And no... I don't mean my personality. My right glute has been killing me ever since the beginning of this week after the race!!!
So Wednesday was obviously easy run - 8 miles, and teach. However easy is always relative around my neighborhood since it is so hilly. Then I went to the trail Thursday and figured I should lay off of distance intervals so that I'm not so hard on myself, and just run time intervals. So, within a 10 mile run I did (after 3 miles) minute intervals of 1,2,3,2,1,2,3, with 3 min jogs in between which is a decent jog time to allow recovery. I must have been going pretty fast because my overall splits for those 4 miles (averaging recovery jogs and pickups) were 7:21, 7:27, 7:17, and 7:28. Although then I was hobbling all day because my hip/low back/glute is incredibly inflamed - you can even see a noticeable difference in the two sides.
So today I said I would just do 6, but ended up doing 8 miles. My legs were so dead, I'm really glad I didn't wear a watch because I was probably trotting at 8:45-9 min/mile pace. I need to cut back more (hence the dead legs) but I know that I'll be tapering next week then recovering the following week (the week of my birthday) when I'm only going to be running 2/7 days. Tomorrow is a 16 mile long run BEFORE county meet which means 6 am woo hoo!! I've been doing a good job of eating more fruits and veggies which I am very proud of.
A thought I had today at the Cockeysville Giant - Why do they only have 2 checkout lanes, forcing you to utilize the self-checkout, which is so hard to use that they end up using employees to help you anyway? Doesn't seem to make sense.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
I've got the month of May
.. and yes that's from the temptations My Girl. But more importantly I'm talking about how I have the month of May before I delve deep into my first phase of training in the few months leading up to fall races!
May is a big month... Bay to Breakers 12K in San Fran, Birthday, and Graduation... in that order! Then back to FL the end of the month. Going to take a very easy week after the the 12K before I head into training! Then in June I will give a 5k another shot which should be good as I will be doing a bit more speedwork.
This morning did 2 miles easy before car shopping.. happy to report I will be getting a brand new Honda Accord very soon! Just need to decide between dark blue, silver, and polished metal! Then lunch, practice, and ran at the trail which I usually don't do in the evening so that was a nice change. Wanted to throw some marathon pace tempo in the middle but my legs are still a bit tight from Sunday's race so splits ended up being 7:54, 7:52, 7:49, 7:56, 8:00, 7:55, 7:52 and then 1 mile CD for a total of 8 miles.
So basically the idea going into the summer will be more recovery days so I can be very ready for hard workouts. Should be an interesting change and we'll see how it goes! And yesterday was 8 easy miles but I should maybe not run so much the day after a race.
May is a big month... Bay to Breakers 12K in San Fran, Birthday, and Graduation... in that order! Then back to FL the end of the month. Going to take a very easy week after the the 12K before I head into training! Then in June I will give a 5k another shot which should be good as I will be doing a bit more speedwork.
This morning did 2 miles easy before car shopping.. happy to report I will be getting a brand new Honda Accord very soon! Just need to decide between dark blue, silver, and polished metal! Then lunch, practice, and ran at the trail which I usually don't do in the evening so that was a nice change. Wanted to throw some marathon pace tempo in the middle but my legs are still a bit tight from Sunday's race so splits ended up being 7:54, 7:52, 7:49, 7:56, 8:00, 7:55, 7:52 and then 1 mile CD for a total of 8 miles.
So basically the idea going into the summer will be more recovery days so I can be very ready for hard workouts. Should be an interesting change and we'll see how it goes! And yesterday was 8 easy miles but I should maybe not run so much the day after a race.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Can't Forget the New Town meet
Also, there were a few performances I was very pleased with at Franklin's meet yesterday! Jeff, Andrew, and Michael ran very well in the 800 with 2:10, 2:12, and 2:13 respectively. The good thing is that our 800 m runners go out incredibly fast but I feel like they can hold it if we worked on endurance more. Also Ash B is very close to breaking 60 in the 400!
Good News/Bad News
So this morning was the Alexandria Running Festival Half Marathon. Up until this weekend I thought I was setting myself up to PR (1:30 is what I was aiming for) then when it was ungodly hot, I know I'd have to rethink that. I was pleased to find out at the starting line that there were no Kenyan/Ethiopian women (or actually no men either) and so I knew it'd come down to me and Jill, an awesome woman I met trying to find our way to where the race was held. She runs crazy good times and I was lucky enough to have caught her during a race when she hadn't been training as much.
I still tried to go out on pace, only to find that there were not really any mile markers and the few there were were inaccurate. For someone who has only been racing for 2 years that can be very difficult if you're trying to run a good time because while the pace should feel familiar, it is probably still off by 5-10 seconds per mile, especially as the race goes on and it feels like you're keeping pace when you're slowing down.
