I've been following my schedule tightly and it seems to be working really well. To review: Each week I have a variety of runs and exercises designed to develop a different group of muscles, a different system in my body, or some different discipline that will help me race faster. I have one long, moderate run of 10 miles. A Tempo or Steady State Run where I go about 85 to 90% of 5k race pace for anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes. Then there's a Speed or Hill workout of intervals from 200 meters to 800 meters, and finally a Sprint workout where I'll do 50 meter or shorter full out sprints and plyometrics. I had gotten away from doing the heavy leg lifting, but my coaches admonished me enough so that I went straight to the gym after practice last Sunday and did my squats like a good boy.
I say "admonished" and by that I mean they were saying, "That's okay. Just be slow," or "what are you some sort of baby? Is it too hard for you?" That sort of thing.
Bitches.
Here's a heat in practice. I'm the white guy....getting beat by everyone including the 14 year old girl. Sure she's a prodigy, but still.
I showed them. I did my squats and threw in some deep squat jump ups in between each set under the bar. Which is why I had to move my week around on Tuesday. My butt cheeks, hammies and quads still made me flinch every time I moved, so I wasn't going near a hill workout in that condition.
To fill in the rest of my week I either rest or run 5 to 7 miles at a very easy pace. I've found that running a very relaxed paced 5 miles the day after a hard workout doesn't seem to stress my body all that much and it's enabled me to move my weekly mileage up nicely. I shouild get to about 40 miles a week by next month.
My last Tempo Run was a beauty for me and I think is a great indicator of how well things are going. Based on my last couple of months and I had scheduled my Steady State and Tempo Runs to stair step up in distance and stair step down in times in hopes that I could get myself to the paces that the McMillan Calculator says I should be using for those runs. (I hadn't been within 20 seconds of those paces for runs of 2 miles or more) So this last Tempo Run was supposed to be a set of 2 two mile intervals; each one being 7:15 pace. The Calculator said I should be doing these at 6:50 to 7:10, but I hadn't gone that fast yet and didn't think I could.
I ran my first mile warm up in about 8:30 and took off into the first of the two intervals. Mile one went by easily in 7:13 so I picked it up just a hair and did the next one in 7:08. Before that 2nd mile was done, though, I felt so good I decided to keep going. Mile three felt good again and was still a little faster at 7:03. Time to go... I pushed into the 4th mile feeling very good and could even talk. Yes, I talk to myself when I run sometimes. I'm pretty sure I even use my hands when I do it...
Mile four was my best at 6:53. Negative splits just like I'm supposed to and right in the wheelhouse. I finished the last two miles of warmdown at just under 8:30 and was not even breathing hard at the end. My legs were drained and tired but I swear I was just over my resting heartrate.
Sweet.
Today I took my scheduled day of rest to give my legs some extra time to get ready for tomorrow's Short Hills. I'm planning on doing 8 reps this time; two more than a couple of weeks ago, and we'll see if I feel as comfortable as I did then. I'm not bumping my planned times down just because last week was so fast. I'm still aiming at 1:20 or less for each rep, but I'm adding two more reps to the stack. I'm also putting a full one mile warm up and cool down in as well to increase my mileage for the day.
Topping things off each day I make sure to get my pull ups, push ups and sit ups in as well. I'm now doing 15 pull ups, 40 push ups, and 40 sit ups with 10 twists on the last one.
And of course at night I'm tiling still. Well grouting now. Here's the living room tonight:
You can see the wet grout I just did
There's still a little bit of tile cuts to make for the corner under the TV, but I'll do that Saturday after a quick trip down to Manteo to get the chop saw, stand, compressor and nail guns to do all the baseboard work. My wife has also come up with an idea for a mantle which I will be building in the coming weeks. The magazine picture she found is taped to the wall where I'll be doing the construction.
All in all I'm a happy boy. Even if I'm a Running Addict.
Wow, reading all of this makes me tired. lol. Thanks for sharing esp about the tempo run. That is very kick ass and awesome work. Great Memory Work. I just did a Tempo run this week were it was 3X2 miles at 1 minute faster than race pace which for me 8:09. I plan to break the 2:00 barrier this year at the Flying Pirate. I appreciate reading your blog as it is very informative and motivating! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really helped my speed in the Half was 800's. Using Yasso's principle, I did an 800 workout every other week three times before the race. You run them faster than your 5K pace using a 1 to 1 ratio for rest. Let's say you can do a 24 minute 5K, your 800 pace should be 4:00 minutes. Instead do a 3:50 then rest for 3:50 before taking off for the next one. The first couple should feel very, very easy. As you go along you'll find yourself still breathing hard, and your legs feeling the "burn" earlier and earlier in your rep. The first day you will probably just get 5 or 6 reps in before you're just burnt out. That's okay. Two weeks later you do it again at the exact same speed and you'll probably get 8 in. Then two more weeks later and you'll get 10!
ReplyDeleteAnd your long runs will feel easier and easier because you won't be running anywhere near that 3:50 pace. Do these on the track and your last 800 workout should be two weeks before race day. Your legs need that time to recover. You'll break 2 hours in a big way, Kenley.