Base Training Week 3 Workouts

12/11- Long & Hard: Today the plan was to run to Rusty's house from mine. I kinda wanted to run the last few miles around GMP (6:20ish). I got out quick from the start and just never really backed off. I really worked on just running the terrain early on and not pushing the pace. I committed to running a good rhythm up the hills and staying in the same effort range. I ran the 4th and 5th miles (both uphill) in 6:52 and 6:56, respectively. I then dropped back to 6:48 (up/flat) for the next mile. After that my next 9 miles were: 6:33, 6:01, 6:27, 6:20, 6:25, 6:19, 6:19, 6:22, and 6:14. I did a nice easy 2-mile cool-down and ended up at just over 17miles to Rusty's front door. The first 15 miles were done in 1:37:30, exactly 6:30 pace. I am pleased with this, and it was totally unplanned. I am going to re-think my workouts for the rest of the week, but I am toiling with the idea of a hill workout on Thursday. I will probably scrap the progression run until next week. Now, time for some shake-outs and mileage chasing until then.

12/14- Progression Run (Treadmill): I ran inside this afternoon because fatherly responsibilites obligated it. A 10-mile progression run was on the agenda, which I was excited to do. I really enjoy this workout because your body builds into the faster pace and it never really shocks the system too bad. Anyway, the way I prefer is to do a 1-mile warm-up, followed by 8 progressive miles, and finishing with an easy shake-out mile at the end. Today, I decided to work down to 10k pace (5:38 pc). I didn't really find the need to go all the way to 5k pace (5:24 pc) right now, because that is so far away from what I am training for at the moment. The run went great, and I felt pretty comfortable the whole time. The final mile was a bit of a push, but I certainly didn't feel out of control at any point. I finished the 10 miles in a total time of 63:22, which represented a 6:20 overall pace (Goal marathon pace interestingly!!!). Here were my splits: 7:12, 6:39, 6:29, 6:17, 6:06, 5:59, 5:52, 5:47, 5:37, 7:19. Back to chasing miles. Maybe some hills on Friday, but it is too soon to tell.