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Week 48
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Salutations and such to all my fellow 50+ troupers. Just looking out on this grey morning as warmer gulf air is settling into the mid-south. We’re going to have a muggy week as it looks like we’ll flip the channel on what has been a remarkably cool April, which offset the record setting warm March. It’s been pretty weird weather so far this year, that’s for sure. Dodging thunderstorms might be the order of the day this week.
As for the week past, I logged 57.5 miles, including a few doubles. It’s my highest mileage (not by much) in over a year. After a down week, I would like to consistently get over 60 by next month.
My week's log looks as such:
Sun: 6.5 easy
Mon: 11 mostly easy (7 am, 4 pm)
Tue: 5 mostly on grass (2.42 hard in 15:33)
Wed: 8 w/4 somewhat hard
Thu: 12 (6.5 am w/2 miles of .2 on/.2 off, 5.5 pm easy)
Fri: 5 easy
Sat: 10 w/5k race in 18:03
Notes:
1) Tuesday's 2.42 mile hard effort on grass was only a 6:25 pace, but it was *really* hard. There was a pretty steady 30 mph wind that day.
2) Wednesday's run included 4 miles that were at an accelerated pace that averaged 6:34, with the last 1.4 at 6:22.
3) Thursday, I went to the indoor track and did one of the one lap on, one lap off workouts. The on’s were all close to 61s, while the off’s were all about 80-81s, so the overall time for the 3200m was 11:46.
4) I ran a lot of harder miles (for me, at any rate) this week, so it wasn't an ideal week to run a race...but I just felt I needed to get a race effort in. Ran the same time as the race three weeks previous during a down week; I was hoping to dip into the 17's, but I’ll take it. I ran much more even splits.
Overall, I think it was a pretty solid week. I didn’t mention that a lot of the easy miles were logged with a 5-10 lb backpack, as well, as I tacked on a lot of the mileage running either to or home from work. My legs are feeling a bit tired this morning after 3 straight weeks of 53-57 miles, so I plan to take it down a notch this coming week. I’m hoping that this month, I’ll have time to cautiously get some speed work in before the summer teaching schedule picks up. Hopefully drop a few pounds, too, to get ready for the 4th of July 10K; the race that got scuttled by last summer’s knee debacle. Of course, the main plan is to stay healthy!
On that note:
Alan, hope that your rehab is going well. Like most here, I can surely sympathize.
OMG, I thought that you said you have absolutely no speed. 21:12 5k is a darn good time for a 50+ woman; certainly nothing embarrassing there! (Not that there ever is….but still) A little strength and speed work will put you in pretty rarified company!
I’m stoked to see how our transplanted Kentuckian, Kevin Castille, does in today’s 5000m race at Payton Jordan. The American Masters record is currently 14:17…which should easily go down, question is can he reach the world record of 13:43. From his Stanford Invite time, I would project 13:51….very exciting!
OK, hope you all are having a great week! Racing, running, or recovering--let us know how you’re doing!