Moving right along…weeks 4 and 5 flew by in the blink of an eye. 5 weeks down, 11 to go.
WEEK 4 – I don’t recall much about this week other than unrelenting humidity on Monday and Tuesday.
Monday
8 miles tempo easy (9:46 avg pace)
pre-hab
Good lord. 91% humidity and I tried to do a GMP tempo run. It was awful. After 2 miles of GMP(ish) pace, I switched to easy running.
Tuesday
4.5 miles ladder workout (1600, 1200, 800, 400) with run club
I was all over the place for this run. I was trying to get my own workout in, coach, and we had a little snafu with the track. I think I even cut my recovery short for one of the repeats. The result was a positive split: 1600 (7:25), 1200 (7:42), 800 (8:18!), and 400 (8:00!). Oh, it was humid too 🙂 No more coaching and getting my workout in at the same time!
Wednesday
4.5 miles easy (10:00 avg pace)
Thursday
8 miles with 5 miles at 8:00 pace (8:07, 8:04, 8:03, 8:01, 7:53)
pre-hab
1 hour yoga
Not too shabby! I was pretty pleased with this workout. It made up for my positive splits on Tuesday night!
Friday
Rest. I love rest days.
Saturday
20 miles (9:17 avg pace)
I fueled with Tailwind for the second week in a row and supplemented with some Shot Bloks. I promise a review of Tailwind soon but so far, so good.
Sunday
3 miles recovery with Fiona (Garmin-less)
It was Father’s Day so I brought Fiona along with me to give Matt some time alone. My favorite picture from that day (although Hawk doesn’t look too happy)…
Week 4 mileage = 48
WEEK 5 – I had a come-to-Jesus moment about my GMP this week. Initially I was aiming for 8:20 as my GMP. It’s just not realistic for me right now based on my current fitness. I want to set myself up for success in the Fall and, although this is a bitter (bitter) pill to swallow, my GMP is looking more like 8:30-8:40 pace. Which means PRing in the Fall isn’t likely.
Monday
barre
Did a 45-minute barre blast class which was the perfect amount of shaking and burning.
Tuesday
6 miles easy (Garmin-less)
pre-hab
I was supposed to do another 2-3 miles in the PM but run club was cancelled due to severe storms that rolled through.
Wednesday
8 miles with 4 x 1600 (7:40, 7:36, 7:39, 7:20)
I think the last repeat is a total outlier. It felt the same, effort-wise, as the others so I doubt it was truly 7:20 pace. My legs were heavy – residual soreness from the 20-miler? Or just week 5-shit’s-getting-real fatigue?
Thursday
5 miles easy with Fiona (Garmin-less)
pre-hab
I can assure you this was around 11:00 average pace.
Friday
8 miles with 5 miles at GMP (8:28, 8:18, 8:22, 8:24, 8:25)
pre-hab
You probably can’t tell but I was shooting for 8:20 pace here. This was the come-to-Jesus moment. This felt hard (humidity was also 88%). I wasn’t very kind to myself either. In fact, I was an asshole. Instead of running myself into the ground with unrealistic workouts (and, subsequently, setting myself up for a big, fat bonk on race day), I should instead recognize where I am right now, embrace it, and run with it (literally).
Saturday
13 miles with miles 6 & 7 at GMP (8:30, 8:34), mile 8 easy, miles 9 & 10 at GMP (8:26, 8:30)
This was so-so. Mentally, I wasn’t into it. Physically, it was 91% humidity. (I know, I know. Complaining about the humidity is pointless. It’s summer…I get it. But I feel it’s noteworthy on some days.)
Sunday
Rest!
Week 5 mileage = 40 (cut back week)
I know it’s hard to move your MGP back, but I’m impressed with your honestly and think it will set you up for a better training cycle and race. It can be hard to be that honest with yourself when you want to be somewhere different (as we talked about, I’ve been there!). I couldn’t imagine trying to do a workout while coaching! Way to battle through the humidity 🙂