CIM Training: Week 10

This was an exciting week. I didn’t stress about mileage and had to just go with the flow. The highlight of the week was definitely running a cross country meet against college kids.

Monday: 5.2 @ 7:57
This was the normal Monday morning run with Alexis and Brit. The twist this week? I didn’t sleep the night before. We did inventory in one of our stores and I got home at 5am and just stayed up until the run at 6am. Let’s just say I was a little sluggish.

Tuesday: track workout. 5 miles work, 9.5 miles total
Track workout with Daniel, Ashley, and Sam. This was a pretty long workout.

1.5 miles at half-marathon pace, 4x800m @ 5k pace, 1.5 miles at half-marathon pace.

Wednesday: 6 miles @ 8:04
East Nasty morning run.

Thursday: off
Thought about running, but couldn’t decide what to do considering…

Friday: Cross country race! 5k-ish in 18:14
This was one of my favorite running experiences ever. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to participate with the Nashville Harriers. I was the slowest member of the team, but if I was any slower it wouldn’t feel realistic to be able to participate. The rest of the teams were all college teams and I did manage to beat some college kids.

I haven’t run a cross country race since high school 20 years ago!?!! I was very nervous lining up and was pretty intimidated. My main goal was to no finish dead last. When the gun went off it all cam right back.

I did a good job running a smart line to the bridge (which is the first funnel spot). The pack was really crowded so I ran with my arms a little wider so that I wouldn’t get pinched too bad. Just after the 1/2 mile mark some thug (Lee Wilson) smacked me in the face with a pine branch. At the halfway mark, Matt Pulle and Hunter Hall passed me and encouraged me to go with them. I did, but Matt slowly pulled away. I tried to hang on to Hunter, but he put 10-15 seconds on me. After coming through mile two I resolved to try to catch Hunter and to pass every college kid he passed. I never did catch Hunter, but I succeeded in passing every kid he passed (though one of them went with me and out-kicked me by a second or two.

The course may or may not have been a little long (we ran a different route than the map). It was 95° and humid. It was on grass. My 5k PR is 17:33, so this wasn’t a PR, but it might indicate I am in PR shape. I think the training is working

It was really fun getting to run this race. I got to hang out with some great local runners and hear their stories and tip. I was very nervous about this race, but in a few weeks there is the Commodore Classic which is an 8k and I am hoping to be able to participate in that one as well. Official results.

Saturday: 18.5 miles @ 7:51
Ran from Centennial to Percy Warner Park, around the 5.8 and back to Centennial. I love this route. Great company on the run too (Kevin, Courtney, Scott Bennett, Ashley, and Jay).

This run capped off August with 255 miles for the month. That is a new record. It is also a serious improvement over last year – when I was training for the Rocket City Marathon. As you can see from the chart below, this training cycle is off to a much better start than my Rocket City training (3:22) or my RnR San Diego training (2:59).

I have 14 weeks of training left and if the previous two marathons are any indication, these are the most important weeks. My speed should be better and my endurance should be better. I have already done 4 long runs this cycle (3x 20 miles, 1x 18 miles) and plan to do many more. I just need to keep this up and stay injury-free

Sunday: off
I let life get in the way. I should have gone for a medium-long run. I did a great job of resting and clearing up some stress points in my life though. That should help my overall training some

Summary: 47.6 miles
Another week with 2 days off. I don’t like that pattern and need to make sure it doesn’t continue. It wasn’t a bad week (track workout + cross country race + long run = 3 quality days), but I wish I had run more volume.

BTW, in case anyone is interested, I made that mileage chart with ChartGo.com. It was a quick and easy way to create a chart with the numbers from my log.