Week in Review – 6 weeks out!

The last BIG mileage week before Chicago.

This week’s workouts:

110-120 goal miles
Mon: 8 in AM, 6 in PM
Tue: AM: 22 miles with 20 min T, 15 min T, 10 min T, 5 min T. 4 miles in PM. Total mileage 26!
Wed: 8 in AM, 4 in PM
Thur: 8 in AM, 6 in PM
Fri: 16 total: 30 mins MP, 5 min T, 20 min MP, 5 min T
Sat: 16 miles AM
Sun: 20 easy (done as part of Jesse James Days), strength

I can tell I’ve turned a corner this week and am getting stronger and paces are starting to come closer to goal. Yeah! Time to put a rough July and August behind me 🙂

Tuesday’s tempo was the start of that turnaround. I was lucky enough to be paced by Pat on bike and have Craig’s running company. When I arrived, I asked both if I should throw my watch. Pat nodded “Yes” with authority and I knew that’s what I needed to do. Craig also nodded in approval. Two of the most perfect “assistant coaches” :).

The workout went really well, both mentally and physically. For the first time in a while, I was ready from the start of it to HURT. I was actually excited for the epic workout! I had no idea on my pace or how far I was into the workout while running, sans watch. Pat let me know once every 5 minutes passed, and I also heard the beep as a mile would pass, so I had some idea. At about 3 minutes to go with each repeat, I pleaded internally to know how much farther I had – but I’m really glad Pat only gave me a few cues. It’s here where I focus entirely too much on the distance/time left and forget about personal effort. And it’s all about EFFORT. Can I be pushing harder at this point?

Think about it: would it help you to leave the watch at home or trust it to a training partner for your next workout session?

Sometimes I can get too caught up in what my watch says. There are no medals for hitting your times in workouts. It’s all about putting in the effort to make yourself stronger so you can run fast on race day.

Pat asked if I wanted paces after the workout. I asked him, “Do I?” with a smile :). Sometimes it might be best not to know.

Except it was. Paces, backwards to forwards, were: 5:58 for the last 5 mins, 6:13 for 10 mins, 6:14 for 15 mins (uff, my legs were trashed and I couldn’t even fly down the big hill – just trying to stay upright!), 6:01 for the first 20 mins. !!!!! He told me the 6:01 pace and I had to clarify. For the 20 minute segment? Really?!?

I threw my hands in the air and let out a gigantic smile. YESSSSS!!!

Fast forward to Friday’s workout. I was stressing a bit about it since it’s the longest workout I have on my plan and I also didn’t have the help of Pat or Craig. Actually, Pat was available in the afternoon, but it was supposed to be 90+ degrees by then. Luckily for me, Rael was willing to step in on her bike. I am SO grateful.  She coached the entire way (which is ironic, since I write her plans and coach her individually!), which was just AWESOME. I would not have pushed as hard without her.  In fact, I likely would have stopped 20 minutes into the first 30 min segment when my wheels started to come off.

BUT – I finished the entire workout. Not quite the paces I was  hoping for, but I’m happy to report I was either on or only 5-10 seconds slow. Not bad!! Although, I seriously wonder if I can hold this pace for 26.2 miles in 5 weeks. I was lying on the side of the path after the first 30 minute segment trying to catch my breath!

But it’s the first MP workout, and I’ve had a phenomenol start to the week (i.e.first T workout) and it was already really hot/humid when we went which affects me a lot. Please, all of you, start praying that Chicago is 50 degrees! A slight mist might be nice too, but that’s asking for a bit 🙂

Anyway, too long of a post already, but wanted to journal that I am really pumped with how this week has gone! Just 5 weeks to Chicago, 8 to NYC! Yikes!

Photo by Cindy Mohr. The Gustavus Alumni meet was last weekend. I had the chance to hang out with the team during their training camp and talk to them about goal setting and nutrition. Super fun to stay connected to the team. Go Gusties!