Posts Tagged ‘intervals’

Yesterday’s interval session seemed to validate my new pace philosophy.  Not only are my daily workouts suddenly way more fun and even a bit exciting as far as unexpected ease, a background worry that the quality workouts might suffer from picking it up everywhere else has so far been allayed.  In fact, I had a kick-ass session.

The session was 9.35mi (odd distance due to timed recoveries) w/ 5 x mi @15K pace (targeting 7:00s), 1 min recoveries. It was 69 and humid (temp + dewpoint =128), but the weird thing is that having run this new way for a few days, confidence is starting to creep in; I had little doubt that I’d be hitting the right paces and weather wasn’t even a worry.  This is no small thing.

So…leaving the house, my first two miles averaged 8:09s.  Splits on the mile intervals went 6:57, 6:55, 6:58, 6:58, 7:00.  The recoveries were quicker than usual, staying in the 8s except for a middle one, and the last 2 miles home averaged 8:17.  The whole run averaged 7:41.

Today and Tomorrow
I’ve got a voiceover job this morning (had quite a few this month, yay) and upon my return will do 7 miles purposely devoid of zoom.  Then tomorrow I have the Echo Stress Test.  All I’m thinking about that is “It better not compromise Friday’s tempo run!”  A girl’s got her priorities, you know.

And that’s the story, Morning Glories.  Have a lovely couple of days and run swell!

When I said in the last post that I wasn’t intimidated by any of my workouts in the schedule, it didn’t mean I wasn’t aware that one or two would be hell on a stick.  Like today’s 2x (5x1k, 1min rec’s) 4min rec. With wu/cd it came out to 10.7 miles total.

I did a variation on this a year ago, it was 10x1k, 1min rec’s, so without the 3 extra min. recovery in the middle, though Hudson said 10k-HP so it didn’t have to be quite so peppy.  At the time, I considered it the hardest workout I’d ever done.  I mean seriously, if I’m going to do more than 6 of anything, make it 400s please, a bunch of 1k’s is whacked.  But it’s good for you. sigh

Conditions were not the best, 69 degrees and temp+dewpoint = 130, so basically summer again.  I could have dumbed down my paces from the start but figured I’d attempt it as written.  I got schooled by the end, but at least I gave it a good try.  The goal was 6:48 pace.

The first set of 1ks went 6:51, 6:46, 6:48, 6:49, 6:55, which averaged 6:49/mi.  Not bad.  But I lost it at the end of the 2nd set.  It went 6:52, 6:50, 6:55, 7:05, 7:06, averaging 6:57.  As for the recoveries, I jogged them all except the next to the last one (before the 7s started) when I walked about 20 seconds.

I’m not unhappy with the workout in total, I got in 42:46 averaging 6:53/mi and that’s great (especially given my love of humidity) though of course, those last two were clearly disappointing.  So I’ll appease myself by plugging it into Daniel’s heat compensating calculator and figure I was right on target with him saying the workout averaged 6:47/mi.  Either way, it was a solid session for sure but I’m thrilled as hell I don’t have to do it again.

It’s finally happened – the Plateau, she is gone.

Yesterday’s workout was: 10.7 miles w/5 x 1.25mi @10k pace, avg. 3:40 recoveries.  I averaged 6:59s.  It was 81 degrees and Daniels and Tinman say that’s equivalent to 6:47s in normal temps, so I plugged it into McMillan and dang if it doesn’t spit out my Half PR from last year.  Of course, this is all calculated approximation so TWB (tinged with bullshit) but I haven’t been in spitting distance for close to a year, so this is a beautiful thing.

Btw, some weather trivia I just read: this is the hottest Philly summer on record, and by a wide margin.  Highs averaged 88.7!  Last winter had record snowfall.  If this keeps up, I may just move my ass outta here.  But back to running…

Race Goals For The 19th
As mentioned, I’m not looking for a PR for this one, instead my main focus will be getting hydration down right.  I’ll also be tweaking the nutrition aspect and for the first time, at Adam’s suggestion, will take 2 gels, one 30 minutes in, the next 30 minutes afterward.  I think this is a great idea, I’ve always scrimped on that stuff during Halfs but now I have no problem taking gels (they used to remind me of snot but now I find them quite tasty, or else I’ve established a craving for eating snot).  But back to the goal…

1:34 has a nice ring to it; challenging, but not tempting fate too much.   Having trained in this miserable weather for months, it’s hard to realistically know what’ll happen.  It’s like you’re rehearsing for a dance but only marking your moves for months, then suddenly you have a week to dance all-out (assuming we’ll have some cooler weather before the 19th).  Should be interesting, if nothing else.  Plus, the major happiness with this race is the girlies coming in: there’ll be Reyana coming from California, Rebecca from Alabama, Doggie & Loren and Kat.  So it’s a chickfest in the works!

