2015 NOS run thread week 12 - I see the light at the end of the tunnel...
To complete the thought for the title of this thread, is it the end of the tunnel or a train coming down the track? Welcome to week 12 all! We are VERY close to wrapping up this outseason, and while it is still important to not look too far ahead, I would suggest this week is a good time to start assessing a few things. First, how are you feeling? Fatigue at this point is common and likely a good thing, but so much fatigue that you have dug yourself into a big hole is not. If you think you might be in the latter category, check with the coaches ASAP on how to correct the situation before it gets away from you. There is little that can be done to effectively find you rest and counter fatigue when you are building toward your A race, so address it now while you still can. For those in the former group, just know that swim camp is coming (for most anyway) which will give your body some of the rest it needs at this point.
Secondly, I like to start to evaluate my progress around now. I like to see how far I have come this OS as well as compare to where I was a year, two years, etc., ago. The perspective can help if you are starting to struggle to get the 2x20's or 7x400's in completely. I can always look and see just how much speed or power I have added and it helps. Also you will likely get a request at some point for feedback on the OS (what works, what doesn't, what did you like/not like, etc). This will give you a great place to start that evaluation.
Finally, after I have reflected, I start to look at what steps are next in my training plan and start (at this point only just start) to get my head around what will be coming up. It lets me get mentally ready for it (if I am doing a bike focus, it is nice for me to be mentally ready to see a LOT of 2x20's as that might be one of my least favorite workouts) as well as prep my family. I like to keep them posted of what is roughly coming from a volume perspective so that when the big time items do come, it isn't a big surprise.
After I have done all that, I look at what I have for the rest of this OS and recommit to crushing it! This is your chance to squeeze the last drops out of the part of the year where you will likely see your biggest gains, so take full advantage of it.
And before I send you off into week 12, here is a quote that I think will help you focus on the now: "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential...these are the keys to unlock the door to personal excellence." That Confucius knows what he's talking about. Have a great week everyone!
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http://tpks.ws/MuXL
I was not feeling it today. Carrying a lot of fatigue from work yesterday. Bricked it off the bike. Beautiful sunny day. I actually wore shorts! I hope Batman shows up for the run tomorrow. I think he stayed in the cave eating ice cream today.
Great job everyone!
Did my easy z1 run today after work. As Jacklyn said, it was a beautiful sunny day in Oregon!
Wed. run workout done on TM, we're covered with ice here.
8 X 400(1/4) Zn 5 w/ ~1' recovery. 3@8:00 pace, 3@7:53 pace, 2@7:47 pace.
@Scott, a lot of great points in your intro this week! I’m definitely doing a lot of self-assessing right now trying to make sure I do every little thing possible to make this last week and a half count. I’m definitely looking forward to swim camp!
@Rachel, glad getting lost only cost you an extra 20 minutes!
I decided to wake up early and do the run before work today. I knew it would be a little more challenging with only about 12 hours rest after the Tuesday ride but I figured having 36 hours to rest before the Thursday ride would give me a chance at hitting it this week. Ran on the TM as the outside temp was -7 here in Rochester this morning! After a couple warmup miles I did 1 mile at Z3 to make sure the engine was firing on all cylinders. The workout was 8 X 400. I hit my goal pace on every interval! This stuff isn’t easy but I definitely feel my run speed picking up. Good luck with those Wednesday runs everybody!
Target was 3:32/km - splits as of 3:30, 3:20 (totally overreached here), 3:30, 3:36 (headwind), 3:31
https://www.strava.com/activities/240962202/overview
Well, that was surprising! Not too bad. I went to the YMCA and used the TM because I thought it would be nicer on my achilles than the road. I think that was a good decision. No problem at all. Total mileage 5.6 miles. Wasn't sure what I should pace it out as so I just guessed. 09:50, 09:25, 08:50, 08:20,08:00, 07:45. Kept increasing it until I felt like my stride was reaching maximum warp speed. YEEHAAW!
