Training Log Oct. 30-Nov. 5

I feel pretty good about this week, even though I didn't get all my workouts in.  We had an out-of-town funeral to attend and the travel time and family obligations didn't allow time for running.  I suppose I could have run after dark, but I wasn't comfortable doing that in an area unfamiliar to me.

Sun: half of P90X Core- lower back started to fatigue so I quit halfway through
Mon: 3 miles on treadmill, 30 min
Tues, Weds, Thurs: unplanned rest days
Fri: 5x400 @ 2:00 each, 400 recovery, with warmup and cooldown total of 3.18 miles, 30 minutes
Sat: 12 miles on treadmill.  I was really looking forward to running outside.  It was EXTREMELY windy (30mph with gusts over 40).  I had planned to run one direction with the wind and have Dave pick me up.  My dad advised me to rethink that, having done the same thing in similar wind conditions once and ending up with extreme quad soreness from the braking action of being pushed along by such a strong wind.  I can't afford to be that sore right now.


I've got just a few days until I leave for San Diego and my "3 races, 3 days" weekend!  I've got a 5K on Friday, a 5K on Saturday, and a half-marathon on Sunday.  I hope to use Friday's 5K as speedwork, Saturday's 5K as recovery, and then hope to run my goal time of 2:05 in the half on Sunday.  I was on pace for well under that in my last half before I crashed at mile 7.

I'm trying a little different nutrition strategy this time and am hoping that will help.  I am carrying a water bottle with a mixture of water, Hammer gel & Endurolytes.  I plan to sip on this every mile rather than taking a gel every 45 minutes like I have done in the past.   This worked well during my long run yesterday.  I didn't feel any of the ups and downs I usually do when taking gels only every 45 minutes. 

I also plan to go out a little more conservatively.  At Mankato I ran my first 7 miles at 9:13 per mile, putting me just over 2-hour pace.  Far faster than my goal time.  2:05 is 9:33 per mile.  I know I don't pace evenly, so I'm hoping to go out at around 9:20-9:25 per mile, giving me a little room to slow down, but (hopefully) not unsustainably fast.

Race prep throughout the week will include one last speed workout, a couple easy days, lots of foam rolling, paying special attention to my nutrition, and race visualization.

And, totally unrelated... I just figured out I could use the computer and walk on the treadmill at the same time.  I love finding new ways to multi-task!

Weekly total: 18.18 miles run