Training Week 6 -

Weekly mileage to date=  7.27 miles

Today marks week 6 of my return to running form and I hit a small goal. I finally was able to break out of my funk and go through the wall that I have been facing since starting back up. Due to lack of training and endurance, every time I would go out and try and run a solid 2-3 miles I could never finish and often times ended up walking; of course extreme heat lingering in the 100's doesn't help with the confidence either.

The last 6 weeks have been to build my base and to get myself back into the idea of pushing the threshold and going beyond just a nice, casual jog through the neighborhood. I mean business! While I do not think I will ever obtain the speed/endurance/abilities from my days of running college cross country, I will do everything within my abilities to get back into competitive form. I have a goal and I am going to push myself to achieve it.

I started a new training program this week that is designed to get you prepared to compete in an 8K. While 8k's are not your standard race length, it is a solid program that will get me above a 5k skill set and just under a 10k distance. I have run in several 10k's and 2 half marathons and like those distances and as long as my knee holds up, that is where I will find myself.

Today my workout was a Tempo Run workout:
It consisted of running 5-10 minutes at an easy pace, shift gears and run 10-15 accelerating to a 15k pace and then decelerating for last 5-10 min. I probably went a little harder than I should have, but I tend to push myself a bit harder and have yet to find that "groove" on what my race tempo should be. This will take time.

I have been running on the treadmill to get myself built up and then I can go tackle the heat and have a good base to carry me the distance. Today's workout was tough as I pushed hard. I started at 6.7 on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then bumped it to 8 for 10 minutes and then dropped back down to a 6.5-6.7 for 10 minutes. I think I started off too fast and should have been more like a 5, but can't change the facts now. I survived, but it kicked my butt.

Total time run = 30 minutes
Total distance = 3.27
Total calories burned = 667
5k = 27:30 (definitely some room to improve) last 5k race I ran in was a 23:40 in July 2006.
Didn't have my IT band compression wrap on, so my knee is sore, but I did use the foam roller afterwards to work out the soreness.


Tonight will be ibuprofen and ice if necessary.

Up next tomorrow is supposed to be a 3 mile comfortable pace mixed with some strength training.
Here is to the next 8 weeks of training!