I Live in Iowa: Week 21

The week that was...

I only worked 32 hours this week, 40 counting the holiday Monday. I seemingly had one thing or another to do right after work this week so I ended up leaving every day pretty early. I felt like a slacker leaving so early every day. It is still strange to get used to the idea that I only have to work set hours every week. I feel like I am not really compensated based on what I get done as much as that I am for simply working a set amount of hours. I'm in a great place professionally that I don't intend to change in the near or medium term, but I really enjoyed the thrill of grad school and a thesis project.

I ran 116 miles including two races and two workouts. In fact, Monday was the probably the best day of training I have ever had. I woke up and ran a 5k race, and won in 16:16. Three hours later I did a 12x1 minute hard, 1 minute easy fartlek that lasted 4 miles. Not a fast average for a tempo, but considering half of that time was spent running at 7 minute mile pace or slower that's a good average. Then I followed up the day with a 30 mile bicycle ride and a five mile run. That's three legitimate running sessions, two nice workouts (well one was a race), and nearly a two hour bicycle ride. My workout Wednesday morning went similarly well. It was 2x2 miles. The first 2 miles was downhill Grandview in 10:15 and the second two was 10:38 uphill and I fell apart on the fourth mile running only a 5:24. Best two mile repeats I have ever done.

In the coaching world, we're getting better, and fast. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about the race results this weekend as some of our runners did not do the greatest, most of the people on the team had the longest run of their life this Tuesday. Some even ran 12 miles. Overall we have been doing a lot of hard training and for many the hardest strength training of their life, so everyone is a little tired. The point is, it is okay to be tired at races early in the season as long as you are raring to go at the end. That being said, I warmed up with heavy legs Monday and ran a 16:16. Still I am excited because I feel we are making good progress with the team.

I really did not do much else at all this week. I bought seasons six and seven of Entourage and spent some time each evening laying on my couch watching the drama. My routine in the evenings after practice with the team and my own running is eat supper and typically spend an hour or so watching something on dvd or reading. I'm getting used to thinking about bed time as 9PM so that I can wake up at 5AM to run. It might not sound fun and enticing, but I'm really getting to like 5AM.