A super productive weekend

The weekend weather was beautiful.  50s on Saturday and 40s on Sunday.  I got in 20 miles at good effort between the 2 days.

Saturday was my first attempt at speedwork for the year.  I intended to hit the track but when I scoped it out, there were still some patches that were covered with ice and snow so I opted for the road.  

Started out with a  2 mile, brisk warm up at a long tempoish pace.  Ran the first mile in 7 minutes flat, was feeling good and ran the 2nd mile in 6:47.  After 2 miles I stopped momentarily to regroup and shed my long sleeve over-layer.  It was finally t-shirt weather!  After about a minute stop, I was ready to go with my first 400.  

I took off fast... maybe too fast.  I didn't exactly have a goal although 6 minute pace was in my head.  I ran the first one in 5:26 pace.  Then slowed down and recovered for 1/4 mile at 7:05 pace... then repeated that 8 times (for 3.75 miles)… my repeats kept getting slower at each interval as did my recovery.  Still mostly kept them under 6 except for the last one which was 6:11.  I stopped again for about a minute and then ran a tempoish mile at 6:57 pace, finishing with one more 400 at 5:58 pace.

This really was a killer workout that got my heartrate going. I was bouncing back and forth between the 160s and 170s for most of the run.  The hard efforts hurt, and I was counting the highway stripes... the limiting factor was definitely the legs as I wasn't breathing exactly hard.

Final stats:

7 miles

47:32

6:47 pace

New PR for the 7 mile loop (if you don't count my 2 minutes of stopping).

I finished with a 1 mile cooldown at 8:30 pace.

Sunday was still nice although not as nice as Saturday.  It was in the 40s but damp and windy.  I opted for a long sleeve shirt and shorts this time (first time in shorts this year).  After Saturdays effort I was tired but I opted to run at a general, comfortable pace... easy but not recovery pace.  

Final stats:

12.01 miles

1:34:08

7:50 pace

Pacing was consistent.  I ran my first mile in 8 minutes but mostly ran in the mid 7:40s to mid 7:50s after that.  The pace felt easy after Saturday's effort and I didn't have much problem maintaining it.  I was focused on keeping a good pace but not pushing it.  My cadence was 176 which is faster than a normal easy run.  I can immediately see the results of speedwork in my mechanics, at least for a few days.  My only real issue was my right hamstring and ITB were a bit tight.  Didn't really effect me, but I could definitely tell.  Didn't really feel injured, just tight/tired.   Good to get 12 miles in.... my longest run in February.  

Today, I hit the bike.  40 minutes at a fairly easy effort although I picked it up some at the end.  

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

1. 10,000 pushups:  2737/on pace for 16650... 12 at 155lbs on the bench today.  Then bumped up the weight to 165 and did 12, 12, 10, before dropping  back to 155 for 14 more.  

2. 7500 pulls ups:  1728/on pace for 10512...  haven't done too many for the last 3 or 4 days with my focus being on tuning up for the 5K but still working them in here and there.  

3. 26 Hours on the Bike: Smashed through the  halfway point and am not at 13 hours and 42 minutes.

4. 2021 miles:  344.32... 50 miles ahead of pace.  44 miles last week and slowly building back to 50.

Diet:  February did not pan out to the point that I've been bingeing a bit.  Haven't really gained weight.. maybe a pound or two at the most.  I plan to refocus for March.  The nice weather and running workouts are motivating me to step it up.