Introducing Speed Work Into My Life Again

You read that right - I did mile repeats last night.  And yes, you read correctly again - I did them last night, starting around 9pm.

But that worked out well because I got to watch ice dancing while I ran.

(Photo from The Washington Post)

 

I'm glad the Americans won (I knew they would because I had received the CNN spoiler alert notification in the morning), but I really liked the Canadian pair too.  I think Tessa Moir looks exactly like Katy Perry.  I'd definitely be OK with having the body of one of those ice dancers.  They are more fit than me!

 

But I know you're dying to hear how my mile repeats went! So without further adieu, here's the workout I did:

 

2 miles warm-up

2 x 1 mile fast w/ .25 mile recovery

1.75 miles cool-down

 

The entire run was 6 miles in 46:10 for an average pace of 7:42.  I did my 2 warm-up miles starting at 7.0 and increasing gradually every few minutes until 7.5.  My first fast mile I set at 6:58 and my second fast mile I set at 6:49.  The recovery and the cool down were at 8:00 minute pace.  I'm really happy with how I felt, but I definitely would have struggled if I were to do another fast mile.



 

I wasn't really sure what type of run or workout I would do when I got to the gym, especially since it was so late at night.  But I felt good when I got on the treadmill so decided I'd go for it.

 

My goal for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k, which is my next race on March 30, is to run 7 minute miles.  I haven't come up with a specific training plan for it yet, but I will definitely try to work in speed work and tempo runs at or faster than 7 minute mile pace, while still maintaining mileage of about 35 miles per week.

 

I think it has been beneficial for me to gradually introduce speed work like this into my runs.  Last Monday, I only did 1 fast mile in the middle of my 5 mile run.  The gradual introduction has been good for me for both physical and mental reasons.  I don't want to set too lofty of goals for myself right now and then get upset if I don't hit them.  I will have plenty of time for that over the summer when I am really training.

 

I have to say that right now, I feel proud of myself after every run, just for getting it done....especially since I have been on the treadmill for over a month now.  Is it weird that I am actually really OK with the treadmill?  I don't think I'd even be doing this speed work if I was outside.  I like starting a run with no expectations and just going on how I feel for the day.

 

And a few other closing tidbits:

 

- We didn't just have snow today, we had thundersnow!  That was weird.

 

- Erin and I got our nails done for her birthday - mine are green, ready for St. Patty's Day a month early.

 

- I am in the small minority of Americans that do not like Chipotle.  I really hate cilantro, therefore, I don't like Chipotle's rice.  I heard that you can ask for plain rice without cilantro, so I thought I'd give that a try today and it was in fact true that you can get plain rice.  The meal was MUCH better without the cilantro and I think I will join the majority now and say that I like Chipotle.

 

 

Do you ever run or workout late at night?

 

Do you like Chipotle?

Everyday is a Good Day When...

Yesterday evening I met Mac at the track to do the Yasso 800s again.  We did this workout about a month ago and will do it again in about another month, 2 weeks before the Chicago Marathon.

The regular track we go to was closed for the evening now that school is back in session and they need it for real team practices.  But luckily Mac knew of another track that we could go to instead. This track was a little less than desirable though because it was more square-shaped so it had really sharp turns. (A good photo opportunity that I missed...)

My workout did not go as planned. It was supposed to be 10 x 800 meter repeats with an equal time recovery. Last time I did them all around 3:17 pace, so my goal was to go for that again. Here's what I ended up doing:
2 x 800 meters - 3:14, 3:22 
8 x 400 meters - all were between 1:33 and 1:38, last one was 1:28

Even before we started my legs felt really tight, but I was pumped up to do this workout again because it went so well last time and I had someone else to run with. During the first repeat I could tell that my legs weren't having this speed workout. I was hoping I would loosen up as we got further into the workout, but the 2nd and 3rd still didn't feel right, so I stopped after 400m in my 3rd repeat. Instead of just being upset that I couldn't do the workout and stopping, I did 400 meter repeats instead each time Mac started an 800. Even on these, my legs didn't want to go fast. I was a little frustrated because I felt completely fine mentally and cardiovascularly (which apparently is not a word, but I say it is), felt surprisingly OK in the heat, and I know I could do the workout.  I'm not sure why they were so tight - but I'm blaming the shoes I've been wearing to work recently.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mac had an awesome workout, doing all 10 800s in under 3 minutes!!  I think we were both glad to have each other there to help push through this hard workout.

I was looking at some quotes on the Columbus Marathon's Inspiration board on Pinterest and found some really good stuff, but here's one that I think is appropriate for how I feel about last night's workout:

"Everyday is a good day when you run."

One thing I learned recently is that "good" and "bad" are such subjective words that I am basically trying to eliminate from my life (there are so many better adjectives out there).  In almost every situation or every day, there are surely both good and bad parts.  For me, in last night's workout, I'd say it was bad (frustrating, tiring) in the sense that I didn't get in the workout that I planned and I really don't like that my legs felt the way they did.  What if they feel like this on the day of the marathon?  But there was still a lot of good in it too, like that I still got in speedwork, I had someone else there to run and socialize with, and this track had a water fountain.  At least I ran and did something, even if not what was planned.

I left my foam roller at my parent's house (and that's what my legs need right now).  So that and the fact that my mom texted me this picture of what is being saved for the next time I come home, I think I'll plan a little visit there soon.

Do you classify your workouts or your days as "good" and "bad"?

What is your favorite type of ice cream? - I only eat mint chocolate chip.

Mile Repeats. Classic.

