Week 17 Down; 16 Weeks to Go

Though I've been lax about logging, I've not been lax about training.

I had a scheduled no-run day on Friday.  I worked the elliptical a bit and did some strength training, working the legs in again.  When I did legs on Wednesday, it really had an effect on my 80-minute "long" run on Thursday.  Even though I felt like I was going at an LSD appropriate pace, I was working pretty hard and feeling it.  I wondered if I should lay off legs on Friday to rest them up for the weekend.  I didn't.

Saturday was Fartlek day. That's my 3rd Fartlek since starting up with Mike's training.  I almost never ran Fartlek's before, preferring intervals and repeats.  This one was supposed to be 10 minutes warmup, followed by 4 cycles of 3 minutes at 5K pace and 1 minute recovery, concluding with a 10 minute cool down jog.  I ran it at Lake Miramar, figuring I'd run to the first mile post in 10 minutes, then run the next two miles doing 3 minutes on a 1 minute off, and then just close out the loop with an easy jog/walk.  I wound up pushing the pace just a bit, doing my warmup mile in 9 minutes, and then covering 2.25 miles in 16 minutes going by the 4x 3-on/1-off drill.  I figure I did the "on" segments at 6:40-6:45 pace and the "off" intervals at 8:30-9:00 pace.

It was a short workout, but it was strenuous.  The fourth repeat was particularly strained.  I'm not really sure I'd call that a true 5K pace if I could barely make it through 2.25 with recovery intervals.  But that's the sort of pace I'd have to sustain if I want to break a 21-minute 5K.

The left ankle felt tender at first, eased up during the run, and then stiffened up again later in the day.  No problems with the calves.

Sunday's assignment was just to run 3 miles at goal marathon pace and then 2 miles at whatever I wanted (faster, slower, same).  I chose to run Lake Miramar again, expecting Mike to be working some of his other runners there.  He wound up not coming since wife Charlene had severe ankle sprain of her own that she decided needed to be x-rayed.

I did pretty much as scheduled.  It didn't take too long to loosen up. I felt I was favoring the ankle the whole run, but the workout wasn't as strenuous as yesterday, so it wasn't a big deal.  Yesterday morning was a little warm, whereas this morning was misty and cool.

If my marathon goal is 3:40:00, then my average pace needs to be 8:23.  My splits today:
Mile 1: 8:20 (4 seconds fast)
Mile 2: 8:17 (7 seconds fast)
Mile 3: 8:04 (20 seconds fast)
Mile 4: 8:08
Mile 5: 8:01

Strange, but I actually felt more relaxed during the last 3 miles when I was running closer to 8-minute miles than I did during the early 8:20 pace miles.

I feel good tonight.  This was one of my lowest mileage weeks, not counting the string of no-run days while trying to restore my calves.  I'm guessing tomorrow will be another no-run recovery day, but I can't wait to see what Mike has in store for me the rest of the week.  With 16 weeks to go 'til Carlsbad, it seems like we need to get cracking on the miles.

Speaking of Carlsbad, I intend on pulling the trigger on registration at the end of this coming week.  I've been waiting to make sure I healthy enough to start making the required effort.  If I wait any longer, I'll risk getting closed out since they're predicting a sell-out by mid-October.  The half marathon might already be sold out.