The heat is back in San Diego (not that it really left, it just stayed in the 70s for about a week). It’s safe to say that Fall has not arrived and has no intention of doing so. Girls across San Diego are shaking their fists and crying in their bikinis about the lack of boots, scarves and desire to drink Pumpkin Spice lattes. How all of this will affect my training …I’m not sure. Since I’m anticipating race day temps between 40-50 degrees, I’m certainly not training how I’ll be racing, but I’m hopeful that the heat is making me faster and that at some point San Diego will cool off enough to warrant the use of my Lesley Tights.
This week was all about building mileage. I had one key workout but other than that, the rest of the week was miles, miles and miles. I have rarely run more than 50 miles a week in a training cycle, so for me, hitting 50 this week was a big accomplishment! And my legs definitely felt it by the end of the week. My paces in general were slow – all in Zone 2 and “easy” besides the key track workout.
Monday:
6 easy miles with Asia first thing in the morning.
Tuesday:
AM: 50 minutes Club Pilates Level 2
PM: This was supposed to be a track workout. I met up with Mike, Brooke and Amy at UCSD but when we got to the track it was closed due to an event at the school. The sidewalks were full of students so we quickly realized that finding a 1 mile loop on the sidewalk was out. We end up just running 5 miles easy and calling it a night.
Wednesday:
PM: Back to the track for a repeat! The workout was 1.5 mile warm-up and 4 x 1 mile repeats with 1/4 mile jog recovery. I only did one extra 1/4 mile jog cool-down but also walked back to the car for an extra 5-7 minute recovery. I aimed to do the mile repeats between 7-7:15. It wasn’t as hot as when I did the 3 x 1 mile repeats 2 weeks ago, although it was still in the low 70s (it was in the 90s then!) so I figured I could beat my previous mile repeat times. Again, I counted the miles based on the track distance, NOT my Garmin. I did, however, wear my garmin on the left hand this time and it helped with the gap between my watch distance and the track distance (although it was still off). Mile repeats: 7:05, 7:07, 7:07, 7:01 (I really wanted that last one to be in the 6s but barely missed it!). Overall I felt strong on these! The average pace was almost 7 seconds/mile faster than the 3 repeats from 2 weeks ago.
Thursday:
AM: 7 mile run, 3 miles with Allison, Zone 1. I was tired when I woke up. I didn’t finish my track workout til past 7 p.m. and I woke up at 5;20 a.m. for this run. I ran slowly to my friend Allison’s house and then we ran about 3 miles together even more slowly (she’s pregnant) together and then I ran home. My legs felt like bricks on this run. It was probably too soon to run after the track workout but since I ran so slow I figured it didn’t do any damage.
Friday:
Lunchtime Club Pilates Level 2.5 . Tough as always!
Saturday:
18 mile long run. Saturday was supposed to be the hottest day of the week, yet we still didn’t start our run til nearly 8 a.m. Mike and I drove one of the cars to La Jolla and parked it 18 miles away from our house in Encinitas. We then ran all the way home! We’ve done this a few times in the past and it’s definitely a cool way to do a long run. The only part that sucks is the fact that you have to drive 18 miles twice! Plus the fact that you have to climb up the backside of Torrey Pines and back over.
Brooke met up with us around mile 6 and she and I ran 12 miles together. Mike stayed with us for about 2 miles before taking off ahead. My legs felt heavy as soon as I started to run. I knew it’d be a long 18 miles and it was. It took me 3 hours (not including breaks!) which is exactly a 10 minute mile. It was sunny and in the 80s and the course had 1,800 feet of climbing, so I’m not beating myself up too much about the pace. I kept it slow on purpose and the point of the run was to get in the distance, not break land speed records. The good part about this run was that my legs were fatigued but toward the end of the run they weren’t much worse off than at the beginning. I think I’ll take that as a good sign! We literally finished the run in the ocean which was nice. Brooke and I even mustered enough energy for a corny photo.
Sunday:
I wanted to hit 50 miles for the week (I was supposed to run more this week but the track workout mix up took some miles off weekday mileage) so I made my run on Sunday an even 7 miles. I ran with Asia and my legs weren’t as heavy as I would have expected. It was another slow one though.
A Note on Self Coaching Using the Heart Rate Method
The one thing about self-coaching is that sometimes you aren’t exactly sure what is best. Last week I had 2 key workouts – the ladder intervals and the 16 mile long run with fartlek intervals and fast finish. This week, I was tired, but had a good key workout with the 4 x 1 mile repeats. However, the rest of my runs were all pretty slow – part of me wonders if they were too slow!? It’s so hard to know. I haven’t been wearing my HR monitor as much lately since I feel like I can gauge my HR easily for Zone 2 (I know all of these runs were Zone 1-2 and not Zone 3), but I do know when I was wearing it, usually my Zone 2 runs were more toward the bottom/middle of Zone 2 as compared to the top. I think it’s because I’ve been running with friends so much lately that I don’t focus on the pace. I just run easy – maybe too easy? I’ve also heard you can never run your easy runs too easy! So I’m pretty sure I’m doing just fine.
