Monday: REST
Tuesday: Not a real fun day for me, my quads were still sore from my runs on the SHT over the weekend. We got 3 inches of snow overnight and the plows had not yet been out when I went for my run.
Assignment was 7 miles at 7:45-7:50 pace along with ten minutes of warmup and ten minutes of cool down. Warm up was fine but, I could tell that the snow and wind were going to slow me down. The Pace Run portion was just as unenjoyable as I thought it would be. Garmin and Strava say that I averaged around 7:48, but the truth is that I was actually about 17 seconds per mile slower. Between coughing, stopping to dry heave once and stopping a couple times for major coughs because I just couldn't breathe enough, I added about 2 unrecorded minutes to my time. Run made me feel weak, and I really don't like that!
Wednesday: Plain vanilla, Wednesday was an easy pace road run. Except, I pushed it too hard. 8:44 pace was too fast, especially after yesterday's killer pace run. Epsom salt bath plus tart cherry juice are the order of the day for the evening to help my quads feel better
Thursday: REST Not a bad thing, with 5-8 inches of snow coming tonight and my quads still a little grumpy.
Friday: Well, we definitely got at least 5 inches of fresh powder, with the temp going up, the snow under the powder was softer too, and my running suffered because of it. Where I normally get 5+ miles during my hour trail runs, this one was only 4. Still felt like a solid workout though.
Saturday: Assignment was an Out/Back trail run. Easy run for 90 minutes then turn around and try to make it back to the start in 80 minutes. Run did not go entirely to plan. The new trail I was planning on trying was not groomed at all, and trying even easy pace on it was a no go, so I turned around after only 0.2 miles so I could continue on a trail with some grooming. Other than that, the first 90 minutes weren't bad, decent amount of walking, in respect of the conditions. I made it 6.17 miles before my turn around alert.
--Second half, after the turn around was not so pleasant. The first two miles were uphill on "somewhat groomed" trail, meaning it had been gone over once, but still was VERY soft and I was sliding. Those first 2 miles took about 17 minutes each, REALLY slowing me down. After that, I was able to kale up time on the more groomed trail, sticking to the sides so I wouldn't disrupt the Nordic ski tracks. When I got back to the totally ungroomed trail, I played nice and did that 0.4 miles again, suffering through it. I ended up taking 1:25:45 to get back, so I missed my goal, but still managed to get back in less time than I spent going out. Mixed feelings on the run. I know I put a good effort in, and that was the point, but I missed the goal time, so that's a disappointment. Snow Storm tonight, so tomorrow's run should be "fun"
--Second half, after the turn around was not so pleasant. The first two miles were uphill on "somewhat groomed" trail, meaning it had been gone over once, but still was VERY soft and I was sliding. Those first 2 miles took about 17 minutes each, REALLY slowing me down. After that, I was able to kale up time on the more groomed trail, sticking to the sides so I wouldn't disrupt the Nordic ski tracks. When I got back to the totally ungroomed trail, I played nice and did that 0.4 miles again, suffering through it. I ended up taking 1:25:45 to get back, so I missed my goal, but still managed to get back in less time than I spent going out. Mixed feelings on the run. I know I put a good effort in, and that was the point, but I missed the goal time, so that's a disappointment. Snow Storm tonight, so tomorrow's run should be "fun"
Sunday: One hour of shoveling the 8in of snow off the driveway made for a tired day today. With permission from Coach Jake, today's run was on the road, instead of trail. Pretty happy for that, running in fresh, untouched snow, after clearing the driveway, would have been torture.
--As it turns out, running on somewhat plowed roads was not all that great either. I got in 18.2 miles during mt 3 hour run, but it was a suffer fest. A lot of the road was covered wit snow the consistency of lightly packed sand, and my legs reminded me, loudly, that I had shoveled for an hour this morning.... ugh... at least I got it done.
--As it turns out, running on somewhat plowed roads was not all that great either. I got in 18.2 miles during mt 3 hour run, but it was a suffer fest. A lot of the road was covered wit snow the consistency of lightly packed sand, and my legs reminded me, loudly, that I had shoveled for an hour this morning.... ugh... at least I got it done.
Total Distance: 50.6
Total Time on Feet: 9:11:09
Total Time on Feet: 9:11:09
