Someone told me that May is on record to be Philly’s second hottest May. Ever. I haven’t done any fact checking to see if he’s right but it sure feels like it. We went from really cold to really hot in an instant. Which makes acclimating to the heat a real bitch. It was a wring-the-sweat-outta-your-shorts kinda week.
Monday
9 miles total with 3 x 1600m at 10K effort with 800m recovery (7:42, 7:44, 7:32)
pre-hab
I like doing speed work by effort, rather than pace, for 2 reasons: (1) if it’s hot and humid it’s impossible to maintain your 5K/10K pace from the cool, crisp Fall. Why set yourself up for failure? Instead, stick with effort and you’ll still get the full training benefit. And (2) I don’t know what my current 5K or 10K pace is 🙂 It was a little humid on this run so I kept the effort to 10K. The last repeat felt amazing, for some reason. I was not pushing it and was really surprised by the time.
Tuesday
AM: 7 miles easy (9:25 avg pace)
PM: 3 miles easy (8:50 avg pace)
pre-hab
I usually do two-a-days on Tuesdays. I coach a track workout on Tuesday nights – sometimes I do the workout and sometimes I just stick to an easy run. When you’re coaching or teaching, that’s your focus. Not getting your own workout in. And, come 6:30PM, I’m pretty spent! So I like to add in some extra miles in the morning. My PM run was a little fast – that’s not my standard easy run pace. I got caught up in part of the workout (suicide fartleks!).
Wednesday
Rest day and zoo day!
lions, tigers, and bears
Thursday
AM: 8 miles total with 2 miles at 7:35 (7:40, 7:34)
PM: 1 hour yoga
prehab
Not much to say about this run other than the humidity was creeping up. My shorts were sticking like glue after mile 1. Ick.
Yoga! This was amazing! It’s been way too long since I took yoga and this class was just what I needed. A nice flow class – outdoors (!) – taught by my yogi (and runner) friend Katie. Seriously – how amazing is this view?!
Friday
strength train
I was short on time (Fiona didn’t nap very long) and was feeling a bit run down, so I kept it short and sweet. A few walking lunges, squats, a barre ab video, and some arm exercises. My arms were sore on Saturday so I definitely did enough!
Saturday
13 miles (9:37 avg pace)
Sneaky humidity. It was one of those runs where it felt OK in the beginning and then you get smacked in the face later on. I ran an out-and-back and stopped at the halfway point to text a client and could barely keep my iPhone dry – the sweat was pouring off me. The run back to my car was brutal. I was depleted. I should have kept the pace a lot slower on the way out but instead positive splitted my way back to the car. I was glad to reach 13 miles and be done.
Sunday
1 hour barre
Barre kicked my butt! In all good ways though. I know I say this all the time but barre is the best strength training for runners. I modify most of the leg work since there is always lingering fatigue from running.
Week 1 done! Total weekly mileage was 40 which isn’t much different than pre-marathon training. The intensity was there so I’m fine with it. I’m just hoping for a break in the humidity or acclimation to occur ASAP!
Oh Fiona, she is just the cutest. I think you are just setting yourself up for failure and a confidence killer if you try to do speed work by pace in the heat and humidity! I like to go by effort to in the beginning of a cycle to see where my paces fall when I’m not trying to hit certain numbers, I feel like you can learn a lot about where you are (as opposed to where you think you are or want to be!). Great week! I’m jealous of the yoga – that sounds amazing!
UGH last week was brutal- why did we only get a few weeks of spring this year!? Are you training for the Philly Marathon? I signed up as my first marathon ever- so nervous and excited!