Last week I ended up taking things easy and only running about 15 miles total. My ankle was hurting a bit so I didn’t want to push too hard. Coming into this week I picked things back up and had my first two speed workouts! I also hit 88 miles for the month on Friday! This is the most I’ve ever run in my life and it’s feeling great. Obviously it’s not all easy since I’m pushing myself but I’m seeing improvement and I get a lot of time to think when just throwing one foot in front of the other.
Sunday
Sunday was an easy six miles following up my resting week. My ankle was still bothering me a little bit but it was significantly better from doing some specific exercises and yoga.
I started out a bit faster than intended (9:13) but then slowed down to my 9:30-9:45 easy pace in the middle and end. I finished with an average of 9:40 pace for the run.
Tuesday
Tuesday was my first actual workout since I started! I completed a 1.5 mile warmup, 4x100m strides, 20 minute tempo run and finished with a 1.5 mile cooldown.
My warmup and cooldowns were around 9:45-10:00 pace pretty steadily. I was having some bluetooth connection issues on the warmup so I didn’t record it but then got things working before my run.
The tempo run was great. I started out a little too quick (7:48) but then dialed it back to 8:18 for the second mile and then 8:20 for the last half mile. I ended up running 20 minutes and 30 seconds for the workout so I could get an even 2.5 miles for my run. My average heart rate was
I really enjoyed getting to mix some speed work in with my runs now that I’ve built up a base. I also performed about 30 seconds faster per mile faster than I expected/intended.
Wednesday
Wednesday was an easy six for recovery following up the tempo workout the previous day. My average pace was 9:05 since I went out the gate a bit quickly. My fastest mile was 8:48 and my slowest was 9:15. I went a little faster than I normally do on an easy day but I was still feeling great so I didn’t slow myself down much.
Friday
Friday was an eight mile negative split workout. This was positively my best run yet. I started out very steady at an easy pace for the first four miles. The average for the first four ended up being about 9:35-9:40 to get warmed up.
At mile four I sped up to my tempo/uptempo pace and hit 9:00 flat for the fourth. The next two were 8:53 and 8:51 which was right where I wanted to be and my goal pace for the negative split. My eighth mile was a bit rough, though. There was a straight on headwind for the first half of it which slowed me down considerably and I hit a 9:23.
This was easily my best run yet and much closer to my goal half-marathon pace. I’m hoping to hit 9:00 flat for the half-marathon so I should be on track for that pretty easily. I’ll likely get beyond that since it’s in April but I don’t want to get too crazy….
Shoes
I’ve had the Hoka One One Gaviota 2s for a week now and I am loving them. The wide fit makes them feel way better than my last shoe on top of just being super comfortable and have a soft landing.
Diet
I’m still going strong on One Meal A Day (OMAD) during all this training. I run around 0530 and usually eat around 1130 or 1200. I feel almost no hunger after running which was a bit surprising for me at first.