Cough - DONE! (I think) Friday came down with the flu . . . grrrr....
So, basically a full week of training down the tubes.
My training group ran on their own on Saturday. I'm such a proud coach! They did awesome! Me, on the other hand, I was in bed for nearly 3 days straight with dizziness and nausea. On a lighter note, I finally got the time to watch Spirit of the Marathon. Great documentary about the Chicago Marathon.
It's a new week and I'm feeling better than I have in about a month! I ran with the crew today on their second tempo run. They all did great. I also set a personal best (or the fastest mile I can remember). I ran the third mile in 7:12. Most of that mile was run at a 6:30 pace. I can't remember ever running so fast in the past 5 or 6 years since I started seriously running.
I'm very optimistic about another personal best on my half marathon time. My best marathon time looks like it will also be taken down a few pegs too if this trend continues.
I have never been much for speedwork, but this training group has really inspired me. In my efforts to give individualized attention to my runners during training sessions, I leapfrog up and back between groups of runners. This forces me to push my pace almost to my absolute limit. Two weeks ago, I pushed a 6 to 7 minute pace for a half mile to catch my front runners. Today I pushed that pace for a full mile, in addition to pushing similar pace runs to catch my mid-group runners.
With the passing of the flu bug and the cough basically gone, I'm REALLY looking forward to a good serious week of training. I got my 4 miles in today. The rest of the week goes as follows: Wednesday - 10 miles, Thursday 8 miles. Saturday and Sunday are 22 and 10. I really am looking forward to a good 20+ mile run because my month-long bout with illness came during the weeks when I was supposed to be hitting the 20-mile mark several weekends in a row. Now, I can get down to business!
Final note, I'm looking into doing some serious stretching work with my foam roller as well as some cross-training bicycle work. Lastly, I need to work on my core. I'm hoping to get 1, if not 2, good days of core workouts each week in the final half of my training for the race.
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