Mid-week report

It's been a decent week so far. This is supposed to be a down week and am doing everything possible to maintain the 'easy runs' as easy as possible. 

Monday:  Easy 7 miles+ strength.  My legs didn't feel very good at the beginning and I didn't push the pace at all. I was happy running in the high 8's and low 9's mins/mile. I just can't believe how easy the low 9's feel... they used to be a torture 2 years ago. It was very windy outside, windy and cool.  Strength training at the end.

Tuesday: Another easy day. 9 miles+strength. I decided to do another easy day before running the tempo. The pace was in the mid-8's, very easy and comfortable. Still very windy outside. No major problems during the run. My calves are a bit tight but the pace was just right. No major problems during the run. Strength to end the day.

Wednesday: (QW 1): 8x5 mins tempo (30-45 secs recovery). Total 9.5 miles. This was a difficult workout. The weather was great and I decided to do my tempo run in an outdoor track. I warmed up for 12 mins. and then began the tempos. I felt fine in the first three but not so good in the final 5. The track is not very fast and I could feel it. I initially thought that my pace was very slow but I was wrong. I ran at 6:30 min/mile average which is substantially better than the 6:45-7:05 min/mile that my plan calls for. Actually, I must say that I was in very good shape for the last 2 tempo intervals so I can't complain at all. Ended with a 2 mile cool down. I went home and iced my right calf that was very sore after the workout (because of the new surface, I think).
 
Thursday and Friday will be easy days... very easy days as I prepare for a grueling workout on Saturday. Will tell you about this later in the week.

On a completely different note, I am very likely to run the Kalamazoo half-marathon next weekend (April 25). I really look forward to seeing how my new plan translates into actual racing. I don't know if am ready for a half-marathon PR but it would be great to see how my body is responding to the new training regime.