friday: 4 miles easy and striders at hart park with the warp girls
saturday: 5 miles at SUB 7 PACE...what? i always do this..."easy" runs turn into tempo without me even thinking about it, it just feels so good. granted i did get stopped by a train for about 5 minutes in the middle of it, but still. after today i have the feeling that i'm definitely going to surprise myself with how i can run in the firecracker four on wednesday...i'm pumped! i definitely think i'm in a lot better shape than i expected, probably the best distance running shape i've ever been in. and that makes me so excited for the upcoming cross season...this could be my breakthrough.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
miles of trials
today was one of those workouts that you always dread going into and come out the other side feeling a whole lot better than when you started. the plan was to do 4 x 1600 @ 7:05 with 800 meter jog recovery. however as i learn more and more every year about myself, the times i want to run aren't the same as the times i'm "supposed" to run...and thus my times are almost always faster than my goal pace...its been this way since high school. i remember senior year my cc coach telling me that if i could race the way i practiced, i'd be on varsity for sure, because no matter what time i was projected to run, i basically always ran with the 5th or 6th varsity runners. yeah, i'm just weird. anyway, the actual workout of the day ended up being:
1 mile warmup
4 x 1600 @ 6:54, 6:56, 6:47, 6:31 [!!!] w/ 800 m jog recovery
1 mile cooldown
yeah, your guess is as good as mine where i pulled a 6:31 out of on the last interval. clearly i'm capable of running a lot faster miles than i think i am. and i'm amazed that my times didn't get worse at all, with the exception of the 2 second dip on the second one, but whatever, i took 9 seconds off on the third. my basic thought process was just: get into a pace, and then STEADY...that was my word of the day. it was also the first time i've run without headphones in awhile [mostly because it was my first speed workout in awhile], but as a rule i usually don't run with headphones when i'm doing track workouts. so the soundtrack of my workout was the wind blowing, birds chirping, and about 30 4 year olds playing steal the bacon on the football field haha. the weather finally broke out of the insane heat wave we've been having and was like 66 and sunny...maybe not perfect summer conditions for laying at the beach, but just about perfect for a workout. it was tough, but not overwhelming, and i was so impressed with myself for keeping my times especially when i'm running by myself on this random crappy 6 lane track that hasn't been redone in years. but i kept thinking to myself: this is where champions are made...on random tracks where no one is watching but some lady walking around the track and lifting weights and its 11:32 am on a random thursday and you're doing mile repeats at 10-30 seconds under your goal pace not because anyone is making you, but because you want to and you can. great day. :)
and now i'm off to check out a new coffee shop by my house, work my little kids track meet later tonight, and then finally head down to summerfest for the jack's mannequin concert! hoorah.
1 mile warmup
4 x 1600 @ 6:54, 6:56, 6:47, 6:31 [!!!] w/ 800 m jog recovery
1 mile cooldown
yeah, your guess is as good as mine where i pulled a 6:31 out of on the last interval. clearly i'm capable of running a lot faster miles than i think i am. and i'm amazed that my times didn't get worse at all, with the exception of the 2 second dip on the second one, but whatever, i took 9 seconds off on the third. my basic thought process was just: get into a pace, and then STEADY...that was my word of the day. it was also the first time i've run without headphones in awhile [mostly because it was my first speed workout in awhile], but as a rule i usually don't run with headphones when i'm doing track workouts. so the soundtrack of my workout was the wind blowing, birds chirping, and about 30 4 year olds playing steal the bacon on the football field haha. the weather finally broke out of the insane heat wave we've been having and was like 66 and sunny...maybe not perfect summer conditions for laying at the beach, but just about perfect for a workout. it was tough, but not overwhelming, and i was so impressed with myself for keeping my times especially when i'm running by myself on this random crappy 6 lane track that hasn't been redone in years. but i kept thinking to myself: this is where champions are made...on random tracks where no one is watching but some lady walking around the track and lifting weights and its 11:32 am on a random thursday and you're doing mile repeats at 10-30 seconds under your goal pace not because anyone is making you, but because you want to and you can. great day. :)
and now i'm off to check out a new coffee shop by my house, work my little kids track meet later tonight, and then finally head down to summerfest for the jack's mannequin concert! hoorah.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
return of the running [b]log
so obviously my idea kind of fizzled out last summer, but i'm back to give it another try. especially since i have been/will be running a LOT more miles this summer than last summer, mainly for two reasons: i've pretty much converted to a distance runner, and i'm training for a half marathon at the end of the summer! i'll be roadtripping down to chicago with a couple of guys from my club to race in the chicago distance classic half marathon. when i first came up with the idea to do a half marathon [over winter break i think it was?] i wanted to run just to finish, but my newfound distance runner mentality has changed my mind...i want to train to run well! other races on the schedule for the summer are the firecracker four in hales corners, alex devinny memorial 4k in kenosha, and the capitol mile in madison.
i have a running log that my dad got me for christmas, and i've really enjoyed keeping track of my mileage and workouts, but there's really not enough room to get into specifics about runs, so that's basically what the point of this is.
so today: 4.5 miles with my high school girls. right now it is 87 degrees, feels like 93 according to weather.com, and it is HUMID, making what would normally be a pretty easy run a death march basically. its finally supposed to cool off tomorrow and i can't wait...not to say that i don't like summer weather, but when you're trying to train i'd definitely rather it be cooler. i also have an absolutely horrendous blister on my arch from my new shoes...i guess that's what i get for breaking in a new pair of shoes by going for an 11.2 mile run in them...whoops. other than that they feel great, but i think i need to wait for this damn thing to heal before i wear them again...it hurts pretty much constantly when i run because there's always something rubbing on it. oh well....pain is temporary, pride is forever.
i might do another short workout before track camp later, maybe some 200s or 400s just to stride out a little bit, but we'll see. i think the one thing missing from my training at the moment is some longer speed work, so i think i'm going to try and get some mile repeats going tomorrow. later today i'm going to play some tennis with meghan, so if nothing else i'll get another workout in!
i have a running log that my dad got me for christmas, and i've really enjoyed keeping track of my mileage and workouts, but there's really not enough room to get into specifics about runs, so that's basically what the point of this is.
so today: 4.5 miles with my high school girls. right now it is 87 degrees, feels like 93 according to weather.com, and it is HUMID, making what would normally be a pretty easy run a death march basically. its finally supposed to cool off tomorrow and i can't wait...not to say that i don't like summer weather, but when you're trying to train i'd definitely rather it be cooler. i also have an absolutely horrendous blister on my arch from my new shoes...i guess that's what i get for breaking in a new pair of shoes by going for an 11.2 mile run in them...whoops. other than that they feel great, but i think i need to wait for this damn thing to heal before i wear them again...it hurts pretty much constantly when i run because there's always something rubbing on it. oh well....pain is temporary, pride is forever.
i might do another short workout before track camp later, maybe some 200s or 400s just to stride out a little bit, but we'll see. i think the one thing missing from my training at the moment is some longer speed work, so i think i'm going to try and get some mile repeats going tomorrow. later today i'm going to play some tennis with meghan, so if nothing else i'll get another workout in!
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