This week’s training log features a New Year’s Day race, the return of the visiting relative, and a lot of sloggy running. When HPRM#1 advised me to train for the 10K distance, he also said it was going to be difficult. He may even have said “unpleasant” or “hellacious” – something along those lines. This week may have been a bit of a taste of that.
Week of January 5
Monday 12/30/19 – Swim
2450 yards with Snarky Girl. Gross weather, good day for a swim.
Tuesday 12/31/19 – Day before race
4 miles plus 4×20 sec strides
Finally a run that felt really perky! Great last run of the year. Total yearly mileage came to 2272, an absolutely unimaginable number even a year ago. Two successful marathon cycles and no injuries!
Wednesday 1/1/20 – Resolution 5K Race, Colchester, CT, 24:07, First in age group, 4th female
I really wanted to negative split this race and I would have liked to PR, if possible. I sort of negative split (7:42, 7:16, 7:34), but not close to my 5K PR (23:20). Still, I’m happy with how I ran the race. I stayed mentally positive through the whole thing. The course was hillier than I remembered and Aunt Flo showed up 10 minutes before the start. Lovely. On the other hand, last year my foot hurt a ton after this race – this year I didn’t even think about it. Huge win.
Thursday – 8 miles easy, plus weights
This felt like a lot of miles the day after a race, but we’ve got to fit them in somewhere, so here they are. Sloggy.
Friday – 5 miles at 9:10-10:10, 2 miles at 8:00-8:15-8:00, 2 miles at 7:30-7:45, 1 mile at 10:10-9:10
Not even close. Five miles easy with friends were no problem. Then for the next five, I managed one “fast” mile at 8:23 and the others around 9:00 or even slower. My legs felt trashed from the race on Wednesday. Aunt Flo is kicking my ass. Not enough sleep. Too much champagne. Etc. I had a fabulous wine and cheese party in the evening and then closed the door on holiday revelry.
Saturday – 7 miles easy, plus weights
Wine and cheese turn out to be terrible running fuel. Who knew? Speedy Stork joined me for what turned into a drizzly hilly real estate tour.
Sunday – Long run, 12 miles, 4 easy, then 8 at 8:10-8:20 pace, 4×20 sec strides
This run also didn’t go at all to plan. Wind was ridiculous and I was just plain tired. Teacher Runner was with me the whole time so at least I had good company. As she told me several times, “It’s just a run.” Let’s hope things are better next week!
Weekly total: 47 miles