Speed Run + Lithia Springs

Morning:

5 mile run-
1st mile- warm up pace, probably 8-9min
2-3 mile- alternating hard 800m, medium 800m without stopping
4-5 mile- Ran at a good pace, not as fast as the 800s but picked it up on the last 2 laps

*Focused on leg speed and form as I went around the track


1:40 min Walk/Run- Estimate of 7 or 8 miles- at Lithia Springs in South Hadley, MA

*Ran hard for the first hour, including ascending and descending the mountain on the course, then got lost around 55 minutes in. Looped around twice before I found out where I was and mainly walked during that 45 minute time period. Ran probably 10 minutes of it


COMMENTS

• General: Overall happy with both runs. The first one was right after I got up, got hydrated and headed over to my school's track. I ran the last 2 miles in 16 minutes and I pushed it a lot harder on the 2nd and 3rd mile so I definitely got faster and built up some speed from that work out. Lithia Springs is absolute money for a long run while I'm at Springfield. I'd guess I could get a 4-5 hour run in there without touching the same trail twice. Ascending the mountain was an absolute bitch and it took a lot out of my already tired legs, but once I got to the top I loosened up and felt pretty good. It was about a 20 minute all out push to get to the top with some walking in between. I panicked when I got lost but just stayed focused, something I know will be important especially when I'm running in the middle of the night during future ultras.
• Nutrition: Clean
• Body: Upper body felt pretty miserable upon waking. Legs are really sore right now but they usually heal pretty well while I sleep.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: I plan to use Lithia Springs frequently throughout second semester for my long runs. It's over a gallon of gas to get there but it's well worth it. I can develop some serious hill running ability if I continue climbing that type of terrain. Tomorrow I will rest and plan the rest of the week. I began working on my year in review post and it's pretty long but it will be up in a week or so. I also made a decision today to use the time period of a few days after GAC Fat Ass 50k for 3 weeks to run Smolov's squat program. I won't run at all during that 3 weeks but it's the only time I can do it this year until like next August and I'd like to squat 405 sooner rather than later. I'll finish and have 5 weeks to get ready for the Spring Thaw race. To compensate I will get as many runs as possible in between now and GAC.