Saturday, April 07, 2012

Week Recap (18 March 2012 - 24 March 2012) - 78 Miles

Sun: 12M
Nob hill to Golden Gate park.

Mon: 9M.
I had to be in the office at 9:30am and I knew I wouldn't be able to run in the afternoon because some other work commitments so I had to get my run out of the way early in the morning. I set my alarm for 7:20am and surprisingly managed to get myself out of bed right away. I walked over to the Bay club and started my run from there, doing the usual Presidio route. It was already after 8am by the time I started and  realized that I'd be cutting it close so I tried to keep the pace fast. The second surprise of the day was that I felt great, something which rarely happens in the mornings. Finished the run in one of my fastest times for that loop and managed to make it to work just on time.

Tue: 11M.
 2x200, 8x1000 (3:05).
33, 34, 3:03, 3:07, 3:05, 3:06, 3:07, 3:07, 3:05, 3:01.
I got out of work around 6pm and took the MUNI from Montgomery to Church station, which is only a couple of miles away from Kezar. I ran to Kezar for my warmup and did the usual stretching and strides before my workout. The conditions were a lot better than last week so I didn't have to rush my pre-workout routine. The two 200s were at a gradually increasing pace so they were basically two longer than usual strides. I would start at a casual pace and gradually increase the pace until I got close to full speed in the last 20 meters or so. I took 45'' after the first 200 and about a minute after the second, before getting into the meat of the workout. I was fairly consistent with my splits throughout the workout and I would usually come through the 400 in 74 and the 800 in 2:28/2:29. I took 2:00 of rest between the intervals, which was enough to recover aerobically but my legs were definitely feeling it by the end. My calves were already feeling a bit sore before the workout and probably still feeling the effects of last Tuesday's workout. I hadn't run anything as fast in a while and I was fairly sore afterwards, plus I had a few hilly runs afterwards so I didn't really let my legs recover enough. I was starting to hurt a bit on the 5th and 6th one and decided to take off the t-shirt for the last two. The benefits of the reduced weight started to show right away. I was back on my goal pace on the 7th and started the last one feeling strong. Came through in 72, 2:25 and thought I could perhaps kick in for a sub 3:00 but reminded myself that this was just a workout. My legs were pretty tired at the end but aerobically at least I felt like I could have run another couple intervals at the same pace. I ran a few laps around the infield, on grass, followed by some strides and didn't really feel like adding more mileage for cool-down so I tried to catch the N just down the street from the track. Unfortunately I saw the train going by as I was running over and the next one would take more than 10 minutes to show up so I decided to run back. Kezar is about 4 miles away from the Bay club and I was dreading a bit having to run that far but I didn't want to sit outside and wait for a train after just having finished a workout. I ended up running to the Van Ness station and catching the MUNI there, saving myself about 1.5 of running. It still ended up being a fairly long day and definitely a good one.

Wed: 10M.
Bay club - Presidio. My calves were pretty sore from yesterday's workout and running a hilly route didn't help much.

Thu: 10M.
4x2K (6:20)
6:27, 6:23, 6:26, 6:24.
Same workout as last Thursday and once again I headed down to AT&T park along the Embarcadero, did some stretching and strides by the Willie Mays statue and started my workout. I wasn't feeling that great on the warm-up and my calves were even more sore than yesterday. Since I had gone out in a 6:10 for the first one last week, I wanted to be a bit more conservative but got out a bit too slow. I came through the 1K in about 3:18 and had to pick things up to finish in 6:27. Rest was 4:00 between the intervals and it was sufficient to recover aerobically but my legs were feeling the burn and I knew that things wouldn't get any better. I tried to get out faster on the remaining intervals but I struggled to get close to my goal pace. Not my greatest of workouts but not too bad either I suppose. I guess my legs need some time to adjust to running some faster intervals on the track.

Fri: 9M.
Nob hill - Presidio. Ran in the morning and thought of doubling up but I decided that my legs could use some recovery.

Sat: 17M.
Nob Hill - Crissy Fields - Lands End - GG Park. Felt very good today, cruising at a good pace the whole time.