Road to Nationals- Healthy running
This week is about one thing, healthy running. I had a 50 mile week last week and I am super pumped about that. But this week I have to continue to put myself into position to get in better and better shape. I have 59 miles scheduled this week and 58 for the next before going down a bit before I have pre-season. But this three week strech will be the biggest in the summer. It gives me a good chance to pack on some mileage, and put some good quality workouts in. The work I do in this cycle will pay huge in late October, enough for the introduction. Let’s get right into the running!
MONDAY
12:48 P.M. 4 Miles in 31:01
This week I am doing three days of running 4 miles in the morning and running 7 miles in the evening. This week I didn’t get off to the best start at running in the morning. I will do better the rest of the week. But I did get some decent recovery in. Very slow and very windy. I love recovery doubles because it does not matter what pace you run as long as you get in the mileage. Right after my run I had a great chance to talk onf the phone to one of my teammates Lily Niswonger! She is a great person and one of my favorite teammates. It was cool to catch up with her, and see how she is doing in the real world. Lil if you are reading this it was awesome to talk to you and I am glad you are doing well for yourself :)
8:00 P.M. 7 Miles in 45:24
The run today was a bit fast. I told myself that I was going to run a bit faster the first mile so I did not have to work as hard at the end of the run to go at an easier pace. Well the first mile that I ran made the rest of the run much faster. And the last three miles I averaged 6:07 per mile. So the workout tomorrow may suffer a bit because I will most likely have heavy legs. But we will see how it goes and hopefully It will be a decent day.
TUESDAY
2:32 P.M.
2 Mile Warm up
4 miles of blah
Dehydrated jog to Car
Workout sucked, don’t want to have this week be defined by this bad workout. I am going to have a good rest of the week with a solid workout on Friday and good mileage throughout the rest of the week. See you tomorrow. I’ll make up my miles for my cool down on my off day this week.
WEDNESDAY
8:39 P.M. 2 Miles in 16:14
Today was a chill off day. I ran two miles to get the junk out of my legs really slowly. Tomorrow I will get back on that grind! See you folks tomorrow :)
THURSDAY
6:48 A.M. 4 Miles in 31:15
Today I actually woke up and did one of my runs in the morning. I am really proud of myself. I have to make this a habit however. The first couple weeks of practice we have 6:30 A.M. start times. So that will be tough, because of that I need to get in a routine of getting up earlier and going to sleep earlier. Run was good. Slow recovery over some hills of Mount Vernon. Coming back this afternoon and doing a 7 Mile easy run. So stay tuned boyz and girlz :)
3:59 P.M. 7 Miles in 51:36
Today was a nice easy run. Took it easy in preperation for tomorrow’s workout. I know that part of the reason I did not run as well as I wanted to on Tuesday is because I ran to fast the day before. And I was not about to make the same mistake twice. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good result. See you fools tomorrow :)
FRIDAY
6:17 A.M.
2 Mile Warm Up
12x200 with a 200 meter jog in between
3 Mile Cool Down
I am happy for three reasons this morning! First of all last night something pretty cool happened. So most of you who read this probably know that I am involved in a college ministry called the Salt Company. Last night was our last summer session before we kick off in the fall. So I got there a bit early and was eating some Pancheros and talking to the director Nathan. As I am eating this beautiful burrito he waves at someone coming down third street, which is the street where Salt happens, I turn around to see who it is and it’s my babe Joanna :) Jo thanks for coming last night I was SO suprised and you are an incredible human being :) Enough with the romance, this morning was awesome. First of all I woke up early enough to work out in the morning and it was beautiful. The temperature was perfect. Secondly the workout went as planned. I hit my times and got a feel for what my goal race pace for late October and early November will feel like. I have the rest of the day to recover from the workout so I am pretty happy with that. I am doubling tomorrow with runs of 4 and 7 miles. Then on Sunday I will try to go out to a trail and run 10 miles. See you guys tomorrow!
SATURDAY
10:23 A.M. 4 Miles in 30:38
Today I did a easy recovery double on the track and turf. Going to go 7 miles tonight so hopefully that goes well. Getting close to running all my mileage and I am pumped about that.
7:51 P.M. 7 Miles in 50:56
Today was an overall good training day. 11 miles of easy running and I had really good weather both times that I ran. This block of training is very important to my sucess this fall. And this week is a really good start. Tomorrow hopefully I will get my full 10 miles in. For a 59 mile week which I am pumped about! See you tomorrow.
SUNDAY
6:31 A.M 10 Miles in 1:12:56
59 Mile week boy. I am very proud of this week of training. I fought through a really hard workout but did not let it get me down mentally. I also ran my easy days easier which I need to continue to do during the rest of the summer. But most importantly I put in a HUGE week of training that will help me going into the meets that matter in October and November. Today’s run was awesome. I went out and back on Ink road with my Coach, Dan. We talked about training, life, and the beauty of the route we were running. I enjoy the fact that a year ago I did not even know Dan personally and now we chat like old friends. Having a coach that is your friend first is an amazing thing. You rock Coach.
All in all it was an amazing week but there are things I can work on. I know that I can see the top of the mountain of my summer training and now I need to do everything in my power to get me there. Thanks for reading you beautiful people and I will see you next week.
-Gabe
