FIT:
Yea-ah.
I was tired and not at all in the mood to work out as the clock ticked towards 9pm. But I wouldn't get a chance to work out tomorrow, and I did a strength session yesterday, so I had to go today to not have 3 days in a row of not running.
I brought racing flats in case the treadmill was free for an interval session and 300+ mi shoes and a running magazine to read on the bike in case the treadamill was taken. The bike was free, so intervals it was! And it was good.
It tied my best treadmill interval workouts... a version I've done maybe just twice before, 3 max.
1 mi warmup 7-7.5mph gradually, 3 x [0.75 @ 9mph (6:40 = 5K pace), 0.25 @ 7.5mph (8:00 pace)].
4.0 in 29:18, 7:20 ave.
Splits> 8:18, 3 x [5:00, 2:00].
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Nov 28
FIT:
Some redemption today from the 12 turned 8.9 on Saturday.
I wanted to get in the important LR, so I dd 10.3 today. It was on the treadmill, 1 degree. I went very slowly at first, and that allowed me to go farther with ease. It's incredible how big of a difference 0.1mph is. I usually start my treadmill runs at a minimum of 7.0mph, so riding 2.5 miles a 6.8-6.9mph felt awesome, like I was barely breathing much more than if I was to walk.
I would've maybe tried to do another mile or two, but I was hitting against the gym closing time, so I opted to do the last bit of the run a bit faster.
Laptop battery is running low, so I'm going to speed this up...
10.3 in 1:26:34, 8:24 ave. 855 cal. 68 degrees.
Splits> 8:46, 8:42, 8:38, 8:34, 8:34, 8:30, 8:20, 8:18, 8:06, 7:49, 2:10 for 0.3.
I think I'll go slow on my next LR, too. It felt good. I think if I did easy runs at that pace, I could up my training volume safely. I don't know that I'd experiment too much with that during this marathon build-up, but maybe next year.
FUEL:
This was 1.5 hrs after a big dinner (chocolate pita chips, tortilla chips baked w/ 75% light cheese and hot sauce, mixed greens with tuna and soy ginger dressing, laughing cow light swiss cheese wedge with more tortilla chips, dark chocolate, earl grey tea) and lots of fluids, so no water was needed during the run. Not even really thirsty.
Post-run, a bottle of water+lemonjuice+salt that I didn't need during the run, warm milk with a splash of vanilla extract, oatmeal with PB, carrot, and half a small grapefruit.
Some redemption today from the 12 turned 8.9 on Saturday.
I wanted to get in the important LR, so I dd 10.3 today. It was on the treadmill, 1 degree. I went very slowly at first, and that allowed me to go farther with ease. It's incredible how big of a difference 0.1mph is. I usually start my treadmill runs at a minimum of 7.0mph, so riding 2.5 miles a 6.8-6.9mph felt awesome, like I was barely breathing much more than if I was to walk.
I would've maybe tried to do another mile or two, but I was hitting against the gym closing time, so I opted to do the last bit of the run a bit faster.
Laptop battery is running low, so I'm going to speed this up...
10.3 in 1:26:34, 8:24 ave. 855 cal. 68 degrees.
Splits> 8:46, 8:42, 8:38, 8:34, 8:34, 8:30, 8:20, 8:18, 8:06, 7:49, 2:10 for 0.3.
I think I'll go slow on my next LR, too. It felt good. I think if I did easy runs at that pace, I could up my training volume safely. I don't know that I'd experiment too much with that during this marathon build-up, but maybe next year.
FUEL:
This was 1.5 hrs after a big dinner (chocolate pita chips, tortilla chips baked w/ 75% light cheese and hot sauce, mixed greens with tuna and soy ginger dressing, laughing cow light swiss cheese wedge with more tortilla chips, dark chocolate, earl grey tea) and lots of fluids, so no water was needed during the run. Not even really thirsty.
Post-run, a bottle of water+lemonjuice+salt that I didn't need during the run, warm milk with a splash of vanilla extract, oatmeal with PB, carrot, and half a small grapefruit.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Nov 26
FIT:
Today's run didn't go as planned.
I was going to do my LR. The schedule called for 12.
I did 4.4 with my dad biking behind me. Then, a bathroom and water stop when I saw my sister lacing her up shoes, too. She and I ran at about the same pace for a while (she didn't want to run with me, but we were close to each other), but I was ahead after half a mile.
I did 4.4 more after that, and even that was hard. I haven't stretched in the past few days while I've been at home. I felt like tendons/ligaments were pulling on muscles and bones and whatever in wrong ways. It may be the stretching. It could also be some muscular imbalance. I haven't been able to do good one-legged squats in a while. They've all been very shallow. I decided to stop the run early. I could've managed another difficult lap, but my body felt like it was working hard as it is, without the strains. But with the strains, I just wanted to call it a day.
