Kaiser Half – T minus 7 days! (Week 6)

Hey guys – guess what?  Race day is in less than 7 days!! Here’s what happened this past week:

Tues: Speed endurance + stairs (TAKE ONE).
Workout: warm-up, 6 x 1 mile @ 8:50 with 60 seconds rest, 5 x Cleveland Cascade, cool-down.
Actual splits: 9:10, 8:56, 8:53, 8:59, DNF (did not finish)
I was tired before the run, but I had hoped that the warm-up would magically wake up my legs.  It did not. As it turns out, running and hiking almost 20 miles with 3000′ elevation gain the weekend before really did a number on my legs!  After struggling to run the first mile at 9:10, I decided to forget about the splits and just make it a mental toughness workout.  Unfortunately, in addition to my tired legs, my stomach also wasn’t cooperating, so I nixed the workout after 4 mile repeats.  I decided to try the whole thing again on Thursday after some rest.  This was the first DNF/failed workout of this training cycle, so it was a tough pill to swallow, but I knew it would be smarter to stop and reset instead of pushing myself while fatigued, run with poor form, and possibly risk injury.
6.2 miles @ 9:49/mile

Thurs: Speed endurance + stairs (TAKE TWO).
Workout: warm-up, 6 x 1 mile @ 8:50 with 60 seconds rest, 5 x Cleveland Cascade, cool-down.
Actual splits: 8:52, 8:43, 8:46, 8:58, 9:01, 8:58
After Tuesday’s failed workout, the goal of Thursday’s effort was to just to complete the mile repeats so that I could regain some confidence.  If I could hit the splits – *bonus*.  Also, I realized that I’ve never done more than 4 mile repeats before, so doing 6 would be a new record!  It was indeed a tough workout, and after I completed it, I felt much, much better psychologically.   I also changed up my Cleveland Cascade routine — before this week, I had been jogging up, then down the stairs, and resting for 15-30 seconds at the bottom before jogging up the stairs again.  This week, I decided to walk down the stairs instead of jogging, and used that as my “rest”.  I skipped the 15-30 second break in between intervals, which I think was a better workout – it definitely kept my heart rate up!
7.7 miles @ 9:21/mile + 5x Cleveland Cascade

Sat: Long run @ Lafayette Moraga Trail (paved).
Since I had already run 10 out of 14 miles at or faster than half marathon goal pace (HMGP = 9:09/mile) this week, my intent for Saturday’s long run was to keep the effort easy.  With the help of a gradual downhill on the way back, I ran a negative split and finished feeling strong.  A good, confidence-boosting run leading into race week.
11.5 miles @ 10:09/mile, ~500′ elevation gain

Sun: Yoga.
A perfectly adequate session – a decent workout, but there was something lacking in the instructor’s manner.  I found myself zoning out a bunch of times. 

Total mileage for the week: 25.4
This week was quite a rollercoaster, emotionally and physically.  When my confidence wavered after Tuesday’s failed workout, I reminded myself that, less than 2 weeks ago, I ran 10 miles at 8:47/mile pace.  LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AGO… seems a lot longer than that.  Fortunately, I feel like I’ve recovered and I’m actually pretty excited about racing next Sunday.  Look for a race preview later this week!

Plan for the coming week:
Mon:  Rest.
Tues:  HMGP miles + stairs.
Wed:  Rest.
Thurs:  Timed mile.
Fri:  Easy + strides.
Sat:  Rest.
Sun:  Kaiser Half!

Random photo of the week:

The good news: I got a pizza stone for Christmas. The bad news: we don’t have a pizza peel to transfer the pizza. This is what happens when we just threw the blob of dough, cheese, sauce, and toppings onto the pizza stone.

 

About Jen

Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.

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Tagged with: Cleveland Cascade, confidence, Lafayette-Moraga Trail, mile repeats, yoga
Posted in Training