"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Monday, March 11, 2013

Training 7 Weeks Out

The past two weeks have been challenging.

Feb 25: 3 in 29. Tired.
Feb 26: 13 in 123 with 6x600 in 2:32 - 200 in 75. First repetition way too fast. Right heel a bit sore toward end.
Feb 27: 6 in 58 with 6 sprints. Okay, but slow.
Feb 28: 10 in 98 with 20 x Indian Mounds Hill. Unintentional slowing.
March 1: 0 (intentional)
March 2: 21 in 3:10. 15 easy, 1.5@7:45, 0.5 easy, 1.5@7:45, 0.5 easy, 0.5@7:45, 1.5 easy. Died at 19.5 miles, then rallied.
March 3: 10 in 96.5 with 10x100m strides
March 4: 6 in 58. A bit tired.
March 5: 15 in 2:12 with first 7 in 53:30. After shoveling. Bad footing (ice and 9" snow pack).
March 6: 6 in 56.5 with 6 sprints
March 7: 5 in 43.5 with 3x800 in 3:24-400. Planned 12 miles with 6 repeats, but was stopped by sudden attack of diarrhea.
March 8: 0 (intentional)
March 9: 21 in 3:03.5. Seven easy, eight at 8:00/mile, 6 slowing (8:17, 8:25, 8:40, 8:46, 9:07, 9:02). Some right heel trouble, right plantar fascia twinge late in run.
March 10: 10 in 92.5 with 10x100m strides. Very stiff at the start. Painful callus on right big toe.

At first glance, this would look like I'm over-training, getting some minor injuries and feeling burned out. These are some very tough weeks of training, especially given that it's being done in poor weather, but I'm "red-lining," staying just this side of doing too much. I know my body well enough to know how it responds and I'm feeling rather positive.

By the way, compare how hard I train to last year's Chippewa 50K winner (here). As of last week, there were 53 men over 50 years old entered in the race, including Brent Smith, who ran 4:14 last year.

1 comment:

Carilyn said...

I tend to spend a lot of time "on the edge," too, Steve, and it works out okay if I make sure to taper well.

Glad to see you training again. It's fun to see what you do.