Post #10 | 2 Weeks ~ Monday, May 18th – May 24 || Monday, May 25th – May 31st

The week of May 18th through May 24 was a good training week. I was dying to start feeling good and feeling like I was having some solid workouts, and thankfully, that happened.  I also started incorporating strides into my week, a little “un-abusive” speed to help give my legs that poppy/snappy feeling. Here were the two main workouts:

Wednesday – 6x 1 mile on 400m jog on the E.Drive in CP, back and forth on the hilly Healthy Kidney 10k course. Conditions were good, so that played a big role in feeling good and being pleased with the times

Saturday – Long Run 22.5 miles with 3x 2miles @ MP ~6min/mile on 1 mile recovery @ 7min/mile. Once again, conditions were good, and had company for the workout with training partners Brad Weiss and Jim McQuade, a couple of 2:3X marathoners.  We hit our splits - it was challenging but manageable.  I look forward to repeating this workout with a slight change in variables – either quickening the recovery pace to 6:30-45 or shortening the duration to .5 mile instead of a full mile. But perhaps not until increasing the rep count to 7 and feeling like I mastered the workout.  

Here are all the details:

M – AM Easy 6 miles plus 4 strides PM Easy 4 miles Total – 10 miles

T – Comfortable 4 loops CW of Harlem Hills ~6:50-7min pace Total - 14.25 miles

W – Intervals Downhill, Uphill, Flat E.Drive 6x 1 mile on 400j ~2:30: 5:33DH, :48UH, :25F, :30F, :28,DH 6:01UH Total – 12 miles

T – Easy 8.6 miles

F – AM Easy 5.4 PM Easy 4.8 Total – 10.3 miles

S – Long Run 22.5 miles w/ 3x (2mi @ MP ~6min/mile on 1mi @ 7min/mile | 2hr 45mins 7:24/mile avg.

S – Easy 9.7 miles

TOTAL: 87/week

The week of May 25th through May 31st I planned on training through my 10k race in Central Park.  The hot and humid conditions on Saturday and Sunday really didn’t help matters at all and made it much harder than it had to be.  I felt comfortable the first 2-3 miles of the race purposely running what felt like HM pace, with the plan to pick it up the last 2 miles with the favorable downhill course. Thanks to the humidity and my currently inability to gauge proper race effort, without warning and in a flash, I went from comfortable to bonky between mile 3-4. The rest of the ‘race’ I bargained with myself about how  slowly I could run and still feel OK with the result.  Not exactly the race experience I wanted, but I’m glad I was out there getting it in. Sunday’s long run in the humidity was rough, with the 90th mile of the week being ridiculous. 

M – AM Easy 10.2 miles PM Easy 5.6 miles plus 6 strides

T – Easy 6 miles

W – Hills – 3x Harlem Hills CW Hard uphill, Easy downhill Total – 10.9 miles

T – Mid-week Medium Long Run MDR Easy 13.6 miles

F – Easy 11 miles plus 5 strides (some with Mutai & Kipsang)

S – RACE Healthy Kidney 10k Hot & Humid 37:21 | 6:01/mile | 37th overall

S – Long Run Hot & Humid Easy 19.2 miles w/ Alex Arslan | 2:27 – 7:41/mile avg.

TOTAL: 90.2 / week