Monday - Hill Repeats
Having taken five days off I was looking forward to seeing how I did with this workout, especially after last week's "unproductive" debacle.
I was thrilled to find that not only did I thoroughly enjoy myself, but I have now popped back into "maintaining" status. I know I said that I wasn't going to take it all too seriously, but it is still nice to see Garmin accurately reflect how I felt after this run.
I made sure I drank plenty of water beforehand, and had a decent breakfast of sourdough and peanut butter. As usual I started off with some cadence and AG (acceleration-glider) work, then into the hill repeats. Fifteen seconds up, recover one minute, then fifteen seconds down. I had already decided that 15 seconds was a ludicrously short run so I was going to sprint these.
It was awesome! This week I had six repeats, so two more than last time, and I really gave it my all. My last split was also my fastest - 3:56/km! STOKED with that, needless to say.
3.44km avg pace 7:48/km, best pace 3:56/km!!
Wednesday - Long Easy Run
The plan has me down for a 14.48km run (what's with the random distances? My OCD can't take it), but I already decided last week to cut this down to 10 or 12km. I'm hoping that with good fueling, carrying water and snacks I can make this a good workout.
The best part about my short break is that I'm looking forward to my runs again. I wasn't dreading it, but I realise now that the last couple of runs I was just sort of doing it because I was supposed to, not because I actually wanted to. Whereas this week I've been looking forward to this run pretty much since Monday lunchtime.
I started my day with a bowl of porridge. I decided to let Garmin make a course for me (which I would come to regret - read on). I took 350ml water and half an OSM bar to snack on. I quickly realised that using courses and coach at the same time, my watch would only show me the map during my run, with a very quick pace update each km. Because of this I struggled to pace myself - once again setting out too fast and then flagging for the last few km.
I also quickly discovered that I should have paid closer attention to route Garmin created. I spent the first part running along the main highway into town with traffic roaring in my ears and fumes in my face. I then cut across to the beach and the second part was along the coastal path with never-ending little rolling hills. The whole run was on hard concrete paths. It was hard. I took lots of walk breaks. Once I got away from the rushing traffic I also quickly learned why runners like soft water bottles - the sloshing sound of the water in my belt was enough to drive me insane.
Overall it was a good run - although I don't think it fit the description long easy run. It was long and hard. Garmin agrees because it's dropped me back to "unproductive" again. I'm not going to worry about that though because I did managed to run right to the end and I wasn't totally exhausted. I also recorded my fastest 5km and 10km in this run which goes to show that I was going faster than I probably should have.
Bring on the goal pace repeats on Friday!
11.9km avg pace 7:41/km
Friday - walk
I have no good excuse really, except I felt far more like going for a walk than for a run. And it was beautiful.
And that was that for this week of training. It's a very strange time. As COVID-19 seeps into every facet of our lives, it feels like everything around us is shutting down. My race isn't until November and what a very different world it will be then.
As I write this, NZ will be in full lockdown within 48 hours. I'm not sure what that means for my running but I suspect things might have to go on hold for a while, and that's perfectly ok with me.
The trails aren't going anywhere.
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