CIM Training – Week 8

What a tough week!  It started with the Parks Half Marathon on Sunday.  After that, I took two days easy and got back on schedule with a progression run on Wednesday followed by a long run on Saturday with 8 miles at goal marathon pace (GMP).  Surprisingly, I felt pretty good all week until today’s long run when all the uptempo running caught up with me and the weather turned a little warmer.  I fought hard this week and am hoping next week will feel easier.

The Details

I had to alter the scheduled workouts for Week 8 because I ran a race on Sunday.  I took two days easy after the race and skipped the 5 x 1,000m @ 10K pace workout.  I thought about doing that workout on Wednesday, but decided instead to get back on schedule and do the 10 mile progression run as planned.  After another pair of easy days, I attempted an 18 miler that was supposed to start with 6 miles easy, 8 miles at goal marathon pace, and then end with 4 miles easy.  I came up a little short, but not by much.

I continued to run injury free.  However, after Sunday’s race, I was a little tired and sore.  The weather was fall-like for most of the week but took a turn for the hot and humid on Saturday.

Intervals (13.1 miles @ Half Marathon pace).

In case you missed it, here’s a link to my race report on the Parks Half Marathon.  Part of the tl;dr version was that I ran 1:39:15 (7:40 pace) and that I kept my pace under control for the entire race.   I lost my age group winner title by a LOT, but overall I’m happy with how things went.  Plus, I got a pretty good picture:

Tempo Run (9 Mile Progression Run).
Back to the grind.

For this run, I was supposed to start @ marathon pace plus 70 seconds and then drop 10 seconds/mile each mile thereafter.  The warm-up went well but I felt a little pressed for time so I can’t say I did a good job with the drills and strides.  I started the tempo miles on the Four Mile Run trail and then headed south on the Mount Vernon Trail.  The paces felt pretty easy through about 3 miles.  By the time I was in the low-8:00 pace range, the effort started to feel hard.  I turned around on the trail just before Old Town Alexandria and ran back all the way to National Airport.  I turned around again there, and headed back on Four Mile Run.  By then, I was supposed to hit goal marathon pace, which I did, but only by giving everything I had.  On the last mile, I was supposed to dip below GMP but I just couldn’t do it.  It was only at the end that I realized that I had miscounted and had only done 9 miles!  It was just as well.  I couldn’t do another fast-paced mile.  I did a short cool-down home feeling pretty good about how that went.

Progression run miles: 8:46, 8:34, 8:27, 8:11, 8:06, 7:53, 7:47, 7:40, 7:40.  Average was 8:47.

Long Run (6 miles easy, 8 miles @ goal marathon pace, 4 miles easy).
“What fresh hell is this?“

I woke up feeling great!  I actually couldn’t wait to start this workout.  I ate a little breakfast and headed up the door with great expectations for the run to come.  But the, as soon as I started, I could tell my body didn’t feel right.  the, I noticed the fog.  “What fresh hell is this?”  We don’t usually get fog in Washington, D.C.  I could tell it was affecting my breathing but the 6 easy miles, which were mostly uphill, went well.

The GMP segment started on a small uphill so I knew it would be slow.  Then, there was a mile long downhill that I knew would be fast.  The next mile was on a part of the trail that is pretty unreliable for pace so I just tried to settle in to the pace.  I had another good mile and then I started to fade a bit as I started to feel the winds and a couple of small inclines.  I got a little bit of a second wind when I realized there were only two more miles to go but I was already running as hard as I could so it didn’t sustain me for long.  I was so relieved when that last mile was over.

I rested a bit and then shuffled along.  I was stopping so often that I felt like there was really no point in pretending I was running at “easy” pace.  I jogged and rested off and on.  When my Garmin read 17 miles, I called it a day.

Goal marathon pace miles: 7:52, 7:30, 7:52, 7:49, 7:58, 8:18, 8:08, 8:04.  Average was 7:58.

Other Running-Related Activities

Future Races.  I registered for the Boston Marathon this week.  Yay!  I’m very excited about going back.  I booked my hotel way back in June or July and there’s a shuttle that runs between Boston and Washington, D.C., so logistically, I’m in good shape.  If only I could say the same for CIM.

Song of the Week.  The Distance“,” by Cake.  As I mentioned last week, I started looking for California-themed music for the race.  As it turned out, one of my favorite bands – Cake – is from Sacramento.  So, of course…