Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Training Summary - Weeks 11 and 12 of 22 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Training Cycle

Well, it looks like my training is finally coming around, although I hope with 10 weeks to go until my goal race I am not turning it on too early.

Week 11 (3/30 - 4/5) - 110 miles:
Given that I was pretty sick on Sunday after the race and we  were traveling home on Monday afternoon I took the week  pretty easy and just did 10/6 doubles for the rest  of the week until Saturday. On Saturday I attempted a 5-6 mile tempo @ 5:15 pace. However, shortly before 3 miles I hit a bad  patch and switched the workout to 3-2-1 on the fly.
Q1 = 3 miles @ 5:15s (2:22 rest) 2 miles @ 5:13s (2:20 rest) 1 mile @ 5:09.


Week 12 (4/6 - 4/12) - 124 miles
This was the week where things really seemed to be turning around. On my workout on Wednesday the opposite of Saturday happened. I planned a 4-1-1 workout, but when I hit 4 miles I felt so good I extended the long tempo portion another mile. Q1 = 5 miles @ 5:14.4 (26:12), 2:20 rest, 1 mile @ 5:07.

I came back on Saturday for a long tempo. Given that I decided midweek to try to enter the USA 25KM champs in 4 weeks I decided to do something a little longer than if I was just training for a half. Besides, I also felt like I have been working on the faster stuff a bit so an injection of strength work might provide a solid stimulus. I didn't feel great when I started the workout, but soon found myself cruising along at 5:15s. I ended up making it 6.5 miles in 34:03 (Q2 = 6.5 miles @ 5:14.3 avg)

Obviously another huge confidence boost since I averaged 6 miles @ 5:25s with about the same effort before I ran 68:12 last year, so to be able to run a little farther at 10-11s/mi faster bodes well for my upcoming races.
 

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