Less Than A Month From Race Day

Another week of training is complete, and we’ve passed the 30 day out milepost. We’re less than a month away from the Cheery Blossom race, and, on cue — or a bit ahead of schedule if the latest reports are correct — Spring has started to show its presence. On my long run today, I noticed several trees have begun to bloom and soccer fields have begun to turn a verdant green. Details on this week’s progress after the jump.

It’s perhaps worth a quick check on my goals. First off pace. Based on today’s run, and my experience last week in the Reston Ten Miler, that actually seems to be going well. When I first started blogging about my training for the CUCB race, I’d said I hoped to get down to around 1:43, which would be a PR. I need to continue to work on speed and endurance — and fine-tune fueling — but it feels in reach. My stretch goal of under 1:40 seems elusive at this point. I’m not ruling it out, but things have to get a lot better, a lot faster to hit that pace.

My other goal was weight loss. I’ve added some pounds over the last year, and I’d hoped to shed some. So far, no progress to show on that front. For months now I seem to be working with the same five pounds, losing it, then somehow regaining it, and repeating the process. Again and again. It’s frustrating, and I’m not sure about the cause. I have some metabolic issues as a result of some medications I’ve taken in the past, and it’s harder to lose weight as you age. I’m burning calories and diet at least seems ok — so time for a closer review of the latter, which are the only parts of the equation under my control.

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s training.

Monday

As always, a rest day — badly needed after the run. And it provided some time for reflection on my performance, which I talked about last week.

Tuesday

Yoga for stretching, balance, and some core work. As always, also helps me get my head in the right place. I usually try to fit in some intervals on Tuesdays, but skipped them this week in deference to Ceo very from the race.

Wednesday

A rather uneven 2.7 miles in 34 minutes. The run was interrupted by phone calls, which I’d normally ignore — but answered as they were from a family member.

Thursday

A bit longer — 3 miles in 33:51, including a beast of a hill. You climb about 140 feet in less than a half-mile. I’ve yet to make it to the top without slowing to a walk, although I made it farther this time than ever before, and my walk breaks were short. So, a partial win.

Friday and Saturday

A combination of unscheduled rest days, partly justified by race recovery, and things to tend to for work and home.

Sunday

Ten miles on the W&OD trail with my Potomac River Running Training Group. Quite chill at the start, at 29°. For the most part the run went well. I slowed briefly at miles 3 and 7 for water and fuel. Mile 8 was a little rocky — I was feeling some pain in my left foot, so did some walk/run to try and sort out what was happening. Seems ok, but I’ll watch it. Finished in 1:49:46, reflecting an intentionally slower pace and the slow downs during the run. That’s actually a bit better than my race pace from the week before — although one would hope, given there are few hills on the W&OD trail.

All in all, I’d like to be a bit farther along, but I think I’m not in a bad place with training. Although race day is closing in, there are still 2-3 solid weeks where I can keep building on my progress. At that point, I’ll need to start tapering, at least a bit, for the race itself.

Hope you had a good week training. Follow the link below to visit the other Credit Union Cherry Blossom Social Media Ambassador’s Training reports, and add a link to your own while you’re there.