Between the Gate and this week, my longest distance has been about three miles and I have been completely forgoing my speed work. It’s been a good break, and probably much-needed, even if it was frustrating to feel like I had lost all the ground gained over the last year.
I had a good weekend and my foot was feeling decent, so on Monday, I told myself I could go for four miles if my foot was holding up well. It was. So I did.
And I was a happy, happy girl.
It was definitely tough but it felt so fabulous to prove to myself that I was making actual, real-live progress.
Wednesday came, and I wasn’t really sure how I wanted my running session to go. I need another week before I move up to five miles, but reverting to three didn’t excite me. I remembered that my speed work had been in a state of neglect and wondered if it would be worth an attempt?
As I’ve described before, I run a 6:00 stretch at what is supposed to be half-marathon pace, do a recovery walk of 3:00, then a 5:00 run at a faster pace, with a 2:30 recovery, all the way down to a 1:00 sprint. It’s a pretty draining exercise, so I thought maybe I could cheat a little and start at 5:00, before working my way down, just to see how my foot tolerated it.
On the one hand, I felt exceptionally guilty about not doing it the right way. On the other, it felt really good to run my heart out. To make up for losing the extra 6:00, I pushed myself a bit harder on the 5:00 stretch than I would have normally.
Here’s how it went down:
- 5:00 – .47 miles (10:38 pace)
- 4:00 – .41 miles (9:45 pace)
- 3:00 – .32 miles (9:23 pace)
- 2:00 – .23 miles (8:47 pace)
- 1:00 – .13 miles (7:42 pace)
That last minute was brutal, but nothing good comes without effort. Hence the big ol’ grin.
Another week down!
My foot is feeling ok. It’s actually virtually pain free when I’m running (at least, so far), but takes a few minutes to get going the following morning. Nothing a little stretching and rolling can’t fix.
As promised, I haven’t registered for anything through about the next month or so, but I am starting to look at filling in some races this summer to get me back on track. We shall see how it goes.
How has your week of workouts been?
How is your summer race calendar looking so far?
i’ve been sticking with my training pretty well this week, actually! we’ll see how much that statement sticks in a few weeks when training calls for 6 miles.
i love following your running, because you’re a blogger i can actually relate to, so i nominated you for a liebster award on my blog!
brittney recently posted…liebster award!
You can totally do 6 miles! I have to say, the 10K is probably one of my favorite distances. You’ll love every step of those 6 miles.
Going to check out your blog now! Thank you so much for the kind words!
Yay for a good workout & no pain!! Hopefully you are on the tail end of this annoying injury.
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I don’t know. Today, I’m hurting. I probably have to be better about not wearing flip flops or going barefoot when I am just hanging around, but my feet hate shoes so much. I guess as long as it doesn’t bother me too much when I’m actually out there running… That’s where it counts 🙂
Love to see those big smiles after a good run! I haven’t been out there as much lately, but the few runs that I’ve managed to get have been fulfilling. It’s amazing how much happier I am when I’m able to run.
Hope the foot continues to heal and you will be back to normal in a short time.
Haley @ Running with Diapers recently posted…Pregnancy Update – 18 Weeks
Always finish with a smile! That’s the only way to get through to the next training session!