Training Log Entry 10: July 31 - August 6, 2023

Monday July 31

Off

Tuesday August 1

My legs felt pretty tired going into this run, however, this ended up being a really good day.

Many things that I’ve been trying to improve during easy mileage all started to click together:

• I was mid-foot striking instead on being more on the balls of my feet.
• My breathing was very relaxed, and I felt aerobically strong.
• I didn’t start out too fast, and was patient with building up the pace.

The run ended up being 9.7km. Having a good first run of the week really makes be optimistic about the rest of the week, especially since I am planning on increasing my the mileage.

Wednesday August 2

To get over my mental block of not being able to do over 5km continuously at threshold pace, I decided to do a workout that was longer than 5km and gradually build up to the pace. The planned workout was a 6km that increases to threshold pace my halfway.

Though I planned to start out relaxed, it ended not going as I planned. My first kilometer was a 4:10, and then followed by 4:29 and 4:26 which were closer to the pace I wanted to start at. Unfortunately, after a 4:15 fourth kilometer, I had another minor breathing problem that forced me to stop.

After getting my breath back, I finished the last 2km with a 4:11 and 4:06. This made the average pace 4:17/km for the 6km.

Including the warm-up and cool-down, the total mileage for the day came to 14.3km.

Thursdays August 3

Similar to last week, I did my run at the MARC this Thursday to get some vertical in. I spent a bit more time on the road at the beginning to make sure I didn’t end up being short on distance like last week.

When I got on the trails, I did the same thing as before, keeping the effort level relaxed and walking when necessary. However, I did end up walking less compared the last week.

In total, I covered 10.8km with 220m of climbing.

Friday August 4

Since my goal for this week is to focus on increasing my volume, I decided to keep the intensity low for this workout to make sure my legs aren’t dead for the long run. The workout I decided on was was 6x800m, 5x200m. The plan was run the 800s at a moderate pace (3:05-3:10), with a shorter 2:00-2:30 rest, and finish with some fast 200s with 90s rest.

Overall, this workout went quite well. The 800s were right on pace, splitting 3:09, 3:11, 3:08, 3:09, 3:04, and 3:00, to average 3:06. While I started on well with the rest, I did have to take a little extra before the last 2 reps and the 800s didn’t feel as relaxed as I would have liked.

For the 200s, my spits were 40, 42, 37, 38, and 35, to average 38. The splits weren’t as fast as I planned, but I did recover between reps well.

Including the warm-up and cool-down, the session covered at 14km.

Saturday August 5

For this day, I did an easy 6km run. The pace was pretty slow but I felt relaxed the whole time. However, my left calf was bothering me a bit possibly because of the 200s the day before.

Sunday August 6

The goal for this long run was to get 18km and finish off the week with a good amount of mileage. Given that my legs weren’t feeling that their best, I decided to keep the route flat for this long run. The route I ended up doing was a point-to-point run, starting in Middlewood and following the Bull Run trail to Bridgewater.

This run ended up being really brutal. I was struggling to maintain any pace and had to take breaks frequently throughout the entire run. My entire body felt exhausted, possibly due to the increased mileage or maybe from not eating enough before the run. However, I did manage to finish the full 18km, though the final stretch was really tough.

This brought the week’s mileage to 72.8km, with 480m of elevation gain.