Need for Speed

As the previous post mentioned, I've been thinking a bit lately about my training plan. I've been revising it on the fly to balance my non-running life and running goals. I really can't afford to add more running days per week. Three or four is going to have to do. For the three day week, I've been doing one short run (3-5 miles), one medium run (6-9 miles) and one long run (10+ miles). When I do 4 days, I'll add a second medium distance run.

I've decided to incorporate more speed training. My short run will now focus primarily on pushing speed. When the weather finally clears (and my nearby high school track is ice free), I'll be doing some repeats around the track combined with a fast 1-2 miler on the way there and home. I'll run a "relaxed" medium run. For the weekly long run, I will run at a relaxed pace also but will be doing some quarter mile pick-ups every 2 miles to try and infuse some speed into the longer distances (without - hopefully - wearing myself down). That's the plan for now.

During last summer's training for the Chicago Marathon, I primarily worried about building endurance and simply increasing mileage with complete disregard for speed. I'll be focusing on speed a bit more now that I know I can cover the distance.

To that end, last night's run (no repeats though) around the couple neighborhoods near my house looked like this according to Garmin:

4.36 miles
31:02 time
7:07 per mile

Mile 1: 7:07
Mile 2: 7:03
Mile 3: 7:07
Mile 4: 7:07
.36 mile: 7:20 pace

I'm pretty happy with this. The roads were still icy in spots causing temporary slow downs. When will the spring thaw begin?!! My marathon anxiety is starting and I'm itching (literally) to take off these layers...