5 Days to Go (Blazing sun!)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)
5/30/17 - T - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
5/31/17 - W - 2 mile WU + 6 x 4 minutes @ I pace w/ 3 min RI + 2 mile CD (1/6)
6/1/17 - R - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
6/2/17 - F - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
6/3/17 - Sat - 12 miles @ 7:42 min/mile (11/11)
6/4/17 - Sun - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
6/5/17 - M - OFF
Total (training) mileage = 48.4 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 12/17 (71%)
Monday was our Anniversary Day!
Tuesday was an easy day. T+D of 121 and cloudy
Wednesday was one of the last hard speed days and was time to celebrate Global Running Day.
2 mile WU + 6 x 4 minutes @ I pace w/ 3 min RI + 2 mile CD
Was excited to give I pace another try today.
I pace = 6:04 min/mile + 2.5% adjustment = 6:11 min/mile
I window = 6:06-6:16 min/mile
The T+D was 125 (80 + 45) with no wind and full blazing sun. I decided to give my new Columbia arm cooling sleeves a try. The hope is that they help reduce skin temperature and make running feel easier in full sun. I've seen some research that suggests the arm sleeves can help maintain performance in full sun conditions. I also took 60 oz of water with me. It came in handy as I just poured as much cold water on myself as I could tolerate.
I pace = 6:21, 6:15, 6:25, 6:24, 6:32, 6:19
It was a tough run overall. But that's nothing new for I pace. All things considered I'm happy with it. I was able to get the second interval and things definitely felt better than it has the last few weeks. The pace while not in window is very consistent between intervals and within intervals. I'm hopeful things are improving by pulling back a bit these last couple days after racing three straight weekends.
The arm sleeves worked ok. I think they were most noticeable when I poured cold water on them as they seemed to hold that temp just a little longer than my skin/hair would normally. The jury is still out as to whether the effect of wearing them is noticeable.
Only a little over a week left of training for the 10k, and then it's marathon training time.
Thursday was another easy day with a T+D of 126 with clouds. The pace was 8:46 with a HR of 129. I felt really thirsty throughout this run and decided it was time for a route change going forward to allow me to have more access to water.
Friday was another easy day with a T+D of 138 with partial sun. The pace was a 9:14 with a HR of 129. Just goes to show what an increase of 12 degrees on T+D and sun can cause even with a 30 second decrease in pace.
Saturday
Apparently, the sun decided to come out and play this weekend (88+ temps for 5 straight days). So I made the decision for a super early Saturday morning long run. Tomorrow's morning temps are in the mid-70s. But since my wife works today, it meant I needed to be home by 7am. So up at 4:15am, ate a gel at 4:50, and started running at 5:00am.
T+D of 123, wind 5mph, and most of the run before the sun peaked above the low clouds. It actually felt quite nice to have a lower temps (relatively speaking) with no sun run.
LR Pace = 7:35 min/mile + 1.5% adjustment = 7:42 min/mile
LR window = +/- 10 seconds
As previously stated, I'm throwing the first interval out because it includes me carrying 50 oz of water to my "aid station" at the park.
Comparing paces:
1st - 7:44, 7:39, 7:40
2nd - 7:38, 7:37, 7:39
3rd - 7:43, 7:38, 7:42
Very solid overall! with 11/11 intervals within window The overall average pace was a 7:39 min/mile with an average HR of 141. So the pace and HR are well within historical range of long run. Only a week until the conclusion of the Daniels 10k training!
Sunday was an easy day with a T+D of 141 with clouds. The pace was a 8:51 with a HR of 129. Seems like I'm pretty good at nailing that 129 HR regardless of pace (8:46, 9:14 and 8:51).
Thankfully the trend continued and the resting HR has dropped over the week. So I'm thinking this gives me a visual answer to what I already knew, which is after three racing weekends I needed to back off a touch.