The miles are going up and I think I'm handling it ok. My calf/ankle "stuff" seems to have plateaued and I'm thinking it's just something that will linger. The extra stretching and pre-run warming up seems to be helping with it. The week seemed to go well overall. Instead of just running the miles I have started my specific workouts.
Tuesday I had an easy 5 miles with the last mile doing strides. With strides you get to run at 90% effort for about 5 seconds or so then slow down to a jog again. From the build up, running hard, to slowing down it takes about 100 meters. I did 5 of those before the final cool down. The enjoyable thing was getting to just let it go and run hard. There are times when the specific mileage and specific paces can really wear on you. These are fun because you get to JUST GO! Instead of strides, maybe I will just start calling them "Go's." I like that.
On Thursday I had a pace run. On those you run a mile warm up and then a specific distance at your marathon (or other race) pace. With my target pace for Philly being 6:51, I'm just rounding to 6:50 for these. This day I had 4 miles to run at pace and then my cool down. The run went pretty well and the pace was comfortable. I found myself maintaining it well and my breathing was steady. It's adding to my confidence that the Sub 3 WILL happen in November.
Sunday was my long run for the week. After watching a good friend run her first race of any long distance (trail half marathon) on Saturday, I was feeling pretty inspired. I really enjoy watching others train and run so much that it just adds to my fire to do the same. Watching the race, what I could watch, was so hard to do because I just wanted to go sign up and join in the fun. My Sunday run started early, at 7:30. I had 15 miles planned and was not as interested in pace as I was getting the miles in, with little pain from my calves and shins. Overall, the run went pretty well. My pace was around 7:35 which is within what my plan calls for. That seems to be the standard pace for most of my program and it is starting to feel like a natural pace for these runs. It was getting rather hot early so I was happy to get the miles in before it got too hot. My legs felt pretty good overall and my feet were surprisingly not sore like they usually are when I do these long runs.
This next week should be interesting. I have the Napa Ragnar this weekend and I plan to train right through it instead of planning a mini taper with some rest. The plan is to run my first 2 legs more conservative and not get too crazy on my last one. We'll see if I can stick to that. I don't want/need to be taking time off to recover next week so it will have to be a must. It should be a blast though! I'm really looking forward to it. Next week's post should be interesting.
Until then, see ya out there....
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