Another solid week of morning running

Monday -  Planned rest day

Tuesday - I was out running in the Blasco park at 6:10 a.m. The plan was to do 8 laps as usual incorporating 6 strides from lap 6-8. I Will have to add one more lap like I did in the previous cycle. Total time for the 8 laps was 42:57 for 7.2k. Felt really Good and fresh.

Wednesday -  I did intervals in the morning. This is the first time that I do intervals in the early morning in years. When I headed out the door at 5:50 a.m. ( I woke up earlier since this workout was going to take me around 60-65 mins), I saw that it was pouring rain, I almost got back to bed , but I was already awake, dressed and out, so I decided to go no matter what. I dont regret the decisión, since the rain stopped soon after, but there was too much wind. The warm up to the Turia park was unconfortable with the cold and the rain, but felt better as the warm up progressed. Did 4-5 x 50m strides very controlled since the roads/dirts terrain were slippery and wet. The plan for that morning was to do 4 x 1000m with around 400-500m recovery rest ( I think I recovered around 450m between each) The first 2 were with a headwind, the last 2 I think there was a bit of a tailwind. Splits were 4:13,4:18,4:06,4:01. In the first 2 I thought that I was very out of shape, but in the second 2, I realized that I was just not warmed up. Anyway, if you dont use it you lose it, since I was huffing and puffing in the last 2 and the last 400m were very unconfortable. I had not done intervals since October 1st or something like that, so around 6 weeks without doing intervals workouts. This was a Good come back. I am happy with the splits. After the workout, cooled down 15 mins to home. Around 10-10.5k total I think.

Thursday - Planned rest day.

Friday - Was out in the Blasco park at 6:10 a.m. again to repeat the 8 laps that I normally do. Pace was easy to recover and get ready for Saturday`s tempo sesión. Did 44:33 for the 8 laps (7.2k) feeling pretty Good.

Saturday -I was out at 7:20 a.m. to the Turia park to do my tempo run, when I went out it was still dark. Its getting lighter around 7:40 a.m. before that its dark. Anyway, 15 mins warm up including 5 x 50m striders to loosen up, the weather that morning was 8 Celsius, so it was very dark, even warming up 15 mins, my hands were very cold and did not feel enough warmed up. The plan was to do a 5k tempo like the last couple of weeks, but this time I would incorpórate 2 x 200m, I have been neglecting those 200m after the tempos in the last few months, those really help with the finishing kick. The plan was to only look at the watch in the first km and then ran by feel the rest of the way without looking at the watch until the finish. I would still press the Split button for post run view. First km was in 4:37, feeling Good, but felt very cold and because of that felt a bit unconfortable, after that just ran by feel and to my surprised finished in 22:55 with a 18 seconds negative Split. Halfway was 11:37. I think there was a headwind in the first half and tail wind in the second half, or maybe I just warmed up in the last 1 mile and increased pace. I noted that in the last km my hand were no longer cold, so I warmed up with 1 km to go, ha. I was pleasantly surprised with this tempo, I did not think that I could run sub 23 mins, but I was working, no way I could sustain that pace for 10k. However, I felt the same way 2 weeks ago when I ran 23:35 and finished with the same disconfort. In 2 weeks I improved 40 seconds at the same effort level. 2 weeks ago also I was still sore on Wednesday and when I type this (Sunday post run) I am feeling fresh and Good. Maybemy fitness was asleep for the last of workouts in the past month. If you dont do workouts, you are not going to improve, period.  Then did 2 x 200s in 42.50 and 41.78. Felt better in the second one . After the 200s, I just went home to finish 15:10 of cool down. Total for the day was around 10.5k or so. Felt really satisfied, maybe that cold weather help.

Sunday (today) - I did 80 mins of easy running, that was the plan since yesterday. I was out at 7:40 a.m. today barely some brightness. The weather was again 8 Celsius, and my hands were no longer cold after the 40 mins of running, ha. I felt very Good though and you dont even break a sweat in this weather and dont get dehydrated, like you do in summer. You feel you could run forever in this weather. I went to the Turia park and until the 5k mark and back. I turned around at 40:30 and finished in 79:16, so I did 1:44 negative Split. I completed the 80 mins though. I started to look at my splits when I got to the Turia park and first km that I looked was 6:08, then worked in the 6:02-6:03 for a while and after the halfway started to run sub 6 mins per km, hitting 5:54,5:54,5:52 and then left the Turia park and ran home for the last 13 mins, which were maybe faster, because I was calculating to get home in 80 mins, but got here in 79:16. I felt really Good and it feels Good to know that my easy pace is getting quicker at the same effort. I dont care much about easy pace though. Workouts are what really improve you. Felt very strong today.

I am really liking this morning running thing, I am feeling fresh in the morning and feeling free in the evening, although a bit bored sometimes. It feels so Good to get the run in the morning.

5 runs this week and 2 workouts, very Good week of running. I Will have to keep training hard to accomplish my goals.

Have a great Sunday!