Half marathon training – Week 6 – Crazy Speed (again)
I spent most of this week trying to fight off a cold. It never got so bad that I had to stay home from school or cancel a run but I certainly wasn’t feeling 100%. My first workout of the week was my favourite “crazy speed” workout. My times were a bit slower than when I did the workout two weeks ago but it was a solid effort. I really have a love/hate relationship with this workout. It’s challenging for me to complete but I honestly believe that it’s great for developing fitness.
The other key work out of the week was the race simulation long run. My final five hard miles came out to a good average pace but the mile splits were all over the place (9:10, 8:50, 8:35, 9:19, 8:50) which isn’t great. I really struggled during the hilly fourth mile but that’s probably good practice for my half marathon in four weeks.
| 16/02 | - | Rest day |
| 17/02 | 8.0 mi | Speedwork: 2mi @ 8:28 min/mile (3 min), 2x1mi 7:57/8:00 (2 min), 2x800m 3:50/3:54 (2 min) |
| 18/02 | XT | 60 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 19/02 | 5.5 mi | Tempo run (hard): 3.5 mi @ 8:31/8:17/8:16/8:15 |
| 20/02 | - | Rest day |
| 21/02 | 11.0 mi | Race-sim long run: 1-6 avg 164 bpm, 10:24 min/mile; 7-11 avg 178 bpm, 8:57 min/mile |
| 22/02 | 4.0 mi | Recovery run: avg 163 bpm, 11:12 min/mile |
| Total | 28.5 mi | YTD: 197.0 miles |
Half Marathon Training – Week 5 – Tired legs
Coming off Sunday’s 5K personal best (23:08 ooh yay!) I started week 5 with tired and tight legs. I took Monday as a rest day to recover but I probably should have considered delaying Tuesday’s speedwork session. I made it through the intervals by my hamstrings were pretty tight and my piriformis muscle started to bug me towards the end of the run. The one concession I made was not doing any lower body weights at the gym on Wednesday morning. Then on Thursday I did a 6 mile tempo run. So if anyone is counting that’s basically 3 hard fast sessions in 5 days. I should know better! I knew it wasn’t going to feel good when all I could do was 9:17 in the first mile. I just tried to do each mile a bit faster and with the exception of miles 2 and 3 I managed to achieve that.
Friday was a scheduled rest day and by then I’d smartened up. I was all about recovery and taking it easy. I did walk home from school (something I’ve been doing a lot more often recently) to try and stretch things out a bit. I did an easy run on Saturday afternoon and was relieved to see that my legs felt a bit better. I decided to try and keep my HR really low and felt like I was moving at a shuffle but it turns out the pace was pretty normal for me for this type of run. My legs felt pretty good for Sunday’s 14 miler. I was pretty much fine until mile 12 and then I just wanted to be done.
So all in all it was a pretty good week even though I probably pushed my legs harder than I should have. I should have been more flexible about moving my schedule around or even canceling a hard session if it’s just too much. I’d rather be undertrained and healthy than perfectly trained by injured!
| 09/02 | - | Rest day |
| 10/02 | 7.0 mi | Speedwork: 7x1000m in 5:16/5:05/4:59/5:04/5:04/5:06/5:04 (1:18) |
| 11/02 | XT | 50 min on elliptical plus upper body weights |
| 12/02 | 8.0 mi | Tempo run (moderate): 6.0 mi in 9:17/8:59/9:00/8:50/8:47/8:40 |
| 13/02 | - | Rest day |
| 14/02 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 152 bpm, 10:49 min/mile |
| 15/02 | 14.0 mi | Long run: avg 164 bpm, 10:46 min/mile |
| Total | 33.0 mi | YTD: 168.5 mi |
Please excuse the mess
I’m making some changes to my blog. I’m sure there are lots of broken links and other problems. Please bear with me while I figure things out. Thanks!
Race Report: 2009 Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K
This morning I ran the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K at Green Lake. I previously ran this race in 2006 (27:35) and 2008 (24:30). The big change this year was that instead of only using the pedestrian path they actually shut down one lane of Green Lake Drive and used it for most of the route. This made the course marginally faster (no extra loop behind the community center to add mileage). My goal for the race was to run <25:00.
Pre Race
I picked up my bib and timing chip on Saturday so I didn’t have to worry about that on race morning. It was 1C and cloudy as I was getting ready so I chose to wear capris, a thermal long-sleeved shirt, running vest and gloves. The race was slated to start and 9:30 am so I planned to leave my apartment at 9:10 and run a one mile warm-up to the start line. At about 8:40 I tried to turn on my Garmin to take off the auto-lap function but it displayed a low battery warning. I’d charged it on Saturday so this was unexpected. I charged it for half and hour but as I went to leave the apartment it wouldn’t even turn on. Augh! Garmin Failure! I tried to remember how to reset it but I didn’t really have time so I just left it at home and made my way to the race. My warm-up was probably a little too quick but I made it to the start line about 8 mintues before the start. I lined up half way between the 7:00 and 8:00 min/mile pace signs and tried to relax and get some quick stretches in.
