A Small Adjustment
Last night as I was pondering the enormity of today's scheduled workout (18 miles w/embedded Aerobic Power workout) it occurred to me that the aerobic power portion of the workout was only 12k long.
That is less than 10 miles and therefore there is no need to run this workout on such a long day. Unlike Wednesday's aerobic resistance workout that was 13 miles long, this workout did not need to be moved to the normally staid Friday 18 miler. So I moved this workout back to where it belonged: Saturday. Saturday is one of the normal 'hard' days.
I guess I had originally scheduled this workout for Friday because I was following the hard / easy alternating aspect of the plan without thought as to the necessity of combining such a long day with such a hard workout. Easy enough to correct. Instead of Saturday being 10 miles recovery, it is back to being a 'hard' day for this week.
I felt much better when I realized this. It was going to be the equivalent of doing two workouts in one which is not advisable. So every third week when I am faced with an aerobic resistance workout that exceeds 10 miles, I will only put that workout on a longer day and keep the aerobic power workouts where they belong (since they do not exceed 10 miles as far as I am aware).
Scheduled workout: 18 miles easy. Target pace: none. Purpose: Recovery/volume.
Results: 18.6 miles in 2:26:31 (7:53 pace). Avg HR = 135.
I was feeling very good this morning after a good night's sleep. Last night I was so fatigued, I went to bed at 7:45. So my 3am wakeup was no problem and I was out the door even a little early at 4:05am. Generally, I awake at 3:45am and scurry to get out the door. This can make for an unpleasant run if I'm not fully awake.
But today I felt great. In fact, I ran faster than usual. I usually run an 8:5x pace for this workout but today I scooted along. My HR is staying nice and low and I like to see that. My plan was to run 3 x 5.2 mile loop and add one 3 mile loop at the end. I did the prescribed loops with the exception that the 3 mile loop was inserted a little earlier when I caught up to Eric.
He was doing a bunch of the 3 mile loops so I ran one with him and then we parted later when I went off to finish my last 5.2 mile loop. Here are the splits:
5.2 miles 41:27 (7:58 pace)
5.2 miles 39:26 (7:35 pace)
4 miles 35:03 (8:46 pace) - running with Eric
4.2 miles 30:33 (7:16 pace)
I decided to go out a little faster and see where it took me in terms of fatigue and such. Surprisingly, I felt very good and was sort of glad the workout was progressing a little faster than normal. There's nothing like getting home sooner.
At the end of loop #2 I spotted Eric running up ahead and when I caught him I thought I'd run with him. My legs were feeling my pace a little bit so I thought this would be a good time to just settle back and have a chat with a friend. We ran together for 4 miles as the miles slid away in conversation.
When it was time to part company, I was feeling rested up from the nice 4 mile break. So I brought the pace down somewhat to finish out strong. When I finished I was no worse for the wear. Another nice 18 miler. If this keeps up, I'll lose my main workout to complain about.
I didn't fall asleep on my commute this morning either.
That is less than 10 miles and therefore there is no need to run this workout on such a long day. Unlike Wednesday's aerobic resistance workout that was 13 miles long, this workout did not need to be moved to the normally staid Friday 18 miler. So I moved this workout back to where it belonged: Saturday. Saturday is one of the normal 'hard' days.
I guess I had originally scheduled this workout for Friday because I was following the hard / easy alternating aspect of the plan without thought as to the necessity of combining such a long day with such a hard workout. Easy enough to correct. Instead of Saturday being 10 miles recovery, it is back to being a 'hard' day for this week.
I felt much better when I realized this. It was going to be the equivalent of doing two workouts in one which is not advisable. So every third week when I am faced with an aerobic resistance workout that exceeds 10 miles, I will only put that workout on a longer day and keep the aerobic power workouts where they belong (since they do not exceed 10 miles as far as I am aware).
Scheduled workout: 18 miles easy. Target pace: none. Purpose: Recovery/volume.
Results: 18.6 miles in 2:26:31 (7:53 pace). Avg HR = 135.
I was feeling very good this morning after a good night's sleep. Last night I was so fatigued, I went to bed at 7:45. So my 3am wakeup was no problem and I was out the door even a little early at 4:05am. Generally, I awake at 3:45am and scurry to get out the door. This can make for an unpleasant run if I'm not fully awake.
But today I felt great. In fact, I ran faster than usual. I usually run an 8:5x pace for this workout but today I scooted along. My HR is staying nice and low and I like to see that. My plan was to run 3 x 5.2 mile loop and add one 3 mile loop at the end. I did the prescribed loops with the exception that the 3 mile loop was inserted a little earlier when I caught up to Eric.
He was doing a bunch of the 3 mile loops so I ran one with him and then we parted later when I went off to finish my last 5.2 mile loop. Here are the splits:
5.2 miles 41:27 (7:58 pace)
5.2 miles 39:26 (7:35 pace)
4 miles 35:03 (8:46 pace) - running with Eric
4.2 miles 30:33 (7:16 pace)
I decided to go out a little faster and see where it took me in terms of fatigue and such. Surprisingly, I felt very good and was sort of glad the workout was progressing a little faster than normal. There's nothing like getting home sooner.
At the end of loop #2 I spotted Eric running up ahead and when I caught him I thought I'd run with him. My legs were feeling my pace a little bit so I thought this would be a good time to just settle back and have a chat with a friend. We ran together for 4 miles as the miles slid away in conversation.
When it was time to part company, I was feeling rested up from the nice 4 mile break. So I brought the pace down somewhat to finish out strong. When I finished I was no worse for the wear. Another nice 18 miler. If this keeps up, I'll lose my main workout to complain about.
I didn't fall asleep on my commute this morning either.
posted by Andrew at 12:10 PM
2 Comments:
I do admire your ability to change workouts on the spot ans till come up with the perfect solution.
Thanks for your recent comments. Do not apologise for anything you said. When I mentioned the word critical I meant that in a positive way. I can take criticism if it's constructive and helpful.
Glad to hear you made it to work safely. I was driven in by my son today but could barely keep my eyes open all day. Don't go too hard on Saturday.
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