Pull back week! After last week’s 18 miles, this is nice. The schedule for the week includes:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mi + 7 strides | 5 miles | 5 mi + 7 strides | 8 miles M pace | 13 miles |
Monday: form drills and a nice run around the riverfront. Weather wasn’t too bad for shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. 5 miles and 7 strides and some more to round it off for a total of 6 miles in 51:31 (8:35 pace).
Tuesday: Five mile run along the riverfront. It was supposed to be a rainy day (and I was prepared – contacts!), but fortunately no rain. Still decent weather for shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. 5 miles in 44:08 (8:49 pace).
Wednesday: Tough day for a run. It snowed in the wee hours of the morning, so driving in to the office was slow because some of the roads were slick. The running paths were no better – ran very slow around corners and had to control speed. It was windy, actively snowing, and nearly 10F colder than Tuesday. 6 miles in 54:55 (9:09 pace).
Thursday: 8 miles at M pace, which was more like an 8 mile tempo run. It was a cold morning, I was running late, and had to cut down my cool down and cut my post-run stretching and squats because of a conference call at 8:00 AM. 9.05 miles in 1:15:44 (8:22 pace, 8:17 during the M pace portion).
Friday: I ran at lunch on Friday because it was warmer. 13 now seems somewhat short and easily runnable. I left my water bottle at home, so I stayed around the riverfront parks as much as I could. I had intended to make a “detour” across the Suspension Bridge, but it was closed due to damage to the structure from a crash early Wednesday morning. The reason for that detour was to get to a water fountain. When I finally made it to that area 2 miles later, I kept finding fountains that were still shut off for the winter. Since 13 is unlucky, I ran 13.11 in 1:54:44 (8:45 pace).
Weekly total is 39 miles with 5h 41m spent running. When I went home, I made sure both water bottles were cleaned, fitted with “speed caps”, and in my bag to go back to the office in preparation for next Friday’s long run – the first of two 20 mile runs in this training plan, and the rest of the week isn’t easy, either…
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mi + 7 strides | 8 miles | 5 mi + 7 strides | 5 miles M pace | 20 miles |
Cheers!