Catching up

Yes I have been running 5 times per week, only not blogging much.

Wednesday December 11th -  I ran easy for the most part. Ran after work at 7:30 p.m. or so, In the last lap or a bit more ran with a guy and did around 4:03 for that last lap (4:30 per km), did not feel that hard, but not easy either, felt ok. Ran 7.2k (8 laps ) in 41:56, so Good average pace given that I sped up in the last part of the run. No intervals since I was trying to ease up into consistent running after one week off because of the sickness.

Thurday - Off

Friday - After work at 7 something pm, did an easy run of 8 laps to the Blasco park, I always say that I was going to run in the morning on Friday so that I have more recovery between that run and my Saturday`s morning tempo, but I always end up running in the evening, its not a big problema I think, since I am learning to run fast when " tired". I dont remember the exact time of this run, I think it was high 45s. Dont matter much though.

Saturday -  At around 10:00 a.m. I headed out to the Turia park to do my 5k tempo. Warmed up 15 mins including 5 x 50m accelerations. I felt Good in the easy portion, but when I started doing the strides I knew right there that the tempo was going to be a struggle. My legs are not having it on tempo runs. On intervals I feel pretty Good, but on tempos I feel flat, I really dont know the reason, but I suspect because I am giving my body less than 14 hours between one run and the other, but Friday`s run is always easy, so I dont know.

I wanted to negative Split big time, go out conservately and really hammer in the second half. I negative Split, but I almost drop out and call it a day after 3k, but stayed tough and decided to finish at whatever pace. First km was in 4:47, second km was 4:52 or something like that, halfway was 12:04 and felt tired and flat, I knew that running sub 24 mins that day would be very hard. 3k came in 14:24 decided to remain strong mentally, 4k in 19:16, if I wanted to run sub 24 mins I would have to run 4:43 last km, and I was not having it, last km came in 4:47 and I could finish in 24:03, garbage workout, huffing and puffing, walked some to catch my breath and then started my cool down jog to home. The soreness lasted till Wednesday morning of next week.

I really dont understand the inconsistency of tempos, one week I run sub 23 mins, the other run 24 mins and the other run 23:30. I am putting in the effort though and I think that is the most important thing. Around 10k total for the day, or a bit less.

Sunday -  Out at 10:00 a.m. to the Turia park to do my 80 mins long run, felt Good on this run and I was running sub 6 mins per km, so my easy pace has increased, but my workout pace has not. Felt strong though and happy to have completed my week of training. 5 runs for the week.

Monday December 16th - Off

Tuesday - Did 8 laps in the Blasco park after work at 7:xx something pm, weather was Good and I did not wear my windbreaker. Incorporated 6 strides from laps 6 to 8, did 44:16 or something like that for the run.

Wednesday - I did an Interval workout after work at 7:05 p.m. or so, the plan was to do 2 mins repeats in the Blasco park. The initial plan was to do 5 repeats, but if I felt Good do 6 repeats, I felt Good and the weather was awesome so I went with 6 repeats. I could have done more, which was Good. This workout really gave me confidence since those tempos were destroying my confidence, but the intervals really get me the confidence back. I did around 5 laps in 22:01 including the recoverys for  the fartlek. Did 3 laps to warm up in 17 mins and after the 22 mins of fartlek did 3 more laps very easy to cool down in 17:11. I think I did around 10-11k for the day. Felt pretty Good and the weather helped inmensely.

Thursday -  Off

Friday- In the evening again I got my run in. This time I left the watch at home and just ran 8 laps in the Blasco park at a very easy pace, just to get the mileage in and to prepare myself for Saturday`s tempo run. Felt Good on this run.

Saturday (Yesterday) - I warmed up 15 mins easy to the Turia park to do my weekly tempo, I felt flat in the warm up and I was mentally prepared that this was going to be a grind, wanted to get in a Good effort though. Did 5 x 50m strides and felt flat. When I started the workout I did not feel Good, but did not feel terrible either, I was mentally prepared to see another 24 mins 5k in my watch. This time I was only going to see the first km and then was not going to look at the watch until the end. First km was not that bad in 4:37, but I knew that I was not going to sustain that until the end. Then I just told myself that I had to run at an effor that I think I could sustain in the 10k. Did not feel that bad in the halfway, but  I thought that the second half was going to be hell, but susprisingly it was not, did not got any worse than that. I finished very tired, but under control. Finished the 5k in 23:33 ( first half in 11:43 pressed the Split button, but did not look at it), did a slightly positive Split, but that is ok. After the tempo, walked for a couple of mins, and then decided to do 2 x 200s, 1st repeat came in 40.12, then decided to back off in the second one, no need to run that fast given my current fitness, second one came in 42.25. Then started my cool down jog home, took me 15:17. Around 10.4k total for the day. My confidence is coming back and today as I type this I dont feel soreness whatsoever.

Sunday -  Today I was out at 10:20 a.m. or something like that to the Turia park to do my 80 mins long run of the week. In the first few kms I could see I was running 6:04 - 6:06 per km, but in the second half I started running 5:55-5:56 at the same effort, so that is Good. In the first half of the run, felt tired and thought that it was going to a struggle, but after 35-40 mins of running I started feeling better and better and finished feeling pretty strong. I turned around when the watch read 40:45, that is 81:30, but got home in 80:10, so I negative Split the run by 80 seconds, not bad at all. I felt pretty satisfied at the end of the run, this was a Good week of training.

I am contamplating the idea of getting out this evening to do another short run, I am bored here at home, so I think that would be beneficial, We Will see. Either way, very satisfied with this week`s of training and I am starting to like long runs.

Have a great end of the week.