Hansons Training Update - Workouts

It's time for another update on my Hansons training. I'm about 10 weeks in, 8 weeks out (less than!), so better than halfway through. The first 10 weeks went by pretty well: I generally hit the runs, mileage and workouts. The biggest hiccups involved the two races I did (Thirsty Dog 8k where I didn't try, the Parkersburg HM where I failed). I've run on the treadmill, in the heat & humidity, in the rain, in the mornings, in the evenings, etc. I haven't skipped a run, although I have moved runs around to accommodate my life.

Another thing I've done is the warmups and cooldowns as prescribed, which is 1.5 miles before and after each workout. At first, that seemed so long, but now I'm so afraid of the workout that I relish the time and the slow, gentle pace. The reward of the cooldown -- with absolutely no time goal -- helps get me through workouts. I even tell myself that I can run/walk the cooldown, although after talking with the coach, I really avoid doing that (even if my "run" seems slower than a walk!).

I would also like to point out that I've been running six days a week since June. My body is tired and there's sometimes some soreness, but I do not feel injured. The calf "injury" I had in June seems to have mostly resolved itself through use of compression, stretching and adapting to the increased workload. I am no longer wearing compression for all of my runs. I moved first to compression just on workouts and long runs, and then I tested not wearing it at all.

Did I talk about this? I started to wonder if putting on the compression was signalling to my brain to expect pain, so I tested not using it. And it's been fine, although I may wear sleeves for tonight's workout.

Speaking of the workouts, those were pretty new to me when I started this plan. I had done the occasional workout, but never anything on a consistent basis where I could actually see progress. Generally, there are two speed workouts each week: an interval-based one and a pace run. I'm assuming there are technical terms involving words like lactate, threshold, aerobic and anaerobic, but I can never keep that stuff straight. They do help improve my lactate threshold and they help me feel comfortable/recognize race pace, so we'll just leave it at that.

Initially, the interval workouts are short, and those sorts of workouts were familiar to me (400s, 800s, etc.), but I'm moving into the longer intervals that seem much tougher to me. I did mile repeats a few weeks ago -- three of them -- and they went well, but tonight, I have six of them. At 10k pace. Outside. I'm shooting for 8:45, which is my 10k PR from last year.

And probably NOT what I could run right now, but whatever. I'm hoping with the 400 jog rest, I will be able to complete the miles without my watch going apeshit on me.

I also have six miles at race pace on Thursday. That shouldn't concern me if I think I can run 13.1 miles at that pace, but it does. It *SO* does, but that's a panic for another day.

If you've done any math on those workouts, you'll have noticed how long they are. They've been around 8 weeks, but they're increasing this week. Tonight's will be 10, Thursday's will be 9. That's a lot of miles on a weeknight, especially when you run as slowly as I do. Total mileage is a post for another day, though.