A few things, once again, got in the way of a full work out as I had once imagined when I wrote out the base building training plan. For the things that happened, I would say that this was a good, solid week of training.
Monday: 45 minutes with 4 x 30 seconds hard effort intervals
I had a bit of a sore throat when I started the day. (It started coming on Sunday night.) The sore throat did not bother me on this run but would come back to bite me Tuesday. (More on that later.) At the end, the intervals felt hard but not as difficult as they could have been. I think I could have pushed faster and, in fact, I did on Thursday based on what I learned from this run.
Tuesday: 55 minutes rest/recovery
I woke up feeling the sore throat and feeling achey. With the Model UN conference coming up that weekend, I knew that if I pushed through, worked out as normal, went to work as normal, that I would be no good for that conference. I ended up taking the entire day off from both working out and from working. This turned out to be a fantastic decision since I felt completely back to normal Wednesday and throughout the conference. I just hate that I had to miss a day of running. In the long run, it’s not much but when you’re trying to build up your base…
Wednesday: strength training
I felt good throughout this entire workout but neglected to write anything down on the day of so unfortunately, I do not have much to reflect on for this post. However, I did feel lingering soreness (the good kind) on the next couple days which is always a good sign.
Thursday: 50 35 with 4 x 30 seconds hard effort intervals
I felt really strong on this run which we had to run inside thanks to rain. I originally wanted 15 minutes more on the solid run portion but because I had to be at school earlier than normal to leave for the conference, I had to cut it short. (Once again, life got a bit in the way.) I also felt mentally strong which is always a good confidence boost. Even though the internet decided to take the morning off at the gym meaning no Dr. Who distraction, I felt strong throughout. On the hard effort intervals at the end, I pushed the pace and really felt the burn. This was a fun run even though it did not end up being as long as I had previously hoped.
Friday: none – Model UN conference
Saturday: 110 minutes
Although I felt like the cold that started early in the week had decided to go away entirely, it decided to finish running the course Saturday and into Sunday. I woke up with a terrible stuffed up and runny nose. At the same time. Quite odd. At times on this run my nose ran faster than I did. Overall this felt like a solid effort. I enjoyed getting in the miles and even pushed the pace at the end for a fast finish. Without the stuffed nose, I think I could have gotten the average pace under 9 minutes. Mom also needed to walk for a little just before we got to the top of the hill on the Parkway.
With one week of base building left to go, I will admit that these six weeks have not gone how I would have hoped. A couple times I did let myself take it easy but realized what I had done right away. While I did not get in the mileage or specific workouts that I hoped for, I was able to use this time to reflect and learn more about how I train and how life events affect my training. I hope to bring this into San Francisco training which starts the week of Spring Break.