My second track workout: On my way to speedy fast...um...maybe

Week 2 of Track Time is in the books, and - perversely - I like it.

I really do!

What I like about it, I don't know, because it is harder than hell.  Take yesterday for example....With predicted highs at just over 90 degrees, and a sure temp in the 80s, I wasn't sure I would even make it through the workout.  I mean, I don't even like doing a slow run in those temps.  However, despite that and the worry that my hamstring and left glute might still be a bit draggy, I forced myself into the car to go.

Getting there, doing the warm ups was sort of a joke, since we were all mighty warm as it was.  However, we got out there and did our 50 yards each of butt kickers, high skips, long skips, accelerations, and striders.  (It's super fun finally getting to learn what all these fancy, elite-sounding terms mean!)  Then it was time to get serious.

On the schedule for yesterday was 3 x 4x400s.  Say what?  I felt like the coach was talking in code.  Luckily, it wasn't a secret one, and it was soon broken for me.  What that meant was that we were going to shoot for three sets of four reps of 400-meter runs.  Between each rep we were allowed to choose how we would recover.  It was recommended we take no more than 200-400 meters at a slow jog or walk, depending on how we felt.  Between the sets, we were encouraged to take 3-5 minutes of recovery, either walking or jogging.

We were split into three groups according to our projected time per 400, based on our time trial the previous week.  I was in the second group and was supposed to hit each 400 between 2:00 and 2:07.

So, here's the breakdown of how it went:

Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
1:51	2:00	1:59
1:55	1:58	1:50
1:59	1:58
1:54	1:57

I obviously had a hard time hitting my parameters.  While I would like to think that that just means that I am super studly, I think it really means that I need to shorten up my recovery between reps.  I was walking out 200 meters between each - as were most others - in deference to the heat and the gasping for air I was doing.  So, next time I might try to slow jog between reps or walk for a shorter time.  We'll see.

Obviously we ran out of time before we could get in the last two reps.  Well, the speedy group managed 12, and maybe some others in my group.  I managed nine with everyone else, and then decided to do one more on my own.  I just didn't like the idea of ending up on nine - not a round enough number for me.

I was pleasantly surprised that my body held out fine.  After warming up and getting the muscles loose, I only ever noticed a couple of mild twinges in the hip area.  This morning, things seem okay too.  I won't make the mistake of running with the morning group again this a.m.  Well, that is less by design than simply the fact that childcare via the GPs is not available.  Plus, I do have the Wine Run this evening.  Yay! More on that tomorrow.

So, my second session of speed work is done, and I have to say I thought last week was a fluke, but no, I really do enjoy it..... I think I like the playfulness of it, the fact that you are running more "all out" like a kid would but in a controlled fashion.  I like going fast.  And, it's nice to see that on the super short sprints I CAN go fast.  I just cannot sustain it.  Maybe in the weeks to come I will learn to articulate better what I like about speed work....or I will learn to hate it.  Either way, it should make for a good story.

In the meantime, Happy Running!

Do you do speed work?  How do you go about it? 
What's your idea of great fun on a balmy hot summer evening?

Should I modify my training plan already? Help or thoughts needed!

Help! I am already having doubts about my new training plan, and I don't know what to do.

For the longest time, my training week looked something like this:

SUN	MON	TUES	WEDS	THURS	FRI	SAT
Long Run	Yoga 30-Minute Elliptical	Yoga 6K Row	6-Mile Run	6K Row	6-Mile Run	REST

This really worked for me.  When I started this new training cycle, I added an element that I have never formally done before, namely speed work.  Oh sure, I had thrown in some intervals once in a while on my own before, but nothing scheduled and nothing remotely resembling what speed work really looks like (at least to my mind).  So, here's my new training plan, and this is what a typical two weeks are supposed to look like:

Sunday still has the long miles, indicated by the little number in the corner.  Monday's elliptical got sidelined to fit in rowing.  TT indicates Track Time, and I think the rest is pretty much the same.

The reason I am all of the sudden plagued by doubts is that I am SORE.  I just started Track Time this week, I followed that up with my typical Wednesday morning group run, and I am still a little sore from that - and it's Friday! Hubby expressed doubts about the Wednesday run originally when he saw this new schedule, but he said to just see how it went. Ideally, though, he thought I should do track Tuesday, rowing Wednesday, and my other mid-week run on Thursday.

So, what were my reasons for sticking with the Wednesday run?  Well, mostly because it is my one group run a week, and I really enjoy doing it.  Secondly, I have gotten used to - and I think it is important - to do a couple of hour-long runs during the week.  I guess I was worried that if I do Track Time, it won't equate to that hour I have gotten used to.

