Miler Method (Week 5 of 7)

Week beginning thoughts: Ummm... still feeling "off" since missing my weekend long run. Hopefully can get things back on track.

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: strength
Felt good about today's lift. Finally think I've "graduated" to the 25# dumbbells for curls, which is exciting. My form isn't awesome through the end of all of the reps, but I'll get there.

Tuesday
Planned: #10kTuesday, tempo + interval edition
10 min warm-up
2x5 min tempo / 3 min recovery
6x30s mile pace / 90s recovery
15 min cool-down

Did: as planned, 6.29 @ 8:25/mi avg
So my GPS did something wonky and I might not have actually run the whole 10k... NOT MY FAULT. It thought I started way over in the woods then ran a 2:00/mi for the first ~0.3 mi until it actually started tracking me.

Uhhh... no.

Oh well.
Got this done early in the neighborhood before leaving for work... hate that 4:30 a.m. alarm but I NEVER regret doing it once it's done.
First part of this was two 5-minute tempo segments... ran those at 7:27 and 7:02... not bad! They felt fast though, which I guess is accurate for the second one since that's pretty close to 5k PR pace.
Next was the 6x30s repeats of mile pace... which did NOT go according to plan... though it really depends on whether I look at "avg pace" or "avg moving pace".
Paces based on Avg Pace - 5:48, 6:52, 6:25, 6:33, 5:56, 7:05
Paces based on Moving Pace - 5:02, 5:43, 5:34, 6:20, 5:44, 6:51
Either way, I was all over the place (which I partially blame on the hills in my neighborhood). Need to work on consistency, though maybe it was a consistent effort just affected by hills? Eh.
Cooldown ended perfectly as I hit the 10k mark just as I had about 60s left in my cooldown and approached my house.

Creepy shadows on the dark streets

Wednesday
Planned: bike
Did: 800m time trial
Working from home today, so decided to go over to Furman and do last week's time trial workout on the TRACK. I parked near the physical activities center on campus, ran down the mall and back, then headed over to the track. I realized I knew where the track was located but I'd never actually figured out how to get to it. Wasn't difficult, just something I hadn't done before. I was worried there woudl be some summer camp or sports teams working out there, but thankfully there was just one dude walking the outside lane when I arrived and he finished up right as I got started.
There were cones every 100m around the track, but no marks for 70m so I ended up just doing 4x100m instead of 4x70m strides, then walked/slow jogged to the next 100m mark for recovery. I used the manual lap button on my watch, which sometimes I wasn't quick enough to press.

4x100m splits-  0:18.5, 0:21.5, 0:24.1, 0:21.1  (all but one sub-5/mi pace!)
These were short enough that they didn't feel too bad.

2x200m splits-  0:36.6, 0:38.5 (both sub-5/mi)
... oops, too fast. These were supposed to be at 800m pace (goal mile pace -20s, so 5:30-5:40/mi). Clearly I need to work on my pacing by feel. I definitely could feel my quads yelling at my towards the end of both of these.

I stopped my watch and rested for a bit... actually felt myself getting nervous!

I finally decided it was time to just go for it... so off I went... and within the first 100m I felt "off", like I'd hit a wall and red-lined... so I backed off, hoping I could recover then pick things back up to finish strong.

Nope.

Goal time: 2:45-2:50 (
Actual time: 3:09... that's a 6:18 mile pace.

womp womp

Clearly, I have things to learn. But here's what I'm taking away from today:

1) I haven't been on a track since 8th grade. i.e. I have NO clue how to effectively run on a track. Now that I've actually been here, I will feel much better going back.

Exhibit A: 8th Grade Track Team

2) It's hot. I'm not acclimated like I should be, and I need to force myself to do a few easy miles in the heat occasionally to help that.
3) I need work on pacing myself... that's the challenge with short distances. There's so little room for error and adjustment. Things don't "average out" like they do on longer runs.

