speed

2015 Marathon Training – Weeks 4 & 5

June 29, 2015 by Kristy Leave a Comment

Moving right along…weeks 4 and 5 flew by in the blink of an eye. 5 weeks down, 11 to go.

WEEK 4 – I don’t recall much about this week other than unrelenting humidity on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday
8 miles ~~tempo~~ easy (9:46 avg pace)
pre-hab

Good lord. 91% humidity and I tried to do a GMP tempo run. It was awful. After 2 miles of GMP(ish) pace, I switched to easy running.

Tuesday
4.5 miles ladder workout (1600, 1200, 800, 400) with run club

I was all over the place for this run. I was trying to get my own workout in, coach, and we had a little snafu with the track. I think I even cut my recovery short for one of the repeats. The result was a positive split: 1600 (7:25), 1200 (7:42), 800 (8:18!), and 400 (8:00!). Oh, it was humid too 🙂 No more coaching and getting my workout in at the same time!

Wednesday
4.5 miles easy (10:00 avg pace)

Thursday
8 miles with 5 miles at 8:00 pace (8:07, 8:04, 8:03, 8:01, 7:53)
pre-hab
1 hour yoga

Not too shabby! I was pretty pleased with this workout. It made up for my positive splits on Tuesday night!

Friday
Rest. I love rest days.

Saturday
20 miles (9:17 avg pace)

I fueled with Tailwind for the second week in a row and supplemented with some Shot Bloks. I promise a review of Tailwind soon but so far, so good.

Sunday
3 miles recovery with Fiona (Garmin-less)

It was Father’s Day so I brought Fiona along with me to give Matt some time alone. My favorite picture from that day (although Hawk doesn’t look too happy)…

Week 4 mileage = 48

WEEK 5 – I had a come-to-Jesus moment about my GMP this week. Initially I was aiming for 8:20 as my GMP. It’s just not realistic for me right now based on my current fitness. I want to set myself up for success in the Fall and, although this is a bitter (bitter) pill to swallow, my GMP is looking more like 8:30-8:40 pace. Which means PRing in the Fall isn’t likely.

Monday
barre

Did a 45-minute barre blast class which was the perfect amount of shaking and burning.

Tuesday
6 miles easy (Garmin-less)
pre-hab

I was supposed to do another 2-3 miles in the PM but run club was cancelled due to severe storms that rolled through.

Wednesday
8 miles with 4 x 1600 (7:40, 7:36, 7:39, 7:20)

I think the last repeat is a total outlier. It felt the same, effort-wise, as the others so I doubt it was truly 7:20 pace. My legs were heavy – residual soreness from the 20-miler? Or just week 5-shit’s-getting-real fatigue?

Thursday
5 miles easy with Fiona (Garmin-less)
pre-hab

I can assure you this was around 11:00 average pace.

Friday
8 miles with 5 miles at GMP (8:28, 8:18, 8:22, 8:24, 8:25)
pre-hab

You probably can’t tell but I was shooting for 8:20 pace here. This was the come-to-Jesus moment. This felt hard (humidity was also 88%). I wasn’t very kind to myself either. In fact, I was an asshole. Instead of running myself into the ground with unrealistic workouts (and, subsequently, setting myself up for a big, fat bonk on race day), I should instead recognize where I am right now, embrace it, and run with it (literally).

Saturday
13 miles with miles 6 & 7 at GMP (8:30, 8:34), mile 8 easy, miles 9 & 10 at GMP (8:26, 8:30)

This was so-so. Mentally, I wasn’t into it. Physically, it was 91% humidity. (I know, I know. Complaining about the humidity is pointless. It’s summer…I get it. But I feel it’s noteworthy on some days.)

Sunday
Rest!

Week 5 mileage = 40 (cut back week)

pre-training

May 25, 2015 by Kristy Leave a Comment

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s been 4 weeks since I stopped MAF training and today begins marathon training (officially)! I plan on doing weekly updates but feel the need to update on the “in between” (if you care) and where I’m headed with marathon training (again, if you care).

I’m feeling better about training overall since my last post. I’m going to take it one day at a time and make a decision closer to the race about goals. There’s no way I can pinpoint a goal right now.