Ugh.  Honestly, thinking about all this makes my head hurt, so I am going to lay out some random thoughts in bullet point....Anyone who has ANY advice for me, I would so greatly appreciate it!  Here goes:

• I love the Wednesday runs and hate to give them up, but I can if I have to
• Better to do the speedwork on Tuesday and cross-train Wednesday?
• Is it really potentially damaging to continue trying to run Wednesday?
• Should I ignore the soreness I feel in my left glute and hamstring and just assume that is normal? Continue the wait-and-see policy?
• If I drop the Wednesday run, I could show up to TT early and get in a mile or two of warm-ups to get the mileage/time I am used to.  Is that beneficial, or stupid? 
• Since speed work is so new, should I drop the idea of getting in that hour?  Is that really that important anyway?
• Continue the Wednesday runs, but really make sure I do short and slow recovery run?
• Adding track time without modifying one or both of the other two runs during the week would result in more mileage than I am used to, and that seems sketchy to me.

Looking at these bullets, I think I am asking the same question basically in different ways over and over again.  Really, should I continue the Wednesday run or not?  If I were to completely rework the schedule, then it would probably mean Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be rowing days (this would ADD a day of rowing, but not an extra day of exercise a week). Tuesdays would be Track Time, Thursdays would be tempo runs, Saturdays I might be able to make my long runs, and then Sunday would be for rest.  This would only be for the summer after all.  Once Track Time is done, I could go back to my previous schedule.

Again, please weigh in if you have any thoughts on this at all.....THANKS!

First Track Workout EVER

It's Track Time....In my head I am saying that like the opener of "You Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer......(You know, It's Hammer Time). Don't ask me why. I am a child of the 80s, I guess. (Or would that be 90s? Anyhoo....)

So, yesterday evening was my ~ drumroll, please ~... FIRST....TRACK....WORKOUT.....EVER.  Period.  And I was incredibly nervous about it for some reason.  I wish I knew what intimidated me about it so much.  Perhaps it was the flashbacks to high school gym class I suffered whenever I thought of it - the idea of being last and having everybody wait for me.  Perhaps it was wanting to avoid having the world see just how incredibly slow I am.  Or, maybe, just maybe, it was that I didn't want to know myself just how far my laziness and lack of motivation go.

You see, the crux of the problem with me is that I am slow, but I am unmotivated to punish myself to get faster.  I am Lazy, with a capital L.  Back in college I used to joke with my roommate that the only way you would see me run is if I were being chased by someone.  I am just not motivated to push myself.  Well, somehow I got over the "never run" part, but I still lack that "killer-instinct, go-for-the-jugular" gene that most people have.  I have conditioned myself to such a degree to accept that I don't care if I get faster that pushing myself to go faster just seems like a foreign concept to me.

And, that is why I really need a Track Time class.  I won't go faster on my own.  However, if I have someone telling me what to do, maybe - just maybe - I can break through the mental barricades I have in place.

So, showing up to yesterday's Track Time was a HUGE thing for me, and also nerve-wracking.  Luckily for me, they had planned a nerve-calming activity to get us started - namely filling out more paperwork than I have seen since giving birth.  We had the typical "don't-sue-us-if-you-die" forms, but also some questionnaires that - if the coaches actually read the answers - will help them get to know us better: a lot of questions on goals, PRs, injury history, how running and meeting goals (or not) makes us feel, etc.  I am not sure about that last one.  Why do they want to know how we feel if we don't meet our goals?  Are they afraid we will go postal if we don't do a sub-5 mile by the end of the summer?

There were two coaches for the class and they were great.  After filling out our ream of paperwork, they started the actual teaching part of the class by taking us through a few drills.  Fifty yards each of butt kicks, high knees, skipping high, skipping long, and then some accelerations.  Those last ones I kind of liked. I have to say by the time we were done with our "warm-ups" I was already out of breath and ready to sit down for a while.  Not a great confidence builder right before your time trial.  Instead of sitting down, though, it was on to a warm-up jog.

So, the Time Trial. I have to say I was really dreading this for the aforementioned reasons.  I just didn't want to know how fast I could go while at the same time I really wanted to know how fast I could go (I was very conflicted apparently).  We were given the choice of doing a one-mile or a two-mile time trial.  The idea was that if you were shooting more for 5Ks and 10Ks, then the one-mile made more sense; half marathons or marathons, then the two-mile.  Mentally, I was all set for the one-miler, because I didn't actually know there would be a two-mile option, but given the reasoning, I ended up going with the two-miler.

