Alaska Heart Run and NYRR Virtual Training

Training this week has been a little exhausting. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am using the NYRR Virtual Trainer for my June half-marathon (part of my journey to getting to the NYC Marathon). This week-end I am planning on running the Alaska Heart Run 5k. So, the training program has taken that into account and adjusted my runs for the week to ensure that I get the key training runs in for the half marathon and still be able to do the Heart Run.

So, this weeks training started off with an easy 3 mile run on Monday. I didn’t time this run, just took it nice and easy.

Tuesday: The Virtual trainer called for .5 mile warm-up at about 9:59-10:30 pace followed by 10×400 meters targeting 2:19-2:20/400m (9:19-9:23pace) plus a 30 sec recovery between each 400m.

My actual run: .5 mile warm-up @ 10:15 pace followed by 10x400m @2:03-2:06  with 30 seconds of easy running between 400s. Cool-down was 1 mile at 10:12 pace.

Wednesday: Virtual Trainer – 7 miles targeting 1:09-1:10 (9:53-10:04 pace)

I started out right on pace but got faster with each mile. I have a hard time judging my pace at times.

As a side note regarding cadence at the top of my screen shot – I am a little confused about this concept. The running data suggest that we should be running closer to a 180 cadence, but I tend to run mid 160s to high 160s. I might occasionally hit 170s. It seems to me that to get a higher cadence , you need to be running faster. I don’t think I am truly over striding which could explain the lower cadence. I am not going to worry too much about the cadence and just keep working on form and getting my work-outs done for now.

A plus on running 7 miles was that I burned 772 calories! Being that the run was just around an hour, I didn’t take any fuel. Probably not a good idea but around 6 miles I came across what might have been somebody’s spilled stash:

And they are my favorite – Gummy Bears. Of course I didn’t – but I thought about it he he….not really 🙂

At the end of my run, there is this really nice little area to stretch out.

Obviously, it wasn’t the nicest day out. Still a little chilly here in Alaska.

What made this week so exhausting is that I haven’t really been doing long runs or speed work. I have been running about 3-4 miles 4-5 times a week. This program just started last week which included a long run of 6 miles on Saturday. So, just 4 days later I am doing another long run. I am off Thursday and Friday prior to the Heart Run. Hopefully, I will be rested for the race. Looking forward to it….

And one last pic of the view I have while writing this short blog….