hill repeats

The First 20 and Boston Week 4 Recap

January 30, 2012 by Kristy 10 Comments

Saturday was the first of 5 20-milers that I’ll be doing to prep for Boston. Why so many? Well, practice makes perfect and (generally) I handle 20 miles pretty well in terms of recovery, so I can do a lot of them without compromising my other runs.

So the weather was perfect on Saturday. Seriously, it felt like Spring. Night and day compared to a week ago. I did 2 hilly loops totaling 11 miles before heading for some flat, paved trail for the remaining 9 miles. My breathing felt off the entire time. I slowed down, I sped up, and yet it was still off. I started getting hot and I guess I was sweating more than I thought. I tried drinking more but it was too late, I was already dehydrated. Boo. The last 3 miles were HARD. I wanted to stop and quit, especially at mile 19. 19 miles? 20 miles? What’s the difference? I thought about Boston and, knowing I would never quit at mile 25, I trudged onward. 2 hours and 55 minutes later (8:45 average pace), I was done.

I quickly got into my car (all I wanted to do was sit down) and chugged my chocolate milk. Then the aching and throbbing began. My legs were hurting big time. I transitioned into sitting too quickly. I usually walk around, drink my chocolate milk, and stretch a bit before driving home. Thank god it’s a short drive because I was in pain. Some stretching, a nice hot shower, lots of food, and a long walk with Hawk and my legs felt completely fine.

Boston Week 4 Recap
MON: 6 miles easy
TUE: 8 miles tempo with 4 miles @ 7:50 pace (7:44, 7:48, 7:54, 7:57). During the last interval there was a creepy raccoon wandering around and I had to stop and wait for it to move away. Ewwww.
WED: ~~barre~~ My body was screaming for a rest day so I slept in instead.
THU: 5 miles with 10 hill repeats. I did a mix of short and long hill repeats.
FRI: yoga. I left the class feeling wonderful!
SAT: 20 miles
SUN: 5 miles super easy

44 miles for the week. I was aiming for 47 but oh well, I needed rest. This week is a drop back week….all the way to 40 miles. Living on the edge!

Ever get that achy, throbbing feeling in your legs? The last time I got it was after the Pocono Marathon in May 2010 (it was so memorable because it was so painful).

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 4 Recap

June 29, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

Last week I hit 47 miles! I’m dropping back my mileage a bit this week but next week I’m hoping to hit 50. I love how this drop-back week still includes an 18-miler. That just isn’t right!

MON: 8 miles easy (was supposed to be either a hill repeat or speed day but my legs were not feelin’ it)
TUE: 8 miles tempo
WED: rest
THU: 8 miles easy
FRI: 20 miles hot and steamy
SAT: 3 miles easy
SUN: rest

Notice the lack of yoga or strength training recently? When things get busy, it’s always the first to go. My motivation for yoga or ST is nowhere near my motivation to run. It’s a constant work in progress.

Originally I had planned on alternating hill repeats and speed work this cycle. I really need that steady dose of speed work so I’m ditching the hill repeats. My long runs are fairly hilly and I think they’ll provide me with the preparation I need for LVM.

I’m also doing a 2-week taper for LVM. I was a complete nut case during the taper period for the NJ Marathon. Three weeks is too much time for me, mentally and physically (even though my mileage only really dropped 2 weeks before, I hate doing my 22-miler 3 weeks out). I did a 2 1/2 week taper for Steamtown and it worked out just fine.

Have you ever tried a 2-week taper? Do you prefer it to the traditional 3-week taper?

Something New

June 6, 2011 by Kristy 7 Comments

6/7/11
6 miles with hill repeats / 58:32 / 9:45 avg pace

To go along with my “if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results” theme, I’m doing two things today that are new and one of them is outside my comfort zone.

Scary thing #1 – hill repeats
I’m alternating my speed work this cycle between track workouts one week and hill repeats the next week. In the past, my hill work simply consisted of running on a hilly course. To my surprise, it was very effective. Imagine what hill repeats can do! Today’s workout was pretty informal. I warmed-up for 1.5 miles and picked out 3 hills along my run. I did 5 repeats on the 1st hill, 3 repeats on the 2nd, and 4 repeats on the 3rd hill. I would run up the hill as fast as I could, and then jog back down. Not so scary at all. In fact, it beats a track workout any day.

Scary thing #2 – strength training class
Scary thing #2 hasn’t happened yet (12pm). But I’m putting it out there in the blog world so I can’t back out. My yoga studio has a whole body strength class that they offer a few times a week. I can’t tell you the last time I strength trained; it’s pretty sad actually. My focus has always been run, run, run. Strength training is crucial to making you a more balanced runner (literally and figuratively!). I’m taking the “all levels” class so I don’t make a fool out of myself. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow, provided I’m not too sore to type.

What have you done recently that was new or scary?