MCM Training Week 6

Saturday, June 7: 8 miles (road)

This weekend was scheduled for recovery on the training plan. So, we had the option to run 4-8 miles today. Angela and I opted to run the full 8 miles. The route was fairly flat (hallelujah!), but man I struggled with the humidity during the second half of this run. I repeatedly doused myself with cold water at the final water stop two miles out from the end. I had a much easier time on the Wednesday night workout with the heat and all those hills. Humidity + mel = no bueno.

Sunday, June 8: Cross-training

Today was scheduled to be an off day, but I opted to do weights at the gym.

Monday, June 9: 7 miles (treadmill)

I upped my Monday long run to 7 miles in an effort to boost the overall weekly mileage. Good easy run.

Tuesday, June 10: Cross-training

Weights + 30 minutes elliptical.

Wednesday, June 11: 7 miles (road)

We got to run the fartlek tonight that was originally on last week's schedule. But, the location was changed from Zilker to the hills in West Austin due to Blues on the Green over at Zilker. I think this was the third time that we've run a similar route - just bigger hills (hello, Scenic) and more miles this time. Even with the heat in the mid 90's, I noticed that I ran the warm-up much easier and stronger than I seemed to the last time. Once we hit the water stop at mile 2, then it was 1 minute hard followed by 1 minute recovery for 8 sets. As I was running my "hard" efforts for only a minute, all I was thinking about was how difficult running a 5k at a "hard" effort will be tomorrow night. Running hard in this heat is just plain hard. But, I got through it in a respectable manner and made another deposit in my training bank.

Thursday, June 12: 4 miles (road)

K and I ran Maudie's Margarita Run 5k for the first time tonight. I had originally planned to use this as a substitute workout for a time-trial that I thought was scheduled for this week. But, after last night's workout, I intended for this to just be a fun run...as much fun as you can have running a 5k in the evening in June in Austin. We parked near Rogue and ran a short warm-up to the start area by the Rock. It was only a little over a half mile run, but I was already drenched in sweat when this photo was taken. 

Before the race at the start/finish area by the Rock

The race started at 8pm and off we went. I didn't look at my Garmin until we approached the first mile marker, which had a clock with the gun time. I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't really see what it said until I was right up on it. But, I could tell that it was a few seconds past...something. So, I assumed it was just after 9 minutes. Um, wrong. It was a few seconds past 8 minutes. Well, I sure wasn't expecting that! Anybody else see a problem with the fact that I can't tell a difference in perceived effort between an 8 and 9 minute mile? I credit the heat for that - just running at all in these temps feels hard. So, I can't differentiate levels of hardness. Anyway, I decided to go ahead with my plan to get an idea of a time for 2 miles then relax for mile 3. I don't think I could have sustained 3 miles of hard effort anyway. I was pleasantly surprised with my 2-mile time estimate, and, heck, even my overall time (which included several bursts of walking in that last mile). First time in a long time that I finished in the top 25% of a race (and would have been higher if I had held it together into mile 3).


Friday, June 13: OFF

Week 6 Total: 26 miles + 2 cross-training workouts