Today was the 30 km LSD, and it went well. Based on my distance calculations, I should have had a little more S going on - average pace was about 5:20/km, and it would have been better at 5:30 or even 5:45. But I did deliberately slow myself down, more than once, and I was tired at the end. Thank heavens for pace bunnies. My experience has been that I am pretty good at pacing someone, but terrible at pacing myself.
For the record, today's run was somewhere between 30.6 km and 32.7 km. Why the uncertainly? Well, I was planning to run on a 400 m track, but since it was so sunny today, realised that meant about 3 hours of running with no shade. Okay, if it's a race, that's miserable, but suck it up. But for a training run? No way. So instead I ran to the park, and then made up the difference with laps. The question is: how big is a lap? According to a coach timing people there one day last summer, 0.9 km. According to DH's Garmin, on two separate days, 0.827 km and 0.880 km. Who to believe? I choose to be conservative and call it 0.85 km, which gives me total distance for today of 31.2 km. Which I feel very good about.
Physically, I'm tired but not exhausted. A little stiffness and soreness. My right calf is a little sore, which is new, so when I finish here I'll ice it for a while. It's already feeling better than immediately after my run, so I'll take that as a good sign. Hip is okay - making a little noise but nothing beyond what I'm used to after a long run and less than after Around the Bay. All good stuff.
Two more weeks of hard training before the pre-marathon taper. The half marathon next Sunday, and then about 32 km the Sunday after that. At which point it all starts ramping down again. And I've already decided to "cheat" on the mid-week program this week and next, both to make sure I'm fresh from the half, and to make sure I recover from the half. It will be more of a run than an LSD, and I want to do those 32 km in two weeks and feel strong afterwards.
The fact is, I have been running now for so many years that missing a couple of runs isn't going to have a huge impact. That may sound arrogant or too full of myself, but IMHO it's the truth. Obviously you can't train for a marathon by consistently shorting the mid-week distances. But I have done so much mid-week distance since Christmas - preparing for ATB, and then for the half, and now for Ottawa - that I'm not counting on every.last.km to get me through. Far more important - for me - is to make sure that I don't overly stress my hip. It's been good so far, but I just don't have the confidence that I can run hard, hard, hard for the next two weeks and still be saying that.
On that note, tomorrow is a REST day. "Rest" includes a little easy (no hills) time on the stationary bike, a few light weights to work my arms, some ab and hip exercises. NO running, "easy" or otherwise. Then the plan is for 8 km on Tuesday and 8 km on Thursday, no more running until Sunday.
On the bad news front, DH is really having a problem with his calf and can't run at all right now. He was babying it along this week, thinking about maybe some light running this weekend. But last night he sprinted a couple of steps to get the wine we forgot in the house, and it just went on him. Big time pain. He's currently trying to check out what's going on, but he won't be running a half next Sunday. And probably not the 5 K, although he may walk it. Our friend has been sick and doesn't feel ready for the half, which is a real shame since he had such a fantastic time with ATB and I'll bet could have done a 1:30 :(
Wanted to write about personal bests, but would rather ice my calf (to be cautious) and have something cold to drink while reading yesterday's newspaper. Some other time.
For the record, today's run was somewhere between 30.6 km and 32.7 km. Why the uncertainly? Well, I was planning to run on a 400 m track, but since it was so sunny today, realised that meant about 3 hours of running with no shade. Okay, if it's a race, that's miserable, but suck it up. But for a training run? No way. So instead I ran to the park, and then made up the difference with laps. The question is: how big is a lap? According to a coach timing people there one day last summer, 0.9 km. According to DH's Garmin, on two separate days, 0.827 km and 0.880 km. Who to believe? I choose to be conservative and call it 0.85 km, which gives me total distance for today of 31.2 km. Which I feel very good about.
Physically, I'm tired but not exhausted. A little stiffness and soreness. My right calf is a little sore, which is new, so when I finish here I'll ice it for a while. It's already feeling better than immediately after my run, so I'll take that as a good sign. Hip is okay - making a little noise but nothing beyond what I'm used to after a long run and less than after Around the Bay. All good stuff.
Two more weeks of hard training before the pre-marathon taper. The half marathon next Sunday, and then about 32 km the Sunday after that. At which point it all starts ramping down again. And I've already decided to "cheat" on the mid-week program this week and next, both to make sure I'm fresh from the half, and to make sure I recover from the half. It will be more of a run than an LSD, and I want to do those 32 km in two weeks and feel strong afterwards.
The fact is, I have been running now for so many years that missing a couple of runs isn't going to have a huge impact. That may sound arrogant or too full of myself, but IMHO it's the truth. Obviously you can't train for a marathon by consistently shorting the mid-week distances. But I have done so much mid-week distance since Christmas - preparing for ATB, and then for the half, and now for Ottawa - that I'm not counting on every.last.km to get me through. Far more important - for me - is to make sure that I don't overly stress my hip. It's been good so far, but I just don't have the confidence that I can run hard, hard, hard for the next two weeks and still be saying that.
On that note, tomorrow is a REST day. "Rest" includes a little easy (no hills) time on the stationary bike, a few light weights to work my arms, some ab and hip exercises. NO running, "easy" or otherwise. Then the plan is for 8 km on Tuesday and 8 km on Thursday, no more running until Sunday.
On the bad news front, DH is really having a problem with his calf and can't run at all right now. He was babying it along this week, thinking about maybe some light running this weekend. But last night he sprinted a couple of steps to get the wine we forgot in the house, and it just went on him. Big time pain. He's currently trying to check out what's going on, but he won't be running a half next Sunday. And probably not the 5 K, although he may walk it. Our friend has been sick and doesn't feel ready for the half, which is a real shame since he had such a fantastic time with ATB and I'll bet could have done a 1:30 :(
Wanted to write about personal bests, but would rather ice my calf (to be cautious) and have something cold to drink while reading yesterday's newspaper. Some other time.
posted by Jogger Barbie | 6:32 PM
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