Let me start by saying that the Time Trial was really hard! I had no idea if I should try to start out slower and build up speed or just sprint from the get-go. I guess I figured since this was a time trial, I should just try to go as fast as I could.  So, when it was ready, set, go time, I went.  I sprinted around the track for my first quarter mile in 1:37.  The first clue that this was too fast for me was that I was one of the first people around the track.... I am NOT that fast.  Halfway around the track for my second lap, my legs were already starting to feel heavy.  One nice gal let me know as she passed me that I was supposed to move in to Lane 1 to get the most accurate measurement, not stick stubbornly in lane 4 like I was.  Who knew?  (Seriously, folks, I have never done this before.)  By the time I was done with my second lap, I was already trying to convince myself why I shouldn't stop at the one-mile point and call it good.  I really struggled with that decision, so that even after I passed one mile I was still asking myself why I didn't stop.  Anyway, long story slightly less long, I did my first mile in eight minutes and my second mile in nine.  So, 17:00 total for the two.  Not bad, I guess.  A friend of mine predicted I would finish my first mile in 8:02, so she was pretty right on for that.  I guessed 9:02, so I sort of win, too (if you count the second mile as the first).

After the time trial, we wrapped up our track workout with some fartleks.  Basically, we jogged in formation in a long line, and the person at the back had to sprint to the front of the line and set the pace.  We kept this up for one mile, and I got to sprint to the front twice.  We did about eight minutes worth of stretching at the end and then we were done.

I was a bad blogger, so I failed to get some pictures - hopefully next week.  And, there will be a next week. In the end, I will admit that I kind of enjoyed the track workout.  I mean, I hated the time trial - too much pressure for me somehow.  But I really had fun doing the accelerations and the fartleks.  And, the squishy feel of the track was nice.  I think running as fast as I can for short distances appeals to me.  I like the way it feels to go fast; I just can't maintain it for longer than a sixteenth of a mile apparently.  I guess I have some hope that doing the track workouts will help me get marginally faster, and maybe I will be able to get closer to that goal of doing a four-hour marathon.  Hope springs eternal!

After the workout, getting to sleep last night was not the easiest. My body was all energized after running and then adding some food to the mix didn't help.  I slept horribly.  Getting up for my Wednesday morning group run was challenging but a lot of fun.  We've moved to summer hours, which means meeting at 7:30 a.m.  That was a little rough, and I wonder what my body thinks about doing speedwork and then running again twelve hours later.  I am hoping that it will just sort of consider this all as one run and not hold it too much against me.  We'll see.  My plan was to go out and do an easy three miles, but I ended up doing 5.3 miles at a 9:36 average pace.  This is the danger with the group run.  So far, so good, but I will have to watch closely to make sure I don't hurt something by doing the infamous "too much, too soon."  Luckily, I don't have to run again until Friday evening, so there should be plenty of time for rest.

In any case, I hate to give up the group run.  Today was just another lovely reminder of why I do it.  Run done, and then coffee and chat for another hour and a half.  A great way to start the day - made sweeter by the fact that with the earlier start time, the coffee hour is actually at a more acceptable coffee drinking time.  I am already looking forward to the weeks to come.

Happy Running!

In Non-Running, Running Related News...

What type of learner are you?  Some people learn best by reading about something, some are learning-by-doing types, I - on the other hand - am clearly a learning-by-being-spoonfed-information-from-an-authorized-person type.  And that is why I have decided that to improve my speed, I needed to sign up for a track session course this summer.  This is guaranteed - I am sure - to make me a better, badder, faster runner...........

............Yeah, right.  Well, it can't hurt, can it?  That is, unless it can.  It seems every time I try to incorporate speed work on my own, I get injured.  I guess with this I am hoping that running around in circles on a track with a coaching type watching me, I will be spared that.  We'll see.

In other non-running, running-related news, I have also signed up for a running evaluation and mini-ChiRunning lesson from an awesome personal trainer and coaching type in the area.  I am very excited to see what she has to say about my running form.  I took a half-day ChiRunning workshop from her about a year ago, so having a bit of feedback on where I am at now will be nice.  (I.e., did any of the information stick at all?)

Finally, my last bit of news,....I have joined a third running club.  Does that make me a traitor?

Apparently, I collect running clubs like other people collect race shirts or running shoes.  It's not that my heart is not fully engaged with my home running club!  However, if I can get a bit of news and perhaps a discount or two from the other clubs, what can it hurt?  Also, the third club gave me a free running hat for joining.  So, perhaps I just really like collecting running hats?

The Roller Coaster that is Life

Man, there are times when I just feel like I am riding a roller coaster - with running, life, everything.  This past week, I've had the best race experience (previously reported here), great mid-week runs, and a wonderful weekend getaway - all followed by one of the crappiest long runs I've had in a long time.

