I continue to build up my mileage total. So far, I have gone over the general 10% per week rule, but I do not seem to be suffering for it in any way beyond what I would expect. I have lately added more focused, concentrated workout to me repertoire, trying to inject some speed and turnover back into my legs. My training last year was adequate, it got me through the race, but it did not allow me to truly complete. I had the endurance to get through the race, but not the speed to get through it quickly.
Hopefully the work I am doing this year will change all that. I have a more defined workout schedule for the time being: Sunday is a long run, Monday or Tuesday I do hills or a fartlek depending on how I feel, Wednesday night, at the BRC, tends to get speedy, and Fridayis a tempo run up Flagstaff. This particular week I ended up with a long, up tempo run on Monday, 6 miles at 6:30 pace on Wednesday (except for the section where the wind literally stopped us in our tracks) and a run up Flagstaff on Friday that equaled my best time from my training in the summer.
This morning (Sunday, the beginning of a new week as I'm tracking it for the moment), I decided last-minute to do the entirety of the Mesa trail for my long run. I had no expectations of time, but figured the 14 or so miles would do me some good. The additional detail that I was trying my new screw shoes for the first time made me even less certain about my time.
I felt slow on the way out, and down, to Eldorado Springs. The shoes were working well, minus having to take one screw, which was poking into the ball of my foot, out of the bottom of my shoe. Halfway to Eldorado Springs, I ran into Chris, a guy I've run with a couple times, and have also run into up at Eldora cross country skiing. Had I thought about it earlier, I probably could have run with him instead of on my own.
Despite feeling somewhat sluggish, I hit the South Mesa Trailhead in just over an hour. The 5:30 down the hill to the trailhead probably didn't hurt. Without stopping for my usual break, except to tie my shoes, I turned around and headed back up the hill towards Boulder. At this point, my legs felt surprisingly good, but I consciously kept it pretty easy, this being a long, easy run not a tempo run of any sort.
Thus, I was very surprised to find that I reached my car at 1:58:45.
Now, since the last time I did not carry a watch, I am not sure whether this passes my PR for this trail. But, since I did not have a watch, I can mark this down as my fastest timed attempt (so far) at Mesa.
I think this is some fair evidence that my training schedule is doing its job so far. I have learned in the past year or so quite a bit about my own running. First, I can run a decent trail race without much focused, sharp training.
 | ||||
| The aforementioned marathon. |
Second, I cannot run every day without severe effects on my training. Even with as little as two miles on my low days, the fatigue and minor aches and pains quickly build up to the point where they affect my everyday running and make it significantly less pleasant.
Finally, with more focused training, it appears that I make much more progress than when I simply run the distance. With focus and intelligence, namely the sense to take it easy once in a while, I believe that this year I can make great progress in my running, and just maybe post some decent times.
No comments:
Post a Comment