Week of May 27 - June 2
Sun: Run 7 mi easy; Cycle 8 mi
Mon: Run 21 (trails at Mohican St. Park); Cycle 6
Tue: Run 6 easy; Cycle 10
Wed: Run 4 easy; Swim 1050 yds
Thur: Run 11.5, with 7.5 @ tempo pace (5x 1.5mi; with 2 min recoveries); Cycle 4
Fri: Rest
Sat: Run 8; Cycle 17
Totals:
Run: 57.5 miles on 6 runs (9hr 00m)
Cycling: 46.0 miles (3hr 17m)
Swim: 0.6 miles (21min)
A good training week, highlighted by the daytrip to Mohican and the Thursday night quality workout.
I headed down to Mohican on Monday with intentions to run a few loops of the race course. The plan was to start at Covered Bridge, run the short Blue loop, followed by Red loop to Rock Point and Green loop returning to Covered Bridge.
Having only been to the Mohican race during each of the past 3 years, along with a couple other camping trips, I have a general idea of the course. But without the normal race-weekend trail markings, I got lost. I made it through the Blue okay, with an added hill repeat of the road section since I did not know the trailhead was so far up the road. Then on Red, I think I took a wrong turn and ended up on the mountain bike trail. I thought to myself how much nicer the bike trail was than the bridal trails. After passing-through the Bridal Staging Area, I headed out on the 7+ miles to Rock Point. Following the "MO100" trail markings, and after a couple stream crossings, apparently I made a wrong turn. After 45 minutes of running I end back at the Bridal Staging area. Ugh. I had really wanted to run the Green section from Rock Point to South Park. Realizing I didn't have enough time to get it all done, I adjusted course and took a connector to the Fire Tower and ran a little bit on the Green (in both directions) before finally ending on Covered Bridge.
All-in-all, not what I set out to do, yet pleased that I got some miles in before the Mohican race. I'm a little bit concerned about the elevation. I had forgotten how hilly it is at Mohican. I don't think I've done enough hill training and leg strengthening. I'm worried about my quads giving out on race day.
On Thursday night, I ran my peak tempo session of the season. Over the past few weeks, I've progressed the tempo run from my standard six miles, to seven last week, and this week I extended it further than ever before with 7.5 miles of tempo-pace in one workout.
The degree of difficulty increased when I received a phone call from my training partner on Thursday afternoon. She cancelled, leaving me to run this one solo.
11.5 miles total
3.0 mi warm-up
7.5 mi @ T-pace (5x 1.5mi; with 2min recoveries) (Ave 6:41 pace)
1.0 mi cool-down
1.5 mile splits: 9:57/9:59/10:01/10:05/10:09
A little warm on this night and, with no partner to chase, it was going to be tough. The workout was a Daniels-style "Cruise Interval" workout. I took it one interval at a time and by the time I hit #4, there was no stopping me. I just keep on believing that this workout was making me tougher than ever.
I'm very pleased with the self-determination to do this workout solo. This was my longest volume of T-pace in one session. Fifty minutes of T-pace. The run did not go entirely as planned, as during the last interval I felt a bruise on the top of my left foot in the normal area of a stress fracture. So I cut back on the cool-down run.
Am I ready for MO? Only time will tell. Having this quality workout under my belt has my confidence rising.
Two weeks to go. Its time to taper the physical training, but the mental preparation continues...
Mon: Run 21 (trails at Mohican St. Park); Cycle 6
Tue: Run 6 easy; Cycle 10
Wed: Run 4 easy; Swim 1050 yds
Thur: Run 11.5, with 7.5 @ tempo pace (5x 1.5mi; with 2 min recoveries); Cycle 4
Fri: Rest
Sat: Run 8; Cycle 17
Totals:
Run: 57.5 miles on 6 runs (9hr 00m)
Cycling: 46.0 miles (3hr 17m)
Swim: 0.6 miles (21min)
A good training week, highlighted by the daytrip to Mohican and the Thursday night quality workout.
I headed down to Mohican on Monday with intentions to run a few loops of the race course. The plan was to start at Covered Bridge, run the short Blue loop, followed by Red loop to Rock Point and Green loop returning to Covered Bridge.
Having only been to the Mohican race during each of the past 3 years, along with a couple other camping trips, I have a general idea of the course. But without the normal race-weekend trail markings, I got lost. I made it through the Blue okay, with an added hill repeat of the road section since I did not know the trailhead was so far up the road. Then on Red, I think I took a wrong turn and ended up on the mountain bike trail. I thought to myself how much nicer the bike trail was than the bridal trails. After passing-through the Bridal Staging Area, I headed out on the 7+ miles to Rock Point. Following the "MO100" trail markings, and after a couple stream crossings, apparently I made a wrong turn. After 45 minutes of running I end back at the Bridal Staging area. Ugh. I had really wanted to run the Green section from Rock Point to South Park. Realizing I didn't have enough time to get it all done, I adjusted course and took a connector to the Fire Tower and ran a little bit on the Green (in both directions) before finally ending on Covered Bridge.
All-in-all, not what I set out to do, yet pleased that I got some miles in before the Mohican race. I'm a little bit concerned about the elevation. I had forgotten how hilly it is at Mohican. I don't think I've done enough hill training and leg strengthening. I'm worried about my quads giving out on race day.
On Thursday night, I ran my peak tempo session of the season. Over the past few weeks, I've progressed the tempo run from my standard six miles, to seven last week, and this week I extended it further than ever before with 7.5 miles of tempo-pace in one workout.
The degree of difficulty increased when I received a phone call from my training partner on Thursday afternoon. She cancelled, leaving me to run this one solo.
11.5 miles total
3.0 mi warm-up
7.5 mi @ T-pace (5x 1.5mi; with 2min recoveries) (Ave 6:41 pace)
1.0 mi cool-down
1.5 mile splits: 9:57/9:59/10:01/10:05/10:09
A little warm on this night and, with no partner to chase, it was going to be tough. The workout was a Daniels-style "Cruise Interval" workout. I took it one interval at a time and by the time I hit #4, there was no stopping me. I just keep on believing that this workout was making me tougher than ever.
I'm very pleased with the self-determination to do this workout solo. This was my longest volume of T-pace in one session. Fifty minutes of T-pace. The run did not go entirely as planned, as during the last interval I felt a bruise on the top of my left foot in the normal area of a stress fracture. So I cut back on the cool-down run.
Am I ready for MO? Only time will tell. Having this quality workout under my belt has my confidence rising.
Two weeks to go. Its time to taper the physical training, but the mental preparation continues...
3 Comments:
You know that we will all be thinking of you. You also know how to pace yourself on the hills (unlike me).
I am excited to read the official race report!
You did a nice extra hike up the road by the dam, excellent!
I know where you made the wrong turn on the red. You went up and uphill, and there was a signpost with a marker that is kind of ambigous. So you went left, and then spotted another Mo sticker, and then followed that..which took you back to Bridal Staging.
You should have taken the right turn, but it's not marked any where near on that trail. By seeing the Mohican sticker, you assumed you were going the right way.
I did that myself last fall, we did an extra loop with the water crossings, I think it's about a 3mile section there.
You'll do fine at Mohican. Enjoy the taper.
See you next week RR at Mo!
Post a Comment
<< Home