Speed Trials

The Somersault Events Fall Colours Race is my favourite race in this city.  It takes place on Thanksgiving weekend (October 10 this year) and is held in beautiful Cumberland Village.  This year, I’ll be running the 10k for the third time. You can check out my race recap page to read all about the last two. Basically, my times were 51:57 in 2008, and 52:30 in 2009.

This year my goal is to run a sub 50:00 10K. I’m going to feed off the momentum of my 5k training plan, keep up with the speedwork and strength training, and with a little luck I’m hoping to kick some serious ass this October!

Here is my training plan:

Click to enlarge.

So here are some thoughts on the training plan:

Fridays are rest days. By the end of the week, I’m usually pretty burnt out, and history shows that I flake on my Friday workouts more than any other day of the week.

Wednesdays are still my “high octane” days. Tempo runs and 400 meter sprints are brutal, but I know that they are the sole reason I ran a sub 25:00 5k in July, after only recovering from my knee injury two months before.

I have to get over the mileage hump.  I tend to gravitate towards short 3k or 4.5k runs, and anything over 5k seems daunting to me. I have to get over that mentally, and realize that I CAN run 7k on a weeknight!!

I can’t wait for the 30-day Shred to be OVER!!! While it’s been helpful, it’s not my favourite thing in the world, and I’ll be happy to get back to the gym (with my favourite gym partner) and work on strength in a more sustainable form.

Oh, and yes, I am planning on running 7k the Saturday of the NSPI‘s.  All I have to do this year is sit in the grass and watch some bike polo, so it’s no big thing for me to go for a long run early in the morning before the shenanigans start. That is, if the Friday night party doesn’t destroy me first!!!