Adapting

The day after my first hill repeat session I was sore, I mean REALLY sore.  The day after the 2nd hill session I was sore, but not nearly as bad.  After session #3, I was fine - no big deal.  Same w/ #4.

The day after my 12 x 200m session (first speed session in a long time) my left achilles was very sore.  I ran an easy 4-miler the next day w/ no issues but I made the decision afterwards to skip the PM run and just rest it until it felt better.  This gave me two ZERO days on Fri and Sat.  None of this was surprising.  It seems whenever I start something new, I've got to let my body adapt to the new stress - just chalk it up to part of the process in this first year.  I'm sure after a few speed sessions the post workout soreness will be minimal or nonexistent which is another reason to get some of these sessions in early.  This base period is meant to get me ready to handle the more difficult training that will be coming later, and adapting to these new stresses is part of that.

Today I felt much better so the plan was to do a 5-7 miler in the trails, but coach wanted me to turn it up a bit on the final 3-miles and turn that part into more of a threshold run.  For whatever reason I just felt fantastic.  The achilles was 100%, and I guess the two off days allowed a little nagging "something" in my calf to heal up as well.  I ran the first 3.3-miles of the eventual 6-miler at about 7-flat pace uphill feeling as strong as I ever have in the trails.  I really hammered on the return trip (with the benefit of the downhill) logging my first sub-6 minute miles in the trails.  Overall I covered the 6-miles in 39:48.  A good run for me, and I'm very happy that the achilles feels this good after just a couple of days.

Training:

Thurs, 11/20:  4-miles easy

Fri and Sat, 11/21-22:  Off days (unscheduled:  left achilles sore)

Sun, 11/23:  6-miles in the park - 39:48,  (7:03, 6:58, 7:02, 6:46, 5:58, 5:59)  Ave HR:  159, Max:  172