Saturday, March 14, 2009

oh speed, how i missed you

i still need to catch up on some serious sleep. i'm loving dst and the extra daylight, but i think i'm going to have to blame my excessive tiredness on it. i do wish we never had to change the clocks, even though i never get around to actually changing mine... i just noticed my polar hrm was "back" on the right on time. seriously i am so lazy.

friday was another glorious day of not working! i "slept in" (7:30), ate a small breakfast, and got ready to run. it was to be my first threshold (t-pace) run, and my second workout in a long time. remembering how terrible my first return-to-speed workout went on tuesday, i did a great job of psyching myself out.

the goal: 20 min easy, 6 strides, 20 min t-pace, 6 strides.

my t-pace is 7:02. when i trained for the goofy challenge, i struggled to maintain 7:30's. (or so i am led to believe; i wonder if my nike+ was off on all those tempo runs because i ran 7:11 avg in the disney half.) either way, 7:02 is frightening to me.

maybe i'm making too many excuses, but i decided (mid-run) to cut this workout short and only did 10 min at t-pace. i am also not sure if i am entirely doing the strides right. i just do what i did in hs cross country - run a few yards building to your top speed for a few yards and then slow back down. sometimes i do them in the middle of my easy miles and sometimes i do them in addition to the mileage. i figure the point is mainly to perk up your legs and work on turnover without tiring yourself out.

anyway the t-pace went ok, although it didn't feel ok while i was running. it was hard. lungs burning, quads aching, core reminding me that i need to give it even more attention, just awesome. i made it 1.4 miles in those 10 t-pace minutes, for an average pace of 7:09. close enough for me and my legs that have forgotten how to pick themselves up and move. (let's get with the program here legs!) i reminded myself how good it feels to hurt from running hard.

the actual: 20 min easy (2.25 miles), 6 strides, 10 min t-pace (1.4 miles), 1.45 miles easy, 6 strides.

friday (3/13) am run: 5.5 miles, 45:44 (8:18 avg pace), avg hr (170)

16 comments:

  1. Good job on the t-run. I'm like you, I psych myself out before doing speed. It's like I know the pain is coming and I'm not sure I can keep up the pace. But then it feels good to accomplish!

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  2. Great job. I think the first t-pace run back can be intimidating, so I think you made a great choice. And 7:02!! That is reeeaaaalllly fast. I pretty sure I couldn't hold that for over a mile!

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  3. I don't trust the Nike+. Although you haven't done speedwork for quite some time, I can't believe you'd be that winded after 1.4 miles at 7:02 pace when you ran a half marathon at 7:11 pace. It's not like you've been sitting around on the couch for the last two months.

    Have you checked the Nike+ against a measured course?

    I'm taking a planned week off. I'm sure you'll be up to the next VDOT before I get back :P.

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  4. Awesome job. You do realize your tempo run pace is my sprint pace,right? As in, the pace that I only keep up for about 2 minutes max?/!!

    just picture me bowing down just like Wayne and Garth, I'm not worthy!

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  5. wish I had you as a personal trainer! Keep up the good work, Lindsay.

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  6. that's a great run. i need to throw some strides into my run, but they won't be anywhere near as fast as yours :)

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  7. A 7:09 pace does NOT come from laziness!

    I don't think I can hold a 7:02 pace for 10 feet.

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  8. Nice job on that run! It does sound tough, so way to get it done. I have a hard time fathoming running a 7:02 for any length of time...!

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  9. great job on the run!! just takes a few of those speedy runs to get your fitness, legs and confidence back and you will be out there killing it. plus 7:02 is FAST!!!!

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  10. I realized this weekend that our camera now shows the correct time again since we never changed it when the clocks went back. Oops!

    Great job on the run - seriously speedy!

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  11. I am also blaming DST. I can't fall asleep at night!

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  12. I can;t even wrap my head around 7:02 pace. I feel unworthy to comment here. You are my hero. I bow to thee!

    My bike computer just got "reset" by DST to the right time as well LOL!

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