Week Ending 2/2/2014

This week I finally felt like I was getting back into some real running. I did not end up with a much higher total than previous weeks, but the miles I did get in were higher quality (at least somewhat). I added in two more specific workouts, the long run and the hill workout, and this week hope to add a tempo(ish) run to that. Without further ado:

Monday: Off due to frigid weather. 

Tuesday: 2 miles, 15 minutes. And I would not have gone even that far had I not needed to drop off my rent at a nearby blue box. It was again frigid. While the thermometer said zero, it felt far colder than that with a 15-20mph wind blowing the whole time. But I got out!

Wednesday: 5.5 miles, 43 minutes. 4x400m hill repeats up Ramsey Hill in Saint Paul. This hill has roughly 125 feet of gain over about 400 meters, making it a 10% grade. Hills came in at 1:41, 1:40, 1:50, and 1:48. Once I hit them all around 1:45 or so, I'll start adding reps until, well, race day I guess.  I hope to make this a regular part of my routine. 

Thursday: 4.5 miles, 39 minutes. Easy effort after the hills the prior day. My legs felt surprisingly good after my first real workout in a while. That is, they felt good until I went to Parkour class that night and spent an hour practicing rolls. This led to:

Friday: Off. 

Saturday: 5 miles, 40 minutes. Another easy effort. I had thought to do a long run, but did not get my act together. This run reminded me that Parkour Soreness does not necessarily translate over to running Soreness. They overlap, but not as much as one might think. 

Sunday: 10 miles, 1:23. Ran down Summit to the river and followed that south on snowy trails for a further 15 minutes before turning around to head back. For the fun of it, I added in a bit of up-tempo running for the last 3.5 miles. The "up-tempo" resulted in a rather slow 7 minute pace. To be fair, I was not gunning it, but I was consciously upping the effort. 

Total: 27 miles.

As I said, I finally felt this past week that I was getting my training into a higher gear. Despite the forced off/short days due to the impressively cold temperatures, and one day off after Parkour, I managed to hit 27 miles. The addition of specific workouts always helps my motivation. My motto so far this year has been "Focus on the process, not the goal." 

What that means to me is that, rather than see ever workout, or missed workout, as an indication of how I will do in my goal race in May, I see each one as part of the overall process of getting in shape. I focus more on what each day brings me rather than worrying about my race so far in the future. Sure, I have a general training plan in mind, and it is getting more focused all the time. But what really matters is getting out the door each day, or taking a rest when necessary. I have pretty much decided that I"ll plan to take Fridays off for the time being, though that may change as my training progresses. If I move Parkour to Wednesday, I may take an off day Thursdays and push the hills to Fridays. 

As I said, it's the process that counts. That way, each step I take at a run is a fulfillment of a minute goal.