Monday – A.M.Yoga
Tuesday – Power
Wednesday – Pilates, speed work (6 miles)
Thursday – REST
Friday – Cardio + hill sprints (2 miles)
Saturday – Alternating tempo 9 miles + (3 mi) walk
Sunday – Long run – 18 miles @ 9:18 pace
Total Miles Week 8 – 38 Miles
Wednesday
Coach Nancy said that we're going to move more into longer intervals. Last week was the last week of short repeats. I am excited and at the same time, I feel "rusty" about anything longer than 800m. I have to gain a bit more confidence in maintaining that speed for longer intervals.
The workout assigned tonight was: 1600/1200/800/600/400. (4-3-2-1 1/2, 1 laps) with 400m lap recovery.
On the 1600m, for some reason, (and I do this all the time), I miscounted the laps. I was trying to avoid looking at my Garmin as much as possible and go by effort. I thought I was wrapping up the last lap, but when I saw the people ahead of me and, not stopping where they should be–that was my first clue. I finally glanced at my watch and the distance read, "0.77". Son of #$#@%7!!! I've gotten into the habit of sprinting the last 200 meters of whatever repeat I'm in. It was no different tonight. What I thought was my last 200 meters, I pressed on the gas. Reality sunk in when I still have to go around 1 more lap and maintain that speed. For a split moment, I had a 10 second tantrum. Screw this!!! I'm only going to do 3 laps, that's good enough! I started walking and was disgusted at myself for ruining a what could have been my fastest mile. At 0.77, I was on 7:20 pace! I kissed my fast mile goodbye. But after catching my breath for 10 seconds, now my watch is showing 8:49 min/mile pace (because of the walk break), I gathered myself up and started running again. By this time the people I was hoping to be right behind of, were now half a lap away. I managed to pick up the pace a bit more and I was surprised that I was not as far back as I thought I would be because of the mistake I made. In the end, my pace for the mile was 7:40. It wasn't all that bad.
What I learned from this is: when things go awry, it's not as bad as I think. When unexpected things go wrong, next time, I wont think of the worse. It's best to move forward and not dwell on the previous lap. I should keep going because it is still salvageable! The other thing I learned, pay attention to the mile I'm in. I didn't have any music on and I still screwed up.
With the exception of the 1600m, the rest of the workout went well. Three positive things came out of the workout tonight. I'm getting consistent with longer warm-ups and getting the body gradually primed for the speedier workouts. I dedicated about 50 lunges before the actual workouts to fire my leg muscles to move. Lastly, I only walked 50m on the intervals then jogged for the rest of the way. This is progress: the shorter the "off" interval is, the less colder and stiffer the body gets for the next "on" interval.
Friday was a sad, sad day. I was in mourning for my gym announced that they are closing their doors next Wednesday. I can't even begin to tell you how much this affects my schedule for the whole training cycle. As you may know, I have cut down my running tremendously to capitalize on yoga, power and Pilates and the cardio machines in an effort to become a much more well-rounded runner. In the past three months that I have diligently gone to cross training workouts, I can tell you that it has made huge impact in my performance. My overall flexibility has increased, my core is a lot stronger, and my legs can generate more power than I can ever hope for. Now with the gym gone, I have to figure out a way to continue doing my cross training. I've come too far to give up something good. Anyhow enough of my soapbox. Today's schedule called for 25 minutes of cardio then off to my hill sprints. I performed 7 repeats and I was off to yoga to catch the end of the stretching routine.
Saturday was a great day for Tempo. I wanted to be on the dirt track today so that I can really hone in on the paces I assigned myself. Trouble is I had to get there relatively early so that I wouldn't be in the way of the soccer games. I was kind of wistful when I got there. This day was picture day and I saw kids getting ready for their pictures and games. My 12YO didn't want to do soccer this year anymore. It's too bad because she's got her daddy's quickness and if I say so myself, she is an excellent forward who could use both her left and right foot when necessary. Oh well, on to newer interests. I hope she finds running in Jr. High exciting.
So I got to the track just as the hustle and bustle were about to begin. I got plenty of warm-up as the track sits about 2.25 miles from my house. I got there and got right down to business. 4 miles of 9:10 pace alternated 8:20 paces. Once I was done, I jogged backed home with 2.25 miles. Odd thing is, I dread this one hill going back. I don't know why, but it always is on my mind every time I pass it, there goes that tough hill again! It's not steep, but it is enough to give the quads the lactic acid burn. This time, I stayed relaxed and reassured my paranoid self that it's just a cool down, there's no pacing involved. So off I went. To my surprise, I was running the hill about 5 seconds slower than my goal pace. As I neared my house, I realized that my pace was not my typical cool-down pace. The hill didn't take no more than 5 seconds. The entire work-out turned out to be a pace run for 9 miles. This was a good day at the office. Now my only worry was the workout tomorrow. Hopefully the legs won't be too fatigue to do the biggest workout ever yet. I keep vacillating back and forth whether I should keep it less intense for the 10K race next week or keep it hard. In the end, my head said the big picture is the marathon, not the 10K, so everything should be geared towards the marathon.
First thing I checked upon waking up on Sunday was my resting heart rate which will give me an indication if was too fatigue. The kind of workout I was going to do hinged upon my HR this morning. If it was 5 beats too high, I would do a long run with a pace run inserted in the end. If it was just a couple beats faster than my normal HR, then the harder workout awaited me. My HR was 57, only two beats higher! It's was a green light for my progression long run.
 |
| Cloudy and misty for my Sunday long run...perfect. |
 |
| 56 degrees with 98% to 100% relative humidity |
 |
| Did a quick 4 miler jaunt to Baywood while my ipod recharged... |
 |
| ...went back home to pick it up, but didn't need to use it after my warm up. |
 |
| The finish winds up here for the Baywood Oktoberfest and June Fest 4 miler. |
 |
| Quite a tranquil scene. |
 |
| On Turri Road: What Mr. Turkey vulture? You gonna let me take your picture? |
 |
| Or not. He flew away. Within yards, a sad, sad scene of a dog, that was the object of Mr. Turkey Vulture's desire... |
I've been dabbing at trying out different paces for my long runs. In the past few weeks, I've used the 3-1 method and the fast finish long runs. Today was no different. I had a good warm up of 4 miles then I slowly and gradually picked up my pace. Once I reached the 10th mile, I picked it up some more until to my pleasant surprise, I was down to 8:33 pace (for 8 miles). I was drenched in sweat by the time I finished. It was no wonder because weather.com posted the relative humidity was 100% by 9:30am. I was not sure at first how this would affect my run, how it might slow me down. It didn't seem to bother me this time.
Week 8 has been a very good confidence builder kind of week with the tempo run that turned into a pace run on Saturday behind the wonderful progressive 18-miler on Sunday. It was a back to back hard days and (I'm knocking on wood): no injuries so far.
I'm off to face week 9 which will place me in the halfway point of my training plan. I've got a time trial scheduled on Sunday which is the Heritage Oaks Family Fun Run 10K race. Daughter is interested in doing the 1/2 mile race so we'll nourish that interest. Until then, happy running!
No comments:
Post a Comment