Week 15

Week 1 of 3 big ones before taper. It was time to GSD. Unfortunately I was suffering with the lingering effects of a cold, which was mostly just an annoyance with the persistent cough and stuffy head. It didn’t interfere with my week too much, thankfully. Now let’s hope I can stay healthy through to May 15th!

Monday – rest

Tuesday – 24K 15K [2 workouts] – 4 x 1200 at 5KRP and 10K at 103% MRP 5K easy

Change of Plans/Running Errands

lunch: 10.2KM (6.3mi) – 52:07 – 5:07/KM (8:13/mi)
4 x 1200 at 5KRP: 5:13 – 5:13 – 5:12 – 5:06

eve: 5.7KM (3.5mi) – 32:38 – 5:44/KM (9:13/mi)

Wednesday – 13K recovery

Wednesday night I joined the group and it was another beautiful night with lots of people out in shorts and short sleeves. The route wasn’t quite as friendly as I would typically choose for a recovery run, but we kept it nice and slow and the company was excellent as usual.

We had one minor altercation where a disgruntled driver felt the need to honk his horn and yell at the window at us to “get on the sidewalk” even though we were running on a quiet street and sticking to the far left side, out of the way of traffic.

13.1KM (8.1 mi) – 1:17:28 – 5:55/KM (9:31/mi)

Thursday – 16K 24K (2 runs): 4 x 2000 tempo and 10K at 103% MRP

With two workouts for the day, I wanted to spread them out a little more than a lunch run allows, so that meant a 4:30AM wake-up to run my tempo intervals in the morning. I was pretty sleepy, but enjoyed being out in the quiet darkness all by myself. I warmed up extra slowly to give my legs a chance to wake-up, and then it was on to the intervals.

4 x 2000 at tempo pace (goal 4:40/KM) with 500 recoveries.

4:41 – 4:39
4:40 – 4:40
4:39 – 4:39
avg pace 4:40/KM (7:30/mi)

11.3KM (7.0mi) – 1:00:07 – 5:19/KM (8:34/mi)

I hoped that a cold bath after the run would help refresh my legs for their next workout!

After work it was off the clinic where we had MRP to tackle. I was scheduled for 10K at 103% MRP (3% faster than MRP) but the group was only doing 9 and I was already going to be over my planned kilometres for the day so I decided I could cut one.

Target pace: ~5:04/KM

I stuck with a few buddies and we took turns setting the pace, keeping it conversational – until the last one when we decided to blast off and “race” to the finish. I may have cut the workout slightly short, but there was no shortage of overall effort!

Splits: 5:07, 5:07, 5:04, 5:04, 5:07, 5:09, 5:00, 4:43, 4:16 (!!!)
Average pace: 4:58/KM (7:59/mi)

I felt surprisingly good for my second workout of the day, and almost 16 miles total!

14.1KM (8.8mi) – 1:13:37 – 5:13/KM (8:24/mi)

Friday – recovery

I was cold, tired and feeling lazy as I set out for some early morning miles before a 7:30 physio appointment. For some reason I didn’t feel like going far from home so I ended up making myself dizzy running a bunch of tiny loops in our neighborhood – just kept it slow and got it done.

4.5KM (2.8mi) – 28:52 – 6:25/KM (10:19/mi)

Saturday – 5K race

Spring Thaw 5K Race Report

warm-up: 4.0KM (2.5mi) – 23:21 – 5:50/KM (9:24/mi)

race: 5.0KM (3.1mi) – 21:34 – 4:19/KM (6:56/mi)

Sunday – 35K with 18K MRP

Having already completed 4 workouts this week, including a 5K race the day before, I had given myself permission to omit the MRP if I wasn’t feeling it. It was a pretty miserable morning – lots of wind, cold, snowing sideways at the start. (yes, SNOW) The snow eventually cleared up and the sun came out, but the wind was killer.

I ran with my group, adding on a few miles before, and we just cruised through it. I was tired almost the entire time and was happy for the company and no pace pressure. We kept it comfortable and had a quick pit stop that one of our runners had set up at his house – water, gatorade, oranges, gummy bears and cookies! It was so tempting to just stay there and be done with it, but we had 8K to go. I was really happy to finish off my last 35K run of this cycle.

35.0KM (21.75mi) – 3:19:03 – 5:41/KM (9:09/mi)

I was absolutely bagged in the afternoon and had not one but two great naps, only peeling myself off the couch when we needed to get some food. This was a huge week for me, my highest official training week ever so it’s no wonder I was so tired, especially since I was still battling the lingering effects of a cold. I went to bed early last night and had a really good sleep, and am feeling refreshed this morning and ready to tackle another big week.

 

Total Week 15 Mileage: 103 KM (64mi)

Total time: 9:28:48

Average pace: 5:31/KM (8:52/mi)

4 weeks to Mississauga Marathon!