NYCM 2013 Training: Week 8 Recap

I already apologize for my absence this last week. I have so much to write about but so little time. School hasn't officially started, but we were able to move into our classrooms last week and cross country practices began. I currently sit at my brand new desk in my awesome new Science room writing this before practice. I hope to finish with enough time to get my own run in before practice begins. So here it goes, a recap of last week's training.

Total Weekly Mileage: 52 Miles

Monday: 6 miles at 7:54 pace
Tom and I had an early flight from VT this morning and met up with friends for lunch who were in town for the day. I got a mile in before XC practice and had to do an additional 5 after. I was starving and so not used to afternoon running. Guess I'll have to retrain myself once the school year starts.

Track Workout Tuesday: 3 x 1600m. 8.73 miles at 7:27 pace. Arm workout.

The speed workouts are getting longer and will soon transition into strength workouts. This week's goal was to do 3 x 1600m intervals at 6:20 pace with a 600 meter jog recovery in between. I woke up exhausted - totally wiped out from vacation and Monday. But I forced myself to get out there, and only woke up after tripping uphill over a brick. Once on the track I felt good and wide awake. Actual splits: 6:24, 6:18, 6:18 

Wednesday: 2.8 miles at 10:00 pace.
This was to be my rest day. I needed it, but had practice with the kids. I am suspecting that this slow running is actually hurting me more than it is providing benefit.

Tempo Thursday: 8.3 miles: 7 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. Total run at 7:19 pace.
As per norm, I didn't do an actual warm up but my first mile was slower than the rest. My poor hamstring started to bother me and looking back I know I should have stopped. There wasn't a need to run fast, especially since I was considering running a 10k on Saturday. But I wanted to train through the race and aim for my ultimate goal, the marathon.

PM Run: 1.7 miles a 10:35.
Another XC run and another run too slow for my legs' liking. I know it might sound wrong to say that it is too slow but I really think there is a specific pace that all of each of us are designed at this moment in time to run. If you run to fast you suffer. If you run to slow, you suffer in a different way. I feel that I am suffering and that my legs are more tired as a result. I also find that the two-a-day runs are not giving me enough time to recover from AM workouts. For some it works, for some it doesn't, but I am experimenting at the moment.

Friday: 3.9 mile run at 7:49 pace 
Knowing that 1) my hamstring was not doing well, 2)I had practice in the afternoon, and 3) that I was already ahead on my weekly mileage, I decided to do a shorter morning run.

PM Run: 3.8 miles at 11:35 pace
See notes above. Pace. Too. Slow. I was the caboose of our team. We brought the kids down to a Starbucks before running back to the start. Sometimes we have to provide a little treat/motivation to keep the kids coming back.

Saturday: 6.71 at 8:03 pace
An easy, beautiful morning run to prep for the 10k on Sunday. By this point I finally knew that I would be racing. Tons of people were at the zoo, which I assume was to see the baby panda that was born. Can someone explain to me why exactly this baby panda is the biggest news of DC? It really looked the those scenes from Anchorman when I ran by!

Sunday Race Day: South Lakes 10K in 41:29 (6:40 pace). 
10.1 miles total for the day including warm up and cool down. 
A full recap of the race will be coming this week. This was my first 10K ever and I achieved my goal of a sub 42. I got 4th overall and 2nd in my age group. Three speedy ladies that took off from the start and I just could never get up to them. I felt way better than expected (minus the hamstring which had a few mini tears during the race) and want to see what I could really accomplish in a 10K second time around.

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This marks my last week of summer vacation without the kids even though I am already back at school. As with last year, I am unsure of what the training will be like in the next few months and hope that I stay healthy. I made some positive changes to my diet and nutrition this summer including eliminating caffeine and having more fruits and vegetables. I'll still continue to update each week with my progress but forgive me if I am a little absent the rest of the time. I tend to put off all blog reading and writing now for the more relaxing weekends.