one week stronger

I ran a little bit more this week than I have been running recently. I finished up with around 56 miles for the week, with a couple days of strides and no workouts. I am hoping next week will be my final week of just easy running. I need to check out the schedule, which will be pretty much the same as last year before I got injured.

Canal

The canal is always my secret weapon during base phase. I do a lot of runs on undulating terrain, and as a result my pace tends to be slower on the whole. Every so often I head out to the canal to get a flat run and give myself a better idea as to where I stand. I headed out there today and got in about 9.5 at sub 6:20 pace feeling pretty solid.

Hopefully I will get in 12-13 this weekend and finish up the week in the mid 50s. I still think I am about 2 weeks away from starting tempos.

getting into shape

I am currently somewhere between in and out of shape. You can tell when you are in shape, when you stop worrying about pace on easy days. When you are out of shape and not quite in shape, pace tends to fluctuate between way to fast and embarrassingly slow. 

Yesterdays run was a good example of having to worry about pace, fortunately it showed not in the out of shape way. I ran the first mile in around 6:45, which is actually a quick first mile for me. The second mile was around 6:15, way to fast for an easy run; but nowhere near as bad as the 5:45 for the third mile. I was pretty sure I slowed down after the second mile, but somehow I picked it back up. I had to look at the watch a couple of times because I was pretty certain I read it wrong and had run a 6:45. It is kind of like when you are getting gas and instead of paying $40 to fill up, now you are paying $20 and you have to check to make sure you are using the 93 instead of the 87 or that the pump didnt just stop temporarily. I ended up stopping for a second to slow myself down after the 5:45. 

I finished the run around 6:30 pace with 6x100 at AU.

no speed

I stopped by the AU track to do some strides which I had been hesitant to start because I had some mild groin pain for the past couple of weeks. I ended up doing 4 total and they were pretty pitiful. Granted the wind chill was probably around 10, its still sad to do strides around 5 minute pace.

Workout

I went into today hoping to get an idea where I was after countless 6 and 7 mile runs at just below 7 minute pace. The past couple of weeks have been in the high 40s and this week finished in the exact same range. I started this year in pain from an old injury, had surgery in may, spent the summer building up, got plantar fasciitis, took two weeks off, now am back just shy of 50 miles of easy running.
The goal was to run just under 34 minutes, and if that didnt happen, I would be happy as well as motivated. I started off with my first two miles in exactly 5:30 (good), but was slightly panicking because I was unsure if I would blow up or not, so I tried my best to relax and keep the pace where it was. The next mile was in 5:34 and I still felt really good, but started to give up on the idea of breaking 34 after the slightly slower split. Around 3 and a half, I was given a gift... I was passed by another runner. This event sort of shook me out of my comfort zone and I ended up picking it up and came through 5:29 for the next mile. I was still not expecting to break 34, but at least I stopped slowing down and felt a first wind. At some point in the 5th mile, I finally felt like a runner again and managed to relax and roll to a 5:22? At this point, I felt great all over except I started to feel something coming up from my stomach and had to slow to avoid getting sick. I picked it back up and this time, it made it up to my throat and I barely managed to hold it in*. This time when I settled down, my legs started burning like crazy and I thought my run was about to completely fall apart. I spent about 10 seconds completely falling apart and fortunately came back to life to finish with a 5:21 to complete a 33:53 10k (goal accomplished).
Overall I am really happy with how today went. I never really strained, minus the near throwing up, which is a good sign for the future. I can probably start doing weekly tempos probably two weeks for now, if all goes well.

*This is not the first time this has happened. This usually happens when I am really out of shape and learning my body again. There was one summer (2002) where every time I did a tempo run I would throw up late in the run or at the very end of the run. You can imagine I was quite nervous heading into the first workout of the year that I would get sick in front of all my teammates, but the mysterious vomiting ended when I returned back to school.

Last week

I ended up running 48 miles last week in 6 days, thanks in part to two long runs. You can get away with that kind of stuff early on, when there are no workout and just easy runs. I ran 11 on monday to rush into 13 on saturday as a part of a half marathon race. I am still a little beat up as I ran 6 minute pace on saturday, and I usually run much slower for much shorter distances.

Difficult to Lake Fairfax

Ran from Difficult to Lake Fairfax today and it turned out to be quite the experience. I guess it rained a lot recently and turned the trail into a muddled mess. To give you an idea of just how bad it was, I am going to give a recap of parallel splits(the run was an out and back)
Mile 1/Mile 11: 8:06/7:32
I hate to say it, but the 7:32 was probably the split I was the most proud of the entire run. This was probably the most the difficult mile of all, followed closely by the next mile.
Mile 2/Mile 10: 7:46/7:35
On the way out, I contemplated turning back considering I was just slopping around, and not really getting a run in; but I decided to press on since I was actually having a good time playing in the mud. For those familiar with running in the mud, I should point out that there was a variation of the sticky mud and impossible to gain traction (slippery) mud. Fortunately there wasnt too much of the slippery mud, or I probably would have went a different direction.
Mile 3/Mile 9: 6:40/6:43
This mile provided a false glimmer of hope for the run, as it switched to gravel from the single track that I was on earlier. Pretty much as soon as this mile ended, it switched back over to single track.
Mile 4/Mile 8: 7:04/7:08
This mile was a lot better in terms of traction, but unfortunately (usually fortunately) I ran into some hills which definitely got the best of me at least on the way out.
Mile 5/Mile 7: 7:28/7:06
This mile had a decent amount of gravel, but also a decent amount of elevation change. It turns out that Lake Fairfax is really just one big hill, and the 7:28 shows that. The 7:06 also shows the same thing as the two hills were so steep that I had to gently run down to make sure I didnt kill myself
Mile 6: 6:58
I hopped off the trail and did an out back on the soccer fields at the top of the park to get myself a much needed reprieve from the mud and hills.

Overall, it was a great experience. My legs may not agree in the morning, but its rare to get the chance to play in the mud as you age. I highly recommend it.

11 miles 1:20 (7:17 pace)
Garmin out