Meanwhile, I’m actually looking forward to my 6@Half pace tempo this Friday (or Saturday if the weather’s better) to see where my heart rate lies.  Who is this person?  Looking forward to quality runs again?  No defeatist attitude?  Some actual confidence?  She seems familiar but I can’t quite place her.  Looking forward to become reacquainted with her as the Fall progresses, though.  Speaking of…

Fall Races
I started scouting out races to do between this Half and the November one, and compiled a nice little list, which I’ve put on my At The Races page. I’ll pick 3 but those are the choices so far.   It’ll be so good to get back in the game – the longer I’m away, the more nerve-wracking it is to race.  Which is another reason I’m happy that September’s Half will be a rustbuster and not one that (in my mind) counts.

Back to the present
I had a fun 11-miler this morning, the first few miles run with blog commenter and friend Steph, who is one half of a pair of athletic twins (missed you today, Linds!).  I see them both in the park and they look so remarkably identical, the only way I can tell them apart is one wears red, the other wears blue.  I’m still not convinced there are two of them since I’ve yet to see them together.

Anyway, we had a fun time jabbering about the park regulars, it’s so satisfying to have your observations of weirdos and funny running styles confirmed.  Btw, they’re not the only twin runners in the park, there’s another set of sisters in their 20′s too, though they’re much easier to tell apart.  They’re also very sweet and always say hi.

I’ll end today’s post with a shout-out to my friend Matt Tartar, whom I met doing the Runner’s Roundtable.  He’s got a cool podcast called Dump Runner’s Club where he talks of all things running.  If you’re a podcast listener, add him to your list, he’s a funny guy and a sweetie, besides.

And that concludes today’s blah blah.   I wish you all the blah blah for the next couple blah.   Be safe and make sure to blah your blah blah because it might get itchy if you’re not careful.

Finally.  A workout that reminded me of what it’s like to feel you’re kicking ass: 9.25 mi w/5x mile@15k pace, 1min rec’s.

As I’ve said, mile repeats are my least favorite workout, they’re just so interminably long, and with today’s schedule having 5 of them, I wasn’t too thrilled.  On the other hand, I wasn’t too freaked either, since the pace was 15k, a nebulous speed found only from McMillan’s calculator since I’ve never raced a 15k. It’s actually quite a nice pace, a little faster than Half, little slower than 10k, so it seemed doable going into it.

The weather these last two days has been infinitely better, enough so that I haven’t had to set the alarm – went to bed at midnight and woke up at 7am, which is way more my style.  Btw, those 8-hour nights I’d been shooting for will probably never happen, but 7 is a huge improvement.  Temps-wise, it was 68 degrees when I got outside, low 70s by the end of the run.

Adequate rest and great weather had me running faster than planned and the kicker is that I actually considered adding an extra interval.  Shocking.  I ultimately decided against it, wanting to savor the feeling of having a tad extra in the tank because I haven’t felt this “right” in so long.

Funny how all it takes is one great workout to make you feel more confident about the rest of the schedule.  Friday’s tempo lands on another great weather day and I’m actually looking forward to it…more shock and awe.

Weight update
My weight hasn’t moved in a week and a half, though my bodyfat number is going down.  I’m really glad I got that scale, otherwise I’d be feeling a bit irritated about the plateau, but the bodyfat number decreasing totally makes up for it.  For the record, I’m at 118 right now so I’ve lost 5lbs since I started a month ago.

Also, I’m eating 1900-2000 calories now.  Feeling like I could stick with this calorie load forever.  In the Spring, in a misguided attempt to lose weight, I ate salad almost every night and lunch was always a turkey sandwich.  Yawn.  Haven’t had either of those in weeks, much more varied on the menu front.

And with that, it’s time to figure out what I’m having for lunch.  Likely it will involve my boyfriend, Joe.  Trader Joe, that is.  He’s dreamy and knows just how to feed a girl right.

Back to running speak, this past week yielded 65 miles with some satisfying workouts.

On Tuesday, I had 10mi w/ 5x1K @ 5K pace – 90sec rec’s, though the original schedule was 2x(5x1k@10k – 1min rec’s). I changed it because A) first and foremost, it was 80 degrees and the dewpoint equation was 149, so I wasn’t going to do 10 of anything much less 1ks and B) I remember that workout as the hardest one when I was training for Philly, and since I’m not marathon training anymore, I reserve the right to balk at such things. :-)  So I shortened it but sped it up.

