Sunday August 27, 2017
Tuesday– Track day…
This turned out to be a very good workout. I went to the track and paced myself as Carrie was doing her own run on the roads. I was doing the same workout from last week with 1600 and 2 x 1K.. I felt good coming into the run and as I made my way on the first lap I got into a good groove and ended running 9 seconds faster than last week. Even though the watch hit 1 mile a little early, I didn’t count the time until I crossed the 1600 mark 4 seconds later. The track never lies, so I always ran the same markings and ignore the watch for distance.
The K’s went well even tough on the 2nd K just 100M into the run I felt like I slowed and had to fight back to finish strong. In the end, I was faster this week compared to last week. The body is feeling good and the foot hasn’t been giving me the problems it normally does. It was a good hard effort this morning and I’m feeling great!
Wednesday– Recovery run
I started this run with Carrie as she was doing a few miles on her way to track for her speedwork. I had 6 miles and got in a few miles as well. It was my recovery run after a nice hard track workout yesterday. I ran a few miles on the track and saw Susan Loken’s track group starting to get their warmup. Susan is of course a good friend of ours and a now out of the competitive world of professional running but still very much running and coaching.
She’s still got a lot of speed in her and we chatted for a little before I made my home for the last mile. It was a good run, slow but that’s exactly where I wanted to be. I actually did 1 lap with Carrie and clocked in 1:33, it was definitely quick and I had to catch my breath afterwards.
Thursday– Easy run
I decided to run outdoors for this morning. I’ve been reserving Thursday as the occasional treadmill run day. It has helped my left foot from the pounding on the roads. However, this week has been very good and my foot doesn’t hurt that much. Carrie and ran together for the first 5 miles then she peeled off and continued on her 11-12 mile trek.
The temperature was somewhat cool but the dew point and humidity was on the sticky side from our overnight thunderstorm. I have to say that I felt very sluggish coming off of my 6 miler yesterday and a speedwork the day before that. In the end I managed to get in some good miles during this cutback week.
Care package from Amphipod….
A few weeks ago I had purchases a running light by the company Amphipod and put it in my blog and my overall review of the product. I also submitted it to the good folks at Amphipod to let them know what I thought of their product.
June, the customer service rep sent me an email thanking me for the review and asked for my address to send a few items. A week later I get a package delivered with several shirts, water bottles, and running vests for Carrie and I!
I really have to give a special shout out and a HUGE Thank you to Amphipod for taking time to read my review and for surprising me with these AWESOME products! I can’t wait to try them out and provide another review in the near future!
Saturday– Long run
This was a cutback week so I only had 7 miles. At 4am we woke up which is par for the course, but our electricity was out. SRP had a breaker go out so we didn’t have any power, luckily we have flashlights throughout out house and on both sides of our bed.. can never be too prepared right? 🙂
Fortunately, the power was restored just before I left and the universe was back to normal! Just before I ran, I had Carrie take a pic of me wearing the new vest from Amphipod. As you can tell, if you were an oncoming vehicle, you should have no problems seeing me…see and be seen! I will be doing a more extensive review and sending to Amphipod as promised!
   
After making sure the house was good to go with the electricity, I donned the vest along with my running light as I looked like the Rockefeller Christmas tree! The vest is light and surprisingly comfortable. You can adjust it from top to bottom as well as the waist so it accommodates all sizes and shapes! The only thing is I run without a shirt in the summer because of the heat and sweat. But I didn’t want any chaffing issues, so made sure to wear a tank. It felt even warmer with it on but saved my skin.
The run went ok. The route we ran is not flat but then again where in Ahwatukee is it flat for long? I wanted to run this route to give myself a little work and see how I felt. My left glute was a little tight and sore especially on the uphill grades. The left foot was a little sore but overall I had a good run. It was nice having a cutback week to allow the body to recover before the next 2 weeks of long runs before my taper begins for the race!
Sunday– Recovery run at Tempe Town Lake
For this run a few of us showed up for a mix of miles. Carrie was running 15, I had a recovery day of 3 and did 3.5, Kara put in about 8-9, Michelle did 4, and Meredith and Dolly ran 13 and 12 respectively. Carrie had a speedworkout session within her 15 miler and naile her workout under hot conditions. Michelle is getting back to running more consistently and planning on doing some fall races . I wasn’t able to see Meredith as we had to leave before she came around on her loop. But I texted her and she said she had a good run as she prepares for her San Diego Triathlon in 2 weeks.
My run was nice and easy and my left glute, probably the piriformis has been sore the last few runs so I am rolling and doing exercises to help alleviate the pain.
It was good to see everyone and break up the routine of running in Ahwatukee every once in a while.
       
The road ahead…
8 weeks are now officially behind me and 4 weeks until race day! I have one more long run to do then the taper begins. For the most part I’m feeling good, just a nagging glute/piriformis issue I need to hammer out. 2/3’s of training have been completed and as I look back at this training I feel very good about where I am at.
Summer is the toughest time to train regardless of what distance you’re racing, at least in my eyes. The difference now between the Pete in his late 40’s vs. Pete in his 20’s or 30’s is that I am obviously slower but I like to think smarter in my approach. I am doing more of the post workout stretching and rolling, even on the off days. It takes my body longer to recover, I don’t bounce back like I did 20-30 years ago… the body isn’t as resilient but the determination is just as strong!
n2running 