I love the weeks that I don't have to travel, I get to lay out my training schedule the way I want to not the way I have to, which means I get to swim Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning and run Tuesday and Thursday morning, no running at night, unless I want to and last night I did not want to so I skipped the optional run.
Was looking forward to my tempo run this morning after a pretty good session of Yasso's on Tuesday, I headed out the door with Lucky for an easy warm up of 1.6 miles, dropped him off and began the tempo portion of the run, my plan was to go 3 miles at or under 8 min/mile. My knee was bothering me a little after the warm up and I was concerned it may cause me to cut the run short but I figured I would deal with that if it came up. I stretched a little and got started.
I started out well going just under 8 min/mile @ 7:57 for the first mile, my knee was still hurting a little but not as badly so I was hopeful. The second mile went by in 7:51 and I was feeling pretty good, I decided to turn it up a bit for the final mile of the tempo portion and finished that in 7:39. Stopped and stretched my legs out a little than finished up with another 1.6 mile cool down run for a total of 6.2 miles in 51:18.
I have 2 big races coming up in back to back weeks, first is the QC Distance Classic half marathon, this is one of my favorite races of the year, one because I think halves are my favorite distance to race and 2 because I really like this course and finishing on the Augustana track is pretty cool. I'm debating on whether I want to "race" this event this year with my first triathlon only a week afterwards, but I'm really looking forward to setting a PR at this distance, with the gains I've made over the year I'm really hoping to drop 10-15 minutes of my time from last year but that may leave me exhausted going into the race the following week. I suppose it will end up being a race day decision and weather will probably play a role in that as well if it is going to be hot and humid probably just going to run, if it cools off I may not be able to help myself from racing. Either way after Bluff Creek I am going to take a week off from running a scale back training for one week to get ready for the QC Triathlon which is June 16th. I'm hoping a week off of running will give my knee the rest it needs to heel up. It's a delicate balance of training and resting and sometimes it's better to error on the side of caution with nagging injuries.
On deck for tonight, 2 little league games and then 25 miles on the bike trainer. Until next time...
Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.
Every time I read about someones knee pain I cringe a bit because I have an ongoing knee issue. So I can sympathize with you.
ReplyDeleteThe half marathon is also my favorite distance. I think my least favorite is the 5k because it is an all out sprint to the finish and it just hurts. As for the marathon... it is just brutal. I swore I wouldn't do another marathon, but, don't tell anyone... I am considering doing one in December. Shhh!
Yeah it's an on again, off again thing with my knee, had an x-ray done a couple weeks ago and everything looked good, may need an MRI down the road. Problem is I've just worn my knees out over the years.
DeleteI said the exact same thing after my first and second marathon and my first 50k, and yet I'm signed up for my 3rd marathon and planning on my 2nd 50k already. Apparently they are the running version of crack, everyone knows its horrible but people still end up doing them, LOL!