Carmel Week 2: The Speed Workout My Body's Been Waiting For...

The Speed Workout My Body's Been Waiting For

 

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I love hard workouts. I like seeing the workout on paper and thinking "What the hell?!" I love initially doubting myself and then proving my thoughts wrong. I love the way I feel when I want to quit and eventually overcome it.

 

My speed workout this week was a little different. On paper, it didn't seem impossible...maybe because I haven't really done a speed workout in a while. Also, Coach didn't put a specific pace. He just used the terms "easy," "challenging," and "steady." My mind, of course, has to have  a pace in mind or it doesn't understand. I'm trying to retrain it! With that being said, to guide me since I'd be running on the mill, I thought I'd try something around 10k pace. Per usual, I asked Amanda her thoughts without stating my own thoughts. She confirmed that 10k-ish pace sounded like a good goal pace to hit (with "steady," in my mind, being MP + 10-20 seconds).  I will tell you more about how the run felt as I recap my week:

 

• 12/4: 5.69 miles, 8:48/mile. Workout: 50 easy minutes with 8x8 second hill surges. I was excited to see the word "hill." I was actually getting ready to tell Zach that I needed to start incorporating hills for Flying Pig. Since I had to stay in the Hilliard-ish area to run this, I decided to go a little north to Dublin and run Cardinal hill. After travelling up and down Dublin Road for my easy miles, I stopped at the bottom of Emerald Parkway. I was quickly reminded that this hill is more challenging if you are going up the entire thing. Eight seconds is a little tricky. I will have to find a better hill for 8 second strides. I decided to sprint 8 seconds and continue up the hill for a few seconds for recovery. I then did my next 8 second surge before recovering down to the bottom. I did this times four to get my 8 surges!
  

  

  I'm learning to use features on the watch that I've had for three years! LOL. These are my hill intervals.

• 12/5: 8.1 miles, 7:59/mile. I barely squeaked that under 8! (P.S. That was not the goal.) Workout: 10 minute warm up, [8 minutes challenging/3 minutes steady] x4, 10 minute cool down. I took my legs to the mill for this run (weather was shotty). I did my warm up at 9:13/mile and my cool down at 8:55/mile. My "steady" pace between "challenging" intervals was 8:13/mile. My 8 minute split paces (per mile) were as follows: 7:27, 7:24, 7:21, 7:19. The first two and a half intervals were tolerable. When I got to the last 4 minutes of the third one, I knew my last interval was going to take brain power! Especially since I was trying to negative split my workout. I took this run two minutes at a time during the challenging sections. This really helped me to focus and made the time go by fast. The three minute steady sections felt great (which boosted my confidence a bit regarding my goal marathon pace). Overall, I ended the workout feeling spent! I was so excited about running a workout that took that much effort that I sent a message to Coach telling him the workout was awesome. LOL!
• 12/6: 6.65 miles, 9:02/mile; Bis/Tris, 30 minutes. I was instructed to take today very easy due to yesterday's speed. I'm glad that was the expectation because my legs were toast! OMG. I was so sore and so fatigued. I met Sarah to venture off for an hour of easy running (3x20 sec strides in the last 10 minutes). I'm actually shocked that we ran that close to 9 minute average. We both felt like crud and I certainly didn't think we were running that fast. I was dragging fo sho.
  

  

  Strength training is paying off!

• 12/7: 11.2 cycling miles, 44:56. Cross training day! Last week I did yoga. This week, I new my legs needed something to work out the rest of the yuck. I thought an easy cycle would be the perfect thing. I went to The Y after work, put the resistance to an easy level, and let my legs work it all out. I think it's exactly what I needed.
• 12/8: 5.37 miles, 8:44/mile; Power Yoga Class, 1 hour. I had the opportunity to run after sending the kids off to the sitter. Yay, sunlight! Today called for an easy run with 3x20 second strides. Brittaney and I set off to explore a neighborhood in Gahanna that we weren't familiar with. Just trying to open up options! After a short break that allowed for two small cups of coffee, I headed to The Y for a yoga class.
• 12/9: 13 miles, 8:34/mile. I was slightly non compliant today (which is not my style). I was to run 12 miles with the last two "faster" if I "felt good." The mile pace of 8:34 is typically not my long run pace. Not that I can't run that pace for that many miles, I just try to keep it closer to 9 minutes if possible. We met at Amanda's house for a group run. I had the pleasure of meeting two new ladies. I ran an extra mile beforehand since the group was planning to run 11. Somehow, during the run, we got off course and that added an extra mile. I ended up with 13! Geesh. My goal for the faster miles was to target goal MP (8-8:12/mile). My splits those miles were just under 8 minutes. I felt good almost the entire run until the last 1-1.5 miles. I had to go poop!! It hit me all of a sudden. And wouldn't you know, I couldn't go when I got back to Amanda's to use the bathroom. Ugh. Stupid bowels.
  

  

  Old and new friends. We are frozen. [Amanda, Elizabeth, ME, Liz, Amy]

• 12/10: 2.31 walking miles, 20:33/mile. I officially love having walks in my training program! I got with Meg again, and we decided on Highbanks. What a perfect weekend for it to snow. It was so beautiful walking on the trail. We saw lots of deer tracks!
  

  

  Blonde snow bunnies. [Meg, ME]

 

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Overall, I really enjoyed this week of training. My yoga has had me sore all weekend, but it's a good kind of sore. I finally recovered from that workout on Tuesday! HA!! I really hope I can stay motivated and excited through the winter.