LT workout today: 4800 meters threshold pace, 4 x 200, and then 3200 meters LT pace again. Nailed the paces, as usual. It felt rather easy actually. I seem to do well in LT workouts. I was born to run long distances.

I kind of zoned out during warmup and cooldown, and as a result, I ran them at 7:31/7:32 pace. The whole workout average was 6:57/mile, though it included some waiting before and after the track portion. But not much; I just reset my watch and used the bathroom after the workout.

I'm essentially done for the week. 7.3 easy miles tomorrow to finish it. And on the evening of my hard day, I don't feel exhausted.

The only things I *don't* do from the training plan are strides, and back-to-back workouts. I don't like strides, and my schedule won't let me do back-to-back workouts. But I hope I'm still doing fine.

Sun: 15 L
Mon: 8.2 E
Tue: Rest
Wed: 2 E + 8 x 3 min H w/2 min jg + 3 E = 10.5 miles or so
Thu: 2 E + 6 x 1 T w/1 min rests + 4 x 200 R w/200 jg + 1 E = 10 miles
Fri: 8.2 E
Sat: 8.2 E

We may play around with the exact days of the workouts. and they won't have to be back-to-back.

I ran 6 x 1000 today at 3:38/interval. I nailed the paces, even though I stopped the first interval after 600 meters. So I lost a few seconds, and when I realized the mistake, I started to sprint again, finishing the interval on time. Maybe this is the reason why by the 5th and 6th, they felt very hard - indeed, this was my hardest workout in a long time. I had to seriously sprint the final 200 meters of the last interval to get in on time, and it hurt.

Here is the week schedule from now by the end of February. We are working with Sunday to Monday weeks.

Phase III

01/25: Week 2
02/01: Week 3
02/08: Week 4
02/15: Week 5
02/22: Week 6

Phase IV starts on March 1.

Daniels is great.

I didn't believe that marathon-paced runs are not much harder than easy runs. Yet, today, I ran a very scary sounding workout: 4 miles easy followed by 10 miles at marathon pace (6:43/mile), and I wasn't more tired at the end than after last week's 15 miler.

I've grown to like these workouts. They don't hurt, and I like running rather fast rather far.

6 x 1 mile today at threshold pace. It was supposed to be 6:20/mile, but I ran a bit faster: averaging 6:18/mile. I got quite tired by the end, though I was not entirely spent. I only need 7.5 miles tomorrow to successfully finish the week.

Phase III, Week 2 plan

Sun: 4 E + 10 M = 14 miles
Mon: 9 E
Tue: Rest.
Wed: 2 E + 6 x 1000 w/400 jg + 2 E = 9 miles
Thu: 2 E + 3 T + 4 x 200 w/200 jg + 2 T + 2 E = 10 miles
Fri: 9 E
Sat: 9 E

Paces: M = 6:43/mile, 1000 m = 3:37 (3:38 on imperial track) = 87 s/lap, T = 6:20/mile (6:18/1600 m) = 95 s/lap, 200 m = 40 s

6 x 1200 intervals done! It wasn't even that hard. Nailed the paces with 4:21 average per interval.

The only thing that made this slightly easier is that I ran on the track, and the 3 minute recovery makes an awkward distance on the track. It's more than 400 meters, but less than 600, unless I'm willing to push them a little, which didn't sound like a good advice. So I only ran 400 recoveries, typically finishing them at around 2:15, so I just rested another 45 seconds before going on the next hard bout.

On the other hand I messed up the timing of the second interval after the first lap, so I stopped, rested a minute, and started over. This way I ran an extra 400 meters hard (1:24 in fact).

There supposed to be another hard workout tomorrow; physically I think it wouldn't be a problem, but there is too much work tomorrow, so I might be fed up by the evening.

Due to some nagging pains/burnout/too cold/too busy schedule last week, I skipped three days of training finishing the week way short. The only workout was the long run. So I think I'll redo the week properly now.

This is just fine. I'll be entering Phase IV on March 1st. That's kind of perfect timing.

Probably a record cold run yesterday in 15 F with windchill at 7 F. It was also a little over 10 miles, in 1 hour and 19 minutes. That's a long time to be out there running in the cold. I was happy to be done.

Phase III is supposed to start next week. Even though I'm running hard today, it would be nice to have the long run on Sunday, because I'll be very busy on Monday.

Sun: 15 L
Mon: 8 E
Tue: Rest
Wed: 2 E + 6 x 1200 I/w 3 min jg + 3 E = 11 miles
Thu: 2 E + 6 x 1 T w/1 min rests + 2 E = 10 miles
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 8 E

The Thursday quality workout may be moved to Friday or Saturday, if necessary.

Paces: 1200 I: 4:21, 1 T: 6:20. Wednesday sounds insanely hard. That pace is 87 seconds/lap, and I'll have to do it 18 times altogether.

Another really miserable workout today late at night, in cold, 25 F, strong, cold winds at the track: 12 x 400 m. It is so many that after the first few, there are still hopelessly many left. Anyway, I got it done, and my splits were spot on (81.5 seconds average on the imperial track). I'm happy I did it.

I ran my marathon paced workout tonight: 10 miles aimed at 6:43/mile. It was quite cold (25 F), and my pace was all over the place. I finished the 10-mile portion at 6:40/mile average. It's a bit fast, because it corresponds to 55.5 VDOT value, but it's not a huge difference, so I'll take it.

Note that I ran this 10-miler faster than my 10-mile PR. I crossed the 10-mile line at 1:06:37 (my PR is 1:06:49), and this was not race effort. That PR is soft; it makes me want to run the Papa John's 10-miler in the spring.

I'll take my rest day on Wednesday, and shift the workouts by one day. It's because high temp on Wednesday is predicted to be 17 F. And that's for 7AM, after which it will be steadily falling.

Because the first week of the year didn't work out as planned (no surprise though), let's repeat Week 6 of Phase II of Daniels. This time for real. This week is essentially 6 x 10 miles with some of them run harder.

Sun: 10 E
Mon: 1 E + 10 M = 11 miles
Tue: 10 E
Wed: 2 E + 12 x 400 R w/400 jg + 2 E = 10 miles
Thu: 10 E
Fri: 2 E + 2 x 4 min H w/3 min jg + 3 x 3 min H w/2 min jg + 2 x 2 min H w/1 min jg + 2 E = 9 miles
Sat: 10 E

...except that one of the easy 10-milers should be a rest day instead. Or if another day 10 miles is proven to be too much, add enough miles on the rest day to make up for the deficiency.