Without a coach, I look toward others training to validate my own and not many people out there are trying to BQ and running easy runs in the 10 min/mile range. But I also know a lot of people don’t use the HR method. I think what I need to do is start wearing my HR monitor more and do some solo Zone 2 runs and see what pace I can do at the top of Zone 2. I can compare that to what I used to run in Zone 2 and figure out if I’m improving by doing so much slow running! More on that to come!
Weekly Totals:
- Total Miles Run: 50
- Total Hours Strength Training: 1.66
- Total Time: 10 hours
Are you enjoying Fall weather? How fast do you run your “easy” runs compared to goal pace?
Wtg, awesome week! I won’t hit 50 miles until next week, so if it makes you feel better, you are at least a week ahead of me! I think your HR stuff is super interesting. I do have a coach and he is always raisin his eyebrows at the paces i run on “easy” days. As in, I think he thinks I’m running too fast. But I do most of my easy days pushing a double stroller, so I don’t have the foggiest idea how to gauge if I’m going too fast. I bet a HR monitor would help!! But at the same time, I’m happy with the results I’ve gotten so far, so I’m not too motivated to change anything just yet. But I like what you are doing, so I’m keeping it all in mind.
Btw, my recent 10k says that a BQ is doable for me, but I’m nervous to put that goal out there. I can’t decide if I need to mentally be thinking of a certain time, or if I just need to race my butt off and see where I land. I believe I can do it… Kinda. Lol. So wushu washy.
Okay, well, this was the worlds longest comment, I apologize.
Great week, keep it up!
Oh gee, so many typos. Must stop commenting from phone! Or at least pay better attention when I do!
I think running the race with the goal to run your best effort is always better than a time goal. The first time I tried to qualify for Boston I still finished strong with a PR and I was proud and happy. The second time I mentally gave up halfway and jogged to the finish knowing I wouldn’t qualify regardless. That race was much harder to swallow after and I was disappointed in how I handled it. If you make the goal to follow your plan, have fun and push hard when the going gets tough, I think you’ll be happy no matter what happens (and who knows also get that BQ!!)
I’m no coach so this is just experience talking. I think “easy” should mean easy effort. In my book that’s a pace I don’t have to think about. It also means it can be a different pace on different days. You usually run easy for one of 2 reasons. The first is recovery. You are tired from some previous workout and running slow helps blood circulation and recovery. The second reason is all about endurance. And the thing is you don’t want to go at race pace because you’ll be comprising the next quality workout. That next quality workout (threshold, track or perhaps fartlek) is where you’re teaching your body to go faster for longer and where pace matters. You can’t give it your all if you are tired from all your fast “easy” runs. That’s my 2 cents and I’m sticking to it.
I think you’re right! Sometimes I just need to hear it from others. My key workouts are what matter and running the non key ones anything but easy would be hurting not helping! This is why I don’t use Daily Mile because I don’t want every run to be a competition (and for me it would be).
Your training looks great to me! I love that you are still fitting in strength. I just got a new coach for running so I’m hopeful I can get back to my pre-ironman running self. I felt so slow during this training. Anywho, great running and I love your fun photo!
Thanks! Are you thinking spring marathon? All that ironman endurance will help and you’ll get the speed back quickly!
I am interested in this heart rate training thing, but can not figure out how to apply it to a generic plan or hwo to utilize it for speedwork I’m lost! I can’t afford a coach either :/ So how do you decide plans/zones for your runs?
For speed work I use pace, not heart rate. I use zone 2 for long runs and base building runs and zone 1 for recovery runs (which is 1 time a week and more the week pre and post race). I am somewhat comfortable coaching myself using HR since I had a coach who used it earlier this year so I’m just going off what she had me do. Basically the biggest difference is just to slow down during all the non key workouts and build up mitochondria (which are necessary for endurance building but you don’t build when you run fast) and then during speed work you make those mitochondria stronger. Training in zone 3 basically doesn’t help you much so you have to train in more extremes. Email me if you want more help! Nwoyski@gmail.com
Congrats on a 50mile week- that’s no joke! Your 18 miler must’ve been gorgeous the entire way!
Haha- I had to laugh at your intro paragraph about girls in California. It’s still nice here, but soon I’ll be cursing wearing tights and boots when it takes over for six months 🙂
By the way, I think the heat training will help. When you run in cooler temps on race day, it’ll feel that much easier!
I like the warm weather but I am getting sick of my summer clothing! I don’t mind it unless its like 90 degrees – then I complain!