Showing posts with label speedwork. Show all posts

The random run.

Today's run:
Half Marathon Training Week Four, Day One
4.20 miles/55:00

Today was supposed to be more speedwork... and I guess, technically, that's what I did.  Did I follow the prescribed plan of 6x400s?  Absolutely not.  Did I follow my own plan to do 40:00 of fartlek intervals?  Not quite.  But did I run some hills and do some fast intervals?  Why, yes... yes, I did!  So that counts, right?

I started by doing eight cadence drills as recommended by the only man who makes me think running faster is possible: Mr. Jeff Galloway.  I followed the 30 second format that he talked about in this video, but it seemed awfully short - I didn't feel like I could make much progress in 30 seconds.  Next time I am going to try the one minute format and see if that feels better.  Galloway's website says to complete the cadence drills at least twice a week, so I'll try again on Thursday as a little warmup for my tempo run.

After the cadence drills, I did about 5 minutes of fartlek intervals, but honestly, I completely wasn't feeling it today.  I'm completely torn because I really didn't like the structured 400s, 800s, and 1600s, but the freedom of creating my own intervals seems a little overwhelming.  I knew I was in a bad place mentally for it today because I thought to myself, "I could really just walk home right now instead of doing more intervals."  Um.  Wrong answer.  


So I decided freedom wasn't going to work.  But I knew track intervals weren't going to work, since I wasn't on a track and I didn't feel like beating my head against a wall.  I went with an impromptu running pyramid, based on something that I'd read when I was first looking for information on speedwork: "Coach Jack Daniels suggests the following workout when feeling lethargic: Run 10 steps (counting one foot, not both) then jog 10, run 20 and jog 20, run 30 and jog 30, and so on up to running 100 and jogging 100 (or more if you wish)."  I chose to walk instead of jog, and I turned it into a pyramid... so I got to 100, and then went back to 90, then to 80, and so on and so forth.

I actually really liked this exercise... it felt completely doable, and it forced me to focus on both short and long bursts of running.  And though my overall pace for this run was slow (about 13:00), I was running quickly during the intervals.  My best pace was 7:14, which was probably for one of the shorter bursts, but I was trying to keep my running pace around 9:00 or less.  I didn't feel like this run was as hard as last week's fartlek run, and it certainly wasn't as hard as the 400s and 800s, but I'm hoping it will still make a difference in my speed!

In other news... I finished seven whole days of flossing and did not cry!


And I painted my nails sparkly green as my first Christmas manicure of the week!  

And yes, I meant first Christmas manicure because there will be at least one more, and I'm really excited about it.  It's the little things, really.

What was your workout or run today?  Tell me all about it!
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My first fartlek run!

Today's run:
Half Marathon Training Week Three, Day One
3.62 miles/45:00

As I mentioned in last night's exhausted post, after two painful experiences doing the speed work prescribed in the FIRST training plan, I started doing some research.  Apparently, what I had been doing would normally be called "repeats" or "intervals," which I learned was really just one kind of speed training.  Those of you who have been running for a while are probably having a big "DUH" moment with me right now, but this is all new material to me... considering I could never even finish running the mile in middle school (how I passed gym is beyond me), the fact that I run three days a week now is mind boggling, let alone actually working on speed.  Please.

But I digress.  Evidently, I'm not the only one who hates one or more kinds of speed work - like the lovely Kathy, who hates sprint intervals, but likes repeats.  Kathy, you can have all of the repeats I'm supposed to do!  Thank goodness I'm not the only one who hates some speed work, because it means there are all sorts of options!  

I decided today to try a fartlek run... forgive me for being five years old, but seriously, I love that word.  I had read a little bit about fartleks before, but went looking for more information and found plenty here: "Essentially, fartlek is a series of faster pickups with a recovery interval in between. The length and speed of the pickups, as well as the recovery intervals, is totally up to you."  Before I officially considered myself a "runner," I used to play this game all the time - start with a walk, then run to a streetlight, walk for a while, run to a mailbox, and so on and so forth.  This type of format appealed to me a lot more than the structured distance repeats because I didn't feel like I had failed if I had to quit running.  The problem with the whole "warm up, run 8x800s, cool down" thing is that if I only ran 6 of those repeats and then was just destroyed, I'd feel like I hadn't succeeded.  Is this completely mental?  Yes.  Does it mean that I'm completely mental?  Probably.  But if I say to myself, "I'm going to run really fast to that mailbox" and I don't make it to the mailbox, for some reason, I don't feel like a failure.  And I need to not feel like a failure!

