I have been doing my speedwork during the mid-week "longer" run. This week, the mid-week "longer" run mileage peaks at 10 miles. Pretty crazy that 10 weeks ago this was my weekend long run and now it is just a mid-week run.
My plan - wake up at 5am (so that I could get this long run in and start working at a decent time), jog to the Quince Orchard High School track (that's pronounced "kwinse" - like the fruit; not "keen-say" like 15 in Spanish), run 9 x 800 with a 400 recovery jog, and do an easy run back home.
Again, it was dark when I started so I was running by feel and could not see what my interval times were. I knew that I was running hard. I knew I was running faster than normal. I just didn't know HOW fast until I got home and checked my splits (see below). It ended up that I had two sub-3:50 half mile splits and one other sub-4:00 split. I'm thinking that my splits should be in the 4:05 to 4:10 range, so I know I was hauling it out there. Of course, once the sun rose I was able to run a bit more controlled as I was able to see the feedback from my HRM.
During the last few intervals I really wanted to quit. But of course I didn't. I had to get through this workout - just like every other workout leading up to the marathon. This is part of that mental toughness that I have developed that will get me across the finish line on May 4.
I really started to think about why each of my four runs per week are important. The speedwork runs is where I improve my pace, develop the "fast twitch" muscle fibers which will help me at the end of a race and make me a stronger runner. The weekend long runs improve my endurance and get my body used to pounding the pavement for extended periods of time. The other two easy runs help my body recover from the harder workouts, and also help "lock-in" the gains. So, with 3 intervals to go and part of me was begging to quit - I knew that I needed those last three intervals to help make me a stronger runner...both physically and mentally.
Here's the splits:
3:49, 4:01, 3:47, 4:04, 3:51, 4:01, 4:07, 4:10, 4:07
Oh...one other mention. Another milestone! Somewhere during my time on the track I hit 350 miles for the year. It's not even May yet! I think a few years ago I had 400 miles for the year...crazy!
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You're doing awesome, Mike! You're a better man than I mixing up your training runs, especially with the speedwork. Nice job. I just want to survive at this point! LOL Continued good training to you.
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