Quality over quantity

Over the last two weeks I’ve managed a total of 5 days of running. It’s not enough to be considered real training, but I’ve done some quality workouts so I’m ok with it. I’m on a 24 hours / week work schedule for the month of September and I’ve found that days when I work, I just don’t get out to run. I’ve got to do something about that for when I’m back to a full time work schedule next month or my running will really suffer.

I have done a few surprisingly good workouts in those 5 days though. Last week, I headed to the Red Hook track for some 400′s. This being my first post pregnancy track workout, I had no idea what to expect so I decided I’d do 4 with 200 walk/jog rest and see how I felt and then add on 2 more if I felt good. I ended up feeling great, doing all 6 in around 95-96 with the last one in 91. It felt good to work hard and get my legs moving fast again. My abs were sore the next day, but not a bad sore, a good kind of sore like they’d worked hard and were going to get stronger from it.

Yesterday, I did 6×800, at the Red Hook track once again, but instead of running on the track (it was crowded and I didn’t really feel like it anyway) I ran around the paved path around the track and ballfield next to the track, which turned about to be exactly half a mile according to my garmin. Again, I had low expectations going into this, I know 400 type workouts are my strength since I can hold a decent pace for short periods of time but I didn’t know if I’d have the stamina needed for 800s. Turns out I surprised myself again, running 6×800 with 2 minute rest all at around 3:20-3:25. So I guess I didn’t lose too much fitness!

The last two weekends, I’ve also managed “long” runs. Two weeks ago, I did around 8 miles at a slow pace, with some wandering around on the trails in Prospect Park with the team. Last weekend, I was on my own and headed to the park again, this time for a loop on the main road around the park. Got through a little over 7 miles in around 8:40 pace and felt strong.

So all this bodes well for the Bed Stuy 10K which is coming up in 3 weeks. I’ve looked at a few 10k training plans and from what I’ve read, they generally have long runs form 7-8 miles and workouts of about the same duration I’ve been doing. When I initially decided I’d run this race, I was looking at it as a “just get out there and run for my team” run, not a race. But now that I’ve been feeling so good on these workouts I may try to use it for a hard effort to see where I’m really at with my fitness. At this point, I’m not sure what my time goal will be. Going to do a tempo run or some longer intervals next week and then decide.