Spring Training - Phase 2 - Week 1/6
And now back to the somewhat regularly scheduled training journal updates. I made the decision early on to mentally split my training into two blocks and we’ve officially made it to the second stage! Race season!!
Since I’ve already recapped Monday & Tuesday and Wednesday was a rest day, we’ve got a short week this time around. But don’t worry, I’ve got some bonus content at the end about how my year is going
Thursday - Easy 6 - I was still feeling the races in my legs and thought about taking an extra days rest, but I knew I could do the easy miles as slow as needed. Much to my surprise, my first mile clocked in at 9:30. I didn’t feel like I was going that fast and my hr was still in the easy range so I kept going. It wasn’t until I got the second mile alert that I realized the distances were off. Initially, I assumed that garmin was having a bad gps day but after looking at my watch screens, I realized that I was doing a treadmill run
. I ran to where the two mile mark actually was, stopped the workout, and started a new one. This time using gps
.
Does this happen to anyone else? It’s happened to me enough that I’d like to think it’s not a user error but I’m guessing it probably is
.
Anyway, rest of the run was uneventful. I stopped to take a photo of this construction sign because I thought we all could use the reminder.
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You’ve come a long way.
Friday - Easy 6 - My legs still weren’t 100% but it was nothing that impacted my running form. It did make me nervous for Saturday’s run though, my first with actual paces since the races.
Saturday - 10K 16x400 - As mentioned, I wasn’t so sure how this would go. My volunteer shift at the zoo started at 8:30 and we were going to the Drake Relays afterward so this was an early morning run. The good thing about that is I had no time to stress about the run
. It was also very good running weather. Much better than the weather at the track later.
Anyway, after a mile warm up, it was time for the first 10K repeat. This was my first time running this pace, so of course it took some time to find. Also, I really thought my rest intervals were 2 minutes so imagine my surprise when I only got 15 seconds after the first interval. The goal for each 400 was 1:55 and I actually did much better than I expected. Second differential was -1,-1,0,+3,+3,-2,-3,+1,-1,0,-1,+1,+4,+1,-3,0. Particularly proud of that last one
. It was also good to try out what 10K pace should feel like ahead of my race. I’m still not so sure that 15 seconds counts for a rest interval but I’m also really bad at focusing on pace for much longer than 2 minutes, so I guess this is a good option for me.
Here’s a photo of the very wet track.
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Like I said, very happy that I didn’t run in that. You can see the women’s 1500 lined up about to start in the top left but this photo is actually of the shot put competition. I know very little about field events but the athletes make it a lot of fun to watch.
Sunday - Easy 6 - I felt very good during this run despite the 30mph winds with 50mph gusts. I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune if it was some sort of paced workout, but for an easy run where pace didn’t matter it was manageable. I was also extremely thankful that the wind had disappeared for my races the few days prior.
And now for the bonus content
. We’re officially 1/3 of the way through 2023. I don’t know if I ever officially typed up my goals for the year but they are as follows
1. Set a new mile PR
2. Run 1500 miles this year
3. More strength training
Item 3 needs some work. I started off really strong but then was impacting my running so I completely stopped. The plan is to start small again after my race this weekend then really bump it up this summer. It still won’t be anything crazy, but enough that I can continue running injury free.
Item 2 is on track. Numbers wise it looks a bit behind, but I took two weeks off in January for marathon recovery. And my mileage will most certainly ramp up this fall when I start marathon training again.
Below are a few fun graphs to see how my running has progressed the last few years. Quick reminder that I was training quite a bit in 2016-2018. Then I injured myself and took a couple of years to really get back into it. In 2021, I set myself a goal to run 1000 miles to have some consistency again and I haven’t stopped since
. This is easily the longest period of time that I have consistently trained. It’s been a lot of fun and I think I’ve found enough variety to keep going.
Jan-April Comparison
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I’ve ran more miles each month in 2023 than the previous two years. I expect this to continue for the next month and then we’ll have to see what summer brings. The mileage will likely dip down for a bit as I focus on base building & strength training.
Year over year, my increase in mileage is obvious. It’s up +50% compared to two years ago! Just a hare under the 500 miles but still in good position to hit 1500 for the year.
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That’s all for now folks. I hope you are progressing on your running goals. Have a great week!
. 
I decided to do this race mostly out of convenience and because I like the race day atmosphere. It’s a point to point course starting at a dam and ending in downtown DSM (Des Moines). The photo above is from the dam with the city skyline in the distance.
That was when I first realized that the weather was likely to be a factor.
. I was very confused why my alarm was going off at such an hour. Fortunately I remembered before turning the darn thing off. I rolled out of bed, stumbled my way to the bathroom, and got dressed for the race. Along the way I noticed how foggy the windows were, not quite as bad as the 100% humidity 10K last month, but still pretty bad 
. I was still half asleep and questioning my life decisions as I headed out the door. Even Bucky thought it was too early to be bothered.
My 5K indicated a pace of 8:00 could be possible. To make matters worse, I recently watched an Instagram video from someone I trust telling me to try a new strategy for my next 5k. The strategy was basically go out fast and see how long you can hang on. A 5K != HM but it still made me want to try.
Whoops! It included a 100ft descent so not quite as bad as it looked but still needed to step on the brakes. The next three miles were mostly flat and mostly on target.
I really don’t remember the next few miles much. Mile 8 had a 70 ft ascent and my pace dropped to 8:53. By mile 10 I was pretty well over it. I sincerely considered just stopping and walking it in. Then I passed a spectator holding a sign offering to call me an Uber. Why didn’t I think of that? 
This gave me the reminder that I needed that I was strong and could keep pushing.