A Weekend Away

Let's start with the weekend. Saturday I was invited to spend a night with a group of ladies at a cottage up north.  If spending some time with four of my favorite running friends wasn't good enough, what made it even better was just getting away.

You can tell the group consisted of runners.

When I first told the Hubby about the invite, I expected rolling of eyes, gnashing of teeth, tearing out of hair (I don't get out much).  Instead what I got was a very supportive, sure, we'll make it work out.  So, Saturday morning around 10:45, with my bags packed and directions printed, I said good-bye to Hubby, E., and LG and hit the road.  An hour-and-a-half drive later, and I was there.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  The last trip I had done without the family had been two years previously, so I felt a bit out of practice when it comes to being on my own for a getaway.  I shouldn't have worried, though; I had a blast.  We were only gone for 24 hours, but we crammed a lot of shopping, food, wine, cards, and talking into that time.  I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time.

Cards held high to protect the innocent.

I am glad that I enjoyed myself so much, because it became apparent that when I got home I wasn't missed as much as I had thought I would be.  While I expected shouts of joy when I walked through the door, I got "oh, hi."  Seeing as everyone was ensconced in a rousing game of Batman on the Wii, I was barely acknowledged.  When pressed later, LG even admitted proudly that he hadn't missed me a bit.  "No, really.  I'm not lying.  I didn't miss you."  Feeling the love here.  The other thing I missed by being away was E. being sick.  Apparently too much spinning around at the park. Hubby took it all in stride and all was good.

One thing about being away with a bunch of running friends is that - of course - the talk turned to running, so I came home with some good ideas on how to start introducing speed work into my regimen.  I'll be putting them into play in the next week or so, so we'll see how that goes.

The Need for Speed

Speaking of speed work, I had already started playing around with it this past Friday, and that went okay.  The kids had the day off so that left me having to get in five miles on the treadmill.  This is not my favorite thing to do.  Aside from the fact that I am just not a treadmill type of gal, stopping every few minutes to yell at LG for throwing legos is not fun.

Rule #1: Don't throw the legos near the treadmill.  Rule #2: Don't throw the legos near the CF light bulb!  

Anyway, I thought since I was a captive audience anyway, I might as well use it to my advantage.  So, after doing a two-mile warm-up, which included me wearing my new Cortanas, I switched back to the Pegasus and started the speed workout.  What I chose to do, based on Hubby's recommendation was to try for three two-minute intervals at a speed as fast as I could stand.  I didn't exactly know what that would be, so it was trial and error for a bit there.  After managing only one minute at 7:30 pace for my first interval, I decided to take it down to 8:00 pace.  That at least was a pace I could manage for two minutes.I wouldn't say that this first attempt at speedwork went terribly, but it definitely was a challenge.  My legs were feeling it for the couple of days after.

I have worn the Cortanas twice now and the jury is still out 

on whether or not I love them.  I definitely like them.  

They feel really comfortable, but I still need to get used 

to the 4mm drop.  They are really taxing my shins 

and calves right now, so I am hoping a couple of 

miles twice a week will be enough to help me work into them.

Seven Miles and Counting

Given the weekend away, I didn't get in my long run Sunday, so yesterday morning after dropping LG off at school, I headed out.  I fully intended to do my typical Sunday routine of two hours of exercise - running and elliptical.  Yeah, that didn't work out.  I got the run in - seven miles outside in the mild temps.  Unfortunately, my first seven miler since the injury became acute didn't feel really comfortable.  I don't know if it's the time change, repercussions from too much wine on the weekend or what, but running was a struggle.  I was tired, and I seemed to be suffering more aches and pains than usual.  I didn't help myself out either.  I was really shooting for an average pace of 10:00 to 10:30, which I achieved (10:10 for the whole run), but the first four miles or so were done at an average 9:40 pace, so faster than I would have liked.  Try as I might, though, I couldn't get my pace down to 10:00 comfortably - well, that is, until I crashed and really slowed down.  I can see where the run/walk might come in handy.

Once back inside, I managed about ten minutes on the elliptical before calling it quits.  It wasn't that I was tired, rather the inside of my left knee was hurting.  I've had this happen one time before on the elliptical, and I am not sure what causes it, but it's a show stopper.  With any luck, like the time before, this won't become a regular fixture of elliptical usage.  Also, hopefully with a couple of days of better sleep, I'll be feeling a bit more energized all around.  Happy running!

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 21 - Still no chocolate here, and I have even resisted serious get-out-of-town weekend temptation.  Take that, Challenge!

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 18 - Faced with bowls full of
peanut and regular M&Ms, I resisted.

There was some debate on whether
the Chocolate Raspberry Port should actually be
considered chocolate or not.

After checking out the contents of a glass,
it was decided that this was NOT chocolate.