Thursday, January 31, 2013

Half-Marathon Boot Camp: Workout #2

AM: 3 mile w/u + strides
Target: 10x2 mins. hard w/1 min. jog recovery
Actual: Above
1.5 mile c/d
Total: 9 miles
PM: 4 miles easy
Daily total: 13 miles

I've just about decided to quit even remotely trying to assess, predict or plan for the weather this winter. I had originally been instructed to run some hard 800s on the track today, but that plan was scrapped in a hurry once I realized the wind was gusting at 25-35mph throughout most of the day (and, in fact, had blown upwards of 50mph the previous night). Fortunately--and equally strange--it warmed up into the 50s by the time I was ready to knock out the workout around lunchtime, so while I was likely to get swept away in a funnel cloud and deposited somewhere in the vicinity of Oz, at least I wouldn't acquire frostbite while doing so.

With no workout mule, no Garmin and therefore no tangible speed/distance measurement, there's really nothing quantitative to report about this effort. I managed to navigate the wind well enough to have it at my back or side for the majority, but it was still a nuisance at best.  If Tuesday night's objective was to get comfortable maintaining 10-mile to half-marathon pace, today's was to run fast on tired legs--something I feel confident I accomplished, even with nothing and no one to hold me accountable.

Oh, and by the time I headed out for my double five hours later the temperature had dropped to 20 degrees. Somehow I wasn't surprised.

1 comments:

mfranks said...

Love the "boot camp"! I'm in the same boat, though my goals for Mercedes are just to shed 2 short seconds off my pr and make the "B" standard for Canadian half-champs. I'm not quite sure it's giving to happen, but its worth the effort. See you soon. -Meggan