I think mile repeats are one of the most classic distance running workouts out there. I'd say they are most common to do on a track, but that isn't always available or is just boring sometimes. In grade school, we used to do the mile repeats around the school and church. In high school, we would do them on the track during track season, but around the school grounds on grass during cross country season. And in college, we usually did the mile repeats at various parks in the area to train for cross country.

My most memorable mile repeat workout was during the summer before senior year of college when I ran with Emily at Sugarcreek Park near Dayton. It's an awesome park to run at and has a few different trails. The one we usually did is a tough, hilly 3.1 mile loop. But we also had a 1 mile loop that was on a dirt trail and fairly flat with the exception of one smaller-ish hill near the end. Emily and I met a few times there that summer, including probably 2 or 3 times for mile repeats (they were on our training plan almost every weekend - Monday fun!). But there was one workout specifically that I remember just went plain awesome for both of us. We felt great and were hitting our times as planned. Naturally I just went back to my running log to see what my times were - 6:34, 6:23, 6:28, and 6:29. This was on 8/3/2009. I was pumped because I had done the same workout on the same loop 2 weeks prior with times closer to 6:50.

But that's enough nostalgia for now, because here's what's happening in August of 2013. Mac and I met to do a mile repeat workout last night. My goal was to do them under 7 minutes. He was shooting for under 6.

We ran from my apartment to the lake and then a little more down the path to get in a warm up of about 2 miles. Apparently there are mile markers along the lakefront path but I've never even seen them and we couldn't find one to start at so we improvised. Since Mac was going to be faster, he took the Garmin. We started each one together and when he got to 1 mile, he stopped and then I finished running until I got to him. In between each, we took a 5 minute break of walking, stretching, and getting water.

We were both very pleased with our times! I did my 3 mile repeats in 6:45, 6:40, and 6:38. I was really happy that I got faster on each one instead of slowing down like I have a tendency to do. I really thought that second one was going to be over 7 minutes because I felt like I was crawling so I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up faster. It was also kind of cool not knowing exactly how far into it I was, although I found myself looking at my watch and counting down approximately how long I had left. Mac had an awesome workout too. He did 4 mile repeats and got faster each one, ending around 5:40.

After we finished the workout, we just walked back to my apartment. I'd guess total mileage was 6 miles. (I did a mile cool down while Mac did his 4th mile repeat.) We also ran into Steph and Danny heading out for an evening walk along the lake since it was such a nice night!

I didn't have my phone or iPod with me so I didn't take any actual pictures during our run and just had to use one of my stock photos of the lake/city. This one was taken last Saturday afternoon on a walk. I was thinking last night that I wish I had a camera because we basically had this view of the city, but it was dusk so the sky looked pretty and the city was all lit up already.

Have you done any workouts that specifically stick out in your mind?

Yasso 800s: Accomplished

Happy Friday!  It's been a good week of running so far (and a good past couple weeks of running), but I think last night's workout was my favorite in awhile.  I met Mac at the track to try the Yasso 800 workout.  Any of my past few attempts at speedwork have been short tempo runs or mile repeats on the treadmill, so it was definitely nice to get out to a track with and do this.

The Yasso 800 workout was created by an executive (the Chief Running Officer - doesn't that sounds like an awesome job?) at Runner's World, Bart Yasso.  The basic idea is that you can predict your marathon time based on how fast you can run 10 800 meter repeats with an equal time of active (jogging) recovery in between each.  For example, if I want to run a 3:20 marathon, I should be able to run 10 800 meter repeats in 3 minutes and 20 seconds with a 3 minute and 20 second jogging recovery between each one.  He specifies that you don't need to be able to do this the very first time you try it in training and recommends starting with 4 repeats and gradually building up to being able to do 10.  You should be able to do the complete workout of 10 repeats about 3 to 5 weeks out from your marathon to predict what time you could run the marathon in.

Here's how we did:

We did all 10!  The goal for each was 3:20.  I'd say we nailed it.  After the 4th repeat, we decided that if we did one over 3:20, we'd give ourselves one more chance to get back under 3:20 or else we would stop.  We never let it get to that point though!  After 7, it was pretty clear that we were going to finish the 10 repeats.  Repeats 7-9 felt the hardest and then we cruised on the last one to finish strong.  For the most part, this pace felt fairly comfortable (as much as it could) for the 800 meter distance.  It was definitely hard, but not to the point where I felt like I was sprinting or giving every single last ounce of my energy.  I don't think I could have gone much faster and still been able to do 10 though, so this 3:20 (or slightly under) pace was perfect.

I was curious to see if there was any research on how effective this workout is in predicting a marathon time.  In the video on the Runner's World website (linked to above), Yasso says that he travels to races every week and runners tell him how accurate it was.  I hit the Google machine and found a bunch of blogs and forums with stories of the successes or failures of the workout to predict a marathon time.  Some indicated that the workout should be used as a negative predictor, meaning if I can't run the Yasso 800s at 3:20 pace, I can't run a 3:20 marathon.  But even if I can run the 800s at a 3:20 pace, that doesn't mean that I necessarily can/will run a 3:20 marathon.  Most of what I read said that you should do the Yasso 800 workout during marathon training, but you should also do other types of speed work like tempo runs, mile repeats, and some shorter speed work instead of only relying on doing the Yasso 800 workout each week.

I'm glad this workout went so well and it definitely helped to have someone else to do it with!  I feel like I say all the time that I couldn't have done it alone so maybe I don't give myself enough credit for the workouts I am able to do alone, but it really is a million times easier to have someone there running the whole way with me to push through it and make it more fun...so thanks Mac!  We even got in a little core workout after the run!

I REALLY wanted chocolate milk when I got home after the workout.  After staying at home in los suburbios the past few days, I got used to this diet:

What is your favorite speed workout to do during marathon training?

What is your favorite thing to drink after a workout?