Ever since I started this spate of racing back in October my training has been very, very spotty. When I have trained it hasn't been very satisfactory--slow, achy, frustrating. I've trained several times after Sunmart and they've all been frustrating or disappointing--I even cut some short, which I almost never, ever do.
Well, maybe those days are behind me. I finally had a good training walk yesterday. I went out to the paved trails near my house (the other night my daughter and I saw a beaver here when we were walking our dog). I was determined to do some speed work so I did an Acceleration Tempo walk, my favorite form of speed work.
I did 6.26 miles and here were my splits:
11:40
11:20
11:04
10:47
10:41
10:20
9:50 (.26 miles)
Now for you speed demons out there this probably seems slow. And even for me these are slow (as a point of reference, my half marathon PR pace is 10:13 and my 8k PR pace is 9:49). But this is the first time I've gotten below 11:00 in a long time, so I feel like I'm finally recovering from my excessive race schedule.
My plan for the coming year will be less racing and better training.
Tomorrow I want to do 2 to 4 hours at a new trail, Arbor Hills. I'm going to shoot for four but if I start to have any pains or problems I'll scale back. I don't want to push too hard too soon.
Rocky Raccoon is only five weeks away!!
