Today marks one more week of running until I am shut down for 14 days.
On the one hand, I’m excited that I’ll have made it through six of the nine weeks of the training program. On the other… I am not looking forward to no physical activity. Grumble, grumble, whine.
Week 5 was defined as a “recovery week.” The run sessions were shorter, and I took my time with them.
For me, week 5 was all about sitting back and attempting to enjoy.
On Friday, I did Day 1. A very nice 15 minute run, with the typical five minute warm up and cool down. It was hot and sticky, so I went easy. I also knew I was planning my big bridge run the very next day, so I wasn’t worried about any kind of pace. I logged 2.12 miles in the allotted 25 minutes.
Monday was Day 2. Speed work. This was a great workout, even if the distance was a little shorter than I’ve been doing. A five minute warm up, then a 10 minute run, with four sets of 1:00 fast run/1:00 jog intervals and a 5:00 cool downs. I pushed hard on the fast runs and made the most of the easy jogging. In 28 minutes, I completed 2.48 miles.
Today, the program called for a “long run” of 30 minutes. I was sluggish this morning. I didn’t really want to get out of bed and my ankle was bothering me a little. Also, I overdressed. It felt cool enough for a t-shirt but I should have worn a tank. Blah. I settled in at around the 18 minute mark, and accomplished negative splits again (for my running portion). I confess. I took full advantage of the term “recovery” and just did my thing. It was a nice run. Not exceptional, not bad. Just nice to be up and out. All told, with the walk home, I got in 3.68 miles in about 46 minutes.
Looking back, I think Week 5 has been my toughest. The distances themselves weren’t hard, but it was the idea of going for shorter runs after I’d been pushing so hard for the longer ones. It felt like more of a “setback” than a “recovery”, and I could honestly feel the frustration in my feet. I’m trusting the program, though. It hasn’t wronged me so far, and I have high hopes for Week 6, after this wee little rest.
The countdown is on: my tonsilectomy is in exactly eight days. I am hoping to complete week 6 and a bridge run in that time (shouldn’t be a problem, unless I get a case of the lazies). I have no idea what’s going to happen from that point on, but I hope I won’t lose too much of the ground I’ve gained. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Do you like recovery weeks or do you feel like you should be doing more?
How is your training going this week?
Recovery and I do not play well together. I hate that feeling like I could/should do more. I know it’s an important part of training though, so I try to stick with it.
I’m awful about starting out too fast on easy runs too, it sounds crazy but it’s hard to make yourself run slower when your body wants to settle into a comfortable pace.
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So annoying.
I am coming to terms with starting out slow. It’s definitely something I have to keep an eye on, but each training session, it gets easier.
I wanted to take my recovery week (which happened to be this week for running seriously). Last week I was knocked out with a cold. And on Sat I had a 16km, that went well. So I took my runs this week slow. I was more so enjoying the runs and testing out the new shoes. But it was also nice to get back into a regular routine.
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