Jer Training 3/16 to 3/22

Now that I finally feel like I'm back in the swing of things,  I guess it's relevant to talk about what it is I'm actually training for. The major highlights look something like this:

- 4/12: Incarnate Word 5k (Track)

- 4/26: Rice 5k (Track)

- 6/1: San Diego Rock and Roll Half Marathon

I'll do a few other races in between, but those are the events that I'm really focused on this spring. Since I'm coming off a very good marathon, my endurance has been solid so far, so my goal in training has been to maintain that fitness while slowly getting back to at least some moderate level of speed. It's not something that comes naturally to me, but I'm working at it, and thankfully I have another month before the Rice 5k, when I really need to be in sub 15 minute 5k shape again. The bigger goal is to get under 68 minutes for the half, which will give me more confidence to shoot for another marathon PR in the fall or winter. Anyway, here it is:

Sunday 3/16: 11.5 miles (AM) and 4.6 miles (PM) at 7:45 pace and 7:20 pace

Monday 3/17: 12 miles (AM) and 4.6 miles (PM) at 7:40 pace and 7:20 pace

Tuesday 3/18: 5 miles at 7:55 pace (AM), PM Workout - 8 mile tempo on the track (technically 12.8k) in 42:39, or 5:21 per mile. 1600 splits were: 5:19, 5:21, 5:20, 5:20, 5:19, 5:20, 5:22, 5:17. Afterwards did 6x100m sprints up a shallow hill near the track. Total 12+ miles for the evening.

Wednesday 3/19: 9 miles (AM) and 4.85 miles (PM) at 7:45 and 7:15 pace

Thursday 3/20: 7.3 miles (AM) and 6.1 miles (PM) at 7:45 and 7:30 pace

Friday 3/21: 6 miles at 7:35 pace in the AM, PM Workout - 10x alternating 1ks (fast/medium continuous) at 3:06.1, (3:37), 3:04.9, (3:36), 3:05.8, (3:40), 3:05.5, (3:40), 3:07.0, (3:38) for a total of 10k in 33:42, or 5:25 pace. Afterwards did 4x200 with the first 100m at 5k pace, then into an all out sprint the 2nd 100m. Those were 33, 33, 33, 32 with the first 100s being 18s and the 2nd being 14 high. I should note it was a windy night on the track, which slowed the 1ks down a bit but gave massive assistance to the 200s, which I cleverly did with the wind. 

Saturday 3/22: 10 miles (AM) and 6 miles (PM) at 7:25 and 7:30 pace

Weekly Total: 110 miles, roughly 15 miles of quality

I've been sticking with a pattern of hard, easy, easy for the past couple weeks and it seems to be working out well. Both of these workouts were extremely solid, maybe not quite as fast as I would've been this time last year, but I also didn't peak for a January marathon last year. I'm feeling much more confident that I'm on track to run fast in the mid April to early June time frame. And more importantly I'm having fun doing the workouts and mileage, which was something of a struggle a couple weeks ago. Happy training everyone.