I think it's an okay decision in this case. I stretched afterwards, and I'll stretch more now. I don't want to get injured at the start of the marathon buildup (I'm on week 2/16). Didn't hit the target for this week, but I had extra mileage done last week, so it evens out. The LR is the most important, but I had many 13-mi races recently, so I think it's okay to not do the full LR this time.
8.9 in 1:14:13, 8:19 ave. 734 cal.
Splits> 18:29, 18:18, 37:25 for 2 (18:42 ave)
Today's run didn't go as planned.
I was going to do my LR. The schedule called for 12.
I did 4.4 with my dad biking behind me. Then, a bathroom and water stop when I saw my sister lacing her up shoes, too. She and I ran at about the same pace for a while (she didn't want to run with me, but we were close to each other), but I was ahead after half a mile.
I did 4.4 more after that, and even that was hard. I haven't stretched in the past few days while I've been at home. I felt like tendons/ligaments were pulling on muscles and bones and whatever in wrong ways. It may be the stretching. It could also be some muscular imbalance. I haven't been able to do good one-legged squats in a while. They've all been very shallow. I decided to stop the run early. I could've managed another difficult lap, but my body felt like it was working hard as it is, without the strains. But with the strains, I just wanted to call it a day.
I think it's an okay decision in this case. I stretched afterwards, and I'll stretch more now. I don't want to get injured at the start of the marathon buildup (I'm on week 2/16). Didn't hit the target for this week, but I had extra mileage done last week, so it evens out. The LR is the most important, but I had many 13-mi races recently, so I think it's okay to not do the full LR this time.
8.9 in 1:14:13, 8:19 ave. 734 cal.
Splits> 18:29, 18:18, 37:25 for 2 (18:42 ave)
Nov 24 - Thanksgiving
FIT:
T-day at the track!
4 x 100 sprint, 100 jog
Similar to the 800 warmup's 400s, my jog 400s were pretty consitently 2:03.
I've never done Yasso 800s (10x800 with 400 jogs), but it would be very interesting to try some time. 5 miles of sprinting seems like a lot. I listened to a podcast today on MarathonTalk.com (a couple days after this workout) that interviewed Bart. He said that Yasso works for many people of all weekly mileage levels, although it does work better for those with higher mileage. Makes sense. So it may not work as well for me at my 25ish mpw.
It was a little warmer here than it has been recently, and I don't run in full sun very often. On weekdays, I hit the treadmill normally, or squeeze something in at the park near sunset at best. On weekends, I'll also tend to go near sunset, but even if I do something in the middle of the day, there's usually a decent amount of shade.
It was a good workout.
Afterwards, I played around a bit with my sister, showing her stretches and exercises, letting her try some of my shoes (she needs a new pair), etc.
And finally, T-day dinner:
T-day at the track!
On Thanksgiving, my sister and I went to a nearby track. She ran on the HS XC team but wasn't as into it as I was. But she's recently started running fairly regularly again, and I'm so excited. Her usual 5K pace is about at my LR/easy pace, which is great, and her form looks good.
I have found a track back in GVL, but it's about 20 minutes away. This one is only 5 minutes from my parents' house. I was excited to get in some track work. It seems way more epic than treadmill intervals. Being on the track in general excites me. I never did track in HS because I did socer instead. In HS, we went to the track for XC practices maybe once every 3 weeks or something. At first, I dreaded it because I usually didn't do as well compared to a couple of the other girls. They could fly and looked awesome - I didn't know how they did it. I would more often beat them on the last repeat... so maybe they had more speed, and I had more endurance.
But I grew to like the track more during college. The track at Pton was gorgeous, and I watched some inspiring races there. It realized how fast it could make you. When we had timed miles for Club Ultimate, I could basically guarantee that after every BM-pyramid workout I did, I could knock down 10-15s off of my miles time, at least up to a point. It's a place to test yourself.
I attempted a BM workout. The last time I did it (or tried it at all) was in May. I only ended up doing 3/4 of it, maybe more from wimping out from the lactic buildup than anything else. But it was still a good workout.
The Beth Massey Pyramid workout (with my actual paces where available):
It was from my friend's HS or MS coach, but I named the workout after her.
800 warmup - 2:04, 2:01
4 x 100 sprint, 100 jog
3 x 200 sprint, 200 jog
2 x 400 sprint, 400 jog - ?:??, 1:37
1 x 800 sprint, 400 jog - 1:41, 1:42
2 x 400 sprint, 400 jog - 1:34, 1:36
*** I stopped here ***
3 x 200 sprint, 200 jog
4 x 100 sprint, 100 jog
Similar to the 800 warmup's 400s, my jog 400s were pretty consitently 2:03.
