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Week 148
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Well wishes to my fellow 50+ers. April has arrived and the weather finally has turned! How awesome is it to finally run outdoors in shorts! I thought that it would give me a chance to step up the mileage this week, but it didn't quite pan out that way. My week looked as such:
S: 4.5 miles with a 5K race (20:53)
M: 2.6 easy jog, with 3.5 brisk walk.
T-W-R: Nothing :(
F: 4.1 (sadly, the third mile @6:44 really taxed me!)
S: 4.7 fairly easy (about 8 min/mile pace)
As noted last week, the 5K wasn't a planned race, but it did give me a starting benchmark. Thanks Rtype, I was a bit surprised; I was expecting to go around 22, and the hills really did zap me. Still won my AG, but a 61-yo actually passed me with 1/3-of-a-mile to go, and I couldn't respond on the final uphill into the stadium. He ended up winning the overall grand-master award.
Tuesday to Thursday were lost for various reasons (work, weather, other commitments)...I wasn't happy about that. This week, knock on wood, will be better. Friday felt fine, but sad that a 6:44 was all I could muster for a hard mile. Saturday, I ran easy, but my lower back got pretty stiff about halfway through...I was hoping to go a little further. Alan, I have been trying to "tall and relaxed", and I agree that really does help, but nothing could help Saturday.
My main thing at this point is to get in some more consistent running (goal this coming week 20 miles in 5 runs); from experience, the lower back stiffness will solve itself when that happens. I also need to be more conscious of my ergonomics the rest of the day; I've not been good about proper sitting mechanics. I'm finally coming to terms that a mild lower abdominal discomfort (especially the day after a hard run) is the way things are going to be and am slowly adjusting to this new normal. Using a lot of foam roller and "The Stick", and maintaining a positive attitude will help a lot.
Gretehund, trying new things is always fun; I think it keeps you fresh. It'll also give you a chance to break out of the marathon training rut and work on your raw speed. Hopefully, it'll in fuse new energy into your marathon training down the road. I guess a lot of people point to Magill's "solving the 5K Puzzle" article in Running Times from a few years back (http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/solving-5k-puzzle?page=single ) as a good, solid training schedule. Good Luck!
That's all I've got for this week. Hope you all are training, racing, rehabbing well. Will look forward, as always, to hearing how it is going in your neck of the woods.
PS-Sorry that the Badgers couldn't pull it off, but being a Lexingtonian allows me the luxury of rooting for my #2 team, the Wildcats, in the final. Go Cats!