My body is getting used to speed work again. Over the past 4 weeks I slowly worked it back in…beginning with strides and building up to mile repeats. In fact, I did those dreaded mile repeats last week and this week! They’re not as bad as I remembered.

I’m definitely not as fast in regard to track work. No surprise. MAF training wasn’t intended to help out there (not directly at least). That doesn’t concern me so much since the base is there and I just need to stress the right systems to get faster. I have 16 weeks for that!

Mileage. Hmph. I go back and forth on this one. I truly believe in running high mileage (“high” being relative to the runner…one runner’s high mileage is another runner’s low mileage and vice versa). I’d love to max out at 65-70 mpw but that’s unrealistic for me right now. Especially since I’m turning up the intensity this cycle – I don’t want to manipulate too many variables at once. And I want to focus on “extras” – extras that take up time but are vitally important. It’s worth sacrificing a few miles for them. So I would imagine this training cycle being a low mileage one (40s/50s) for me.

Speaking of extras – I’m talking about pre-hab (I plan to do a whole post about this one), strength training, and barre. Ideally, I want to drop down to 4 days a week of running (I always run 5) to accommodate the extras but that might not always happen, especially when my mileage picks up.

I guess that’s where I stand. Of course this could all change! I’m finding that pregnancy (blame it all on pregnancy!) has made me very indecisive and I’m constantly changing my mind about everything. That’s why training will be taken one day at a time 🙂

Back On Track

October 13, 2011 by Kristy 10 Comments

10/13/11
6 miles
*3 x 1200 @ 10K pace…a mini speed session.

I was winded during Tuesday’s tempo run (3 miles at 8:00 pace). Breathing labored, wishing the run was over, and hating life. That kind of run. I kept thinking how the hell am I going to run faster than this next month (at the Philly Half)? And…how out of shape did I manage to get in 4 short weeks post-marathon?

My 4 weeks after the Lehigh Valley Marathon looked like this:
Week 1 – race a half marathon (bad idea)
Weeks 2 and 3 – take it easy because of bad idea (and by “take it easy” I did run…just 2-3 times a week and nothing over 6 miles)
Week 4 – 34 miles of easy runs

I’m not out of shape. Seeing it written out in black and white makes it more clear. You’re supposed to rest after a marathon, lay off the speed work, and just enjoy not training for a bit.

BUT…

It took me sooo long to get my speed to this point, I’m terrified of losing it. I worked so hard and I want to further build on the foundation that I have now.

So I made it back to the track today to prepare for the Philly Half. I’m staying away from the crazy speed work I once did (running until my lungs screamed). For now, 10K pace is adequate and will allow me to improve and maintain, which is all I can really ask for.

AND I’m chalking that tempo run up to a bad run day. Yep, just like a bad hair day.

Have you ever been afraid of losing fitness, endurance, speed, etc. after a race that you trained months for? I must admit, I’m a little nutso about it right now.

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 12 Recap

August 23, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

8/23/11
7 miles speed
*10 x 400m. The last time I did this workout (12 x 400m) I averaged 1:36 and ended with up with a sore hamstring for the remainder of the week (due to overstriding). I held back today and averaged 1:50. Much slower but I have a happy hamstring! Although I did run the last repeat in 1:34 just to make sure I still had it in me 😉

Let’s recap week 12…

MON: 7 miles easy
TUE: 11 miles tempo
WED: 7 miles speed
THU: 6 3 miles easy (thunderstorm)
FRI: 9 miles easy
SAT: rest/HLS
SUN: 15 miles long

A total of 52 miles for the week. After Thursday’s derailed run, I was hell-bent on getting my 55 miles in. That feeling faded quickly when life and the weekend got in the way. So I maxed out at 52/53 miles this training cycle. My intention was to max out at 60 but my legs had other plans. There is a reason why the FIRST training plan focuses on low mileage. It’s difficult to run hard 3 days, add in 2 easy 8-milers, and repeat week after week.

But my legs feel rested and ready for my 22-miler on Friday. I can’t wait. I always treat the last “long” run of a training cycle like a dress rehearsal for race day. I’ll wear the same clothes…and maybe even the same socks and hair bands if I have a particularly good run. I guess I’m superstitious?!

Question – do you treat your last long run (before the taper) like a dress rehearsal for the big day? Or do you just go with the flow?