As usual nothings free. At this time of day, at the YMCA, the little old ladies move in packs. So i'm half way through my intervals when 3 "ladies" come up to me and start complaining about me being on "their" treadmill. There's 3 open treadmills behind me. they even complain that I have the unmitigated gal to be using a fan! OMG really. I hate going in the morning.
Have a great day being awesome!
I chose to run outside today. It was still a little cold when I started right around 15 degrees. However, the sun was out and there was very little wind. My warm-up mile went very well and was about 30 seconds fast. After that, I just got into it and ran a bit faster than normal. My GRP is 8:10/mile and my average fro the run was 7:36/mile. The only thing that slowed me down was there was still a fair amount of snow on the road so the footing was not great and it was cold. In any case, the run was great. It was not by any means as hard as the 8 x 400 that everyone else was running. It did feel great to shake out the legs a little.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/673668487
8 x 400's - first one was a bit slow, but then I got into my groove and was fairly consistent. I finished with 1 mile at z4 pace. ITB discomfort is still there, but a bit better.
7.02 miles / 56 min
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/673426191
Anyway, good run. Total of about 7.5 miles in a bit under an hour.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/674102914
I ended the run with 15+ minutes of Z1 pace. It was nice to look at the stars and see Orion and Taurus beginning their treks across the night sky.
16' WU w/ 4x 30" @ 5km pace
19' uphill at 3% incline and 7:30/mi pace
Way to keep the momentum going peeps!
I found the Z2 uphill pace pretty tough last week and was dreading today's run considering how burnt my legs were from the Z5 bike intervals. Bricked the run anyway and managed the run reasonably well. Got 18 min with a couple 1 min breaks at each 6 min. Ready for a no legs day and a good stretch out at the pool. Have a good Friday all!
I was 6' 3" and 190 start of last year, but over the year and now in OS have dialed it down to 168 or so. Hoping it can make my life easier this season!
I looked up a few of your race times and would be thrilled to perform at your level this season! Great PR in CDL from the looks of it!
First time this OS I've done the run first instead of off the bike. Kind of liked doing that way as it seemed there was a little more quality to the run. Did 2 mi @ EP+, then 20' @ MP which felt really good.
I LOVE to run in the rain. That's good because I live in the NW. Great run. Even after that killer FTP ride this morning. I had a running monologue with my legs something like this, " yes you can. No owner I really can't. Yes you will! No, No I really won't. SHUT UP LEGS!". Finally, the owner of the tired legs won the conversation. Laid down a nice consistent run. Then my favorite song came on the play list. Dropped 2 minutes off the last mile and ended up dancing in the rain in front of my house. My neighbors think i'm crazy anyhow.
You all are amazing people. Thank you for a great week of work.
Did my run as a brick off the bike this morning. I started off Z1 and then gradually built through the hour to Z3. I was surprised at how smooth my cadence felt after the hard bike. Half marathon in two weeks to finish the OS so it will be interesting to see how my pace is.
@ Jacklyn, I like to run in the rain too except when it's pouring down so much that my shoes fill up with water. That's not too much fun. But I would rather run any day out in the rain than run on a treadmill.
So I finished the bike and wanted to curl up and go to sleep but it was raining and the rain was supposed to get harder this afternoon. (It has and there are flood watches and we're supposed to get 2-3 inches of rain by tomorrow morning.) So I took off with the dog for a run around the lake. I didn't know how my legs were going to respond since the bike was pretty hard but they felt OK so I decided to do a just keep pushing run and not look at my watch too much. That worked well until about mile 3 when my hamstring started to get a little twitchy. Now my hamstring had me in run jail for a few weeks this fall so I decided to listen to it and slow down to a Z1 pace to finish the run. Ended up with 5.23 miles in 46:26. Then I had a recovery drink, a good stretch, a shower and a nap. I feel almost human again.
We'll see how tomorrow goes with the run. It might turn into a long Z1-2 run to let the hamstring recover.
I put in just under an hour on the TM today a few hours after my ride. The legs felt pretty good despite the hard ride.