Well, well, well. Tough week. This week was a bit of a mess, I found myself getting really stressed out about finding a place to live, not just finding a place but a city! When I was in Victoria last weekend I actually found a great place but during this week I spent some time in East Vancouver and realized that I really do belong there and it is where I am going to live. So even though I found a place and committed, I had to let some really nice people know I was bailing, which weighed on my mind a lot, and now I am looking for another place in East Van. So anyway, on Tuesday I had a good massage, but man the last 3 massages I have had have really taken a lot out of me which was a contributing factor to the disaster that was specific workout number one. I hate to complain or make excuses but the world was not allowing this workout to happen. Leading up to the workout I was still very sore from the massage, spent a long day in Vancouver the day before, got a short sleep the night before with a phone call in the middle of the night from a friend, it was windy, and if all this wasn't enough there was an elementary school track meet starting and I had to quit the workout at 7k because I had to dodge too many kids. Like I say, this workout was just not in the cards. I would have rescheduled it but I had a massage appointment that evening.
Workout number two. Luckily I got my shit together on Saturday and relaxed, fueled up and got a good rest the night before my Sunday morning workout. I had actually planned this one for Monday but because Thursday's workout didn't work-out I bumped it up. The planned workout was 10miles at moderate pace(6min/mi), 10miles at race pace(hoped for 5:05/mi)...no dice. For better or for worse these two workouts this week are meant to be very specific, and if you cannot complete them you have chosen a pace that is too fast for you. That is the bottom line. I can overlook the first workout because the circumstances did not allow for an accurate judgment but today's workout there was no excuse. The first 10miles of the run felt great right from the start, I figured I was going to have an excellent run. As I headed into the second 10miles I dropped the pace down to 5:11/mi, then down to 5:05/mi, then 5:06/mi, then during the next lap I slowed to 5:09/mi while I was taking a gel and it was game over, I ran the next lap at 5:14/pace and threw in the towel. As I was running I could tell that the 5:05/mi pace was going to be a little too hard but was too stubborn and tried to keep working for it but I was right on the edge, I mean so close to the edge that the few breaths I gave up in order to take down my gel were enough to send me over the edge of my LT. SO, what do you do? Although this is just one workout, it is a very, very important workout, and I need to be true to myself and decide if my goal pace of 3:10/km is a realistic and attainable goal. At this juncture I have to say that it is not necessarily realistic, it is possible that on race day with a taper and so on that this could happen BUT for training purposes, for the next specific workouts the goal pace must be adjusted. How much though? During the workout today, because those quick miles of 5:05/mi were just over the edge for me, the adjustment need not be drastic and I think 4-5 seconds per mile is about right, I will actually say more specifically a pace of 3:12/km, which is 2:15 flat for the marathon distance, unfortunately one minute outside of the Canadian Olympic B standard, but thats not to say something special can't happen on race day.
Breakdown:
Workout #1 - 7km(3:05.1, 3:12.7, 3:06.6, 3:16.4, 3:06.4, 3:14.9, 3:06.4)
Workout #2 - 10mi @ 6:00.2/mi + 5.3mi @ 5:09.4/mi
Supp - 2 - Strength Session
Volume - 96mi
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