Half way there! With only six more weeks to go before the race, here was my plan for the week:
- 40-minute tempo run + upper body strength training
- Yoga
- 3-mile run + lower body strength training
- 9-mile run
And here’s the reality of the past week:
- Gentle yoga. I had to shuffle around my normal work out schedule this week so that I could have Tuesday evening free, so I ended up doing my yoga on Monday evening. Monday’s are not my best day. I wake up way too early to catch a train back to Bremen, and am usually dragging by the end of the work day — and this week was no exception, plus throw in some extra exhaustion just for fun. So I downgraded my normal yoga workout to something more gentle, but even that wasn’t happening. My head was spinning after a few downward dogs, so I gave up and was in bed by 8:30pm.
- 40-minute tempo run + upper body strength training. Totally kicked my butt, I must say. But I felt great afterwards, despite being a complete sweaty mess.
- 3-mile run + lower body strength training. I was a little worried about back-to-back runs, especially since the previous day’s workout was pretty tough. But like mein Schatz says, sometimes the best recovery after a hard run is an easy run, so I kept it pretty low key. I’m glad that I split up the strength training into two evenings — it really makes the time investment in the evenings more manageable.
- 9-mile run. I don’t know what got into me, but I ran this long run more than a minute-per-mile faster than usual. Maybe it was the warmer temperatures (4C/39F)? Or maybe I just wanted to prove to myself that I can still run longer distances at a faster pace? Normally these planned long runs should be less about speed, and more about putting in the time and building up your body’s endurance over the long haul. But I was feeling good and couldn’t help myself. I must have overdone it though, because I’ve aggravated a (chronic) pinched nerve in my neck. I’m working on scheduling myself a massage, but I may have to lay low this week in terms of training. Boo.
I guess you could say that I experienced some highs and lows last week in terms of training, but I’m generally pretty satisfied with my overall training progress so far. Let’s just hope I can stay on track during the next six weeks!
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I had a similar yoga experience and spent most of class on the mat. Great job on the faster pace for your long run!! Although that sucks about your pinched nerve. Hope you get in for a massage.
Loving these updates — thanks! Just did my second tempo run and am finding it really helpful in gaining both speed and endurance. Now if only I could pull off a 9-miler (and at a minute/mile pace faster! Go you!)… What’s your usual pace, anyway? How has breaking your knee affected that? Would love to hear more about your experiences re-getting into shape :)
@Emily: Yeah, sometimes child’s pose is the best pose of all.
@Courtney: Yay for tempo runs! In my mind, I’m a 10-minute mile kind of girl. In reality these days, I run more like 11-minute miles. Some of that certainly has to do with my knee last year — six weeks of immobilization and several months of physical therapy to relearn how to bend my leg and walk again — meant that I was out of running for at least half a year. I very slowly eased back into running (maybe too slowly, but I had this fear that I would shatter my patella again), and until lately haven’t really gained enough momentum to try to challenge myself. Maybe I’ll post a little bit more specifically on that topic soon. :)
But some of the decrease in pace probably also has to do with age. It doesn’t really make sense to compare myself to the personal records I set 10 years ago. At the same time, I know I’m still capable of so much more, but I just haven’t been pushing myself as hard as I would need to make some gains in speed. That’s why I’ve been implementing some of these speed workouts, so I get out of my jogging comfort zone and increase my overall levels of fitness.
Hope your training is going well too!