This week went off the rails in an odd way. This is a partial pull-back week, with most of the tough workouts but with a shorter long run. I was in Washington DC for work this week as part of the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, and this is a week with consistent late nights and meetings and plenty of walking.
Monday: 6 miles. I set out from my hotel at the corner of 10th and H and proceeded southbound to the National Mall. I felt like I was keeping a decent pace, and after passing the Washington Monument and crossing a street, I found a lovely place to run along the reflecting pool. All things must end, and this ended as I passed the Lincoln Memorial and crossed the bridge over the Potomac. Being on the bridge sucked. It was loud- so loud I paused my podcast. There’s not much protection from the drivers through there, either. I follow another runner onto a path heading south along the Potomac. I was far enough from the busy street that I could unpause my podcast, but this path was several feet below road level and was looking straight into headlights. As I continued with the miles clicking away, I saw a bridge in the distance and wondered if I could make it within the next mile… and also wondered if there was a path along the bridge. The path then turned to my right and went under the road I was running along. I came to the conclusion that this was not going to get me to the right place and turned around. I made my way back to the bridge as my watch clicked 6 miles. I continued running back to my hotel as my watch clicked mile 8 after a particularly long delay waiting for a walk light. 8.08 miles in 1:11:10 (8:48 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 4 x 800 intervals. I woke up with some soreness in my quads from yesterday’s run combined with lots of walking at the conference with a backpack that I voluntarily made heavier with a hardback book that was being given to all conference attendees that wanted it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it, but I didn’t want to find out after the opportunity passed. Additionally, I had a 7:00 AM meeting followed by one at 8:00 and another at 10:30. So I ran a recovery 3 miles. 3.52 in 32:03 (9:06 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 3 miles. I was not feeling as rough as I expected for being out late drinking, and was going to a poster session that morning. I also had one pair of non-white socks left to wear with a suit: my purple compression socks. Not wanting to miss a good speedwork session or waste the chance to really need the socks, I set out to the Mall to bust through the intervals I didn’t do yesterday. The goal pace range is 6:32 – 6:53, I ran them in 6:59, 7:02, 7:16, and 7:05… so never in the pace range I wanted to be in. Overall, 5.5 miles in 32:03 (8:24 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 6 at M Pace. I wasn’t going to do two speed days in a row, it seems like that would ensure that the second was less than stellar. So I ran Monday’s 6 mile run workout after making my way home from DC. On the plane, I finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running after seeing my bag loaded on the plane. After getting home and jumping onto a conference call, I went to the park and the subdivision next to it. Ran 6.02 miles in 50:53 (8:27 min/mile pace).
Yup, that’s mine. 
Friday: 8 miles. For the first time this week, the number of miles I ran and the number of miles I planned to run lined up. However, instead of doing an 8 mile long run, I did a 6 mile tempo run (which had a one mile warm-up and one mile cool-down). Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. The M pace portion was at 7:49 min/mile, comfortably within the 7:33 – 7:53 goal range. Overall, 8 miles in 1:04:39 (8:05 min/mile pace).
Saturday: 3 miles. Ran 3 recovery miles around the neighborhood. I didn’t feel particularly fast, but my watch said otherwise. 3.32 in 28:39 (8:38 min/mile). In fact, even my first mile (which is normally on the slow side) was below 9:00… by 0.9 seconds!
That’s the week. I did everything I set out to do, although not in the order at which I expected to do them. 34 miles, just under 5 hours spent running, and the average pace is faster this week, which could be a fluke brought on by the pull-back week or because I’m starting to unlock some of the training gains from the last two marathon cycles (one can dream!). 🍻