Weekly Training: November 1 - 7 & a Record Week!

Graphic is from my page at dailymile.com.

A great start to November, with a record week - 51.1 running miles.  This just barely tops my previous best week of 51.0 miles last April at the peak of marathon training.  Highlights of this week's runs were another good half marathon trial Saturday, and an 18-mile long run Sunday.

Sunday was my long run, eighteen miles at comfortable pace (9:52 minutes/mile average).  Mile splits were: 10:21, 9:58, 10:05, 9:54, 10:06, 9:49, 10:09, 10:04, 10:04, 9:53, 10:18, 9:55, 9:46, 9:27, 9:36, 9:28, 9:41, 8:56.  I thought the notable thing was that the last six miles were the quickest.  A year ago, the last miles of my long runs were the slowest, a struggle just to finish.  Now, I find myself conserving a little energy early, and finishing quicker when I get close enough to the end to not need to hold back to be sure to finish the distance.

Saturday's run was another half marathon tune-up.  Three weeks prior, after adding a December 11 half marathon to my schedule, I ran a simulated half to get a better idea of what I could currently expect for a near best effort run at this distance. Since then, I've been doing a lot of my runs near estimated half pace, to get a good feel for the pace and the distance. Saturday looked like a good time to do a second trial. On a nice cool morning, I pushed this one harder than the last one and cut off almost four minutes. Splits: 9:30, 8:48, 8:38, 8:36, 8:50, 8:33, 8:45, 8:31, 8:41, 8:23, 8:32, 8:18, 7:45, 0:58 (0.1).

Weekday runs were a 6 mile progressive tempo run @8:38 on a rainy Tuesday morning, 6 mile repeat intervals at 8:00 Wednesday morning, and 8 miles at a more comfortable 8:46 Thursday morning.

Continued with my normal cross training schedule with weights, targeting chest and biceps Monday, shoulders and legs Wednesday, and back and triceps Friday.

My daily yoga streak is still going, currently at 71 days!  I did short practice each morning after running, and additional longer sessions Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

YTD: 1,613.3 miles running, 458.3 miles cycling, 2,071.5 miles total.