Review of the FIRST Training Plan

May 4, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

I never mentioned the actual name of the marathon I’m running on 9/11. It’s the Leigh Valley Marathon (or Via Marathon). It’s a point-to-point course starting in Allentown, PA and ending in Easton, PA. The course was designed by the wonderful Bart Yasso! I love Bart!

I wanted to do a review of the FIRST training plan, which I used for the NJ Marathon. For a description of the plan and the modifications I made, please see this post. Overall, I really liked it and will be using it again (with modifications) for the LVM.

What I liked:
1. The FIRST program has specific Boston qualifying plans. For NJM, I used the 3:50 plan and I liked that all my workouts were focused on getting me to run a 3:50 marathon.

2. Nothing but quality workouts. There are 3 key runs per week: speed, tempo, and long. I added a 4^th run each week (an easy run) to increase my overall mileage. These key runs were hard but since my overall mileage was lower, my body could handle them.

3. The speed workouts each week nearly killed me; but they absolutely without a doubt made me faster.

4. The tempo runs were manageable and I was able to do them without too much difficultly.

5. I felt the long runs were a little easy. I often ran faster than I was supposed to but I generally do that anyway (see this post for an explanation). My endurance is much greater than my speed and this training plan made that very apparent as I was sucking wind at the track!

6. I only had 1 case of “brick legs”. Usually when I train for a marathon, this happens a few times. Again, I attribute this to less overall mileage.

7. Running 4 days a week allowed more time for yoga, which I desperately needed during this training cycle.

What I did not like:

1. Even though running 4 days a week was a plus, I had to get over feeling like a lazy slug. I have always run 5 days a week, with 2 rest days. But I really wanted to make yoga a top priority so I kept to the 4-days-a-week running regime. With 3 tough runs a week and 1 easy run, I don’t think running a 5^thday would have any added value.

2. My overall mileage was low. I had to get over this too. I maxed out at 43 miles per week! My body doesn’t thrive well on high mileage (I consider that to be 60s and 70s) but in previous training cycles I was getting into the 50s. It was hard to not see those numbers climb higher than 43 but I think my legs were thankful.

3. This wasn’t an issue for me but I want to give warning to anyone thinking of using this plan. There is no base building phase. Most plans have you build mileage first (slowly and safely) before you do speed work. With the FIRST plan, you literally “hit the ground running” (pun intended) with speed work. I wouldn’t recommend this plan for beginners. If you don’t have a strong base of 30 miles per week established add about 6 weeks onto this training plan to get your base building time in. You’ll be less likely to get injured.

What training plan are you currently using? Or are you winging it? I love seeing what plans people use to train. It’s such a matter of preference.

Impromptu Long Run

February 24, 2011 by Kristy 11 Comments

2/24/11

13 miles

1:56

8:55 avg pace

So what prompted me to knock out 13 miles after work on a Thursday?! Let me walk you through the inner dialogue I had with myself this morning (don’t be scared)…

OK, long run on Friday morning. Need to check weather. Crap, 100% chance of rain all day and lots of wind. Well maybe I can run 13 miles on the treadmill? Oh that will really suck. I could barely stand 8 miles on Wednesday.

I can’t move the run to Saturday morning since I’m going to Sarah and Aidan’s basketball games (my niece and nephew). I could run after the games but I know that will set me up for a bad run.

I could do it really early on Sunday morning and come home, shower super quick, and head to brunch (I have plans to go to brunch with my friends). But I want to sleep in on Sunday…

WAIT. I can do it today after work. 13 miles is practically a short run these days. Weather is perfect too.

And there you have it. Please tell me other people think this much about their running schedule!

I had a really good run. Which was surprising, given my dislike for running after work. My training plan called for 9:00 average pace but I really wanted to keep it under 9:00. I’m pleased 🙂

This is a drop-week in my training plan, meaning my long run (and thus overall mileage) is decreased to allow my legs to rest. The intensity is still there – I still had a speed and tempo run this week – but the mileage is lower. It’s very similar to tapering before a race. But it’s back to business on Monday.

For the rest of the night, I’ll be doing this:

Matt took this picture after the Philly Rock n’ Roll Half last September. You would have thought Hawk ran the race too!