Monday is my first speedwork session of the week. The tricky part is not overdoing it and being able to run strong on my key session on Wednesday. I might have done a bit much again today, as I did a few weeks back.
I thought keeping a tempo pace might be quite the challenge and would beat me up too much (especially with today's wind). Hill repeats are usually so short that they make attaining mileage difficult. Because of those issues, I opted to run a fartlek on the Nor-Bath Trail.
This would allow me to run however I feel on this day. I slept it because I knew it would be cool all day. It was actually warm whenever the breeze stopped blowing, but that wasn't often. When the wind was going, it was quite chilly.
My quads felt good yesterday, but the extra day off made them feel sore. Rest doesn't exactly help. My first few steps were awkward as usual. Then, I got warmed up and was doing fine. The first mile was easy and I managed to make it across Airport Road without stopping.
After the warmup, I began cranking it up. I usually start these with longer and slower "fast" segments. This gets the legs warmed up some more without over taxing them and pressing them into action too soon. Of course these longer segments are still shorter than my repeats on Wednesdays.
The first segment into the wind was .25 miles at a 6:47 pace. After another longer segment, I shorten it up and went faster. I ran a 5:41 minute pace for .15 miles. That was certainly a bit difficult.
I was hoping to do a longer segment of .35 miles, but I had to settle for .25 miles because I was approaching a road crossing. I didn't want to take the risk of slowing down. That was done at a fast 6:12 pace. I then followed that up with the .35 mile segment. That one was at a more pedestrian 6:49 pace. I used that almost like a fast recovery.
I ran one more short and fast segment before turning around. That was .10 miles at a 5:41 pace. I turned around at the halfway point. That was just in time as they were doing some work on the trail up ahead. I got to avoid that mess.
Going out was mostly into the wind, so I was looking forward to heading back. Having the wind behind me was a help, but not a great of a factor as I thought it would be. My legs were already feeling quite beat. My first fast segment coming back was a medium distance of .20 miles. I managed to just break 6 minute pace with a 5:57 pace.
My goal was to pick it up a lot over the second half of this run and I sure did that. I was almost in full out sprint mode for .10 miles. I completed that one at a blazing 4:42 pace. That is the first time I've done any speedwork segments under a 5 minute pace in a long time.
In the next two speedy segments, I increased the distance to .15 and .25 miles. I kept both of these segments under a 6 minute pace too. After really pushing in those segments, I needed a good recovery. Normally, I don't like to give myself more than .25 miles to recover. This time, I gave myself .30 miles.
My next fast segment was sort of a recovery too. I only ran .10 miles and at a 6:10 pace. It certainly was somewhat of a challenge, but not as difficult as the previous few segments. As I was preparing for my final fast segment, I knew this one would be tough. The long recoveries made my tired legs think they were done. I planned on just running a hard .10 miles, as I kept pushing myself that turned into .15 miles. The pace was 5:27. Perhaps even more impressive was that I could tell from far away that this portion of the run was slightly uphill.
After my speedy part of the running was over, I started my cooldown mile. I saw a couple runners and some bikers on the path throughout the run. The two most interesting people had to be a young Middle Eastern woman and an old man. I passed the woman earlier as she was walking. She was dressed fairly nicely with a jacket and scarf. She also had on perfume and was carrying a purse. When I saw her this second time, she was running. That seemed quite odd. The old guy had to be in his 70s or 80s and he was biking with his shirt off. He was ripped. It didn't look like he missed a day at the gym in his life.
I also saw a Bluejay on the trail. It was very pretty. I don't see those flying around too often. It was one of the few things I even noticed. I had to dodge a couple squirrels. When you run these speedwork sessions, you are just so focused and almost unaware of your surroundings. I was happy I made it over all the road crossings without any problems.
After I finished running, I realized how much my legs took a pounding. I keep these fartlek intervals short, but they are so fast that they really stress my body. It is good to run at speeds that I'm not used to, but it causes my muscles to work differently. My IT band on both legs seemed a little sore. I'm hoping some decent stretching helped. I probably need to work on my legs more between now and my next speedwork session.
I don't feel like I'm pushing too hard during these fartleks, but I guess I do. I just need to do a little less so that I don't kill myself and that I allow myself to be strong a few days later. I need to either run different speedwork sessions or run these smarter. I have to be more careful because speedwork can be a big cause of injuries.
After a good workout today, it is time for an easy one tomorrow. I can't decided where I'm going, but I'm looking for an easy 7 or 8 miles. I'm thinking maybe I'll run the trails at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. Now that it is cooler out, I would like to try climbing to the top of the mountain. Sometime, I'd like to go the Poconos. I want to run on the McDade Trail along the Delaware. I'm not sure I want to go all the way up there with a cross country meet to attend tomorrow though.
7 miles - 55:08 (7:52 pace)
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