Week 6, Day 3

On the schedule, today is supposed to be an easy day. But I decided to go back and do the fartlek workout that was originally scheduled for Monday, the one that I skipped because I did the race on Sunday.

This is supposed to be a sort of easy, recovery week leading up to my trail race on Saturday. But I suspect that the McMillan people do not realize that the trail race is not the same kind of effort that I would put into a fast road 5k, so I don't really need to rest up for it. It will be slower than a 5k, harder in some ways but easier in many others. Don't quite need all the rest.

And plus, it gives me a chance to play around with the GPS watch some more.

The workout is supposed to be a 10-20 minute warmup, then 8-10 times 2 minutes at 5k to 8k effort with 1 minute recoveries, and a ten minute cooldown. 5k to 8k pace right now is theoretically 8:20-8:35.

Had a long dog walk around the park this morning, so did not get out for the run until after 10 am. It's another absolutely gorgeous day. Decided to follow the Broadview Loop/Settle route that has worked out well for these fartlek repeats in previous weeks. When I get some longer intervals, I'll maybe do them around the park or head over to Lunken, because I'll need extended sections where I won't get stopped for traffic. But for this workout, this route is sufficient.

The 20 minute warmup put me back out on Erie approaching the Murray Ave. bike trail. I had  pre-set the watch to show lap time on the main display, and scroll through pace, distance, elapsed time and lap time (unnecessary) on the smaller display. Lap time on the main display worked well, but not so sure about the other scrolling thing. Was irritating to have to look down and then wait or keep looking back until it got to the info i wanted to see, which was mainly pace. So next time maybe just have pace on the small display.

One thing I figured out during this workout, and it took me until half way through the set of intervals to figure it out, is that it is counterproductive to keep looking down at my pace during the intervals to see if i am hitting it or not. It's better to just try to run on perceived effort, the way I normally would, and then find out if I hit the pace or not when I finish the interval.

So, I did 8 intervals, with the one minute recoveries consisting of 30 seconds walking and 30 seconds slow jogging. Four of the intervals were at the appropriate pace. One was too fast, and three were too slow:
1) 8:21
2) 8:42 (not sure what was up with this one)
3) 8:30
4) 8:20
5) 8:24
6) 8:04 (too fast)
7) 9:04 (uphill on Erie)
8) 8:58 (uphill on Erie)

I'm not too concerned about the last two intervals, because those were coming up Erie, and it's supposed to be perceived effort and not actual pace, anyway. But I really couldn't figure out what happened in the second interval. That was when I was still checking my watch/pace every 15 seconds, and I really couldn't figure out why all of a sudden it was reading so slow when I wasn't really going uphill much and I had been struggling, frankly, to hold back during the first interval. I was thinking there was something wrong with the GPS. Maybe I really was going that slow but it sure didn't feel like it. A mystery.

After the last interval ended (at corner of Saybrook/Bellecrest) I just jogged the rest of the way around the neighborhood, with a one minute walk break at the 5 mile point. Final total was 55:01 for 5.3 miles, 10:14 average pace.

I took an ice bath when I got home (felt wonderful!) and had a glass of chocolate milk. Read an interesting article on mental training in Marathon & Beyond while in the ice bath. Talked about the importance of positive self-talk, but also how there is a correct amount of positive self-talk for each individual. For some people, and I think I am one of those people, too much positive self-talk is actually detrimental. And some rare individuals even apparently perform better with negative self-talk. I won't go that far but I think it is important to find a balance. And the self-talk needs to be process-oriented, not focused on the outcome.

Maybe the most important thing, as Tommy always says, is not to think at all. Just do the thing.

Now I'm sitting out on the patio with the dogs, listening to The Marathon Show podcast. Have become somewhat addicted to The Marathon Show. I guess it is no surprise that somebody who looks forward to taking a postrun ice bath is addicted to The Marathon Show.

Sleep? It was around 11 pm when I went to bed, and I woke up a little before 6. Not quite 7 hours. I should have gone to bed a little earlier, but I dozed off on the couch watching the Ironman on NBCSports. I'm feeling a little drowsy today, but not too bad.

I Had Forgotten How Lovely Ice Baths Feel

It's Week 4, Day 1. Today's workout was the Fartlek intervals again, just like last Monday. It's a lovely day, temperatures cooler and less humid, so I got it done outside. Outside is better because I don't baby myself as much as I do on the treadmill. I do the warmup faster, I get some hill running in, and I run the intervals more on perceived effort than some artificial pace that I set on the treadmill.

I went out around 10:30, following a long dog walk around the park. I decided to do a route that covers the Murray Ave. trail, because that would give me a good stretch to get the intervals in without having to stop for traffic. The workout was supposed to be 10-20 minute warmup followed by 8-10 time 2 min at 5k to 8k pace, with 1 minute recovery jogs, followed by a 10 to 20 minute cooldown.

So I did about 20 minutes of warmup, did the intervals as prescribed except for the recoveries I walked 30 seconds, jogged 30 seconds, and then finished up with a bit over 10 minute cooldown. My total time is a little bit approximate because I forgot to start my watch until I got out to Erie Ave., but it was about 57 minutes and I covered 5.77 miles.

The route was out to Erie, down Erie, around the Broadview loop, back out Erie and across to Murray Ave., out to Settle and back, up Erie, and around the neighborhood.

I felt a little gimpy, especially at the start, probably as a result of the weekend of agility and maybe not getting enough sleep. I'm also a little congested and have a slight headache (maybe a sinus thing, or maybe again, just fatigued). But I didn't have any particular problems during the run.

On the intervals, I switched the Nike pace band over to show pace instead of miles, and I just tried to keep it around 8:30. Of course, I went up and down depending on the hills. The route worked out pretty well, because I got around 6 intervals in on Murray, and then finished the last two on the hill, so the cool down was around the neighborhood. The only times I had to stop for traffic were in the beginning when I crossed Erie at Saybrook and when I crossed over to get to Murray.

When I got home, I fixed my glass of chocolate milk and I was ready to sit down with the bag of frozen peas on my left knee. But then I started thinking about how my hips and my thighs really felt stiff also, and decided to take an ice bath. Haven't done that in awhile. So I dumped all the ice out of the ice maker into the tub and filled it up with cold water and hopped in for ten minutes. I had forgotten how great that can feel after a hard effort.

Right now I am sitting outside on the patio with the dogs, because it really is a very lovely day. My head still hurts a little but overall I feel pretty good.