I really like this schedule of having a hard week followed by a recovery week. It was good to back off a bit after pushing through the jet lag and the City 2 Surf. It felt great to get back out on my usual neighborhood routes. I realise now that all the aches and pains and struggles I had in LA were purely due to running on a treadmill. I hate treadmills! Out on the road I can do 45 minutes without feeling bored at all.
Week 6 distance: 11.5mi (18.43km)
Week 7 distance: 17mi (27.2km)
Week 8 distance: 12.25mi (19.6km)
This week was a step-down of nearly 30% from last week, but it was still a slight increase from my last recovery week. Yesterday’s workout was meant to be speed-intervals… but man, I suck at them. I just don’t think I’m meant to run fast. I was doing laps around Victoria Park with intervals of 90 seconds at my goal pace of 6:00/km. The problem was that I’d take off much faster than that, usually somewhere between 5:00-5:30/km. Then I’d try to slow down a bit only to realise that I still had 45 seconds to go, and I’d struggle just to finish out the interval without stopping. Then I’d walk for a few minutes and berate myself for being a big lumbering slow-poke. Repeat ad infinitum. Also, I have very little willpower and I find it difficult to push myself beyond my comfort zone. Running a bit farther isn’t hard, but running faster involves getting into that anaerobic zone where it’s hard to breathe. Maybe I need to actually get a coach for these sessions, someone who can motivate me to push a bit harder…