Speed work 4X1600, Cold, Cough and Icelandic Weather

Did my speed work on thursday, I was starting to feel a tickle on my throat usually a symptom of me getting sick with a cold and flu. But never the less completed the training run: here is the summary of the run, it was hard and I think my feeling under the weather must have made it worse... but I did the speed runs at a pretty good pace.


As can be seen my first mile (1600m) time was 6:18 pace, followed by 6:34, 6:48 and 6:42. I would say the average speed for the speed runs were 6:35. This gives me a little bit more confidence that I can sustain a pace of 6:45 for a extended period of time.

I had to miss my long run this weekend as I am down with cold, cough and body joint aches. Friday I left work at noon and slept maybe 8 hours and continued to sleep on Saturday. I think this has been the longest sleep bouts I have had for some time. I woke on Saturday with a back ache due to lying in bed for an extended period of time. Anyway, I think I am feeling a little bit better today, took the dog out for a 6 km walk in the hale and wind. I have already started counting down the days till the Chicago Marathon on October 11.

Gave up after 35 km...

I was very disappointed after a horrible run last sunday. I managed to run 35 km in 3:06:54 @5:19/km... I think I have to blame myself for the dismal performance. The weather was horrible, it was windy, rainy and down right depressing when I looked out the window when I woke up around 7am. I was quite surprised with the games my mind was playing I have never been intimated by the weather before and I have run in much harsher weather so I don´t know what the issue was. I guess mentally I am getting tired of training, I need to start running with a group to keep up the training regime.

To get down to the specifics, almost 8 km I was running against the wind, which felt horrible and I just could not push myself to keep up a good pace. It felt like the wind was 10 to 15 m/sec, of course it feels horrible when your mind tells  you all that is wrong with the run. I am more motivated than I have ever been to get back into doing more speed work and tempo runs to improve my speed.

Core Workout

I found these exercises to be very useful... they basically work your abdomen and back, I have started doing Rope Yoga which is excellent for the core as well.

Core Exercise 1
Core Exercise 2
Core Exercise 3