tempo

this one was hard. my runs always get progressively harder throughout the
week, because i guess i get tired. i love runs right after rest days;
this one was kind of the opposite of that. also, the gym was very very
very hot and i didn't wait long enough after eating so i had all sorts of
cramps, but i guess it all worked out in the end; i made it through.

7.25 miles / 66 minutes

4 miles 9:00/mi pace
800m jog 10:00/mi
800m 8:27/mi pace
400m jog 10:00/mi
2 miles 9:00/mi pace

climbing

just a relatively short-ish incline treadmill run today, between classes (at the boring and empty hospital gym). i am trying to motivate to make these harder, because the charlottesville race is supposedly going to be super-hilly. i definitely sweat enough (ew).

4 mi / 38 minutes

hills: 3 minutes at 4.0 incline, 3 minutes x 2 at 5.0 incline, 5 minutes at 4.0 incline with flat running interspersed.

whew

i had a lovely interval run tonight. i actually really didn't want to stop, but i would regret doing 'extra' come later in the week.

7 miles / 62:38

1 mi warm up (9:40/mile)
2 x 1200m @ 8:30/mile with 600m jog in between each (9:40 mile jog)
4 x 400m @ 8:00/mile with 200m jog in between each (9:40 mile jog)
4 x 200m @ 8:00/mile with 100m jog in between each (9:40 mile jog)
1.5 mi cooldown, sort of (various speeds, probably averaging to 9:00/mile)

i am looking forward to seeing if i can improve my time in the half-marathon. i would love to do it in under 2:00, but that might be a little ambitious. after all, there is (i hope) plenty of time for me to run more . . .

vital stats

just finished an 'easy' 8-mile run. honestly, i can't believe i can refer to an 8-mile run as easy, but it was. i went at slow recovery (9:30) pace and i read vogue the whole time. it took me about 77 minutes.

this week's mileage: 30.3

i decided to look at my records just for kicks. and i determined:

miles run so far this year (2005): 335.8
average weekly mileage: 27.9

10k victory!

ok, so it wasn't a real 10k, and the only person i was racing against was myself, but i'm really happy and sort of surprised at how well my run went yesterday. i did it on the treadmill so i know it's not a 'real' 10k time, but still:

10k (6.2 mi) in 51:06.

average speed: 8:14 minutes/mile.

yay! the last time i did a 'race' of 10k it was something like 55 minutes! i think that part of it was just learning how fast i *can* tolerate running, and the other part is that i'm getting faster for real. who would have thought!?

speedy (sorta) (not really)

5.5 miles total / 48:30

i did it like this:

1 mile, 9:00/mi pace
1 minute 8:00 pace
2nd mile, 9:00/mi pace
1 minute 8:00 pace
3rd mile, 9:00/mi pace
1 minute 8:00 pace
4th mile 9:00/mi pace
1 minute 8:00 pace

then my version of 'striders' which is to go slow (like 9:30 mile) for .13 miles and then crank it up to 8.0+ mph for .07 mi, then repeat. i did this 4 times, but the fourth time i got inspired by ben folds and ran 400m at 7:00 mile pace.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

i saw some girl at whole foods today and thought, wow, she totally looks like a runner. it kind of pisses me off that i don't think anyone would ever say that about me, even if i were covered in sweat wearing shorts and running shoes. my limbs are too short and stubby, the rest of me too . . uhhh . .feminine, i guess. plus, my overall shortness doesn't help. in the past, i have been asked if i danced (HA!), which is incredibly flattering, but I've never seen a ballerina that looked remotely like me. maybe they meant something else.

hill yeah!

HA. i crack me up.

yesterday i just did 4 miles with 'incline intervals'. i went nice & slow (i have another speed interval workout tomorrow and i want to be fresh!) at 9:40/mile pace, and i did it like this:

1 mile / warmup
3 minues / 4.0 incline
3 minutes flat
3 minutes / 5.0 incline
3 minutes flat
3 minutes / 5.0 incline
3 minutes flat
4 minutes / 4.0 incline
flat until 4.0 miles reached

it doesn't sound that tough, but i sweat more during these hill workouts than i do during long runs OR speed workouts (yuck). the weekly faux-hill run is actually an added workout from the schedule i posted - i like to run 5x/week, and i know i need to do hill work since i do a lot of running on the flat treadmill.

speed intervals and mtv

my new gym has little individual tvs attached to all the treadmills! and, as an extra bonus, no stressed out residents answering pages every 5 minutes (as opposed to where i worked out before).

anyway, today's run:

6.3 miles total / 57:30 (including 1 mile warmup / 1 mile cooldown at 9:40 pace)

intervals: 2x [800m (400 slow), 400 (200 slow), 200 (200 slow), 1200 (pace interval)]

the whole thing felt pretty easy. i got a little bored at the end, but that's about it. maybe i should be running faster, but i don't know - i think i'll see how i do in the next race and then maybe think about training for a faster time.

crash & burn

so those feelings of invincibility after the 12-mile run? yeah, that didn't last too long. i ended up passed out on the couch for most of the remainder of the afternoon, and my legs are still a little sore today (and it's tuesdsay!).

but, i have an interval run on my schedule, so i'm going to do it.

the training program i'm following right now is sort of homemade, but not really. i used the runner's world 'ultimate half marathon training: beginner' to train for the race i did last month. but then upon returning home, i signed up for another half (the one coming up on april 16th), and decided that i would do the last 6 weeks of the intermediate program in order to prepare for it. so far, it hasn't been much harder than the beginner-program, but with more longer runs, i feel like i'll probably be better prepared. and maybe i'll aim to run a little faster.

spinoff

most tv spinoffs don't do so well. i refuse to believe the joey is even going to approach the success of friends, for example. and george from seinfeld? what was all that about?

but then there's frasier. which (in my opinion) beats cheers anytime.

and now there's this blog: a spinoff of my very own.

mainly i want to use it to track my running, so i can have a place to wax ecstatically about some great run or bitch about doing 10 miles on the treadmill (which i've done, multiple times, and sometimes it sucks).

i suppose i could introduce myself and my rather eclectic athletic history, but i'll save that for a later post. right now, i'll just say that i had a fabulous 12-mile trail run this morning, going at just under 10:00/mile. it was challenging because there were many hills, and because i am not used to talking while i run, but it was beautiful because the weather was perfect and because it wasn't on the treadmill.

i'm currently training for my second half-marathon in charlottesville (virginia) which is on april 16th. my goal? i guess just to go a little faster than my last half (ok, my only half), which i ran at 2:11, or just 10 minutes/mile. i don't think this will be a stretch as i was super-careful to take it very easy on the first one, and finished feeling like i had just done a long but relatively easy workout. which i suppose is really what it was.