Some Not-Great Long Runs, Backing Off a Week, and Hitting Last Week Harder

Just over 3 weeks ago was the Raspberry Run 1 Mile. That following week after the race, I skipped my long run (because of the race) and put on some good bike miles.

The following week (starting July 29th), I still wasn't feeling that hot. Still a bit "pooped" all the time. My long run was humid and slow (6:55 overall pace for 11+ miles with the middle 6 miles faster in 6:22 pace - not fast!). My 2 real bike rides that week were just "rides" and no real workouts. My swim was cut short on purpose. And I didn't do any speed work running that week - it was nearly 2 weeks post-race, so I SHOULD have, but I was just feeling heavy and gross all week.

"Productive" training over the last few weeks, even though it started without doing too much.

So finally, I hit the workouts a bit harder last week! It was time after 2 weeks of decent mileage but no real "hard" workouts.

Week of July 29th was easier, but last week (Aug 5th) was harder!

MONDAY, Aug 5: long run and good leg workout. FINALLY A DECENT LONG RUN - the first good long run in 5 weeks (which was my best long run ever, so you could argue that I needed a few weeks to be humbled after that):

- July 8th: A GOOD RUN - best long run ever: 12.03 miles in 1:19:42 (6:39 overall pace) with the middle 6 miles in 35:55 (5:59 pace!).

- July 15th: 11.26 miles in 1:16:40 (6:49 overall pace) cutting "harder" middles miles down to 5 from 6 because I was hashed (at 6:09 pace).

- July 22nd: no long run as the Raspberry Run 1 Mile was the day before, so did some fartleks to pick up the pace on a not-quite-long run and not-quite-easy run later that week on the 26th: 8.42 miles in 58:34 (6:57 pace).

- July 29th: HUMID after a storm, and that gets to me. 11.42 miles in 1:18:59 (6:55 pace) with the middle 6 harder in 38:09 (6:22 pace - YIKES!).

- Aug 5th: FINALLY A GOOD RUN: 12.04 miles in 1:21:10 (6:44 pace) with the middle 6 faster in 36:31 (6:05 pace).

Whew. Needed that "better" run!

TUESDAY, Aug 6th: longer swim and good upper body. The boys had a day camp all week, so I actually biked to my early date with the pool, and then biked BACK to lift weights after getting the boys to camp. Swim splits weren't great, but it was an hour+ workout, so that was good.

WEDNESDAY, Aug 7th: easy run and good legs. I forgot to do core! I didn't really run out of time, but it just slipped my mind. Oh, and the hour of "sports" was playing soccer with Henry on his last day: parents vs. kids! We tied 5-5, and I scored the first goal for the parents against goalie Henry!!

Sweaty boys after 60 mins of working. (Charlie played against me too!)

THURSDAY, Aug 8th: tempo ride, upper body, and a little core to make up for missed core on Wednesday. I'll have more details about these next 3 days in an upcoming post because they were BIG days. This day was my 15 mile "tempo loop" in what might be my 2nd-to-fastest time ever: I was at 21.9 mph (my PR for the entire loop) after climbing Ramsey Hill, but then had the final 4 miles into the wind, and I TRIED to keep that average. But it feel to 21.7 mph by the time I got home.

FRIDAY, Aug 9th: 4x1600 at the track (IN PR TIME) and good legs and core. Again, I'll have more about this in an upcoming post, but I ran 5:32, 5:27, 5:20, and 5:18 for 4x1600 at the track!

SATURDAY, Aug 10th: 48 mile ride and good upper body! LONGEST RIDE IN 15+ YEARS! It was IM 70.3 New Orleans training in March of 2009 that last saw me go more than that! After the boys spent the week at camp, they then spent the weekend at Grandma's house. And being my wife worked, I had no "guilt" being out for a longer ride. So I road hard for 25 miles, and then added on many more miles. I was hashed at mile 39, but still had to get home! I SOOO tried to keep my average at 20.0 mph, but I saw my Garmin tick down to 19.9 mph within a mile from home. Oh well.

Longest Garmin ride: 47.02 officially, but calling it 48.02 because of
the riding around home I did before and after with my Garmin off.

That was a good stretch of 3 days of workouts! A hard tempo ride, some fast track intervals, and then my longest ride in 15 years!

SUNDAY, Aug 11th: just a long walk and some core. Rest day.

This past week was my 3rd biggest week of "intensity" minutes - I had near 1800 once in April and once in May, and last week I had 1,789 (also worth noting that the week 3 weeks ago should have been a bit higher as I was without a Garmin for 2 days):

Let's see if I can keep some intensity up without frying myself!! The TC 10 Mile is just under 8 weeks away now!!