I’m halfway through the 5K plan now and today’s run was a practice 5K. It stormed last night and thought the rain dried up overnight, the wind was still blowing at 35 MPH with gusts up to 40 when I left the house. I drove to the park where the 5K will be held and hit the trails for a quick walk, jog, then full bore practice 5K. The first mile was mostly in a wooded area and I ran it in 6:52. Shortly after the 1 mile mark, I got out of the trees and into the wind. It was almost like running into a brick wall. I swear I actually went backwards at one point. I struggled through the onslaught of rushing air, slowing to a walk at two or three points. I finished slightly worse than my personal best, wretching over the last tenth of a mile. Upon finishing, I promptly ducked into the woods and threw up. I finished in 23:16 where I was hoping to finish in 21:15. I’m not sure if the wind can account for a 2 minute difference or not, but I definately think I’ve got a ways to go if I’m going to break 20 minutes in the actual race. I’m a little disappointed in my results today, but I’m not going to let it discourage me.

Actual workout

.25 miles walking

.75 miles at 9:30 pace

3.1 miles at 7:30 pace

.25 miles walking

Last week, I was “reading ahead” into Hal Higdon’s 10K and half marathon plans since I plan to run Disney’s Race for the Taste 10K in October and the WDW half marathon in January. Compared to the 5K plan, Hal elaborates a little more on the tempo runs in these plans. He talks about gradually building up to a maximum pace during the middle portion of the run. I had been previously just going all out when I hit the middle portion of the run. So, today, I gradually built things up and things went very well. I maxed out at about 6:15 pace for about 2 minutes, but averaged 7:37 pace over the middle portion of the run. It was slower than the middle portions of previous tempo runs, but I ran this portion much longer and there were no walk breaks today. All in all, I was very happy with the run. It gives me hope for my practice 5K on Saturday.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

1.3 miles (12 min) at 9:15 pace

1.44 miles (11 min) at 7:37 pace

1.4 miles (12 min) at 8:32 pace

8 minutes cool down

I hit the bike today for 20 minutes of cross training and completed 7 miles basically on autopilot. I was short for time and I’ve got a practice 5K this weekend, so I skipped my leg strength training, but I did complete an upper body strength training workout.

Actual workout

20 minutes cycling

Upper body strength training

After last week’s 400 m speed work, I headed to the gym with a little but more confidence today. I ran my 200 m intervals at 5:00 minute mile pace, which is as fast as the treadmill will go. The last one was tough, but not horrible. I have no idea how people can run this fast for a whole marathon.

Actual workout

5 minutes walking

5 minutes at 9:15 pace

9 200 m intervals at 5:00 pace

5 minutes cool down

We closed out our guest’s visit with my special Tequila Lime tilapia and the customary margaritas to go with it. As such, the three miles wasn’t as easy as usual. My legs were pretty tired, but I slugged through it. Afterwards, I hit the weights for some strength training and that portion of the workout went quite well.

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:34 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

Yesterday after my run, I spend some time wandering around downtown, then some time at the beach, then we went out to dinner. With all the wandering around, I didn’t drink as much water as usual. Plus, the time at the beach bar and then dinner lately meant that I probably drank more alcohol than water yesterday. I had a few glasses before bed. I still woke up feeling pretty dehydrated, so I didn’t have high hopes for the long run this morning. It went pretty well, though. I didn’t really have a pace in mind when I left. I just took it slow the whole way. I took two walk breaks. One at 3 miles and the other at 5 miles. I had to keep myself from pushing too hard at the end. I managed just about a 10 minute mile pace.

Actual workout

1 mile warmup

7 miles at 9:58 pace

1 mile cooldown

I was up pretty late last night, so I figured I wasn’t going to improve too much on my tempo run from yesterday. I set out with the goal of completing 5 miles somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes. I did pretty well. I took only one walk break and that was for 1 minute after 4 miles. It was the best Saturday run I’ve had since starting the advanced 5K program.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

5 miles at 8:31 pace

8 minutes cool down