Thursday, August 20, 2009

Wow it's Thursday?!?

This "recovery" week has just flown right on by... I'm more exhausted then typical thanks to some hefty delays to and from Dallas. Also this weeks cross-training felt more difficult than normal but that could be because I haven't done any sort of weights, stationary bike, or elliptical machine for over 2 weeks. But I have to say it felt awesome to use the other muscles!

This week I rand 12 miles on Tuesday before catching my flight to Dallas (chafed and not a fun 2 hour flight in the last row of the plane - yuck) and 9 miles with 4 LT at a 15K pace (8:20 - 8:40). For some reason I thought it would be okay to head out around nearly 10 am for the 12 miles on Tuesday. Oh, that did not feel so good. Not sure what I was thinking?!? But I did it at a much slower pace than expected, but it got done.

Today, I was sooooooooooo not feeling the 9 miles today or any sort of exercise at all. I put it off all day. The morning rain, then the afternoon heat, finally I went out in humid and windy - not ideal but it so rarely is ideal weather in August. I decided to go out 3 easy, then 4 at tempo, and 2 mile cool down. The first 3 miles really hurt. I just kept telling myself I was shaking all the soreness/lactic acid loose and my legs were just holding back from what they really wanted to do. Thinking positive thoughts! I guess it worked. My legs ended up feeling great although I seemed to be struggling for air more than normal. Here's how the 4 at LT went down...

1: 8:38
2: 8:36
3: 8:29
4: 8:21

Woohoo negative splits! I had to stop between 3-4 to fix my waist band water bottle holder and take in some fluids but other than that much better than expected. Plus my cool down 2 miles were faster than expected.

Have you ever felt like you were running super slow then you looked at the garmin and you were running nearly race pace? It's a rarity for me but that was how my last 2 miles went. I started to go with it and the last mile felt amazing!

2 runs left this week, 5 recovery and a 16 mile long run both very doable. And the weather appears to be cooperative this weekend, high in the low 70's!

13 comments:

Kathleen said...

Yes! I always feel sooo slow, especially after getting off of a bike, and find out I'm actually running rather fast..So weird.
Good luck on all of your runs this weekend!

Anonymous said...

Well done. I have had runs when I felt really slow but really was going a a good pace. However, I have had runs where I think I am going fast, but am not:(

Way to get in all those longer runs. Have a nice weekend.

Mark said...

Fantastic splits!! I like the positive thinking!!

Shannon said...

16 miles, how does that not intimidate you?

Way to go!

runner26 said...

i feel like our training is going very similarly ;) nice job on the LT--that one is tough! i'm also hoping for slightly cooler weather this weekend.

Marlene said...

You've had some great runs! Nice work!

Enjoy the weekend.

Jeri said...

Great LT run!!! I love the runs where you feel effortless and are REALLY crusing. Those are the best. :)

kristen said...

What a week girl. You really exectued those tempo miles perfectly. My muscles always feel sleepy the first couople of miles. Sometimes they never wake up, but usually they get the point.

Good luck on your 16 miler this weekend. Here's to perfect long run weather.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

NICE RUN!!!! Now bring on the weekend! Have a great one :)

MCM Mama said...

Nice running! Have a nice 16 miler this weekend!

rodney said...

Good luck this weekend, grasshopper.

X-Country2 said...

Way to get it done! "The weather sucks" is my favorite excuse this time of year.

Aron said...

awesome job on the LT miles girl!! nice negative splits too :) my cool down miles are always pretty fast, you feel like you are crawling but you are not!