Getting Back Out There
With the effort put in about 10 days ago in the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, last week was a light week when it came to working out. At least I thought so and I think that is what Coach Lesley had planned as well. Unfortunately I hadn't pulled weeds in awhile and it was starting to get pretty bad. So I figured that I would pull some weeds and then go for my 1st run on Saturday, which was supposed to entail 6 easy miles. Unfortunately once I started, I felt like I had to finish the area I was working on. This led to me being out there for 2 ½ hours. Marc helped a little after he swam, but in the last 30 minutes, my calves and hamstrings were not pleased with me.
I probably should have iced, but didn't and that led to me not doing my run. I opted for the recumbent bike, which probably helped on some level in terms of getting out some soreness. But when I woke up on Sunday, my lower extremities were still unhappy with me. Fortunately a good friend was coming over for a walk around Greenlake and for lunch, so I felt like I could handle that. After lunch, I felt good enough for a light cardio session on the elliptical so the body was feeling a bit better.
I needed to get out there and for whatever reason this past weekend, I wasn't aching to get back out there. Potential burnout? Who knows, but I wasn't pumped to get in a run. This morning, I had to force myself out there and Lesley had an interval run on tap for me which still had me doing 6 miles, but instead of going "easy", I was down for an interval workout. This consisted of 1.0 mile easy, 1.0 mile at an 8:30 minute/pace, and repeat 2 more times with a little cool down. I knew it would be tough because 8:30 was what I averaged in the race, and that was by no means a "comfortable pace". LOL.
It was a very overcast morning, which actually worked out really well because Greenlake was not crowded. It wasn't cold and I was probably overdressed with a long-sleeved t-shirt. The clouds kept people away which meant I didn't have to expend too much energy weaving in and out of folks. The initial mile was easy, and then I shifted into high gear for the 2nd mile. I knew I was running pretty fast but didn't want to check my watch to see how fast because I didn't want to get depressed that I was only something like a ¼ of the way through the sprint mile. By the time I checked about ¾ through the mile, I saw that my pace was around 7:35 which led me to think "oops – Coach is not going to be pleased." I toned it down and finished the 2nd mile at 7:51, which was still very fast.
The 3rd and 5th miles were easy and done in under 9:20 minute/pace. The pace felt easy but I don't know if my heart rate would show that it was easy. Believe me after averaging 8:05 minutes/mile on the sprint/hard miles, the 9:20 pace was very welcomed and felt like I was moving in slow motion. Of course, it seemed like the easy miles went way faster than the hard miles even though theoretically, you're moving quicker in the hard miles – what is up with that? Given that it was warm enough, even with the cloud cover, I was sure to bring a bottle along to hydrate on the easy miles. Good call because with the hard effort, my body needed fluids before I would get home (I learned this one the hard way).
I walked home and stretched a bit, and was happy to get the run in on a day where I wasn't chomping at the bit to get out there. I'm ready to roll on prep for my next race, which will be on flat ground and will most likely have me doing laps around Greenlake again since it's one of the few non-hilly places in Seattle.
And note to self: No yardwork 36 hours prior to a critical run. Fortunately Saturday wasn't supposed to be one of those, but still – lesson learned.
Oh - I'd be remiss if I didn't call out Lesley for being mentioned twice in this month's Runner's World on triathlon training. One article about swimming is online and the other one about cycling isn't on the site yet. Way to go, Coach!