Monday, February 27, 2012

Training February 20 – February 26

Monday, February 20: Sweet Gum Trail – 7 miles – Ran two clockwise loops, starting out on the homesite trail up to creekside and Cherokee to the GEHC and finishing with the sweet gum trail. This is the reverse direction of how I usually run this double loop but I need to mix it up every now and again. The only real difference is clockwise the run starts out with a longer, gradual uphill, while the counter clockwise run has two shorter steeper climbs spread out over the first 10 or so minutes. Felt alright. My legs are a little tired from the increase in mileage over the weekend.

Tuesday, February 21: Sweet Gum + Ivy Creek Greenway – 8 miles – Six sets of 30-60-90s…this was a pretty solid workout. I didn’t feel great on the first two sets but I got into a better rhythm on the last four and the last two 90s I ran were probably my two best intervals of the year. The rest on this workout was a lot better than on my last run too. Overall it was one of the better workouts that I’ve had in a while. It’s still going to be a bear to race 13 miles but at least I’m feeling better about where I’m at than I was a couple of weeks ago. 

Wednesday, February 22: Ivy Creek Greenway – 7 miles – Ran an easy seven, two loops of homesite, out and back on the greenway and up to the GEHC and back. Recovery day after Tuesday’s workout.

Thursday, February 23: Ivy Creek Greenway – 7 miles – Same run as yesterday, but this one was brutal. I felt absolutely awful for the first 20 or so minutes. I really

Friday, February 24: Ivy Creek Greenway – 5 miles – Just wanted to get a shakeout in before tomorrow’s race. I probably could have run a little longer but I figured that I’d need my legs to be as fresh as possible for the race, so I decided to run five just to get something in.

Saturday, February 25: Xterra Georgia Thrill in the Hills trail half marathon – 15 miles – The race was held at one of my favorite local trails – Ft. Yargo State Park. I ran 1:23:45 for second place. It was definitely a tough race, especially with the two really tough power line trail climbs right at 8 and 9 miles but I ran much smarter than I did in my last race so I was able to hang on for second. I will try and do a more complete write up of the race in the next couple of days. Right now I am trying to recover as my right hamstring and left foot are in rough shape.

Sunday, February 26: Sweet Gum Trail – 6 miles – Ran two loops of the Sweet Gum trail nice and easy today as a recovery run from yesterday’s race. My legs actually felt alright once I got going. My hamstring was a little tight but once I got a few minutes in it loosed up. My foot is still bothering me but I think it will be alright after a couple of easier days.

Weekly Totals: 55 miles on seven runs with one workout and one race – Another good week for me, third week in a row over 50 miles and a second place finish in my first ever half. I know 55 miles isn’t all that much volume but I’m well ahead of where I was at this point last year. Looking back, I ran 85 miles in February last year and this year I’m at 204, which is a mile less than I ran last year during March. Obviously, I know I need to continue to increase my mileage, but right now my plan is to stay between 50-60 MPW for the next two weeks then start to ratchet it up to 75-85 MPW in mid-March. Next week will be mostly spent recovering from the half and then I will get back to getting at least one workout in a week to prepare for my next scheduled race the Dirty Spokes Running the Rocks 10k.

No comments:

Post a Comment