I've never done Yasso 800s (10x800 with 400 jogs), but it would be very interesting to try some time. 5 miles of sprinting seems like a lot. I listened to a podcast today on MarathonTalk.com (a couple days after this workout) that interviewed Bart. He said that Yasso works for many people of all weekly mileage levels, although it does work better for those with higher mileage. Makes sense. So it may not work as well for me at my 25ish mpw.
It was a little warmer here than it has been recently, and I don't run in full sun very often. On weekdays, I hit the treadmill normally, or squeeze something in at the park near sunset at best. On weekends, I'll also tend to go near sunset, but even if I do something in the middle of the day, there's usually a decent amount of shade.
It was a good workout.
Afterwards, I played around a bit with my sister, showing her stretches and exercises, letting her try some of my shoes (she needs a new pair), etc.
It's my dream to have a running store some day. It was fun to pretend today.
And finally, T-day dinner:
(Tofurkey with stuffing and gravy, butternut & spahgetti squash, green beans, cabbage casserole, fish, bamboo, potatoes.)
A walk with my parents at Riverfront Park - Mount Pleasant the next day:
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Nov 23
FIT:
Home! (parents' home)
It was getting dark, so I just squeezed in two 2.2-mi laps around the neighborhood. It was sort of like a recovery run. I had the past two days off running-wise to recover from the 3.7-mi race on Saturday and the 11.5-mi run on Sunday. (I did my weekly strength session on Monday.) My legs were feeling heavy, so a tough or fast workout wasn't in the books.
It was a good run, though. Like drinking a refreshing cup of water. Quick. I went iPod-less for most of it, just to take in the experience of being back on my home loop. When things got harder and after I had experienced the loop once, I turned on a podcast from MarathonTalk.com.
4.4 in 35:23, 7:56 ave. 360 cal.
Splits> 18:21, 17:01.
Home! (parents' home)
It was getting dark, so I just squeezed in two 2.2-mi laps around the neighborhood. It was sort of like a recovery run. I had the past two days off running-wise to recover from the 3.7-mi race on Saturday and the 11.5-mi run on Sunday. (I did my weekly strength session on Monday.) My legs were feeling heavy, so a tough or fast workout wasn't in the books.
It was a good run, though. Like drinking a refreshing cup of water. Quick. I went iPod-less for most of it, just to take in the experience of being back on my home loop. When things got harder and after I had experienced the loop once, I turned on a podcast from MarathonTalk.com.
4.4 in 35:23, 7:56 ave. 360 cal.
Splits> 18:21, 17:01.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Nov 20
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Took a nap after church, then went for my LR.
FIT:
Last night, I peeked at the version of the Smartcoach RW schedule where I would be willing to do 26-30 mi/week. It adds an extra weekly run (a 4th) of decent distance, and I thought that it also added to the LR distance... I was looking at another week, though, so it didn't really.
The original schedule called for 10, but I thought that the souped up schedule called for 12, so I aimed for something on the higher end of the spectrum. Just found out that even the souped up schedule called for 10. Oh well. I think next week may be tough after my big jump in mileage this week.
I was only partially in the mood to run and couldn't decide where to go, but I went with Falls Park, where I haven't been in a few weeks due to all of the racing.
I had found an open pack of Gu Chomps in my fridge te day before, so I took one before the run. I started slowly, just interested in getting in the mileage and staying safe the day after a race. I took in half a bottle of watere + lemon juice + salt after the 2nd of 3 laps. With 1.5 mi left (after 10 mi), I started having GI issues. It was unconfortable. I thought about stopping and just walking the 1.5 back to my car, but after a brief stop with another swig of water, I saw that I could still run okay and made it back. It was tough. I slowed down. That last hill is always tough anyway.
11.5 in 1:39:39, 8:40/mi. 927 cal.
Splits> 8:02 b, 6:02 p short, 7:21 c, 7:14 p, 7:08 b long, 5:56 p s, 7:17 c, 7:11 p, 7:13 b l, 5:59 p s, 7:13 c, 7:11 p, 7:20 c, 8:26 car.
For the next 3 hrs, my tummy hurt a lot. Very much. But I took OTCs, and now I'm ok. I had eaten a super-delicious Detour low-sugar protein bar after the run to aid recovery, but it probably didn't stick around. 3 hrs later, I felt okay enough to eat. I was hungry. I had 2 persimmons and tofu plus some tortilla and pita chips. But it definitely wasn't within the recommended 30min post-run window.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuf morning.
