CIM Training – Week 6

Things really escalated quickly this week!  Overall mileage hit 70 miles a week and I had three really hard workouts – 800m intervals, 8 miles at goal marathon pace (GMP), and an 18 mile long run.  How rough was it?  The GMP workout left me with an overwhelming urge to cry 2 hours after it was over!  (It doesn’t take much to make me cry, though.)  But, I told myself I’m still adjusting to the load and paces.  Oh yeah, it’s still hot and humid!  So, all things considered, I’m not quite ready to hit the panic button yet.

The Details

Week 6 was either another transitional phase week or my first week in the threshold phase.  It’s the first week where I had three “something of substance” workouts – an interval workout on Monday, a goal marathon pace (GMP) workout on Wednesday, and a long run on Saturday.  The other days were 6-8 miles easy.  There weren’t any off days.

I continued to run injury free, although when I wasn’t running, I noticed my hips and feet hurt a bit.  The weather was to hot and humid all week.

6 x 800m @ 5K Pace w/400m Recoveries.
JT Running DC – 1, “Baby workouts” – 0.

On Monday, I had an interval workout.  Before leaving the house, I realized there was a math error on the training program.  It listed the total mileage for the day as 8 miles, but by my math it was 10.5 miles.  That’s a pretty big difference!  I decided to just shave a little off the warm-up to bring the total down to 10 miles.

I got to the track, did some form drills and strides, and then started the workout.  Things were going well until the 5th repeat when I found myself mentally breaking down a little.  As motivation, I told myself, “You’ve done harder things than this.”  I thought about how I ran last year’s Marine Corps and New York City marathons back-to-back and how bad I felt.  I thought, “You can’t tell me you’re going to let this little workout beat you”.  (Actually, I may have called it a “baby workout” in my head.)  It helped me dig a little deeper and I finished the last two intervals on pace.  I ran a report in my log and I think this was one of my strongest 800m interval workouts I’ve ever done.  I thought about how important it is to give myself successes so I can build on them when I’m struggling.  (I know someone said this more artfully than I but I’m too lazy to look it up.)

Splits (Garmin): 3:15, 3:16, 3:17, 3:15, 3:17, 3:16.  Recovery times were 2:56 to 3:08.

8 Miles at Goal Marathon Pace.
“Boy, that escalated quickly!”

On Wednesday, I had a tempo workout.  In the days leading up to this workout, I couldn’t help but think, “Boy, that escalated quickly!”  The longest goal marathon pace workout I’d done so far was 5 miles!  The jump to 8 miles seemed a little extreme and confirmed for me that the Hansons were trying to kill me.  Then, I realized Pfitz starts with an 8 mile GMP workout two weeks into the plan.  As I was trying to psych myself up for the workout, I told myself that this is exactly why I switched plans – I need to run more miles at goal marathon pace.

The first mile felt pretty hard but I fought to hit GMP.  By the second mile, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold this pace for 8 miles and started to fade.  The terrain had some very small hills during Mile 3 and I was demoralized by my 8:00+ pace.   I turned around at about 3.5 miles.  That gave me a mental lift but it didn’t make its way down to my legs.  Miles 5 and 6 were a little faster because I found someone on the trail to try to pass.  Mile 7 and 8 were okay.  I just wanted this workout to be over.

I was disappointed but felt better after running a report and realizing this was one of my harder efforts in similar conditions.  Strangely, I felt an overwhelming urge to cry after the workout.  I didn’t but I took it as a sign that I ran it as hard as I could.

Overall pace for GMP: 8:05.

Long Run.
“Boy, that escalated quickly!”, pt. 2

On Saturday, I got up pretty early in an attempt to beat the heat and humidity.  I ate a small breakfast and headed out.  My goal was to just finish 18 miles, which would be the longest run of my training session so far (and the longest I’ve run since this year’s Boston Marathon.)

I felt pretty good during the early miles on the Four Mile Run Trail.  My body felt good and the weather was pleasant compared to the rest of the week.  I stopped just after I made it to the Mount Vernon Trail – about 45 minutes into the run – to switch from a This American Life episode about the Lower 9th Ward and Hurricane Katrina to music.  I felt the urge to run a little harder so I went with it.  When, I reached the Custis Trail 4 miles later, my overall pace was about 8:37.  But, this trail is a pretty much a gradual uphill for about 6 miles.  I struggled a bit but not too bad.  I stopped at the water fountains, refilled, and tried to catch my breath.  At the junction with the W&OD trail, I noticed my overall pace was 8:47.  The next 3-4 miles was flat or downhill, and I actually managed to run at goal long run pace.  Still, I only dropped my overall pace to 8:44 before I started the uphill home.  By then, I felt the full effect of the heat and humidity and didn’t have anything more to give.  I stood under the water fountains near my house at the end of the run hoping this would be the last time I’d feel the need to douse myself to cool down.

Overall pace: 8:50.

Other.  I missed my massage this week because my therapist has apparently decided to go back to school without consulting me.

On a brighter note, I bought some gear at my local running store this week.  It’s for warmer weather, so I’m going to hold off writing about it until the fall.

I also got my first Stridebox this week!

I haven’t tried any of the products, yet.  There are a few things that look interesting but are putting me off because of the flavor – I’m not a big fan of beets or coconuts.  But, I’m telling myself that the whole point of getting this service is to try new things, so I might give them a chance.

And, I continued to feel out my shoes.  I’m becoming less enamored with the Saucony Kinvaras.  They’re a little too soft for longer runs.  Meanwhile, I’ve warmed to the PureFlows as a potential marathon shoe.  In contrast to the Kinvara’s, the ride in them felt a little more solid.  I’m thinking maybe after some more miles they’ll feel even better.

The Week Ahead

Next week, my schedule calls for three workouts again – an interval workout on Monday, a tempo run on Wednesday, and an 18-mile long run on Saturday.  But, I’m planning to modify the schedule so I can run the Parks Half Marathon next Sunday.  I’m not 100% sure what that will look like.

Song of the Week.  I’ve been wanting to integrate music and podcast into my blog but it’s taking me a while to finalize the post.  But, I thought I’d share this song since it came up during the uphill home on one of my easy runs this week and it gave me an extra boost.  It’s such a great rock song for summer, (which is hopefully almost over!)

“I Got You (At the End Of the Century),” by Wilco.

Inspiration.  It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great! – Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.