Training, Week of 10/23

Whoa.  That was a heck of a cut-back week.  I intended to let my legs catch up and recover a little from all of the work I've been doing over the past couple weeks (including a 7-to-54 mile/week jump) but I feel like I really turned the corner for this training cycle, both physically and mentally.  The over-all big picture numbers are as follows: 55.7 miles in 6:37:26 (7:09/mile average).  This really doesn't tell the whole story though.  Monday started with a relatively slow run, a bit under 9 miles at a bit over 8:00/mile pace.  From there, I took off.

I intended to do a long run that was less, well, long than usual this week to let my legs recover from that aspect of training.  The scheduled 12-miler ended up being 12.84 at 6:53/mile pace.  I don't usually run under 7:00/mile when I'm just out for a training run because I feel like it puts unnecessary wear and tear on my muscles, but I guess I just felt good.  Thursday's track workout was where things really started to go well, however.

The prescribed workout was 3-4 repeats of 5:00 each with 2:00 recover.  I joking said to one of the guys who is about my speed during the workouts that it would be about a mile and he agreed seriously, except that he was thinking about 5:10/mile pace.  I didn't think I'd be able to handle the full complement, but I decided to try to hold the pace as long as possible.  I ended up with mile repeats of 5:07, 5:09, 5:10, and 5:07!  Easily the best mile repeat workout I've ever done.  It felt great and I was riding a runner's high until after my next run on Friday!  Friday's run was equally awesome, 11.18 miles at 6:52/mile pace.  Then I took the day off (first in 27 days, 238.6 days) and ran an easy 5 on today (Sunday).

As I already mentioned, I felt like I turned the corner this week.  I had a great workout that showed I'm getting back in shape and I'm mentally "with it" again.  My legs and mind are remembering what it's like to be in good physical condition and even to attempt the impossible.  I know that breaking my 5k PR on the road on a rolling course in November and then smashing my 10k PR on another rolling road course less than a week later is impossible.  But running is about convincing myself to do the impossible.