Took a nap after church, then went for my LR.
FIT:
Last night, I peeked at the version of the Smartcoach RW schedule where I would be willing to do 26-30 mi/week. It adds an extra weekly run (a 4th) of decent distance, and I thought that it also added to the LR distance... I was looking at another week, though, so it didn't really.
The original schedule called for 10, but I thought that the souped up schedule called for 12, so I aimed for something on the higher end of the spectrum. Just found out that even the souped up schedule called for 10. Oh well. I think next week may be tough after my big jump in mileage this week.
I was only partially in the mood to run and couldn't decide where to go, but I went with Falls Park, where I haven't been in a few weeks due to all of the racing.
I had found an open pack of Gu Chomps in my fridge te day before, so I took one before the run. I started slowly, just interested in getting in the mileage and staying safe the day after a race. I took in half a bottle of watere + lemon juice + salt after the 2nd of 3 laps. With 1.5 mi left (after 10 mi), I started having GI issues. It was unconfortable. I thought about stopping and just walking the 1.5 back to my car, but after a brief stop with another swig of water, I saw that I could still run okay and made it back. It was tough. I slowed down. That last hill is always tough anyway.
11.5 in 1:39:39, 8:40/mi. 927 cal.
Splits> 8:02 b, 6:02 p short, 7:21 c, 7:14 p, 7:08 b long, 5:56 p s, 7:17 c, 7:11 p, 7:13 b l, 5:59 p s, 7:13 c, 7:11 p, 7:20 c, 8:26 car.
For the next 3 hrs, my tummy hurt a lot. Very much. But I took OTCs, and now I'm ok. I had eaten a super-delicious Detour low-sugar protein bar after the run to aid recovery, but it probably didn't stick around. 3 hrs later, I felt okay enough to eat. I was hungry. I had 2 persimmons and tofu plus some tortilla and pita chips. But it definitely wasn't within the recommended 30min post-run window.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
RACE REPORT: GE 6K 2011
My fourth race in 6 weeks!
I signed up for this one because it was inexpensive relative to many other races of comparable distance. Some of the 5Ks can be so expensive these days! It was also going to be nice to see where my fitness was after racing 3 HMs within a month.Morning:
Even though I got less-than-ideal sleep this week, my body only wanted 6.5 hrs last night, maybe because I had okay sleep on the important night-before-the-night before. I woke up at 4-something, so I had 2 lox tortillas (delicious) because that's what I was craving. Took a warm-up shower without washing my hair, since it was too cold to want that.
The race started at 8:30am and was held at a new course at the not-yet-opened Lake Conestee Nature Park. It was chilly, at about 40 degrees.
The Race:
The first 3/4 mi was on pavement, looping around the baseball fields. I went out at a good pace, and according to the split (6:44), it was fairly fast. It felt comfortable and sustainable, though.
Next, we entered single track that had room for maybe 1.5 people across. Passing wasn't much of an option most of the time, but there were a couple of chances here and there. I was glad that I did my first trial race the previous weekend, because I felt confident on the trail. It was very smooth, with roots here and there. There were minor, short hills. Every now and then, there were boardwalks.
I was glad that I had gotten the start that I did, because it was so hard to pass. I was placed well, and there was minimal passing/being passed. The miles ticked by quickly. I guess I was so busy concentrating on footing and the windy turns. Maybe some of it is also the face that the past 3 races were HMs.
There were a few spots with two-way traffic on the narrow path, but it was okay, and everyone was courteous. There was also a water stop, but it's not necessary when the course is short and the temps are cold.
We kept chugging, then we were back on the pavement for the final stretch. I put in a good effort and probably couldn't have given much more - that's always a good feeling. I also edged out a guy at the very end by half a step at the finish line. Also nice.
Results:
3.7 in 27:51, 7:28 ave. 2nd overall female.
Not a fast pace, compared to my 5K PR (6:44ish), so I guess it was the dirt and the hills. I was fairly happy with the pacing. It looks like I might've gone out too fast, by looking at the splits, but the first mile was on pavement, so one would expect the second two miles to be slow. I did probably fade some, but I at least kept up with the people on the singletrack in front of me, and it was a comfortable pace for me.
Splits> 6:44, 8:09, 7:58, 4:58 for 0.7.
I won a doorprize... a pumpkin. And for finishing 2nd... 3 lightbulbs. The race was hosted by GE. I called my sister and told her that I won a pumpkin and 3 lightbulbs. You couldn't make up something more random!
It'll be nice park to come back to once it opens. It's not too far, and not too hilly, and smooth - maybe I'll mix it in to my course repetoire once a month or something.
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