Week 9
Cutback week!
35 miles total, 2 x 1 ½ mile tempo for speed, 15 mile long run, 5 running days.
3/21/2023 Long Run
The morning at work went by in a blur. I brought a protein bar and half a peanut butter sandwich but didn’t have time to eat them, so I inhaled my peanut butter sandwich and drank half of a serving of UCAN as I finished up at work.
The weather was a little less than ideal: 26 felt like 16 with 12 mph wind and 20 mph gusts.
Finally no dead legs!!!! I was far from speedy but overall comfortable. I decided to fuel with Tailwind and fruit snack combo starting around mile 4. I had enough energy!
At mile 10 I spotted two dogs running on the road and no people. There are usually no dogs out in this neighborhood. I took out my pepper spray and gave it a test spray. It was clogged and leaked all over my hands. First to deal with the dogs, I went with my back up weapon and sprayed water at them. They left and then the realization of the HOT mess I was in hit. I knew I couldn’t eat any more fruit snacks because of the pepper spray on my hands. I had some Tailwind left and took a few swigs, somehow it got on my drink too. My mouth and lips were a little hot.
With two miles left a truck pulled off on the shoulder of the road and rolled down its window, what a day for a pepper spray malfunction! Luckily he was just letting me know he was coyote hunting.
Since I had already picked up the pace I did a mile at marathon pace. No nausea this time! This was the best I had felt after a long run.
3/25/2023
My speedwork and long runs have not been at the level that I would like this race season. Today I was heading out for a 2 x 1 ½ mile tempo run with 6 total miles. I was nervous.
My first thought as I started out was that the meteorologist and I have two different definitions of a 3 mph wind, brr. I was glad I had added my running sleeves under my long sleeve shirt!
I ran my first mile easy and then started to pick up the pace at mile 1. I glanced at my watch and saw that my pace was right on target and all I had to do was maintain, one mile into it I was a little fast and knew I could back off. First 1 ½ tempo done, slightly under my goal. I ran a ½ mile slow and unfortunately for me the rest of my run would have a little wind, more than 3 mph. During my second 1 ½ mile I was able to maintain my goal pace, slightly under for the first mile, during the last ½ mile I was straight into a stiff wind but had built up enough of a cushion to hit my overall goal pace. I finished by doing an easy 1 ½ mile home.
After reviewing my stats I was happy to see that my heart rate held in zone 3 for each 1 ½ mile tempo and returned to zone 2 during recovery. Finally a successful speed workout and then disappointment….
I stretched my hips, targeting my hamstrings which have been sort of pain in the past (torn left hamstring last June) and during my stretching felt irritation near my left adductor(groin). Shoot! I took it easy the rest of the day, icing it, gentle massage and using the tens unit.
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