Week 3
Entering my third cross country season, I'm encouraged to find that I've become a smarter runner! One of the most important things I'm learning is how to read my body and make the decision to push hard or back off depending on what I interpret it to need. This was especially important near the end of this week! I'm nowhere near mastery, but I've certainly come a long way since the days of the 'go long and hard for each run' mentality.
Week of August 14th - August 20th
Friday: 6.5 miles (Interval Workout)
After a warm-up, we did 1 mile interval work today at VO2 Max pace. My three were between 5:30 and 5:40 mpm. I like intervals because the whole team can do it together and we're continually seeing everyone throughout the workout! We did the entire workout in the sun with temps of 85 degrees. The park closed down the splash pad and beach so we couldn't cool down there like we sometimes do. We ended up dumping each other with our water bottles which was effective and fun!
Saturday: OFF
I didn't end up doing my long run today because I didn't get up early enough and we had a party to attend later in the afternoon. Instead Rebecca (my sister) and I swam in our neighbor's pool which felt amazing after another hot day! 45 minute core routine.
Sunday: 10 miles (7:40 pace)
Once again I drove to some mountain bike trails in a nearby state park for my long run. I went a new way today and ended up finding a lake! I don't even know which lake it was, but it was small, sandy and inviting! Being another hot day, I gave into the temptation and jumped in which felt amazing! On the way back, refreshed, I was encouraged by how relaxed and strong I felt! 1 hour stretching routine (my whole family joined in!)
Monday: 7 miles (Tempo)
Today Coach had us do an out and back route for our tempo. We went out 3 plus miles as a warm-up and came back comfortably hard. I ran with two of the varsity boys and, while we didn't have a GPS watch, it felt like we started out around 6:30 pace and dropped it down to 5:45 for the very end. It was so nice to have the company while doing this, after a summer of solo tempo runs!
Tuesday: 6 miles (8:30 pace)
I felt like all I did today was exercise! First I did the strength/core routine (pushups, planks, pull-downs, etc.) which took about 45 minutes. Next my sister and I swam in our neighbor's pool again. And then, a couple hours later, it was off to practice! At practice today we did strength and form drills. I wouldn't know this until tomorrow, but as soon as I got up Wednesday I felt stiff all over from all the jumps and step-ups! I'm going to have to start doing these more often! Our run took place on some dirt trails around Lake Lansing.
Wednesday: 7 miles (Interval Workout)
Ouch! I was sore all day from yesterday's strength drills! The stretching routine scheduled for today didn't even seem to help! I managed to get through my day though, and get to practice. At practice coach had us do interval work at VO2 pace once again. After a warm-up, we did half mile repeats in the grass with quarter mile recovery. I did 6 around 2:45-:50 pace. Once again, after a summer of training on my own, it feels great to be doing this workout with the team!
Thursday: 7 miles (8:00 pace)
Today I was still a little sore! In the morning I biked to the high school to swim laps, trying to work out the knots. It seemed to help. Later in the afternoon I did an easy 7 mile run on some nearby dirt roads! It was a great run with temps in the 60s and no deerfly! I got home and did some stretching and rolled out on the foam roller. I'm excited for tomorrow and my team's first race! Our goal is just to have fun with it, although we have a shot at winning! XC camp follows!
Total Weekly Miles : 43.5 Miles
