Lucky for me, spring appears to have sprung and I have been able to resume the regular scheduled programming without having to step foot into a gym or onto a treadmill. It is icy but actually pretty avoidable so far, and the biggest difference is the temperature being a bit closer to single digit negatives in the morning time (when I run) which allows for less restrictive layers and more capacity to move and put in harder efforts.
I have been following my heart rate zone/time training fairly diligently. I tend to go over time a bit and I still have yet to run on a Saturday. The Saturday run is a huge mind block for me, but last week I justified it further by noting to myself that I had two or three weeks with only distance and this week had speed work…so I need to ease in. Stupid plan; you’re not the boss of me! Only, the plan kind of is the boss of me and I will try and bump my now regular running four days a week to five starting this weekend. (Do or do not, there is no try…)
The speed work I had last week was very encouraging! The one day was a progression run (which I’ve never technically done before) where you run faster and faster as the run goes on. I was pretty happy with how I was able to hold the zones for the desired time and how fast the pace is at this point. The second speed session was a “race pace efforts” run where I had to hold three 10 minute bouts in high zone 3. I got a bit in my head because “Race Pace” to meet my time goal is 5:15/km (maximum!) and although I was able to push the pace, only two of about ten kilometers run that workout came in at 5:15. But I also knew/know that I’m 7-8 weeks out from race day and that’s pretty decent (especially given the lack of speed-work lately).
Overall the speed sessions were fun and the easy run days felt like a nice break. I got in my head again on Sunday for my long run because I’m used to running a specific distance for a long run and doing it by time felt uncomfortable and “what if the longest run isn’t long enough by race day” and “I don’t like leaving 5km up to last chance” mental blocks. So then I went and decided to adjust my long runs to distance based (still in zone 2). I’d so far been just doing 12km on my long run days and decided on 14km. So I was out running and started thinking about how the plan said 1:45 for that day…and 14km is not 1:45…maybe I should do 1:45…but then what if that’s 18km…oh no! That’s too long for this point…but oh no, I should probably do 1:45…
So anyway; I got all up in my head and kept running past what would have been 14km in order to do 1:45 only to discover that it might potentially land me closer to 18km, which is quite a leap from 12km. So then I did 1:40, which ended up being 16km. And then I got home and realized that the program actually said 1:30! And 1:40 in this coming Sunday and 1:45 is next…so ya, I guess 16km was overkill for now and 14km would have sufficed.
However, I actually felt fine and had not so much as a headache later or any need for a nap! I guess a zone 2 (sometimes I was even in zone 1…I mean I had drank half a bottle of rose the night before and went to bed late) 16km is currently easy for me and that’s a really good sign. Perhaps a Cadbury cream egg is the post race fuel of champions!
Two lessons were learned I suppose; trust the damn plan and you’re fitter than you think currently. Other take-aways so far with HR zone training is that I can push harder than I think I can push. When I’m running “race-pace efforts” in zone 3-4 and holding them for 10 minutes at a time, I defiantly wouldn’t normally push myself that hard. When I have to push more and more in a progression run, I defiantly would fall back (previously) but watching my HR makes me aware that I’m fine. The effort is hard but no where near impossible. (although getting my HR back down to zone 1 after being sustained in zone 4, requires a one minute walk before I can jog in zone 2 again).
Yesterday I felt a slight sore throat and I realized that I cared more about the prospect of missing training than I did about the prospect of missing a day or two of work. I feel like I really want to keep up with these workouts and ice and sickness cannot become a problem. Lately it is starting to get bright by 7:30 am, and that is encouraging for Saturday runs that I have yet to incorporate. (And I am also very ready to convince myself that I need not do the Saturday runs because I am nearly 45 and not used to running 5 days a week…so maybe that’s too much…)
I am currently choosing to just trust the process and know that even though I am not currently able to run any large distance at my desired race pace; I am just under seven weeks away from race day so I not only have time to train/improve, I actually shouldn’t be at that pace yet, that’s why its a goal! Peaking is intended to be for race day…not 7 weeks before it. I just need to not get all up in my head about distance vs. time and what I “should” be doing or how I would normally train. I need to just do the work and let my body adapt to the demands placed upon it….(hoping and assuming that it makes for a race day 5:10-5:15 pace).
Today is another progression run and I have to say that I’ve been excited about it since yesterday. Mondays are now my recovery day and that was nice. The sore throat seems to have subsided (or I’m just really good at denial) and I am minimally sore from my 16km run on Sunday (just some upper back stiffness). It is increasingly icy out there as the temperatures rise and more and more snow runs onto the pavement each day. My street is actually the worst (and just a portion of the street past mine), otherwise its still not horribly unavoidable. (Slowing a fast pace to tip toe over a huge ice patch is annoying but always better than a treadmill!)
Its hard not to want all the results right now. It’s hard to know that you have to just keep doing the stuff that gets you to where you want to be…eventually. But improvements help. It helps to see small victories like improved pace or not being wiped after a long run. I obviously can’t say for sure that I’ll reach my desired goal on race day, but I can manage the day to day pieces that put me in a position to make it much more likely.
Periscopecake 