday: R&R

Saturday: 19.1 miles in 3:01:22. Got up early and hit the Terrace Oaks trails. I ran the entire distance without stopping, except after the first loop to ditch my headlamp and take a quick pee. I really focused on my form, leg drive, and breathing so that I would maintain a strong and steady pace. I also worked on my nutrition and hydration discipline by sticking to a strict schedule. For nutrition, I took Gu plain gel from a flask once per hour, and a Cliff Shot Block once per hour. For hydration, I took 2 to 3 ounces of water with a bit of salt every 15 minutes. In hindsight, I think I could have used a few extra calories, but overall, I was very pleased with the way things went. Excellent run with an average pace of 9:29/mile.

Total weekly miles = 44.5

In sum, I was very pleased with my efforts this past week. I didn't feel as fatigued throughout the week and felt more motivated by my workouts. In addition, my weekend run was much more productive and enjoyable than it has been in the past. Only 5 weeks until Superior! Can't wait!!