The course was out and back TWICE on Eisenhower Avenue and I wasn't a fan of the park it had us run through that was very windy, had a lot of turns, and a few hills. I wouldn't have called it fast and flat. However the park version did provide some shade that we didn't have on the road. I also decided to forgo my usual "I don't need every aid station" and drank at ALL of them given how hot it was. Although I did manage to get about half of every gatorade cup all over my chest.
So anyway, to make a long story short, I won! I was pissed there was no tape to break, but I guess it was a tiny race. My time was about 4 minutes off what it should have been, but I guess there's no need to be upset considering a) the weather sucked b) I won (250 bucks!) and c) everyone else's times were off today.
One thing I need to work on is relaxing the night before a race. I get so hyped up when I stay in a hotel that I can never fall asleep! Then of course I'm up thinking "now I only get ___ hours" which coincidentally keeps me up longer! Anyway, time for Army Wives. I think that was a good race recap.
I still tried to go out on pace, only to find that there were not really any mile markers and the few there were were inaccurate. For someone who has only been racing for 2 years that can be very difficult if you're trying to run a good time because while the pace should feel familiar, it is probably still off by 5-10 seconds per mile, especially as the race goes on and it feels like you're keeping pace when you're slowing down.
The course was out and back TWICE on Eisenhower Avenue and I wasn't a fan of the park it had us run through that was very windy, had a lot of turns, and a few hills. I wouldn't have called it fast and flat. However the park version did provide some shade that we didn't have on the road. I also decided to forgo my usual "I don't need every aid station" and drank at ALL of them given how hot it was. Although I did manage to get about half of every gatorade cup all over my chest.
So anyway, to make a long story short, I won! I was pissed there was no tape to break, but I guess it was a tiny race. My time was about 4 minutes off what it should have been, but I guess there's no need to be upset considering a) the weather sucked b) I won (250 bucks!) and c) everyone else's times were off today.
One thing I need to work on is relaxing the night before a race. I get so hyped up when I stay in a hotel that I can never fall asleep! Then of course I'm up thinking "now I only get ___ hours" which coincidentally keeps me up longer! Anyway, time for Army Wives. I think that was a good race recap.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Running Club Begins!
So yesterday was just 5 miles easy and then teach Body Combat. The gym was packed and so that meant class was pretty full which always makes for a fun night! A lot of people are really starting to like the new release which is good to hear. Sword katas are fun now that we know how to do it!
After I taught I was starving so I went to Baskin Robbins only to discover it was 31 cent scoop night. You would think this is good, but in my opinion it ruined my treat. It was absolutely packed with kids and their parents, you have to pay for it BEFORE you get in line, and then I find out it's a KIDS scoop! So after I ate dinner finally at just before 9, I watched the Blind Side, which was a heart-warming movie but really hardly about football at all.
Today was 6 miles easy 2 of which included 10 45 sec pick ups at 8k-10k pace so the splits were 8:01,7:42,7:42,7:50,7:56, and 8:19. Then sissy and I met for lunch again which is good bc eating at home gets boring. Tried to restore my faith in ice cream stores by going to Coldstone to get sorbet/fat free sweet cream, only to find AGAIN (it seems to be a trend during the day at coldstone) that they were stingy. I'm pretty sure it barely filled the cup. Next practice which was 6 200s for the distance people which I tried to convince them was really hardly anything at all, compared to what they've done in other practices.
Tonight was the first night for the Brick Bodies Running Club which went well- everyone is really motivated and already seem to be encouraging each other! They also all want to get started on their personalized programs right away which is a great sign!
After I taught I was starving so I went to Baskin Robbins only to discover it was 31 cent scoop night. You would think this is good, but in my opinion it ruined my treat. It was absolutely packed with kids and their parents, you have to pay for it BEFORE you get in line, and then I find out it's a KIDS scoop! So after I ate dinner finally at just before 9, I watched the Blind Side, which was a heart-warming movie but really hardly about football at all.
Today was 6 miles easy 2 of which included 10 45 sec pick ups at 8k-10k pace so the splits were 8:01,7:42,7:42,7:50,7:56, and 8:19. Then sissy and I met for lunch again which is good bc eating at home gets boring. Tried to restore my faith in ice cream stores by going to Coldstone to get sorbet/fat free sweet cream, only to find AGAIN (it seems to be a trend during the day at coldstone) that they were stingy. I'm pretty sure it barely filled the cup. Next practice which was 6 200s for the distance people which I tried to convince them was really hardly anything at all, compared to what they've done in other practices.
Tonight was the first night for the Brick Bodies Running Club which went well- everyone is really motivated and already seem to be encouraging each other! They also all want to get started on their personalized programs right away which is a great sign!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Mile Repeats - The (More) Fun Way/ Why must the Kenyans steal my thunder?
