Weekly recap: 8 weeks to Eugene

Monday: Rest


Tuesday: 4 miles @ base, 2x20 of 3 drills, Lb weights.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	Max HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:47	119	120	59.8	86	1.511
2	1.00	9:30	121	141	61.5	88	1.530
3	1.00	9:37	118	124	59.0	87	1.552
4	1.00	9:41	121	130	61.5	86	1.503
5	0.32	10:17	115	121	56.6	85	1.512
Sum	4.32	9:40	118.8	n/a	59.7	87	1.530

These numbers are pretty efficient for me..in the 1.5+ yards-per-beat range is always good..

The running was ok, once the foot got warmed up the soreness was almost gone. Afterwards I iced and it was a bit sore for a while during the day so I iced it a couple of more times which seemed to help as always.


T.E. level is 2.4 ("Maintaining")


Wednesday: 7.5miles.. 1 mile wu, 9 x 800m @ 5k-10k pace, 1mile cd


I was a bit worried after yesterday's  little 4 mile run Tues caused my foot to be sore ..however today's very much harder run did not make it very sore at all. Go figure...there's some kind of clue there but so far I'm not grokking it.


I felt really good and decided I wanted to be very much in the 7's for my 9x800 paces. I am a firm believer in pushing hard on the days when you feel great (and backing off on the crappy days).


The first  800s (2, 4, 6) were straight into a slight headwind which made it tough. Once I turned ...SWEET, felt easy as pie by comparison..split numbers 8, 10, 12 were major downwind splits and you can see HR is only 136 vs low 140's even though pace is now closer to 7:30 (3k pace).

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	Max HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:25	120	123	60.7	88	1.557
2	0.53	8:02	140	146	77.0	92	1.577
3	0.14	10:27	128	138	67.2	87	1.276
4	0.51	7:54	141	148	77.9	92	1.568
5	0.15	10:34	130	147	68.9	85	1.293
6	0.50	7:51	143	150	79.5	92	1.555
7	0.12	11:36	135	150	73.0	84	1.117
8	0.53	7:31	142	145	78.7	91	1.657
9	0.15	10:30	132	143	70.5	86	1.293
10	0.50	7:32	136	145	73.8	92	1.729
11	0.14	11:08	130	145	68.9	85	1.259
12	0.49	7:36	140	147	77.0	93	1.653
13	0.12	11:59	132	147	70.5	83	1.090
14	0.51	7:34	145	150	81.1	92	1.598
15	0.13	10:54	135	149	73.0	84	1.178
16	0.51	7:30	145	150	81.1	92	1.609
17	0.13	11:39	135	150	73.0	84	1.120
18	0.50	7:36	146	152	82.0	92	1.577
19	0.62	10:08	129	152	68.0	86	1.355
Sum	7.28	8:37	136.0	n/a	73.8	89	1.499

I didn't even feel the foot for the first 5 or 6 intervals and even after it was just noticeably a bit sore..stage 1 if you will. The last interval was getting hard but I am a stubborn bugger: I always try to make my last intervals just as strong as the rest of them.


I iced the foot once right after. Legs felt wonderfully spent...mission accomplished for the day...a great feeling.


T.E. level is 4.1 ("highly improving"), I'm very happy with the overall efficiency number, as well is the 92 cadence for the splits...we are getting there!


Thursday: 40 min XC, myrtle routine.


Foot felt really good this morning...nice to see after the hard run yesterday! Alas, due to constraints today was not able to do the Xt.


Friday:  2 miles wu, 6 @ 1/2 MP, 1 mile cd


Probably because of my tough run the day before yesterday I struggled to run the 1/2 MP. 
I kept looking at the Garmin and saying "WTF? is this thing not working". I would push and push and the pace just would NOT budge...hence some of the runs at 8:3x paces.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:05	117	58.2	87	1.491
2	1.00	9:56	118	59.0	87	1.503
3	1.00	8:36	132	70.5	90	1.550
4	1.00	8:30	134	72.1	89	1.546
5	1.00	8:22	134	72.1	88	1.569
6	1.00	8:31	137	74.6	89	1.507
7	1.00	8:28	139	76.2	89	1.495
8	1.00	8:26	140	77.0	89	1.490
9	1.00	10:21	121	61.5	85	1.405
10	0.08	10:39	115	56.6	83	1.391
Sum	9.08	9:03	129	68.0	88	1.508

T.E. level is 4.1 ("highly improving") again. 


Saturday: 3 miles easy to shake out the legs

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:40	108	50.8	86	1.527
2	1.00	10:31	114	55.7	86	1.468
3	1.00	10:27	109	51.6	85	1.546
4	0.00	15:02	99	43.4	84	0.000
Sum	3.00	10:33	110	52.5	86	1.515

Some low HRs for 10:30 pace..pretty good considering the hard running.
T.E. level is 1.9 (Minor run)


Sunday: Long run 16 miles

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	10:01	103	46.7	87	16	112	1.707
2	1.00	9:51	117	58.2	87	30	11	1.527
3	1.00	9:38	112	54.1	87	0	80	1.632
4	1.00	9:34	118	59.0	86	0	19	1.560
5	1.00	9:56	115	56.6	86	14	7	1.540
6	1.00	10:16	123	63.1	86	101	32	1.394
7	1.00	10:47	124	63.9	84	121	0	1.317
8	1.00	9:38	117	58.2	87	17	92	1.561
9	1.00	9:12	124	63.9	88	16	51	1.542
10	1.00	9:12	122	62.3	88	15	67	1.568
11	1.00	9:24	128	67.2	87	0	28	1.461
12	1.00	10:05	123	63.1	85	5	18	1.420
13	1.00	10:47	123	63.1	85	80	26	1.327
14	1.00	11:21	127	66.4	84	152	0	1.220
15	1.00	10:28	123	63.1	85	24	21	1.366
16	1.00	10:44	124	63.9	84	3	16	1.323
17	0.13	10:32	116	57.4	85	0	0	1.434
Sum	16.13	10:04	120	60.7	86	593	579	1.458

This was a tough run, I was down in Pasadena and it was up to low 70's and bright, bright sunshine (adds an effective 10F IMHO) by the end of the run. For the last months mostly I've been running in cool weather so I had no acclimatization at all 8/.

I also ran a rough looping course of 7 miles that had a lot of hills in it and we don't have many hills near my normal environs around the house...the two of these things plus the hard running earlier in the week pretty much caused me to decide to take it easy....a good thing, because by the end I was in going slowly and feeling pretty beat.


My foot, which had been treating my very well since Tuesday, was really bugging me the last two miles. A theory is that my form had degraded enough that I was no longer "levering down" on my left foot but was "bashing down" 8/    (Note: foot feels a lot better the next day)


Some times you have epic long runs that make you feel ready for race day...this was NOT one of them. 


Garmin T.E. 2.4 ("Maintaining")


Total: 39.8 miles for the week


I'm pleased my foot stood up to this very tough week and looking forward to the easier week to come. I think there are some indications we are getting fitter and we still have a good chunk of training ahead.