2020 Week 5 In Review

I spent several days of last week in Mexico and Southern Arizona.  I did some running but not nearly as much as I would have if I was home.  I'm supposed to be tapering anyway so maybe it wasn't a bad thing.   The first run  in Mexico was 5 miles in 50 degree temp in the evening.  It was nice out but the air was cold and dry on my lunges.  I hadn't packed my inhaler so my Asthma was kicking in.  Wound up averaging 8:43 pace with a lot of effort.  Because this was the first outdoor run in about 3 weeks (i.e. not on a treadmill) it made me really question my fitness.  Then I checked into it more and discovered my location was at 4000+ feet elevation. 

I woke up and ran the next morning and did 3.21 miles, even slower.  9:32 pace.  

The next day (Saturday) I had a flight out of Tucson at 11 am, so I woke up early and hit a trail run on the Douglas Spring Trail.  Still at ~3000 feet elevation and with 100 flights of steps climbed, plus on a rocky trail I wound up with an even slower 4 miles at 12:28 pace.  

At this point I was really questioning my fitness.

So Sunday I decided to test out my new Vaporfly Next% shoes to do a trail/break-in run before my half-marathon in 5 days.

8.03 Miles
57:55
7:12 pace

Goddamn fast for me!  I put the shoes on and headed out the door.  They felt alright but not quite what I had expected somehow (somehow heavier feeling then my normal racing shoes even through physically the same weight more or less at 6+ oz).  I took off at a fast but relaxed pace.  By the 1/2 mile mark I was thinking, these don't seem so fast... I felt like a bit of a sucker for buying into the hype.  I kept going and hit the first mile mark and my GPS watch announced 7:13 pace for the first mile.  I looked at my HR and it was at 149 which is way low for that pace.  I kept going.  The 2nd mile was hilly with one extend big downhill and uphill.  I flew down the downhill and felt great.  Ran the 2nd mile at 6:43 pace.  Figured I'd better dial it back a bit.  3rd mile was 7:14.  4th mile was 7:06.  At this point I made a conscious decision to dial it back even more and just coast.  5th mile 7:36, 6th mile 7:29.  At the 6 mile I realized I was near my 10K PR pace so I picked it up a hair.  7th mile 7:23.  Then picked it up more for the final mile.  6:51 pace.  My HR was in the high 150 low 160 range which is hard but doable.  I really felt great and definitely had more in the tank when I stopped.  

The weather was great, I was rested, and I was consciously pushing the pace a bit so I don't think it was all the shoes, but this was definitely one of my best training runs ever.  Hopefully I didn't overdo it before the race (eek!).

Wound up with the new 10K achievement... 23 second PR.

Yearly goal progress:
GOALS:
1.  1560 miles run:  183.93 for the year (39 miles ahead of pace)
2.  5000 Pull ups: 500        (36 ahead of pace)
3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:   505 (41 ahead pace)
4.  50 hour stationary bike:  5 hour  (on pace)
5.  Diet:  No junk food January...  Pretty much made it and lost 5-6 lbs in the process.  Haven't been good so far in February with the Superbowl and travel.  Need to come up with a new goal or refocus.  No junk food seems like a good way to go... I'll try to stick to that.  But for February, I think we'll go with Midnight snack free February.
6.  12500 Steps a day:  595 days and counting... 17,409 per day for the year