I really enjoyed this run, actually, though it kind of mauled me.  I was slightly worried that the format would give me a little too much freedom and I'd get lazy and not run as much as I should, but I think I had a nice balance of different paces, different interval lengths, and different intensities.  This is definitely something that I could see myself doing regularly.  It was a tough run, mostly because I'm not used to pushing myself that hard, but again, I have to thank Kathy for some motivation... by incorporating speedwork (and being awesome), she went from running an average pace of 12:30 to 11:15!  No kidding, reading that got me into my running gear today.  That's an amazing improvement!  So yes, I had to push myself, but I can push myself hard once a week if it means seeing great improvement.  

That being said, while I'd love to increase my overall pace, I learned with this run that if I know I can stop whenever I want to and I don't have to stay at any pace for very long, I can run super fast!  While obviously my pace was all over the board with this one (which I believe is the point, or else I seriously misunderstood), my fastest pace was 6:12!  Who knew?!  Now, granted, I probably ran at that pace for all of 5 seconds, but I'm impressed.  There wasn't even something scary chasing me.  


So I believe there's definitely a fartlek run on the schedule for next week as well.  And who knows?  Maybe I'll even throw in some hill repeats.  

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I GOT AN OFFICIAL 5K PR!

... and I might be slightly excited about it.

I'm sorry, did I say excited?  Clearly I meant demonic.

Yesterday's run:
Jingle Bell Run Denver
3.1 miles/33:47

That, my friends, is my OFFICIAL CHIP TIME from the race!  My Garmin said that I went 3.18 miles in 33:45 (and yes, I remember to stop it unlike the last time I got a PR), so obviously I like my Garmin more than I like the official time.  That being said, I'm thrilled that I got an official time, because I never actually got my time for the Turkey Trot that I did.  It was a pretty unorganized race, and somehow I slipped through the cracks.  But I don't care now, because THIS TIME WAS FASTER BY A GOOD TEN SECONDS!  

I believe that fantastic news calls for a snapshot victory dance! 


Just assume that I'm going back and forth between the two poses rapidly and you've got the whole dance.  Impressed?  I know.  I've got mad skillz, yo.


I really enjoyed the race  - I've done it once before and thought it was a hoot, and this year did not disappoint.  I love it because it benefits a great cause, it is well organized, and let's face it, it's just good, clean fun!  You have to get a kick out of a race that includes bells in your race packet.  I will write a better review/recap of the race tomorrow when I'm not super sleepy, but I thought I'd spread the good cheer before I passed out :)

Today I took a rest day - two days of running in a row plus inadequate stretching (oops) led to a very sore pair of legs for me today.  But I'll be back at it tomorrow!  I'm sticking with the FIRST training plan because I actually kind of like the increased mileage on the tempo runs (who am I?!), but I have decided that the speedwork that is outlined in the plan simply isn't for me.  I'll explain more later, but having done the prescribed speedwork for two weeks and being absolutely miserable before, during, and after each run... I've realized how dumb that is.  After all, it's not like one day of speedwork each week is going to take me from running 11-minute miles to running 6-minute miles.  I'm not going to become an ultramarathoner.  I'm not going to win a bunch of races.  I started running primarily as a fun activity, an outlet for stress, and a way to burn off some of the absurd calories I love to take in every day.  So if I'm absolutely dreading running, isn't there a problem?  Regardless, I like the idea of speedwork, but I don't like their speedwork, so I'm going to play around with it a little.  I believe I'm going to try my first fartlek run tomorrow!  I much prefer "speedplay" to "speedwork" anyway.  And I want an excuse to say the word fartlek regularly.  Who doesn't?!

Did you run this weekend?  How awesome did you do?!
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