Training Week 4 Summary Since I'm doing the 12 week Pfitz plan, this week ends Mesocycle 1 - Endurance. I was scheduled to do the following: TUE: 10mi Easy w/5mi @ Tempo - Check WED: 4mi Recovery - Nope THU: 11mi Medium Long - Check SAT: 5mi Recovery - Nope SUN: 17mi Long - Check So the beginning of this week started like the end of last week - still sick with the flu. I was getting worried when I'd be able to run again! Finally on Thursday I headed out and felt good so I went ahead and ran the tempo run. My wife was working from home on Friday and I was still feeling okay, so I headed out and got the 11 miler in. The legs were a little tight Friday night - but felt good by Saturday. I wanted to try to get in the recovery run - so as not to lose out on too much mileage this week - but said F it and took it as a rest day so that the long run would go well. While I've been feeling a lot better - I still have a lot of nasal drip and a very small cough going - so I didn't want to tempt fate. This morning I went out for the planned 17 miler and did 18 so I could at least get 40 in for the week. In total for the week, I got in 40.1 miles versus the planned 47.
Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head." - Joe Henderson
Holy crap, Mike. That's over a minute/mile faster than your last one! That's just plain scary how far you've come in such a short time. You may have the genes of a champion and you don't even know it! Get that 1.9 miler in today! Very cool! Not heading to Orlando till next week, so it's dealing with the chilly northeast weather for a little while longer. It's been pretty hot down there, so I actually hope it cools down a bit!
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Nice week last week despite starting out sick!! NICE 18 miler!!! Hope to hear the nasal drip and cough are completely gone ASAP!! Hope you have a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!
Prophet!
Running the 2016 Boston Marathon for Children's Hospital
I guess you'll be doing your chores on Friday soon enough, Mike! Nice week you have going this week! And I hope you took before and after pictures of yourself for the "Before and After" thread, when you drop those 15 lbs!
I've got a fever...
Should I just keep doing what I'm doing and not worry about it? Am I running these intervals too slow? Should these feel harder than tempo runs?
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
Intervals usually feel harder than tempo runs. Or at least feel faster. They're hard in their own way -- intervals are short but quite fast, but tempos hurt because you're doing it for at least 20 minutes. I suspect you could run a 5k much faster now than you did way back in July. You may want to run a 5k just to sort of "re-calibrate" yourself and get a gauge on you fitness. Short of a race, you could do the ultimate 5k prediction workout: 3x1 mile with 1 minute recovery. The fastest pace that you can sustain for all 3 intervals is what you should be able to race a 5k at. Ultimately, I think the not worry about it approach is probably the best one to take. But if you're feeling kung fu during those intervals or tempo runs, don't be afraid to push it.
*snerk* It's cool. It takes time, and dedication. No worries. I think you're doing them right. You shouldn't be killing yourself, and I think people feel that intervals is all about going so hard you're dying or puking or both. It's not. They're about pushing yourself, sure, but not necessarily that hard. Also, this is the first session. I'm pretty sure they get harder as you get further along (I'm not an expert on Pfitz, unfortunately). Another thought....What pace and distance are you running your tempos at?