Another good week!

I have not updated my blog in two weeks... my fault!  Well, I keep training hard and my health is good, no injuries so far.  The most important workouts of the past two weeks included a 12-mile tempo run and a 20 miler.  Both runs were good.  I ran a very solid 12 mile tempo, hitting all the splits and feeling very good in the final miles. The 20 miler was decent, nothing special.  My legs were tired because I didn't rest a single day in almost 2 weeks (big mistake). But, I am in very good shape and very excited about my next races (New Jersey and Berlin). I have two key workouts this week. They both are a mix of long, easy runs and tempo intervals... 13 and 16 miles respectively...They are very difficult!  Wish me luck!

Speed Workout

Estoy reventado de trabajr con un código larguísimo, que no escribí yo y que por supuesto no termino de entender. Así que he decidido escribir un poco en mi blog.  Esta manana he regresado a hacer trabajo de pista, algo que no hacía desde hace mucho tiempo.  Mi entreno ha sido un poco conservador porque la pista suele cobrar caro cuando no se está bien preparado para ella. Hice 5 series de 800 a 3:02 en promedio. Pude haber ido por un par de 800 más pero he decidido que 5 era el número mágico de hoy. El entrenamiento total fue de 7 millas.  Hacía mucho viento y eso seguro que afectó mi velocidad un poco. Sin embargo, he salido muy fortalecido anímicamente de esta sesión.   Hacer este entrenamiento sin companía es muy complicado porque no hay nadie por delante o atrás de tí que vaya tirando del paso. Por momentos extrané mucho a mis companeros de entrenamiento de South Bend… seguro que hubiera ido mucho más rápido si los hubiera tenido a un lado.  A pesar de todo he tenido unas series bastante buenas. Me estoy dando cuenta que todavía no he corrido los 42 kms. 195 mts. más rápidos de mi vida. Creo que mis piernas tienen muchos kilómetros por delante y pienso que todavía no llego al techo de mi velocidad… hay que seguir trabajando.

3rd. 50+ mile week in the books

I had a very solid week of training.  My workouts suggest that my speed and endurance are getting better by the day. I logged another 50+ mile week and I am feeling very good.  The most important thing so far is that I am very healthy and feeling very good about my training. My legs are moving faster than ever.  I am consistently running my easy workouts at 7:50/8:00 min/mile and I have to constantly remind myself that I should not go faster than that in my easy runs. My best workout last week was a long tempo: 10 miles with 2x20 minute tempo in the middle. It was my best workout in a long time!  I also ran a 17 miler yesterday, it wasn't as solid as I wanted it to be but still in the low 8's.

I have a difficult week of training ahead. It will end with a monstrous 12 mile marathon pace run on Sunday.  I am going to push the pace. no question about it! 

Three good, solid workouts!

I have had three very good quality workouts since my last post. I did a tempo workout on Thursday:  15 min w/u; 2x15 min tempo w/3 min recovery (6:42; 6:50); 1 x 10 min tempo (6:50); 1 mile c/d (9 miles total). It was a great workout because I consistently hit all the splits. My legs felt great and I gained a lot of confidence with this workout. I am gaining strength and endurance. I then had a very easy day on Friday and rested on Saturday.  On Sunday, I did my longest workout in more than 5 months: 28 kms.  The weather was very humid but I managed to run a consistent pace for the entire workout…another confidence buster! 

I already did 2 workouts this week: a 5.5 recovery run yesterday and a fartlek this morning.  The fartlek workouts are not only adding variety to my training plan but also making me faster. I hope that running really fast (@5:10 min/mile) for short periods of time help improving my speed.  I am happy with how things are going so far.  The weather is getting hot and humid but I am doing my best to adapt to it as soon as possible.  Happy Mardi Gras!