track

pre-training

May 25, 2015 by Kristy 1 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 🙂

Bachelorette Fun: Friday Night

June 27, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

6/27/11
6 miles speed

After a fun-filled weekend of going out, drinking, and little sleep, I was dreading the track this morning. Dreading it. I peeked at my plan last night praying for something semi-easy but instead saw 3×1600 at 7:11 pace. Ugh, mile repeats…my nemesis. I took the liberty of increasing my “rest period” between intervals to 400m instead of 1 minute.

1st interval: 7:11. Right on target.
2nd interval: 7:08. Really?!
3rd interval: 7:05. Huh?! I should eat junk food, not sleep, and drink beer more often! I can’t believe I wanted to skip this workout when my alarm went off this morning.

Onto more fun stuff! I’m totally milking this bachelorette recap into 2 posts, so let’s begin with Friday 😉

Friday night was relaxing…sitting around chatting, dinner, more chatting (and drinking), and then going to the hotel bar later on. My legs felt great despite the 20 (very early) miles that morning and I even managed to stay up until 2:00AM! Some pictures…

DSCN1167 — Me, Amanda (bride-to-be), and Michelle

More pictures tomorrow! Off to work for a very long day. It’s going to take me a few days to fully recover from the weekend…just in time for the 4th of July!

Sometimes You Just Don't Want To

April 12, 2011 by Kristy 8 Comments

4/12/11

5 miles speed

That’s exactly how I felt about getting up and hitting the track this morning. I never have any trouble getting out of bed for a run but speed work is a different story. How can I loathe something so much that has absolutely, without a doubt, made me faster this training cycle? I only have 2 track sessions left before the marathon; can’t I just suck it up? Apparently not.

I was supposed to do 8x800m in 3:33. I had no intention of doing all 8 intervals. I was planning on doing 6. Well 6 turned into 5. My head wasn’t in it so my body wasn’t in it. Overall, my times weren’t terrible (with the exception of 1 interval): 3:37, 3:37, 3:38, 3:48 (oops), 3:37. I did a super speedy cool-down and was done with it.

When I came home (it was still really early), I wanted to go out and run another couple of miles. I hate the fact that I only ran 5 miles today. I think it’s awful that I feel that way too. I am tapering after all!

On the plus side, it’s really warm here and I got to wear shorts this morning!

Do you like or loathe speed work and why?

Morning Track

March 22, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

3/22/11

7 miles speed

Apparently you guys like to read about the adventures of the Mains! I had a lot of blog views on Sunday (thank you!). Stay tuned, the Mains have some upcoming adventures this summer so I’ll be sure to post about them as well.

This morning I went to my local track for some speed work. Daylight savings is really screwing me up. I like to be running by 6am at the latest so I’m done and out of the parking lot before the first bus drops of students. Maybe it’s just me but I feel weird using the track when school is in session. I couldn’t start until about 6:30am today (6:00am = pitch black) so by the time I finished, all of the students were getting dropped off and the parking lot was full of buses. Fabulous. I thought I was going to get yelled at by a teacher or a safety (do they still have them?) because I wasn’t familiar with the “flow” of traffic. Not to mention it takes 16-year-olds numerous attempts to park their car (I waited patiently for this one; it was so funny too). After 5 minutes of chaos, I left unscathed and not yelled at.

My training planned called for:
1000m in 4:28 (4:29 actual). Right on.
2000m in 9:16 (9:36 actual – opps). I was trying to figure out what pace I needed to hit 9:16 and I thought I had it. Clearly I was way off. I blame early morning math and lack of oxygen.
1000m in 4:28 (4:36 actual). Damn, I thought I was going faster.
1000m in 4:28 (4:30 actual). I gave it all I got. I think the students on the school bus heard my panting.

My biggest pet peeve about the track? If you are running slower, please stick to the outer lanes. Same goes for socializing. If you are more interested in talking than running, definitely remain in the outer lanes. These 2 women kept hogging the inner lanes and yapped the whole time. Myself and 2 other people were trying to do intervals and had to keep weaving around them. So annoying!

Morning Track + Week 9 Recap

March 8, 2011 by Kristy 2 Comments

3/8/11

7 miles speed

I was at the track by 5:50 this morning. I love having the track all to myself. Four women showed up to run a mile but thankfully they stayed in the outer lanes.

The workout: 1.5 mile warm-up, 3×1-mile repeats (7:25, 7:30, 7:37) with 800m rest interval in between, 1.5 mile cool-down. Not my fastest mile repeats but I was huffing and puffing like a dog. Another reason why I like being at the track alone; I sound like I’m dying during speed work.

Let’s recap week 9 of NJ Marathon training!
MON: rest
TUE: 8 miles speed + yoga
WED: 8 miles tempo
THU: rest
FRI: yoga
SAT: 18 miles
SUN: 5 miles easy

Total of 39 miles and 2 yoga classes! I was happy with this week of training, even though it began with some heavy, tired legs.

My plan for the rest of the week: yoga tonight, rest tomorrow, tempo on Thursday, yoga on Friday (I have the day off – YEAH!), long run on Saturday (20-miler — take 3), and easy miles on Sunday.

Have a great day!

I May Be A Believer After All…

February 21, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

2/21/11

6 miles speed

I get nervous every time I do speed work. I worry that I won’t hit my splits and that I’ll never get faster. I tell myself that I’m built for endurance, NOT speed. I’ve said numerous times that I was on the fence as to whether speed work makes a difference. I’m giving it a real, fair try this training cycle to see what happens. In the past, speed work has been very taxing on my body. I tend to take longer to recover and often my tempo and long runs suffer because of it. I was just reading in Brad Hudson’s Run Faster that runners whose strength is speed generally recover faster from speed work and runners whose strength is endurance (me!) recover faster from longer runs. The converse is also true which explains my prolonged recovery after speed work and my speedy recovery after 20-milers.

Today’s speed work called for 6×800 at 3:33 (7:06 pace). I did 5×800 (the 6th one so wasn’t happening…I was exhausted). My spilts: 3:34, 3:34, 3:33, 3:32, 3:32! Woohoo! Why was I so happy? Let me explain:

1. I have never done 800s this fast before. I generally hover around the 3:40 range. I was surprised I was so consistent too.

2. For the past 7 weeks, I’ve been doing speed work on the treadmill because of the weather. Today I went to the track (yeah!) but I was concerned about my ability to adequately pace myself. It’s so much easier on the treadmill – just set the pace and stick to it. The track is much harder.

3. I did a 20-miler 2 days ago! Now I’m wondering what my splits would be with fresh, rested legs!

So maybe all this speed nonsense is helping?! Could it be that I’m a believer in speed work? Nine more weeks of speed work plus a little bit of confidence in myself and who knows what’ll happen?

I’ll leave you with this picture from SF (technically Stinson Beach, CA). This is how I felt after my run today…