I'm not going to do a day-by-day recap of my exercises this week, or even a general description of what I did this week. I find it helpful to keep a log while I am training, so that I can look back and see how things went. There's no real need for that, since I'm not really training for anything.
However, I ran about 8.5 miles total in 1 hour 10 minutes. For those of you doing the math at home, that's an 8:15ish pace per mile.
Whut? Who is this person?
This did not happen the last time I came back from an injury or an extended running break. At the beginning of my Boston Marathon training cycle, I was struggling to break 9 minutes.
Part of the speed is that I know I am only going out for a short distance. A little more than 2 miles on average. I can run 2 miles in my sleep. I was purposely pushing it on some of these runs, so that's part of it too. But then factor in the heat and humidity and I should be running slower.
Or maybe I just have enough running experience that I know paces, effort levels, and mental skills well enough to know what's appropriate. Hmm.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Oh hai
No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Just took a planned extended running break. I did not run at all for over 2 months since the Boston Marathon. Even before the marathon, I knew I needed to take a break. You can't run if you break your body.
Oh, I did other things. Spent some quality time with the elliptical. Acquired a spin bike. More strength training. And some extra rest.
I tried to ramp it up too quickly when I was training for Boston. I am not going to repeat that. I got lucky in that when I got injured again, I knew how to back off, had a decent start to my training cycle, and still managed to train. I got even luckier that I did not get injured during the marathon and made it safely to the finish line.
The good news is that my pace is in the range of my spring 2012 training cycle. That was when I ran my 2 BQ marathons, 2 unofficial half marathon PRs (or 3 if racing by yourself on a treadmill counts), and my 5K PR. I did a better job of maintaining my cardiovascular fitness than I did when I was injured last year, so I think that helped.
So far, I am 2 weeks and about 5 miles into my return to running. I am cautiously aiming for a 5K in early August. Other than the 5K, I have nothing on my race calendar. And honestly, I kinda like that.
Oh, I did other things. Spent some quality time with the elliptical. Acquired a spin bike. More strength training. And some extra rest.
I tried to ramp it up too quickly when I was training for Boston. I am not going to repeat that. I got lucky in that when I got injured again, I knew how to back off, had a decent start to my training cycle, and still managed to train. I got even luckier that I did not get injured during the marathon and made it safely to the finish line.
The good news is that my pace is in the range of my spring 2012 training cycle. That was when I ran my 2 BQ marathons, 2 unofficial half marathon PRs (or 3 if racing by yourself on a treadmill counts), and my 5K PR. I did a better job of maintaining my cardiovascular fitness than I did when I was injured last year, so I think that helped.
So far, I am 2 weeks and about 5 miles into my return to running. I am cautiously aiming for a 5K in early August. Other than the 5K, I have nothing on my race calendar. And honestly, I kinda like that.
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