The first few week of the plan has no hard runs. I looked to next week and Tuesday has a 12x400 meter run, with a 1.5 warm up and cool down. Today I decided to take a stab at it to get a better feeling of the effort I need to muster.
I feel pretty comfortable adjusting the plan to let it catch up to me. I've spent the last few months restructuring my running to mimic training, 50ish miles a week, 1 long run, two hard runs, 3 recovery runs.
With that positive thinking, I woke up and felt like having a DNS. Very tired body and mind. First step out of bed, Achilles felt tight. Dramatic me - one more step and it pops .. it is over. Few more steps, all better. I'm still going to refocus on Achilles stretches.
I used +Endomondo to set up an interval plan, which is pretty nice. I used miles instead of meters, so I actually did .25 mile intervals, which is 402.3 meters! Close enough! Here is what the set up looks like:
The run was hard. The effort level is a challenge, not having visual sights as to when your interval ends takes a bit to get used to, but the hardest part, at least for me, is the sinking feeling in your gut after a few intervals. After every interval, I start to question if I have to go to the bathroom. Strength and fatigue I can fight through, a scary bowel movement... I cannot. I would say this held up my times more than anything.
My splits were okay to a little slow at times when I felt like nature growling. Glad I did a practice run at this. Next week - wake up earlier to make sure my stomach is settled, and run a little harder. Here is the breakdown:
The weather was gorgeous, ~60, really nice sunrise, light breeze, lots of people out. I started a few minutes later today as I was waiting for my GPS to connect. When I caught up to Mr. V on his walk, he was worried that I wasn't out yet. Funny seeing everyone on different spots on their run.
I tried to nab a few greetings, not as good results as yesterday. Same results as previous weeks - south of Addison, everyone is more focused on looking for money on the ground than keeping their head up!
I tried to take a photo when I finished my run to show I don't look as peppy as my blog, but I looked like a wet dog- DELETE - .
Did you run this morning? Or running in the heat later?
Are intervals your friend?
OH! And how can I forget - Just say Jenn! (Fellow Chicago Running Blogger) will be on WGN News at 9pm CST on Friday! I saw a promo for "Chicago's Very Own" this morning and it was her! I emailed her to confirm! Watch it!
