Time for Some Speed

Four weeks in a row of 85 to 90 miles have left the legs a little beat up, the tank near empty and frankly, a little bored.  This was a necessary phase and I'll see the results come race day, but it was getting a really old.  The legs have forgotten how to turnover, which was quite evident in my mile race attempt at the fairgrounds this past Wednesday.  I tried to go fast, and was successful for the first quarter, (1:15), but after that I felt clunky and out of balance.  It was like my aerobic system was ready to go, but I just couldn't get the legs to keep up.  The 2nd quarter was a miserable 1:22 and I was never able to get moving again, finishing in a disappointing 5:25

The only cure for this is to introduce a bit more track and tempo work back into the mix.  I have been doing progression runs every Tuesday, but they have been modest attempts at best, and my other quality run has been devoted to hills.  So the plan is to run a 13 miler every Tuesday with an average pace of 6:50 and Thursday will be mile repeats every other week, with hill sprints on the off week or race week.  Time to get those legs use to going fast again!

Finished off the week-end with a camping trip with my daughter, where I logged almost 42 miles in trail running from Friday to Sunday, running 3 times on Saturday!  Legs are shot!

Happy Running!

Rick