Sunday, July 31, 2011

Week In Review: July 24 - 30

Running ShoesThis is my weekly training journal. Including it in the blog gives me a little extra accountability in the mileage department & helps me stick to my schedule. :)





Race Week!

Monday: 6 miles easy/moderate. Monday was the test run for my Achilles tendon after having not run at all since the previous Tuesday. Definitely a yellow alert run at first--I was just waiting for the first sign of pain. With the exception of a few little twinges right near the beginning, though, I had a great, pain-free run to the Marina & back (a new route for me, and I think I'm loving it). I probably ran it a little faster than I should have, but I hadn't been out in almost a week so it was tough to stop myself. I was also tempted to go farther; several times I had to remind myself that the purpose of this run was to test the waters, not see how far I could go before I ended up limping again, so I turned around when I still felt good at three miles.

Tuesday: 4 miles (1 warm up, 4 x 5:00 minutes @ 5Kish pace) I say 5Kish because I was running at what felt like 5K effort; it just ended up being faster than usual. I had to remind myself to go easy today -- cut the intervals off if there's significant pain, and forget about adding additional easy miles. This week is all about being healthy enough to race Saturday. I made it through three with just a touch of soreness in my right shin and left Achilles but figured I could get one more in with no problem. The last time I did this workout, my pace was slower and I had to quit after three repeats because of lower leg pain, so I'm calling this a good run. Part of me was tempted to just eek in three or four more easy miles; thankfully, the part that won out was the part that really, really wants a good race this weekend.

Wednesday: 5 miles easy. This was my reward for acting like a sane person at the track on Tuesday and respecting my tendons by not attempting to do extra intervals or run bonus easy miles after. I don't normally run the day before or after a track session, but I've been taking it one day at a time this week & decided that if I felt good Wednesday, a short, easy run would be okay. I ran the same route as Monday to the Marina, but turned around half a mile sooner. A little bit of soreness in my right shin and left Achilles, but nothing too concerning.

Friday: 3 miles (1 mile warm-up + 2 miles @ 10K pace). This is the run I had scheduled for Thursday afternoon; I really wanted to spend Friday resting. Alas, Thursday ended up being busier than I'd anticipated & there just wasn't time, so I got it in as early Friday morning as I could manage. A little soreness in the Achilles & shins, but not too bad. (The real trouble was the four hours I spent shopping on foot in SF later...that was perhaps not the greatest race-eve plan ever.)

Saturday: 6.83 miles (.5 mile warm-up + 6.33 race!) @ Big Bass 10K! Despite arriving half an hour later than I'd planned and finding out the hill in mile 3 was approximately 97 times as steep as I thought, I finished strong, didn't break anything, and even managed to come in 3rd in my age group. Not bad for my first trail race ever! No lower leg issues, and other than some lingering soreness in my quads (gotta love a fast downhill), I feel pretty darn good. Full race report in a bit. :)

Grand Total: 24.83 miles

Phew. What a week. Taking the next few days off (at least until my new shoes arrive) to give my lower legs a break. Then back to business -- only four weeks until Summer Breeze 10K!

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