Trying to back in regular training, but still struggling.
Monday: 8 Miles
Short rose with a pretty big group. Spenser and Aidan were tacking on a little extra and I wanted to do a little more, so I hung with them. Unfortunately, Aidan had plans to run pretty fast and I wasn't really planning on that. Banged two uncomfortably fast miles until I decided that it was simply too much and ran solo easy for the remainder.
Tuesday: 6 Miles
Mini-workout with some of the recovering/injured guys. 3 Mile fartlek, 200m on/200m off w/target splits of 40s/50s. It wasn't too hard but it was hot out and I felt pretty tired so none of it was enjoyable. Ons felt pretty relaxed for a workout, offs felt pretty fast for recovery. Difficulty: 2/5.
Wednesday: 6 Miles
Another short workout, this time just with Jamie. 4x1000 @3:10 w/400m jog recovery. Should've been pretty easy, but struggled quite a bit. Felt pretty terrible and was totally dying out there. Just had no energy. Jamie finally dropped on the third one, then I was all done in my first ever incomplete workout. Super discouraging, might be the end of me. Difficulty: 5/5
Thursday: 6 Miles
Had a much better day, 6 miles homecoming loop in the rain with the mid-distance guys (I guess train with mid distance group now because of my leg problems). We went way too fast and I eventually backed off with Nate, but I felt really smooth the whole time at 6:30 pace. Rain felt nice.
Friday: 9 Miles
Pudding hill loop with a huge group, probably 20 guys. I think some split off but still a lot of people. Got extremely tight in my calves for the second mile but fortunately that eventually let up and went to on/off tightness. Mad dash for the town line, which I got but took way too much effort. Probably going to stop going for these. I got tight after that for a little but felt smooth the last mile or so. Okayish run, felt great for half of it, felt terrible for half.
Saturday: 10 Miles
Rockingham recreational rail trail, which goes 28 miles from Newfields to Manchester. We ran about 4 miles of it, incorporating a time interval (they called it a fartlek, but it wasn't really). On sessions were: 1 min/2min/3min/10min/3min/2min/1min with equal rest except for the 10 min which got 3min rest. Was feeling really good on the warm-ups, so I wasn't thrilled that my thighs got insanely heavy once we started to go. Calves never got at all though which was good. It was uncomfortable pushing through such heaviness, but everything else felt great. 1-3 mins were solid but the 10 minute was a bit harder as my quads/hamstrings only increased tension. Difficulty: 3/5. I imagine this would have been pretty easy had I not been so heavy/tight. We went in groups of 4-5, I was with Jamie, James and Andrew. Jamie got mad at me for leading for some reason so I had tuck in the back for some.
Sunday: 7 Miles
Supposed to go to mine falls park for a little meet preview (America East on 10/27 will be held there), but it ended up not working out and we just had late practice in the usual spot. Got put with the mid-distance guys again, looking to go pretty slow for recovery. Felt good for 3 miles cruising along at low 7s but out of nowhere, the guys in the front starting running 6:20s and my legs went to trash after that. Eventually they dropped me for good, which was actually nice as I was finally able to step back and run the pace I wanted (low 7s). Homecoming loop, tacked on woods loop solo. Not bad, but not good either. Definitely hoping to take it easy/feel fresh next week.
Weekly Total: 52 Miles
YTD Total: 1,696 Miles
Weekly Highlight: It felt good to feel normal again on Thursday's rainy run. Definitely not a great week overall, but I feel like things are (very slowly) improving.
Weekly Lowlight: Despite some slight improvement, my track workouts were simply atrocious this week when they should have been easy. It's hard to tell whether my fitness is there or not, but it sure didn't feel like it in those. The rail trail workout was much better in terms of comfort level, but that was the heaviest my legs were all week and it was extremely disruptive during the actual run. While the other runs were awful, they weren't very good either. To sum things up, I'm still seriously struggling to do basic runs and it doesn't bode well for racing next Friday.
I know if I don't break 15:30 at the CCSU mini meet, I'm going to walk away devastated. And unfortunately, it feels like the odds are stacked against me right now. Even worse, there's a good chance I'll be in the JV race as my performances have been far too slow this season to put me in the real top 7. We'll see how next week goes, hoping to finally feel like my normal self again, but if it doesn't, this may very well be the end of the season. I really don't have interest in running another 8K if it's going to be over 26 minutes.
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