WEEK #6 RECAP

Weekly Mileage: 34.02

Monday A.M. I ran which is unusual but I modified my days this week to fit in the "Freedom 5k" on the 4th of July. I went 5.12 miles at an average pace of 8:34 my pace is definitely increasing in the zone 2 range, my legs were a little tired since I only had 1 day off after my 15 miler at the coast.

Tuesday I ran at night, it was later and muggy I decided to scrap the heart rate monitor and just have a free run at a comfortable pace. I ended up going 5.67 miles at an average pace of 8:02 and overall it felt pretty good.

Wednesday Rest Day

Thursday was the "Freedom 5k" (3.1 miles) it was the 4th of July and Beth and her brother Shawn decided to run as well. We had a blast and I got a new PR 21:45 (7:00 pace) I was hoping to run it in under 21:00 my strategy was to run the first 2 1/2 miles right at 7:00 pace and then sprint the last bit. I stuck to that plan but didn't have as much energy at the end as I had hoped. Beth and Shawn also had great results and we stayed for the parade and really enjoyed the morning.

                Beth & Shawn

Thanks to Donna, Brian and Tiffany
for watching the kiddos while we ran.








Friday Rest Day

Saturday there was some small ankle and foot pain on my right side (this tends to happen when I run faster paces) and in my right hip which has been tight lately but nothing that was slowing me down. I got up early so I could get the 3 hour run in and still have sometime with the family before Beth had to go to work. I started at 7:30 and the weather was perfect (about 60 degrees and cloudy) the run went really well. I had trouble even getting and keeping my heart rate in Zone 2  I am back at my normal/past pace but able to run it and stay in a lower heart rate zone, meaning I am using less energy while accomplishing the same tasks (this was the goal of this training) I am surprised it has worked so well this fast.

At mile 9 I got a rush of adrenaline (runners high) and was actually running at a 7:06 pace and still in zone 2. I ran faster than I had thought so at mile 18 I reached the house and had to keep going. I finished with 19.13 miles at an average pace of 9:03 and felt really good overall (within context)

Sunday Rest Day

*Compression Socks: I got a pair of compression socks at the Nike Employee Store a few weeks back (only because they were cheap) I never thought much of the concept but after using them on my last 2 long runs I was really impressed with the difference. In the past I always experienced a painful tightening in my upper calves making me slow down dramatically towards the end of my long runs. Wearing the socks the last 2 weeks I have not had this feeling. This could be a change from my training and not the socks but I will continue to use them and would recommend them for distances over 10 miles.