Our hero overlooks the landscape. The weeks have been getting warmer and the miles have been getting longer. In the past is the first triple-double week in the plan. In the distance is a race. A race that hopefully will not be cancelled was postponed due to the Coronavirus.
This week was originally going to have Friday and Saturday flipped due to a trip to Columbus, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus.
Monday: 10 miles. Ran this in the park and neighborhood next to it. It was a warm-ish morning with a nice sunrise. 10.02 miles in 1:29:43 (8:57/mile pace).
Tuesday: 45 minute Tempo Run. Again, ran in the park and the neighborhood next to it. It was a rainy morning and my legs were a little tired and had some issues keeping in the pace range – I wanted to be between 7:17 and 7:33, I ended up at 7:51/mile. Overall, 7.73 miles in 1:03:52 (8:16/mile pace). Finished with strength exercises, although I skipped form drills because of the pouring rain.
Wednesday: 5 miles. Ran this entirely in the park since I started a little later than normal. Around and around and turn around and around and around and turn around… 5.14 miles in 45:50 (8:55/mile pace).
Thursday: 10 miles. Ran this in East Fork to get a change of scenery. This has historically been a difficult (read: slow) route. Had to make a pitstop around 8 miles in due to GI issues (fortunately in a bathroom with soap and running water!). 10.01 miles in 1:33:18 (9:19/mile pace). Skipped both form drills and strengthening because I was running a little late (and strengthening partly because of my 20 mile run tomorrow).
Friday: 20 miles. Got up a little late and ran in the park and the subdivision next to it as the sun came up. It started out at a comfortable temperature that quickly turned windy and chilly. It got so windy at one point that I had to pause the podcast I was listening to. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel. I generally felt better in the second half of this except for the final mile and a half or so, and my splits indicate a minute faster (1:32 and 1:31). Overall, 20.02 in 3:03:05 (9:09/mile pace).
Saturday: 4 miles. At around 6:30 AM, my phone’s alarm said “Get the fuck up!”. My body replied with “shut the everloving fuck up!”. I had to repair a few things on the house – most notably my dryer vent that was starting to be inhabited by birds… which I repaired in ice rain. Because of the toilet paper shortage, I got ahead of the curve with a few bidet attachments that needed installing. Then my car broke down with a dead battery – the resulting trip to the auto parts store was made into two trips because they gave me the incorrect battery the first time. Then I found a screw in my other vehicle’s tire. All-in-all, I never had the chance to run.
Sunday: Rest. Ran 4 miles. After a cooked breakfast and a trip to the grocery store, I decided to get my 4 miles in around the subdivision. 4.07 easy miles in the afternoon in 34:42 (8:32/mile pace).
Overall, 57 miles this week – one of my highest weeks ever.
Coronavirus
A lot of things happened this week related to the virus. I had something typed here, but the situation has been changing so fast that it is difficult to keep track. My goal race, the Flying Pig Marathon, is so far still on. However, they may end up cancelled or was postponed – I’ve said before on Reddit that their choices are likely ‘run afoul of runners’ vs. ‘run afoul of several government agencies and jeopardize the race for several years in the future’.
Next Week
Next week is an easier week thanks to Coach Higdon’s training approach – I have one double-digit run next week (12 miles). I will have some 800m intervals and an M pace run prior to a 12 mile long run.
The late addition to this post is the strikethroughs and this paragraph. I haven’t decided what I’m doing – it sounds like a group may still run the Pig on the actual day… I’m not opposed to that, but I don’t know if I want to do that and then race it again in a few months or what. This week will have a lot of thinking.
See you at the finish line, hopefully virus-free.