My other workout was a tempo on Friday: 9mi w/6@Half pace, which went well albeit with an adjusted target pace for 79 degrees.  No heart rate to compare since I haven’t worn the strap in weeks, so I’m trusting it was the right effort.

Lastly on the quality front was a 17-miler in the trails yesterday.  Happily, it didn’t follow a tempo day, as my recent LRs have due to weather switch-ups.  Because of that, my legs were feeling good but it was humid as hell so it was still a slow one.  It rained through a large part of it which was wonderful except for the one shoe squeaking for about 14 miles.

Hydration was crazy: I refilled my 12oz. handheld 3 times plus long slurps from each fountain.  So I figure I had about 60 oz while on the road and still needed a couple large glasses once I got home.  Which makes this next bit somewhat ironic…

Giving Up The Bottle
They added a new fountain on my loop which happens to fall at a key point on my runs, so aside from trail runs, I haven’t carried a handheld all summer – a fact I’ve come to adore.  But it hasn’t escaped my mind that I need to address this since I have a Half coming up.

As most of you know, I always do Halfs and Fulls with a handheld, thanks to that first hospital incident a couple years ago.  I’ve yet to feel confident about doing water stops efficiently so it’s been easier mentally to carry my own.  But the fountains have spoiled me rotten so I’ve asked my friend Lara to help me practice in a couple weeks – she’ll stand outside my apartment building with a raincoat and galoshes while I soak both of us until I get it right.

Btw, I know how to fold the cup and all, it’s really more of me respecting the time it takes to get the fluid down, which’ll probably have me walking through the stops.   The good thing is that since I’ve already demoted the Distance Run from a goal race to a race race, I can afford to forfeit clock time if need be (not that I should lose a great deal, but hydration must be the priority).  So with this as a practice race, November’s Half should go swimmingly.

Headband Talk
Thanks to everyone who took a look and especially those who purchased and also shared the link via Facebook or email.  That was so sweet of you kids, I couldn’t believe it.  I’m really excited about the biz and have already had a couple opportunities come my way.  Between invites to do a blog giveaway and the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo, I’m already dreaming ahead of myself.  So this week’s task is to make a Facebook page and start promoting.  In fact, if any of you guys have some promotional ideas, please let me know.

Aside from that, the wide velvet came in, so 1.5″ headbands are ready, as are solid colors.  It took all my will, and I mean ALL my will, not to go to the fabric store this weekend.  I had forgotten what a drug that is, all those gorgeous bolts of potential just begging you to take them home.  But I already have a crapload of materials, so I’ll wait a week…or 3 or 4 days anyway.

OK, that’s it for blather, I’m off for a 6 with 6×30/60 hillettes.  The weather is finally calming down this week so I can sleep and run later.  Woohoo!!  Have a good one, folks.

This’ll be a short one because I’ve gotta rush off to a narration job which, ironically enough if you read the last post, is about rhinoplasty.  I now know way more about that procedure than I ever wanted.

Speaking of  “if you read the last post”, I was impressed by how many actually did.  Around 700 unique readers, which is a lot for a post where I don’t go to the hospital or have some other kooky crappy escapade.  I got so many cool comments, both on here and on Facebook that I wanted to thank you folks for taking the time to read the thing and also, that I love how alike so many of our experiences are.  Makes the world a smaller place, for sure.

Training
I thought it’d be a good time to compare my original training plan with what I’ve done so far.  Because the weather has been an unyielding bitch since June, some of the workouts were adjusted, made shorter or slower, or run on different days to chase a cooler temp.  I also had the hamstring incident that added an extra rest day and forfeited some hard running.

Today’s workout was changed, btw, twice.  Adam noted that 6×1000@5k was going to be too tough, so make it 5×1000, but then when I cried Help! because the heat index at 6am was going to be low 80s, he took pity on me and made it 12×400 with generously long recoveries (2min).  I loved it!

Click on it for full-size.  The original plan is on the left, starting with July 12th and goes through this week.  I know it’s a bit confusing, just note that the workouts are written above the days and each week’s total mileage is to the right, outside of the calendar days.

For Ilana
Sweet Ilana lives in the cool recesses of Colorado and enjoys gloating over her 50 degree weather on Facebook.  She contemplates wearing a jacket and will be in snowshoes the next time she checks in.  So today, when I returned from my 8.5 miles, I wrung out my sports bra and shorts just for her – a nice, thick, white sweat so she could share some summer love with the rest of us whiners.  Goes great in coffee, too.

A little over an hour's running and this is what my clothes had to show for it.

And that’s it for now.  Gotta dash off and talk about Alsarraf septorhinoplasty and mucoperichondrium now, because I’m cool like that.  Have a nice Wednesday, all.