April 13th-19th Training

Monday: Day Off. Woke up to pouring rain and had a long day ahead on the road, of which my daughter puked several times in the first hour of the trip.

Tuesday: 6.6 miles (6:27); 10.1 miles with 4xhill blasts (7:10)

Wednesday: 6.3 miles (6:57); 10.7 miles with four mile tempo in 20:00. I was debating skipping this for a nap since I was really worn out and sleepy.  I couldn't tell if it was allergies or a virus creeping in, so I took some Excedrin and a Claritin I found in my medicine drawer that expired over two years ago.  I was feeling a little bit better an hour later, so something worked. Goal was to start at 5:00-5:05ish and work down. Balanced splits ended up being: 4:56, 4:59, 5:04, 5:01. First mile was super easy and afterwards, I thought I was going to average around 4:55.  Second mile was also pretty smooth.  I saw I was slowing down after the turnaround and debated keeping it sub 5:00 but I knew the effort level would be too high, so I ran by feel.  On the last mile, I was starting to hurt and debated kicking it in to break 5:00 but since I went from feeling fresh to worn out so quickly, I just hung on.  I'm surprised the effort level increased so much, while the pace also got slower.  It shows that my 10k/HM fitness is still really rusty/raw and  I need to ease into the extensive stuff through some intervals with rest breaks before working to longer, continuous efforts.

Thursday: 9 miles (6:59); 7 miles (7:06)

Friday: 9.7 miles (6:46); 6.1 miles with 4xstrides (7:25)

Saturday: 8.5 miles with 5k in 15:59 (a little short). My original plan was to run around 10k pace and shoot for a sub 15:00.  But a couple minutes into it, I was on 5:20 pace, so I debated working from 5:00 to 4:40.  After the first mile, I decided to just finish up since I wasn't feeling smooth at all. The course was also hard to run quickly on since there were a lot of turns and dips, with a lot of it being on a sidewalk; 6 miles (7:17)

Sunday: 20 miles (6:16). Started a few hours later than normal because of a continuous downpour but with temps in the low/mid 70s, that also meant things got pretty muggy when the sun came out. First sloppy from the start and after a pit-stop halfway, it turned into my first shirtless run of the year. Felt a little better the second half and kept an easier effort.  I was getting pretty dehydrated, so with two miles to go, I took a drink from the hose that comes straight from the quarry water, so hopefully I don't die.  Felt decent by the end and even broke 6:00 the last mile (my only one) on the last mile, which contains a gradual 1k hill.

Week Total: 100 miles. I always make fun of people who shoot for a 100 mile week because they look at it like some magical number.  But I uploaded my stuff later than normal, so I didn't have a firm idea on my volume.  Your weekly mileage total, rather than an exact goal, should just be the number your see after all your daily runs are added up.  A result or consequence, rather than a concrete goal.

My wife was sick in bed all weekend with strep throat, so hopefully I don't catch it.  The second half of the week, I was insanely sleepy and would go to bed a couple of hours earlier than normal and even had a tender throat for a couple of days, so hopefully that was my body trying to fight it off and coming away with a victory.

I have the Country Music Marathon this weekend and my #1 goal is to win.  My #2 goal is to win and run 2:23:59 to get the second time bonus and goal #3 is to win and run 2:25:59 to get the third time bonus. While I'm hoping to use this as a steady long run and then start more aggressive training at the start of May, I will go to war in this race if I have to.