Today was my last workout of mile repeats before the race Sunday, only 3 of them. It is suppose to be at 10 sec per mile faster than half marathon pace, so about 6:40. That was somewhat hard to hit and it ended up being 6:43,6:44, and 6:50, which I'm really not even worried about because sometimes it is hard to get into a rhythm during taper week, plus I did it on the trail and it is even harder to get into a rhythm there compared to a track. I'm trying to incorporate more forward lean and BACKWARD arm swing like I learned in ChiRunning, but really it's not a good idea to change too much right before a race. 2 mi WU and 2 mi CD plus .5 mi jogs in between repeats made it 8 mi total.
Then for lunch met with sissy at CPK where I did not in fact get pizza, but instead my favorite new dish Chicken Milanese - lightly breaded chicken with arugula, diced tomatoes, and sliced mozzarella -delicious! Practice was good but I was ready to crash after, probably because I didn't get enough sleep last night - I am often restless when I know I am waking up early to drive to the trail.
On to another topic that is actually really annoying me. So, first let me say, to any race directors, for my sanity's sake, please do not post entry lists!!!! All this results in is my reading them, scanning for who listed their half marathon PR, and stalking them on athlinks.com! Seeing as this is a small race this weekend I was hoping maybe I could place. However, I forgot one issue: it is in Alexandria, which neighbors DC, more of a hotbed for running than some other places in the MD/DC/VA area. So as I scroll down the list I see a 1:18!!!! Who is this? A Kenyan. Can they like not count, please, just this once?! Or perhaps lets have a race just for the Kenyans, so we can let the running gods compete against one another, and the rest of us mortals race each other. Also, I found out that some of the people who listed 1:30 or less PRs actually do not run anywhere near those times which I found amusing.
Anyway, off to maybe start watching the Blind Side which I will finish tomorrow.
Then for lunch met with sissy at CPK where I did not in fact get pizza, but instead my favorite new dish Chicken Milanese - lightly breaded chicken with arugula, diced tomatoes, and sliced mozzarella -delicious! Practice was good but I was ready to crash after, probably because I didn't get enough sleep last night - I am often restless when I know I am waking up early to drive to the trail.
On to another topic that is actually really annoying me. So, first let me say, to any race directors, for my sanity's sake, please do not post entry lists!!!! All this results in is my reading them, scanning for who listed their half marathon PR, and stalking them on athlinks.com! Seeing as this is a small race this weekend I was hoping maybe I could place. However, I forgot one issue: it is in Alexandria, which neighbors DC, more of a hotbed for running than some other places in the MD/DC/VA area. So as I scroll down the list I see a 1:18!!!! Who is this? A Kenyan. Can they like not count, please, just this once?! Or perhaps lets have a race just for the Kenyans, so we can let the running gods compete against one another, and the rest of us mortals race each other. Also, I found out that some of the people who listed 1:30 or less PRs actually do not run anywhere near those times which I found amusing.
Anyway, off to maybe start watching the Blind Side which I will finish tomorrow.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Taper Mode
Today marks official taper mode for this Sunday's half marathon. I wasn't sure whether to do a few easy miles or not, but when the track meet was postponed til next Monday, meaning I had to teach both of my Monday night classes, I decided to take a day off from running. Generally, before a longer race, I try to take 2 days off from running the week leading up to it, so I will take Friday off completely as well.
Franklin practice went well for those who showed up. Christine couldn't make it so I was in charge of the sprinters which is always a fun change up. They did 8 150's. Attendance is no where near where it should be, but those who consistently come are making huge improvements. They are also starting to understand the benefits of drills, warming up, running at 80% effort, coming on time, etc. No meets this week until Saturday so we need to have a good week of attendance and effort at practice!
Had a delicious chicken TBM sandwich at Cosi followed my lowfat ice cream at Baskin Robbins. I also slept very late this morning which was great since I needed it. I certainly didn't mind no running today since it was raining when I woke up! Teaching went well as I finally have eliminated almost all errors when teaching the new releases and the members are starting to enjoy them. Also had like 6 new people total in both classes which is great!
Franklin practice went well for those who showed up. Christine couldn't make it so I was in charge of the sprinters which is always a fun change up. They did 8 150's. Attendance is no where near where it should be, but those who consistently come are making huge improvements. They are also starting to understand the benefits of drills, warming up, running at 80% effort, coming on time, etc. No meets this week until Saturday so we need to have a good week of attendance and effort at practice!
Had a delicious chicken TBM sandwich at Cosi followed my lowfat ice cream at Baskin Robbins. I also slept very late this morning which was great since I needed it. I certainly didn't mind no running today since it was raining when I woke up! Teaching went well as I finally have eliminated almost all errors when teaching the new releases and the members are starting to enjoy them. Also had like 6 new people total in both classes which is great!
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