The positive thing I'm taking away is that I have to push really hard to feel like I'm running fast enough for this goal time... so really, my goal pace doesn't feel as fast to me as I think it should. This seems like a good thing.

Anyway, a learning experience for sure.

I'll be back!

Thursday
Planned: tempo + interval
10-20 min WU
10 min tempo / 5-10 min rest
4x400m mile pace / 90s recovery
10-15 min CD

Did: rest

Hard track workout yesterday, and a weekend full of mountain biking ahead... yep, time for a rest day.

Friday
Planned: maybe mountain bike?
Did: 13.5 mi mountain biking
We got up to Tsali mid-afternoon, set up camp, and then decided to go out on a preview ride of the course for tomorrow's event.

Home Sweet Tent

Took a leisurely pace and included an extra 2-ish mile loop to an overlook point which was really pretty.

Overlook views

We also got caught in a light rain shower that we thought would blow over, but ended up lasting the remainder of the ride and through the evening. The ride was a good preview, but it made me a little nervous about tackling it multiple times the next day. There were definitely some tough parts! The entire loop we did had a bit over 2,000 ft of climbing.

Saturday
Planned: 12 Hours of Tsali
Did: 20.5 mi mountain biking (2 laps) 

So, the way this race works: our team of 4 people has 12 hours to complete as many loops as possible on the race course (Right Loop, ~10 miles). We rotated off every lap, and each hand-off also included a beer hand-off to the person who just finished their lap. Other teams seemed jealous of this set-up (as they should be). Race started at 9 a.m. and Scott took the first lap.

 

Ready to go & the start "line"

He smoked everybody up the climb and actually finished his loop before the next person was even up at the transition area because he went so fast. We learned!

Our friend Waylon was Rider #2, and he also did a faster-than-predicted lap. Next it was my turn! I pedaled out, which began with a ~2.5-mile climb on a gravel road. Not terribly steep, but enough to definitely get the legs warmed up. Finally getting into the singletrack, the terrain rolls a bit and finishes with a fairly rocky climb up to the one and only turn on the course at about the halfway mark. I felt happy to reach that point because then I knew I had about 5 miles to go. The rain from the day before had mostly dried, except for some ever-present mud puddles along the trail. A few steep sections of climbing more, then saw the 2-mile trail marker, which meant I was 2 miles from the finish line for my loop. Hooray! I was tired, but thankfully the last 2 miles is pretty flat with no major climbs or challenging features. Rolled in and made the hand-off to Jason.

 

One down, more to go!

Went back to camp, ate lunch, hung out, then before I knew it, it was time for loop #2. Right about the time I was expecting Waylon to return from his second loop, dark clouds rolled in and brought wind, thunder, downpour, and a few flashes of lightning. I hesitated leaving for a bit, but seemed like the storm was heading through pretty quickly, so I went ahead. I decided to take it just very slow and steady since the trail had basically turned into a mountain stream. It was ridiculous how much of the trail was completely covered in water... I had no choice but to just keep going through it! At least it wasn't hot, I suppose? I was pretty timid on the downhills due to the slick surface, so my time on the second lap was MUCH slower than the first... not to mention that I was tired. Once the rain finally subsided, I did enjoy splashing through the muddy trail and just having fun. 

Finished!

 

Well-deserved beer. I got a little muddy.

I was happy to be done, and very happy I didn't have to anticipate a 3rd lap (we'd decided to call it after everyone finished 2 laps... it would have been a close call to get in one more lap before the 9pm cut-off). 

Lap 1: 1hr 11min

Lap 2: 1hr 29min

We didn't win the event (not even close) but I think we did have the most fun of any team out there.

Sunday
Planned: long easy run?
Did: lol nope
Rest day. And cleaning the entire house, because everything seems dirty after you've lived in the woods for a weekend.


Week-ending thoughts: Fun weekend, but man I'm tired! Disappointed in the lack of (another) long run but at least I got some solid endurance work in.