The last week of training before Sunday’s race…
- Monday, yoga: A 40-minute yoga practice was just what I needed to stretch out.
- Tuesday, cross-training: Did 8.6 miles in about 30 minutes on the bike at the gym. The days are getting shorter and now it’s pretty much too dark to do anything outside before or after work — so the gym it was!
- Wednesday, speed training: Plan was warm-up, 6 x 400m @ 2:09, and cool-down. I’ve done this 400m workout twice before — once in July and once in August (the distances have, of course, been increasing week to week since then) — and wasn’t able to hit my target pace at all, ever. Now that I’m in my final week of training, I was curious to see what kind of progress I had made. And I rocked it! I had no problem whatsoever hitting 2:06, 2:08, 2:07, 2:07, 2:08, and 2:07. The best part is that it didn’t feel overly difficult at all! I had to hold back a little to make sure I didn’t tire my legs out too much for Sunday. So great to finally see some progress, and it’s a nice motivation booster for the race. Yay!
- Thursday, unplanned rest: An easy 5-miler was planned, but I was feeling particularly under the weather and I couldn’t even muster up the energy even to do yoga.
- Friday, unplanned rest: Woke up with a sore throat and the sniffles. NOOOOOO!!! I can’t get sick now! I’ve been napping, drinking lemon and honey tea, and gargling cayenne pepper like a champ. I’m doing everything I can to kick this thing before Sunday.
Even though it’s only a 10K, I’ve been planning to push myself harder than I ever have at this distance, and I *really* want my body to be feeling good before the race. Before I started feeling the inklings of a cold, my A-goal (i.e., BIG DREAM) for the race was to come in under an hour, which means about a 9:39/mile pace. According to the FIRST pace charts I’ve been using to pace my workouts, I should be able to achieve this goal if everything comes together just right for me (i.e., I’m healthy, well-fueled, well-hydrated, and the weather cooperates). But in case that doesn’t happen, my B-goal would be to finish under 1:01:30. And my C-goal, which I should be able to accomplish (since I hit it during my long run last week), would be to beat my last 10K PR and finish under 1:03:36. The big unknown here, of course, is whether this cold is going to turn into something bigger or not. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to run the race no matter what, but it remains to be seen if I’ll be able to hit any of my time goals. Not exactly ideal circumstances, but I’m going to give it my all anyway! Keep your fingers crossed and your thumbs pressed for me please!
Good luck! I hope your cold clears up. Looking forward to reading the recap.
Oh man!! Hope your cold clears up!! Good luck!! Can’t wait to hear about it.