Running is Fun-Grit
I appricate the people who are reading this attempt that I am giving to writing seriously every day. I know it is probably only a handful of my Facebook friends, family, and people I talk to on a daily basis. But if you are reading this I love you and I am glad that you support me enough to read this blog. It means a lot. Okay, enough with the mushy feelings stuff. This blog is about running. This week is going to be big for me. We are about a month away from conference and if you have been keeping up with me you know my goal is to succeed in the 10,000 meter run. This is the last big week that I will put on as many miles as my legs allow before starting to back off a touch on volume. I titled this weeks blog grit for a couple reasons but here is the main one. This Saturday I will be racing a 1500 meter run. Which is a short race for me and something I do not excel in. But I want to run a pr despite running a big mileage week for me. So in that race I am going to have to show grit and toughness to achive the goal that I have. All that being said I hope you enjoy the blog this week and I am so happy to take you along with me in this journey.
MONDAY
6:28 A.M. 4 Miles in 32:07
3:12 P.M. 1 Mile in 7:56
3:49 P.M. 8 Miles in 56:24 plus 1 mile of strides
Good start to the week, got up and actually did my morning run in time, which is a rarity for me due to Monday Morning Prayer. My topic of grit came into play here. Getting up early is not my forte, as many people in my life can tell you. But today I got up and got it done. Usually on doubles that I run solo they are way faster than normal, but this was a normal paced double which I was very happy about. Will try to get 14 total miles in today that means 10 this afternoon. This afternoon was super relaxed, I am glad I feel this good today, it means I am in a good position to have an amazing week of training and run a good race this weekend. I am hoping to get 80 miles in this week being a month away from the 10k at the end of this week. I am hoping that all the work I am putting in now makes me have an amazing race on May 11th! On to the next one.
TUESDAY
10:10 A.M. 3 Miles in 23:15
3:45 P.M. 2 Mile Warm up 2x2 Mile 2xMile and 2x300 Meter 1.5 Cool Down
No suprise that I am going to talk about grit again, with that being the title of this weeks blog. I did not run early this morning due to an interview I had for a summer job here on campus, which went extremely well and I think I am going to get a position. Anyway, after class today I came into my dorm with no motivation and debated doubling or not for about five minutes. And I am glad I decided to go out and double. It was smooth and it was a good way to get more mileage on my legs. And they were slighly heavy so that was good to get out because we have a 10k specific workout today according to Dan. Grit will continue to be a huge concept for me this week as I try to get the most miles I can on my legs so I can run a sucessful 5k next week and a sucessful 10k on May 11th. Workout was amazing, everything was under pace and felt super smooth. Paul and I really worked together well today and that is a good sign because at conference we should be in a great position to score big points for our team. We closed our last mile in 5:11 which was 20 seconds faster than coach wanted, but if you feel amazing you keep going. And that is what Paul and I did. I am really pleased with the workout and it shows me how much fitness I have right now and makes me believe that I will break 16 minutes in the 5k this next Saturday.
WEDNESDAY
7:11 A.M. 5 Miles in 40:18
3:12 P.M. 1 Mile in 7:36
3:45 P.M. 8 Miles in 58:26
Today was a 14 mile day and truth be told it felt like a 14 mile day, I am spent. I am happy with the mileage today and just having today be a nice recovery day. After practice today I had a conversation with my coach Dan. We talked about the rest of the season and the good results we should see when conference rolls around. I am in such a better place in my running this year compared to this time last year. A lot of that has to do with running more miles but also being super consistant. A combination of those to things along with listening to what coach says has made this my most sucessful year of running. And I hope I can continue to improve and make next year even better. Our meet got moved to Friday and my family can’t make it. I am bumbed but just have to put my head down and keep moving forward.
THURSDAY
9:43 A.M. 1 Mile in 7:44
10:16 A.M. 5 Miles in 36:52
Today is a pre meet day so nothing too special, I ran a mile before practice so I could get 6 miles in for this morning. The run with the team was chill. So on pre meet days we do a route called ‘town loop’ and the mens team goes one way and the womens team goes the other way. Today we played red rover while going past eachother and that was fun. I am glad to be part of a team where we can be silly like that some days and be super serious on meet and workout days.
FRIDAY
2:35 P.M. 3 Mile Warm Up in 23:06
1500 meter race @ 4:25
4:15 P.M. 3 Mile Cool down in 24:28
Today was a good testiment to my fitness being so Much better than at this time last year. I am coming off of a huge training week and to run a 5 second PR in one of my weaker races gives me a lot of confidence going into next week! Felt really comfortable and I just didn’t have the leg turn over with a lap to go to get closer to 4:20. Happy with the effort. Not the first mile of me breaking 16 minutes in the 5k is going to feel like nothing.
SATURDAY
9:44 13 Miles in 1:27:48
Today was gritty. Windy, cold, raining, and I still came through and had a great long run. Legs were not sore at all which is a huge postive going into this week. I am going to work hard but be easy on recovery days so that I can run my fastest 5k in a week from now.
Really happy with how this week went and I did not get to the volume that I wanted to, which is a bummer, but I got a great quality week in and am looking forward to killing it this next Saturday. Till next week!
-Gabe
