I have a mix of important races this summer and fun ones. That's not saying the important ones aren't fun, but they're the ones I try the hardest at/focus most on. This week ends in one of the important races- Sailfest 5K on Sunday. I PR'd by one second last year, and it may be my final road 5K of the summer (I'll probably do Schonning but won't be as motivated to run hard as I'll be both in cross country mood then and more focused on the win) so I'm going after a fast time. I ran 16:27 at Rocky Point, but the uphill finish slowed me a little (I think I would've been faster if the uphill was at the beginning), I didn't push it as much as I could have in the final mile, and my GPS split at 5K was 16:10. Of course the official time is what counts, but I'm going for low 16s, possibly even sub-16. Hopefully I'll be closer on distance and not run long like I did at RP (many turns on that course).
Monday: 0.
Tuesday: 11 Miles. 6 Easy in the morning w/Dad in Mystic. Slow and not feeling great starting at a relatively slow pace, but better later in the run. Route was up and down River Road, similar to Tarzan Brown course. Still a little sore from LMR, so waiting to see how I felt throughout the day before deciding how I wanted to run at Stonington Fun Run.
Fun Run in evening. Felt drowsy and weak on way over, no improvement on warm-up. I was actually too weak to do more than 1.4 for warm-up. I had no idea what to do during fun run, so I just ran out at 6:30 pace and settled in with the lead group, who was gradually picking it up. Felt good for half a mile or so, but then got weak again. Felt horrible for the rest of it, nearly feeling like a race effort. I was congratulated like it was an all-out effort as well. I managed to pick it up significantly starting at 6:20 for first mile and taking about 30s off per mile. Happy with the effort, not how it felt. No cool-down for me.
Wednesday: 8 Miles. Usual fun run stuff- 3 mi WU from house/attempt to run 5:30 pace but naturally ran faster/2 Mi easy CD. I slightly changed two things in my warm-up- A) time: I left a little later than usual making it more rushed, and B) location: I did some quieter roads and the shore to pond trail (or at least that's what the segment is called) before heading into busier misquamicut.
Fun Run went very well: my slowest time yet, but first week that it didn't feel crappy. I was convinced that every Westerly Fun Run would feel awful, but I was proven wrong. I felt more relaxed, comfortable, and I did a better job controlling the pace and not going too fast/slow on sections. Similar to last week (1 and 3 mile were same, 2 was slow), but it was more consistent and more what I wanted. It didn't feel great, but I did the same thing as usual and it felt much better. I became less worried about people closing in on me and just tried to do my own run. Fourth consecutive win- I think I'm the first to win that many in a row (or at least in a while).
Mile for cooldown with Muddy and Tom, Mile solo with some beach running.
Thursday: 7 Miles. My coach sent out a remind (messaging system used by teachers and coaches to "remind" students of HW/practice/important announcements) that he was holding track workouts Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was planning on going to this one as I had nothing else planned, but it was cancelled mid-day and instead I decided to look up a workout for 5K training with Sailfest Sunday. Maybe a little late, but it felt like a workout day.
5x1000 w/400m jog recovery at Ninigret bike circuit w/Dad. We did two easy for Warm-Up, temporarily joined by Deerflies for company, before we started. I tried using an interval set-up on my watch for the first time, which ended up being very helpful. It would beep when I need to start the jog or the next interval. I liked it, as it was an easy tool that helped in my workout. I wish I had found it earlier. I screwed it up a little, so Dad took off while I had to adjust it (which is why my runs are separate on Strava). This was to simulate 5K pace, so based off my GPS split of 16:10 at Rocky Point for 5K, I planned out 1K splits ranging from pace needed for 16:00-16:10 (5:08-5:12). Those target 1K splits were 3:11-3:15. The first one felt decent, but a little strange as I was only used to running this fast on tracks or when racing. I started to get tired on 2, 3, and 4 but didn't let up on pace and was able to get through with out too much difficulty. 5 was the tough one. I knew I had one to go, but I was tired before I started, the humidity was high and increasing and I no longer felt strong. I managed to be under on every split- 3:04, 3:06, 3:08, 3:08, 3:06. Difficulty: 4/5. Really happy with this one, and I was surprised I enjoyed it much more on the road than track (maybe because of the longer distance?). Since I was under (and it was humid), I think I have a good shot of breaking 16 or coming close if my GPS distance can match the course distance (I was 3.16 at Rocky Point). I just checked my Garmin activity, and it was 3.11 last year which is a great sign and hopefully I run that again to run as close to my 5K split as possible.
Friday: 13 Miles. I'm trying to do about 50 miles this week, and with only a 5K on sunday (meaning shakeout day before), today was the today I would have to do a long run. It had been quite some time since I had done one (10 miles counts as LR for me). I had done plenty of 8-milers, but no 10-milers since April. I took the opportunity to try out my new Saucony Kinvara 7. They felt very comfortable at first, but after 5 miles my feet hurt and I was uncomfortable for the rest of the run. After 8 miles, I got really weak and it was tough to keep going.
Saturday: 4 Miles. Easy run on local roads, shakeout for Sailfest.
Sunday: 7 Miles. Sailfest 5K +WU/CD. 16:12, new PR, and 2nd OA behind a fast runner who I've seen at the fun runs before. Didn't break 16, but underestimated how tiring the hills would be and mile 2 and 3 were slow. Will do separate write-up.
Weekly Total: 50 Miles
YTD Total: 1,129 Miles
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