The Race
I was feeling a bit flustered at the start and since I didn’t have my Garmin I knew I was just going to have to run by feel. The gun went off and it only took a few seconds for me to cross the starting line. I took off hard, probably too hard, but there were supposed to be 2000+ runners in the race and I really didn’t want to get stuck behind a crowd. The course did run on the pedestrian path on the west side of the lake during the first mile but thankfully I had no crowding issues. By the time we got to Green Lake Drive I was hurting and we weren’t even at the first mile maker yet! Once I was into the second mile my goal was to just run at a controlled hard pace. Once I was into the third mile I started using mind games to maintain pace. My current favourite is counting steps in a ladder by 10′s up to 100. I was definitely being passed way more than I was passing people which made me think that I must have been slowing down substantially. I really didn’t know what pace I was running but I knew I wanted it to be over. We turned off Green Lake and onto the path towards the finish behind the Aqua Theatre. I ran hard through the finish. I didn’t get a good look at the clock but I could have sworn it said 23 something as I was running up towards it.
What? Did I just run sub 24? That’s ridiculous. No wonder I feel like I’m about to collapse!
Post Race
After the race was over I caught my breath, drank a bottle of water and ate an apple and a mini cupcake. I was hoping that they would post the race results and after about 10 minutes they finally came out. I found my name and it said I’d run 23:08! That’s a new personal best by 11 seconds. I walked away in shock. A few minutes later I had to go back and be sure that I’d read the results correctly!
I don’t have splits so I have no idea how evenly I ran the race. I actually think not having my Garmin helped me set a PB today. If I’d seen my pace I might have been tempted to let myself slow down since I was running way ahead of my goal. As it was I felt like I was running slowly (especially since I was being passed so much) so I tried really hard to maintain whatever pace I could. Setting a 5K PB wasn’t on my radar for this race or even this year so it’s a nice bonus. Hopefully it’s an indication that there are more PB’s (half marathon? 10K?) in my future!
Results
Time: 23:08
Pace: 7:28 min/mile
Overall place: 232 out of 2010 (88th percentile) [Places include walkers]
Division place: 18 out of 407 (95th percentile)
Gender place: 66 out of 1310 (94th percentile)
Full results are available here.
Half marathon training – Week 4 – Lazy Saturday
This morning I didn’t got out for a Saturday morning long run and frankly I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself! I’m running the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K tomorrow running and I figure a rest day before the race would probably be a good idea. I did my long run yesterday and I’m counting the race as a hard tempo run so although I moved things around I’m still sticking to my training program.
This was the first week that I got to do what I like to call the “Craziest. Speed. Workout. Ever” The official description is “2 miles at half-marathon pace, 2×1 mile at 10-K pace, 2×800 meters at 5-K pace, with 3 minutes recovery after the 2-mile and 2 minutes recovery after the miles and 800.” This is the workout that forced me to learn to program workouts into my Garmin because that it too much to try and co-ordinate on the fly. My goal paces were 8:24 for half marathon pace, 7:57 for 10K pace and 7:40 for 5K pace. I was a bit quick on the 2 mile segment (I actually had to force myself to slow down during the second mile to bring my average pace up) and worried that I’d pay for it later but I managed to hit the other intervals nearly perfectly so I’m calling the workout a resounding success. And the best part is I get to do it all over again in two weeks.
| 02/02 | - | Rest day |
| 03/02 | 8.0 miles | Speedwork: 2mi @ 8:14 min/mile (3 min), 2x1mi 7:56/7:59 (2 min), 2x800m 3:47/3:49 (2 min) |
| 04/02 | XT | 50 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 05/02 | 4.0 miles | Easy run: avg 156 bpm, 11:01 min/mile |
| 06/02 | 10.0 miles | Race-sim long run: 1-6 avg 154 bpm, 10:47 min/mile; 7-10 avg 173 bpm 8:57 min/mile |
| 07/02 | - | Rest day |
| 08/02 | 5.1 miles | Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K race |
| Total | 27.1 miles | YTD: 135.5 miles |
Oh and if you’re wondering how I managed to spend my lazy Saturday morning, so far I’ve called my Mom, gone grocery shopping, bought the Sunday paper (yes, on a Saturday), picked up my race bib for tomorrow, had a scone and coffee treat and solved the six daily KenKen puzzles on the New York Times website.
Half marathon training – Week 3 – Back at 30 mpw
The most exciting part of my third week of training is that I hit a total mileage of 30 miles. I haven’t been at that level since the week of the marathon (last week of November) and it is good to be back! I was also pleased to see that my January mileage came in at a very respectable 104.4 miles. I still don’t feel 100% fit but I do feel like I’m on track for a good spring racing season.
| 26/01 | - | Rest day |
| 27/01 | 7.0 miles | Speedwork: 8x800m in 4:13/4:04/4:03/3:58/4:01/4:09/4:01/4:02 |
| 28/01 | XT | 60 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 29/01 | 7.0 miles | Tempo run (moderate): 5.0 mi in 8:59/8:52/8:46/8:45/8:22 |
| 30/01 | - | Rest day |
| 31/01 | 12.0 miles | Long run: avg 162 bpm, 10:50 min/mile |
| 01/02 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 160 bpm, 11:07 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 miles | YTD: 108.4 miles |
Once again the toughest run of the week was Thursday’s tempo session. My legs were a little tight/tired at the start and I struggled to maintain pace through the five miles. Aerobic stamina aside, it takes a surprising amount of focus for me to maintain tempo pace for 40+ minutes. Anytime I let my mind wander too much I slow down. I don’t have this problem in races. I think it’s just a bit harder to get “up” for an early morning week day solo run. On the plus side I made it my goal to do the miles progressively faster and I was able to achieve that.
Saturday’s 12 miler went pretty well. I had company for the first six miles and then then did the second six on my own. I started to fade a bit around mile nine and I was a bit chilled for the rest of the run. I toughed it out though. I need my endurance back!