Finished my first week of outdoor training! After last week off, I went 32 miles this week, which is my highest week total ever.

Sun 2/17 [4 mi]
     4 mile fartlek. Easy w/random sprints. Much colder than I thought it was and everything was pretty cold by the time I finished.

Mon 2/18 [8 mi]
     Long run. 8 miles in 1:07:35. 8:32 pace. Splits 8:55, 8:52, 9:06, 8:33, 8:12, 7:59, 7:47, 8:07. 
I actually planned to do my long runs towards the end of the week on Friday or Saturday, but the weather forcast had 55 degrees on this day, and I decided that my longest run should be done when the weather isn't freezing (like it was the rest of the week).
I had planned to do 7 miles and I wanted 8:45 pace for the whole thing, so I figured I'd start off at 8:55 and go down from there... I went 8:55, 8:52, then I slowed to a 9:06 for the third mile. I got quite angry at that, and did the 4th mile in 8:33. I started to get into it and did the 5th mile in 8:12. I decided to increase the run from 7 to 8 miles (and later had a few thoughts about going to 9 but decided to hold it at 8). My 6th mile was 7:59, then I dropped to a 7:47 for the 7th mile. For the last mile (which includes a pretty good 650m hill right up to the end), I got faster but because of the hill the time was 8:07. My second 4 miles were 3:19 faster than my first 4. The last 5 miles were at 8:08 and my last 4 miles were at 8:01. This was a very good run, except for the fact that I went a lot harder than I should've.

Tue 2/19 [Off]
     The 8 took a lot out of me, it was best for me to take this day off.

Wed 2/20 [5mi]
     PM shakeout 5 miles done at about 10:30 pace but total time was 55mins. I explored a bit during the run and ran to the top of a construction site.. let me tell you whoever buys the homes being build there is really going to like that view.

Thu 2/21 [6mi]
     Aerobic 6 in 48:55, 8:09 pace. Splits 7:51, 8:12, 7:58, 8:15, 8:19, 8:18.
I wanted a bit of a distance run so I went a no-hurt 6. Splits were a little backward but in all honesty I thought I was doing 8:30+ the whole way, so even to see slower splits, they were all faster than what I expected. I thought if it all went right I'd go somewhere in the 49 minute range... While I was running I figured I was going at about 52, so I was surprised and deligted to see the 48:55.

Fri 2/22 [4mi]
     Shakeout 4 in 45:45. 11:26 pace. I did this the day after reading Nate Jenkins' explanation of a shakeout in which he says "...the number one rule is that they should be stupid easy. You can't run them slow enough..." So I ended up going at 11:26, which in all honesty probably isn't that much slower than 10 or 10:30 pace. When you go that slow the slightest increase or decrease in speed will have pretty significant effects on your pace. I'm not worried about it.. I knew I was going as slow as possible, and I did what I was supposed to; increase overall volume and help recovery. Logging these pathetic miles is better than going too fast on the easy day and compromising the actual workouts (also Nate's advice.)

Sat 2/23 [5mi]
     5x~650m hills. (~5miles total running, in 46:45). Splits (jog down)/run up; (4:01) 3:53, (4:07) 3:55, (4:30) 4:01, (4:40) 3:55, (4:36) 3:47. +5:15 cooldown.
I'm taking advantage of the ridiculous hill I live on top of. While it lasts for about 2000m in every direction, I used the first ~650m away from my house (after that it levels off for a while before declining again). These were hill repeats.. nothing fancy; just jog down, run up. I forgot how hard the hill was when I started.. next time I'll be sure to go slower on the first interval. However, I think no matter what the pace it's a damn good workout to go over this hill 5 times. The race I'll be running has some hills in it but I'm sure these will prepare me for them.

And that's my first week of training. I'm not really disappointed with anything. I just have to be sure that I don't go all out on one workout (like I did with my 8) because it'll defenitely affect the rest of the week. Also, I don't think I can go slower than 11:26 but I'll try not to do that. The "you can't go too slow on them" rule probably stops applying once you're going slower than a walk.. and I wasn't going much faster than a walk.

I spent exactly 5 hours running this week.