Mixing It Up

Tuesday is "strenuous" track workouts, Thursday (tempo)trail hill workouts and Saturday or Sunday my long with a mixture of terrain (not LSD but more like long tempo hill)....in between are rest/cross train days. It seems like a good plan to prepare me for some 5k and 10K racing but still keep tuned up for trails this fall.

I opted for the three "defined" workout plan because of my limited schedule this time of year. I struggle to find training time in the summer and this year with all the rain it has become increaingly more difficult. I actually planned on a second run this weekend and it just didn't happen.

This week my track workout @8 miles of speed work definately fit into the catagory of strenuous, so Wednesday was total rest. Thursday was a hilly tempo trail run that was supposed to be 6 miles but I scaled back to 4 because ....well it just stunk. So Friday was pure rest while I figured out why Thursday was so tough and to give me fresh legs for Saturday morning.

Saturday I planned on a tempo style long run of approximately 8-10 miles. The route I use for this run has a good mix of trail/tar/dirt/hills (long and steep)and it starts as I step out my door. The first mile is fairly flat and a tar surface so it allows me to warm up a bit in preparation.

I then hit the trails for a mile and a half of single track long style hills with a fair amount of difficulty and hills. That dumps out onto a dirt road that is a long gradual hill of about 3/4 mile. At the end of this road I hit Oakhill. This 1 mile tar road consist of a very steep hill and is almost 1/2 mile long. I climb it go down the other side and then climb back up the back side, so a double hill of sorts.

Before descending the front side I hit a very technical 1 mile trail (similar to Bradbury east) that descends the hill and loops back up to the top of Oakhill. I then cross the road and run an out and back trail that is less of a hill but still quite twisty and rooty and has one very steep wall type hill to climb at the turn around.

Upon return to the top of Oakhill, I descend the tar portion and hit a long gradual
hill on tar that loops around and puts me back on the dirt road, this time a gradual slight downhill with two rolling hills near the end.

At this point I hit the "pit" trail again, climb a slight grade, loop around and climb back up a longer grade thus dumping back onto the tar at the bottom of a short hill. After cresting the hill, there is a 3/4 mile fairly flat road to the finish. This allows for either an easier type cooldown or a fast kick depending on my condition and/or mood. This is a bit over 10 miles and lands me back on my door step.

With this run I waste no time driving to a site and recieve a good mix of terrain that allows me to get a pretty decent workout if I run it as a speedup or tempo style run.

Saturday I didn't have much left for a kick because I pushed the pace a bit on this run and I planned another run for Sunday that would be more speed related (that run didn't happen) The weather was misty/ rain and quite humid.

10.5 miles @1:41:42 (9:38 pace)

Splits:
aver-max HR
9:14...129-139(tar/dirt)
9:43...144-154(hill trail)
8:46...144-157(trail down hill)
9:28...146-162(long dirt hill)
11:01...146-157(steep tar hill)
9:40...145-160(techn trail hill)
8:59...142-149(trail/down hill tar road)
9:09...142-155(tar slight grade loop)
7:43...144-149(flat tar/dirt...chasing,catching and passing another runner)
9:20...151-159(trail)
8:07...149-157(tar finish)

Felt real good at the finish...definately a satisfied full body workout feeling. Then a half mile cooldown jog and about 30 cooldown laps in the pool before my normal chorese like mowing the lawns. This time I made sure to suck down a recovery drink at Laurels sugestion (something I didn't do Tuesday).