Last week was a big running week for me. I ran four days last week, something I haven’t done since my half-marathon training in April, I ran a 5K trail race, and I ran my highest miles since mid-April. And I did all this with no pain in my hip!
I finally feel like I’m training (despite no double digit mile run, yet), and it feels good! The Twin Cities Marathon is in 15 weeks, so I’m relieved to be on a consistent running schedule. Here’s how the runs went last week:
Tuesday: Easy 3 miles at my gym track. Pace 12:15
Wednesday: 5 road miles near work. Time to start pounding the pavement again! Pace 11:51
Saturday: Park City Trail Series 5K. My legs felt heavy from the start (I probably could have skipped Friday morning spin class, oh well). Luckily I wanted to keep the pace slow, and the heavy legs certainly helped me do that. Pace 11:47, official time – 37:11, not bad for a trail 5K with rolling hills and 240ft of climbing, I’m pretty happy with this time. I’m slowly getting back into running regularly, so I didn’t pressure myself to finish within a set time.
Sunday: 8 miles, slow and easy. A little slower than I wanted it to be, my pace was 13:20, ouch! This was a rough run for me. My legs were tired and the route was hillier than I wanted it to be (my “mostly flat” run had 682ft of gain). There was a lot of walking while rallying myself to pull it together and get the miles in. I got the miles in, whew, now I’m hoping I have fewer long runs like that. Luckily the route I was running was scenic.
So I ran 4 days and 19.1 miles this week, my highest weekly mileage since half-marathon training two months ago. I’m a little bummed about my slower pace this year, I was easily training a minute per mile faster last year. I’m trying to not be too down about it, I have been recovering from an injury, after all. I hope to maintain running 4 times a week to keep my miles up, eventually I will work on speed.
Any tips for easing into running speed work post-injury?
Irene Jean 
It think that you are being smart about it. One of the best pieces of training advice I’ve ever heard was to increase either intensity or frequency/volume, but not both. So maybe try that approach, and then bring the other up to meet it?
Thanks! I’m definitely slowly finding a balance between increasing intensity vs increasing volume. I think you’re totally right that trying both at the same time isn’t a good idea, sigh…
Haha, you won’t be saying sigh when you are already exhausted, though
You haven’t been running super consistently so don’t worry about pace! You’ll naturally get faster at the same effort level if you just keep running 4-5 days a week. Once you’ve done the for 6 weeks or so, then you can introduce one set of intervals or a tempo run each week and accelerate your results 🙂
Yay, you can comment on my blog again! You’re so right that I shouldn’t be worried about pace now. I realize there’s time, but it’s so hard to not want to be faster RIGHT NOW! 😉 I think six weeks is a good benchmark to start speed training, thanks for the tip!
You are being far smarter about it than I ever was. Don’t worry about your pace right now! Just gradually try to get those miles added back in. 🙂
Thanks! I know I shouldn’t worry about pace, but it’s definitely in the back of my mind. Luckily I’m feeling stronger every week, so I’m hoping it’s simply a matter of time til I am running a more normal pace for me.
Also, I’m so sorry to hear you’re injured! I really hope your recovery goes smoothly!
Wow, you are having some amazing runs!! Great job!!! You’re awesome!!! You should be so proud of yourself!! You’re so tough and strong!! XOXO!! Happy Wednesday!!!
Thanks so much! I love your positive energy!
Way to go Irene! I bet it feels good to be back out there! I did hill intervals last night instead of speed- they suck, but don’t push hard on speed right away… But then again, I’m fairly new to speed/hill training so I might not have very researched backed advice.
Thanks Carolyn! I think hills would be a good thing to add back to my training, and as you know, there are many hills to take advantage of here! 🙂
I want to go along with what others said…increase speed or volume. Not both at once. I wouldn’t worry about speed at all right now! And it’s probably best to do an every other day thing for a couple weeks til your body is used to training again. Glad to hear you’re back at it!
Thanks for the advice! My training plan increases the mid week mileage every 3-4 weeks, so I think I’ll save my speedwork for mid-week runs that are not increasing in distance.
Great job! Looks like great places to run! I ease into speed work by doing Hill Repeats first. Or maybe some interval runs. Go get em!
Thanks for the tip! I completely forgot about hill work. I stopped doing hills because I thought it aggravated my hip, but I’m definitely feeling strong enough to tackle them now. I think I’ll start slow and see how it goes.
Yay for pain-free running! The training plan I’m doing has no real speed work – just a couple of race-pace runs thrown in here and there. I think once you get your mileage up the speed will come naturally.
Thanks! I really hope that’s true! It’s funny, this was my first week of running four days a week, and I’m already panicked about not being as fast as I was when I was in heavy training mode last year. Thanks for reminding me to keep things in perspective! 🙂
Hi, I found you on IG, glad to take a look at your blog. 🙂 Way to go on the runs, it’s always a bummer starting over after injuries. Last year was my year of injuries, stress and illness. I’m just getting started now that my back is better and the old tendinitis in my foot is flaring…not to mention it’s FREAKING hot here in Arizona, but…I’m going to keep trying so I’ll be ready for my 4th half this fall/winter. I am from Utah so any talk of Park City makes me homesick. We had a condo just above main st., I miss it like crazy!! Good to ‘meet’ you. Jess
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It’s nice to “meet” you too, Jess! My mom lives in AZ, and I visit in the Winter, I can’t imagine trying to run there in the Summer! I hope your tendinitis calms down and you’re able to continue training for your half! Try not to melt out there! 😉